Adventures in the Questing of Dragons continues apace. I have managed to face the tretcherous Captain Crow, and got to see the brutal owning of someone who... showed up for no particular reason and kept me from my rightfully looted wealth! Regardless, while Crow had an interesting schtick, his round of awesome is easy to see coming, and just results in me telling everyone to defend, which... makes him not a threat. The fact that I'm also packing Kerplunk and Kazing also means I have few worries.
So, gone to the next place the plot wants me to go. Visited the town, and am about to head to the Dark World. Guv, with his Sacred Armour and Miracle Sword now almost never needs healing, ever. Between Falcon Slash and the armour, he's getting back around 60 HP a round. However, my day off saw me without the ability to play DQ, so, instead I progressed in...
Rondo of Swords! Finally getting the hang of this game, and reached the plot upgrade for Sedric. In the refreshing choice between having him either turn into Mother Teresa or Eat Babies, I figured out how to be Mother Teresa, and then decided to eat babies anyways just for the heck of it. I do like that he acknowledges that no one forced him to eat that baby, and that some of the PCs are now inclined to give him a smack upside the head.
Plot still isn't great, but it's not as bad as before, and Chekov's Gun has just been fired. Oh, and the main plot point of the early game has been resolved. It's not much, but it's there.
Now, for characters. That advice on Rukia was solid. She's consistantly stealing items whenever I go to shop. For RP purposes, I think I'd be compelled to stop sending her to buy things if I were Mother Teresa. Baby Eaters on the other hand? They're down with free stuff. Cotton continues to be awesome, with the addition of Faerie Fire, and the ability to restore about 65% of her MP. This is ludicrous given the power and MP total she has. Sedric has picked up ZOC which just makes him more awesome, and Alhambra is showing that good characters can get and use Sprint. But the real surprise is Shino and Izuna.
As someone mentioned earlier, Shino is a crappy archer who trades a lot of power for extra range and some magic. Except, that's not what Shino is. She's a limited, but strong mage, with a lot of mobility, the ability to tank a hit, and a ranged attack that's good at chipping. If you plan around it, Shino's Rekka Flame borders OHKO, hits a 5x5 square around her, and doesn't cost that much MP. She also has teleportation, though that's less likely to see use. Izuna on the other hand is the most powerful unit I have. Before she got all her skills set up and when he had an 11 level advantage over her, Ansom and Izuna were tied for strongest. Now it's no contest, and she does a hefty chunk of damage to anyone she faces. Her OB power is strong. I don't know how strong as nothing has ever been hit by it and lived. And while her Rekka Flame is only going to OHKO frail units, it's still a strong THKO on most everything else, and leaves most enemies ready to be taken down by someone fast like Alhambra or Kay. She even comes with Def that's reasonable for a swordmaster, and HP that's better than everyone save for Margus. Her one flaw is mobility. Only 6 move, with no sign of Sprint so far, as well as her OB needing to be used on an enemy right next to her.
So, yeah. Still not a great game, but I am enjoying it more now that I think I've finally gotten used to a lot of its quirks. Still also going to be playing second fiddle to DQ for a while.
