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Post by Sarge on Aug 6, 2019 21:37:11 GMT -5
I've made more progress. For now, the difficulty seems to have smoothed out? I didn't stop to grind, I just powered on ahead to the new continent. As long as you're using your runes properly (and at a minimum level threshold), you can survive pretty well. I think I just hit Level 30 with Lux. I'll likely gain a few more levels before making a run at Gorisa, and swap out Esuna for Valsu. She's been good, but I don't know that her attack magic has been overwhelmingly helpful. Valsu has all the buff spells in the game, and since I know what's coming, having them could be extremely useful. Plus, I should get another big boost from the Elnard levels. The problem will be tracking him down.
Also, I had a revelation today, 'cause I'm a bit daft at times. I really, really should have read the manual, but I didn't realize that I could choose who I start with on each turn. I should have, because Mystic Ark works the same way, and I liberally abused that mechanic. It also would have made that one trouble spot against Doros a cinch. Well, comparatively speaking. I don't know that anything ever comes easy in this game. One of my best strategies right now is to Defend with Lux, use the Star Rune with Esuna to boost her defense, and on the next turn start with her boosting Lux's attack, and then have him hit with that boosted Defend-Attack. Much more efficient, and it keeps Esuna from getting laid waste to if all the enemies decide to target her.
Anyway, the area I just cleared decides, hey, let's make things more interesting and take your magic away. Whee! You're completely reliant on runes. As long as you're careful, though, it isn't that bad. I only used one item, even, in a pinch. Surprising, actually. I also gained several levels in the process, and luckily, all of Lux's were quite good, including the Royal Flush of level-ups where every stat hit its highest possible number. Nutso stuff.
EDIT: Okay, time to take another break. I actually decided to make a run at Gariso, just to gauge how badly I'm going to get smoked... and I got to him. First try. Didn't even have any major issues getting through the enemies. Don't want to fight him yet, though, so I've been town-hopping trying to find Valsu. I finally found him (in Dowaine), and the joker just gives me a spiel about asking him later. Ugh. And of course, once you hit a set amount of experience, all the locations shuffle. That's when I just said screw it, I'll pick up again tomorrow. I'm over 16 hours now, and once I have Valsu (although I thought about Kamil, dang if his stats weren't beefy when I tested recruiting him), I'll be heading toward the point of no return.
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Post by Ex on Aug 7, 2019 10:10:22 GMT -5
And of course, once you hit a set amount of experience, all the locations shuffle. Imagine playing this without a walkthrough and having no idea that kind of stuff happens. I think you're going to pull it off. If you can beat this game in less than 20 hours, maybe I'll give it another shot. Your tumultuous tales thus far have embedded some hesitancy in my consideration though. Xeogred - Sounds like Gradius V is seriously hard. I'm not particularly great at shmups, it'd probably kick my ass sideways. - Tonight I'm going to load a few choice White Whale ROMs on my phone, and get started on Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!. The two times I've played this game in my life, I made it to Mike rather fast. Then Mike pounded me down into oblivion. The last time I played (about seven years ago), I was using a PC emulator, a keyboard (no joystick), and a laggy LCD monitor. Not exactly an ideal way to take on Mike. Since then, by watching videos of people beating him, I've got a new strategy in mind for taking him down ol' Iron this time. A strategy that surely others have used, but I've not seen discussed online before.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 7, 2019 10:20:04 GMT -5
I think the location shuffle would become pretty apparent at some point. I remember running into it all those years ago. The problem, of course, is that early on, they'll stay in Bonro or Zellis until you hit a particular trigger, then they can be all sorts of places. At some point, they can even appear in towns you haven't been to yet. Basically, get a helper before you leave those towns!
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Post by Sarge on Aug 7, 2019 14:47:01 GMT -5
Dang, I forgot to comment on it, but good luck taking down ol' Iron Mike, Ex. He's rough, but there are techniques out there that don't rely on sheer reaction time. I should probably learn them at some point before my reflexes are shot.
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Post by Xeogred on Aug 7, 2019 19:13:24 GMT -5
Tonight, I made it to my arch nemesis... stage 6.
The green goo part always freaks me up. Then the damn stage starts shaking! But I finally got out of that area and lost my final credit near the end, when you have to go freaking backwards (that part looks literally impossible without some options and power ups). Unlocked another credit today though since I'm 2 hours in now. And I'm still on Easy, whereas in the past I fell back on Very Easy right away.
In this video this guy is usually a particular setup where you can manually aim the Options. That seems really ideal for this level, but you can only change your option type with a game over and credit. At least you can change them though. The type I've been sticking with is that, holding the Option button down will make them rotate around you. It's really good for both defense and offense, also lets you use them to get some turrets and stuff through walls. I seem to be doing best with this setup so I'll probably stick with it, but might change it up in this level if I game over here.
The other two Option types you can choose: One lets you "lock" them into place when they're tailing you around, if you're really good you can manipulate them and abuse this setup to get past boss shields and have an Option right on their core weak spot. It's tricky though. The last Option type is just a generic set alignment from your ship, two below and two above while the Option button lets you change the spacing. It didn't seem that great to me compared to other three choices.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 7, 2019 23:31:59 GMT -5
I shudder just thinking about trying to take on Gradius V. I'm just not that great at most shmups.
The 7th Saga update: Since good ol' Valsu moved on me, I decided to grind a couple more levels. Got up to Level 33, and decided to go hunting for him again. Finally found him, and... he doesn't act like he wants to join. Dang it. I go and fight a few battles and come back to see if he'd moved. He hadn't, but he did change his response! Apparently they can react differently after fighting a few battles and not move, which was a godsend. I snagged him as my party member, and...
...holy cow, he's absolutely stacked. Esuna wasn't doing bad, sitting around 147 Magic when I left her, but he had +30 points on her, and the more telling stat was his Guard, which was nearly 150! To put that into perspective, once equipment factors in, he can tank hits as well as Lux. Nutso stuff.
Time to go pound Gariso into the turf. I did so handily, and... now I'm past the point of no return, although I do have a safety save in reserve. The enemies I've run into haven't been that bad.
Granted, I've been abusing getting reasonable level-ups, which means I'm probably 10-15 points higher than I would have been otherwise, but that's only three levels. The seeds make more of a difference as well, since you can get four points a pop from them. So while the game might throw some really nasty stuff at me soon, I feel like the difficulty has plateaued a bit, into "on your toes, but not getting party wiped all the time" territory. Buff spells really are the key bit to even the odds.
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Post by Ex on Aug 8, 2019 0:26:22 GMT -5
Sarge I think you got this man. I'm very interested to know what the final dungeon/boss will be like though. Unfortunately despite getting it all ready to play, I didn't start up Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! tonight. (I ended up instead playing a game book I helped Kickstart last year.) But next evening (or perhaps during my lunch break tomorrow) I shall step into the ring.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 8, 2019 10:18:42 GMT -5
I'm interested, too. Back in the day, my old cart actually had an endgame save on it, so I'd seen the ending through that. I don't remember if the guy was overleveled or not, but I will say that with a couple of the strategies I've been using, there's no way those level recommendations in the couple of GameFAQs guides are right. Of course, a lot of the information I learned about the game came from an excellent Let's Play over at Talking Time. People tend to differ on Olvan, but from that, it sounds like outside of prohibitive cost, he's a very good character, and one of, if not the, hardest hitter in the game with his best equipment. I'm just legitimately shocked at how much defense boosted Valsu has. It frees up an extra turn where I don't need to boost his defense first before going into a support role. Esuna practically requires it, although I also noticed that she was dodging a ton of hits. Lux has actually started dodging a lot, too, which is probably because of those seeds I've been tossing on him.
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Post by toei on Aug 8, 2019 14:28:27 GMT -5
So I remembered what my White Whale target was; Rastan, the original arcade version. Whenever I've played it before, it's kicked my ass pitilessly. This game is so hard that you get a congratulations screen when you beat the first level. I mean, what are you even supposed to do about the bats? So maybe I'll take it on soon, though who knows if I can beat it.
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Post by Ex on Aug 8, 2019 14:31:44 GMT -5
This game is so hard that you get a congratulations screen when you beat the first level. Ha ha, that is hilarious. Good luck man.
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