Games you're playing: The 2009 edition.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

SRWW - Holy shit this game moves fast as -fuck-. Stage 21 right now. Currently, my most upgraded units are the Oni Cop brigade, the originals, Mazinkaiser, GaoGaiGar (who just upgraded to Star GaoGaiGar), Tekkaman Blade and Arbalest - Volfogg is decently upgraded, so is Sandrock, and I also pumped some monies into Mic Sounders.

The Oni Cops honestly aren't amazingly badass, but they're actually sorta versatile and the combine/decombine shenanigans are useful at the right time - not to mention those combos are very good. Main problem is really that they lack Focus, which would round them all up big time - they don't have enough evade nor enough concrete to fix the durability woes, although they're at least not complete OHKO bait - you do need to boost both HP/Defense and evade for them, though. At least you're upgrading something like six mechs for the price of one, and they have surprisingly powerful slugfesting in general.

GaoGaiGar is brokedy~, Big Volfogg slugfests far better than he has any right to, Mic Sounders is probably the most interesting healer/resupplier I have right now. Also, Sosuke dodges like a freaking champ. Tekkaman Blade is also great. Valstork is pretty good too! Now, if only the Valhawk gained actual boss-killing (six upgrades to reach 4k on the finisher, Kazuma? Really? The -Arbalest- does better than that). 

[Grefter]

WoW- Whee, grindan my badges. Jon might be raiding geared sometime in the near future. Phen, on the other hand, continues to be a secondary project for the time being. I really feel like I ought to swap her over to enhancement for levelling, but considering I want to go Resto anyway, going Elemental is simpler on the whole it seems. Need to get her the heirloom items, too.

Badge grind is suprisingly quick and kind of fun.  Beats the piss out of doing one specific dungeon every day just so I can roll on a trinket just because a better one wouldn't drop for me when I was doing Ulduar hard modes and those have been dropped from our active raiding.  But hey at least the new 5 mans gave me a new weapon after I haven't had one drop for a few months.

But now for what I waas actually going to say, go enhance.  Enhance levelling is insanely fast and easy.  Pick up resto/Ele gear once you hit 70.  At... 75 I think it is Shamans learn Lavaburst then levelling Ele is crazy stupid fast.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Wild Arms 4 - Beat this again. Seriously fun game, breeze to play through. I would have gone straight through without doing much on the side but Super Jude Bros. is a foul temptress, which got me at least to go Detecting for treasure chests and then playing the game over and over until I had 400k on both modes. Got 90k on the final stage which I think is a personal record.

Last stage of the Divine Weapon was really bitchy this time and I had three resets against him as he had way too much luck nailing me with ABM Missile. I'd complain, but honestly, half the fun of WA4 battles is trying to scrape your way out of a random situation.

Game's plot remains such a mixed bag. On the one hand, the game deals with some cool themes, and most RPGs don't seem capable of touching themes beyond "racism is evil" and "have faith in humanity" and one or two others. Children, adults, and growing older; promises; death (and not just in cartoonish overdramatic fashion). I do like a certain part of the ending, too. You know which.

On the other hand sometimes it makes me want to punch my TV screen. While Hauser is at least hilariously bad in the Xorn way, there's no defending how the game deals with Kresnik. Okay, he is an emo loser who bawls about being unable to help his sister when all she wants is for him to stay with her. That's pretty terrible. But what really ticks me off is how the game (Jude and Yulie in particular) seems to glorify him, like he's some dedicated saint with CONVICTION and not one of the worst human beings in the game outside Jeremy and the Ministry of Fail. Every time he was talked about near the end made me want to vomit. The game also does some goofy story stuff besides this (like the scenes surrounding the Dolls) but that's really the worst.

So yeah. I am being critical, but overall the game is still one of my highest 10/10's, the gameplay and pacing are nearly unsurpassed.


Super Luigi Galaxy - Yeah, replaying SMG as Luigi. Luigi controls differently (he slides more) which makes things both new and harder. Less fun than the original (the controls are goofy), although I'm still playing it because different and more challenging are both things I can appreciate. Levels seem to be basically all the same except for the cosmic races which, if the first is any indication, are significantly ramped up, which makes sense. Coins might be different too, haven't gotten to them yet.


Endless Frontier - Nearly at an end. Rants forthcoming then, I suppose. Haken's quitely grown into the game's clear MVP; good speed, Snipe, and Rampage Spectre make him a great all-round package. I'm not going to complain. Anyway, fighting Saya and T-elos now, which I imagine is close to finished at least. I KNEW THE SECOND DUNGEON'S MUSIC WAS TOO DRAMATIC!

[Bardiche]

Rondo of Swords: Just went on the Good Good Path. (you get two choices, so you can go Good->Bad Ending, or Good->Good Ending.)

Anyway, allow me to re-illustrate how awful Marie's durability is!! Of course, I have Steadfast, Rook, Invoke Life whenever possible so a stat topic may be nicer to her. (although I'd take steadfast, rook and invoke life in the stats because it's a no-brainer to use them!!)

My party:
Altrius, level 39 Arch Paladin, 375 HP, 53+44 Def, 44 Mag. (Mag doubles as Magic Defence I think)
Selmer, level 40 Warlock, 177 HP, 32+31 Def, 69+15 Mag. This is a Mage, fyi, just like...
Galahad, level 38 High Priest, 185 HP, 22 Def, 68+5 Mag.
Marie, level 39 Divine Maiden, 114 HP, 15 Def, 65+7 Mag. Welcome to awesome HP.
Alhambra, level 39 Treasure Hunter, 458 HP, 38+12 Def. 34 Mag.
Ansom, level 38 Sniper, 448 HP, 37+18 Def, 13 Mag.

Party averages: 292,83 HP, 50,33 Def, 53,33 Mag.
So Marie has ~0.40 of my party's HP. And... that's even leaving everyone else out of the equation, all of whom have higher HP and Def than she does. Um. ~0.29 Def, which is... the def stat is pretty noticable. F'rinstance, Altrius suffers 50~70 damage from an attack, whereas Selmer suffers somewhere around 140~160. Marie is always OHKO'd. Of course, Altrius and Selmer have def up items, so I'd knock off a few points from the def but I don't think that salvages her HP. Yulie'd look like an awesome tank next to Marie, who also has NOTHING TO BOOST HER DEF! Mdef, yes, but def? No. Of course she has the awesome MP Regen (massive!!) with Martyr (gives MP to others) combo, which helps out a lot since most mages don't restore MP (Selmer's is lategame) while they have massive MP costs. Notably Galahad's 88 MP Abyss Gate (WITH MP REDUCTION!) running off a 200 MP pool.

I don't even use the tankier guys (Simon, Margus, Kay, Owl, Yumiluna), although Selmer is probably a top-tier Mage with regards to defense and HP: he gets Steadfast and Invoke Life, although this does not put him ahead of Galahad with HP. Probably also because neither of the skills is maxed, but still.

Cotton and Selmer are godlike mages. Selmer's Serdna Prison is a wide-area spell that... pretty much either OHKOs or puts things within an inch of their life. Due to Terah Spell he recovers his MP as well, meaning I use him to soften up the targets and then make Alhambra use her godly 12 move to finish things off. I mean, seriously, I read a guide that says Selmer is a worthless Mage, but he's my best! Galahad beats him only at range (and only 1 range at that!).

Cotton is awesome because she even OHKOs bosses, who typically are pretty durable. (plot boss: level 35, 401 HP, 72+19 Def, 70 Mag) Faerie Fire is excellent crowd control albeit with short range, and Dragon Fire is just murder. She's also suspiciously durable due to evasion and a good chance to survive with 1 HP. I'd use her more but she makes the game criminally easy, since her Overburst skill also replenishes her HP/MP, and charges to max after one casting of Faerie Fire/Dragon Fire. Having 8 move on a mage is just icing on the cake. (typically characters have around 5-6 move, with Selmer having 4, Elmer has 5, Galahad has 5, Serdic/Altrius has 6, Alhambra is a silly outlier with 8 and boosts to 12 with Sprint)

My only regret is missing Izuna for super cameo plus plus, but what can you do. Probably on a new game+ with EVIL ROUTE!

[Magetastic]

I played Rondo of Swords Evil Route. He's still a pretty decent guy. Just emo. Not really worth it. >_>;

Although I will say that no amount of Cotton hype can ever compare to just how incredibly awesome she is. End of game, she's generally 1-2HKOing with her weak spells. She slaughters the game, with absolutely no doubts. All you need is for someone with high DEF to hop in front of her to keep her from getting killed, and you can take out... well, let's put it this way. It's a game where you end up splitting into either two smaller parties and doing two-pronged attacks, or you just run around as one large group a lot. Her and someone with... I can't remember what the skill is called. But a pure DEF unit (that stops others from passing through them), and her can take out an entire side on their own. No ifs, ands, or buts. They will.

[Bardiche]

I need an excuse to get Izuna as well, so... yeah. I also plan to do a playthrough without (ab)using Ateliers, Tarot and Training. This will likely fail.

ZOC. The skill's called ZOC, and Margus has it. There's probably others who get it, too, but Margus gets it first and there's ill reason to get someone else with it since Margus has great def and HP.

Just hates magic like you would not believe.

[Talaysen]

Insert approval of Cotton hype here.

[Bardiche]

I want to know how she translates to the DL format... Tal, how'd you think the entire cast'd translate? Give them all their skills? How to deal with class promotions?

For skills, I'm inclined to take a gander at the endgame level and just, uh, check how many skill pts are available at that point, jot down all the skills and make a notice of all the worthwhile combinations. Obviously can't max all the skills. I... don't feel like calculating back so probably need to gamehax it a bit, or just use Rukia since DURR HURR points spending (I can throw them all in exp up) and I can just level whore her quickly to endgame levels... but I ruined my current playthrough because I abused Ateliers, Training and Tarot cards.

Promotions also sound like a pain because... uh, first promotion at level 15, second at 30 but I'm far above level 30 and I've only found Igraine's promotion item... and if I promote her, I can't do Selmer and Elmer combi, so I'm inclined to say, "Everyone's at their second class". This makes Marie, Altrius and Cotton squeal in delight, and whoever else doesn't have a promotion/stops promoting after the first time...

Name      Items needed
Serdic      [N/A]
Kay      Battle Proof x2 and Captain Proof x1   + Alonso Seal
Margus      Battle Proof x2 and Captain Proof x1   + Aegis Seal
Selmer      Hermit Proof x2 and Sage Proof    x1   + Hioh Seal
Sasha      Battle Proof x2 and Captain Proof x1   + Aisu Seal
Marie      [N/A]
Ansom      Hawk Proof   x2 and Hunter Proof  x1   + Palta Seal
Owl      Thief Proof  x2 and Robber Proof  x1   + Dark Seal
Cotton      [N/A]
Alhambra   Thief Proof  x2 and Robber Proof  x1   + Rose Seal
Rukia      Thief Proof  x2 and Robber Proof  x1   + No seal required
Elmer      Hermit Proof x2 and Sage Proof    x1   + Raikoh Seal
Arios      Hermit Proof x2 and Sage Proof      x1    + Heretic Seal
Igraine      Hermit Proof x2 and Sage Proof      x1    + Anrah Seal
Shino      [N/A]
Aegil      Chrism Proof x2 and Vow Proof     x1   + Virgin Seal
Yumiluna   Chrism Proof x2 and Vow Proof     x1   + Sacred Seal
Simon      Battle Proof x2 and Captain Proof x1   + Moret Seal
Izuna      [N/A]
Galahad      Chrism Proof x2 and Vow Proof     x1   + Secret Seal
Alicia      Battle Proof x2 and Captain Proof x1   + Halo Seal
Naji      Hawk Proof   x2 and Hunter Proof  x1   + Ur Seal


So Rukia is the only one I'd offhand grant a third class change to on accounts of not needing a Seal, which honestly I only have Anrah... and it looks like the others are gained in the last few stages, so definitely not feasible unless on a New Game+.

I also note I missed Naji, Alberich and Alicia recruiting alongside Izuna, so definitely good cause to do a new game run and recruit all of them... Oh, Naji is only on Cold Emperor route... Hm. Figuring out how evasion and damage/defence works will be a pain, though.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

SRWW - UNLIMITED WUFEI WORKS OHGOD

[Ultradude]

SRWW - UNLIMITED WUFEI WORKS OHGOD

wat

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Exactly what it says on the tin. Although Fantastic Unlimited Wufei is more accurate.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Speaking of WA4, did anyone ever figure out exactly what determines Hauser's ability to use Accelerator? It seemed to me it was an ability that just gave him a turn whenever he wanted and I should be glad he didn't want to use it as much.

[Talaysen]

Bardiche: If it's possible to get all of the items for 3rd class changes (even if it's hard) in one playthrough, I'd allow them.  Otherwise not unless you get the items through plot and enough for everyone who needs them.  I didn't get far enough to actually do many 2nd class changes, let alone 3rd, so I don't know.

Only skills that aren't universal would be legal, I'd say.  Fortunately I don't recall ANY skill being universal.  Other than that, yeah, just look at how many skill points they have at endgame level and they'd get that many to allocate.

The cast ends up kind of boring from what I remember.  Not much outside of basic physicals (that get owned by Shut Out!) except the mages who get magic.  Sure they have other skills they can use but they take a turn and are rarely worth it in the DL.

---

Cross Edge - Postgame stuff.  The plot is win.  But the first boss kicked my ass.  Need to reform my team and grind for skills/EP.

Touhou Labyrinth - Screw the F12 boss.  That is all.

[Magic Fanatic]

Grim Grimoire - Up to Chapter 3, Day 5.

Biggest players so far have been the MorningStars and Dragons...  But I just recently unlocked the Chimera, and Homunculi and Grimalkins are excellent defensive creatures.  Glamour has been my main player so far, just because of all the Stat Boosts that Titania gives.  It's awesome.

Plot is made of win and awesome.  That is all.  I'm liking Bartido right now, just for his approach to ending problems quick.  That said, Advocat is also fairly cool in how he behaves...  Though Lillet has shown to be fairly cool and collected, and only promises to get even better.

Even if you don't like RTS's, I recommend this game.  PLAY IT.  PLAY IT NOW.

[Bardiche]

Bardiche: If it's possible to get all of the items for 3rd class changes (even if it's hard) in one playthrough, I'd allow them.  Otherwise not unless you get the items through plot and enough for everyone who needs them.  I didn't get far enough to actually do many 2nd class changes, let alone 3rd, so I don't know.

You need to send people on quests to get the elusive last promotion items. The "minor" items are in low supply as well, so you get to pick either Kay or Margus for promotion... It's really enough trouble to promote everyone once, let alone twice.

There are, indeed, no universal skills, although Steadfast is common among the tankier characters, whereas (almost) all mages get things like Serdna Prison. Of course, Selmer is the only one to get the Arcane Ice, Ice Shard and other Ice-related stuff that I'd say it's his 'unique' spell.

And yeah, most would end up kind of boring. Offhand, I think Margus (extreme physical spoiler), Alhambra (dodge whore), Ansom (OHKO or bust), Cotton (HYPE HYPE) and Selmer (durable Mage) are the most interesting of the cast for duels. The rest are... Meh-ish. I'll get around to it eventually I guess, since I finished the game just now and have begun a new game for stat topicing purposes. Endgame is about level ~45 ish, so once I get all characters in my team I'll probably just grind up to that and then stat them all. Thankfully level grinding is ezpz. that won't work i need to do damage figures and those need to be at endgame definitely orz

Also, the cast loves Rukia existing. Ahahhaha NO STAT EXCEEDS 20 POINTS WHAT orz



Magic Fanatic: Grim Grimoire hype? I approve. Lillet Blan is badarse. For an easy playthrough, just keep summoning Dragons over and over and over. There is nothing an army of Dragons cannot smash.

[Strago]

KotOR - Decided to go with a Scoundrel whom I'll eventually turn into a Guardian. Also chose dual-wielding, since... I mean, come on. Two lightsabers? How is that not better than one?

EDIT: .... and then I remembered that the person who popularized dual-lightsabering was Hayden Christensen playing Anakin. So I... reverted to a slightly older quicksave and chose the Dueling feat.

Carth is already supremely irritating. When can I boot him for a homicidal droid?

[OblivionKnight]

STRAGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Excal]

SRW@G: Picked this up again now that I have finally perfected my technique.  Currently on the middle of Chapter 27.  Looks like, despite slipping back to Normal difficulty (more because of stupid skill point challenges that the game does not tell you about than because of actual difficulty) I have managed to gain the Hard mode story path.  Oddly, I find this to be a bit of a shame since my next playthrough was meant to get the G-Bits and other nifty Hard mode toys and to smash it about.  Oh well.

Also, while I am slightly dissapointed that I just barely failed to get the VF-11 with it's reported Reflex weaponry, I have been pleasantly surprised at the VF1-Armoured Valk.  I mean, sure, it can't change form, but why would I ever want to?  It's base state has it as evasive as a Gerwalk, mobile as a fighter, the offensive of a Battroid, the armour class of Daitarn, and the HP of Mazinger (granted, Daitarn and Mazinger are respectively really bad for supers in those stats, thriving off the absurd strength of their other defensive stat.  But still, these are on a bloody Valkyrie, where they are typically balanced by being frail by real standards).  All I needed to do was slap a flight unit on and I was set.  Naturally, such a fine unit could only go to the Skull Leader, since Guts is a perfect skill to activate on this thing.

Rest of my party is as follows.

Daitarn 3, Raideen, Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, GP-03, Z Gundam, Nu Gundam, Turn A Gundam, Con Battler V, Volts V, VF1-Armoured, YF-19, YF-21.  With a few others kept generally ready to go in case they're needed or I get extra slots.  Dancougar, Cybuster, Xabungle, VF-1H, XX Gundam.  All of these using their original pilots too.  I suspect Ryusei will not make that list when he reappears on this playthrough, as I am not on track to get the R-1, and I refuse to use a freaking Gespenst Mk2.  at endgame.

Regardless, currently beating on Zola, which is always satisfying.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Excal: it's honestly sorta hard to go wrong with @G Macross, the big-name units and pilots are consistently badass. For you, this should be a delight. Isamu is also pretty badass. Also, you're the first person I know to call Daitarn's HP bad for a super. >_> Having over 10k base is decently badass even in @G. Although if that's the armored's base... um... man, how did I miss -that- level of overkill durability in my playthrough?

For some random unit looks: Mazinger Z, you're just keeping for when Mazinkaiser shows up and fucking breaks the game in tiny pieces, but you know that. Combattler and Voltes... eh, you probably don't need both - unless they have a combo in @G, in which case, go nuts. I'm fairly partial to the Xabungle, since the upgrade is very cool and Jiron is completely badass as a pilot. XX Gundam... eh, I think you probably would do better to bench it eventually when you get enough new shiny. It dodges like a champ, but even with Paula, its offense is junk without G-Bits. I'm not very fond of @G Dancougar, but it took me until @3 to give in to Dancougar hype (and it's amazingly badass in @3), and it's still pretty high-profile offensively if you twink it, so. Raideen I sorta like just because that's a Super that can actually dodge - it has issues slugfesting without Will, but you can handle that. Also, no Zeta Gundam? It's so good. ;_;

Also, the R-1 really isn't much better than a Gespenst in the context of @G. >_> Ryusei kinda struggled against mighty CARMEN CARMEN randoms in it and it was even kinda upgraded.

[Shale]

Dancougar is pretty much just there so you can use Shinobu's Valor to kill things dead with Dancoukogaken early on. Once it has to actually slugfest those EN costs and B terrains start dragging it down like lead weights.

Also, benching Getter makes me sad. Even though @G Getter G is legitimately not particularly good.

[Excal]

Zeta Gundam is listed as being in the lineup.  It's almost never outside of it's fighter form, but Kamille is always in the line up and in no danger of being dropped to random backup.  Unlike the Nu Gundam.

As for the Armoured Valk, must have typoed.  It's the HP of Mazinger, Armour of Daitarn, not the other way around.  I note those two as the HP of awesome, but Def of suck, and the Def of Awesome, but the HP of suck.  Mazinkaiser might have something to say about the HP of suck, and...  I'm kinda horrified at whether or not it can actually get better Def, but slapping sucky Super stat combos on something that moves like an evasive real is...  shiny.  Even before you add on Guts.

As for those other listed units, note that they're on the backup roster.  Dancougar is mostly there because I'm mildly infected by J, where it is awesome, as opposed to eating ludicrous En costs just to keep up, and with sub-VF-1A durability stats.  Well, that and the four pilot SP pool for the cost of one slot.  V Volts is likely to swap places with Xabungle now that Jiron got an upgrade (V Volts is out because they don't have Support yet, while Con Battler does), and as for the XX.  It's sitting on the has parts equipped/gets random upgrades list not because I pick it but because it seems to be forced, a lot.  And if something is going to get forced that much, I'm going to make sure it can carry its weight.

And?  I know Ryusei sucks in @G.  This is more because I like Ryusei and the R-1, so I will use them if I can.  Also, because second playthrough I will actually get all the worthwhile secrets like G-Bits and be better able to take the game apart in order to accomodate a less useful member of the team.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

KotOR - Decided to go with a Scoundrel whom I'll eventually turn into a Guardian. Also chose dual-wielding, since... I mean, come on. Two lightsabers? How is that not better than one?

EDIT: .... and then I remembered that the person who popularized dual-lightsabering was Hayden Christensen playing Anakin. So I... reverted to a slightly older quicksave and chose the Dueling feat.

Carth is already supremely irritating. When can I boot him for a homicidal droid?

DW isn't that great until the end of the game. Dueling is a perfectly viable option. It's fucking mindblowing in KotOR2 if you go Weapon Master, but not that great in the first because there's no Superior Two-Weapon Focus.

Anyway, you can replace Carth at your whim once you leave Taris, but the catch is that he forces himself in your group several times. KotOR may have better polish, but KotOR2 has SO much better writing.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Zeta Gundam is listed as being in the lineup.  It's almost never outside of it's fighter form, but Kamille is always in the line up and in no danger of being dropped to random backup.  Unlike the Nu Gundam.

Probably missed that. Be sure to get the Waverider upgrade, though. That thing makes Zeta Gundam absolutely nuts~

Mazinkaiser might have something to say about the HP of suck, and...  I'm kinda horrified at whether or not it can actually get better Def

Mazinkaiser gets EVERYTHING. The thing reaches OG1 Kusuha levels of effective immortality and it doesn't even have a barrier. For the other statements on the rest of your team, it's all fair enough.

And?  I know Ryusei sucks in @G.  This is more because I like Ryusei and the R-1, so I will use them if I can.

Well, yes, I'm just saying he isn't any more of a  deadweight in the Gespy in practice than he is in the R-1. >_> And honestly, given your team, I think it should be able to handle some fanboyism even in a Gespenst. It's fairly well-balanced in general. Certainly better than my team back in my first playthrough, and I still managed to break the game into tiny bits besides the Thrudgelmir => Machinery Children stretch being a little slice of hell, but it's a little slice of hell for EVERYBODY.

EDIT: Right, I play games too.

SRWW - Stage 25. You know, I have to wonder if the Shin Getter 2 was supposed to dodge and slugfest that well with only one upgrade across the board. Jesus Christ, it's awesome and it still has Getter 1 for boss slugfesting madness with lol 5k base Stoner Sunshine and lol ryouma melee. Also, Oni Cops love sharing them some upgrade drugs - and they've gotten to hilarious levels of brutality by now with having both range and high-profile multicomboing. Currently saving bucks so I can BREAK THE SHIT OUT OF GUNDAM ASTRAY in part 2, since my money units are pumped up enough for now (including Star GaoGaiGar, which is almost as pumped as the Oni Cops, ditto Tekkaman).

[hinode]

Currently saving bucks so I can BREAK THE SHIT OUT OF GUNDAM ASTRAY in part 2

*thumbs up*

[Talaysen]

Bardiche: Go look around the GFAQs board a bit.  IIRC they were trying to crack the mechanics awhile back but I forget if they managed to ever do it.  You might find some useful info there.

---

Touhou Labyrinth - Beat that damn boss.  Yay.