The Last To Post Wins!

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

Speaking of quests that i'd only do once, XenoblaDE better have Alrest-style collection points or else i refuse to rebuild Colony 6 again. I'm not spending seven hours of my life in Valak Mountain searching for two Ice Cabbages again.

Were collectibles determined by location in an area there? Since XCX moved on to that, with this fan guide making it possible for me to fill in the handful of missing ones I still had in Sylvalum in ~15 mins putting my Skell in drive (its sprint) mode.

Though I do vastly prefer XC2's collectible approach. Yet I don't recall a Collectipedia there, I liked those.

 

5 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Damn, 100? And dodging in FF10 is by chance right, since it's turn-based, right? So you just have to get lucky 100 times in a row?

It's not in-battle. There are open plains where lightning is commonplace, you stand still, wait for the sign a lightning bolt is coming, and then move just before it strikes. Repeat 99 times without fail, otherwise Lulu will need a heckuva lot of grinding to get a weapon that can break the 9999 damage limit (but at least Lulu isn't necessary for the postgame bosses and their bazillions of HP).

[Acacia Sgt]

Eh, the lightning dodges isn't that bad. People have found one spot where you can get into an easy rythm to do it quickly.

Now, the butterfly hunting in Macalania, on the other hand...

Edited October 2, 2019 by Acacia Sgt

[Armagon]

53 minutes ago, Just call me AL said:

On that note, I feel like I should add that it hurts that getting certain gem materials is tied to how much developed as a community Littner Village Colony 6 is.

Gem materials in general need a revamp, i feel. To this day, i'm still not exactly sure how Gem Crafting works. Apparently, it's actually just random? 

Speaking of, i hope that gems not tied to combat are removed and take a more passive approach, kinda like the Deeds in Xenoblade 2. Having to waste a slot for the gems that increase movement speed sucked.

44 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Were collectibles determined by location in an area there?

I think there were certain spots where an item could be found in greater chance than other locations. Something that does carry over to Alrest collection points. But it was far less consistent than the latter.

44 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Though I do vastly prefer XC2's collectible approach. Yet I don't recall a Collectipedia there, I liked those.

Yeah, there was no collectepdia. The closest was that item "descriptions" can tell where they can be found, which is why i liked to keep one of each item.

E3 footage of Xenoblade 2 does show a Bestiary but i don't know why that was cut. Would've made filling out some of the "kill x enemy" nodes on Affinity Charts much quicker.

44 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It's not in-battle. There are open plains where lightning is commonplace, you stand still, wait for the sign a lightning bolt is coming, and then move just before it strikes. Repeat 99 times without fail

Oh that doesn't sound as bad but it's still kinda an odd requirement. Is there any indication that you need to dodge the lightning or is it something a player going in blind won't know?

Dodging lightning, huh? Unrelated but I'm reminded of when my friend was talking about Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World (interestingly enough, she's playing that before Tales of Symphonia, even if she knows how both games pan out) and she was talking about how odd the true end requirements are. Apparently one of them is, in some temple with lighting, getting hit by the lightning more than 14 times locks you out of the true ending. 

Edited October 2, 2019 by Armagon

[Acacia Sgt]

44 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Oh that doesn't sound as bad but it's still kinda an odd requirement. Is there any indication that you need to dodge the lightning or is it something a player going in blind won't know?

Dodging lightning, huh? Unrelated but I'm reminded of when my friend was talking about Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World (interestingly enough, she's playing that before Tales of Symphonia, even if she knows how both games pan out) and she was talking about how odd the true end requirements are. Apparently one of them is, in some temple with lighting, getting hit by the lightning more than 14 times locks you out of the true ending. 

You recieve an in-game message about getting prizes for lightning dodging. You can also check a sign that gives your current record and the prize chart itself.

Ah yes, I remember that. Iirc, something happened if struck by the lightning, hence why getting struck too many times triggered a branching sequence of events at the end. It might not look too odd since it's the third time (not the first temple you visit) that doing something "wrong" in an area changed stuff, so I'd say it's not a surprise by that point in the game.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

E3 footage of Xenoblade 2 does show a Bestiary but i don't know why that was cut. Would've made filling out some of the "kill x enemy" nodes on Affinity Charts much quicker.

That, unusually, is a step back from XCX.

All monsters are listed there that you'v killed, all drops you've obtain from them, their stats, and even a descriptive blurb on the family of enemies. Its big issue is that they only listed an individual species region, not where within that hulking region they can be found. But, missions calling for culling a certain species or even Tyrant do put a dot on the map and an arrow on the minimap to guide you to their location. The issue is if you're looking for a certain enemy without being on a quest for them, then you have no guidance. 

 

19 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Ah yes, I remember that. Iirc, something happened if struck by the lightning, hence why getting struck too many times triggered a branching sequence of events at the end. It might not look too odd since it's the third time (not the first temple you visit) that doing something "wrong" in an area changed stuff, so I'd say it's not a surprise by that point in the game.

If you got struck too many times, when you confront Lloyd in the Temple of Lightning, when Emil holds up his sword, a lightning bolt strikes him and Lloyd gets away with the Centurion Core. The True Ending requires you beat Lloyd to the punch on each of these Core chases.

But, the Temple of Fire is much more nonsensical. You can't leave the Temple's premise too many times, the only issue is that if you didn't resist the bullies in Luin, then you're doomed at the Temple of Fire from the very start. How are these two events possibly related?

Nor does either chase show any relation to the True Ending, how this becomes the thing that lets spoilers happen has no logic to it.

 

Arc Rise Fantasia on the Wii did the "elemental Macguffin chase" better. First there is a challenging boss battle on a beach you can win or lose. Later, four dungeons open up, you get to pick two or three. You get can pick only two if you won the beach battle and win both chases at the dungeons you chose. If you failed the beach battle or either or both dungeon chases, you get a third dungeon pick. The gimmick of the four dungeons are, respectively:

• Beat the dungeon's boss in a limited number of turns.
• Quickly get to the top of a tower before your rival.
• Beat your rival to the Macguffin by not deviating from the main path (no going for chests), or letting the fragile ground break underneath your feet, the game gives a hint you if you failed.
• Find all the crystalized people in the dungeon before confronting the boss.

None of this affects the ending, or anything major in the long run. 

[Acacia Sgt]

6 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

If you got struck too many times, when you confront Lloyd in the Temple of Lightning, when Emil holds up his sword, a lightning bolt strikes him and Lloyd gets away with the Centurion Core. The True Ending requires you beat Lloyd to the punch on each of these Core chases.

But, the Temple of Fire is much more nonsensical. You can't leave the Temple's premise too many times, the only issue is that if you didn't resist the bullies in Luin, then you're doomed at the Temple of Fire from the very start. How are these two events possibly related?

Nor does either chase show any relation to the True Ending, how this becomes the thing that lets spoilers happen has no logic to it.

You're not doomed, it just means you can't leave the ruins as many times. THere's like a hidden counter, and that scene in Luin can give it a boost; but not enough to go over the limit.

I could agree on how winning or loosing the race to the Cores might look nonesensical to the ending... but it's been a while since I played so I can't say I remember what's the correlation. if there's one

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

ou recieve an in-game message about getting prizes for lightning dodging. You can also check a sign that gives your current record and the prize chart itself.

Oh that's not so bad then. Incredibly time-consuming and basically like no room for error but you're at least able to keep track through the game itself. I'd put this over the BK Origins Pac-Man quest for that reason, then.

21 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

That, unusually, is a step back from XCX.

Yeah, it's strange. Also, i need to make a correction. While there is an unused icon for a Bestiary

This wasn't in the E3 build. However, this was

There's an Encyclopedia tab. Given the unused Bestiary icon, this suggests that there was supposed to be both an Collectepdia and a Bestiary. And yet there never was. Really, really strange. Wasn't even in Torna, despite that game having things Xenoblade 2 didn't but should've had, like the ability to review tutorials at any time.

 

27 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

But, the Temple of Fire is much more nonsensical. You can't leave the Temple's premise too many times, the only issue is that if you didn't resist the bullies in Luin, then you're doomed at the Temple of Fire from the very start. How are these two events possibly related?

Nor does either chase show any relation to the True Ending, how this becomes the thing that lets spoilers happen has no logic to it.

Oh yeah, i did hear about the Temple of Fire part too but i didn't know that there was an unrelated event which pretty much determined how many times you can leave.

Missable events for the true end is one thing but hearing about DoaNW's true end requirements sounds like the player is supposed to play flawlessly to get it. Which, on an unrelated game, is also an issue i have with Link's Awakening. Love that game but the true end being locked behind a deathless run is bullshit (even if the remake supposedly makes this easier).

[Acacia Sgt]

It's not so much flawlessly. It's only three requirements, the two temple ones; and one particular thing you must do during the final boss battles.

The Triet Ruins (temple of fire) one it's just a matter of not leaving. The place isn't that hard to merit head out to a town or something, so just do everything in one go and that's it (and there's save points inside so no worries on that front either). For the Temple of Lightning, it's just to avoid the lightning. It's a simple matter of not standing in one place. The lightning will first light up a small circle on the floor where it will strike before doing so, so you can know where not to step on at any given time. The final one is to... loose a certain battle. The last one (or second to last, if you're aiming for the true ending). THe only issue is if you are so overpowered by overleveling... but I believe the game doesn't do 0 damage, so it just becomes tedious to see your HP go down 1 by 1 until it reaches 0 for the trigger. In the most drastic of cases, then just equip the weakest armor if it still makes a difference. If you reached the point they do scratch damage to do, then the preceding battles won't be an issue either.

---

Now, if you want precise true ending unlock, just look at Valkyrie Profile's. Like, oh man, hahaha...

Edited October 3, 2019 by Acacia Sgt

[Just call me AL]

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

Gem materials in general need a revamp, i feel. To this day, i'm still not exactly sure how Gem Crafting works. Apparently, it's actually just random?

Somewhat, but you have some control over what happens. Each crystal and cylinder has its own unique qualities. You can't use crystals and cylinders of varying levels; they all have to be the same level. If a crystal quality reaches over 100%, a gem is made, and the stats of the resulting gem depends on how much over 100% that crystal quality is. If the crystal quality is at 200%, it enters a Heat state, where you are guaranteed to get a gem of a higher level. If the crystal quality reaches 300%, it enters a Mega Heat state, the crystal quality can't go any higher, and not only do you get the benefits of having the gem at 200%, but you also get a 2nd gem of the same type and level. Anything below 100% becomes a cylinder, but only if you managed to fill the cylinder gauge enough times, meaning you might have to forego certain qualities if you have more qualities than you can store remaining after the crafting process ends.

Also, each character has their own Shooter ability and Engineer flame flame frequencies. On that note, Strong flames improve single qualities (which quality increased is at random), Medium flames improve multiple qualities, and Gentle flames fill the cylinder gauge.

Shulk has good Gentle flames and average Medium and Strong flames as engie. And can trigger crafting fevers (which in turn raises Gem quality strength) more easily as shooter.

Reyn has a high frequency of using strong flames but poor frequency for other flames as engie. And can make gem qualities grow stronger with a strong flame as shooter.

Sharla has poor Strong flame frequency, average Gentle flame frequency as engie, and good Medium flame frequency. And allows Gentle flames to fill the cylinder gauge more quickly as shooter. 

Dunban has a good Strong flame, an average Gentle flame, but a poor Medium flame as engie. And allows Gem qualities to grow stronger under a constant flame as shooter.

Melia has a great Medium flame but poor Gentle and Strong flames as engie. And allows Gem qualities to grow stronger under a Medium flame as shooter.

Riki has a great Gentle flame, but terrible Strong and Medium flames as engie. And as shooter, he basically forces the flame type to be used a second time in a row before the engineer can choose what flame to use.

Seven has similar flame frequencies to Melia (read: great Medium flame), but with even poorer frequencies for Gentle and Strong flames as engie. And gives a guaranteed 3 full cylinder gauges as shooter, making Seven a better shooter than Sharla should you want to "distill" Ether Crystals.

"Distilling" Ether Crystals basically involves taking raw crystals with multiple qualities and putting them through the furnace, making sure that each quality never exceeds 100%. This is good to do if you're after a particular quality.

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

Which, on an unrelated game, is also an issue i have with Link's Awakening. Love that game but the true end being locked behind a deathless run is bullshit (even if the remake supposedly makes this easier).

To be honest, getting the true ending in Link's Awakening was never hard to begin with.

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Now, if you want precise true ending unlock, just look at Valkyrie Profile's. Like, oh man, hahaha...

Thank you for reminding me of that game, I played Covenant of the Plume, but never the first game or Silmeria or Hrist.

And now that I've looked it up again, I see it got an iOS release last year, I'll have to check it out then.

[Acacia Sgt]

6 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Thank you for reminding me of that game, I played Covenant of the Plume, but never the first game or Silmeria or Hrist.

And now that I've looked it up again, I see it got an iOS release last year, I'll have to check it out then.

Hrist will never get her own game. Seriously though, I do wonder. Currently they're more focused on the mobile/gacha game. WHo knows if/when the next main game will be.

I have that one. Well, Android. From what I remember, it's a port of the PSP port, not the PSX original.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Acacia Sgt

[Interdimensional Observer]

28 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I have that one. Well, Android. From what I remember, it's a port of the PSP port, not the PSX original.

Fine by me. Reading the description for VC1, the flashy special attacks that Covenant of the Plume called Soul Crushes, it looks like were originally translated and called "Purify Weird Soul"... how does that make any sense?

 

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

There's an Encyclopedia tab. Given the unused Bestiary icon, this suggests that there was supposed to be both an Collectepdia and a Bestiary. And yet there never was. Really, really strange. Wasn't even in Torna, despite that game having things Xenoblade 2 didn't but should've had, like the ability to review tutorials at any time.

Interesting. Why'd they cut the Bestiary though? Time concerns meant they thought it just wasn't worth it?

Torna though was small enough that a bestiary wasn't necessary, you only had Torna and Gormott to explore. And there might not have been enough Collectibles to warrant a Collectapedia.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Interdimensional Observer

[Acacia Sgt]

5 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Fine by me. Reading the description for VC1, the flashy special attacks that Covenant of the Plume called Soul Crushes, it looks like were originally translated and called "Purify Weird Soul"... how does that make any sense?

Exorcism? Most enemies you'd use them against are many kinds of dark monsters and the undead. Weird souls from certain points of view, heh. Sounds more like a command to do than the title of the special attacks.

The first game's translation certainly has it's quirks.

"It shall be engraved upon your souls!" Also comes to mind.

 

[DragonFlames]

20 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

Witches you say?

Witch Nepgear is 👌

15 hours ago, Armagon said:

Interestingly enough, i'm the opposite. I'm more used to characters higher leveled than the main one joining the party. It's not like i purposely avoid fights either but maybe i'm just not fighting enough? But either way, that's why i wasn't really too fazed when the same thing started happening in Atelier. It's because i was already used to it.

The thing with me is whenever I play a JRPG (especially if I've never played it before), I have this inexplicable urge to fight everything in a given area on top of exploring every nook and cranny. This gets especially "bad" when the combat system is super fun for me (hello, Neptunia). I get so engrossed in trying different things that I end up overleveled when new party members join in on the fun.

[Shrimpica]

1 Year closer to Grandpahood!

[Armagon]

9 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

It's not so much flawlessly. It's only three requirements, the two temple ones; and one particular thing you must do during the final boss battles.

The Triet Ruins (temple of fire) one it's just a matter of not leaving. The place isn't that hard to merit head out to a town or something, so just do everything in one go and that's it (and there's save points inside so no worries on that front either). For the Temple of Lightning, it's just to avoid the lightning. It's a simple matter of not standing in one place. The lightning will first light up a small circle on the floor where it will strike before doing so, so you can know where not to step on at any given time. The final one is to... loose a certain battle. The last one (or second to last, if you're aiming for the true ending). THe only issue is if you are so overpowered by overleveling... but I believe the game doesn't do 0 damage, so it just becomes tedious to see your HP go down 1 by 1 until it reaches 0 for the trigger. In the most drastic of cases, then just equip the weakest armor if it still makes a difference. If you reached the point they do scratch damage to do, then the preceding battles won't be an issue either.

Oh well that's not too bad, then.

 

7 hours ago, Just call me AL said:

Somewhat, but you have some control over what happens. Each crystal and cylinder has its own unique qualities. You can't use crystals and cylinders of varying levels; they all have to be the same level. If a crystal quality reaches over 100%, a gem is made, and the stats of the resulting gem depends on how much over 100% that crystal quality is. If the crystal quality is at 200%, it enters a Heat state, where you are guaranteed to get a gem of a higher level. If the crystal quality reaches 300%, it enters a Mega Heat state, the crystal quality can't go any higher, and not only do you get the benefits of having the gem at 200%, but you also get a 2nd gem of the same type and level. Anything below 100% becomes a cylinder, but only if you managed to fill the cylinder gauge enough times, meaning you might have to forego certain qualities if you have more qualities than you can store remaining after the crafting process ends.

Also, each character has their own Shooter ability and Engineer flame flame frequencies. On that note, Strong flames improve single qualities (which quality increased is at random), Medium flames improve multiple qualities, and Gentle flames fill the cylinder gauge.

Shulk has good Gentle flames and average Medium and Strong flames as engie. And can trigger crafting fevers (which in turn raises Gem quality strength) more easily as shooter.

Reyn has a high frequency of using strong flames but poor frequency for other flames as engie. And can make gem qualities grow stronger with a strong flame as shooter.

Sharla has poor Strong flame frequency, average Gentle flame frequency as engie, and good Medium flame frequency. And allows Gentle flames to fill the cylinder gauge more quickly as shooter. 

Dunban has a good Strong flame, an average Gentle flame, but a poor Medium flame as engie. And allows Gem qualities to grow stronger under a constant flame as shooter.

Melia has a great Medium flame but poor Gentle and Strong flames as engie. And allows Gem qualities to grow stronger under a Medium flame as shooter.

Riki has a great Gentle flame, but terrible Strong and Medium flames as engie. And as shooter, he basically forces the flame type to be used a second time in a row before the engineer can choose what flame to use.

Seven has similar flame frequencies to Melia (read: great Medium flame), but with even poorer frequencies for Gentle and Strong flames as engie. And gives a guaranteed 3 full cylinder gauges as shooter, making Seven a better shooter than Sharla should you want to "distill" Ether Crystals.

"Distilling" Ether Crystals basically involves taking raw crystals with multiple qualities and putting them through the furnace, making sure that each quality never exceeds 100%. This is good to do if you're after a particular quality.

I kinda get it now. This information should definitely be explained better in DE. And Affinity plays into this too, right? Since Shulk naturally had high Affinity with everyone, he was always the Shooter (or Engineer, whichever one is in the lead). Affinity increases need to be way faster too in the remake.

 

7 hours ago, Just call me AL said:

To be honest, getting the true ending in Link's Awakening was never hard to begin with.

Then maybe i'm just bad because i died quite a bit, especially early on, where Link is at his weakest. 

 

6 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Torna though was small enough that a bestiary wasn't necessary, you only had Torna and Gormott to explore. And there might not have been enough Collectibles to warrant a Collectapedia.

True. Though Torna's been out for a year and i still haven't crafted any of the passive boost items that Addam and Hugo can make (aside from the stuff that lets you collect from those little metal thing scattered throughout the two Titans). 

 

4 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

The thing with me is whenever I play a JRPG (especially if I've never played it before), I have this inexplicable urge to fight everything in a given area on top of exploring every nook and cranny. This gets especially "bad" when the combat system is super fun for me (hello, Neptunia). I get so engrossed in trying different things that I end up overleveled when new party members join in on the fun.

Well yeah, that makes sense. I personally try to avoid that since i don't really like being overleveled that much unless it's NG+ (because then it's hilarious). Of course, i'd also like to not be underleveled when new party members join and sometimes i'm just underleveled for certain points in the game, despite not really avoiding many fights. Guess i just gotta fight more.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

The lategame maps are supereasy to lowturn. Chapter 18-20 done were all done in 1-2 turns. If I could pass chapter 17 in maddening, then I would have much easier chapters to deal with. Since bosses are not that much stronger unlike regular enemies in maddening compared to hard from what I have seen yet, chapters 18-20 should be done in the same speed.

[DragonFlames]

1 hour ago, Shrimperor said:

1 Year closer to Grandpahood!

Jokes on you, I'm not even a father yet! And I most likely never will be.
Happy Birthday!

39 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Well yeah, that makes sense. I personally try to avoid that since i don't really like being overleveled that much unless it's NG+ (because then it's hilarious). Of course, i'd also like to not be underleveled when new party members join and sometimes i'm just underleveled for certain points in the game, despite not really avoiding many fights. Guess i just gotta fight more.

So long as it works, it works.
Being overleveled for NG+ is hilarious, I agree. The most cathartic thing for me about that is probably curb-stomping bosses that have given me tons of trouble on a first run.

---

Speaking of being OP, I am somewhat happy today, as I have made some good progress in Atelier Totori. I got my first Chim (the little things are adorable as heck), I finally got Sterk, who FINALLY does some decent damage to enemies (and by decent damage, I mean he one-shots most normal things) AND he has a relatively cheap AOE move, which is amazing. His MP pool is not sucky this time, either (this was his biggest problem in Rorona), so he's going the be the MVP once again.
Most importantly, however, I have reached Diamond Rank. That's a huge load off my shoulders right there. Now I have a little over a year to do whatever (I'll probably spend it leveling up and upgrading equipment).

[Shrimpica]

5 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Happy Birthday!

54 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Thank you 😄

6 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Jokes on you, I'm not even a father yet! And I most likely never will be.

same

[DragonFlames]

5 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

Thank you 😄

same

Having your birthday on the same day as a country-wide, law-enforced holiday is pretty lucky. You can basically plan it out however you like.

[Shrimpica]

55 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Having your birthday on the same day as a country-wide, law-enforced holiday is pretty lucky. You can basically plan it out however you like.

Honestly, it usually ends with me playing games and sleeping all day xD

Well, and family calling me and wishing me happy bday. And the Jokes.

There was that one time where brother + friends surprised me with a small party though. was pretty cool

[DragonFlames]

37 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

Honestly, it usually ends with me playing games and sleeping all day xD

Well, and family calling me and wishing me happy bday.

That's most of my birthdays too, when it's a weekend.
I'm not much of a party guy, honestly.

[Interdimensional Observer]

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

True. Though Torna's been out for a year and i still haven't crafted any of the passive boost items that Addam and Hugo can make (aside from the stuff that lets you collect from those little metal thing scattered throughout the two Titans). 

 

Odd, I managed to make everything of theirs by the time I finished the game. Not sure how I could when you didn't.

 

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

I kinda get it now. This information should definitely be explained better in DE. And Affinity plays into this too, right? Since Shulk naturally had high Affinity with everyone, he was always the Shooter (or Engineer, whichever one is in the lead). Affinity increases need to be way faster too in the remake.

More Affinity leads to more turns at the Ether forge between Shooter and Engineer, more time spent crafting the gems. And I believe it increases the frequency of the other allies doing their shoutouts.

 

So, for optimal Gems: 

Use Seven (I'll just go with it because the earlier poster did😛) for Shooter to increase your number of obtained Cylinders. Use Riki as Engineer because his bad Strong and Medium Flames means he hardly increases the quality of each trait. Keep these two out of battle and with low Affinity between each other if possible, to minimize the number of turns crafting they get.

Using that duo: 

1. Save before starting your Gem creation because it is luck-based, even if you can increase your chances of Mega Heat. Do this as frequently as you think is needed over the course of the entire process.
2. Pick the enemy drops and raw crystals with the traits you want, but avoid making their starting quality too high. So don't throw them in at 80% in one quality. Use filler crystals if need be to avoid this.
3. Let Seven and Riki get to work, if the desired qualities exceed 100%, reset. If not, collect the desired cylinders when the process ends.
4. If the cylinders are too low in their percentages, throw them back into the furnace with Seven and Riki until you get them high enough, ideally 99%, but 70-90 will do. Use filler crystals with nothing desirable if needed to lower the chances of getting 100% on what qualities you want.

 

Obtain two cylinders of the same quality with high percentages, or three if you can manage something like a 70-20-70.

 

Now, throw these two-three cylinders in the Ether Furnace, and only these cylinders. This way, if you get a Strong Flame, there is no choice but for it to boost this quality.

But, do NOT use Seven-Riki. Their job is done for now. Now you need to focus on getting Mega Heat. And Mega Heat calls for entirely different team.

Instead, use Reyn as the Shooter, and Dunban as the Engineer. Or maybe vice versa works, but you want these two. Make sure these two have high Affinity with each other, every turn at the furnace is another chance to get Mega Heat.

Dunban and Reyn both have higher chances of Strong Flames, which provides a larger boost to a single quality than Medium Flame does. The other will be able to strengthen the other's Strong Flames. 

With these two well-bonded (and ideally they should be with everyone else) and one quality starting at 150-190% in the Ether Furnace, you'll have a great chance of Mega Heat. It won't be guaranteed, so save beforehand, but it'll be far far, far higher than if you went in blind.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Interdimensional Observer

[Just call me AL]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Instead, use Reyn as the Shooter, and Dunban as the Engineer. Or maybe vice versa works, but you want these two. Make sure these two have high Affinity with each other, every turn at the furnace is another chance to get Mega Heat.

Dunban and Reyn both have higher chances of Strong Flames, which provides a larger boost to a single quality than Medium Flame does. The other will be able to strengthen the other's Strong Flames. 

With these two well-bonded (and ideally they should be with everyone else) and one quality starting at 150-190% in the Ether Furnace, you'll have a great chance of Mega Heat. It won't be guaranteed, so save beforehand, but it'll be far far, far higher than if you went in blind.

I would recommend Shooter Melia and Engineer Seven, myself.

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

Then maybe i'm just bad because i died quite a bit, especially early on, where Link is at his weakest. 

I mean, you can go to Crazy Tracy for revival potions after beating the Bottle Grotto in the original and DX versions. So...

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Doing final chapter now. 

Wished the party would start at the same place as the Golden Deers do in the same map. They are so far away from the boss that is impossible to oneturn this map even with Lys's 56 magic (14 spaces range of warp).