Games you're playing: The 2009 edition.

[Magic Fanatic]

BvS - So all my characters are still in Season 3.  I am also Terri3'ing the hell out of kaiju.  My first alt almost has a full set of monster drops, not to mention a few spares (like a spare Regalia and Lab Coat!).  Other than that...  Not much.  My main recently won a Persocoms from T3 damage, and my second alt just got a Catgirl Entourage (and considering all the nerfs everywhere, parties are FAR more useful then before).

God Hand - This game is so much yay.

[Twilkitri]

Shining Force-
Up to the second battle while on the ship. Apparently I have missed at least one person already but the one I know of isn't ranked anyway so that's all fine enough in a sense. Game is as yet still being consistently enjoyable.
I've been running into some weapons that don't appear to be usable by anyone lately which is somewhat disconcertening.

I missed alt while alt-tabbing at one point and found that the emulator in a supreme example of user-unfriendliness has Tab bound to hard reset (with no obvious way to change this aside from disabling keyboard shortcuts completely). I am somewhat uncertain as to how anyone anywhere could think that this binding was a good idea. Fortunately I only lost half a battle.


Sam and Max Season 2 showed up. Played through Ice Station Santa. Well worth playing, but I can see where some of the complaints that season 2 is inferior are coming from if this particular episode is especially representative. The Past puzzle is especially egregious given the spirit of what you're trying to achieve and the methods you use to achieve it, for all that this had to be pointed out to me before I noticed it.

[Magic Fanatic]

I've been running into some weapons that don't appear to be usable by anyone lately which is somewhat disconcertening.

Promote the hell out of people.  Then you'll be able to use those weapons.



Oh yeah.

Disgaea 2 - Still befriending the hell out of the specialists, mostly aiming for Lovers.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

P4 - Bwahahahahaha Trumpeter is so retarded.

[superaielman]

FF6a- Catching up Terra/Setzer. Levels are around 20ish or so. Really enjoying the replay all in all.

Physical builds: Edgar, Mog (Lancer), Locke
Magical builds: Terra
Both: Celes, Gau
Speed builds: Setzer. Never done someone with a speed build. He doesn't need Vigor and I have other magic users, so why not?

[OblivionKnight]

P4 - Bwahahahahaha Trumpeter is so retarded.

Wait until you can fuse Yoshitsune...with Debilitate.  That will be even more retarded.  Debilitate, Heat Riser, Power Charge, Arms Master (fusion ingredient has it), 8 hit MT physical, excellent resistances, good stats (awesome AGL).  It is sexilicious.

[Smashy]

BvS: Took long enough, but I finally have one of the two BTN allies.  Considering that I've already gotten 3 KnightFrame pieces, I should be able to finish BTN once I get that second ally.

Estiah: Now contains 100% more DEATH SPIN~ and THE HUG. My main also got auto-bountied and has won 2 defenses so far.  3 more defense wins and he'll finish rank 2 of Self Defense.

About The Hug's secondary ability: Players have a limit of 4 charms they can play per turn before the turn ends via dizzying.

[Captain K.]

DQV:  Got BOMBOULDER, one of the five monsters in the game with a 1/256 join rate.  Looks sucky from the stat topic, but I'm using it anyway!

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

P4 - Bwahahahahaha Trumpeter is so retarded.

Wait until you can fuse Yoshitsune...with Debilitate.  That will be even more retarded.  Debilitate, Heat Riser, Power Charge, Arms Master (fusion ingredient has it), 8 hit MT physical, excellent resistances, good stats (awesome AGL).  It is sexilicious.

Which Arcana does Yoshitsune belong to? I'm worried, since I slacked off on building Emperor. For reference, the S. Links I maxed are Magician/Chariot/Priestess/Lovers/Devil/Justice/Hierophant/Fortune/Strength/Sun/Star/Fool. Judgment is L8, Empress is L3, as are Temperance and Emperor. Tower is L5 and I didn't build Death/Hanged Man at all.

[Talaysen]

Yoshitsune with Debilitate is pointless if you already have it on Trumpeter.  Use that slot for something good like Enduring Soul.

[Pyro]

Yoshitsune is Tower.

[Sierra]

Yoshi's one of the Empress requests, isn't it? I think it's a quad fusion which you can see the requirements for from early on.

[Ryogo]

Persona 2: Yes, thats right. I have Persona 2, 3, and 4 all being played at the same time, cause I'm awesome. I believe I posted this while ago in the last Games thread, but haven't touched it since then. A rumor just got spread that if you've performed the Joker curse, you turn into a Joker yourself. And then Ulala calls and tells us to save her from the curse almost immediately afterwards. Awwww, shit. Who the hell did she try it on?!?!?.

Sadly, I accidentally found out earlier today on Wikipedia when I was looking up stuff on all the Persona games. Way to fail at life, Ryan... >_>

[OblivionKnight]

Trumpeter is actually the last Empress request (with Mind Charge).

Yoshi with debilitate is nice, in that you can do everything with one persona (buff, debuff, overkill).  Enduring Soul is good, and also one I automatically assumed (Masakados gets it as the last skill) would be put on him, like Arms Master.  Yoshi only has 7 natural skills.  Elec Amp, Brave Blade, and Ziodyne are replaceable.  Arms Master should kick out one (from Masakados), Enduring Soul for the other, and fuse it on the 24th for Debilitate in the other spot.  There you go.

Arms Master (Masakados)
Debilitate (fuse Dec. 24)
Heat Riser
Power Charge
Hassou Tobi
Enduring Soul (Masakados)

The other natural skill he learns is Elec Amp.  Naturally Strong: Fire, Void: Physical, Reflect: Electric/Light.  Could pretty easily get...well, the components themselves naturally get Resist Fire, Dekunda...not too much else that's stand out.  But their components can get some more resistances and other cool skills, so...creative fusing is fuuuuuuun. 

And yeah, he's Tower.  Hanged Man isn't spectacular, and...mmm...Death isn't bad, but you can do without it.  Tower is one to focus on, since Shiva and Yoshi, and Masakados, and Mara, and Cu Chulain are all good.  And parts of other good personas.  Judgment maxes like normal, as does Fool and Star.  Temperance...Vishnu isn't bad, but not super-awesome.  Lovers has an excellent healing persona, and Chariot's got a physical powerhouse ultimate (owns the strength one badly).  Priestess' ultimate is...eh.  About as good as in P3...which is...not much.  Devil, Justice, and Hierophant are all good. 

Really, I think P4 has good balance in personas.  Definitely solid ones in all categories. 

[Mad Fnorder]

BvS - So all my characters are still in Season 3.  I am also Terri3'ing the hell out of kaiju.  My first alt almost has a full set of monster drops, not to mention a few spares (like a spare Regalia and Lab Coat!). 
God Hand - This game is so much yay.

Trade you a firebrand for that coat~

[Captain K.]

PWI:  So my attack build cleric reaches level 19 without breaking a sweat.  There's this level 54 cleric in town offering to help people do their FBs, so I join up with him.

Me:  "Can you solo it?"
Him:  "Yeah."
Me: "I'm an attack build cleric - don't expect any heals from me."
Him:  "np, I have pots."

So he clears out the dungeon easy enough.  Asks me to spam my best heal (Ironheart) on him while he fights Deepsting.  I do so, but I watch his HP go down, down, down.  And he dies.  And Deepsting comes straight after me and kills me.  My first death with this character.

Me:  "Thanks for nothing, that was my first death with this character."
Him:  "gtg bye"

FAIL, LEVEL 54 PERSON

[Niu]

Aaanyway, was I supposed to infer that the Morphus are some sort of Nedian offshoot? It's a combination of the ears, the technology, and the vague statements about how Morphus society has existed in the same state it has now for like four million years.

I think the term "ENII" says for itself. The time Morphus came about is also the same time that Nede went kamboom. But then, Nedian descent are already EVERYWHERE, so there is nothing to be surprised about.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Aaanyway, was I supposed to infer that the Morphus are some sort of Nedian offshoot? It's a combination of the ears, the technology, and the vague statements about how Morphus society has existed in the same state it has now for like four million years.

I think the term "ENII" says for itself. The time Morphus came about is also the same time that Nede went kamboom. But then, Nedian descent are already EVERYWHERE, so there is nothing to be surprised about.

I've been following this fairly well so far with no knowledge of SO4, but I'm stumped on what ENII is.

-Djinn

[Shale]

Energy Nede 2, I'd assume.

[Pyro]

SO4: That string of phantom fights was very nasty. The leaders were nigh immune to everything but crits. Fortunately Reimi ripped them apart like Paper with Berserk + Focus. UNFORTUNATELY the other PCs died (I should have paid more attention to them and rezzed Sarah when I saw her go down earlier) and the fight went to hell from there. A bunch of revival chains later and Reimi finishes what she started.

Not much to say right now. Tal's idea of "Give everyone maxed HP Plus" seems pretty good for the extra 10K HP (more than doubling it for everyone), but the SP cost for that is prohibitive in the extreme. I've toyed with Berserk for Edge/Merry but it involves getting way to close to combat for a durablity halved character, so Reimi gets it. Sarah seems like a good healer, but Lym probably does just as good a job.

The plot is really really bad right now. I'm supposed to be awed by DUEL LIGHTSABERS or something and touched by a lame voiceless scene about two lovers ripped from each other's arms. Lots of angsting to go around and it is all forced by the "epic" plot. Argh. ToV at least had the good sense to focus less on the main plot.

Which reminds me, comparing the two games is pretty much inevitable for me since they are the highlight 360 RPGs. And right now I'm definitely going to say ToV comes out on top based on what I've seen. SO4 is graphically superior, but loses in pretty much everything else. Well, the special moves in SO4 are flat out better than ToV's, but that is to be expected considering SO4 has far fewer. Quality over quantity is definitely something I can get behind.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

P4 - Kenji fight was pretty goshdarned lol. For such a plot-relevant boss, he really sucks, but then, that's probably the idea.

The follow-up fight, though? Not so lol. Ameno-Sagiri has the sense to actually emphasize MT, which, if nothing else, at least forces castings of Mediarahan due to Nebula Oculus x2 adding up to rather solid MT 2HKO... too bad about the whole being evadable thing. Galgalim Eye is also sorta annoying, but it's evadable (only hit once, but Naoto is good at dodging, particularly under Masukukaja. It worked once Ameno tried to hit Yukiko with it instead). So, um, yeah. Still ran me out of resources when it was near dead, I won by pure dumb luck due to it deciding to physical x2 a recently revived Yukiko at full HP instead of finishing off my otherwise completely fucked party with Nebula Oculus in its final turn. Fun little fight.

[Meeplelard]

WAXF: Chap 4-5 completed!

[Talaysen]

Persona 2: Yes, thats right. I have Persona 2, 3, and 4 all being played at the same time, cause I'm awesome. I believe I posted this while ago in the last Games thread, but haven't touched it since then. A rumor just got spread that if you've performed the Joker curse, you turn into a Joker yourself. And then Ulala calls and tells us to save her from the curse almost immediately afterwards. Awwww, shit. Who the hell did she try it on?!?!?.

Sadly, I accidentally found out earlier today on Wikipedia when I was looking up stuff on all the Persona games. Way to fail at life, Ryan... >_>

Clearly you need to start Persona 1 up as well~

OblivionKnight: Yeah, Debilitate on Yoshi lets you do everything on one persona.  What use is that?  You can switch personas on every turn.  Having Debilitate on there is pointless if you have it somewhere else, unless that somewhere else has a weakness or something.  Which Trumpeter does not.  Hell, Trumpeter's got better resistances overall than Yoshi.  I think I got like Arms Master/Enduring Soul/Apt Pupil on him or something.  Oh, and Debilitate fusion means you don't get Christmas scene either.

EDIT: Oh yeah.  Yoshi learns Hassou Tobi at Lv 83, which is eight levels higher than his starting level.  If you fuse Debilitate, you get 5.2 levels for him for free and have to grind 2.8 more for Hassou Tobi.  Not very easy.  If you fuse on a bonus EXP day, you get like 7.2 levels, and only have to grind 0.8 levels or so, which is far far easier.  You can also fuse on Growth 3 to make it easier, but it's still a lot of levelling in the first place, not to mention that's one less other skill you can put on there (or if you're nuts, try to reset a lot and get lots of carry over).  Overall it's easier to just fuse on a bonus EXP day and grind the 0.8 levels and let Trumpeter (or Norn if you want) do the Debilitating.

[Ryogo]

Persona 2: Yes, thats right. I have Persona 2, 3, and 4 all being played at the same time, cause I'm awesome. I believe I posted this while ago in the last Games thread, but haven't touched it since then. A rumor just got spread that if you've performed the Joker curse, you turn into a Joker yourself. And then Ulala calls and tells us to save her from the curse almost immediately afterwards. Awwww, shit. Who the hell did she try it on?!?!?.

Sadly, I accidentally found out earlier today on Wikipedia when I was looking up stuff on all the Persona games. Way to fail at life, Ryan... >_>

Clearly you need to start Persona 1 up as well~

I may just do that, to complete the square.

Persona 2: Made it to Ulala, she's destroyed me twice now. I need to befriend more monsters so I can actually get new personas... And grind for yen to buy new equipment and items >_>

Also, on topic with Persona 3 and 4. I'm terrible at fusing persona's with a good use. I never know what skills will transfer, or which ones will be good. Honestly, I'll just go into the Velvet Room after a dungeon and fool around with fusing combination's of the new persona I get from the Shuffle Times in hopes I'll get a newer, cooler, higher level one. I generally just look at the skills they start with and their strengths and weaknesses, plus their S-Link Bonus. As long as I have at least one of every immunity and one of every magic skill divided among my persona reserves, I'm happy.

That said, does anyone have any advice for fusing the persona? I could use some @_@

[Tide]

Patience, patience and more patience.

If you know how to utilize noise control, do it. It will save you a lot of aspirin. Keep high skills over low ones, and think about the type/end  Persona you want. Recognize bridges and use them as carriers.

I like each of my personas to be individual working units. So, I don't like transferring junk over and will occassionally get unwanted Noise, which is often replaced as they level up and get more skills. Of course, I don't get as powerful Personas, but its enough to do the job. Make use of Fusion Forecast. It is love and you can pick up lots of high level skills to pass around with patience.

As for fusing Yoshi, he's fixed. So if you fool around with the fusion bridges making him, you can pretty much get a strong Yoshi without much trouble.

On the whole Yoshi /w Debilitate thing, I'm with Tal on this one. It's better to equip Yoshi with something more useful since you're likely going to have Trumpeter. And since you can switch at the beginning of every turn, it's not as huge of a deal. Something like Apt Pupil or even Nulls/Repels to the elements Yoshi doesn't block is probably better than Debilitate.

PS: I don't find Heat Raiser to be that good anyway. Much more turn effective it seems to just get Yosuke to cast Masuku, Kanji to cast Mataru, and then have MC Power Charge/Debilitate on the same turn. Gets your overkill damage out faster.