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Post by Sarge on Jun 22, 2021 21:44:46 GMT -5
Certainly. And I think it could use a replay by many of its nostalgic praisers. *ahem*
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Post by paulofthewest on Jun 23, 2021 17:52:52 GMT -5
Certainly. And I think it could use a replay by many of its nostalgic praisers. *ahem* Ya, right after DW4. Speaking of which, I got Taloon and then Alena. I leveled Taloon a bit and he is has an interesting AI. He has a tendency to use his weapon (for example, the sword of malice's group attack) and some misc actions. I've had him stop an enemy's fireball and stun enemies as well. He seems like a good character for general battles. For bosses he holds his own with a decent attack. I just got Alena so I'll level her a bit before making a decision. She seems weak, but her first level gain was a huge bump, so she may round out well. Although, that thief's key is nice =)
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Post by Xeogred on Jun 23, 2021 18:34:38 GMT -5
Sarge can probably break down the science to it, but I think the thing about Alena over Ragnar is that she has better agility and gets critical hits more often. Ragnar wins out with HP.
I don't recall using Taloon a ton from this point on, but during some boss battles or portions with the wagon available, he definitely was more handy that I would have expected.
It'll be interesting to see what you think of the four magic characters in the long run.
As for me, I haven't played Valkyrie Profile in over a week I think. Things have just been weird and crazy with life, but I've had a blast with the game so far and definitely plan to get some more in tomorrow or soon.
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Post by Sarge on Jun 23, 2021 21:27:31 GMT -5
Taloon's biggest advantage is he has a really large HP pool. Defense isn't as good as Ragnar, though. Alena's big thing is her stat growth (she gets massive boosts in Strength and Agility, the latter of which calculates into Defense), and as Xeogred says, her critical hit rate. She can get a crit rate all the way up to 64/256, or 25%, where the numerator is her level. Standard crit rate is only 1/64. So by the end of the game, you'll probably be sitting at around level 40, which means she'll have a 15.265% chance for a crit. Pair that with the Stiletto Earrings (low base attack but attack twice) and you've got a true melee powerhouse.
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Post by Ex on Jun 24, 2021 8:17:57 GMT -5
I'm looking forward to your re-assessment of Crystalis. (Nothing against Sarge 's own reassessment, but he doesn't tend to be the most critical of players.) I'm glad DW4 is holding up for you. I think my favorite aspect of DW4/DQ4 was the creation of Taloon/Torneko. I really like the character, and his spinoff games are fun (and tough) roguelikes: - Well I haven't played Landstalker in a few days. So far it hasn't been a game that I find myself longing to play when the evening rolls around. My biggest hang-up presently, is how many hits grunt enemies take to kill. Their high defense makes the voluminous battles a slog over the course of a play session. Especially because enemies constantly respawn as soon as you return to a room/screen. It'd certainly help if there were more variety to the combat. I mean, I just came off Beyond Oasis (an action-RPG on the same platform released one year after Landstalker), which had many different weapons, cool melee moves, and myriad magical attacks... Landstalker's "press A to swing your sword" basic attack is so paltry in comparison. (Action-RPGs usually have more variety to their combat, even Zelda did which released six years before Landstalker.) I did get a flame sword recently, which is barely any better than the original sword. You have to wait a long time for the flame sword's magic to refill, and then when you hit an enemy with it, the enemy catches on fire for a millisecond. So basically you can kill an enemy in two hits with the charged flame sword. But it takes so long to charge up, you could have killed that same enemy in four regular sword swings in a quarter of the time. It's stupid design. Oh well, despite the lame combat, I do like Landstalker's somber graphics quite a bit, the atmosphere is very well done. Also the platforming is beyond what you'd normally see in this genre for sure. I've had two sessions with Landstalker thus far, and I'll give Landstalker one more solid session, to see if it manages to hook me. Look if this were a six hour game, I'd grit my teeth regardless of truly liking it or not. But Landstalker is a rather long game for its genre and time of origin. (Especially if you're not using a walkthrough like a wuss.) So I need to legit enjoy Landstalker to stick with it that long. We'll see.
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Post by Sarge on Jun 24, 2021 12:54:46 GMT -5
I'm looking forward to your re-assessment of Crystalis. (Nothing against Sarge 's own reassessment, but he doesn't tend to be the most critical of players.) First of all, how dare you. I feel slighted by your semi-accurate portrayal of my gaming tastes! In all truth, I prefer to put it as "more tolerant of certain gaming flaws" than not being critical. I know there are games you love that I feel have issues that impact my own enjoyment and vice versa. But yes, I am generally willing to put up with more "bad design" than most. Regarding Landstalker and enemies taking too many hits, that will get better - your life stock actually ends up increasing your strength as well, so you'll eventually be taking out earlier enemies in far less hits, and there are spots where enemies drop a lot more gold and you can really build up quickly.
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Post by Ex on Jun 24, 2021 14:39:01 GMT -5
I feel slighted by your semi-accurate portrayal of my gaming tastes! You're definitely able to glom to silver linings better than I. My patience for quasi-bad game design just ain't what it used to be, not when I have so many potentially great games vying for my limited lifespan. But as with Crystalis, I don't think Landstalker is a bad game per se. My two big complaints with Crystalis and Landstalker share a common denominator; The Combat. Turns out I expect action-RPGs to have good combat systems, and get annoyed when they don't. Pretty sure you wouldn't love Panty Party as much as I did. That's good to know. Like I said, I'll give 'er one more valid session tonight. May hook me yet. Or not!
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Post by Xeogred on Jun 24, 2021 14:57:31 GMT -5
I know I kept saying I don't want to look up anything for Valkyrie Profile...
But COME ON! These puzzle/gimmicks in some dungeons is not to my liking. Here whenever you go into the next room/square, everything changes. The arrows show the only exit to proceed through that room (which is why the solution here probably doesn't look correct at a glance).
This is the second HARD exclusive dungeon you guys have missed out on. Hopefully I don't continue to regret my choice going with that difficulty.
I gotta keep reminding myself to actually "Set" the B-C skills, haha. Lot of weird menu management required at times. I have an abundance of characters though. So that's a good thing with the suggestion of sending some of them to Asgard per chapter, there's plenty to rotate through. I think I'm just going to worry about sending characters that default with a promising Hero trait, like -50, compared to -80. If they're deeper in the negatives, I'll probably just build them up as battle characters.
Another issue I'm taking with this game (maybe also just a hard mode nitpick?), so far several of the bosses seem like blatant trial and error. The Clockwork Mansion boss was some undead dragon with its single only weakness being fire. Okay, well... too bad one of my two good magic characters isn't in this party. So... die/reset? I mean yeah it's not a huge deal having to reset at bosses, but I kind of think that's lazy game design or something.
Still having fun though.
Another banger:
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Post by Ex on Jun 24, 2021 20:05:18 GMT -5
XeogredI definitely don't remember that dungeon. I didn't do any of the optional hard dungeons apparently. Not sure if you need a walkthrough to find those.
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Post by Xeogred on Jun 24, 2021 20:47:41 GMT -5
I'm just pushing start for Lenneth to do her telepathic thing that sometimes points you to a new character or dungeon. Eventually, that no longer detected anything new near the end of chapter 3, so I guess it just wanted me to grind some of the dungeons if I wanted, or rest to pass the time. I'm up to chapter 4 now.
Is it ever worthwhile sending more than one person to Asgard per chapter? Freya keeps telling me "We're doomed" but then says Odin is very pleased and I get a lot of rewards. I've only sent two people so far. The "Transfer" thing isn't very clear initially, so I didn't send anyone in chapter 1.
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