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Tournaments / Re: The Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-G

« on: September 03, 2014, 06:14:43 PM »

Given that Shinji was able to open the way back for everyone, it's no surprise that the winning option was Individuality.  Never mind that fact that a Galaxy hopping orange Giga Bowser would've been a pretty sweet, and oddly fitting, end to the Rando Tourney.

That said, a return to normality means also a return to the events!  So I give to you, Round 1-G!

Event 21: Treasure Hunting
In this world, there are two truths.  There are people who have treasure and want to keep it.  And there are people who have no treasures, and want to claim the treasures of others.  The first kind of person tends to stick their treasures in all sorts of places in the hopes that it will either never be found, or that if found, will prove to be too much trouble for anyone to grab.  The second kind of person is the kind that will do well at our competition today, as the one that can find and claim the most hidden treasure will win.

Our first competitor is everyone's favourite Quik-E-Mart vendor, Apu.  He has had to face many challenges over his life, and has actually gone on a few adventures.  So going out and looking for treasure won't be the strangest thing he's ever done.  On the other hand, his competitor has both a huge advantage, and a potentially crippling disadvantage.  You see, this competitor is from an RPG world, where treasure is routinely lying around where it can be reached with a modicum of difficulty.  In fact, in the world of pokemon, it's often left near patches of tall grass in otherwise unassuming pokeballs.  Of course, the disadvantage being faced here is that this hunter isn't really a person, or arguably sentient.  Who's that Pokemon?  It's Arcanine!  Yup, this fire dog may be Officer Jenny's best friend, but can he hunt treasure as well as he hunts crooks?  Only this event will tell!


Event 22: Cheating
Despite what the behavioural experts will tell you, we here at the Rando Tourney believe everyone can play fair and make use of the best policy; honesty.  But, like all things, fair play and honesty has a time and a place.  And that time and place is not here, and not now.  That's right, it's time for the cheating contest.  This event will involve a gauntlet of challenges, all of which can be done properly, but all of which can also be done faster than that if the contestant cheats.  There will also be two sets of judges.  The first set of judges will consist of reasonably observant judges who think the challenges are the challenge and who don't know about the second set of judges.  Their job is to make sure everyone follows the rules.  The second set of judges are some of the most observant people we can find who know what the real challenge is, and they'll be ranking the competitors not only on how fast they get through the gauntlet, but also on how skillfully they cheat, and how well they manage to not get caught by the fake judges.

Our first competitor is no stranger to the shadier side of the law, and is well versed in doing whatever she has to to get what she wants.  Dahlia Hawthorne may be best at using patsies to do her job for her, but she's shown that she has a crafty and devious mind, and the willingness to use it.  Against her is the humble Koopa Troopa, the standard soldier in Bowser's forces.  He hasn't shown much in the way of deceit before, but perhaps it's just been well hidden, as a deceitful nature ought to be.


Event 23: Lawyering (Phoenix Wright Style)
Ah, the courtroom, a place of procedures and protocols.  Where boring and staid people make their arguments in a sedate and order...  wait...  no?  You mean this isn't a regular courtroom, but a Pheonix Wright courtroom?  Where insane witnesses and surprise evidence of dubious acquisition are the order of the day?  And almost anything goes?  As always, we're going to have two cases, complete with a really guilty looking, but innocent, defendant, and a twisty path to the truth.  And both contestants will take their turn as prosecuter, and as the defense attourney.  If someone can win both cases, then they win, if they both take one, then the one to have the fewest penalties wins.

Our first lawyer to be is Marisa Kirisame, who I admittedly know almost nothing about.  The little I do know suggests she has a commanding personality, and she probably has a mystical weapon of some sort, so she's gonna fit right in in this zany world.  Which is good because her opponent's Objections are backed with NUCLEAR WEAPONS!  Fresh from Civ 1 and 5, Ghandi takes to the bench!  And while his real life counterpart was actually a lawyer, that may not hold for his over the top fictional national leader self.


Event 24: Finding the Holy Grail
The Object: A cup or chalice, two thousand years old, give or take a few decades.  Properties: Purported to have held the blood of Christ on the Cross, after that, if it fits with the general subset of holy powers, this thing's been rumoured to do it.  Location: Unknown.  But we've got two contenders who're ready to fix that.

First up, we've got the sort of hero that would be right at home in the more creative tellings of the Round Table.  Coming from the future of Fire Emblem: Awakening, we have Sumia's daughter, Cynthia searching high and low for the Sa'an Grail.  And what she lacks in knowledge and street smarts, she'll be making up for with sheer energy, determination, and pre-battle one liners.  Going up against her is a hero who is, in a lot of ways, her polar opposite.  Lightning Farron is cynical, insightful, and professional.  Oh, and a wanted criminal.  But just like Cynthia, she's more than capable of taking care of herself, and will bring a certain amount of dedication to the task.



Team Event 3: Synchronized Swimming
There are few things more graceful that a body flitting through water.  One of them is several bodies moving together in water, working as one.  That is the core of synchronized swimming, where four competitors have to work together to first make a routine of grace and beauty, fit to make the soul weep.  And then to use their week of training time to actually pull it off. 

The first team has it's strengths, and some weaknesses.  Starting with their strengths, they've got two athletes with their ace being the star player of the Zanarkand Abes himself, Tidus.  While the only thing gracefulness probably earns Tidus is more scorn from Jecht, you have to admit, the guy is fast, probably has done a lot of formation drills as a pro-Blitzer, and let's face it, swimming is one of his primary skills.  As well, he does have a certain level of showmanship and charisma.  Backing him up is his fellow entertainer/athlete Hulk Hogan, who may not specialise in swimming, but who should be good at this anyways.  The problem comes with their other two teammates, noted Super Genius Wile E. Coyote, whose plans always fail in the most interesting of ways, and Luna Lovegood, who means well, but whose ideas are a little off the wall.  And let's just hope she doesn't distract Tidus from planning with her wild conspiracy theories about things like Zanarkand existing.  All we can say is that at least it'll be hard to justify using anything from Acme Corp. for this event.

Against this we have, an, ummm...  interesting team.  Queen Serenity, as Queen of the Negaverse, is of course a natural leader, graceful in all she does, and a pretty ok planner.  Of course, she's paired with a guy called Professor Chaos and Slimer, who is the very antithesis of graceful.  That said, she's also paired up with Terry MacGuinness, who as Batman Beyond, has probably trained to be the best at everything in the future; perhaps second only to Bruce Wayne.  And let's be honest, while Slimer does cause problems, they're ones that can be managed by a good team, whereas Wile E. Coyote just seems to make problems at an existential level simply by existing.


Quick Vote Form

Event 21: Treasure Hunting
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (The Simpsons) vs. Arcanine (Pokemon)

Event 22: Cheating
Dahlia Hawthorne (AA: Trials and Tribulations) vs. Koopa Troopa (SMW)

Event 23: Lawyering (Phoenix Wright Style)
Marisa Kirisame (Touhou) vs. Mohandas Ghandi (Civ series) - Marisa Stole The Precious Launch Codes

Event 24: Finding the Holy Grail
Cynthia (FE:Awakening) vs. Lightning Farron (FFXIII)

Team Event 3: Synchronized Swimming
{Wile E. Coyote (Super Genius), Hulk Hogan (Wrestling), Tidus (FFX), Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter)} vs. {Professor Chaos (South Park), Terry MacGuinness (Batman Beyond), Queen Serenity (Sailor Moon), Slimer (Ghostbusters Cartoon)}

Wile E Coyote and Luna Lovegood are both very good at a lot of different things, and bad at matching what other people do. The other side seems slightly more capable of synchronizing.

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Tournaments / Re: Futurama 2014 Season 2, Week 1

« on: July 30, 2014, 12:31:53 AM »

yay games from modern video games i can vote on

Heavy
Elsa Eliane (Front Mission 4) vs Jude Maverick (Wild ARMs 4) - like... I don't think Jude stands any chance here? Period? Evasion gives Jude fits as I recall and even if he was hitting decently well it's high baseline damage vs. low baseline damage and Elsa bursts like 100x better, if less predictably IIRC?

Middle
Ranger (Bravely Default) vs Teddie (Persona 4) - hits weakness on beasts. teddie can't bear the pressure.

Light
Seneca (Suikoden Tactics) vs Archer (Final Fantasy Tactics) - iiiii don't respect arrow guard against actual above-average accuracy... flipside Seneca's evasion doesn't exist against Archer, hi Concentrate. (I also don't respect 70 brave from soldier office, think I'd take it as 60 br/fa). This being said uhhh at this point it's a straight slugfest and I think Archer tenatively wins that anyway, better durability and the offense isn't worse enough/Seneca won't double anything resembling in time. Any kinder legality for items/spells (read: giving Suikotactics people one use of elemental tiles to reflect ingame) would be major for Seneca, but she's in Light so that's not an interp i feel comfortable espousing

Freelancer (Bravely Default) vs Rico (Suikoden III) - it's a sad day when freelancer healing alone is enough to win a fight.

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General Chat / Re: What music are you listening to 2014?

« on: July 15, 2014, 12:52:16 AM »

Asa - Be my man

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General Chat / Re: Random final fantasy poll!

« on: July 03, 2014, 02:48:58 AM »

Memories of SNES games very hazy, memories of PSX era sorta fuzzy, memories of PS2 era and FF5 crystal clear.
   
Favorite FF game: FF5. I find it much more succinct, replayable, and enjoyable than most any other game in the series. FFX runner up, it's fun but it's slow to get going (Guadosalam is the point where I start caring/when the game stops tutorialing you more or less?)
Least favorite FF game: FF4. I think I have tried replaying it six times and stop before becoming za paladino ultomato each time since... can't bring myself to continue? This'd be FF3DS but that got entertaining endgame I guess.

Favorite FF dungeon: ... prrrrrrobably the one super-optional and really tough area in FF12 where you go to get the Zodiac Spear if you FAQ'd it, actually? Like, there's actually a lot of places in FF12 I really liked the feel of but that place was easily one of my favorites. Runner up to Kefka's Tower, though.
Favorite main character: Does Yuna count? If not, Terra (and if she doesn't count, I pass)
Least favorite FF dungeon: WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT IDENTICAL MAZE OF ROOMS IN FF12 WAS, FUCK THAT PLACE TO HELL capslock off but christ I can't describe how much i hate that dungeon. Also it says something about FF12 naming scheme that I can't recall the name of -any- of the locations I guess.

Favorite final boss: uhhhm. let's go the three dudes leading up to Kefka if I can cheat and not pick Kefka himself. would be a lot more interesting in a tougher game, and was still really interesting/stylish in the game itself.
Favorite FF game plot: FF6. most concrete and interesting turn of the game, with an excellent transfer to the second half. Runnerup to FF10, but the earlygame drags on me.
Favorite weapon (Can list more than one): Gonna order based on favorites, note I'm not a fan of a lot of the standard stuff.
Blitzball (FFX) > Combs (FF7) > Dolls (FFX) > Dualguns (FF13) > Tools (FF6) > Staff/dreamcatcher (FF13) > martial artist characters minus Snow > the rest, offhand? > Snow (how is your weapon the fucking symbol on your back, you are hitting with your fists, stop this bloody nonsense)

Game you use the most status in: FFXII. Thanks, reverse Remedies!
Game you use the least status in: I was about to say FF9, but then I remembered Tent abuse existed. Uh, probably FF7 then. FF6 runner up.

Game with the best challenge: FF5, probably? Going for non-breaking runs makes it pretty threatening pretty often. Runner-up to FF13.
Game you've replayed the most: FF5, easily.
Game that has aged the best: FF6. FF5... the GBA version helps but the graphics are still dry. FF6, oddly enough, still feels pretty impressive for the software it's on, to me.
Game that has aged the worst: Two way tie for me: FF7 for graphics, FF9 for gameplay.


Favorite summon: Tie between FF8 Doomtrain and FFX Valefor/FFX summons in general. Honestly both games did summons in ways I like (too bad FF8 is broken by stiff winds...)

Favorite dungeons by game:
FF3: No.
FF4: Final dungeon.
FF5: Ronka Ruins works, sure.
FF6: Kefka's Tower.
FF7: The mansion, actually, I think. Neat case of optional stuff and non-optional stuff merged well and sanely.
FF8: This game had dungeons? Uh, final dungeon works.
FF9: Something from disc 1.
FF10: Yes.
FF12: The super-optional hard zone. A lot of the game had fun design here, though.
FF13: Pulse, by dint of being the only thing that wasn't a corridor.

Least favorite dungeons by game:
FF3: Yes.
FF4: One of the many early caves. Choose one and it'll be my least favorite for today.
FF5: oof. Uh... Fork Tower.
FF6: The place where you re-recruit Strago. Yes game I get your point this is tall, congrats, penis size of developer compensated for
FF7: I recall a lot of places being weirdly hard to navigate? We'll go with the one optional dungeon that had a lot of weird puzzle stuff to get through it, though.
FF8: Iiiii don't recall anything other than the Minotaur/Sacred thing being all -that- annoying... so let's go with that dungeon.
FF9: Discs 3 and 4, offhand.
FF10: No.
FF12: That one goddamn "everything is all the same" dungeon.
FF13: Pulse, by dint of being the only thing that wasn't a corridor.

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Discussion / Re: Rank Characters based on In Game Use: Reboot!

« on: July 03, 2014, 02:02:14 AM »

Freelancer: 2/10. horrific except for ass-end lategame combos which basically only use one skill from it and the effect can be duplicated by other combos.
White Mage: 9/10. Lacks offense to get it to 10/10 but is one of the major lynchpins of the game. #2 class.
Monk: 3.5/10. Does pretty solid early but past that, idgaf
Black Mage: 4.5/10. Can be lategame viable but requires a large amount of focus and more combos reward phys tricks than mag tricks.
Knight: 7.5/10. 2.5 of this is from Two Hands alone. The class is competent but not stellar beyond that.
Thief: 5/10. Good game for stealing, decent offensive utility early but fades fast thanks to Ranger punting its offensive role out.
Merchant: 2/10. All two points for More Money.
Time Mage: 7/10. Queen of the offensive and status mages, and its passives are kinda neat to gamebreaking when used right
Spell Fencer: 5/10. I never wound up fully sold on these, despite Sleep Sword being an earlygame mainstay on my low-offense team.
Ranger: 7.5/10. One of the two major offense classes for me, actually. Hawkeye is glorious for Pirates, it's a great ST buster, bows are awesome for early offense... this carried me through a lot of the game in some form or another.
Summoner: 2/10. I don't respect its MT clearing...
Valkyrie: 7.5/10. Because this exists. Spears being the other excellent weapon, this class also does excellent early. Ranger/(Pirate or Thief) and Valkyrie/Knight were the two major melee bruisers I had for most of the game.
Red Mage: 1.5/10. I... can't bring myself to give this class any real credit outside of a goofy poison for BP technique, which relies on a late-end passive. The skillset by midgame has less utility than Freelancer.
Performer: 7/10. Your go-to for MT buffing. Obsoletes basically any other stat buff class.
Pirate: 7.5/10. Great skillset, good weapon choices if a bit reliant on Ranger to buoy them.
Salve Maker: 8.5/10. Worse WM but with excellent, if tedious, offense. WM definitely wins due to being better at the vital role, but Salve Maker is my #4 class in the game, I think.
Swordmaster: 3/10. Low respect for the class due to needing to combo heavily into it for relatively low output.
Ninja: 6/10. Utsusemi spoils a fair amount of the game, and at absolute endgame it gets fun setups... but 90% of its functional time in game is just for Utsusemi and nothing else.
Arcanist: 4/10. Basically BM with half a point docked for being late to the party
Spiritmaster: 9.5/10. Spiritmaster is one of the sanest ways to tell a great deal of the game to go bend itself over a pole. It is WM's counterpart, but unlike WM it has no competition for its role - it is the sanest way to do almost anything in its bag of tricks. AND it buffs WM. Yeah.
Templar: 4/10. Rampart could be really neat but uh Spiritmaster. Still, it's #3 of the ways to do the dragons...
Dark Knight: 9/10. It comes late but it carries its weight easily with its brutal damage - and Rage is simply one of the best ways to make things cry the game possesses, especially when comboed correctly. (Spell Fencer doesn't get a bonus from enabling this class since you can pick up Drain Blade from an item...)
Vampire: 7/10. This class could honestly, for me, compete with Dark Knight in raw utility thanks to Fireball and stat drains and less setup-reliant MT offense....... but while I don't hold the Castle against Vampire, I do hold the Dragon Copy Festival against the class. This being said, I ran this class on three people as soon as I got it and didn't regret it one damn bit. It is what Conjurer and Freelancer were hoping to be because it realizes that the game is all about physical offense and acts as a jack of all trades off that.
Conjurer: 3/10 and all three points of this are solely for the "nuke randoms get EXP/gold" skill.

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Tournaments / Re: Proving Grounds H/G 3: The cursed blade of the Dark Knight.

« on: June 06, 2014, 06:00:14 AM »

Going off a FAQ...

#4 - SLEEP BUSTER [10] ---> A513 - damage + Sleep on one target for 3 turns
with almost 100% success
- if target is immune or has a certain % resistance to status/es listed, status
change/s will not (if immune) or may not (if % resist.) succeed

this matches my recollection but I could be wrong; it is certainly more accurate than the <x> Attack versions. If there's a mechanics guide that contradicts this, though, that'd be good to know.

If I'm wrong and if the MK topic is wrong (it lists Renee's final form as immune, sounds like it's just heavy resist then?) I'll switch to abstain here. I don't recall MK bosses being very status susceptible at all, which probably colors my perception.

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Tournaments / Re: Proving Grounds H/G 3: The cursed blade of the Dark Knight.

« on: June 06, 2014, 02:45:22 AM »

Dark Knight vs Mewtwo (PKMN) - Mewtwo goes RBY form, but to me Dark Knight hits weakness even on this form. Barrier counteracts weakness but that's still four hits of normal damage Dark Nebula to the face, p. sure he fails to survive that.

...well, Mewtwo could actually go for X/Y form but Mega Evolve to X doesn't save him, it's not enough of a defense buff to shave the damage he'd need to win and he won't 3-2 DK anyway. Yeah, DK wins.
Dark Knight vs Renee (MK1)
Dark Knight vs Hiro (Lunar:EBC)

Wakka vs Mewtwo (PKMN) - Any form past RBY wins.
Wakka vs Renee (MK1) - Tentative. Thought Renee's final form was more or less immune, if not heavily resistant. Wouldn't see status being consistent enough to give Wakka the win, and wouldn't see Summon as blocked by Silence unless it explicitly was ingame? Really just think Wakka needs too much in his favor. Not his match.
Wakka vs Hiro (Lunar:EBC) - Status or E+C, doesn't matter.

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Tournaments / Re: Proving Grounds Middle 1-Bravely Default, go!

« on: May 16, 2014, 09:02:17 PM »

Holly vs Palom (FF4)
Holly vs Jude (WA4) - yeah no bye holly
Holly vs Snow (FF13) - I think?
Holly vs RAGNAR BLITZ LEBRETT (XF) - Healing's not enough here.
Holly vs Sceptile (PKMN) - Outspeeds, Holly can't kill fast enough here.
Holly vs Joachim (SH2) - hrm, yeah, I doubt ID works on Holly - bosses have some status holes in BD but not this many.

Ninja vs Palom (FF4) - pffft.
Ninja vs Jude (WA4) - pfft.
Ninja vs Snow (FF13) - Ruin works
Ninja vs RAGNAR BLITZ LEBRETT (XF)
Ninja vs Sceptile (PKMN) - Gen 3 wins this cleanly.
Ninja vs Joachim (SH2) - Shouldn't have issues getting the needed turns?

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2014?

« on: April 06, 2014, 05:18:35 PM »

Bravely Default - Got the first ending. The writing at this point is all over the place, but, well, the scene where the villain pretends to be mind-controlled to mess with Agnes' head is absolutely wonderful. The fight was easy, and the ending was... really boring though.

I'm not really certain where to go from here. While Bravely Default is certainly a good game, I'm now at nearly 70 hours and running out of steam for it. I gather that in order to get the second ending I'll have to beat the crystal guardians two more times each. Which... they're pretty fun, well-designed bosses at base, but fighting each one five times? C'mon game. I skipped all the blue exclamation marks in C5-6 (except those that unlocked jobs, naturally) after some investigation of C5's made them appear very boring/repetitive but I gather they get more interesting? But not sure how much energy I'll have for drawing out the game further... hmm. Any advice for what I should do with the rest of this playthrough, folks?

BD spoilers, ofc:

It's... sort of your call, overall. The team fights and dialogue in C7 are pretty entertaining, and if challenging boss fights would revitalize your interest the C7/C8 fights stand the best chance.

If you want targeted suggestions for boss fights that are either really entertaining or have bosses with newer skillsets than what you've seen...

C7 Yulyana's house has a fight with Mephilia that has a different summon she uses; minor but interesting.
C7 Florem Gardens/ whatever they're called has an amusing pre-battle and post-battle discussion, complete with Ringabel's notes.
C7 Ominas Crowe is probably one of the best fights he gets, thanks to the second form having both MT 2HKO and ST OHKO and having two support units backing him up.
C7, where the team got jailed up back in C4, has an optional boss fight including DeRosa that has nice speed+ items. Not necessary but nice.

C8... the main thing of interest as far as challenging boss fights is probably the final gauntlet, but you need to beat all the other blue !s before that shows up. It's a really fun gauntlet IMO but who knows where you'll fall on it. (I'd not recommend the boss rush that shows up after the gauntlet either way - a fun challenge but if you're burning out that'd get frustrating as hell).

And if none of this sounds appealing, just rush to the true final. It's worth seeing just for the ham, IMO, and you're not really that far away.

Agreed, though - fighting the crystal guardians 5 times is probably the worst part. They're fun, twice, maybe, and then...

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2014?

« on: April 05, 2014, 07:48:48 PM »

BD spoilers There are times the game let's you break crystals and times it doesn't.  I wasn't able to break the second crystal of third world (you keep pressing X forever and nothing happens), but I was able to break the third one.  So plot triggers I guess.

Beat all the asterisk teamup fights.  Hardest by far was Ominas/Barras/Heinkel due to Ominas's 1HKO Thunders and Barras's ASPLODE.

Apparently, and this is sort of dumb, (BD spoilers) it's got to do with how fast you press the button, not how long/how hard. So the total opposite of sex ed. You probably just were hitting it fast enough on the third crystal to get into the "Airy sez stop" mode.

Ominas' OHKO is really nasty in that, esp. since I didn't come preparing to block Lightning.

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2014?

« on: April 05, 2014, 03:31:54 PM »

Rusalka's easily the best crystal defender I thought! Thaaat said if you were doing crazy amounts of Norende stuff that's probably when the advantages would be most pronounced, which I suspect is the difference.

On refights, Rusalka gets both more and less dangerous. More dangerous because the clones get a considerable HP boost, but less because Dark Flow becomes far easier to deal with (Rampart, elemental defence, whatever). On balance I think she gets easier, but not dramatically or anything... still a fun fight! By contrast, I thought Gigas Lich was quite easy the first time - beat him first try without dispel! - but he scales up well and I've found him one of the tougher ones in Chapters 5 and 6, while Chaugmar goes from "legimiate threat" to "complete joke" in refights... he's worthless outside his called shot Energy Burst, and Rampart says "lol" among other tactics.

BD - Chapter 7. Welp, spoilers. Broke a crystal, Airy is now a supervillain. I adore this face-heel turn. Also since I don't think I've hyped this outside of chat, the changed title screen is great.
There's a question here I'm hoping someone can answer, dunno if anyone tried: What happens if you *don't* stop praying to a crystal in chapters 1-4?[size]

Entirely BD lategame discussion:
Bravely Second Elixir > Gigas Lich. Otherwise, yeah, he's a legit fight if you aren't abusing that ability.

I believe in ch. 1-4, you automatically transition out of the crystal scene. I don't... recall that with absolute certainty, however.

Also, yeah, Airy is a hilarious/awesome supervillian. Enjoy the normal end, and you do have access to the optional dungeon now to pick up Genome Abilities you didn't get earlier (go talk to DeRosso to unlock it).

Faster than Light: Advanced Edition: holy fuck, did the final really need a buff to forms 1 and 3?

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Tournaments / Re: Futurama 2014 Season 1, Week 2

« on: April 05, 2014, 03:24:26 PM »

Middle

Holly Whyte (Bravely Default) vs Lightning Farron (Final Fantasy XIII) - even with me being uncomfortable re: allowing eidolons, Lightning wins by virtue of limitless crappy healing as opposed to limited, though immense, semicompetent healing.

BD post-Ch. 4 comments:
Later forms of Holly Whyte in theory get something resembling offense, but I'm not sure that it's good enough to phase Lightning - I don't recall it being 50% or more, which is about where I'd peg Lightning's healing chains. So even later forms of Holly can't pull this off, not that I'm voting on them. Hell, Lightning may outblitz Holly if she claims a later form.

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2014?

« on: April 04, 2014, 01:25:50 AM »

Mmm. I would simply note that, once you're in endgame (where you're hitting the damage cap far more reliably), Rage comes into its own again, as it permits the most 9999 hits in a round (I believe you can manage to Rage 4x in a round, if you're severely BP abusing). Regardless, even without BP abuse, two Rages hits 9999x10, which is, if not castbest, very very close, and it requires relatively little setup to make it hit that hard (Drain Damage+, Dark Damage+, a Performer maybe?).

Judgment only hits once, so the comparison sort of falls flat there.

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General Chat / Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe

« on: April 03, 2014, 12:56:14 AM »

>eat washington fatcat

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RPGDL Discussion / Re: Bravely Default stat topic ideas

« on: April 03, 2014, 12:25:09 AM »

I'd either hold bosses to as soon as they unlock (Profiteur benefits the most from it) or from once the crystal is awakened. Not inclined to wait a chapter for any of them (though I can def. respect doing it for DeRosa's dumb sidequest) or anything, but clearing those at end of chapter would be legit.

This being said, personally would probably scale to as soon as each unlocks on average. And yeah Praline immunes Holy, just as the DK immunes Dark.

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Discussion / Re: OST Ratings

« on: March 24, 2014, 09:36:16 PM »

Blue Dragon

Best Song Standalone: Eternity.
Worst Song Standalone: Eternity.

Best Song In Context: Eternity.
Worst Song In Context: Eternity.

Overall Impression of OST: Eternity.
Final Rating: Eternity. (7.5/10.)

Never has a song so completely gripped me and perfectly encapsulated the game in all regards while drawing me out of the game entirely and made me laugh so damn hard. It fails at everything it sets out to do in game and out of game, yet... Eternity.

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2014?

« on: March 24, 2014, 09:29:10 PM »

Honestly I sorta feel like the "bad" ending of Bravely Default was (spoilers from here) meant to be part of the good ending, but they decided that the game needed to go on for longer or that "properly" ending the game would require all 20 crystals to be turned on, so they split it into a "bad" ending that honestly feels more satisfactory to me and a "good" ending where you ignore half the moralizing and everyone pretends that Airy's a good guy until they can justify beating her up to get to the real bad guy. I don't know; I feel like the game was intended to just be three worlds (3-2-1) and got stretched at some point. The refights in worlds 4 & 3 don't add much, the "bad" ending right up until Airy's final speech felt so much cleaner... maybe I'm inserting how I would've rather seen it, but there's a lot of ways they could've trimmed fat and concisely done so much more/made both endings have so much more punch and impact.

It might say something as to how much I like the game that I'm thinking through the problems, as relatively small as they actually wind up being, and attempting to figure out how I'd make it even better.

Also, I'll still maintain that breaking the last crystal in world 3, after all the buildup, just feels so goddamn right. May be another part of why I think a three-world setup would've fit far better.

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General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2014?

« on: March 24, 2014, 03:28:06 AM »

Try Rage with Drain Spellblade.

19

RPGDL Discussion / Re: Bravely Default stat topic ideas

« on: March 24, 2014, 01:20:58 AM »

Tested and confirmed; enemy skills do consume MP. (Tested vs. the optional boss chain's Barbarossa, since I figured his Amped Strikes would confirm this the fastest. He went about 30-40 turns spamming Shell Split->Amped Strike or so (Hasten World). Confirmed MP was out by trying to drain it with Ringabel and getting nothing for it.

I'd presume enemy skills have MP costs equal to PCs but capped somehow, with inflated MP pools to match.

EDIT: This does leave the question of what moves the final bosses have that cost MP, but that shouldn't be too hard to test. ...some other time, but I can test that later, too.

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RPGDL Discussion / Re: Bravely Default stat topic ideas

« on: March 22, 2014, 09:03:38 PM »

Well it's nice to confirm MP-damage skills actually do something; I wasn't actually sure. MP being missing from the otherwise perfect scan is strange... it's almost as if they didn't want to draw attention to the fact that enemy MP works differently.

That's possible. Also, one idea that did occur to me while out shopping is that their skills may cost MP, but be capped at 500 or so MP each (the cost for a skill that costs 1/2 MP when you have 999 MP); that plus very large MP scores would create the illusion of infinite MP in most fights unless you deliberately set out to MP break somebody.

Also, to answer the final two questions in the first post more broadly...

4) Without grinding, 75-80 feels about right. Lower would mean more heavy use of the -100% option than I'm comfortable with, higher means grinding (which is easy in this, but).  I ended at 95 after doing all optional content save Norende bosses, and a fair few levels probably came from going through that optional content.

5) Human bosses should be held to either their first or last forms. The latter are infinitely refightable and have full mastery of their skillset, but are much less durable; the former still have excellent damage but may not be fighting to their fullest (in a duel, they'd have better durability for relatively little tradeoff in most cases, so the last appearances may be better? I don't know.

I'd allow Airy to choose one of her three forms, but wouldn't allow a form chain from first to second. Ouroboros uses his final form, and doesn't get Armageddeon as a result, which neatly solves his major interp issue. All his other matches are meant to wear you down/test resources and durability, and are all ended by plot, so I can't really see allowing any except the final form which... has an insanely brutal status ingame (only available commands while under it being Default and Summon Friend, the latter being duel-useless) and thus probably still can compete top-tier.

EDIT: I can go check and see if an enemy can run out of MP without MP busting, actually. Is this something people would like to know, or is it generally handwaveable?

21

General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2014?

« on: March 22, 2014, 06:38:58 PM »

Bravely Default: Beaten. Thoughts in spoilers below.

Plot:

Edea was the showstealer character-wise; she gets a lot of optional screentime and development, and even in main story/in the little discussions she's easily the most compelling person. Tiz was the loser, though not by too much; he's just a bit one note as Agnes' right hand man. Braev and Einheria get the "what the fuck are you doing" cat macro award; Braev for not dealing with Rosa/Profiteur/Qada from the getgo (though World "2" implies Rosa is why Profiteur and Qada are still on the loose) and in general being an "end justifies the means and also I'm going to sit on every goddamn piece of information I have no matter what", and Einheria for "this guy's orders have made Mephilia crack and Artemia even more unbalanced, just pull the fuck out and save them".

The plot itself, I've got little issue with, outside of the sequel bait/hooks; everything makes a pretty solid amount of sense to be honest.  Tiz's fate (and indeed, Tiz's role in the endgame) is kinda sleazy to drop last minute when everything else has at the same time, and DeRosso is a mystery I want some answers about (that I doubt we'll see) but beyond that... yeah, this all ties up pretty well. Of note is that the game pretty clearly expects you to break the final crystal of World "3", and that anything past that is, while canon, also sort of added content - the optional battles just provide more backstory and challenge, and the crystal awakening dialogue reverts to "let's do this yeeey" sort of crap. I was expecting a lot more drama from Ringabel out of that.

Job thoughts and boss thoughts:

Freelancer: Decent early for Dungeon Master and Divining Rod, useless after that until Mimic.
Monk: Decent early, falls off later since weapon slots give precious, precious speed (or MAtk). Can't justify the class past a point.
WM: Tied for best healer with Salvemaker, and the two complement each other beautifully. Can keep a team going for a long time, especially with Healing Lore/Holy One/Save WM MP.
BM: I'll buy that the class is decent, but it saw next to no use for me (I used it/Arcanist for a bit for Sleep/Twilight abuse).
Knight: Everyone that wasn't my primary healer got Two Handed at some point. That skill is easily the best earlygame offense booster you can get and it stays relevant basically to the end of the game. The rest of the skills... you can probably find use for? I used Stomp as ST offense until better came up.

Thief: Excellent early offense (Bows + Life Steal), tapers off once other classes do its stuff better. Is useful in world "2" for stealing from boss sets, but then vanishes. Speed+% bonuses are very good, though, and saw use all game.
Merchant: Grab More Money, disregard.
Spell Blade: Probably one of the gamebest classes, Brave (as said by others) works wonderfully with this. Elemental weaknesses stay common, too (indeed, both final bosses have them!) so... yeah. Great class. Phantom Weapon could've been neat but it needed to cost 2 so you could have more options in passives alongside it, 3 is too restrictive.
Time Mage: I never once found myself thinking "You know what would be useful here? Time magic." Which says a lot about the active skillset. This said, picking up Hasten World was my best endgame decision, pretty easily.

Ranger: This is what obsoletes Thief. Excellent damage, gets S Bows which is gold, hits weakness on non-bosses. Wishes dearly that its final skill was a Humanoid slayer. Sadly it also drops off some lategame, though an Axe user has an argument to switch to this class for Hawkeye even at the end.
Summoner: Decent randomclearer, but Valkyrie kinda obsoletes it and it costs too much IMO for the times it'd be useful. I tried a Gaia Gear Summoner w/ Phantom Weapon build in the endgame boss rush, but it just wasn't impressive enough - Vampire skillset alone does better.
Valkyrie: Great for ST and MT damage for a long time thanks to Judgment and Crescent Moon. Sadly, endgame it falls off, though a gimmick 4 Valk skillset could do really well, possibly. So... yeah.
Red Mage: Christ this class kinda sucks. Basically all its skills are better for the boss than for you.

Salvemaker: Awesome, awesome class. Excellent healer, great debuffer/buffer, has MT revival near its peak... yeah. Definitely a class worth using, even if you don't use Norende. If you do it's even better.
Pirate: Great w/ Swordmaster, great for inflicting debuffs ST until Vampire comes around, still does damage+debuffs better, and is endgame support material. Amped Strike is too expensive, but if you've got Swordmaster you can spam it seven times over two turns at max BP, so I guess that's a win?
Praline Performer: WE! GO! WILD! The class is really easy to underestimate, I didn't seriously use it until the final stretch and then haed myself for it - Atk buffing MT is glorious, free BP for MP is awesome, the capstone is nasty as fuck when Mimic'd... yeah. Not an always class, definitely a sometimes class, but it shines a ton in its good points.
Swordmaster: bleah. katana lore is good, the final skill is niche but good with pirate.
Ninja: One of the more broken classes, quietly; bosses that are entirely phys/don't brave can be shut down with Utsusemi and Frenetic Fighting/Dual Wielding/Precision is one of the fastest ways to hit the damage cap. Can hit 9999 up to 8 times a turn, making it easily one of the best cannons if you're twinking for that. Its damage isn't that good without that effort, however, and if you're misusing it it can look pretty bad.

Arcanist: see BM for the one use I got outta it. Bonus: it looks silly.
Spiritmaster: The single best support skillset I have seen in any game, pretty easily. MT status immunity? MT element immunity? Damage immunity (for both sides) for two turns, which can be gotten around if you set up right? BP regeneration so this doesn't take many turns? It's reliant as hell on other classes to help it and support it in return, but this is basically my MVP vote.
Templar: Bleah. Useful but comes when your other classes are coming into their own offense wise, and really doesn't offer enough to counteract that.
Dark Knight: RAGE! The class is great until then (Drain Sword + Black Blade + Adversity makes a rolling monster of hate) and Rage + Drain Sword + some combo setup allows you to hit 10+ times for 9999, which is castbest. Don't have much else to say, the class is great.
Vampire: An awesome Blue Mage variant that uses physical offense for its skills. Since physicals are easier to twink this is great news, and the Vampire's skillset is excellent, if limited elementally somewhat (Wind/Fire/Ice/Earth, no Light/Dark/Lightning so can't hit human boss weaknesses)
Conjurer: Ugh. This class... needed something. Make the buffs MT (Protect/Shell style instead so they work with Performer)? Let them have two added class ability slots (to mimic Yulyana's use of BM/WM or Pirate/TM)? I don't know. As it stands this is a really bad final class and best used for Obliterate and then discarded.

Overall pretty good class balance, with mages getting the short end of the stick I feel (Conjurer being a bad capstone for mages doesn't help).

Boss thoughts (pretty simple, but in spoilers below still:

Crystal bosses. These don't significantly improve from world to world, so first showing for each is best p. easily. Gigas Lich has ID and solid damage, but multiple dangerous weaknesses; Chaugmar has parasitic healing and a very high 2HKO in Energy Blast that he loses turns for, probably not a great dueling combo (Notably, his barrier just sets his defense super-high; Fireball can still hurt him, e.g., so ITD is great here), Rusalka has the same weakness (lightning) but his split + rushdown kills ST opponents dead if you let him use Seep turn 1, and Orthros has action economy and can basically grind enemies in a duel down to near-nothing.

Human bosses. Probably either first or last forms; last forms often have different skills but lower durability. First forms will have much better durability and in some cases (Qada) be just as good if not better at relative damage.

Notable PC bosses:
Ominas: May want his form with Heinkel and Barras? He has MT 2HKO fire magic like his other forms, but manages a ST OHKO with lightning magic as well. Has some limited status options in all forms, too, IIRC.
Profiteur: His damage being a low OHKO when he focuses it sounds right; I was relatively high level on facing him and still only had about 500 HP on average. Probably one of the better duelers, annoyingly.
DeRosa: Definitely, definitely wants his first form, where his durability is notable and his damage isn't up shit creek. Charm is a powerful status, and Thundara and Cura are nasty to face at this juncture.
Qada: Dear lord this dude is dumb one on one. Dark Breath is cruel as a skill on bosses and he has it in every single form.
Kamiizumi: Given intelligent AI (aka knows what his enemies can do), could be very brutal against one-note opponents. Multitask physicals aren't too hot otherwise though.
Praline: I'd allow her to summon her fanclub, but she'd have to take a turn to do it and they're basically OHKO bait.
DeRosso: Uhhhhhhhhh. Taking him against his first form... he has three different ways to go about a 2HKO and excellent durability and none of his tricks work on bosses (Bone Crush, Graviga) so he kinda... doesn't work as well as he'd like. Excellent durability. Durable enough to win some slugfests, maybe?
Yulyana: Is bad on durability due to when you fight him, but has Amped Strike off 150% atkpow. May not care too much, that IIRC was a low ST OHKO.

Non-human, non-crystal bosses:

Dragon: Low durability (blitzable) but high damage and good followup against healers.
Elemental dragons: Mean as fuck but entirely walled by phys tanking/perfect evade. Earth is probably the most dangerous in a duel?

Airy: First form gets Slaughter which is a bunch of hits with ID attached, and not much else IIRC. Second form gets infinite defense+counters phys damage, which almost fucked me over as her AI can break and never goddamn drop the shield, and she also has MT stop and decent damage otherwise (2HKOish?). This form also gets the MT dispel+allweak -> massive magic attack combo. (According to FAQs the first form gets the infinite defense skill too? Sheesh.)

Third form (aka true end only form) has the MT dispel+allweak -> Zeta Flare combo, gets full healed three times (I would allow these as innate counters to hitting 0 HP), but lacks the defense buff skill. Probably her best blitzing form if her enemy has ITD stuff as she basically, at worst, is 4HKO'd in this form. A very scary boss.

Ouroboros... the problem here is he's plot and, if you know -how- he works, the fights end way too fast. The first form is his second most durable and it's basically pretty tame on offense; the second and third forms are beatable if you just Brave rush them down (they have less effective HP than any single human refight, for crying out loud!) and the fourth fight is entirely plot and ends on his third use of a skill. He makes for a worse fight than his minion in a duel as a result, but he can still basically MT 2HKO and disable PCs easily.

22

RPGDL Discussion / Re: Bravely Default stat topic ideas

« on: March 22, 2014, 02:02:01 PM »

Yeah, the two have differing mechanics: it's why I said that skills may not cost MP for them. And unless they face some very solid MP busting PC or boss, yeah, it won't. (Chorno Trigger's Queen Zeal vs., say, Ominas, is like the one case I can immediately think of)

23

RPGDL Discussion / Re: Bravely Default stat topic ideas

« on: March 22, 2014, 04:10:45 AM »

Something of note that I just confirmed: a boss with 0 MP cannot use MP-reliant skills. This doesn't mean skills cost MP for them (I MP Busted a notable endgame boss to check this) but it does mean that without MP, spells and MP-costing abilities don't work.

They definitely have inflated MP pools, however; this was a good... 10k MP damage?

24

RPGDL Discussion / Re: Bravely Default stat topic ideas

« on: March 16, 2014, 09:37:39 PM »

Bows and knuckles are going to be the most common "sub-optimal" weapon types, almost surely. 2-handed weapons are a lot more desirable when you can't inherited Two-Handed for basically free, and more damage is generally more desirable than the modest defense boosts that the average class gets from a shield.

Well, unless you allow the elemental immunity shields via rare steals.

I said swords/spears since a lot of classes get B/A or so ranks in those two and they're pretty strong onehanders that don't sacrifice durability. Bows also may work out, though a lot of classes I suspect may not actually find those to be usable. Ditto knuckles. Good ranks in those are rare and ranks matter immensely. (This also doesn't matter much for me, I'd hod jobs to their top two ranks but) but lemme check...

Classes with bad shield ranks that have theoretical physical use:
Thief: Goes bows, but has an A there so that's not unexpected.
Merchant: Bows C, Spears S: bows outdamage spear+shield, but not by major amounts and Bloody Shield is pretty powerful. Wash?
Red Mage: Sword A, Bows C: Bows will more solidly outdamage here, Sword A won't outcompete Spears S.  Bow's valid for RM here.
Salvemaker: Uh if you don't allow offense items, Bow B is their best option for actually doing anything. But if you allow specials, they probably go staves for the super? idk.
Performer: Uhhh, hum. Not sure what the best storebought fist is, it may outdo A Sword, though. Bows look to be a bit weaker for them.
Conjurer: Probably goes knuckles or bows, yes.

so yeah I guess you have a point, bows/knuckles are probably best for some of these people esp. Red Mage so it has an actual offense.

Re: items, yeah, I'd actually probably limit Salvemaker to spending 15k (about average over all boss fights using them, I'd guess? some fights higher in which I shadowflared, some fights lower in which I didn't need much item/healing) so they'd get 2x shadowflare at best. Merchant I'd say 22k thanks to More Money, so.

While I'm thinking about it:

Specials: Require performing certain actions X times. Basically high damage + some stat buff listed that lasts until the song ends (four rounds, less if you're doing Brave shenanigans since the song plays through menu options - I'd say three turns), occasionally elemental/slay (creature)/status. Matters rarely in a duel, but so everyone has a compiled list (I'm referencing a FAQ for this):

Sword: Brave 10/20/30 times. Possibly decent for Spell Blade, who can use drain sword to keep durability up. Otherwise won't likely see use.
Rank 1: ST, PDef -25% down on target, Hit # up +20% on allies. Hits 5 times for 0.6 average phys damage/hit.
Rank 2: MT, +35% PAtk allies, hits for 2x average phys dam.
Rank 3: ST, +50% PAtk allies, hits for 6x average phys dam.

Axe: Kill 5/10/15 enemies with physicals. This will never see duel use unless you allow people to enter with a special prepped (I definitely wouldn't)
Rank 1: MT, +20% PDef allies, hits for 1.5x average physdam.
Rank 2: ST, +35% hit #, 5 hits for 0.8x average damage per hit
Rank 3: ST, +50% PDef allies, hits for 6x damage, base earth elemental

Spear: Deal physical damage to 10/20/30 enemies. Slow in a duel but may occasionally get used.
Rank 1: ST, +300% crit rate allies, hits for 3x average phys damage.
Rank 2: ST, +35% PAtk allies, hits 6 times for 0.6x average damage, has a chance to paralyze (unsure on odds).
Rank 3: MT, +50% PAtk allies, hits for 5x average damage, fire element.

Rod: Cast magic 10/20/30 times. It's another option for BMs and RMs, I guess.
Rank 1: ST, +20% MAtk allies, hits for 1.5x average damage (does this use MAtk?).
Rank 2: MT, +35% MAtk allies, enemies debuffed -15% PAtk/MAtk/PDef/MDef for 4 turns. No damage. (1)
Rank 3: MT, +50% MAtk allies, hits for 5x average damage (does this use MAtk?). Gets an added *150% (so 7.5x) against demon type enemies.

Staff: Heal 10/20/30 times. Items work for this, so it's a Salvemaker option, and other classes with minor healing can find a way to use this.
Rank 1: +100% Healing Magic effectiveness, Heals all allies. At endgame it's still basically a fullheal (6-7k to 5k HP), though that may scale with Norende options allowed. (2)
Rank 2: +35% Speed all allies, buffs all allies +25% PAtk/MAtk/PDef/MDef for 4 turns. (3)
Rank 3: ST damage, +50% MAtk allies, hits for 7x average damage (does this use MAtk? Pretty sure not but), gets an added *150% (so 10.5x) vers. Undead.

Knife: Use 5/10/15 items. Only Salvemaker would wind up having access to this, if anyone, and their physical offense is horrific. Still, for the record:
Rank 1: ST, +20% hit # all allies, hits 5 times at 0.7x damage each.
Rank 2: ST, +35% hit # all allies, hits 15 times at 0.3x damage each.
Rank 3: ST, +50% hit # all allies, hits 10 times at 0.7x damage each.

Bow: Hit elemental/species weakness on 5/10/15 enemies. No elemental bows exist IIRC, and Rangers don't get a slay human option, so this really won't see use.
Rank 1: ST, +300% crit rate allies, 3x phys damage.
Rank 2: ST, +35% hit # allies, hits 5 times at 0.8x damage each, fire elemental.
Rank 3: MT, +50% MDef allies, 3x phys damage, light elemental.

Katana: Default 5/10/15 times. This is a legit option if allowed, and probably the most prevalent special that could see use outside of staff.
Rank 1: ST, +20% PAtk allies, 2x phys damage, inflicts paralyze (low odds?).
Rank 2: MT, +900% crit chance (!) allies, 2x phys damage, water element.
Rank 3: ST, +50% speed allies, hits 5 times at 1.2x damage each.

Knuckles: Critical 3/6/9 times. This... isn't that easy to build up if only due to the inconsistent crit rate. Still, Monks may appreciate it.
Rank 1: ST, +20% PAtk allies, 3x phys damage
Rank 2: ST, +35% hit # allies, hits 16 times for 0.3x damage each.
Rank 3: ST, +50% PAtk allies, 5x damage, lightning element.

Finally, these can all be customized. Any that deal damage to enemies (everything except Staff 1/2 and Rod 2) can be given up to 150% additional damage, an element of choice, the option of slaying a monster type of choice (-NOT- Humanoid), and the ability to try and inflict a status of choice. This can all be done simultaneously (can't choose two monster types or two elements, etc,  but can have one of each category simultaneously)

The first staff ability can have additional healing, status curing (any status in game), MP healing, and BP healing (of up to 2 points per use). Very, very handy for WM, as it lets them basically healtank even harder through enemy offense if needed and give a few extra turns. Again, this can all be on simultaneously.

The second staff ability can buff PAtk/MAtk/PDef/MDef/Speed/Evade/Crit% further, give a status resistance effect, give an element resist effect, and have the duration of all this (except the Speed buff) enhanced by up to 5 turns.

The second rod ability can debuff PAtk/MAtk/PDef/MDef/Speed/Accuracy, debuff status resistance, make an enemy element-weak, and have the duration of all this (except the MAtk buff) extended for up to 5 turns.

I'm providing this for a better idea of what's doable with the specials for informed decisions. Many won't even see DL use; staves/katanas/swords will have the most consistent ones, but since the cast is on average going to be good at blitzing and bad with protracted battles, even they won't be common.

25

RPGDL Discussion / Re: Bravely Default stat topic ideas

« on: March 16, 2014, 05:22:19 PM »

Played Hard up until chapter 3 boss, decided I wasn't enjoying the game like I wanted to, swapped to Normal.

0: allow Brave/Default. can't bring myself to argue otherwise. If necessary remove the damage reduction from Default for classes that don't get a unique bonus from it Templar, but.

1: Job stat topic most def. PC stat topic could be neat but is a minor concern.
2: Normal, though it mainly only impacts damage. having played both I think translating from hard->normal is a b it easier than from normal->hard as you may not have the feel for what moves wind up on the cusp of OHKOing like they do in hard.

3: Allow all norende items, with following conditions:
1) Ban anything over 75k gold. this both elims certain overpowered items that'd overcentralize equips (falcon knife) and reflects not permitting high-time requirement equip options, which since a lot are spears/axes, which only a few cast members use, makes most sense to me. Also, without grinding, your money drops off heavily after chapter 4 ( because 99% of the refights drop 0 gold and you have little reason outside of compendium/vampire to do randoms anymore )
2) Ban reflect rings because passing that out so easily sits poorly and they're kinda bad in game for a variety of reasons, overinfliation of worth should be avoided.
3) I reserve the right to rethink this, but limit dragon fangs to between 1-5. 5 makes the most sense to me but I could see even that being too much.

Every time you update friend data you get three people a day. Doing this can easily get you to the # of people that makes tasks complete in 1-3 hours. Sleep mode is not necessary, as a result; neither is having friends, as you'll still get three or so random people to join the "town" every day. In other words the Norende stuff isn't really time limited except in a way that prevents most from early game grinding it. cost is my only concern as a result. Allow all specials/special mods. basically the only way you're going to miss out on most of Norende is by actively ignoring it for most of the game. I think allowing optional stuff fits better in general, and esp. here (specials, e.g., seem a very intended part of the system, as does the item functions of expanding Norende. the main breakable thing is earlygame highpower weapons, but again, those are class restricted mostly so it's possible few will even benefit from it.)

4) I completed the game in its bad ending at L70. did some grinding, also had encounters off often. Would consider L70 a minimum for a full stat topic due to a variety of reasons, but maybe 65 or so? that seems pushing it but w/e

5) spoilers ahead. It seems most simple to use first world forms. Second and third world forms change little. Fourth/fifth look like they're mostly group boss fights which present durability interp issues, but do expand skillsets (Ominas in world 4, e.g., has an OHKO in his lightning magic and a MT 2HKO in his fire. Much better than what he packed world 1 IIRC.)

6) If you get enough of a drop/chest item to give one to each member of the team, allow it, allow storeboughts, the rest... I like the idea of being more flexible on equipment but since others don't seem to be that way my view would just be the above. (If I were doing this myself my interpretation would line up with Jo'ou Ranbu - allow steals as well, since there's multiple ways to make steals much easier to work with). Default accessory should be Hermes Sandals (that's what I'd take in as penalty for people switching for offense/defense/resists/status blocking).

Also would prolly personally only allow people to equip weapons from their top two ranks (so someone w/ S can equip S+A weapons, someone with a top of A can equip A->B, etc) to try and keep equipment from being "Everyone who isn't a mage just takes a spear or a sword, but probably a spear".

Agree with Dark Holy Elf that bosses should be held to their Brave/Default patterns. (Ch. 2 spoiler: one of the bosses there doesn't Default (which I would hold them to) but will Brave a relatively fixed pattern of status->MT damage->heal; allowing them latitude/the ability to switch to MT damage x3 inflates them too far to me.

Money allowed for skills... 3-4x random sounds fair, so 20k or so. Actually that settles the Dragon Fang issue nicely, they can buy those and have blitz but minimal healing/buffing, or go for stall damage tactics.

so yeah. also hi.