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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2021: Please don't bully cute, girly-girl alchemist

« on: December 05, 2021, 05:00:18 PM »

Been busy, so here's a catchup post of stuff of note.

Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster - Pretty much blew through this in two days; I mean, it's FF4.  It's familiar territory.  FF4PR for whatever reason halved the EXP requirements to level up across the entire game, so with the way FF4's exp naturally scales you end up 15-20% higher level at pretty much any given point of the game.  There's some other little differences here and there of the QoL nature (arrows aren't consumable anymore for instance) but for the most part this game has a lot less mechanical changes compared to its original version than the first three PRs did.

Labyrinth of Touhou: Gensokyo and the Heaven-Piercing Tree - AKA Labyrinth of Touhou 2; it's now available on Steam, with English text built-in (taken with permission from the original fan translation).  My thoughts about this game are ... complicated, to say the least, but the most succinct way I can sum them up is: sometimes, less is more.  Compared to the original LoT, this game has a lot more everything - more content, more characters, an added subclass system, an added passive skill system, more grind, and a heaping helping of QoL.  The subclass and passive skill systems, while conceptually neat, add too much complexity to a game that doesn't particularly benefit from it being there (and aren't well balanced besides).  I finished what amounts to the original main game and its postgame so far - the original postgame is a really poorly balanced mess and nearly made me quit, but at least you can pretty much just powergrind past it to get back to the good stuff again.  I do plan on finishing the expansion content eventually.

All in all I'd say the original game was better at what I wanted it to be, and Windows 11 fixed whatever weird problem the game had with running on Windows 10.  Still, LoT2 isn't *bad*.

Super Robot Wars 30 - I was really enjoying this.  It's not nearly as cohesively written as VXT (owing to the nonlinear structure), but it's good at the whole smashing robots into each other thing.  It's probably the easiest game in the franchise - even on Expert mode I'm having little trouble.  But IMO difficulty really isn't the point of a fanservice game like this (*glares in LoT2's general direction*).

I say "was" because right now Bamco seems to be having some real trouble getting the game to be stable after the first DLC patch, so I've had to put it on the backburner for now.

Etrian Odyssey Nexus - Started this up again; new file since I lost my old save for Reasons.  Running Heroic difficulty with a Highlander/Pugilist/Nightseeker/Medic/Zodiac team.  Uhhh, what's there to say?  It's Etrian Odyssey but with a lot more content.  Anyway, I finished 5 labyrinths so far with this team.  It's working out fine.

Yakuza: Like A Dragon - This game is a lot better than I was expecting really, and my expectations were decently high given the hype.  "Earthbound for grown-ups" is a pretty apt description of it in more ways than one - it has some of the same offbeat quirky humor quality (if aged up into Definitely Not For Kids territory), the game's Basically Everything is a pretty much unabashed homage to Dragon Quest (to the point even that Dragon Quest itself actually gets namedropped in the plot), etc.  The mechanics aren't a direct rip though, best as I can tell, but I don't have a good handle on LAD's formulas or anything.

About the only flaw I'd say the game has is kind of inherent to its thematic nature: it's a game largely about Japanese men who exist in a generally very chauvinistic subset of society (the criminal underworld).  To its credit, the game manages to actually be quite respectful of its female characters (IMHO; obviously I'm not quite the right gender to fully judge this) - just, owing to the overall setting and subject matter, there are so few of them.  I'll go into a bit more detail in spoilersize text.

I'd estimate I'm about halfway to 2/3 of the way through the game at this point and there are precisely two significant female characters in the main storyline.  One is the game's only guaranteed female PC; she's a bartender who worked for a bar operated by the guy whose murder sets off pretty much the whole plot of the game, and while it's not explicitly stated it's strongly implied that with his death, she transitions from simply being the bartender to essentially running the place herself.  She is - refreshingly - absolutely not a shrinking violet, but rather more of a woman of action who refuses to be patronized.  Also she's more or less explicitly stated to have the highest alcohol tolerance of the core cast.  The other is the commander of the local Korean mafia and demonstrates herself to be quite capable (and ruthless) in that role.

There's a side storyline with a third female character (and second female PC) that is technically optional, but is the primary source of money in the game so it's unlikely most players will skip it; this third woman has no presence in the main storyline due to her optionality, but is pretty much the central figure of one of the game's most involved sidestories.  Basically, she's the daughter of a successful businessman who inherited her father's businesses when he died, proved dramatically less successful than him and got scammed by one of her father's competitors.  The guy who got murdered had been planning to bail her out, but on account of his murder, Ichiban gets roped into taking over the company and rebuilding it instead.  In any event, beyond that, she's pretty much a standard dutiful office lady sort of character.

Ichiban himself is an absolute delight of a protagonist and I'm very glad that he's going to be the main face of the Yakuza franchise for the foreseeable future, though.  Anyway, it's in the running for best game I've played this year, although I'm not sure it'll claim the title yet.

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2021: Please don't bully cute, girly-girl alchemist

« on: July 31, 2021, 05:45:41 PM »

Finished FF3 Pixel Remaster. 

So this is a really interesting remake, on the whole.  It's not strictly a remake of the NES game, for all that it draws all of its presentational cues from that version; it's more like a hybrid of the NES and DS versions that, on the whole, hews closer to the DS version - I would sooner bill it as a demake of the DS version that reverts to the original NES version's writing.  However, that doesn't truly capture the essence of what this version of the game is like *either*.  So I suppose the best way to address that is to just dive into what this version of the game is like in detail.

First, the cues it does take from the NES version.  The job unlock times are the same as they are on NES; you get Warrior/Monk/White Mage/Black Mage/Red Mage from the wind crystal, Ranger/Knight/Thief/Scholar from the fire crystal, Geomancer/Dragoon/Black Belt/Dark Knight/Evoker/Bard from the water crystal, Magus/Evoker/Summoner from the earth crystal, and Sage/Ninja from Eureka.  The jobs all have the same equipment access they have on NES, which means that Warrior/Monk can't equip anything of note found later than the floating continent and thus get clearly obsoleted.  Likewise, like on NES, Fighter/Monk have no special commands.  Enemies all have their NES version attack patterns as far as I can tell; they don't multiact or do any of the different stuff they do in the DS version.  Job level is de-emphasized as a stat like the NES version.

That's mostly where the similarities end.

Then you have the cues it takes from the DS version.  Enemy packs are still smaller than the DS version (but not *as* small; 4-enemy fights were common but anything above that was exceedingly rare).  Enemy stats are more like the DS version - stuff hits generally harder and has more HP all around.  Equipment stats mostly all follow the DS version, though some itemcasts added by the DS version were not retained.  The non-Wind jobs have much more in common with their DS version incarnations than their NES version incarnations - in other words, the original NES version's planned obsolescence of Wind jobs was retained, but all the later jobs kept their DS version enhancements.  However, they're not exactly the same as the DS version either - they did some things that were wholly original.  I'll just run down the job list and talk about what they did.

Warrior: Mostly like its NES incarnation: good on the Floating Continent, obsoleted as soon as Knight unlocks.  Very slightly weaker than NES in raw stats.
Monk: Exactly like its NES incarnation: good on the Floating Continent, obsoleted as soon as Black Belt unlocks.  Very slightly weaker than NES in raw stats.
White Mage: Basically identical to its DS incarnation.  The MP progression is more or less like the DS version, which is markedly worse.
Black Mage: Basically identical to its DS incarnation.  The MP progression is more or less like the DS version, which is markedly (and, for Black Mage, tragically) worse.
Red Mage: While it gets its upgraded spell access from the DS version, it's limited to its NES version equipment and thus falls off really hard.
Ranger: Basically identical to its DS incarnation; it retains the Barrage command from there with similar effect.  All told it was a pretty good job until the part of the game where bows fall off dramatically.  Arrows are non-consumable in this version, which is really nice. 
Knight: More like its NES incarnation than its DS incarnation, but it kept some of the Agility nerf the class took on DS (not all).  Doesn't get the token L1 white magic the DS Knight does.
Thief: I didn't use it much but it felt like it had combat capability closer to the DS version's incarnation in the midgame.  Its lack of late-game equipment upgrades means it'll get relegated to the trash bin like in the original though.
Scholar: Basically plays like the DS incarnation except that it lost the token L1-3 spell access it had.  It retains the DS version's doubled effects from using items, which I definitely got some mileage out of.  Having no late-game armor options dooms it long term.
Geomancer: Plays more or less like its DS incarnation; Terrain has a 100% success rate and never backfires.  Having no late-game equipment options dooms it long term.
Dragoon: More or less like its NES incarnation, which is good (the class took a notable stat nerf on DS).  It tops out at Holy Lance which is a little weaker than other jobs' options.  I can't remember if you can get multiples; if not that'll hold it back more since the Blood Lance drops off pretty hard in attack power.  It has endgame armor access so it should be usable all the way.  I never used the job myself (no, not even against Garuda).
Viking: Basically plays like its DS incarnation but has the stats of its NES incarnation.  Provoke is now called Draw Attacks.  I actually used one through most of the midgame as my second physical job along Knight and got a fair bit of use out of the command.  Still offensively inept for the most part.  It has the best HP growth if that's a thing you care about.  It has endgame armor access and endgame-quality weapons, but physical tanking isn't really a valuable niche in endgame.
Black Belt: Plays more like its DS incarnation but not precisely the same; it took a bit of an AGI nerf from the NES version but is stronger than the DS class.  They retain Boost and gained Kick, which they didn't have in either previous FF3 version; it's a basic MT physical that does around half the damage a basic attack would have done.  This is actually pretty useful and all in all I'd say the job is better than it was; lack of late-game armor dooms it in the endgame though IMO.
Dark Knight: Plays ... more or less completely original.  Statwise it has the same STR as NES and less AGI (but more AGI than DS).  It retains its NES version equipment issues, being basically unusable before Falgabard.  The DS version's Souleater is replaced by Bladeblitz, which does the same thing but doesn't cost HP to use (and doesn't hit as hard; it's basically a Kick clone).  They also don't have their token L1-3 spellcasts from the NES version.  Because of Bladeblitz, it more or less obsoletes Black Belt IMO once it's usable.  It has endgame armor access and two Eureka weapons dedicated to it, so it's pretty much the clear second best physical job for endgame barring Ninja (after Knight).
Evoker: More or less identical to its DS incarnation in almost all ways; the only change is slightly more L8 MP.
Bard: Plays more like its DS incarnation, but not exactly the same (in particular, harp damage works like NES, which is dramatically worse).  Song access is based on job level, and from reports on the forums, might be bugged.  I didn't use one myself.
Magus: Statistically closer to its (stronger) NES incarnation.  The MP progression is the DS version's except that its L1 and L8 MP were doubled.
Devout: Statistically closer to its (stronger) NES incarnation.  The MP progression is the DS version's except that its L1 and L8 MP were doubled.
Summoner: More or less identical to its DS incarnation in almost all ways; the only change is slightly more L8 MP.
Sage: Similar to its DS incarnation, but it has full summons instead of evoker summons.  Which, IMO, is honestly a downgrade, since this means it can't flex Odin's MT Protect or Bahamut's MT attack buff.  Their MP progression is mostly the same as the DS version but they have a bit more L7 and L8 MP.  Not worth using unless you like the sprite's aesthetic IMO.
Ninja: More or less like its NES incarnation, with the highest STR/AGI of all physical jobs and the ability to equip anything.  It has worse HP growth than NES, but this shouldn't matter by the time you get it.  Throwing shurikens is still the most powerful attack in the game by an order of magnitude; nothing else comes even close.  Ninjas in PR have a throw command but Shuriken is the only throwable.

This is a lot of words to say that I liked this version of the game overall and it's probably the version I'll turn to for future replays.  The rearranged soundtrack is EXTREMELY good.

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2021: Please don't bully cute, girly-girl alchemist

« on: April 19, 2021, 03:47:35 AM »

DQ9 - finished, still love it, and still love the aftergame's attempt to apply something resembling the Diablo gameplay loop to a turn-based JRPG. 

The only thing that stops DQ9 from being unequivocally my favorite create-your-own-party JRPG on raw gameplay is how irritatingly "bad MMO grind" a lot of the class/skill unlock quests are.  A remake that got rid of that crap would be pretty much perfect, or, alternatively, a new remake of DQ3 that backports the modern DQ skill point system into it would be equally good to me. 

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Discussion / Re: Ranking characters by in-game use: obscura edition

« on: March 28, 2021, 06:33:01 PM »

So while I never did get around to finishing DQ11 postgame and my time is being occupied by other stuff (like Octopath Traveller) I might as well throw this up since I don't think there's anything left to see that would change my assessment of the cast significantly.

This is all assessed with Super Strong Enemies enabled, since that's what I played.

Luminary - Honestly mediocre during Act 1, since none of his stats are particularly great (and there's a non-trivial stretch where he's less durable than Erik) and the greatsword plan and being the sole source of lightning damage (outside of specific weapons), while ensuring that he'll never be actually bad, only goes so far to make up with that.  Picks up a fair bit of steam in the second half, at which point he picks up Quadra Slash, which is fantastic (if expensive), along with actually having an actual amount of skill points to play with.  Still, pretty rough Act 1 performance counts for a fair amount and I have a hard time justifying higher than a 6/10 because of it.

Erik - OF COURSE considering that he's stuck with this shameful idiot for entirely too long I could be blaming the wrong thing here.  About the only thing Erik brings to the table early are an assortment of Pep Powers and a knife plan that relies on being able to status things since boomerangs are too low on attack to be good for much against randoms (and the accuracy and damage falloff are just injury to insult).  Gains a lot in Act 2 but he's the second-to-last PC to rejoin so loud shrug.  2/10.

Veronica - Pretty great against randoms and noted important spells Sap and Oomphle make her pretty great to bring bosses (although the latter doesn't exist much for her in Act 1 and she spends Act 2 kind of dead) despite the tragic durability.  7/10.

Serena - Probably has more shelf life in the active party than I'd ever respect Erik for during Act 1 since she at least has some shaky GT status to use but not much more since her competition for healer duty has much more reason to be used than her.  Pretty much fantastic once she rejoins in Act 2 but she's the last person to do so and the main game doesn't go on much longer than that.  It evens out to a roughly below-average score, I think.  4/10.

Sylvando - Contributes basically nothing on offense, but Hustle Dance/Sobering Slap/Oomph are great enough perks that you'd autoslot him in until Serena rejoins in Act 2 at minimum, and are probably enough to vault him into the MVP spot.  8/10.

Jade - Hello, one-dimensional beatstick.  Honestly not really that amazing at it, outside of Multithrust being a better boss tool and being somewhat less prone to being critted out of existance than the Luminary during Act 1.  The self-buffing in Act 2 is cute but that's pretty much all she gains and even then there's the bosses that pack dispel so I can't really care that much.  5.5/10.

Rab - Far more upside to having him along than Serena in Act 1 due to him having Sap/Zing Stick/non-fail offense in randoms (though dark spells are a bad meme) and being the first to rejoin in Act 2 matters quite a bit.  Pretty much benched once Serena rejoins, but by then he's done his job.  6.5/10.

Hendrick - Does the Sylvando thing of being a durable support except he offers more offense/durability than he does support.  This is uh not a winning trade in the slightest and he'd be a fair bit better if he actually had his postgame tools but he's at not hopeless on the latter since he does at least bring his (less-reliable) version of defense debuffing along with his try-to-keep-the-party-from-dying-to-noncrit-damage spells.  5.5/10.

Just throwing my hat in to say that I agree with most of this but wanted to debate a couple scores from my own experience on both PS4 (full) and Switch (partial).

First off, I disagree pretty strongly with Erik at 2/10 - it takes some beelining but it's absolutely possible to deploy Erik's damage-king combo for the last stretch of act 1 and have him completely trash a couple bosses there with it - 57 skill points is enough to pick up Half-Inch, Dodge Chance +2%, Agility +10, Agility +30, Deftness +10, Divide, Flame Slash, Attack Power While Wielding Swords +10, and Falcon Slash, and this can be achieved at level 25.  (This technically takes 67 skill points, which would be level 28, but Agility +30 is a lucky panel and permanently gives you 10 free skill points.)  Divide-Falcon Slash does absolutely gross damage and isn't nearly as RNG-dependent as trying to stick statuses and then land Victimiser or Persecutter, although I suspect the knife build can peak higher with the combination of good RNG and Sylvando applying the status.

All that said, he doesn't really do anything but damage, and the nature of his combo is still a bit unreliable - he's kind of like a DQ8 tension-nuke PC in that regard - so with that in mind plus his poor act 2 availability, I wouldn't give him more than around a 5.5/10 either.

My second personal point of contention is Serena/Rab - for me I always found Serena to be the more useful of the two healers, although they aren't really that far apart.  Serena only has fail offense if you build her with wands, and IMO the wand build is a trap for act 1/2 because MMe scales so weakly - I feel like she's better off in the spear tree for act 1, and the inherited whip tree for act 2, as both solve what I feel is her biggest weakness (damage output in randoms).

FWIW Rab was my LVP for acts 1 and 3 - in act 1 I was already very comfortable with using Serena and Sylvando for healing and didn't switch, and in act 3 I feel Serena's gains are just better than his, plus her MMe advantage starts to actually matter.  Can't dispute Rab's utility in act 2 just on the basis of availability though + Pearly Gates being pretty respectable offense.  And I say he was LVP but every PC in the cast saw use in the A3 final boss for me, so on the whole over the course of the whole game I think DQ11's PC balance is quite sublime.

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2021: Please don't bully cute, girly-girl alchemist

« on: March 27, 2021, 07:24:28 AM »

Dragon Quest VIII - Finished main game.  Good game overall, but it's hard to shake the fact that in most ways it's a worse DQ11, having also played that.  The one place I'd say DQ8 solidly beats 11 is tighter writing, perhaps? 

I dunno, I don't have a lot to say about DQ8 in general.  I certainly have no complaints about it, besides the voice acting paling compared to 11's (but it was excellent for its time, certainly). 

I'll do the Dragovian Trials later, but for now I wanna move on to the next one.  Solid 8/10 game I think, in any case.  I probably would have given it a 9/10 if I'd finished it years ago before playing 11, but DQ11 is a 9/10 to me and DQ8 is a little worse in enough ways that I can't feel comfortable giving them the same score.

Edit: After some reflection, editing in a few comments about DQ8 in the interest of not double-posting.  So, yeah, on the whole I liked it quite a lot even if it mostly felt like it was a worse DQ11.  I think my biggest complaint about it may well be that while it was a giant leap forward for the series in terms of presentation, I wish the game had more options, in a word - options to choose between classic or redesigned menus (on the PS2 version anyway; 3DS version uses classic menus), options to completely disable the added battle animations (3DS version allows you to double animation speed but not turn them off), etc.  It's not that I don't *like* the animations - I'd likely turn them on for boss fights - but they make randoms take considerably longer for a game like DQ8 where you end up fighting an awful lot of them, and don't get me wrong - I *like* fighting randoms when they're engaging, and DQ8's were more often engaging than not - but having to sit through skill animations by the end of it was starting to drag a little, even on double speed.  Similarly, with the menus on the PS2 version, I respect that they're easier for some people and think that those people should have the option to use them, but for me (who was already deeply familiar with DQ-style menuing from playing 1-4 and 7, in the era) they felt sluggish and cumbersome, even before accounting for the fact that the added screen transition which wasn't there originally adds several seconds of loading time every time you open the menu which accumulates rapidly over the course of the game. 

Dragon Quest IX - Now I get to romp through this as something of a (premature) victory lap.  Morag was surprisingly rude about turn order this time, and it dawns on me that real-world events have proooooooobably dashed any chance DQ9 had of getting a port/remaster anytime soon.  (Coffinwell.  Just... Coffinwell arc hits in a very, very different way in 2021, and I strongly suspect that a theoretical DQ9 remaster would have to substantially rewrite the arc there to not be found offensive to Japanese sensibilities about ongoing disasters, much like FFL1 in the SaGa collection on Switch deleted all references to nuclear power being to blame for the post-apocalyptic state of Suzaku's world.)

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2021: Please don't bully cute, girly-girl alchemist

« on: March 10, 2021, 08:34:35 PM »

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past - Finished the game, final time was around 88 hours.  On the whole I enjoyed it, DQ7 ends up being one of my favorite DQ games for plot/worldbuilding/setting/whatever you want to call it.  It's on the weaker half of the series for gameplay but the setting was compelling enough to keep me interested, overall - the main problem with the gameplay is that it pretty much stops challenging you about halfway through (basically when you first get at an advanced class) and only really starts again with some of the lategame bosses and final dungeon randoms.  This is a problem DQ11 also has to an extent (on baseline difficulty), but in DQ11 it feels better because you tend to be mixing up your tactics to respond to enemy setups more, whereas in DQ7 there's pretty much 30 hours of the game that you can just spam Scorch forever and win against.

I do think the game is a bit longer than it needs to be, yet much like the Lord of the Rings movies, there's not really any substantial part of the game that I feel you could cut without losing something valuable.  Nearly every island plot ends up being relevant to the overall game in *some* fashion.  The three I'd say are the least relevant ones...

• Ballymalloy, which has no relevance to the later plot at all and is pretty much just the establishment device for the party dynamic between the hero, Kiefer, and Maribel.
• Faraday also has little enduring relevance to the main plot, despite seeming like it should; the situation with the automatons is never referred to again outside of some easter-egg callbacks, and robots are never a relevant factor anywhere else in the world.  However, Faraday also has what I consider one of the game's more memorably poignant emotional scenes (hint: E.L.L.I.E. and soup).
• The third and last would be Nottagen, which is basically just an excuse plot for why the Monster Meadows exists in the game world, but also is a much-needed segment of levity in what is otherwise a fairly dark game by DQ standards.

Anyway.  Solid 7/10 game at least?  I liked it about as much as DQ5, and DQ5 and DQ7 are both games that on some level I appreciate more for concept than for successful execution, but I think DQ5 executed just a bit better than DQ7 did.  As we'll see later, DQ9 revisits a lot of DQ7's relative narrative structure, but is much more concise in going about it.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King - 3DS version.  Not far in it yet, so not much to say, and this isn't new territory for me, but I am once again reminded - even with the snappier menu performance of the 3DS version compared to PS2 - just how much slower of a game DQ8 feels like compared to everything before it.  Admittedly some of this *may* be my emulator, which isn't quite consistently getting full speed on DQ8.  But just... it's hard to really express how much slower movement around maps feels in 8 compared to previous games (some of this may also be the maps being larger relative to the PCs), and of course the large upswing in production values means battles play slower.

None of this, to be clear, is really intended as a criticism - it's just a much more chill game.

Dark Souls III - oh yeah I've also been playing this but don't have much of substance to say about it.  I feel like it's a good game on the whole but it has a lot of little things which I understand to be series sacred cows but which, frankly, aren't particularly great design, but none of them rise above being minor annoyances.  If I were going to compare it to another similar game I've played, I tend to like Code Vein more outside of the boss fights, which I will concede that Dark Souls III does better (and it's not close).

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2021: Please don't bully cute, girly-girl alchemist

« on: February 23, 2021, 06:45:46 AM »

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past - 50 hours in now and still enjoying it.  In particular I really like the game's storytelling loop of going to an area in distress in the past, solving their distress, and then seeing how the place has changed in the peaceful present, and DQ7 has a different take on the overall concept compared to something like, say, Chrono Trigger by not having the overall scenario framed by a nebulous known future threat on the scale of Lavos. 

DQ7 also plays it more vague with specific time periods, and has the heroes show up multiple times in the same places on different timestreams when islands are connected to each other, providing extra context to previous events and sometimes additional closure as well.

For example...

In Greenthumb Gardens, on the first visit, there's an unresolved plot thread involving tangled relationships between four characters in the town: Dill (the son of the town's mayor), Carraway (the mayor's gardener), Lavender (a young woman who lives in the town), and Cayenne (the mayor's maid).  Carraway and Lavender are in love with each other, but Lavender owes a great debt to Dill's parents, and feels obligated to marry Dill as a result.  Cayenne is in love with Dill, and is aggressively trying to break up Dill and Lavender and encourage Carraway to elope with her, so that she can have Dill to herself.  Her machinations fail spectacularly for all involved, though; Lavender goes through with her proposal to Dill, and Carraway breaks off from Lavender and runs away from the village in shame because he isn't willing to disrupt the engagement.  When you return to the island in the present, Greenthumb Gardens has been abandoned and fallen into ruin, but there's a new town to the east, "Wilted Heart", that was not previously there, overlooked by a nunnery, the Regrette-Rien Convent.  Exploring both locations gives the implication that Carraway founded the new town, and the visit to the nunnery reveals Carraway and Lavender to be buried next to each other at the hilltop behind the nunnery.

Later in the game, when you solve the "Groundhog Day" problem in El Ciclo, the architect Pomposo is able to complete his grand bridge connecting to the northern island... which happens to be where Greenthumb Gardens and Wilted Heart are, so you get to visit both locations in a different past time.  It turns out 30 years have passed since the hero's first visit.  Dill and the son he fathered with Lavender are still living in Greenthumb Gardens, but Dill is revealed to be a deadbeat who has had to sell his father's house, his son hates him, and Lavender is nowhere to be found, having run out on an apparently loveless marriage.  Cayenne is also still present, still pining after Dill, and still working as a maid in the new mayor's house; the hero finds evidence (by way of a callback to a DQ6 scene where a jealous lover of Port Haven's mayor attempts to poison his dog and frame his maid for it) that she's been secretly feeding the mayor poisoned food, and that Dill knew she was doing it, and the two are ultimately run out of town together.

Continuing to Wilted Heart allows you to meet Carraway, confirming he did in fact start the town there, and exploring the nunnery reveals that when Lavender ran out on her marriage to Dill, she went to the nunnery and lived out the rest of her life there; she died 6 months prior, without her and Carraway having interacted, though both seemed to be vaguely aware of each others' presence, Carraway never worked up the courage to actually go up to the monastery, and Lavender assumed that Carraway would want nothing to do with her after she ran out on Dill.  This closes out their half of the plot, but I have a sneaking suspicion I have not yet seen the last of Dill and Cayenne...

It's absolutely a long game, I don't think there's any debating that; if I had to call out DQ7's greatest sin from what I've seen of it right now, it's absolutely the pacing of the intro, which is pretty long even on the 3DS version (which substantially shortened it), and makes for a pretty bad first impression of the game on PSX because a typical blind player will spend about 3-4 hours plodding around talking to all the NPCs and trying to solve the initial puzzle before they can even get to any combat.  On top of that, PSX loading times after every battle are a bad, bad fit for a game like DQ7.  But these are problems the 3DS version doesn't have, so yay.

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2021: Please don't bully cute, girly-girl alchemist

« on: February 14, 2021, 10:55:44 PM »

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation - Finished it now.  I grinded until I unlocked the Hero class for, well, the hero, which took a fair while (I went from level 35 to level 43).  Final boss wasn't terribly difficult with the extra levels, although I wouldn't say it was exactly a pushover still.  My initial take mostly holds up: I loved the narrative and it might be my favorite plot of the middle trilogy, but I don't see myself replaying it likely ever since, unlike 4, it's not a quick and breezy playthrough.  The poor tuning of the class system really drags it down - to unlock Disruptive Wave I ended up having to grind out about 125 battles or so over what I'd naturally faced over the course of the game.

Terry ended up being not useless, if only because he could be subbed in over the hero or Carver for a turn when they were at low HP at the start of a turn to allow me to keep doing damage while I healed (since Multiheal/Omniheal affect the non-active party as well).  So that was nice.  Didn't tackle the postgame bonus dungeon in this or 5 yet; I may come back to them at some point, but right now I want to move on.

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past - To this, of course.  3DS version.  Maribel is a stunningly useless PC in the early game; even when she does get Frizz she doesn't really get enough MP to use it freely at first.  Anyway, this is going to be a mostly blind run too; I know the broad strokes of the game from watching Highspirits' speedrun grind back in the day, but that was on the PS1 version.  Myself I only played up to the class change stuff unlocking, and that was also on the PS1 version like 20 years ago, so. 

As an incidental comment, it's hard to understate just how important copious use of the party chat function in the later Dragon Quest games is for fleshing out the PCs' personalities.  I find that they have something new to say after almost every little thing that happens; often (especially in 5) this meant party chatting on every new dungeon floor and after talking to every NPC in a town.  So many little things that can be casually missed in these games that I'm now seeing because I'm taking time to stop and smell the roses. 

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2021: Please don't bully cute, girly-girl alchemist

« on: February 13, 2021, 10:12:21 PM »

Re: DQ3r personalities - speed is at least a clear second best IMO.  In general I find speed is only worth twinking on classes that are already drowning in it, though, since turn order randomness is so extreme; and the class that benefits the most from twinking it (Martial Artist) benefits from twinking resilience *more* because otherwise its HP is problematic for Baramos.  So I dunno.  I'd agree it's at least an interesting tradeoff!

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation - Well, the fourth Dread Fiend is down and I've got the last PC.  Terry is ... honestly, there's no reason to ever use him in the DS version since he's almost certainly going to have the same class build on join as either the hero or Carver (since both take very well to Gladiator) and he's weaker than both by a fair bit; he *is* faster, however, which could be helpful I guess?  I dunno.  He's not terribly underleveled or anything; he's just underwhelming.  On mobile he gets 5 more levels and 2 more mastered jobs, which would make him a little overleveled on raw levels compared to your team and a lot overleveled on class mastery (plus he has even more of an agility advantage from mobile version buffs!) so I'd say he's a far better PC there, since he can be immediately made into any one of your choice of Gladiator, Paladin, Armamentalist or Sage and he has the stats to be good at any of them (although, granted, his MP is a bit low for a caster).

In any event, I got to the final boss tonight, but there's absolutely no way I'm actually killing it at the levels I got there at.  Think I'm going to just grind up to a level where I can have a much smoother fight.  For what it's worth, I got to the final boss for the first time with a level 34 hero and my main party at rank 5 in their advanced classes, but it's not really a winnable fight in that state.  The second phase in particular really wants you to have access to Disruptive Wave, since he will buff himself with Buff and Oomph and you cannot counter with Sap (he's immune); this requires rank 2 in the Hero class, which requires a mastered advanced class.

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2021: Please don't bully cute, girly-girl alchemist

« on: February 10, 2021, 09:34:05 AM »

So my project for the year(?) is playing (or replaying) every single mainline Dragon Quest game.

Dragon Quest - The original!  I played the Switch remake/port, which is based off the mobile version (which is in turn based off an earlier Japanese phone port which was in turn based off the SNES remake).  I'm not sure if the difficulty of this version was tuned at all differently than the SNES/GB versions since it's been too long since I played those; anyway, this is a very streamlined version of DQ1.  Finished it in two sessions I think, maybe it was one long one; I went against the Dragonlord a bit underleveled and got lucky.  There's not a whole lot to be said about DQ1; it's a very simplistic game, and most of its enduring value is as an artifact of early electronic RPG history, but it's not actually bad as a handheld game timewaster at all.

Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line - Once again, I played the Switch remake, with the same provenance as DQ1's.  This version of the game is definitely significantly changed from the SNES/GB version; the level curve is different, they buffed the prince of Cannock (even more), and the difficulty curve is also smoother.  Nonetheless, it's still recognizably DQ2 at its core - enemies are notably more dangerous than most later games even with a stronger Cannock, and I had several full wipes and several more near-wipes throughout the game.  The cave to Rendarak (Rhone in the old translation) is still brutally difficult.

Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation - Once again, played on Switch, where it's basically the SNES version without the annoying pachisi minigame.  Good riddance IMO.  Pretty standard run of DQ3 on the whole, but I used a Merchant as my main melee attacker to mix things up a little from the usual and they performed better than I expected.  +Resilience personalities are, IMO, far and away the best to go with in this game (even moreso than Vamp IMO) - having lots of HP really takes the bite out of most of the game.

Dragon Warrior IV - Played the NES version this time rather than remakes!  I still like this version of the game the most - AI allies don't bother me and I'm pretty good at manipulating the AI anyway thanks to tricks learned from watching speedruns.  Bosses in the remakes feel much sloggier to me than this version, almost as if they overtuned them to compensate for manual control.  On some level, I still find DQ4 NES to be something of a technical marvel for the console - it's honestly kind of embarrassing that most JRPG AI control schemes have not really improved on DQ4's model.

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride - This one was played on DS.  Finished it for the first time, though I'd played *most* of it previously.  The hero married Nera and I fielded the family team against the final boss, who went down on the first try.  Overall it was a pretty smooth playthrough and a largely enjoyable game, think I'd put it in the top half of the series for me?  The level curve is weird since you keep getting new PCs even late in the game but they come with highish stats for their low levels, so catching them up isn't actually hard. 

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation - DS version, and it's my first time playing this one.  Haven't finished yet, would estimate I'm about 3/4 of the way through the game?  On the one hand I really like the narrative themes of DQ6, it's quite inventive conceptually with the whole real world/dream world split it has going.  On the other hand I feel like it has the worst gameplay of the Zenithia trilogy with the weakest (mechanically) PC cast this side of DQ2.  The enemies are similarly overtuned too (and this is accounting for the fact that the DS version cut all enemies' HP by 25%).  The job system is poorly executed, and I think the DS version boosting EXP gain by 20% actually exacerbates this, since the level caps for job advancement in each area weren't adjusted in this version.  (The mobile version does but I'm not playing that.)  That said, I haven't actually been running into the caps for a while, so maybe it doesn't matter that much.  But I haven't been intentionally grinding at all and, this far in the game, don't even have an advanced class yet.  So the class system is too damn grindy.

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Unranked Games / Re: Dragon Warrior III (NES PCs)

« on: February 01, 2021, 10:27:15 PM »

I don't have the headspace/expertise to figure out how these should work for averages/etc., but here's stats for DQ3 NES bosses. 

Kandar 1
HP: 113-150 (131 average)
ATK: 65
DEF: 42
AGI: 19
Evasion chance: 1/32
Targeting: Unweighted
Resistances: Immune to Beat, Sacrifice, StopSpell, RobMagic, Chaos, Limbo/Slow, Expel; 30% resistance to fire, ice, Sleep, Sap/Defence, and Surround

Actions: Attack (6/8 chance), Critical Hit (1/8 chance), Parry (1/8 chance)

He comes with three Kandar Henchmen for support, detailed below.

Kandar Henchman
HP: 45-60 (53 average)
ATK: 55
DEF: 31
AGI: 20
Evasion chance: 1/64
Targeting: Unweighted
Resistances: Immune to Beat, Sacrifice, StopSpell, RobMagic, Chaos, Limbo/Slow, Expel; 30% resistance to fire, ice, Sleep, Sap/Defence, and Surround

Actions: They don't do anything but attack.

Kandar 2
HP: 300-400 (350 average), regenerates 44-55 per turn
ATK: 89
DEF: 40
AGI: 35
Evasion chance: None
Targeting: Normal
Resistances: Immune to Beat, Sacrifice, Sleep, StopSpell, Surround, RobMagic, Chaos, Limbo/Slow, Expel; 30% resistance to fire, ice, and Sap/Defence

Actions: Attack (63/64 chance), Critical Hit (1/64 chance)

Orochi
HP: 225-300 (263 average), regenerates 90-109 per turn
ATK: 120
DEF: 68
AGI: 50
Evasion chance: None
Targeting: Normal
Resistances: Immune to fire, Beat, Sacrifice, StopSpell, RobMagic, Chaos, Limbo/Slow, Expel; 30% resistance to Sleep, Sap/Defence, and Surround

Actions (2 per turn): Medium Fire Breath (1/2 chance), Attack (1/2 chance)

Note: I've never seen Orochi breathe fire twice in one turn on NES, so I think it may be rigged to not do this.  She can attack for both turns though.  Also, on NES, both Orochi fights are identical.

Boss Troll
HP: 240-320 (280 average), regenerates 90-109 per turn
ATK: 180
DEF: 60
AGI: 80
Evasion chance: None
Targeting: Normal
Resistances: Immune to Beat, Limbo/Slow, Expel; 30% resistance to StopSpell; 70% resistance to fire, Sleep, Sap/Defence, Surround, RobMagic, Chaos

Actions: Follows a strict 8-turn cycle.  He attacks every turn, and always criticals on turns 3 and 6 of the cycle.

Baramos
HP: 675-900 (788 average), regenerates 90-109 per turn
MP: 255
ATK: 220
DEF: 100
AGI: 85
Evasion chance: None
Targeting: Smart
Resistances: Immune to Beat, Sacrifice, RobMagic, Chaos, Limbo/Slow, Expel; 30% resistance to ice, wind, Sap/Defense, Surround; 70% resistance to fire, Sleep, StopSpell

Actions (2 per turn): Follows a strict 8-action cycle of Explodet, Attack, Strong Fire Breath, Blazemost, Limbo, Attack, Explodet, Chaos, then repeats.

Note: Baramos is MP-aware, so if StopSpelled, his pattern becomes Attack, Strong Fire Breath, Attack, then repeat.

King Hydra
HP: 413-550 (482 average), regenerates 90-109 per turn
ATK: 240
DEF: 50
AGI: 50
Evasion chance: None
Targeting: Unweighted
Resistances: Immune to fire, Beat, Sacrifice, StopSpell, Surround, RobMagic, Chaos, Limbo/Slow, Expel; 30% resistance to ice, Sap/Defense; 70% resistance to Sleep

Actions (2 per turn): Attack (5/8 chance), Medium Fire Breath (3/8 chance)

Baramos Bomus
HP: 338-450 (394 average), regenerates 44-55 per turn
MP: 255
ATK: 210
DEF: 200
AGI: 72
Evasion chance: 1/64
Targeting: Smart
Resistances: Immune to Beat, Sacrifice, Sleep, RobMagic, Chaos, Limbo/Slow, Expel; 30% resistance to fire, ice, wind, lightning, Sap/Defence, Surround; 70% resistance to StopSpell

Actions (1-3 per turn): Attack (1/4 chance), Explodet (1/4 chance), Strong Fire Breath (2/4 chance).  He has a 2/8 chance of attacking once, a 3/8 chance of attacking twice, and a 3/8 chance of attacking thrice.

Note: He's MP-aware.

Baramos Gonus
HP: 675-900 (788 average), regenerates 44-55 per turn
ATK: 360
DEF: 0
AGI: 0
Evasion chance: 1/64
Targeting: Unweighted
Resistances: Immune to Beat, Sacrifice, Sleep, StopSpell, Sap/Defence, RobMagic, Chaos, Limbo/Slow, Expel; 70% resistance to Surround

Actions: He does nothing but attack.

Zoma (without Sphere of Light)
HP: 767-1023 (895 average), regenerates 90-109 per turn
MP: 255
ATK: 550
DEF: 300
AGI: 255
Evasion chance: None
Targeting: Smart
Resistances: Immune to ice, Beat, Sacrifice, Sleep, StopSpell, RobMagic, Chaos, Limbo/Slow, Expel; 30% resistance to lightning; 70% resistance to fire/wind

Actions (2 per turn): Follows a strict 8-action cycle of Strong Ice Breath, Snowstorm, Strong Ice Breath, Attack, Disruptive Wave, Strong Ice Breath, Bounce, Strong Ice Breath.

Notes: As in other DQ games, Disruptive Wave removes all buffs from the party.

Zoma (after Sphere of Light)
HP: 767-1023 (895 average), regenerates 90-109 per turn
MP: 255
ATK: 320
DEF: 200
AGI: 80
Evasion chance: None
Targeting: Normal
Resistances: Immune to fire, ice, wind, Beat, Sacrifice, Sleep, StopSpell, Surround, RobMagic, Chaos, Limbo/Slow, Expel

Actions (2 per turn): Attack (3/8 chance), Snowstorm (1/8 chance), Medium Ice Breath (1/8 chance), Strong Ice Breath (1/8 chance), Disruptive Wave (2/8 chance)

12

Discussion / Re: Ranking characters by in-game use: obscura edition

« on: September 02, 2020, 05:51:19 AM »

Here I go with another Super Robot Wars!  This time it's SRW A Portable's turn.

The mechs are organized by series alphabetical order.  Mech ratings assume canon pilots.  Pilots who don’t have a default unit will also be discussed in their own section for each series.

For the purposes of this list, in some instances, I have grouped together multiple series under a single header as follows:

Universal Century Gundam: Mobile Suit Gundam (1979); Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team, Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory; Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam; Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ; Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack.
Mazinger Series: Mazinger, Great Mazinger, UFO Robo Grendizer.
Getter Robo Series: Getter Robo, Getter Robo G, Shin Getter Robo.

This is done because these series involve mechs that can be reassigned to other pilots within other shows from the same category.

The two battleships will be in their own section, rather than listed with their respective series.  You can never choose to not deploy them, so they’re DNR, but I did talk about them a bit regardless.

Last but not least, these ratings assume you don’t habitually gameover on purpose to farm additional money or kills.

Banpresto Originals

Soulgain is exclusive to Axel and Angelg is exclusive to Lamia.  The other three OG robots can be selected by either protagonist.  Both Axel and Lamia get Accel, Valor, Spirit, and Soul.  Axel’s unique spirits are Strike and Fortitude, while Lamia’s are Focus and Alert.  Axel is the better protagonist as such in this game.

All five OG units have to wait till the pilot reaches level 20 to unlock their finishers.  This will generally be about halfway through the game, and it holds them back significantly until they reach that point.  It hurts Soulgain and Angelg much worse than it does the other OG units, because it essentially leaves them to have all the disadvantages of a super while still only having the power of a real unless you heavily focus investment in them early.

I played with Aschenretter, the other originals are rated on an “on-paper” basis and by comparing them to the units to which they are most similar.

Soulgain (Axel Almer): 6.5/10.  Basically Daimos with HP regen and without the broken defensive ace bonus, which means it’ll have survival problems.  Losing trade IMO, but not a dramatic one.
Angelg (Lamia Loveless): 6.5/10.  Basically Great Mazinger with worse post-movement capability and no combos but with Double Image.  Double Image is super good so I’d call it a winning trade.
Vysaga: 8.5/10.  Basically God Gundam with slightly better range and slightly less power (and 2 more part slots) that has to wait till the protagonist reaches level 20 to use God Finger.  Probably the best original.
Aschenretter: 7.5/10.  Basically Nu Gundam without the availability problem and if the funnels were post-movement.  It’s really good.  Mostly ammo-based.
Razangriff: 6/10.  Basically Gundam Heavyarms without the availability problem, but with significantly worse post-movement options (range-1 locked) and no MAP weapon.  You’ll have to commit one of the game’s two Hit & Away parts to the protagonist.  Entirely ammo-based.  IMO the worst original for a first playthrough; it improves on NG+ because skill parts carry over.

Brave Leader Daimos

Daimos (Kazuya Ryuzaki): 7/10.  Glass cannon super with incredible power.  There are other units that have incredible power and aren’t as glassy, but not enough to fill a deployment.  Pretty much demands a Support Defense tank or Kazuya’s overpowered ace bonus to survive.  Getting Reppu Seikenzuki Kai probably bumps him to 8/10 and, unlike the secret finishers for Combattler or Voltes, you don’t lose Master Asia doing it.
Galva FX II (Kyoshiro Yuzuki/Nana Izumi): 6/10.  Generic resupply support unit.  Can become a second large EWAC for a huge money investment.  Good spirit set overall.

Combattler V

Combattler V (Hyoma Aoi/Juzo Naniwa/Daisaku Nishikawa/Chizuru Nanbara/Kosuke Kita): 8/10.  Standard 5-pilot super.  Not as much raw power as Daimos, but spirits for days is unquestionably good and you can squeeze like 4 Valor hits out of it in a map.  Also an okay support defender.  It’s like an 8.5 with Grandasher but that costs you Master Asia.
Kerot (Kinta Ichinoki/Chie Ichinoki): 1/10.  Only unit in the game with both Repair and Resupply on the same unit, but it’s weak and its support pool is built like a combat unit rather than a support one.  Dragonar-3 is the gold standard of repair mechs and Kerot doesn’t measure up.  Costs you Master Asia too.

Daitarn 3

Daitarn 3 (Banjo Haran): 5.5/10.  Tanky support defender.  Bad offense for a super relatively, and even worse accuracy that is further hampered by his Strike costing 20 SP.  So he doesn’t offer that much more than that and I’d rather just use Combattler or a battleship as a support defender, the battleship has more HP and Combattler has spirits for days. 

Mobile Fighter G Gundam

Shining Gundam/God Gundam (Domon Kasshu): 8.5/10.  All the power of Daimos in a unit that can dodge well and has a double image proc.  Notable flaws, however, are having Focus over Strike, so his accuracy might be suspect against Gundam bosses, and having only one part slot (which is almost locked to a Flight Module because none of his good attacks hit flying otherwise).
Gundam Maxter (Chibodee Crocket): 8/10.  Domon but a little worse, still very good.  Not flight module dependent.
Gundam Rose (George de Sand): 6/10.  Essentially no post-movement offense and doesn’t have Hit & Away.  Good if you give him that, but there are probably better candidates.
Dragon Gundam (Sai Saici): 8/10.  Domon but a little worse, still very good.  Not flight module dependent.
Bolt Gundam (Argo Gulskii): 7.5/10.  Domon but a little worse, still very good.  Flight module dependent.
Rising Gundam (Rain Mikamura): 6/10.  Miserably poor will gains make her combo attack with Domon essentially unusable, but she’s an okay unit in her own right.  But only okay.
Nobel Gundam (Allenby Beardsley): 6.5/10.  Brings a better and more usable combo for Domon than Rain, but is worse on her own merits.  Still isn’t bad on her own merits, so probably better than Rain overall.
Master Gundam (Master Asia): 8.5/10.  Domon but slightly worse, still great.  Flight module dependent.  Gives Domon more combos to exploit too.
Fuunsaiki (Fuunsaiki): 6.5/10.  Can be combined with Domon or Master Asia to give them more movement, flying, and a second spirit pool at the cost of being able to use combination attacks.  Worth it if not using Rain or Allenby because he lets you use something other than a flight unit on Domon.

Getter Robo Series

Getter 1/2/3, Getter Dragon/Liger/Poseidon, Shin Getter 1/2/3 (Ryoma Nagare/Hayato Jin/Musashi Tomoe or Benkei Kuruma): 7.5/10.  Very strong glass cannon super late game, but has an extremely slow start (which you still have to deal with if you want to keep its level up).  It is less glassy in the late game.
Texas Mack (Jack King/Mary King): 5/10.  Okay filler super.  Not much more than that.
Getter Q (Michiru Saotome): 4/10.  Original Getter 1 but worse that has Repair.  Meh.
Single Pilot Getter 1: 2/10.  Original Getter 1 without any of the things that make it redeemable.  Yuck.
Single Pilot Getter Dragon: 3/10.  Original Getter Dragon but worse and without any of the things that make it worth using.  Yuck.
Mecha Tekkoki (Tekkoki): 5/10.  Better unit than Texas Mack, but a worse spirit pool thanks to only one pilot.  Shrug?  Filler super.
Mecha Kochoki (Kochoki): 3/10?  Secret unit I didn’t get.  Doesn’t look great on paper and it costs you Master Asia.

As for the pilots without default units, all of whom can use either Single Pilot Getter 1, Single Pilot Getter Dragon, or Getter Q:
Musashi Tomoe: Keeping him alive past the midgame is a secret; he can’t pilot Getter 3 anymore if you do.  He’s not actually worth getting but it doesn’t cost you anything to do so.
Miyuki Saotome: She’s a secret and getting her costs you one of three Dual Sensors (+10 accuracy) in the game.  There’s a decent argument the part is better than her.
Risa: She’s also a secret, and you can only get her if you picked Soulgain, Vysaga, or Angelg.  Not really worth it but doesn’t cost you anything.

Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

Wing Gundam Zero (Heero Yuy): 4.5/10.  Bad accuracy, bad power, bad availability.  I like Heero but he isn’t good in this game.
Gundam Deathscythe (Duo Maxwell): 5.5/10.  Filler Gundam that needs a flight module to perform well against flying enemies.  Bad availability.
Gundam Heavyarms Kai (Trowa Barton): 7.5/10.  High power, cheap Strike, lots of range, a strong MAP and support attack.  Only drawback is availability.
Gundam Sandrock Kai (Quatre Raberba Winner): 5/10.  Duo but worse.
Altron Gundam (Wufei Chang): 6/10.  Basically a second Duo without issues against flying enemies.
Tallgeese III (Zechs Merquise): 6/10.  Decent filler unit but with bad availability.  Probably sees action in the last route split though.
Taurus (Lucrezia Noin): 2/10.  Methuss but worse.  Just no.  Shame because Noin is good but you can’t reassign Wing pilots in this game.

Martian Successor Nadesico

Here we have a bunch of superficially similar units that differ only in their potential for combo attacks, so I’m going to list them in those combo attack groupings.  Absent the combos, they’re all passable filler, but only that.

Aestivalis (Akito Tenkawa/Gai Daigoji): 6/10.  Stronger combo than Ryoko’s trio, but it has a much higher level requirement (which makes it unlikely you’ll have the combo available when it’s most useful in the midgame) and it’s range-1 locked.  Also, you can’t get both Gai and Master Asia, and without Gai, Akito is merely decent filler.
Aestivalis (Ryoko Subaru/Hikaru Amano/Izumi Maki): 7/10.  Basically the best filler units in the game.  Their combo attack is respectable, barrier piercing, and ignores support defense like all combos, they can spam it forever thanks to the Nadesico, and it has a low level requirement so you’ll have it in time to fight Shadow Mirror’s annoying support defense Gespensts.  If you screw up and lose the combo they’re still decent filler.
Aestivalis (Nagare Akatsuki): 5.5/10.  The one with no combos.  However, he has a good ace bonus and he’s still on par with the midrange UC units.  So, he’s the worst of the Aestivalises, but he’s still okay filler.
Daitetsujin (Tsukumo Shiratori): 0/10.  Secret unit, minimal availability, and getting it makes you fight what is effectively a superboss.  Using him also actively makes replays harder because of a NG+ quirk involving enemies that are later recruitable.

Mazinger Series

Mazinger Z (Koji Kabuto): 5/10.  Mediocre filler super robot.  Koji deserves better., he’s good but this isn’t.
Diana A (Sayaka Yumi): 2/10.  Meh, it’s a really shitty Getter Q.  Next.
Boss Borot (Boss): 1/10.  Waste of a deployment slot.
Minerva X: 5.5/10.  It’s Mazinger Z, minus finisher and flying, but with better weapon upgrade progression.  Honestly I think this is a winning trade.
Great Mazinger (Tetsuya Tsurugi): 6.5/10.  Strong offense on par with Daimos and lots of good combos that rely on you fielding worse units.  Still, combo fodder is a useful niche throughout the game when facing Shadow Mirror.
Venus A (Jun Hono): 2.5/10.  Meh, it’s a slightly better Diana A.  Next.  Jun is a pretty good pilot but there’s no reason to field enough Mazingers to make her a serious consideration.
Mass Produced Great Mazinger: 5.5/10.  It’s Great Mazinger with worse stats, no finisher and no flying.  Still slightly better than Mazinger Z and it has better combo attack options than Minerva X, but less availability.
Grendizer (Duke Fleed): 6/10.  Decent filler super robot; if you’re fielding Great Mazinger for combos, this is the one to pair up with it.  Duke takes too long to learn Soul and it’s his only damage boost. 
Double Spazer (Rubina): 4/10.  If you’re running Grendizer by itself, you might as well field this to combine it and improve Duke’s spirit pool.  It’s not worth much else and the availability is tragic though.
Marine Spazer (Hikaru Makiba): 1/10.  There’s like one water stage after Grendizer joins.
Drill Spazer (Maria Grace Fleed): 2/10.  The unit is basically useless but Maria is a pretty decent pilot like Jun.

There’s one pilot without a default unit:
Kirika: She’s a secret.  Getting her costs you the only Giga Generator in the game (max EN +200).  The part is likely worth more.

Metal Armor Dragonar

Dragonar-1 (Kaine Wakaba): 7/10.  Basically a Gundam with better movement, better post-movement offense, and flight, but worse peak offense. 
Dragonar-2 (Tapp Oceano): 6.5/10.  Worst of the Dragonar units, still decent filler.  Enables ranged combo attacks for Kaine.  It’s inaccurate but Tapp has Strike.
Dragonar-3 (Light Newman): 9.5/10.  He gives every unit in the 8 squares around him +30% hit chance and evasion just by being on the map, for free.  And it stacks with Focus.  All other EWAC units only give +15%.  He’s better off using his turns on Repair rather than trying to attack things, since his own offense is hot garbage.
Falguen MAFFU (Meio Plato): 6.5/10.  Secret unit, but you don’t lose anything going for him, so why not?  He’s the weakest of the units from this series by himself, but he has the relative advantage of coming with 5 upgrades to everything for free (so he can be slotted into a squad with little investment) and enabling a combo move that plays more to Kaine’s strengths than the standard Dragonar combination attack.  All in all, this makes him respectable enough filler.

Universal Century Gundam

Gundam (Amuro Ray): 7.5/10.  Surprisingly good, you’d think later units would obsolete it but nope.  Has the most limited range of the main UC units without option parts though.  In space, can combine with the G-Fighter for more movement, flight, and a second pilot.  Alternatively, Full Armor Gundam patches the range hole.  The two are mutually exclusive on a first playthrough.
G-Fighter: 6/10.  Easy to get secret unit, mutually exclusive with the Full Armor Gundam.  Basically an alternative Galva FX II that trades the EWAC bonus for being able to combine with Gundam, which is its primary useful function.
Gelgoog Char Custom: 5/10.  Filler mobile suit.  There are better ones, but it has chunky base stats at least.
Elmeth (Lalah Sune): 5/10.  Plays like a dodgy super robot.  You can’t get Master Asia with this.  Also, it’s space-only without option parts.  Lalah is actually one of the better UC pilots in this game, too, presuming you put her in Not This.
Zakrello (Roux Louka): 1/10.  Filler mobile suit.  It’d actually be pretty good if it wasn’t the last unit you get in the entire game, but you should have your UC bases covered by then.  Roux is mediocre.
Gundam Ez-8 (Shiro Amada): 5.5/10.  A (significantly) worse Heavyarms.  Shiro has a great spirit pool and is a prime contender for GP03 or the G-Fighter..
Zaku II Prototype (Aina Sahalin): 4/10.  Filler mobile suit; fittingly, Gelgoog but worse.  Aina has good support spirits and is better suited for a support unit, not this.
Apsalus II (Aina Sahalin): 2/10.  Secret unit; Elmeth but worse (but it doesn’t lock out Master Asia).  The lack of post-movement offense is dire and getting it costs you the earliest of the four EWAC Modules in the game, which I would consider more valuable.
Gouf Custom (Norris Packard): 6/10.  Secret filler mobile suit.  Comes with 5 upgrades across the board, making it cheap to slot in as ready-to-use filler.  Norris is okay.
Gundam GP01Fb (Kou Uraki): 6.5/10.  Pretty good and has a strong upgrade track.  Unlikely to see heavy use unless you’re running a very UC-heavy team, but that doesn’t make it bad or anything.  Kou is similar to Shiro, with a cheaper Strike but a more expensive Valor.
Gundam GP03 (Kou Uraki): 7.5/10.  An excellent unit, and pretty much the strongest UC unit in this game, but if you use it you’re pretty much committing the game’s only Dustproof to it forever.  It turns into the Gundam Stamen if it’s somehow shot down, which is basically just another GP01.
GM Custom (South Burning): 7/10.  Filler mobile suit with the best full upgrade bonus in the game, allowing it to inflict a 10 will penalty on anything it hits.  This applies to support attacks too, so you can dunk a boss’ will by 50 a turn with an appropriate pilot.  It’s an expensive investment but good planning leaves plenty of room for it.
Super Gundam (Kamille Bidan): 6.5/10.  Basically GP01 that trades a little power for a second lifebar.  I’d tend toward this being a slightly losing trade, since
Methuss (Fa Yuiry): 4/10.  Probably Methuss’ best showing in all of SRW.  I still wouldn’t use it unless you want two repair units though.  Fa sucks bad.
Hyaku Shiki (Quattro Bajeena): 4/10.  Filler mobile suit.  Quattro is spectacular, one of the best UC pilots in this game, but he really wants a better machine than this.
Z Gundam (Kamille Bidan): 7.5/10.  An excellent mobile suit.  Its full potential requires a Newtype and ideally you have one of the good melee pilots in it (Kamille is one).  Can be the best UC unit in the game with its full upgrade bonus, but that’s a huge investment.  Even without that, it’s still great, though.
ZZ Gundam (Judau Ashta): 8/10.  Judau’s availability is garbage but his ace bonus is absolutely bonkers and worth feeding him for.  That’s basically his role: flying around and dumping MAPs on grunts in the endgame, and he does it better than anyone else.
Qubeley Mk-II (Elpeo Puru/Puru Two): 5.5/10.  You get two of these, and they’re Sazabi but worse.  Given the late arrival, investing in them is questionable, but they’re good units if invested.  Puru and Puru Two are good pilots that complement each other, but you give up one of the only two Hero’s Marks in the game to recruit them.
Nu Gundam (Amuro Ray): 4/10.  It’s a great unit but it just comes too late to really bother investing in, since unlike ZZ it doesn’t really do anything terribly special you couldn’t do with the other UC units with much better availability.  As such, its only real use is if you want to field huge numbers of UC characters.
Sazabi (Quattro Bajeena): 5/10.  It really just comes too late.  Having three S terrain ranks does give it something resembling a small niche though.  Like the Nu, its only real use is if you want to field huge numbers of UC characters.
Re-GZ (BWS) (Kayra Su): 5.5/10.  Super Gundam but worse.

That leaves the unassigned pilots:
Four Murasame: She’s a secret, and is mutually exclusive with Rosamia.  There’s no reason not to recruit one of the two.  Four’s spirit set is more support-oriented, with Attune and Enable.  Four makes a better G-Fighter pilot than Rosamia, but a worse main pilot IMO.
Rosamia Badam: She’s a secret, and is mutually exclusive with Four.  There’s no reason not to recruit one of the two.  Rosamia’s spirit set is more of an offensive support set than Four’s; she gets Confuse and Exhaust instead (and replaces Four’s Detonate with Assail).  Rosamia makes a better main pilot than Four, but a worse G-Fighter pilot IMO.
Sayla Mass: Not secret, but she’s a temp.  Using her is necessary to unlock the G-Fighter on a first playthrough (she has to have more kills than Amuro at an early checkpoint).  She’s very good while she’s around, but there’s no way to keep her past her plot departure.

Voltes V

Voltes V (Kenichi Go/Ippei Mine/Daijiro Go/Hiyoshi Go/Megumi Oka): 7.5/10.  Standard 5-pilot super.  Not as much raw power as Daimos, but spirits for days is unquestionably good and you can squeeze like 4 Valor hits out of it in a map.  It has better spirits but worse attacks compared to Combattler..  Super EM Ball costs you Master Asia and sucks, I wouldn’t bother.

Zambot 3

Zambot 3 (Kappei Jin/Uchuta Kamie/Keiko Kamikita): 6/10.  It’s basically just an Attune bank; its combat isn’t really worth much.  It’s pretty much the best Attune bank though.

Battleships

You can’t not bring these, so they don’t get a score.

Argama/Nahel Argama/Ra Cailum (Bright Noa): The better of the game’s two battleships.  Bright has a sick ace bonus if you can manage to get it, and his Strike is reasonably priced so he can actually be okay at offense.  Ra Cailum’s HP is absurd.
Nadesico/Nadesico (Y-Unit) (Yurika Misumaru): 25 SP Strike?  Really?  And Yurika can’t hit the broad side of a space colony.  So mostly it’s just a support defense tank.

13

Unranked Games / Re: Dragon Quest XI

« on: June 29, 2020, 06:34:30 AM »

A lesser known fact, perhaps, in the US is that a number of skill effects in DQXI were changed from the 3DS version to the PS4/PC versions.

With the release of the Switch version in the US and its 2D/3D mode toggle, these are important to document now because if you play in 2D mode on Switch, the 3DS skill balance is used.

So, a full list of 2D mode changes (source: KuuzokuOuGlider @ GameFAQs):

General
- Pep Up state lasts 5-7 turns instead of 6-8.

Weapon skills
- The Whip skill Lashings of Love hits twice.  The per-hit damage is unchanged from PS4, meaning this skill's damage is effectively doubled in 2D mode.
- The Claw skill Can Opener does 6x base damage against machines in 2D mode, instead of 3x plus an additional 10.  The damage against non-machine enemies is unchanged (2x base).
- The Claw skill Propeller Blade's damage is not based on weapon damage in 2D mode, and instead scales like a magic spell on raw Strength.  (This means it's probably ITD, as are other abilities I call out like this)

Magic
- Zing has a fixed success rate of 5/8 instead of it scaling with Magical Mending (the amount of HP still scales with Magical Mending and is the same as PS4).
- Whack and Thwack success rates scale with whichever of Magical Might or Magical Mending is higher, whereas on PS4 they only scale with Magical Might.  The actual rate is unchanged aside from that; this means Serena's Whack/Thwack are more accurate, since she has no Magical Might to speak of.
- Kathwack's success rate is a flat 90% and does not scale with any stat, unlike PS4 where it scales between 75% and 90% based on Magical Might.

Luminary
- Plot-granted elemental sword skills always require the Luminary be equipped with the Sword of Light or one of its upgraded variants on 3DS; on PS4 the upgraded variants of the skills could be used with any 1-handed sword.

Erik
- Rubblerouser, etc. activate at turn start instead of activating just before the affected enemies' action.

Serena
- Doleful Dirge only increases elemental damage dealt by 30%, instead of the PS4's 40%.

Sylvando
- Ladies First doesn't grant the targeted female ally a full turn with the ability to change equipment/etc., but only allows spells, abilities, or basic physicals to be used.  (This is a lot more minor than it sounds on paper; it's just a technicality due to the different way 2D handles turns.)
- Ladies First cannot target male characters.  (On PS4 attempting to use it on a male PC just wasted Sylvando's turn.)

Other
- There's a lot of little changes to pep powers.  The thread doesn't have the English names for the pep powers listed, so I'll have to list these by the abilities that unlock them.
-- Luminary + Erik default: only hits once instead of twice, but the single hit does double damage (effectively the same)
-- Luminary Cutting Edge + Erik Sleeper Hit: sleep chance is 80% instead of 90%
-- Luminary Metal Slash + Erik Metalicker: does 4-6 damage instead of 5-6, and must be initiated by Erik instead of Luminary
-- Luminary Sizz + Erik Rubblerouser: Fire/Earth resistance reduction on the target always hits (unless immuned)
-- Luminary Flame Slash + Jade Crushed Ice: Does exactly 5 less damage per hit, and must be initiated by Luminary instead of Jade
-- Luminary Dragon Slash + Jade Hardclaw: Does exactly 15 more damage if the target is a dragon, and must be initiated by Luminary instead of Jade
-- Luminary Gigaslash + Jade Vacuum Smash: Jade's hit scales with raw Strength instead of using weapon damage; also, the order of the two hits is reversed
-- Luminary + Rab default: lasts 4-6 turns instead of 3-5
-- Luminary Dragon Slash + Hendrik Dragon Slash: Does exactly 5 less damage if the target is a dragon
-- Luminary Helichopter + Hendrik Frost Fangs: Luminary's hit scales with raw Strength instead of using weapon damage; also, the order of the two hits is reversed; also, stun chance is 15% instead of 25%
-- Veronica Zing Stick + Serena Divine Intervention: HP after revival from Reraise effect is fixed 50% instead of scaling from 50-80% on target's Magical Mending
-- Veronica Spelly Breath + Serena Midheal: lasts 4 turns instead of 5
-- Sylvando + Hendrik plot pep power: first and second hits scale with raw Strength instead of using weapon damage
-- Sylvando Kiss Me Deadly + Hendrik Holy Impregnable: requires Defending Champion instead of Holy Impregnable on 2D mode
-- Jade Air Raiser + Rab Rake 'n' Break: works completely differently in 2D mode, doing a single hit scaling with the combined ATK of Jade and Rab instead of doing two hits that scale with each of their stats separately
-- Serena's special oh-crap button enabled by Luminary + Serena + Rab: base healing is 20% instead of 40%, but Magical Mending scaling factor is doubled
-- Luminary + Erik + Serena: Erik's self-buff lasts 3 turns instead of 5
-- Luminary + Veronica + Sylvando: lasts 5-7 turns instead of 4-6
-- Luminary + Veronica + Rab: lasts 4-6 turns instead of 3-5
-- Luminary + Serena + Jade: lasts 4 turns instead of 5

14

Discussion / Re: Rate the Characters: The World is on Fire Edition

« on: June 29, 2020, 02:10:40 AM »

Incidentally, I forgot to mention Miluda in my post, and I feel like she comes off - moreso than any other Death Corps member we see in the game - as someone whose heart is truly in the right place, but whose rage at society's classism tragically prevents her from becoming an ally to Ramza.

Simply put, she has protagonist chops, but she's in the wrong story.

15

Discussion / Re: Rate the Characters: The World is on Fire Edition

« on: June 28, 2020, 08:15:53 AM »

I'm not going to post numerical rankings right now because I'm not too confident yet in my actual scale; I may edit them in at some later point.  Still, I'd like to throw in my commentary.

Ramza Beoulve - Ramza is the likeable character this game needed to be its protagonist, all in all, as an idealistic young noble who is naive to the injustices of Ivalice's society but horrified when he is made conscious of them.  FFT undercooks all of its protagonists, and Ramza is no exception there, but I think he suffers the least from this being as he gets the most screen time and opportunity to speak.  Still, FFT does not completely succeed in making the story truly about him - while he absolutely has more protagonist chops than, say, Vaan, it still occasionally feels like he's a bit of a secondary character in a story that belongs to Delita; in particular, once the story shifts focus from the class struggle to the machinations of the church, as Random points out, his role gets muddy and he ends up in a more reactive role - largely being jerked around by what the villains are doing to Alma.

Agrias Oaks - I basically agree with everyone else here; I like her general archetype, and she bounces off Gafgarion well, but she simply never gets enough screen time and suffers quite a lot from general FFT undercooking.  WotL gives her a little more depth with the added scenes with Mustadio showing that she isn't particularly classist.

Mustadio Bunansa - Feels like he's intended to be the Ramza's replacement goldfish in the plot after Delita leaves.  He doesn't get nearly enough screen time to sell the role (and, uh, going too far with it might make Ramza look worse, so maybe this is for the better?).  I think he could have been executed better by making him and his dad be more important allies to Ramza by making their archaeological expertise more important, even if doing so might have required taking a little mystery out of the Zodiac Stones.  As-is, he's pretty much just "guy who drags Ramza into the church plot by accident".

Rafa Galthana - I'm not terribly fond of the game's use of rape-as-drama for her backstory; it feels rather tacked on and unnecessary given that her rapist has plenty of other baggage to clearly indicate him as scum.  As Elf says her arc is also half-baked and ends unsatisfyingly, and she's basically a token person of color with no background on her people being given.

Malak Galthana - I said it on Discord and I'll repeat it here: I feel that Malak should not have been a PC.  I think that the rooftop scene - and his resurrection therein - is necessary to the greater narrative of the game as a vehicle to establish that the Stones are not intrinsically good or evil and their power is a reflection of the people using them.  However, the game does absolutely nothing to sell why he goes along with Ramza after that resurrection - or why Ramza accepts him.  In a lot of ways his character arc is basically Kain's, except that he wasn't under mind control and he never displays a hint of regret.  "Kain but worse" is pretty damning.

Cidolfas Orlandu - As the plot goes he's honestly kind of just there.  His backstory is underdeveloped, he has all of like two cutscenes and he barely contributes to either much.  I tend to think that his role in the story is pretty much as a final indicator that the conflict that the game is ostensibly about, the War of the Lions, simply just doesn't matter anymore; the final nail in the coffin for the two dueling regents' relevance as the church rises above both.

Meliadoul Tingel - Meliadoul's whole family is undercooked, and her most of all.  Most of her problems are kind of intrinsically linked to the problems with her father; I feel like selling her character would have really required that we see more of Vormav and Izlude and Meliadoul together, like, as far back as chapter 2, rather than her just showing up out of nowhere.

Alma Beoulve - On some levels she's basically Ramza but female and the game could have done a lot with her, but it just doesn't; unfortunately, she's basically relegated to being the ball.  Her role is pretty much entirely limited to being either a companion to Ovelia (wherein they both lament their absence of agency in a male-dominated society) or being a hostage to (successfully) manipulate Ramza.

Olan Durai - I think he needed more presence in the main story (like most of FFT's protagonists), but you really have to admire his bravery in actually committing a highly subversive true history to paper.

Ovelia Atkascha - The other ball, who is defined almost entirely by her lack of agency throughout the entire game, to the point where it finally makes her snap in the game's oft-debated final scene.  Ironically, for not being a PC she's probably the next least undercooked heroic character in the game after Ramza, because the game clearly cares a lot more about her than any of the men around her do.  I feel like we should have gotten more exposition into whether Vormav was actually truthful in claiming that she was a fake princess, but it turns out to be a throwaway detail in one of her last scenes in the game before the end (in the original). 

Beowulf Cadmus - Meh.
Reis Duelar - Meh.

Delita Hyral - There's not much I can say here that other posters in the thread haven't said better, other than to add that I think you could make an interesting analysis of gamer misogyny by comparing the FFT fandom's general reaction to Delita and the FE fandom's general reaction to Edelgard; on paper they're kind of similar archetypes.  Generally would agree that he's the best written character in FFT.

Algus Sadalfas - I largely agree with Elf's take here, he's the necessary foil to Ramza in chapter 1.  The game needs someone to lay bare the inherent depravity of Ivalice's system, and of the available characters he is the best candidate; Delita is an uplifted commoner and thus ineligible, Zalbag and Dycedarg are related to him, Larg is a direct superior to him, and Wiegraf, Miluda and the other Death Corps people are dismissable as misguided enemies.  Algus works for the role because he's the only true peer among the named cast in chapter 1 that Ramza has.

Gaff Gaffgarion - Pretty much a punch-clock antagonist who isn't clearly villainous or evil, he's simply just a guy doing his job and that job happens to be against you.  In a more modern period piece he'd be the soldier or cop that never questions the orders he's given.  Within this role, he's well-executed enough.

Wiegraf Folles - A bit undercooked.  Like Elf said, we don't get sufficient time to connect with him to sympathize when he compromises his ideals.

Gelkanis Barinten - The game would be improved by him not being in it, IMO.

Dycedarg Beoulve - If FFT were written in 2020 I'd question if he was based on Donald Trump, because he's very much in the same mold.  He very clearly cares about his family's power, and about his family to the extent that they influence that power - I'm not convinced that he cares about them as people so much as that he views them all as reflective on him like a good narcissist. 

Zalbag Beoulve - the Eric to Dycedarg's Donald.  The game wants you to feel sorry for him by showing him having an epiphany that he was wrong, but he never actually gets the chance to own up to his complicity before he's killed.

16

Tournaments / Re: RPGDL 2020 Season 1 Finals

« on: April 18, 2020, 08:29:55 PM »

No votes here because I'm lazy and I agree with the consensus anyway on the 2 matches I could vote, so whatever.

Rankings:

Child of Light - abstain because I haven't played it/don't know it that well
Pokemon X/Y - yes; concur that Mega Evolutions should be their own distinct nominations
Covenant of the Plume - no for the reasons others have stated

Datamine:

Haven't played any of them, don't object to any of them.

17

RPG Stats Forum / Re: Breath of Fire (Full)

« on: April 01, 2019, 08:20:47 AM »

So, a bunch of BoF weapons secretly are elemental but the game never tells you about it. 

Novalia Spirit's FAQ at https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/snes/563529-breath-of-fire/faqs/62514 lists them.  Since the notice at the bottom of the document asks not to reproduce the contents without permission, I've opted to link to the FAQ rather than list them directly in the thread.

Additionally, the secondary guide at https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/snes/563529-breath-of-fire/faqs/51630 has detailed spell effects (including status ailment and buff mechanics).

18

Discussion / Re: 2018 games in review

« on: January 13, 2019, 06:52:58 AM »

Alright, here's my 2018 gaming summary.  These are listed in no particular order, I'm not really bothering with ratings so much, and I'm not counting phone games or games I didn't complete a significant enough chunk of this year.  (This is kind of arbitrary.)

Monster Hunter: World (PS4, 2018)
Monster Hunter at its best, pretty much.  It doesn't really reinvent the wheel as the franchise goes; the really big change World brought to the franchise was the elimination of loading zones during hunts and the corresponding ability to move (slowly) while using consumables, since "running away through a loading zone to heal" is no longer possible.  It's nice to play Monster Hunter on a big screen again rather than a dinky handheld.  It's lighter on content than the more recent 3DS/Switch entries, but it doesn't actually feel lacking in content, and I don't have a Switch to enjoy that version anyway.

As usual, MH is best with friends, and luckily I have a consistent group to play with.

Secret of Mana (PS4, 2018)
What we have here is an exceedingly faithful remake of the original SNES game from 1993.  The controls are more fluid than the original version as they've added 8-directional attacking whereas the original was limited to 4.  On the whole, though, very little is changed from the original game, and this is both a blessing and a curse; all of the original game's flaws are still present, for sure.  Still, it's a competent remake - after playing this version, I don't see myself ever replaying the SNES version again.  Good on the devs for including the ability to toggle between the rearranged soundtrack or the original SNES soundtrack (unfortunately, the arrangements are overall a downgrade in my opinion) and also being able to tweak things like consumable item carrying limits - if you want to maintain the original version's limit of 4 of each consumable, you can, but you can also set it as high as 9.

I played the PS4 version, but it's also available on a bunch of other platforms.  Can't comment on the quality of other platforms.

Super Robot Wars X (PS4, 2018)
It's licensed, and translated, SRW!  It appeals to a nrrow niche as such.  Unlike 2016's Original Generations: The Moon Dwellers, the translation for this game is very competent; in fact, Bandai Namco contracted out to western SRW fans involved in some previous fan translations for the localization, and the quality shows. 

The game itself isn't perfect.  The original protagonists aren't quite as compelling as 2017's SRW V, and a couple of the licensed series don't blend into the game's setting very well - Gundam Reconguista in G and Buddy Complex in particular are handled quite awkwardly, in my opinion.  The premise behind the crossover was fairly original for the frnachise, setting all the action in an original universe which they worked a couple of the licenses into directly (Cross Ange and Gurren Lagann) and isekai'd in the rest.  Unfortunately, they only used the Gurren Lagann movie plot, which made its inclusion oddly unsatisfying; Simon shows up fairly early in the game but spends the overwhelming majority of the game just tagging along until the plots of most of the other licenses are done, because his own plot is too high stakes to do before then.  I also felt like the overall presentation of the finale was a bit weak by series standards.  Still, I enjoyed the game on balance.  I think I'd probably replay V before this one, maybe?  X was definitely stronger than V in some parts, but V's stronger endgame carries it a long way.  One big thing X does have over V for replays is an expert difficulty mode, though.

The game also has a Vita port, which has lower resolution and occasionally worse frame rates but is otherwise the same game.

Touhou Genso Wanderer: Reloaded (PC, 2018*)
This version of the game came out in 2018, anyway.  It's a 2018 localization of a port of an expansion to a 2017 localization of a console port of a 2014 doujin game.  Anyway!  It's Mystery Dungeon meets Touhou.  If you know Touhou and you know Mystery Dungeon games, you pretty much know what to expect.  It's competent at scratching that Mystery Dungeon itch.  Haven't finished it yet, and probably won't for a long time; game's bursting with content.  I played it on PC; it's also available on PS4.

Dragon Quest XI (PS4, 2018)
My impression of what I've played is that it starts off very strong, peaks early, and spends the rest of the game sliding.  I feel like it's pretty much the DQ franchise's answer to FF6, in a lot of ways (and that pattern is one of them).  anyway, it's dragon quest, it's good dragon quest, if you like dragon quest I'd be shocked if you don't like it.  if you don't like dragon quest it probably won't change your mind (but if you liked DQ8 and didn't like other ones, 11 is more like 8 than anything else).

Pretty much see what SnowFire said.  I don't disagree.

Persona 5 (PS3, 2017)
Started this in 2017.  Still didn't finish it in 2018.  Will definitely finish it early in 2019, though.  Game's oozing with style, that much I'll grant.  The plot is timely in a way that makes it frankly uncomfortable.  I definitely get why the game got the kind of hype it did but... frankly, it's overhyped, and Atlus is still getting worse, not better, at the whole "hurr durr gay panic is funny!" thing.  It's overall a game I would recommend but with significant reservations; the gameplay advancements are definitely appreciated, but on the whole, up to this point, I still liked P4 more.

Elminage Gothic (PC, 2012)
Finally made significant progress in this.  Elminage is a series of Japanese clones of classic Wizardry, basically in the mold of Wizardry 5, and Gothic, the fourth game in the Elminage series, is generally the most difficult/punishing/unforgiving of the franchise.  I've gotten about 3/4 of the way through the game.  Not much I can say about this though really: it's a genre I know doesn't appeal to most of the DL at large to begin with and is often frustratingly punishing even by the genre standards.

SD Gundam G Generation Genesis (PS4, 2016)
Another carryover from 2017 which will continue into 2019!  This is a mission-based SRPG of sorts; the missions cover the whole gamut of the Universal Century Gundam timeline from the One Year War through Gundam Unicorn, and while you can do them in any order, the later in the timeline you go, the higher the difficulty goes.  As such the game strongly encourages you to play through the timeline in chronological order.  The missions don't merely cover only the major anime series, either; they also cover a large variety of ancillary/obscure Gundam expanded universe works like the various untranslated PS2 games set in the One Year War and OVAs like MS IGLOO.  As you play through missions, you'll unlock more pilots and increasingly powerful mobile suits for them to use.  Pilots can't die, but destroyed mechs are lost forever, so careful play is rewarded.  I've finally gotten through all of the One Year War stages (which comprise about half of the game's total), so progress is slow but forward~

19

RPG Stats Forum / Re: Dragon Quest IV

« on: December 06, 2018, 09:25:11 AM »

http://ifs.nog.cc/hkaityo.hp.infoseek.co.jp/dq/dq4-1.html

So, this is a Japanese site that confirms that for DQ4, Blaze (Frizz), Firebal (Sizz) and Bang are separate elemental resistance values.  I have no idea how in the heck this would translate to the DL, but it's easily verifiable in-game: Blazeghosts are immune to Blaze but not immune to Firebal or Bang. 

This only really matters for Mara in any case, and even then I'm not sure it makes a lot of difference, but it's interesting.  Djinn thought it might have been documented on the old boards but not survived to the new ones.  In any case, here~

EDIT: On reflection it matters for bosses too.  I'm only looking up the major bosses right now, since it's kind of a pain in the butt finding them in Japanese.  Anyway: so, there's 6 damage elements recognized by DQ4 - Bang, Firebal, Blaze, Zap, Infernos, and IceBolt.  They cover the following spells:

Bang - Bang, Boom, Explodet
Firebal - Firebal, Firebane, Firevolt
Blaze - Blaze, Blazemore, Blazemost
Zap - Zap, Thordain
Infernos - Infernos, Infermore, Infermost
IceBolt - IceBolt, Snowstorm, IceSpears, Blizzard

There's also resistance flags for each of the following spells: Surround; Sleep (also covers Sleepmore, albeit in a special way to be discussed below); Beat (also covers Defeat); Expel; RobMagic; StopSpell; Chaos; and Sap (also covers Defence).

Monsters can have one of 4 "affinity levels" to each spell type, which affects how likely a spell of that type is to fail and have no effect on them.  DQ4 resistances are all or nothing; there is no damage reduction, spells either do full damage or miss entirely.  Affinity levels work as follows:

Level 1 - 100% chance of success
Level 2 - 75% chance of success
Level 3 - 25% chance of success
Level 4 - 0% chance of success

There is one exception to the above success rates, and that exception is Sleepmore.  Sleepmore rolls for success rate twice, and will hit if *either* check hits.  Also, it's already noted in the topic, but I'll restate it here: the random Sleep proc on the Sword of Lethargy does not check Sleep resistance at all, and works on everything in the game.

So, here's the Chapter 5 boss affinities.  Note that I can only guarantee these are accurate for DQ4 NES.

Anderoug: Bang 4, Firebal 3, Blaze 2, Zap 1, Infernos 1, IceBolt 1, Surround 2, Sleep 3, Beat 3, Expel 4, RobMagic 4, StopSpell 4, Chaos 3, Sap 1

Balzack: Bang 1, Firebal 1, Blaze 1, Zap 1, Infernos 1, IceBolt 4, Surround 4, Sleep 4, Beat 4, Expel 4, RobMagic 4, StopSpell 4, Chaos 4, Sap 4

Esturk: Bang 3, Firebal 3, Blaze 2, Zap 1, Infernos 4, IceBolt 2, Surround 4, Sleep 3, Beat 4, Expel 4, RobMagic 4, StopSpell 4, Chaos 4, Sap 3
(Note that while Esturk is vulnerable to Sleep, he can still make basic physical attacks while asleep as a special enemy property.  Since those tend to be his most damaging move, putting him to sleep can actually be dangerous.)

Gigademon: Bang 1, Firebal 1, Blaze 1, Zap 1, Infernos 1, IceBolt 1, Surround 4, Sleep 4, Beat 4, Expel 4, RobMagic 4, StopSpell 4, Chaos 4, Sap 1

Infurnus Shadow: Bang 3, Firebal 3, Blaze 3, Zap 1, Infernos 1, IceBolt 2, Surround 4, Sleep 4, Beat 4, Expel 4, RobMagic 4, StopSpell 3, Chaos 4, Sap 2

Keeleon: Bang 2, Firebal 1, Blaze 2, Zap 1, Infernos 1, IceBolt 2, Surround 3, Sleep 4, Beat 4, Expel 4, RobMagic 4, StopSpell 3, Chaos 4, Sap 1

Necrosaro: The final boss actually has different affinities across its phases as follows.
Phase 1-2: Bang 4, Firebal 2, Blaze 3, Zap 1, Infernos 2, IceBolt 2, Surround 4, Sleep 4, Beat 4, Expel 4, RobMagic 4, StopSpell 4, Chaos 4, Sap 3
Phase 3: Bang 4, Firebal 2, Blaze 3, Zap 1, Infernos 2, IceBolt 1, Surround 4, Sleep 4, Beat 4, Expel 4, RobMagic 4, StopSpell 4, Chaos 4, Sap 3
Phase 4: Bang 4, Firebal 3, Blaze 3, Zap 2, Infernos 3, IceBolt 2, Surround 4, Sleep 4, Beat 4, Expel 4, RobMagic 4, StopSpell 4, Chaos 4, Sap 2
Phase 5-6: Bang 4, Firebal 3, Blaze 3, Zap 2, Infernos 2, IceBolt 2, Surround 4, Sleep 4, Beat 4, Expel 4, RobMagic 4, StopSpell 4, Chaos 4, Sap 2
Phase 7: Bang 4, Firebal 3, Blaze 3, Zap 2, Infernos 2, IceBolt 2, Surround 4, Sleep 4, Beat 4, Expel 4, RobMagic 4, StopSpell 4, Chaos 4, Sap 3

Radimvice: Bang 4, Firebal 3, Blaze 4, Zap 2, Infernos 3, IceBolt 4, Surround 2, Sleep 4, Beat 4, Expel 4, RobMagic 4, StopSpell 4, Chaos 4, Sap 3

20

Discussion / Re: Ranking characters by in-game use: obscura edition

« on: June 20, 2018, 07:27:01 PM »

Alright, I've got another one here. 

Super Robot Wars OG: The Moon Dwellers

Finished this about two months ago, and feel reasonably comfortable with my thoughts on it now.  I got all SR Points (aka battle masteries) on my playthrough, which considerably increases the game's (already unusually high by SRW standards) difficulty.

Being an OG title, this is one of those games where most of the cast can be reassigned freely.  So all the scores are based on people using their default units, but I will sometimes comment on switches that make sense or improve things.

I've organized the character list by the SRW game they originated from before OG.  Newcomers are at the top.

Note: The translations for this game can be kind of questionable sometimes.  Nonetheless, I'm using the names displayed in game, even when they don't match Atlus' translations of OG1/2.

Newcomers

Super Robot Wars Judgment

Calvina Coulange (Bellzelute/Bellzelute Brigandy): 10/10.  The only thing that keeps her from being the clear best unit in the game is that she has to compete with the Neo Granzon for the last ~20% or so of the game.  And she still has a massive availability advantage over him.  There's really just nothing at all bad to say about her - she has a great spirit pool, she gets a subpilot (which can and probably should be Festenia for extra shots of Valor), she gets +10% damage against the overall most dangerous enemy faction in the game from her ace bonus, and she has a ridiculously broken MAP attack.  She's also basically unhittable.  If you don't care about SR points she can probably effectively solo large parts of the game I suspect (probably not bosses due to various gimmicks).

Touya Shiun (Granteed/Granteed Dracodeus): 8/10?  Dracodeus is really strong and basically unkillable, but unfortunately, you have to suffer through 29 stages of the original Granteed first.  And the original Granteed is hot garbage in OGMD, with the lovely combination of 5 move and not having any post-movement attacks above range 1 until it reaches like 130 will or something similarly dumb.  This means most of the time it will be lagging behind your army and everything will be dead by the time it gets there.  It also suffers from getting its finisher way, way too late (in the third to last map of the game).  Still, a basically unkillable super with 3 pilots has a pretty high floor for usability.  I wouldn't question you benching Touya for every stage he's not forced until you get Dracodeus though.  It's forced for the final boss map.

Al-Van Ranks (Raftclans Aurum): DNR.  Comes too late to really rank.  I did use him in my final team, so he's at least perfectly fine filler.

Super Robot Wars GC/XO

Akimi Akatsuki (Soulsaber FF/Super Soulsaber FF): Didn't use him enough this playthrough to really judge.  On paper, he looks pretty good, and like Touya, a super with 3 pilots has a pretty high usability floor.  Soulsaber is not quite as durable at base though.  Note that you can only use one of the Soulsabers at a time; if you use Akimi then Akemi is shunted into being a subpilot, and vice versa.

Akemi Akatsuki (Soulsaber GG/Super Soulsaber GG): 8/10.  Very solid ranged super.  I personally liked it better than the time or two I was forced to use Akimi by plot, but they're both good.  Akemi has to wait longer for her finisher than Akimi does, but still gets it early enough that you get to use it heavily.  Both Soulsabers are pretty much indestructible if you give them a barrier option part like G-Territory, since the pilots have Potential or Prevail or whatever they're calling it now.  Soulsaber is often forced in one form or another, so best to develop it.

Sieg Altolied (Leonisis Hagar): 5/10 or so?  Sieg is actually pretty decent but his default unit is a severe mismatch to his seishin pool.  If you want to use him, he's going to play much better in one of the extra Grungusts or Giganscudo or the like.  Even then, he's held back a bit by having no Iron Wall (though you can patch this with a subpilot in Grungust Type-3) and a relatively expensive Strike (20 instead of the typical 15).  As for his default unit, it's also quite good - probably the second best non-locked melee real in the game that doesn't depend on a telekinetic pilot - despite its lack of an ALL weapon.  It's a pretty solid candidate for a filler melee unit you're using who doesn't have Telekinesis and doesn't get the Gespenst Haken.  It's just not a good machine for Sieg.

Sally Emil (Leonisis Virga): 9/10.  Basically the optimal twin unit partner for Calvina, as one of the only reals that has a post-movement ALL weapon besides Bellzelute and also has compatible movement types.  Sally herself is fairly average but comes with everything she needs to and has an acceptable seishin pool.  If you don't want to use her, of course, any good ranged pilot can fill the seat and will appreciate the unit, which is probably the best non-locked ranged real in the game for a pilot without telekinesis.  Whoever you put in the thing, they should be glued to Calvina at the hip, and you should be using Calvina, so.

Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier

Haken Browning (Gespenst Haken): 9/10.  Truth be told, I didn't actually use *him* much, but I used his mech extensively with pilots that are worse than him.  He's very good, and if Leonisis Hagar is the second best non-locked melee real in the game for non-telekinesis pilots, Gespenst Haken is the first best.  Very respectable power, and has some of the greatest battle dialogue in the game to boot regardless of who you put in it.  Speaking of which, it always gets Aschen Broedel as a subpilot, even if you put someone else in the mech instead of Haken, and she has Accel and one of only two sources of the enemy will debuff seishin in the game, so that's pretty invaluable too.

The Great Battle II: Last Fighter Twin

Skull Knight: DNR, final stage bonus.

Returning Characters

Super Robot Wars: Original Generation Exclusive

Ginto Kitaumi (Hagwane): DNR.  You're always forced to bring it when the plot dictates, so DNR.  It's an OG battleship, which is not all that great.  And yes, they did call it Hagwane.  From my understanding Banpresto has actually fairly consistently used this romanization when referring to the ship in first party promotional materials, which doesn't make it any less dumb.  (It apparently derives from the fact that the ship's name uses archaic Japanese characters that aren't normally really used in modern Japanese anymore.)

Lefina Enfield (Hiryu Kai): DNR, see Ginto.  Worse than Hagane in this game, mostly because Hagane has Accel and Hiryu Kai doesn't.

Kurt Bittner (Kurogwane): DNR, see Ginto.  The worst of the battleships because it only has one pilot.

Ing Wish (EX Exbein): 9/10.  Unlike 2nd OG, you can now kick him out of this mech and give it to any of your pilots with telekinesis.  It's the best ranged telekinesis mech in the game, flat out, and even if you don't have Ing piloting it you should have SOMEONE piloting it because it's seriously good.  Two really strong ALL weapons which run off ammo and a really strong post-movement melee attack for good measure.  Really the only things that make it worse than Bellzelute are that the ALL weapons aren't post-movement, the finisher's EN cost is atrocious, and it doesn't have a MAP attack.  Whatever?  It's good.

Kohta Azuma (G Compatible Kaiser): 9/10.  Solid super with a damage shield and a pilot with prevail.  It's basically unkillable and it does good damage, not much else to be said.  It's technically a combiner with 2 pilots, and you can separate them but there's never a good reason too that I can see.  Mechanically speaking it's kind of the Mazinger of this game really, but not quite as dominant as a Mazinger often is.  Still good, cheap valor helps a lot.  Also, he's forced for endgame, so ignore him at your peril.

Michiru Hanaten (G Bankaran): 7.5/10.  Basically the Boss Borot of this game, except instead of having really shitty durability it has really absurd durability (I think highest raw armor stat in the game?) so it's actually pretty good.  There are games where I'd rate a unit like this higher, but it has stiff competition in this game.  Biggest problem is Michiru's seishin pool is kind of junk.

Katina Tarask (Gespenst mk-II Mass Production Model Kai): 7/10.  As usual for her, pretty decent in spite of the Gespenst, is best moved to a stronger red unit such as the Grungust Type-3 or even an Exbein Boxer/Gunner in spite of her lack of telekinesis.  The color IS important due to her ace bonus.

Russel Bergman (Gespenst mk-II Mass Production Model Kai): 1/10.  There's simply no reason to bring him in his own mech ever.  He is one of the two best choices for a subpilot in Grungust Type-3 though, since his support seishin pool is still awesome.  But you want him not actually taking up a deployment slot ideally.

Kai Kitamura (Gespenst mk-II Mass Production Model Kai): 7/10.  Actually pretty decent in spite of the Gespenst, since he's one of the few pilots to get Maximum Break activation access by default and he has Attacker, which you can't hand out to everyone in this game.  That said, if you're going to use Kai you should strongly consider giving him the Gespenst Haken as his bonus still applies to it and it's a much better machine.

Latooni Subota (Wildraubtier Schnabel): 6.5/10.  ... I hate to say it, but Moon Dwellers is a poor showing for her.  She's usable, but she noticeably lags behind all the pilots with telekinesis now, and she also noticeably lags behind all the newer characters with shiny custom units.  And the Schnabel frankly sucks, IMO.  Since her offensive stats are balanced, she's a prime candidate for one of the Leonisis mechs, or Gespenst Haken, provided you don't go meme it up with Royal Heartbreaker, which might honestly be her best use.  That's certainly what I ended up doing with her in the end.

Shine Hausen (Fairlion Type-Something): DNR.  Deploy her with Latooni in the Fairlion or not at all, there really is no middle ground.  By herself she's awful.

Radha Byraban (Gespenst mk-II Mass Production Model Kai): See Russel, everything I said about him applies to her.  Russel is better at supporting the Grungust Type-3 itself while Radha is better at supporting the rest of your team.

Rishu Togoh (Grungust Type-0): 8.5/10.  I mean, he's basically just OG1 Sanger.  Which still holds up in this game just fine.  Shame you can't reassign the Type-0 except to him or Sanger.

Amala Burton (Galilnagant): 8/10.  Basically the ideal twin unit to partner with Rim or Glacies, as her ranges and weapons sync up extremely well with either (good post-movement attack with ALL-typed finisher).  Low availability is kind of a drag.

Yon Gebana (Pfeil III): 6/10.  The Pfeil is kind of not good and she honestly might be better off in a Gespenst.  Maybe.  She has a secret connected to getting her 70 kills that will earn her a significantly better unit on NG+.  As a pilot I felt she was merely okay.

Super Robot Wars EX

Masaki Andoh (Cybaster): 7/10.  Not that impressive in this game to be honest.  He lacks ALL attacks and he has accuracy problems with only Focus to help patch them.  Plus he has low availability.  Of the four lategame units coming out of the Masoukishin games he's probably the worst this time around.  He just comes too late for Cyflash to really shine too.

Ryune Zoldark (Valsione R): 7.5/10.  Pretty good overall, if not amazing.  She's basically a worse Granteed Dracodeus - slightly worse offense, significantly less durable (though she can dodge sometimes).  She does have a post-move MAP though, albeit a very weak one.  Better than Masaki this time.  As usual Valsione R can equip option weapons, and while few of them are relevant to it, this does diversify Ryune's options a bit.

Shu Shirakawa (Granzon/Neo Granzon): 10/10.  I don't think I actually have to explain this, do I?  He's every bit as terrifying as he ever was in his appearances as a boss.  Except he's yours now.  Yeah.  He's hideously broken, enjoy - he takes half damage from everything for free, can initiate Maximum Breaks, has the most powerful weapon of any mech in the game, has an absurdly strong post-move MAP, etc. etc. etc.  Him and Calvina together tend to leave very little for any of your other characters to do.

Super Robot Wars 4

Irmgult Kazahara (Grungust Kai): Probably 8.5/10?  Honestly I never used him.  But he's good on paper; he has a good seishin set, prevail, can initiate maximum breaks, and the Grungust Kai is as good as the other Grungusts still.  I just don't like him as a character much, plus I was biased against the dumb romanization of his nickname ("Irum").

Shin Super Robot Wars

Ryusei Date (R-1/SRX): 9/10.  SRX is still great.  R-1 is still shit.  You can actually form SRX as soon as he joins pretty much, though you can't do anything with it till he reaches level 18 due to telekinesis level requirements.  Only flaw of SRX really is that it takes 3 deployment slots still.

Raidiese F. Branstein (R-2 Powered/SRX subpilot): 6/10 (based on use outside of SRX).  Probably not really worth fielding outside of SRX honestly, but the R-2 is at least passable.  His seishin pool isn't great as a standalone, but he's one of only two pilots with Smite that can pilot a mech with option weapon access so he can be used as your debuffer.

Aya Kobayashi (R-3 Powered/SRX subpilot): 1/10 (based on use outside of SRX).  R-3 is one of the worst units in the game.  If you want to use her as a pilot outside of SRX, which isn't completely invalid since she can initiate Maximum Breaks, give her a unit that isn't terrible like EX Exbein.

Super Hero Sakusen

Viletta Vadim (R-GUN Powered): 7/10.  She can initiate Maximum Breaks, but you'll probably want to put her in a better unit if you use her for that.  Her main use is enabling the SRX's combination attack, but said combination attack is better if you take her mech and give it to Mai instead.  Still, Mai can't initiate Maximum Break and Viletta can, so that's something in her favor.  Anyway, she's plenty usable and she has cool music.

Compati-Hero

Guiliam Jeager (Gespenst Type RV): 8/10.  Pretty much an ideal partner for Alfimi, since SP Regen is a nice thing to combine with confusion as a twin seishin.  As a combat unit, he's decent, but only so.  Pretty much most of his worth is that Confusion spam.

Super Robot Wars Compact 2

Kyosuke Nanbu (Alteisen Riese): 7.5/10.  Could be worse, but Kyosuke is really feeling the fact that he hasn't gotten a midseason upgrade since OG2.  I wouldn't deploy him without Excellen, but Rampage Ghost is still worthwhile.

Excellen Browning (Rein Weissritter): 7.5/10.  See Kyosuke, all the same points apply.

Alfimi (Person-Lichkeit): 9.5/10.  To be clear: The mech itself is really mediocre, Alfimi's worth is 100% being an Inspire bot to give all your characters who lack Strike guaranteed hits forever since she's also got SP Regen (which you can't give to anyone who doesn't have it innately).  Pretty much a must-deploy, but it's legitimate to never put her near the front lines.

Super Robot Wars Alpha

Kusuha Mizuha/Brooklyn Luckfield (Grungust Type-3/Ryuko-o/Koryu-o): 8.5/10 overall (taking all the units into account).  The Chokijin are picked up pretty early in this game.  I've rated them together since there's really no reason to use them separately ever.  I guess if you ever consider it, Kusuha is better alone than Bullet is, as usual.  Anyway, all three units are solid workhorse Supers.  Koryu-o is better than Ryuko-o early in maps but Ryuko-o is superior at 120+ will.

Ryoto Hikawa (Exbein Boxer/Exbein Gunner): 8/10.  Ryoto's a great pilot but Exbein Boxer is kind of merely okay since it doesn't have an ALL attack.  Exbein Gunner is probably better.

Rio Meilong (Exbein Gunner/Exbein Boxer): 7/10.  Ryoto but worse.  Her Exbein is red and might be a good option for Katina.  The Exbeins' damage shields require telekinesis, but all of the attacks are usable without.

Tasuku Shinguji (Giganscudo Duro): 8/10.  Workhorse super etc. etc.  I didn't use it much because it looks stupid but it definitely gets the job done.

Leona Garschtein (Siegerlion): 8.5/10.  Let me be clear about this rating: Siegerlion is kind of junk.  However, besides Rai, she's the other pilot with Smite that can pilot units capable of equipping option weapons, making her the other choice for a debuffer, and probably the better one over Rai because you should probably be using him to form SRX.  You really don't want to fight the lategame bosses in this without debuffs, *especially* if you got into Hard difficulty from SR Point acquisition.  There are other options, but she's the best one as she's the only one who can use Armor Down L3, which is an extra -250 armor over the Armor Down L2 you'll get from using SRX's finisher or Shu's Gran Worm Sword (not to mention you'll be giving up their actual peak offense).  She's a good TK pilot, so the usual unit choices apply; she makes another good choice for EX Exbein if you don't want to use Ing.

Yuuki Jegnan (Razangriff Raven): 6/10.  Razangriff is kind of junk and wastes Yuuki's telekinesis.  If you're going to use him he should probably get an Exbein Gunner.

Rilkara Borgnine (Randgriz Raven): 4/10.  Basically Yuuki but worse.  Carla's actually about even with him as a pilot (slightly worse stats, slightly better seishins), but the Randgriz is really bad.  If you're going to use her, Exbein Gunner, etc.  She's basically Katina with telekinesis honestly.

Mai Kobayashi (ART-1): 7/10.  Better in the R-GUN Powered.  This mech is only really worthwhile if you intend to make serious use of Ryusei/Rai/Aya outside of SRX, which you probably shouldn't.  It's not awful though.

Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden

Sanger Zonvolt (Dygenguar): 9.5/10.  Would be 10/10 in a game that didn't have Calvina and Shu, probably.  Stellar unit, but he can't quite solo maps the way they can.

Super Robot Wars Alpha 2

Arado Balanga (Wildwurger): 7/10.  Essentially Kyosuke but slightly worse.  Not really worth using outside of the combination attack, which is about equal to Rampage Ghost.

Seolla Schweitzer (Wildfalken): 7.5/10.  Essentially Excellen but slightly worse but with a better personal seishin pool.  Not really worth using without exploiting the combination, at least in this unit.

Ibis Douglas/Srey Presty (Hyperlion): 8/10.  Solid unit with a rough start on account of shitty ammo counts.  What a shitty romanization though.  Three pilots is pretty grand.  Biggest flaw is that it's hard to find a good twin unit for because of the eccentric as hell ranges on her attacks, and her post-movement options are awful.  She also needs Hit & Away, so she's a project.

Ratsel Feinschmecker (Aussenseiter): Trombe/10.  Okay, seriously, 9.5/10.  He's basically a slightly worse Calvina who happens to have an amazing combo attack with Sanger so.

Super Robot Wars Alpha 3

Touma Kanou (Rai-o): 8/10.  Good workhorse super with a post-move ALL attack and a very cheap finisher, making him the other obvious partner for Calvina.  He barely has any plot in this game, so I didn't actually use him much.  Unfortunately, his seishin pool is absolutely awful and he has accuracy problems.

Serena Recital: DNR, one-stage cameo (in a route split to boot).

Super Robot Wars Advance

Axel Almer (Soulgain): 9/10.  Really good as always.  Can't really go wrong with him.

Lamia Loveless (Angelg): 8/10.  Basically Axel but worse.  Vaisaga is better than Angelg in this game in general, IMO, but both are decent.  You lose nothing by giving her Vaisaga since it doesn't have a default pilot.

Super Robot Wars Reversal

Raul Greden/Fiona Greden/Despinis Greden (Excellence Rescue): 7.5/10.  Your only dedicated repair + resupply bot for this game.  Has middling offense, not completely fail.  Later in the game, Despinis becomes the main pilot, Raul and Fiona get their own combat units, and she gets two new subpilots.  This is generally an improvement as they have better support seishin pools than Raul/Fiona did.

Raul Greden (Excellence Gunstriker): 7.5/10.  Reasonably good hybrid melee/ranged real mech.  He's forced into this by plot midgame, and you can't take him out of it after that point.

Fiona Greden (Excellence Gunstriker): 7.75/10.  Basically Raul with a slightly better seishin pool.  The units themselves are identical.  You can deploy both together.

Super Robot Wars Destiny

Joshua Radcliffe (Geant Chevalier): 4/10.  Holy balls this thing is awful - it's actually better to ditch his midseason upgrade from 2nd OG and use his earlygame unit because the "upgrade" has no post-move weapons until 120 will.  Or use Fortegigas.  Fortegigas is actually very good.  If you ditch the midseason upgrade and use Aile Chevalier it's like a 6 or 6.5 or something.

Joshua Radcliffe (Fortegigas): 9/10.  Now, see, this is more like it.  Using Fortegigas effectively removes one of Rim or Glacies from your roster though as they have to take up the role of subpilot to Josh.  It's worth it.  IMO, Rim has a slightly better seishin pool, but you're losing a bit more by giving up Dea Blancheneige than you are giving up Fabularis.  I mostly used Glacies as the subpilot.

Cliana Rimskaya (Dea Blancheneige): 7.5/10.  Quite a bit better than Geant Chevalier.  The finisher is ALL, which can make it awkward for twinning, and by using this you give up the ability to have Rim as a subpilot in Fortegigas, where she's a slightly better choice than Glacies.  Base form Blancheneige is a downgrade from this, unlike with Josh and the Aile Chevalier.

Glacies (Fabularis): 7.5/10.  Basically a weaker but more evasive Rim.  She has Smite, but you can't equip debuffing weapons on the Fabularis, unfortunately.  Finisher is ALL, so she has the same twinning issues.

Super Robot Wars MX

Hugo Medio/Aqua Centrum (Cerberus Ignite/Garmraid Blaze): 8.5/10.  There's actually 4 units involved here, since it transforms like Ryuko-o/Koryu-o.  Garmraid is a super, Cerberus is a real, Hugo's units are melee focused, Aqua's are range focused.  Hugo's are generally stronger, but Aqua's Cerberus Ignite has an ALL finisher.  Aqua is much more of a project as she needs Hit & Away added.

Real Robot Regiment

Arriere Ogre (Flickerei Geist): 7.5/10.  Basically a slightly better Kyosuke that also has a combination attack with him.  At worst she's a cheap Accel-bot for a twin unit, so she actually is worth deploying even if you don't use Kyosuke, though her performance is merely middling by herself.

Devant Ogre (Endlich Geist): DNR, final stage secret bonus.

21

General Chat / Re: Fire Emblem Heroes Topic: You knew this was coming!

« on: May 11, 2018, 10:52:41 AM »

If you just want to hold tier 18, you don't need merges at all - just doing full skill inheritance will be sufficient.

With that out of the way, for Arena to not be frustrating, you generally need the following:

• Some way of dealing with Reinhardt.  A green unit with at least decent RES, or a blue unit with high RES, and either Distant Counter or a ranged attack handles this nicely.  You can get by with lowish RES if you give this unit Triangle Adept 3, though you'll need to keep them very far away from red units if you do so.  If you're going the ranged attack route, a tome is slightly preferable since Reinhardt's RES is lower.
• Some way of dealing with Brave Lyn.  A unit with at least decent DEF and either Distant Counter or a ranged attack handles this nicely.  You'll very likely want Bowbreaker 3 on this unit to keep her from doubling you (and force a double on her) as well.  A Raven tome will reduce the damage you take from her.  Pairing it with Triangle Adept 3 will do so even more, but you then run the risk of running into the rare Lyn who runs Cancel Affinity and those will ruin your day.
• Note that the above two roles can be filled by the same unit, for example, Cecilia with Gronnraven+.  Also note that if you can only fit one, dealing with Brave Lyn is far more important than dealing with Reinhardt, as she's far more common to face than him.
• If you're running a dragon, especially if they're a green dragon, you should strongly consider running some manner of strong blue unit to deal with Falchions.
• Enemy Phase builds, in my experience, are generally preferable.  However, it's a good idea to have at least one ranged unit for times when you can't safely bait - but not wholly necessary if your units are durable enough.
• It *is* absolutely essential that you have all skill slots filled with a maxed-out skill.  In other words, whatever you use, every unit should have an assist, a special, an A skill, a B skill, a C skill, and a sacred seal.
• At the tier 18 level, movement assists are generally preferable (Reposition, Swap, Pivot, Draw Back, etc.)  Which one you use is a matter of personal taste; I usually prefer Reposition for most units and Pivot for armors, but your mileage may vary.
• Special choice is usually best dictated by what you want to do with the unit.  Moonbow and Glimmer are always generically useful; Glimmer is marginally better for units with high ATK, and Moonbow is marginally better for units with low ATK.  Astra is a significantly slower but stronger variant of Glimmer, if you have some means of significantly speeding up your special charge; generally speaking if you have enough ATK to make Glimmer better than Moonbow you won't need the extra power Astra offers.  Luna is a slower but stronger variant of Moonbow, possibly worth using if you can speed up your special charge.  Units you intend to use as defensive walls can also consider Noontime, Sol or Aether; Noontime charges faster than Sol but heals less.  Aether combines the effect of Sol and Luna, but has an extremely long cooldown, which can make it a bit scary to rely on.  Units with very high DEF or RES may want to consider Bonfire/Iceberg respectively (or their slower/more powerful versions, Ignis/Glacies).
• The A slot is generally about improving your stats.  Fury 3 is almost always generically useful here and is available from 4* Hinata, making it relatively cheap to inherit.  Some units may have better skills in their base kits, of course.  Keep in mind the role you're going to use the unit for and consider synergy with the other passives.  Life and Death 3 offers a little more power than Fury 3, but is more expensive and is extremely risky; I'd generally only use it if you have some way of preventing your targets from counterattacking you, such as Desperation/Brash Assault or a Firesweep weapon.  Close Def 3 and Distant Def 3 are generically good for tanks, but both are rare for actual inheritance, and you're more likely to access them on your sacred seal slot.  Triangle Adept 3 is a double-edged sword; it makes you essentially autowin when you have WTA, but also essentially autolose when you have WTD.  It's a very strong skill, but don't put it on all 3 of your core units or you risk being walled by mono-colored defense teams.
• The B slot tends to be more utility-based.  Units with low SPD often like Quick Riposte 3 here.  Breakers are also a common and good option.  This is probably the hardest slot for which to make general recommendations.
• The C slot tends to be for team buffs and debuffs.  These are really a matter of preference, just make sure the slot is full.  Threaten skills can be really good on tanks, Ploy skills on units with high RES (except Panic Ploy, which wants high HP).  Note that Panic Ploy's value is significantly reduced in PvE content outside the arena due to inflated enemy HP, though.
• Don't forget to make sure every unit you use in arena has a sacred seal of some kind equipped, it does affect your score.
• One out of Alfonse, Sharena, Anna, or Fjorm will always be a bonus unit in any given season.  If you build all four of them up with at least basic builds, you can be guaranteed to always have a decent bonus unit.  Fjorm is the strongest of the four in general outside of arena.

22

General Chat / Re: What Games are You Playing 2018?

« on: April 02, 2018, 05:17:20 AM »

Niijima seemed potentially okay-ish, but that might just be the "Good cap, fascist cop" effect talking. Regardless, game isn't subtle and I could see this becoming grating over dozens of hours of story. We shall find out in due time.

I've only been able to play Persona 5 in very short bursts for precisely this reason.  It's definitely a good game, a damn good game even, but it feels almost too timely with respect to current events, in a way that makes it deeply uncomfortable to play.  I suspect that some payoff will eventually be forthcoming, but if it's anything like a typical Persona game then I'm probably still 30 hours away from it and the game thus far is kind of badly missing the core essence of what I play video games for (to escape from shitty reality, not remind me of it).

As social commentary though? It hits the mark right on the nose.

I haven't posted for a while, so some collected thoughts on crap I've played lately:

Super Robot Wars V

Incredibly enjoyable game, even beyond the novelty of being a licensed SRW game you can play in English.  The translation is even legitimately quite good - it's not flawless, but it's a game you could sell in US stores and not be embarrassed about the localization.  One of the better SRWs I've seen writing-wise in terms of integrating the different plots together, for sure.  The game itself is quite easy, but for SRW I consider that a net positive because it means you can use whatever units you like for character favoritism without really worrying about how good they are.  Cross Ange cast was surprisingly much more likable than I was expecting given what I knew of the show.  It managed even to not really drag so badly like SRW games often do in the endgame, which is a plus.  (Still slowed down some, but not nearly as badly as is typical.)

Super Robot Wars OG: The Moon Dwellers

Not as good as V, in any respect.  The translation is functional but pretty bad.  The game itself is much harder than the usual SRW fare, which takes some getting used to, and is frankly full of mechanics that are often more annoying than fun (enemies that evade or defend against your attacks are interesting the first time, then you realize that they're nothing but padding to make everything take longer and they do it over and over and over and over again). 

The plot itself is also a clear transitional game; the main focus is on the SRW J and GC characters, with a secondary focus on Fighter Roar from the Great Battle series.  And the focus is definitely in that order; the J plot dominates the game overall, and it's executed quite a bit better than its home game.  Touya isn't a whiny prat, for one.  Calvina is initially a bit more bitchy but also mellows out a little faster and has much, much better reasons to forgive Al-Van than in J (like, for instance, the fact that in OG he actually had nothing at all to do with killing her comrades).  The Fury are given an internal faction war which mostly serves as a vehicle for making Al-Van thoroughly a sympathetic character, as opposed to the more gray character he was in J.  I can't speak for how the details of the GC plot in this game differed from their original context since I don't know GC much - the main thing I know is that the two playable Gardisordians defect much earlier in this than originally - but its protagonists are enjoyable characters.  However, their plot practically feels like filler between the J and Great Battle arcs that conveniently gave them a chance to recycle some 2nd OG assets by having the Zuvorg/Zovork/whatever have a rogue faction for the GC villains to ally with, and is wrapped up in a way that basically ensures the characters will have no future impact on the OG series plot besides being there and having a cool mech.  And all of it feels like it's essentially a filler arc to bridge the gap between Alpha 2 and Alpha 3.

23

General Chat / Re: Record Keeping Final Fantasy Record Keeper

« on: May 21, 2017, 01:43:51 AM »

My FF4 banner haul was Rosa's stupid bow and Edward's stupid harp, so yay I got the cool SSB for the character eternally gimped by collabs in global.

Quite handily in "f*** this game" mode right now. :V

24

General Chat / Re: Fire Emblem Heroes Topic: You knew this was coming!

« on: May 16, 2017, 03:39:39 AM »

Brave Bow exists too but has the problem of being colourless. And I agree about the downsides of melee you describe, especially in the case of Brave since brave users don't really love being attacked.

Obviously you can't just spread Dire Thunder everywhere but it's telling that the most common player blue mage setup is Dire Thunder, not Blarblade. (In fairness, some of this is just that Nino/Tharja probably have better stat builds than any blue mage, so if you're going to run a blade tome you might as well use one of them.) EDIT: Man I forgot about Linde entirely. Haven't seen her in the arena in ages, is that just me?

You're right that WTA over colourless in the arena is a little less important than it is in stratum/GHB/etc. because the former fundamentally has to play by the rules for stats (which is that ranged characters are weaker) and the latter is free to buff them. But (a) I still think it's pretty important, e.g. in your own post you talk about how you needed to tinker specifically with Nino's setup to avoid a OHKO from Takumi; (b) most of us would probably like to a similar set of characters for both types of content since the resources (especially time) needed to created a strong team are in reasonably short supply and while there are slight differences, essentially the same units perform well in both. (The new defence battles are a bit different in this regard, e.g. healers are better in them.

The litmus test for me is "would my team be better if I swapped Gronnraven+ for Gronnblade+ (and made a bunch of other setup adjustments to optimise for this obviously). And my own personal conclusion is that it wouldn't be. This isn't to say that it wouldn't be different for some other teams, obviously, but it's really a team-by-team thing. <mc> Why not both?


On the tome note, can someone explain to me the appeal of Naga? I see quite a lot of Julias in arena and I don't really get it. Julia herself has fine stats (35 atk is good, 32 res gives her a niche) so I understand why one might use her, but Naga doesn't have the perks of the tomes we were just describing, just +2 def/res on defence which doesn't make much difference and the ability to blow up blue/green maneketes who are rare.

On another tome note, Celica's tome has been revealed and it seems quite interesting: 14 mt, +5 atk/spd when beginning a combat at full HP, but user suffers 5 damage after attacking on the player phase. That could be a strong weapon for first strikes, and flexibly works on either phase, though probably wants healing support or clever Renewal use to truly shine. This assumes that either Celica has a decent stat build or that the tome is inheritable. They're also introducing the -owl tomes (for each colour, presumably) which have 10 might but grant +2 to all stats for each adjacent ally. I'm a bit less impressed by these since 10 might is a rather low place to be starting and getting more than one adjacent ally (which is what you need for the bonuses to sound actually impressive) is rather limiting.

I don't see how the most common player blue mage setup is Dire Thunder, considering how it's exclusive to only two characters and non-inheritable.  I see other blue mages (usually Linde, rarely Spring Lucina) much more than I see Reinhardt or Olwen personally - in fact I don't think I've ever seen an Olwen in arena.

Regarding Naga, the tome itself isn't that impressive; Laggy pretty much nailed it - she has good stats and inheriting a better tome on her is a huge resource sink and Naga is "good enough". 

Ragnarok does indeed not care whether Celica's initiating or not, which makes her extremely scary in lunatic 11-5, which I have not figured out a way to beat.  That said, that goes for both sides; she loses the 5 HP after combat whether she initiated or not, too.

25

General Chat / Re: Record Keeping Final Fantasy Record Keeper

« on: April 24, 2017, 05:03:27 AM »

And people were scared of this fight

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/137729122