Games you're playing: The 2009 edition.

[hinode]

(Also, enjoy the authentic SRW PLOT experience, by which I mean four completely separate plots running at the same time, held together with scotch tape and spit.)

Hey now, don't insult the durability of scotch tape like that.

Speaking of which, been playing SRWK slowly for the past two weeks. Up to Stage 25 now, which is actually 29 or so due to Banpresto's weird numbering system, but whatever.

The game's definately had its balance built around the partner system, both in strongly encouraging you in using it and yet also providing reasons not to. Every super except Gaiking lacks any sort of non-EN based attack which makes the regen provided by resupply units quite welcome (nearly a must early on), while in theory the diminishing returns keeps reals from soloing the game even if they have 300 mobility. In practice... uh, maybe my RNG is bugged or something, stuff like King Gainer and the high end Destiny mechs get hit once in a blue moon. Not being able to get support attacks at all without partnering up makes the system quite inviting initially, especially with L1 chain not being that great. On the other hand, now that grunts are starting to pick up support defense damaging things well with anything short of chains is going to get increasingly annoying.

Unit balance is... a lot better than the average SRW, certainly. The game's extremely generous on handing out repair/resupply to secondary units, giving use to a lot of weak attackers. Quite a few pilots have spirit sets that are definately built to give a heavy hitter accel, or something along those lines. Every main character mech is worth using, although it takes an upgrade for the original and Mazinger Z to get there. There's occasionally something like the Killer Jaguar that feels underpowered for a non-repair/resupply mech, but they're not horrible at fighting at least. I'll save the final evaluations for when I beat the game.

S ranks are uncommon in the earlygame, while B ranks are really brutal in this game - I assume a C would just be completely hopeless. Puts more value on stuff like Murasame Liger's early S in ground, but space missions can get ugly with all the Bs.

Oh, and El Dora V is the awesomest mech in SRW history save for only Bonta-kun. ;_; to it not having Infierno y Cielo when it joins for good, though.

[Talaysen]

Eh, I used Ibis's healing for one important stage on most playthroughs.  Memorable enough for that.  >.>

Tsukihime - Day 8.

Pokemon Platinum - Finished the stuff in... Sandgem? Town.  Got a Budew and Zubat so I am UNSTOPPABLE~

[Shale]

Oh! Speaking of that, bear in mind that each character has his/her own bonus for reaching 50 kills now (in addition to starting with 105 will). Something to consider when you're portioning out the kills.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

[insert shameless OG2 stat topic plug here]

[Xeroma]

Do recall that Full Upgrade Bonuses exist as well. Max out all the stats on a mech[not weapons], you can give them a special bonus. Each mech has one particularly special bonus they can get, that range from bad to broken. For example, I highly reccomend maxing the Alt at some point. That's the only real advice I'm gonna give since you said you didn't want any though >_>;

[Meeplelard]

ToV: I am in a castle, and there's a shop selling "Golden Armor" which Yuri, a Tales Main, can use.

...something tells me there isn't TOO much of the game left <_<

[Excal]

Man, I'd almost want to continue with my playthrough of OG2 again, except that I'm still horribly addicted to VPDS.  Just about to beat the B path again, this time actually going all the way on the B Path.  I do like the fact that each path is its own self contained story, with Chapters 3-5 actually trying to hold together cohesively thematically.  Sadly, the way the game is built, it's far too easy to slide down a path if you don't know what you're doing (well, B -> C.  Once you know the mechanic, staying on A is dead easy and C cannot be left), and I can't imagine the disjointed stories mesh that well.  So yeah, next playthrough will just be crushing the A path, and then the Seraphic Gate.

Also started the PS2 back up again.  SO3 is currently getting play on the weekend since I figure my pain will amuse my friends.  Sure as hell isn't worth playing by myself.  Though, I do enjoy Metal Gear Fayt.  So, on my own time I play something with better gameplay, which means I've started making a real run at the Answer.  Will probably pick up P4 when I'm finished with the Answer.  So far opened up the shop and beaten the first boss of the second door.

Pros: Same character interaction, which is nice because I do like the P3 cast as a whole.  I know he's talking about Shinjiro, but the fact that I named the MC after Shinji Ikari just means that Akihiko's victory quote really amuses me now.

Cons: I really, really hate Metis, and I do wish they'd stop making a big deal of the 'black shadow' every chance they get.  Yes, I understand it is important, but you don't need to constantly remind me of it.

Sadly, it also makes me think a bit of FF7, as I have my psychotic blonde chase after the man in black.  Makes me vaguely wonder if Aegis will be taken out of commission and Junpei will finally get to lead after being told to do so (and generally told to do everything else he's going to do) by Barret Kirijo.  Because, hey, that would be totally awesome.

[Clear Tranquil]

Eternal Sonata- Just defeated the final guardian of the sand tower place but reset because there's another strategy that I want to try. Basically wasn't happy with the guarding I encountered in the fight, going to try staying at it's behind next time. Salsa's light elemental ultimate weapon and light specials are great for the enemies in here but why the hell did they have to give her such a crappy weapon for the DL >_> March actually has a stronger weapon/ATK than Salsa now, that's just weird, only reason Salsa's still owning is because of the light weak enemies. Think I'm going to be around L55 average for the final boss, that's if the area after the final guardian isn't that big. Last party level upgrade was nifty, I can now chain Harmony Chains to three which I've been having fun with, reminds me of SO3 a lot. I've become quite adept at blocking enemy attacks. Still haven't experimented with counters/special attack counters yet though.

What's your problem with SO3 gameplay Excal? - I wouldn't mind seeing some constructive criticism

[Excal]

The game and I have creative differences about how often I hit the attack button.  It always wants to say that hitting 0% fury means you're not playing the game right, while I am a firm believer that being at 100% Fury means you're not playing the game right.  Also, series of short, quick jabs have a bad tendancy of blowing up in my face despite that being the fun way of playing.

So, yeah.  There's no objective criticism here.  SO3 is just designed to offend a great deal of my subjective tastes as to how a game of this nature should play.  The bitching?  That's mostly for the benefit of the Elf, since he likes the gameplay, and P3 has mechanics which don't bother me in the least, but seems to have been designed with him in mind in an even more extreme fashion than SO3 and me.  Well, that, and I like bitching.

[Grefter]

You want constructive criticism of SO3 gameplay?  Defensive barrier is the worst thing ever introduced in a real time game like SO3 where spacial dodging is not only doable, but very important.  Enemies regain fury while you beat on them which means you can be in a constant chain where they are stuck except for LOL BARRIER CAUSE I SAID SO (Full Berserk combos for DL damage is fail and nigh unachievable in game, if not at least incredibly useless/impractical/overextends you).  SO3 badly needed to not have the barrier system in place, a dodge is far FAR better for the gameplay.  You know why?  Because using your barrier promotes just standing still as a strategy in a RT action RPG.  This is like the worst possible option to have in place for an action game.  Standing still is not action.  Dodging on the other hand is very much an active component.

[BaconForTheSoul]

Megman 9- This game is impossible.  (Okay, I'm assuming once I manage to beat 1 fucking boss it'll become a lot easier, but good lord.)

[Hunter Sopko]

P4- Through Void Quest. Amusing boss with some neat tricks. Went back through the Strip Club to fight the bonus boss there. Whupped him something fierce. Shows the right sense of humor that it was a fetus! 8/14.

[Soulgain]

VP2 - Starting to understand how it works, I actually know how to use the spheres now.  I just beat Kraken boss, took a couple tries, it wasn't easy though >_<

I think I'll try to look into how to sell materials to get better equipment, maybe that will help.
Current team: Alicia, Celes, Lezarde, Arngrim.  Celes is cool looking but there are probably better Light Swords out there, same goes for Arngrim, I might try to use an archer over one of them.

Platinum is at the post office, according to online tracking, so that's something else to start on.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

I think I'll try to look into how to sell materials to get better equipment, maybe that will help.
Current team: Alicia, Celes, Lezarde, Arngrim.  Celes is cool looking but there are probably better Light Swords out there, same goes for Arngrim, I might try to use an archer over one of them.

Recommendation: don't use two Light Warriors. For a first playthrough, Alicia is all you need. You'll lose Arngrim by the end of C3. You get rewards for getting him higher-levelled, but it's not all that big unless you grind like a maniac (same goes for Leone). Also, mages fucking suck. Replace them with archers ASAP. Phyress is one of the game's best archers, starting with Psychosoma and Flame Shot/Flare Blast, which make the Fire Blessing sealstone look really sexy.

EDIT: I'd actually recommend going for a full-blown archer party, really. Best damage output and covers both damage types, and the maingame bows are very good.

[mia~]

SO4: OH KEVIN MOMMY LOVES YOU. YES SWEETIE I CAN IT, YOUR FIRST CRY!11

I am considering playing the game by scene skipping through everything now.

[Talaysen]

SO4: OH KEVIN MOMMY LOVES YOU. YES SWEETIE I CAN IT, YOUR FIRST CRY!11

I am considering playing the game by scene skipping through everything now.

Don't do it.  You miss out on trainwreck that way.

[Soulgain]

Recommendation: don't use two Light Warriors. For a first playthrough, Alicia is all you need. You'll lose Arngrim by the end of C3. You get rewards for getting him higher-levelled, but it's not all that big unless you grind like a maniac (same goes for Leone). Also, mages fucking suck. Replace them with archers ASAP. Phyress is one of the game's best archers, starting with Psychosoma and Flame Shot/Flare Blast, which make the Fire Blessing sealstone look really sexy.

EDIT: I'd actually recommend going for a full-blown archer party, really. Best damage output and covers both damage types, and the maingame bows are very good.

Ah cool, yeah, Alicia herself pretty much did everything by herself against "The Kraken" after everyone else died pretty fast, and Celes' damage output is pretty lacking compared to her right now.  I'm level 10-11 but I haven't stopped yet to do any real grinding, though the extra HP would be helpful.

Phyress was the Archer I was toying with using actually, I put her into the Kraken fight but she dropped pretty fast with her default equipment.  Lezard I slapped in there for one of the earlier dungeons and I just sort of left him in since he had a few levels over everyone else after a dungeon or two, I'll try sticking another archer in to get used to using their attacks, thanks for the tip.

It's pretty overwhelming compared to most games I've played recently, it took me awhile to realize the battles weren't in real time, after that I actually could plan my moves beforehand, I'm enjoying it though.

[Bardiche]

Phyress was my favourite archer to use because of Psychosoma.

I mostly used all-females teams, because I hate the males.

If you think the Kraken's difficult, just wait until you get farther in the game, heh. I found the game to be quite challenging, and before I actually -leveled-, it was a question of avoiding getting hit by an enemy while pummeling them ASAP.

Heh.

[Sierra]

Yeah, seconding everything Snow said. I like VP2 and all, but it fails at class balance. Celes is one of the better light warriors (fairly reliable ID attack, if I recall correctly) and still loses out to pretty much any archer. Phyress in particular is broken if you know how to use her (Psychosoma = her MAG stat is factored into her physical attacks, which makes certain weapons/armors highly abusable). The only thing mages ever have going for them is the ability to hit enemies that immune physicals, and plenty of fighters can get around that problem on their own by using elemental attacks or equipping elemental weapons.

Would recommend keeping Rufus up to date, if you haven't been. He'll stick around for the whole game (barring one mid-game boss fight) and collects a pretty respectable moveset.

[Meeplelard]

Not to mention one of the only characters with a 60+ Energy Soul Crush without Heat Up, making him able to use it in the 3rd slot

[Anthony Edward Stark]

SO4: OH KEVIN MOMMY LOVES YOU. YES SWEETIE I CAN IT, YOUR FIRST CRY!11

I am considering playing the game by scene skipping through everything now.

And you can do that with no consequence to the overall story until En II.

[Soulgain]

I took Rufus out for Lezard when I needed magic attacks, but I'll put him back in before he lags behind too much.  I liked shooting arrows at enemies that were hanging in the air

Not to mention one of the only characters with a 60+ Energy Soul Crush without Heat Up, making him able to use it in the 3rd slot

I've been wondering about Soul Crush actually.  I know how it works just if there is a recommended method to get the Gauge up to 100?

What I do now is choose who is going to attack one at a time, so I'll press Triangle 3 times, then I'll start with Circle etc. is this efficient? does the gauge rise faster if you have attacks connecting at roughly the same time? it would be a little trickier to learn timing when pressing two buttons at once, but if that's a better way to get the Gauge up I could give it a try.  It might be because of my lineup, Celes in particular, her attacks don't seem to put the gauge up at all. 

I'll probably read over the manual later to see if there is any useful infos in there.

[Bardiche]

Uh, if you chain it moves up better, yes. I recall the meter going down if the enemy wasn't being hit but I don't know how much time the enemy can be "not hit" before that happens...

Usually I trigger the Mage first (slow spell is sloooooooow) and then bash all other characters in. Usually don't bother with knockback skills or what have you. Later on I just bashed everyone in at once, since I had no Mage.

[Shale]

The gauge decreases whenever you're not attacking, so you want your characters hitting the enemy in quick succession, making sure to use the launching, knockback, etc. the hits cause to keep the combo going. Practice with your characters' various attacks and see which order is the most effective. Once you're throwing Soul Crushes, it's just a matter of using the ones with the lowest CP gain first so you can keep getting the gauge back to 100 for another Crush.

[Bardiche]

To note, depending on when you use a Soul Crush in a SC Chain, it also becomes stronger.

At least, in my experience -- Alicia's Nibelung Valesti is a lot stronger when used last when compared to using it as the first move. So it's also something to think about when you have two moves that get the same amount of/comparable amount of CP, use the weaker one first and the stronger one after.