Soooooo what'cha playing?

[Armagon]

Haven't done any progress in Atelier Lulua since my last post because Bloodstained finally unlocked on my Switch about an hour ago. I heard that the Switch version runs at 30 FPS, 720p compared to the PC and PS4 versions' 60 FPS, 1080p. Well, the 720p is certainly noticeable but honestly, i can't tell the difference between 30 and 60 FPS so the FPS doesn't bother me (though i guess some of the cutscenes do look choppy). The game controls well, looks well, BRITISH VOICE ACTING HELL YEAH! 

I do wish you could freely swap between weapons instead of having to open the menu. The first level alone gave me like 7 weapons, though i really only used the short sword and the whip.

As of this moment, i have not played Super Neptunia RPG yet. It's downloading as of this post.

 

4 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

There's also this ''Nep jr.'' atrocity.

Ok but Compa calls Nepgear "Ge-Ge's Bizarre Adventure", Uzume calls Nepgear "Gearsy", so how is Neptune calling "Nep. Jr" any different? 

 

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

On the topic of character ages, I've read somewhere that Totori is supposed to be 26 in this game... She certainly does not look (or sound) the part, though.

Taking a quick glance at the wiki, Totori is 13 in Atelier Totori, 19 in Atelier Meruru and like you said, 26 in Atelier Lulua. The first two are just the ages she's at at the beginning of the game. Atelier Totori lasts for six years so she's 19 by the end of it and Atelier Meruru lasts 5 years, so she's 24 by the end of it. So Atelier Lulua takes place 2 years after the events of Atelier Meruru, so it makes sense why characters like Totori and Sterk haven't aged much.

I also looked up the ages of Rorona and Meruru. Rorona is 14 in Atelier Rorona (NA localization bumped her up to 17) and since the game lasts three years, she's 17 by the end. In Atelier Totori, she's 22. By the end of that game, she's 28. She should've been 28 by the start of Atelier Meruru but uh......let's just say a Youth Potion went horribly wrong (not a spoiler, this is literally in the OP of the game). At any rate, she obviously made it back to her original age so she's technically 33 by the end of Atelier Meruru, so she's 35 in Atelier Lulua.

Meruru's the easiest one, i didn't need to look up the ages. She states she's 20 by the end of the five year period, meaning she's 15 at the start of the game. That'd put her at 22 years in Atelier Lulua.

I also got curious and look up Lulua's age. She's 16. If we take Rorona's age in Atelier Lulua and subtract it by Lulua's age, we get 19. That's pretty young. Turns out Lulua was born before the events of Atelier Totori.

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

This game has a lot of endings, actually. There is a bad ending, a normal ending, a joke ending, a true ending, and one for each of the playable cast members (two of them share theirs). Reaching the normal end is really easy, as it is pretty blatantly telegraphed what you're supposed to do to get it (which I don't mind, honestly), the true end requires you to have seen every other ending (except the bad one, I believe) first.

Oh, i've played games like these. Mainly the KEMCO RPGs (good but short RPGs, perfect for mobile). So uh, does the game just end after getting an ending? If i have to get all the endings (except the bad one, probably) to get the true end, do i have to replay the game multiple times or does it put me back at the spot right before the final boss?

2 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Can I also just say that I really, REALLY wanna kill CFW Trick? Holy hell, that guy is disgusting

Don't worry, everyone wants to kill CFW Trick.

_____________________

Oh hey, Super Neptunia RPG finished downloading. Imma go play that now.

[Shrimpica]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Compa calls Nepgear "Ge-Ge's Bizarre Adventure", Uzume calls Nepgear "Gearsy", so how is Neptune calling "Nep. Jr" any different?

Here's the thing, Gear and Uzume actually call Nepgear with chan or with a Nickname in jp. (Gear-chan in the case of Compa iirc and Gearechi in the case of Uzume, which is also really close to Gearsy). Neptune calls Nepgear Nepgear in jp.

your examples are like I-chan -> Iffy, which is acceptable because english doesn't have honorifics, and chan usually indicates affection, so being replaced with Nicknames is acceptable.

And also, after they replaced the editor of R;B2 and R;B3, they have been using Nep jr. less and less. You notice it in MegaNep, when Neptune in english often uses Nepgear as well.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Oh hey, Super Neptunia RPG finished downloading. Imma go play that now.

Have fun 😄

And tell us your opinion of it^^

 

[DragonFlames]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Taking a quick glance at the wiki, Totori is 13 in Atelier Totori, 19 in Atelier Meruru and like you said, 26 in Atelier Lulua. The first two are just the ages she's at at the beginning of the game. Atelier Totori lasts for six years so she's 19 by the end of it and Atelier Meruru lasts 5 years, so she's 24 by the end of it. So Atelier Lulua takes place 2 years after the events of Atelier Meruru, so it makes sense why characters like Totori and Sterk haven't aged much.

I also looked up the ages of Rorona and Meruru. Rorona is 14 in Atelier Rorona (NA localization bumped her up to 17) and since the game lasts three years, she's 17 by the end. In Atelier Totori, she's 22. By the end of that game, she's 28. She should've been 28 by the start of Atelier Meruru but uh......let's just say a Youth Potion went horribly wrong (not a spoiler, this is literally in the OP of the game). At any rate, she obviously made it back to her original age so she's technically 33 by the end of Atelier Meruru, so she's 35 in Atelier Lulua.

Meruru's the easiest one, i didn't need to look up the ages. She states she's 20 by the end of the five year period, meaning she's 15 at the start of the game. That'd put her at 22 years in Atelier Lulua.

I also got curious and look up Lulua's age. She's 16. If we take Rorona's age in Atelier Lulua and subtract it by Lulua's age, we get 19. That's pretty young. Turns out Lulua was born before the events of Atelier Totori.

Yup, exactly.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Oh, i've played games like these. Mainly the KEMCO RPGs (good but short RPGs, perfect for mobile). So uh, does the game just end after getting an ending? If i have to get all the endings (except the bad one, probably) to get the true end, do i have to replay the game multiple times or does it put me back at the spot right before the final boss?

I have to spoil a tiny little detail about the logistics of getting the endings to answer that. No story spoiler, of course, just a game mechanic one. I'll put it in spoiler tags in case you don't want to see it.

The way it works is that you can save during the epilogue after beating the final boss. You can then choose which ending you want to see, save in another slot, then reload until you've gotten all of them. Though some additional work is required for the joke ending, I have to admit to not knowing exactly which.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Don't worry, everyone wants to kill CFW Trick.

Figures.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Oh hey, Super Neptunia RPG finished downloading. Imma go play that now.

Have fun!

7 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

Here's the thing, Gear and Uzume actually call Nepgear with chan or with a Nickname in jp. (Gear-chan in the case of Compa iirc and Gearechi in the case of Uzume, which is also really close to Gearsy). Neptune calls Nepgear Nepgear in jp.

your examples are like I-chan -> Iffy, which is acceptable because english doesn't have honorifics, and chan usually indicates affection, so being replaced with Nicknames is acceptable.

And also, after they replaced the editor of R;B2 and R;B3, they have been using Nep jr. less and less. You notice it in MegaNep, when Neptune in english often uses Nepgear as well.

I actually laughed when they mentioned Nepgear was "Nep Jr.". Though I honestly prefer "Gear-chan" to "Ge-Ge". "Ge-Ge" just sounds weird. They probably tried to keep a semblance of consistency to "Nep-Nep", but that didn't work out so well. At least they didn't try to make Uni into "U-U".

I also discovered that the team EXE Drive the four Candidates have is probably one of the most awesome things I've ever seen. On a similar note, do the Candidates ever learn EXE Drives of their own or do they only have the team ones?
In other news, I am trying to rely on EXE Drives a little less than I have during the first game. It's worked out pretty well, so far. I've only used them to speed up some repeat battles against tough foes while doing quests to redistribute shares, and to look at what each of them does. So far, excluding the Candidate team one (which I may or may not try to make the final blow against the final boss), my favorite is tied between Broccoli and Tekken, with Cave being a very close second, aesthetically speaking.

[Shrimpica]

Steam Sale started, and of course the only game on my wishlist not on Sale are the Atelier games. KT please.

27 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

On a similar note, do the Candidates ever learn EXE Drives of their own or do they only have the team ones?

they do. You even saw Nepgear's in the first battle of R;B2

 

[DragonFlames]

Just now, Shrimperor said:

they do. You even saw Nepgear's in the first battle of R;B2

Right. Somehow I completely forgot about that one. There was a tutorial and everything. I am dumb.

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

Have fun!

1 hour ago, Shrimperor said:

Have fun 😄

So far, i am. Got to the first town in Super Neptunia RPG. I think this is the first Neptunia game where all the areas are actually connected. You start off in Lastation and your first task is to go through a dungeon to get to Windfell Town, i believe it was called. The backgrounds in this game are beautiful. The Nep humor is on-point and interestingly enough, men actually exist in this game. Like, as actual people. Yes, i know there are very few men in other Neptunia titles but they are either not human, villains, faceless NPCs, or a self-insert. But here, there are legit male NPCs. The music is pretty good so far too.

Battles are gonna take a little bit of getting used to. It's not turn-based but rather, real time, but not real time in the sense of an ARPG or an ATB system. There's an AP system and you need at least two AP for one attack. Your party consists of four characters (though i only have Neptune at the moment) and each one is assigned to one of the four primary buttons on the controller (in my case, X, A, B, and Y). There's also a battle menu you can bring up to use items or check on statuses. This pauses the battle by the way, so you aren't rushed. Using items also doesn't consume any AP. There's formations too but i haven't been given a chance to try it out yet.

So far, i have three criticisms. One, the animation when Neptune is moving on the field. It's a bit generic. Thankfully though, the animations in combat and in cutscenes are good. The idle animations are adorable. Second, for as beautiful as the environment is, it ironically causes a bit of trouble of knowing where you can and can't go to. You also can't go up on a road without jumping. It's a bit dumb. The third one is enemies on the field. Every enemy on the field is represented by a Dogoo. That does not mean it will be a Dogoo when you fight it. But none of these criticisms are dealbreakers.

Man, alternating between this, Bloodstained and Atelier Lulua is gonna be fun. 

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

The way it works is that you can save during the epilogue after beating the final boss. You can then choose which ending you want to see, save in another slot, then reload until you've gotten all of them.

Ah ok. It's kind of like how you can choose which character ending you get in the Arland trilogy, but that only happens if two or more characters have the same friendship level.

Considering events are unmissable and there's no time-limit, getting all the endings (especially the character ones) should be easy.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2019 by Armagon

[DragonFlames]

18 hours ago, Armagon said:

So far, i am. Got to the first town in Super Neptunia RPG. I think this is the first Neptunia game where all the areas are actually connected. You start off in Lastation and your first task is to go through a dungeon to get to Windfell Town, i believe it was called. The backgrounds in this game are beautiful. The Nep humor is on-point and interestingly enough, men actually exist in this game. Like, as actual people. Yes, i know there are very few men in other Neptunia titles but they are either not human, villains, faceless NPCs, or a self-insert. But here, there are legit male NPCs. The music is pretty good so far too.

Battles are gonna take a little bit of getting used to. It's not turn-based but rather, real time, but not real time in the sense of an ARPG or an ATB system. There's an AP system and you need at least two AP for one attack. Your party consists of four characters (though i only have Neptune at the moment) and each one is assigned to one of the four primary buttons on the controller (in my case, X, A, B, and Y). There's also a battle menu you can bring up to use items or check on statuses. This pauses the battle by the way, so you aren't rushed. Using items also doesn't consume any AP. There's formations too but i haven't been given a chance to try it out yet.

So far, i have three criticisms. One, the animation when Neptune is moving on the field. It's a bit generic. Thankfully though, the animations in combat and in cutscenes are good. The idle animations are adorable. Second, for as beautiful as the environment is, it ironically causes a bit of trouble of knowing where you can and can't go to. You also can't go up on a road without jumping. It's a bit dumb. The third one is enemies on the field. Every enemy on the field is represented by a Dogoo. That does not mean it will be a Dogoo when you fight it. But none of these criticisms are dealbreakers.

That last one sounds like it could potentially be deadly if they still have the tough foes from the Rebirth games, some of which are harder than most story bosses.

Continuing on in Rebirth 2, I finally got Neptune back. I admit to being incredibly happy about this (no Neptune Break though. Sad times). The scene where the CPUs woke up was touching, too. I also got Vert and Noire, and I am now trying to get Blanc. Figuring out what to do to get them wasn't hard, but getting each Land's Shares to 50% is a bit of a pain, to be honest, especially with Lowee, since there are no quests that give more than +2% to Lowee, and I don't have the materials to unlock the Coliseum yet, which I expect to be fairly useless to me anyway, since I got destroyed in the first game by each battle I attempted.
In other news, I finally got my hands on an Idea Chip that gives a Lilly Rank increase at level 4, as well as a Disc to actually put it on. Grinding for Lilly Ranks has become incredibly easy now. Nepgear and Uni got to Rank 10 already, whereas in the first game, I barely got people to Rank 4.

[Shrimpica]

13 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

I admit to being incredibly happy about this

''THE PROTAGONIST IS FINALLY BACK'' -me when i got NepuNepu. I also put her at #1 Spot and made her Party leader xD

15 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

rd, but getting each Land's Shares to 50% is a bit of a pain, to be honest, especially with Lowee, since there are no quests that give more than +2% to Lowee

yup, especially since most quests give shares to Tsundere-chan and Onee-san in R;B2

17 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

which I expect to be fairly useless to me anyway

there is that one relatively easy fight with a +5% to TankoBlanco

19 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

since I got destroyed in the first game by each battle I attempted.

O.o really? R;B1 ones where a cake walk iirc. R;B2's were harder yup

 

 

[DragonFlames]

29 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

''THE PROTAGONIST IS FINALLY BACK'' -me when i got NepuNepu. I also put her at #1 Spot and made her Party leader xD

My first thoughts were "Welcome back, Nep-Nep" when I got her. I'm giving the spotlight to Nepgear this time, though. She's earned it. Next game will be different, probably, but for now, the Candidates get their time to shine, as well as some of the Makers I didn't have much chance to use in the last game.

29 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

yup, especially since most quests give shares to Tsundere-chan and Onee-san in R;B2

I noticed that, too. I got Leanbox to 50% with little to no effort, at which point Vert decided to join. At that point, I figured maybe Noire and Blanc join once I get to 50% shares with their lands, too. Turns out I was right. Now I have two Tsunderes running around (arguably three, with IF).

29 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

O.o really? R;B1 ones where a cake walk iirc. R;B2's were harder yup

I'm not kidding. I attempted a few times, got wrecked, then gave up. Level 76 wasn't enough. Or I suck. One of the two.
If Rebirth 2's coliseum is indeed harder, I think I'll save those MB for other stuff, like items, weapons, or dungeon changes.

One thing I haven't talked about yet: Stella's Dungeon. It's an interesting little mechanic, though I wonder if you can even fail in it. I had Stella complete several dungeons by now and she hasn't been defeated a single time so far. The items you can get can be pretty darn useful, too.

Edited June 26, 2019 by DragonFlames

[NSSKG151]

Finally finished Final Fantasy 7. Yeah, it looks outdated in today's time but I really enjoyed almost every second of it and actually had an interesting story to tell. About the only three things I didn't like were the awkward minigames you had to do during story segments, the ending cutscene was kind of vague on what happened several years later in the game's world and screw that freaking underwater bonus boss with 1,000,000,000 HP that I couldn't figure out how to beat.

Welp, Final Fantasy 5 is the next Final Fantasy game I want to try though I should also get around to finishing FE: Blazing Sword as well.

[Shrimpica]

14 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

I wonder if you can even fail in it.

you can

14 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

I had Stella complete several dungeons by now and she hasn't been defeated a single time so far

A+ Rank Luck i see xD

[DragonFlames]

22 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

you can

A+ Rank Luck i see xD

I'd be surprised if it was, actually. Because my luck is usually terrible when it comes to RNG-related stuff, to which several of my Pokémon and Fire Emblem exploits can attest.

[Armagon]

Played a bit of Atelier Lulua. Didn't do much progress since most of it was just getting to Alchemy Level 15 so i could progress the plot. I made it to Ch.4 but i haven't done anything there yet. The dragon in Orthogalaxen was easy, i just had Fiscus use Ice Arcrana. I also upgraded the equipment of everyone in the party.

Also, Aurel knows the Joestar Secret Technique

Also is it me, or does the Alchemyriddle sometimes give you tasks that you can't complete yet? I assume yes because it straight up tells you how many chapters are in the game. One wants me to go to the "mining site" but there's no location that resembles what it's in the picture at all?

As for Bloodstained, i made it to a new area after getting fucked by Zangentsu a few times. Yeah, bring a lot of potions when you play this game. It doesn't mess around. Though you can do some sick movement with what i like to call the "backwards wave-dash". The game itself doesn't appear to be particularly challenging though. Not yet anyway. I've only died to the bosses so far. Also there's a Stone Mask (yes, the Stone Mask from JoJo) accessory you can equip and it appears in cutscenes and i've decided that mask will remain on for the entire game. I don't care if i find better accessories. If you hit up on the control stick (or D-Pad), Miriam even does a JoJo pose.

Anyway, Bloodstained's story is as generic as hell. It's just "oh no, we used dark magic and things went to shit, the only one who can help us now is one affected by said dark magic". I don't give a shit about that, i just wanna explore the castle and kill demons.

As for Super Neptunia RPG, i beat the first boss but i still only have Neptune in my party. That's when i realized that this is one of those games where the battle system kinda sucks if there's just one person in the party. It'll probably be a lot more fun once other characters start joining and i get access to formations and the Break Gauge (this game's version of EXE Drives) fills up a lot faster as a result of more people. The plus side of the early battles though is that most go by pretty quickly. The first boss took longer than it should've but it's not like i spent 15 minutes on it, unlike a certain JRPG where the early battles where you only have one person also kinda suck *cough* Octopath Traveler *cough*. Anyway, i found out that hitting enemies with what they're weak to refills the AP Gauge and by doing this, you can continuously attack without losing AP. Whether or not this will be exploitable in Super Nep remains to be seen.

 

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

That last one sounds like it could potentially be deadly if they still have the tough foes from the Rebirth games, some of which are harder than most story bosses.

It might. It's still too early to tell. You can open the map and see where the boss is though (which is represented by what it actually looks like and not a Dogoo. Still curious as to what decision was made there).

37 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

One thing I haven't talked about yet: Stella's Dungeon. It's an interesting little mechanic, though I wonder if you can even fail in it. I had Stella complete several dungeons by now and she hasn't been defeated a single time so far. The items you can get can be pretty darn useful, too.

Stella's Dungeon is great. It gets revamped in ReBirth 3 and i prefer that version instead. 

And yeah, as Shrimperor pointed out, it is possible to fail in it, if you send Stella unprepared to higher-level dungeons.

Lowkey upset Stella isn't an actual character though.

[Shrimpica]

22 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

I'd be surprised if it was, actually. Because my luck is usually terrible when it comes to RNG-related stuff, to which several of my Pokémon and Fire Emblem exploits can attest.

All your luck from these games went to Neptunia instead

[Etrurian emperor]

I've been juggling two big games lately. 

The first is Three Kingdoms Total War. I liked it far more than I initially expected which says a lot because my default expectation is already to really like Total War games. The game offers all that Total War goodness I expect and even addressed some of my complaints like making the political and diplomatic system less shallow or allowing you to use more than a handful of officers. Changes like more powerful hero unites and different methods of raising and retaining armies make the game more fresh when comparing it to past total war games. I also really appreciate how every playable faction has been given a fair shot. Early era warlords that lost to the founders of the Three Kingdoms like Dhong Zhou or Yuan Shao often get portrayed as joke characters but here they are viable and interesting factions in their own right with Yuan Shao arguably being the strongest faction of them all. 

This total war is also harder then expected from a total war game. Much harder but I've decided I consider that a point in it favor. 

My only real gripe with the game is that the devs didn't really figure out how to balance the different factions when they are controlled by the computer. Yuan Shao often goes on an insane vassalizing spree where warlords that have no reason to accept all suddenly agree to becoming vassals with the guy, resulting in Yuan often controlling the entire north. And Sun Jian being the only important southern faction ensures he gobbles up the entire south at an amazing speed and becomes quite the terrifying beast from a very early stage. 

The second game is Assassins Creed Odyssey. I quite like it. Ubisoft games are rarely excellent but they are very often competent. In that sense Ubisoft games are pretty handy when you're facing game droughts. The star of the game is definitely the world.  I grew up on tales of Greek Mythology so seeing a giant world with all famous location like Athens, Argos, Thebes, Corinth and Ithaca does me a lot of good. The world is beautiful too. I don't know what they did with the graphics but sometimes the light and water match in such a way the world just pop. The world is also the biggest weakness of this game though. Its a shame its stuck as an Assassins Creed game. A lot of times I find myself thinking this lovely world should be filled with Olympians and Heroes of myth rather than the ancient conspiracies and wacky aliens of Assassins Creed. Ever since the Witcher I wanted a giant rpg set in a vast world where a hero sets forth and does all sorts of quests for the gods, juggling their likes and dislikes to avoid stepping on too many divine toes and otherwise just being typically Greek Mythology. This game has the world but it doesn't have the gods which on some level annoys me. 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Finished InFAMOUS Second Son. I picked up an old playthrough from last year to continue. Although this was one of the PS4 exclusives I looked forward to most to play, it didn't grab me at first. The controls were so janky and the characters trying so hard to be likeable. The game was also unexpectedly short, about an 8 hour campaign. Not much to say about the game, it can serve well as a turn-your-brain-off open world superhero game. And once you get the later powers the game's poor climbing controls fade away behind abilities that let you fly over everything like it's not there. The combat sucks though. Most enemy attacks knock you over or interrupt you so everything feels unresponsive as Delsim fails to shoot because he's still in a stumble animation. The game also does a poor job of communicating how low you're on health since your screen goes black and white the moment you take maybe 25% health in damage. 6.4 out of 10. A poor example of a great genre of game.

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

The second game is Assassins Creed Odyssey. I quite like it. Ubisoft games are rarely excellent but they are very often competent. In that sense Ubisoft games are pretty handy when you're facing game droughts. 

Ubisoft games are the video game equivelant of junk food. They can hit the spot during the wait for larger meals of games.

[Tryhard]

2 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Early era warlords that lost to the founders of the Three Kingdoms like Dhong Zhou or Yuan Shao often get portrayed as joke characters but here they are viable and interesting factions in their own right with Yuan Shao arguably being the strongest faction of them all. 

This total war is also harder then expected from a total war game. Much harder but I've decided I consider that a point in it favor. 

My only real gripe with the game is that the devs didn't really figure out how to balance the different factions when they are controlled by the computer. Yuan Shao often goes on an insane vassalizing spree where warlords that have no reason to accept all suddenly agree to becoming vassals with the guy, resulting in Yuan often controlling the entire north. And Sun Jian being the only important southern faction ensures he gobbles up the entire south at an amazing speed and becomes quite the terrifying beast from a very early stage. 

The former is mostly Dynasty Warriors, I think. Yuan Shao especially was one of the most powerful people at the game start time in history really and I believe he was the one that was known as the most likely to unite a Dynasty/restore Han - if he didn't get completely destroyed by Cao Cao through terrible decisions. Which is why his AI strength is sort of fitting.

But yeah, I agree with the balance being something they need to work out.

 

I've been recording a challenge run for Baldur's Gate for youtube with the new BG3 announcement - hoping to go through BG1, 2 and expansion with one character. So most of my current time is for late 90's PC RPGs with my modern computer.

Edited June 26, 2019 by Tryhard

[Etrurian emperor]

5 minutes ago, Tryhard said:

The former is mostly Dynasty Warriors, I think. Yuan Shao especially was one of the most powerful people at the game start time in history really and I believe he was the one that was known as the most likely to unite a Dynasty/restore Han - if he didn't get completely destroyed by Cao Cao through terrible decisions. Which is why his AI strength is sort of fitting.

But yeah, I agree with the balance being something they need to work out.

I don't think its just Dynasty Warriors. As far as I'm aware DW just follows the general perception instead of setting it. There's this recent HBO Rome-escue's show about the three Kingdoms where Yuan Shao isn't a bastion of competence either and as far as I know it isn't any better for him in the novel. But I suspect Yuan Shao's might in Total War stems from something of a glitch. Being able to form alliances early on and being able to buy large mercenary armies are fine traits but what makes Yuan so dangerous isn't that he can make factions his vassal but that they almost always accept. It has been known to happen that factions with only barely any less power than Yuan become his vassal. Since vassals are intended to be at a great power disadvantage compared to their lord I think that powerful lords becoming vassals is an oversight or glitch. Its funny because when I try to bully much weaker factions into becoming my vassals they have a decent chance of saying no and getting destroyed for it. 

[Armagon]

Made some more progress in the three games i've been playing.

In Bloodstained, i beat the boss of the cathedral and got my first Manipulative Shard. It's basically the Psy-hand thing from Golden Sun, in that you can use to grab big objects. I also discovered that you have the option to change Miriam's appearance. From her hairstyle to her clothes to even her skin color. You can give her blue alien skin if you want.

In Super Neptunia RPG, i got Chrome to join the party........only for her to leave......after i bought her equipment. It did confirm something i said before though: battles in this game are better when you aren't by yourself. You get access to formations, which allow you to use different skills which you can set in the skills section of formation. I did notice some small performance issues during the second boss fight but these seem to be a Switch-exclusive problem so if you're playing this game on PS4 or PC, you shouldn't have these issues. Anyway, i got a feeling new party members will be joining soon.

In Atelier Lulua, i've filled out the pages for Ch.2, giving me access to the Arls Mines and some other forest, as well as the recipes for Lightning and Ice Bombs. Excellent. I also spent an hour trying to figure out the first the first hint of Chapter 4's first main objective. "High-quality oil favored by blacksmiths" with a picture of the smithy in Arland. That had me running around in circles because i thought you had to buy oil or the recipe of it from Cole. Turns out i already had the recipe of it so i was just wasting time for no reason. That picture of the smithy was very misleading. Also, Pamela stole all of my gold.  I wasn't even given an option of how much i wanted to give to her. Nope, instead, all my 2000 gold went to zero in the span of a second. I refuse to believe Pamela's shop is in decline considering how much it was prospering in Atelier Meruru and it's only been two years since then.

Edited June 27, 2019 by Armagon

[DragonFlames]

11 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

All your luck from these games went to Neptunia instead

That might be true, actually. I've been pretty lucky in finding good items at the gathering points, too.
Funnily enough, not five minutes after I've read your post that it is indeed possible to fail and I just got lucky, Stella actually failed for the first time.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

In Atelier Lulua, i've filled out the pages for Ch.2, giving me access to the Arls Mines and some other forest, as well as the recipes for Lightning and Ice Bombs. Excellent. I also spent an hour trying to figure out the first the first hint of Chapter 4's first main objective. "High-quality oil favored by blacksmiths" with a picture of the smithy in Arland. That had me running around in circles because i thought you had to buy oil or the recipe of it from Cole. Turns out i already had the recipe of it so i was just wasting time for no reason. That picture of the smithy was very misleading. Also, Pamela stole all of my gold.  I wasn't even given an option of how much i wanted to give to her. Nope, instead, all my 2000 gold went to zero in the span of a second. I refuse to believe Pamela's shop is in decline considering how much it was prospering in Atelier Meruru and it's only been two years since then.

Yeah, Pamela trolls you like that. You can buy several very useful items from her, though, and money in general isn't that hard to come by if you do quests and fight battles.
I, too, had several points where I wondered "Hm, how do I get this recipe now?" and I already had it.

12 hours ago, Armagon said:

Played a bit of Atelier Lulua. Didn't do much progress since most of it was just getting to Alchemy Level 15 so i could progress the plot. I made it to Ch.4 but i haven't done anything there yet. The dragon in Orthogalaxen was easy, i just had Fiscus use Ice Arcrana. I also upgraded the equipment of everyone in the party.

Also, Aurel knows the Joestar Secret Technique

Also is it me, or does the Alchemyriddle sometimes give you tasks that you can't complete yet? I assume yes because it straight up tells you how many chapters are in the game. One wants me to go to the "mining site" but there's no location that resembles what it's in the picture at all?

Sometimes, you have to complete one task in the Riddle in order to be able to complete another. For example, there are several that ask you to get high quality materials that you can only find in areas you have to unlock. Same for several recipes. You can also complete some tasks from later chapters early if you can fulfill the requirements for it.
If it asks you to go to a place, usually you sometimes have to gather something there before it registers. And one tip I can give you on the mining tools (if you haven't figured that out yet): try to get their "Destruction Level" as high as it can get, so you can destroy more stuff. There are some places you can mine at that require stronger mining tools to get the materials from there.

Dragons, especially the red variety, are quite easy to fight in this game if you have strong Ice Bombs on hand, as they're weak to them. Equipping an Ice Symbol also helps a lot.

[Armagon]

10 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

money in general isn't that hard to come by if you do quests and fight battles.

This is true, i'm just more upset that my money was taken against my will.

I am surprised Pamela isn't the Wholesale owner like she was in Atelier Meruru. 

10 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Sometimes, you have to complete one task in the Riddle in order to be able to complete another.

Yeah, i figured that out when i had to unlock the advanced requirements of Ch.2. They don't show up until after you do the basic ones, which is weird since Ch.3 and onwards have advance objectives unlocked from the start. I also noticed some quests want me to kill monsters in areas i haven't unlocked yet, which is rather weird considering the Arland trilogy only gave you quests that you have access to complete (like it wouldn't ask you to kill a monster in an area you haven't unlocked yet or synthesize something your Alchemy level is too low for). 

I did find a guide to all of the optional Alchemyriddle quests that i'll be using in case something doesn't seem as clear.

____________

Anyway, considering the lack of a time-limit, i'm questioning why days are marked. Is it just for aesthetic purposes? I also don't really get the point of resting considering all it does is advance days (and hours). In the Arland trilogy, synthesizing would cost MP (and Totori and Meruru also use up LP when traveling, though the latter at least gets rid of it once you've developed Arls enough). Resting would recover HP, MP and LP in those games. In Lulua, HP and MP is recovered upon going to the world map (and synthesizing doesn't seem to use up MP either), so all resting seems to do is just give you a cute CG of Lulua sleeping and dreaming about curry. Like, i guess you could use it to advance the day enough to where you can find monsters that only appear at certain times.....except time passes when you travel. Is there an actual point of resting in this game or is it just there to be cute?

[Tryhard]

17 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I don't think its just Dynasty Warriors. As far as I'm aware DW just follows the general perception instead of setting it. There's this recent HBO Rome-escue's show about the three Kingdoms where Yuan Shao isn't a bastion of competence either and as far as I know it isn't any better for him in the novel. But I suspect Yuan Shao's might in Total War stems from something of a glitch. Being able to form alliances early on and being able to buy large mercenary armies are fine traits but what makes Yuan so dangerous isn't that he can make factions his vassal but that they almost always accept. It has been known to happen that factions with only barely any less power than Yuan become his vassal. Since vassals are intended to be at a great power disadvantage compared to their lord I think that powerful lords becoming vassals is an oversight or glitch. Its funny because when I try to bully much weaker factions into becoming my vassals they have a decent chance of saying no and getting destroyed for it. 

I haven't seen the HBO show, but he was known for becoming senile (or at least, not listening to advisors), and it was more his youth I was talking about even if he was always arrogant. I just found it fitting that he would be one of the stronger enemies in the game considering he was the leader of the coalition and at the time of the game start 190CE, I would say it makes sense even if it is the result of a glitch that should be toned down.

But yeah, he is likely exploiting a game mechanic where if you have a decent strength faction, if you demand vassalisation but guarantee autonomy and then use the coerce option, there is a good chance even moderate powers or major characters will accept even if the modifier on the diplomacy deal is -200. The only thing you receive is an untrustworthy penalty, but the AI does not need to worry about that as it is irrelevant for them.

See:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/433096867

Edited June 27, 2019 by Tryhard

[Etrurian emperor]

3 hours ago, Tryhard said:

I haven't seen the HBO show, but he was known for becoming senile (or at least, not listening to advisors), and it was more his youth I was talking about even if he was always arrogant. I just found it fitting that he would be one of the stronger enemies in the game considering he was the leader of the coalition and at the time of the game start 190CE, I would say it makes sense even if it is the result of a glitch that should be toned down.

But yeah, he is likely exploiting a game mechanic where if you have a decent strength faction, if you demand vassalisation but guarantee autonomy and then use the coerce option, there is a good chance even moderate powers or major characters will accept even if the modifier on the diplomacy deal is -200. The only thing you receive is an untrustworthy penalty, but the AI does not need to worry about that as it is irrelevant for them.

See:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/433096867

Oh its not on HBO. Officially its not even released in the west. I meant more that its the same general setup of HBO Rome. Historical characters and the depiction of their battles and politics and such. Its got an um....unique portrayal of Cao Cao.

But don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining about Yuan being a baddass. I just think its very refreshing because its usually not the case. Though isn't the Dong the only faction that has the coerce mechanic? I thought it was what his intimidation resource was for. It was a lot of fun bullying that poor Han dynasty out of their money. I think you mean ''ultimatum'' instead of coerce, that's what's the stream uses too. I never thought of using that option like that. Actually I considered it a bit useless since most of the time I used the ultimatum the other side just said no and forced me into a war 

[DragonFlames]

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

Is there an actual point of resting in this game or is it just there to be cute?

I remember it has something to do with the joke ending, which among other things requires you to rest 10 times in total, I believe. I have to admit to not being aware of the specifics.

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

Anyway, considering the lack of a time-limit, i'm questioning why days are marked. Is it just for aesthetic purposes?

There are certain materials you can only gather during certain months of a year (luckily, none of those are needed for fulfilling objectives for the Alchemyriddle) and there's a festival in Arland during December, where you're able to buy otherwise incredibly rare materials, sometimes even mini-boss drops. It also features a fun little minigame with an absolutely hilarious cutscene preceding it. I am not sure if it unlocks from the start, but there should be a cutscene with Aurel telling you about it, so I'm assuming it has something to do with how far you advanced his events. If you get that cutscene, you're able to go to the festival afterwards.
Day and night offer different enemies and sometimes different materials, too.

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

Yeah, i figured that out when i had to unlock the advanced requirements of Ch.2. They don't show up until after you do the basic ones, which is weird since Ch.3 and onwards have advance objectives unlocked from the start.

Really? I had to unlock the advanced objectives chapter by chapter. Maybe the PS4 version is different in that way, or you already did the basic objectives without realizing it?

-----

I just now completed Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2 with the True Ending, and, like with the first game, I will write down some thoughts and impressions while it is still fresh in my mind.
What I liked:
The villains were better and felt a hell of a lot more threatening than in Re;Birth 1, specifically the CFWs. CFW Brave was my favorite out of the four ASIC leaders; I liked that he was actually redeemed, since he was never really evil in the first place. THIS is how you do a "Camus", Fire Emblem. Take note! ... The dream sequences with Noire and Kei, where Brave's ghost came back and asked to marry Uni made me laugh my bottom off, too.
CFW Magic was threatening enough that I assumed she would be the final boss, as she was definitely the one the original CPUs had the strongest connection to. It helps that she looked like a dark version of HDD mode.
While I absolutely loathe CFW Trick, I have to admit that he worked as a clear-cut bad guy, because he was so vile and disgusting. Kicking his ass with Ram and Rom's Team EXE was so damn satisfying.
I also enjoyed the music a lot. Even if my favorite boss battle theme "Dancing Girl" was only used once, I liked every other track enough to not miss it that much. I'd even say that the music is overall better than in Re;Birth 1, nailing the atmosphere of each area perfectly, with little environmental sound effects thrown in to make things more authentic.
As for the environments, they were beautifully done, as well. With exceptions that were just straight up nabbed from the first game (the factory areas), I'd say the environments looked better and more varied than Re;Birth 1's, too.
The story of the game has a bit of a darker tone in the beginning, so humor - while present - isn't the focus for a good chunk of the game. Where it does come in, boy, does it ever work. Some scenes made me straight up burst out in laughter, like when Neptune used HDD just to be able to ride a rollercoaster, but not being able to enjoy it to the fullest due to Purple Hearts no-nonsense, Lady of War personality. In another scene, Noire showed off her swimsuit to Nep-Nep and had it inside out the whole time. By far one of my favorite scenes was when the CPUs were cat-fighting over whose game console was better, while the sisters were just peacefully playing with each other (Monster Hunter, apparently) and asking about popular/good games on their respective consoles (with a reference to Pokémon's... excuse me, "Pocketed Monstrosities", IV breeding thrown in, no less). The plot as a whole felt a lot more important this time around.
Speaking of the sisters, even if they did take some time getting used to, I ended up liking all four of them by the end of the game. Nepgear and Uni stick out from the crowd, however, since they got by far the most character development, with Nepgear winning out by a slight margin, since she made a good first impression right from the word go, while Uni started off as a loli version of Noire until she became her own character later, which is a clever writing device now that I think about it, considering one of Uni's main motivations is to step out of her sister's shadow. Speaking of Noire, she really mellowed out since the last game. While still showing some traits of Tsundere-ness, she's much farther on the "Dere" spectrum this time around, while her sister got all the "Tsun" to herself. She's also much less sadistic in her HDD form than in the last game, where she would laugh maniacally on occasion when attacking. Her voice when in HDD is also higher pitched than in Re;Birth 1.
Something I was curious about when starting the game was the relationship between the CPUs and their younger sisters, and the game delivered on my expectations and then some. Neptune and Nepgear play off of each other perfectly, Noire and Uni make a good team, and Blanc's reaction to Ram and Rom's pranks are hilarious to watch. The scene where the sisters reunite is genuinely touching, too, as is every scene where the usually jovial and "I will troll you!" Neptune shows honest support and love for Nepgear.
I also liked the Makers a lot in this game (with the exception of Red and IF). 5pb. and Cave, the two new entrants, were pretty cool characters, all things considered and I am pleasantly surprised that they didn't get shafted as hard as I expected them to. Though the same can't be said about CC2, Marvy and Tekken, who are optional from what I've read, so it makes sense for them to not have much impact on proceedings. They're still really useful in battle, however. Marvy especially surprised me after her rather weak showing in Re;Birth 1.
On the topic of gameplay, I LOVE that you can have four people fighting at once now. The battle system stayed pretty much the same from the last game, which is a good thing, since to me, it's pretty much perfect, but the fourth member really adds a ton of variety and it allows you to use all the CPUs/CPU Candidates at once, which is nice. It's also nice that they have not one, but two CPU Candidates that learn pretty effective healing skills (Nepgear and Rom), something the original CPUs were (and still are) sorely lacking.
I'm also pleasantly surprised that they only used the Hopeless Boss Fight trope twice during the game, once in the beginning against CFW Judge, another partway through the game against CFW Magic. Re;Birth 1 had plenty of forced loss bosses. The "protagonist fights the final boss solo" thing was back again, too, which really I loved in the first game. Here, it works just as well, though I am kind of saddened that Nepgear didn't get a third version of her HDD form, considering what precedes this particular battle.
Another thing I liked is that the EXE Drives and some SP skills of the CPUs and Candidates are learned through story progression rather than levelling up. Even if that means some of your characters (namely the Candidates, Neptune, IF, and Compa) will be running around without them for a good while, it's a nice way of incorporating these quite overpowered attacks that did not lose their luster at all.
What I didn't like:
While the villains as a whole were more threatening, the fourth ASIC leader, CFW Judge, wasn't memorable enough to me. In the beginning of the game, he was hyped up as incredibly strong and important, tanking Nepgear's EXE Drive like it's nothing (made sure to kill him with it later in the game, though), but after that, he just feels kinda... thrown in there, especially when compared to Brave and Magic. He also felt the most one note and generic, being just the dude who wants to destroy everything. A shame, since I liked his design the most out of the four. I'm also conflicted on how to feel about Arfoire being the main villain yet again, even if this version of her is vastly different from her Re;Birth 1 incarnation and I'd even go so far as to say that this version is superior as far as final bosses go.
Something that got really old really fast were Underling and Warechu, which the characters didn't fail to point out. Sadly, there were basically omnipresent in the game and while it was funny in the beginning, they overstayed their welcome fairly quickly and the fights against them were harder than they had any right to be. They were the second to last boss, for crying out loud. I know they were meant to be jokes, maybe they were meant to be annoying, too, but Underling and Warechu were easily the worst part of the game for me. Fingers crossed that they don't return in Re;Birth 3.
Something I mentioned once before is that the CPUs were more immediately likeable than the Candidates and I still stand by that opinion. I'm also still not a fan of Red, who ended up being the most annoying character on the heroic side of things. Though her friendship with Neptune was endearing, so she's kind of excused on that front. Doesn't change the fact that she - along with IF, who is even more of a jerk than in the last game, but still as squishy - is my least favorite of the Makers.
I'm also not sure how I feel about Kei, honestly. While I like the idea of there being an aide for the CPUs, and Chika, and Mina - especially Mina - were entertaining and likeable, Kei didn't click with me, to be honest. I'm neutral on Histoire. She didn't stick out in any way, shape or form. The only thing I can say about her is that she got a serious downgrade from her position in the last game, and that her apparent friendship with the four Mascots was an interesting plot point that sadly never saw any conclusion (maybe in the next game or another ending?).
Another smaller nitpick is that they changed the EXE Drive theme, or rather, used the long version. It doesn't even get to the good part of the music before the attack animation ends, so some of the impact of the EXE Drives is lost, which is especially noticeable on characters that were in Re;Birth 1.
Conclusion:
In the end, I'd say the two games are about equal. While Re;Birth 2 improved on a lot from Re;Birth 1, I'd still say that Re;Birth 1 holds a slight edge over its successor on the grounds that the CPUs felt more immediately likeable, and there was no annoying joke villains that ended up being the second to last boss. Still, I'd say the positives still far, far outweigh the negatives, because of which I'd rate this game about the same as the first, a solid 9/10.

On to Re;Birth 3!

Edited June 27, 2019 by DragonFlames

[Shrimpica]

@DragonFlamesi see you are much more positive on R;B2 then i was. Glad you enjoyed it 😄 (i rate the Nep games as followed: R;B1 8/10, R;B2 6.5/10, R:B3 7/0, MegaNep 8.5/10)

Underling doesn't return in R;B3 iirc, Warechu is there to stay however. And yeah, i didn't like Red and her Waifu thing, either.

Also, Please do get the Conquest Ending before you move on to R;B3. You have to experience it like all of us did