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Post by Xeogred on Sept 18, 2018 20:05:39 GMT -5
I'm glad someone doesn't mind the slowness! I realized that was your point in your last post, but was too lazy to redo my reply haha. That is one thing I would personally change but you're not wrong, it's not the slowest combat system I've played or anything.
Yeah, SRPG's have trained me to get behind enemies or against their sides, so I was weirded out by the invisible lines here myself. Makes the grid even MORE pointless overall, lol. Although I'm not sure if you figured other things out about the distance, though I know you're avoiding spoilers. Ultimately I think it's kind of just like a question of where Koudelka herself is on the grid and keeping her protected. Some attacks can knock people back and I wasn't sure if by placing someone behind them really prevented that or not. Personally, I hated when Edward knocked enemies back because then that means you only get one hit in instead of a possible combo, lol.
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Post by Ex on Sept 18, 2018 20:09:55 GMT -5
Sarge XeogredDid either one of you bother beating the Gargoyle?
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Post by Xeogred on Sept 18, 2018 20:15:20 GMT -5
Nope, maybe I can load up one of my last saves and backtrack to him. I attempted him at the end of the third disc but he annihilated me in a blink. Probably a 10 level difference from that point and the end of the game for me but I don't know if that would make a difference.
It's hilarious how it's like not even super worth it, getting the Sacnoth Sword... since the Lifedrinker is already really overpowered as well. Maybe you can one shot the final boss with the Sacnoth. lol
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Post by Ex on Sept 18, 2018 20:24:37 GMT -5
I didn't beat him either. Although the Gargoyle seemed to be the only truly difficult enemy in the entire game.
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Post by Sarge on Sept 18, 2018 20:45:33 GMT -5
That would be a negative, sir. Although I was tempted to try. There are a few strats that I think would have worked, but I would need to grind up a bit more, since I wasn't going for the Gargoyle Killer sword that one particular guide referred to. Finding out the requirements for getting the hidden items made me go "NOPE" and pretty much ignore the guides entirely. I'm not spending my time lining up my save times and item counts to get that stuff.
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Post by Ex on Sept 19, 2018 0:54:50 GMT -5
Glad I wasn't alone in saying "nah" to the Gargoyle. Effort didn't justify the reward. - My day job's left me a bit wore out the past few nights, only managed an hour or two per night lately in Covenant. But I finally made it to Russia, and picked up the photographer princess. I'm probably about a third of the way through the game now? Something like that. There's only about a week and a half left in September, I've got to step up my time investment if I'm going to knock this one out before October. If I put in at least three hours a night I can probably do it. But... who knows, real life may not cooperate on that aspect. Chances are this game's gonna bleed into October a little, but I will finish it! I'm still enjoying Covenant for sure, but I just can't seem to marathon games like some of you dudes.
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Post by nullPointer on Sept 19, 2018 11:05:27 GMT -5
Flavor Text! So this is kind of an oddball thing, but I love it when games are able to effectively use flavor text for the purpose of world building. For those unfamiliar(?), flavor text (at least in the context I hear it used most frequently) refers to the text on a Magic: The Gathering card which describes the card as it applies to the lore; a brief description of each character, place, etc. that has no impact on mechanics, but rather exists purely to deepen the mythology. Yes I'm that weirdo who has read the flavor text on each and every MtG card I've ever owned. In video games I'd extend the above definition to include found items, often in the form of diaries, letters, etc., which help to deepen the in-game narrative and setting. These are often optional pickups, and the game doesn't force you to read them. In a list of games that use flavor text effectively, I'd include the Silent Hill series, Bioshock, and the Assassin's Creed series (yes even AC; regardless of how you feel about other aspects of this series, the absolute reams of flavor text available is probably one of the best parts). Which leads me to Koudelka. I just picked up the Guard's Diary last night, and was nicely impressed with the contents therein. This was probably the most effective element of world building in the game thus far, and went much farther in establishing the dark gothic tone of the setting. I'm hoping to find more of this type of flavor text as the game progresses!
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Post by Ex on Sept 19, 2018 11:42:03 GMT -5
Flavor text really picks up in Shadow Hearts and Covenant further. Every single item/equipment, no matter how minuscule, can be examined to see a hand drawn picture depicting it, along with a paragraph describing the item and its significance. Every major and minor character has a biography. Every monster appears in the bestiary with a descriptive paragraph. The game's just full of stuff like that. I love that kind of stuff too, always read it all.
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Post by toei on Sept 19, 2018 21:05:04 GMT -5
I'm a fan of flavor text too, and when I played Magic I did read them all. I wanted to know what Baron Sengir had to do with Eron the Relentless or whatever (I was the world's only Homelands fan, seems like). It's a great way to do some world-building beyond the immediate plot. Blazing Heroes, which I played not too long ago, had some nice enemy descriptions.
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Post by Xeogred on Sept 19, 2018 21:27:13 GMT -5
"Flavor text" is a new one for me, but yeah... these games do that stuff extremely well! I loved reading just about everything in Shadow Hearts. As for Koudelka, those dairies/texts you can find were a huge highlight, I wish there was more! But the ones that are in there were very meaty and crucial to the story. Big thumbs up.
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