Games you're playing: The 2009 edition.

[Idun]

Suikoden V made me cry.

[Dark Holy Elf]

FF2 bosses are stat topic'able. Anything on the PC end would be... difficult. (Soul of Rebirth would make it easier.) The temps look completely different depending on what party you scale them against. Min-wu is the only one who does something besides "hit things", anyway.

[Meeplelard]

FF2's problem still lies in stats.  Stuff like Vit have no impact on what YOU do, providing you aren't breaking the system, they are reliant on the enemies actions, for example.

It gets a bit easier to manage in the PSP version where characters have unique weapons, though, the earlier character weapons are far inferior to the final four.  I also don't know the stats of these weapons since the FAQ that has them doesn't indicate whether it has stat boosts factored in or not for attack (I know that he DOES in the case of the Wild Rose, for example.)

Though, Leon's the weird one.  He starts the game with a sword, but rejoins an Axe user...yet, his unique weapon is Longinus, a Lance.  Talk about O_o

NINJA  Edit: Bosses are stat topicable though the only care-worthy ones were already gotten.  Like I said, I wanted to see if Emperor had any real significant changes, and beyond the extra 5k HP or whatever, he's completely unchanged.

Extra 5k HP isn't anything to scoff at, of course, but its worthy of an Asterisk at most, since its one change.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Also, a bit late, but this video has a pretty good explanation of relevant FF2 mechanics, since these things are surprisingly hard to find in FAQs. (Also the person who does it actually has a voice that isn't grating to listen to in a video, always a plus.) It's a bit lengthy but very informative (explains everything from the evade system to the various stats and how to increase them to various ways to grind/cheap the system while noting they are unnecessary), would recommend to anyone playing the game.

[Talaysen]

Reimu C sorta sucks and I don't think I'll be using her any more. Only really useful for those spellcards that encourage you to fly a 360 around the boss, and even then half your firepower's shooting off into space.

BOMB MORE.  Bomb, and then run right on top of the enemy so all your shots hit and sit there while they DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH.

Honestly, I find ReimuC to be the best character in the game.

[Meeplelard]

Also, a bit late, but this video has a pretty good explanation of relevant FF2 mechanics, since these things are surprisingly hard to find in FAQs. (Also the person who does it actually has a voice that isn't grating to listen to in a video, always a plus.) It's a bit lengthy but very informative (explains everything from the evade system to the various stats and how to increase them to various ways to grind/cheap the system while noting they are unnecessary), would recommend to anyone playing the game.

I'll just second the video is informative.  He even goes out of his way to indicate WHY grinding so much early is a bad idea, which a lot of people who think they're doing themselves a favor actually find themselves having a hard time, and then whine "If the game is this hard with grinding, I can't imagine how it is without!?!?"

[Yoshiken]

Yeah, agreed on the point on grinding. That said, it's only HP grinding that screws people over, right? ;o

FF2: ROFL. I'm endlessly glad I was told early that shields were godly. Just got into a fight against the Red Soul (or whatever the guardian of the torch was originally called.) Only had Guy alive for this fight, no usable magic and no healing items. Got hit with 4 spells, knocking Guy down to 8 HP. The Red Soul then attacked physically and missed 21 times in a row, allowing Guy to finish him off. Now to see if I can escape this dungeon alive...

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Suikoden V made me cry.

Saw Nakula's recruitment requirements?

[Talaysen]

Actually, HP grinding early on isn't a bad idea IF you don't go overboard.  If you go up to around what you'd normally get by endgame and just rarely get more HP boosts after that, you're fine, and it helps steamroll the earlier parts of the game.  It's just that if you go up to say 5000 HP or something really stupid, you get screwed over.  But if you go to ~1000 you should be fine.

And weapon grinding doesn't really have any downsides beyond wasting your time.

That said, it's probably not really worth it since you get HP gains throughout the game anyway, so you're not saving a lot of time if you just play smartly.

[Niu]

So... Chaos Wars is FF2-style growth? Huh. Okay, that explains it.

Are the Chaos Wars bosses worth stat-topicing, then?

Technically more of a SaGa style. As growth rate varies between characters.

[Talaysen]

So... Chaos Wars is FF2-style growth? Huh. Okay, that explains it.

Are the Chaos Wars bosses worth stat-topicing, then?

Technically more of a SaGa style. As growth rate varies between characters.

And SaGa Frontier was both stat topic'd and ranked!

[Meeplelard]

So... Chaos Wars is FF2-style growth? Huh. Okay, that explains it.

Are the Chaos Wars bosses worth stat-topicing, then?

Technically more of a SaGa style. As growth rate varies between characters.

And SaGa Frontier was both stat topic'd and ranked!

You'll notice that...
A. SaGa lacks specific stats
B. SaGa has a much smaller cast listed
C. SaGa is far more universalized about things.  Its not "x character has y growths!" Its "x character using y weapon will have z growths!"  This means that for Humans, there's only 4 sets of stats, a few more for those who are allowed to hybrid styles.
D. SaGa also has Mystics, Monsters and Mecs, who have relatively *STATIC* stats.  Chaos Wars, everyone is a human.

And this is only the start of Chaos Wars.

So really, bad argument.  This is why I didn't want to get into a description of why its not rankable; people are assuming over simplified scenarios and then applying it something similar without realizing there are note worthy differences.  Even if you're joking, the joke isn't funny; it should have just ended wtih "You're going to stat topic this game, RIGHT!?" "No".

[OblivionKnight]

Eh, I think part of it is interest and knowing why - I doubt anyone was really attacking you for it.  I mean, since they don't know much about it, knowing why it's not stat topicable helps. 

Although...mmm...Koudelka I have been considering - I mean, everyone has a starting stat ratio.  Scaling them up works - and the only plot equips are Koudelka's gun and Pendant.  It's...well, in favour of Koudelka, and all armour and other weapons are random...so...mmm...also not too interesting, since everyone gets very similar stats ;_;  Except Koudelka.

Also, question - would stat scaling up from the bases work for SaGa?  Or is there not enough documentation to do that (on weapon boosts in particular)?  Probably the latter.  Granted, might not be much variance in the stats to begin with, but having hard stats would be nice.  But probably not doable, I guess.  I should get back to trying to do damages for the whole cast at some point, but...so many other things to do first.

...wow, rambling while waiting for Trips to get back for L4D.  WE WILL HAVE YOU, BLOOD HARVEST EXPERT!!!

[Meeplelard]

Well, one of the things SaGa does that Chaos Wars doesn't, near as I can tell, is that the game also has a built in limit aspect.  As your characters get stronger, your stats grow slower.  YOu'll notice your HP Growth slows down considerably once you hit 750~ or so.  It doesn't stop entirely, but you'll be clearly gaining less levels.  Other stats are similar; closer you reach that maximum, the slower they grow.

That, and some equips just boosted you to those stat caps too just cause of where the numbers fall (a Gunner with 99 Speed isn't unheard of after equipment, for example.) 
And this is just talking about humans; Mystics (HP aside), Monsters and Mecs have relatively static/controllable stats, so right there, that's about half the cast that's just flat out easier to work with.

Chaos Wars, your stats just keep going up.  There may be a rank check, but I honestly haven't noticed; lower rank characters don't seem to gain stats faster against higher rank enemies than those who are roughly equal, unless the game just does "is your rank higher/lower? If yes, apply this bonus" like some games do, not caring about Magnitude.  But considering that I did a fight twice (due to a reset), and characters gained completely different gains...yeah.

Also, bare in mind, SaGa, you gain stats based off Fights.  You act in a fight, you gain stats at the end.  Chaos Wars, you gain stats on ACTIONS.  Everytime a character uses an action that isn't an Item, there's a chance their stats go up ON THE SPOT.  This includes combo attacks too.

[AAA]

We did it. It took us 4 hours but we did it. It's done. And I am never playing Blood Harvest again.

[superaielman]

Blood harvest, your sorry ass is mine.

[Yakumo]

Pfft, I've had that expert clear for ages. >_>

[Talaysen]

You'll notice that...
A. SaGa lacks specific stats
B. SaGa has a much smaller cast listed
C. SaGa is far more universalized about things.  Its not "x character has y growths!" Its "x character using y weapon will have z growths!"  This means that for Humans, there's only 4 sets of stats, a few more for those who are allowed to hybrid styles.
D. SaGa also has Mystics, Monsters and Mecs, who have relatively *STATIC* stats.  Chaos Wars, everyone is a human.

All this does is make me think that SaGa Frontier was a horrible, horrible rank.  Don't even know their stats?  Can't even compare them to the whole cast?  Yeah.

Cross Edge - Sitting outside the dungeon to go the final maingame area.  Final PC to join actually looks pretty good, but doubt I'll be using him since my party is pretty set (and replacing Aurica means no Ragnarok and Ragnarok is teh b0rked).

[Scar]

ONE MORE TIME!!!!!!

[superaielman]

You'll notice that...
A. SaGa lacks specific stats
B. SaGa has a much smaller cast listed
C. SaGa is far more universalized about things.  Its not "x character has y growths!" Its "x character using y weapon will have z growths!"  This means that for Humans, there's only 4 sets of stats, a few more for those who are allowed to hybrid styles.
D. SaGa also has Mystics, Monsters and Mecs, who have relatively *STATIC* stats.  Chaos Wars, everyone is a human.

All this does is make me think that SaGa Frontier was a horrible, horrible rank.  Don't even know their stats?  Can't even compare them to the whole cast?  Yeah.

Cross Edge - Sitting outside the dungeon to go the final maingame area.  Final PC to join actually looks pretty good, but doubt I'll be using him since my party is pretty set (and replacing Aurica means no Ragnarok and Ragnarok is teh b0rked).

Saga endgame stats are pretty static (You generally get the same results every time), so that's not a huge problem. Donno about Chaos wars obviously.

[Meeplelard]

Chaos Wars: Chap 8 COmpleted!

There were two bosses I hated in this game:

One is Izou.  Everytime he Realizes, he randomly immunes physicla damage, which is 80% of my offense.  And he has counters, which can just be a kick in the balls when you're trying to attack (its interrupting style counters, so the counter goes off BEFORE the attack and nulls it out.)  He also hits idiotically hard due to a Man Eater effect; yes, your entire team is full of "humans", and yes, he does extra damage against them!

The other is Yoichi.  He uses Guns, so he has a lot of range.  He's MORONICALLY FAST, like he'll double turn you even when there's no logic ni doing so.   He has GUN counters, so he can counter even ranged stuff, and he always brings bullshit support that loves to combo with him, and doesn't know when to quit.  Also, cause he gets so many turns, he has a way of mitigating your big damage done to him due to the pHP system, such that you do a lot of damage...oh wait, lots of turns, now I heal a lot of it back!

...they just had to make you face BOTH of them this chapter (thankfully, separately.)  Thankfully, from the sounds of things, it sounds like both are gone for good, and I won't have to deal with their bullshit anymore.  They weren't hard, just completely annoying in every sense.  Thank god I think I'm done with those two pricks.

Also, it seems the game is at least merciful with counters, as it seems to count as the enemy using a turn, as Yoichi kept having his turn set back some everytime he'd counter, so that helped.

[Niu]

States really is not what keeps Chaos War away from ranking. Their built in growth rates isn't too much different from FE's random growth.

The problem is you can't tell where the universal end game level is. And then there are tech system and equipment, good luck figuring out who gets what.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

TWEWY - WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS.

EDIT: I mean, so far, it's impressively creative and unique, and the polish is amazing. But still, what is this thing, I've never played any game like this before and it's bizarre.

[Niu]

TWEWY - WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS.

EDIT: I mean, so far, it's impressively creative and unique, and the polish is amazing. But still, what is this thing, I've never played any game like this before and it's bizarre.

Jupiter spent over 60% of the development time brainstorming over the system, if they can't get this type of response form the players, they fail.

[Tide]

Wild ARMS 4 Speedrun:

Oh. My. Fucking. God.

It is finally DONE. After re-starting this in January, it took me nearly 7 months before I recompleted it. Thankfully done before the unified exam and studying period. Anyways, final time is....

5:24:11

I have successfully managed to save nearly 21 minutes of gameplay time compared to the previous run that I thought was pretty well done. But no, this run is probably a near perfect speed run that you're going to see. I cannot identify huge time sinks since almost every part was replayed and polished until I was satisfied with it. Closing thoughts...

Major changes if you haven't been following along:
- No Alter Parts gotten
- Tiny Flower drop at Wunderwaltrum
- No Fighter Badge
- Augst strategy now uses Assault Buster to OHKO
- No Castle Wall, provides a neat 1 minute cut

The biggest mistakes that I can note, costing 1 minute or more
- Having to revisit Port Town Rosalia to buy Raquel's Sun Wall. Need a Gella Card before Augst for this
- Fights at Etemananki were poorly done
- Set up time for Gawn fight was incredibly slow

Boss fights that are still random:
- Earthbound Dead
- Jeremy 1
- Miscreation
- Jeremy 2
- Krakken
- Grabboid (team fight)
- Guardian Chimera
- PROTOTYPE GEAR
- DW's 3 phases

Other than that, most other mistakes were relatively minor. I assume with better Accelerator management, you can get more time saved. But this is pretty much peak outside of being allowed to skip entire parts of the game.

I got incredibly lucky with the DW fight. In the first phase, he moved towards me after I casted Hyper. Raquel pretty much smites at this point. In the second phase, Raquel leads off (since turn order is still the same, but Tiny Flower effects are renewed). This lead to me getting around 51000 points of damage off before he moved since she also got a critical hit. Final form, I adjusted my strategy here to kill all the Devices since they were by far the biggest threat to killing Yulie. I didn't have any Revive Fruits so Yulie cannot die more than twice. A few high powered Apoptosis and Intrudes later, I got the first DEFENSIVE fight and managed to win. Entire three forms (including form chains and dialouge) took around 5 minutes and 34 seconds from start to finish. It was surprisingly clean and very fast (with the last form taking the longest).

This is probably the last time I plan to do this? I don't see any other large improvements, unless Tal can think of some. I've mathed out in my head why using Grow Apples doesn't translate to a good strategy for speed running, although I am not tempted to actually prove it. So barring a sudden urge or something, this is it! The entire thing is recorded and I will be uploading it to Youtube when I get the chance. Thanks to everyone who had suggestions along the way (expect to see your name in the credits)!