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Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.


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Just now, Alastor15243 said:

I fucking wish them luck.

Ditto. I mean, Maddening is hella intense even knowing what you're going up against. ButĀ for someone who doesn't? Ironmanning? I calculate their odds of success at... 0%.

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7 hours ago, Jotari said:

Okay I think you are trolling now. Either that or you're just too obstinate to actually listen to anyone else. You're rejecting your own words. You say things aren't an issue yet also say you slowly crawl through levels and you complain about things like poison strike 3 range archers when the whole point of them is to discourage you from playing in the unfun way you play. Thisnis thenlogic youre working under

*Play the game in a way you find unfun

*Complain that the game is not fun

*Insist the way you play is the only way the game can be played

*Spend 60 turns clearing a map.

You must see there's a flaw in your logic there. People are telling you the method you're using is not uow Three Houses is best played and you yourself do t like playing it that way. Try to play Three Houses more aggressively sometime. You might be surprised at the results. And if you still dont like it thats fine, Three Houses isnt for everyone. But you're just shooting yourself in the foot if your complaining about the game being bad when you're playing it a bad way.

I checked my posts regarding this, I never mentioned anything about fun or any supposed divine way of play. As per your usual MO you are putting words in peoples mouths, otherwise you might have been able to back up your claims with quotes - I distinctly told you, that you lack one. I specifically mention what my problem is and at what point, but that also evaded your notice - not every chapter is chapter 2. You have also not been able to provide anything in relation to TH punishing EP oriented play, so that was a load of bs too - stop wasting my time with your thought up nonsense.

6 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

EveryĀ attack available to the player is "supposed to kill". Believe it or not, enemies requiring two player-phase units to kill (rather than one) actually forces the player to make use of more of their units. If I have two units, and neither can get the kill on an enemy, then chipping said enemy down with Hunter's Volley for the other one to finish is certainly a good contribution. And, as I demonstrated, even some of the sturdiest enemies in Maddening can be one-rounded, if you come at them with the right setup.

Exactly my point. You're able to build the unit in question to one-round, but you choose not to, because the supporting resource is needed elsewhere. For my part, I also have a Shamir who isn't one-rounding with Hunter's Volley. Perhaps if I'd picked up Death Blow, she would. But that would mean buildingĀ an Axe rank I had no use for otherwise, and either forgoing Hit +20 from Archer mastery, or delaying Sniper mastery. I chose to forgo Brigand, in order to get a weaker HV, but sooner. In this way, the game presents an opportunity cost trade-off, and forces the player to balance what they want immediately versus in the long-term. I personally like this kind of design, but you may disagree, and that's fine.

And if the exp curve wasnĀ“t screwed you wouldnĀ“t need substitute stats in the form of skills to have even an acceptable performance, youĀ“d simply have a unit that could perform their role as a PP delete button. Oh well, I suppose IĀ“m expecting too much from optimal builds in TH.

...on a side note, chipping with a 5 cost CA... oof

6 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

[...] I don't find it gives the player the same amount of tools to deal with enemies as 3H does, and encourages the player to simply grind up to meet enemy benchmarks. [...]

Naw man, are you sure you just didnĀ“t use all the available ressources optimally? /s

Ā 

1 minute ago, Shadow Mir said:

Ditto. I mean, Maddening is hella intense even knowing what you're going up against. ButĀ for someone who doesn't? Ironmanning? I calculate their odds of success at... 0%.

Well, no chapter 13? Then again route split.Ā 

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10 minutes ago, Imuabicus said:

Well, no chapter 13? Then again route split.Ā 

They're planning onĀ going Crimson Flower. Even then, however, I still can't help but think this is gonna crash and burn.

EDIT: Especially if they try to play Black Market Scheme.

Edited by Shadow Mir
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24 minutes ago, Imuabicus said:

And if the exp curve wasnĀ“t screwed you wouldnĀ“t need substitute stats in the form of skills to have even an acceptable performance, youĀ“d simply have a unit that could perform their role as a PP delete button. Oh well, I suppose IĀ“m expecting too much from optimal builds in TH.

...on a side note, chipping with a 5 cost CA... oof

I guess my question to you is - why is a system where units can get by on stats alone more desirable? It'd be easier, I suppose, but it'd also negate the purpose of various tools. If I can get a kill without Death Blow, why master Brigand? If I don't need Rally Strength, then why bring a unit with Rally support? I can get by doing the same stuff as on Hard Mode - sending my overleveled unit in against weaker enemies. Where's the challenge or strategy in that?

Losing 5 durability sounds rough, but Gold is in easy supply from the midgame onward, so that repairing mainline and crit-heavy weapons is trivial. And while Umbral Steel isn't buyable, so many monsters drop it from shield breaks. Wootz Steel can be scarce, but it's not like I'm doing Hunter's Volley with my Brave Bow (nor with the Inexhaustible re: Mythril), since the Brave Effect is redundant. That leaves Arcane Crystals and the Magic Bow as the only "scarce" one (until the Dark Merchant arrives), and that one only applies to niche builds. Venomstone is scarce (but worthless), as is Agarthium (but no Bows use it up).

27 minutes ago, Imuabicus said:

Naw man, are you sure you just didnĀ“t use all the available ressources optimally? /s

Unironically, I probably didn't. While my opinion of Awakening Lunatic Mode isn't exactly high, I can at least concede that I don't have enough experience with it to make a definitive statement (i.e. beyond my "impressions") on it.

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12 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Thanks for the tip! I played a lot ofĀ Awakening, but never really got into the optimal strategies (i.e. lowmanning, Nosfertanking, Galeforce). So I didn't make it far inrmto Lunatic. Maybe I'd enjoy it if I played it smarter.

If you enjoy it even though the only usable strategies are cheese strategies, more power to you. Personally, I find the fact that the only really usable strategies to succeed in Awakening Lunatic are cheese strategies to be a massive turnoff.Ā InĀ my opinion, part of the fun of these games is building up my army into a bunch of badasses. When my ability to do that is severely hindered for whatever reason, the fun factor goes away really quickly.

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11 hours ago, Imuabicus said:

I checked my posts regarding this, I never mentioned anything about fun or any supposed divine way of play. As per your usual MO you are putting words in peoples mouths, otherwise you might have been able to back up your claims with quotes - I distinctly told you, that you lack one. I specifically mention what my problem is and at what point, but that also evaded your notice - not every chapter is chapter 2. You have also not been able to provide anything in relation to TH punishing EP oriented play, so that was a load of bs too - stop wasting my time with your thought up nonsense.

I did though. You just ignored me. Even though I used what you'd previously said yourself. The simple issue here is that your complaining about voluntarily playing the game in a manner nobody is advising you to play and then blaming the results on the game when it's entirely your choice to play it that way.

Edited by Jotari
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On 11/30/2021 at 8:11 AM, Jotari said:
On 11/25/2021 at 11:17 AM, Imuabicus said:

Ā 

Ā 

On 11/29/2021 at 8:03 PM, Imuabicus said:

It is the safest and with that IĀ daresay most reliable way to playĀ and that is the only thing I care about. It took me ~60 turns to get through AM final chapter, but I did so in one attempt and with rewinds to spare.

Are you trolling? It makes more sense that you're trolling than these as elegitmste opinions. You choose to play the game in a way you find unfun and then complain about it beong unfun. It doesn't make any sense

3 hours ago, Jotari said:

I did though. You just ignored me. Even though I used what you'd previously said yourself. The simple issue here is that your complaining about voluntarily playing the game in a manner nobody is advising you to play and then blaming the results on the game when it's entirely your choice to play it that way.

`Tis what I meant when I said you lack a quote. I checked your posts over the last few pages, you didnĀ“t add it in.Ā 

So go ahead. Direct quotes from where I say the following:

*Play the game in a way you find unfun

*Complain that the game is not fun

*Insist the way you play is the only way the game can be played

*Spend 60 turns clearing a map. (feel free to ignore this - I remember saying this in this very thread here and there is a pretty good reason for me taking 60 turns, that being 7 of my units being underleveled)

Additionally, that quote with Re:Smort was specifically adressed to you - youĀ“ll find I have a slightly more detailed conversation about this with Shanty Pete, that evaded your notice as per ususal.

14 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I guess my question to you is - why is a system where units can get by on stats alone more desirable? It'd be easier, I suppose, but it'd also negate the purpose of various tools. If I can get a kill without Death Blow, why master Brigand? If I don't need Rally Strength, then why bring a unit with Rally support? I can get by doing the same stuff as on Hard Mode - sending my overleveled unit in against weaker enemies. Where's the challenge or strategy in that?

Put in spoiler brackets, sinceĀ this is not my thread to rant.

Spoiler

Exactly. As opposed to requiring additional skills, requiring additional certifications, requiring additional weapon ranks, requiring Morale boosts, in other words artificially bloating play time and thus attempting to justify the minigame playing hall that is the monastery and pretending for units to have variety, but you actually have only ~4 archetypes with ~3 desirable skills across the boardĀ you would have a unit. Just a unit, but a unit, nonetheless.

Fates is much the same a skill collector sim, but Fates units have an identity beyond 1 out of 3 fast girls, they have problems as units and Fates allows you to tackle these problem with more individual solutions as opposed to if it doesnĀ“t have Deathblow it doesnĀ“t kill, if it doesnĀ“t have Hit+20 it misses, if it doesnĀ“t have Darting Blow it doesnĀ“t double. Hanaā€™s problem is she doesnĀ“t survive shit but not damage, so whatĀ“s the solution? Do we make her a Sniper, to get super accurate high damage PP and Duellist Blow for survivability with 50% of just that in Attack Stance, or a Quixotic Sol Master Ninja with Axe/Lancebreaker to make her a dash more 1-2 range self-sufficient? Or instead, we go Kinshi Knight, with Galeforce, to emulate Canto? Do we say fuck it and put Armored/Warding Blow with Lifetaker on and accept weĀ“ll have to savekeep her on EP, with Shelter, Switch, Shove, but at the very least she wonĀ“t die on PP and have 100%HP for emergencies? Or do we go balls to the walls, maximum damage output 1HKO-style with L&D, Swordfaire, Trample, Replicate and Galeforce and turn PP into a slaughterhouse? That isnĀ“t even thinking about PU nor the possible skill sets for backpacks, potential forges, skill synergies by other units, tonics, andĀ mess hall. This is variety, this is units with individual character, for me and maybe not for everyone else, this is FUN, just thinking up what I just mentioned makes me excited to boot up BR again, where all of what I just said will be massive overkill anyway on not good but also not terrible maps. This is the very reason why I love Fates and why TH has been a let-down - not a crushing one, but the relative lack of skill variety andĀ the gimped unit variety by virtue of scrub squadding coupled with the map design... itĀ“s all just meh, not because it doesnĀ“t exist, but because itĀ“s implementation feels so very rudimentary and disjointed, as if someone looked at Fates and said "People like skills, so put skills in the game", but didnĀ“t realize it also matters how player units engage with enemy units and how that is predetermined by the maps they are on.

(And yes,Ā I am well aware this isnĀ“t normally possible, but my skill logbook is pretty full and what I lack can be made up with by... other means.)

I would wholeheartedly agree with anyone who said: Out of all of TH, CS has the best maps and that is not just because the creators dealt you a set hand of units and classes, but because that hand you were dealt, a core of mechanics, stats, classes, weapons, units etc. interacts with the maps and enemies in a meaningful way beyond press end turn and watch the 1range locked enemies kill themself on your dodgetank. I vividly remember the chapter where you get chased by the Death Machine and I mean remember in the best way possible, because it made me think back to the hours, I spent figuring out CQ chapter 12 in such a way, that I would clear the map, get all the loot and defeat Ryoma too and the delightful feeling of victory when achieving it. That CS chapter felt just like that, albeit different, certainly stressful, in the beginning surprising but above all enjoyablyĀ doable even if with some difficulty and because it felt like the map creators thought a bit about what to put where. And this right here is the thing that would make me go ballistic, if it wasnĀ“t a video game, itĀ“s that they showed that they knew what they were doing in this DLC, that they managed to make theĀ cogs that run FE go clink and run, maybe not smoothly, maybe not as brilliant as CQ, but it worked.

As opposed to the rest of TH, where the creators didnĀ“t even have the basic competence to have maps repeated ad nauseam have a different mechanic much less give enemies a second weapon for variety sake, much less effective weaponry, because Lord forbid the player has to check inventories, or dare I say it - that the player uses the tools he has to avoid actual danger, thatĀ“s not comprised of overinflated stats that bludgeons out any and all attempts at varied builds and makes them coinflips on whether or not you levelled enough of stat X, but intelligent area denial, formations protecting enemy units that could be threats on EP and the like. Just imagine the power of Retribution or Impregnable Wall in Ryomas chapter, think about the power of Stride in CQ 10 or 12 or Endgame, the capabilities of Blessing in Eternal Stairway or Treason on the left side, all example where these gambits would have massive positive effects, not because they just negate high stats by reducing damage or returning damage, but by virtue of addressing a specific problem that exist because the enemy has specific skills, weapons or even just positioning. Where is any of this in TH I ask, because all I remember from 5 Hard runs, several Maddening attempts that died in boredom and 1 successful AMĀ Maddening run, is a lukewarm stew of ideas, squashed by the lazy implementation of difficulty by virtue of big numbers on enemies, protected by a layer of "but characters gud"? Which hey, whatever floats peopleā€™s boat, but argh. The most memorable thing from all these runs, is my first run on Black Eagles, being surprised how high the enemies HildaĀ damage was in Claudes last map and my disappointment with Edelgards upgraded personal skillĀ and thatĀ“s it.

And before people come at me and say, "But you can beat TH without Monastery", yes, I know, certainly on Hard. I have been trying this on Maddening and it is an overwhelmingly frustrating experience, because my units are just that gimped and why I havenĀ“t returned to it yet.

Ā 

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1 hour ago, Imuabicus said:

`Tis what I meant when I said you lack a quote. I checked your posts over the last few pages, you didnĀ“t add it in.Ā 

I didnt miss a quote. I just cantĀ delete them on mobile.

1 hour ago, Imuabicus said:

So go ahead. Direct quotes from where I say the following:

*Play the game in a way you find unfun

*Complain that the game is not fun

*Insist the way you play is the only way the game can be played

So are you trying to play some kind laweresque gotcha game here? Or are you now saying that you do indeed find Three Houses to be a fun game and that you enjoy the way that you play the game and think its fine for other people to plau dofferently to the way you play? Because if all those points are true then I question what it is youre even talking about.

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2 hours ago, Imuabicus said:

Put in spoiler brackets, sinceĀ this is not my thread to rant.

Well, that was a lot. That said, this seems to have veered away from "Problems with Maddening as a difficulty level, relative to Hard" and "Problems with Three Houses in general, relative to Fates". I'm not here to argue the general merits of these games relative to each other - if you prefer Fates, that's fine by me. My purpose was to defend the stricter EXP curve as an element of Maddening's game design that, relative to Hard, encourages the player to manage skills, combat arts, battalions, adjutants, and rallies in a way that isn't necessary to beat lower difficulty levels. That's all. If you believe that Maddening would've been a better experience with a more generous EXP formula (whether the same as Hard Mode's, or between the two as they exist), you're welcome to make such an argument.

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5 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

"Problems with Three Houses in general, relative to Fates"

Yeah.

It was a good rant, though. I enjoyed it.

3 hours ago, Imuabicus said:

all example where these gambits would have massive positive effects, not because they just negate high stats by reducing damage or returning damage, but by virtue of addressing a specific problem that exist because the enemy has specific skills, weapons or even just positioning.

This was a cool point.

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Three Houses Day 68: Chapter 20 Mission

Alright, mission time.

Ah, look! Caspar and Linhardt! Oh, and the Black Knight's shitty inbred second cousin.

I'm feeling a twinge of regret for not recruiting Caspar, given that if I ever play this game again, it won't be on a route where I can unlock the Death Knight paralogue. Oh well.

Alright, so, I gave Sylvain the Failnaught, since he's the only archer I have with a crest. That should go a long way to making him useful.

I'm gonna hold off on the turn-one stride mostly so I can get a little closer and get Dimitri in on the action, given his inconvenient starting position. I have a lot of enemies here, including giant demonic beasts, and also a bunch of turrets that are causing the inability to highlight individual enemy ranges on the prep screen to really fucking piss me off. There's an eastern turret I have to take down on turn one, and Leonie can do that with ease.

...So, the game just completely glossed over our breaking down of the main gate, not even discussing how we did it when that's supposed to be an amazingly impossible feat given this fortress's reputation.

And Dimitri talks about the fort like its reputation came from the weapons it has to deal with enemies who are already inside. Fucking seriously?

But yeah, I actually kinda like this map. At least the start of it. I'm being rushed from all sides and need to think on my feet to kill everyone in a timely fashion.

Caspar talks about my relationship with Edelgard like it... well... exists. I don't believe Edelgard and Professr have had a single scene together where Claude and Dimitri were not also present.

And then when he talks to Leonie he's like ā€œDid you have to kill a lot of your friends to get here!?ā€, and, like... no. No, not really. There've been almost no opportunities for me to actually properly kill Garreg Mach alumni.

Linhardt's death line is really cringey, talking about his dream that ā€œsomeday there will be no more fighting and we can all just... nap the day awayā€. It's really dumb when a character has a comedy gimmick that's brought back up while they're fucking dying. The only character it even slightly worked for was Kellam, and that's because his fears that he'd be completely forgotten the second he stopped being there to remind people he existed was... really sad.

Anyway, all that's left is to kill Death Knight. I unfortunately have no more strides, but at this point that shouldn't be a problem.

Alright, Felix is fortunately immune to Death Knight's crits and has a strong chance of doing good damage or even killing, with two 65% 35-damage hits with a Vajra-Mushti nimble combo. Let's do it.

Victory!

...I see some kind of messy rock formation apparently right next to the castle walls in the story scene. Did the wall get damaged? ...Unless the walls there are low and there are cliffs behind it or something. It looks weird regardless.

And we get a letter from Sylvain's dad that's read offscreen, telling us about the battle that's been won offscreen, resulting in them being able to send troops to us that will be used offscreen.

I swear, there isn't a single damned game in the series that feels as ā€œfakeā€ as this one does.

Also, the soldier telling us all this has a ridiculously gruff voice that doesn't fit the generic soldier model at all.

...So... we have a prisoner who claims involvement in the Tragedy of Duscur. ...I wonder what's gonna come of this.

And hilariously, they talk about the return to the Monastery to talk to this prisoner like they had any plans besides returning to the Monastery.

Fucking Christ game, make up your goddamned mind about what Dimitri believes! He goes from seeming almost certain his stepmother was involved when demanding answers from Arundel, to now going ā€œof course notā€ when Professr asks the prisoner if she was involved. But apparently she was, according to Gilbert's offscreen research into the matter.

...The prisoner claims he and his lord worked to cause the Tragedy of Duscur in the name of ā€œjusticeā€, but he makes no elaboration why he thought it was the right thing to do, or what exactly he means by not being able to ā€œbear the weight of [his] sinsā€ when he explicitly says he regrets nothing and still thinks what he did was right.

...Fucking Christ.

But of course, Dimitri leaves him alive, and Gilbert acts like the fact that he specifically doesn't kill this prisoner is character development, when him killing the last prisoner wasn't the problem. He planned to torture the last one, and Professr is the one who killed him.

ā€¦

...My only dialogue option at one point in the following scene was expressing certainty that Edelgard would agree to meet with Dimitri alone and unarmed.

...I... I don't know what to say to that.

But yeah, that's it for today.

...Damn it, looks like we'll just barely not be able to finish this on a Friday most likely. Oh well. I guess I'll do the supports and Monastery stuff tomorrow, then the penultimate battle on Friday... then finish off on Monday.

Stay safe, everyone.

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24 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Ā 

Fucking Christ game, make up your goddamned mind about what Dimitri believes! He goes from seeming almost certain his stepmother was involved when demanding answers from Arundel, to now going ā€œof course notā€ when Professr asks the prisoner if she was involved. But apparently she was, according to Gilbert's offscreen research into the matter.

I can afford to give Dimitri some leeway. Intellectually one can say that such information is coming from dubious sources who have reason to lie, but emotionally one woud still be driven to make sure its not true. Its like you can't ignore it because ifs probably bullshit, but the magnitude of what it entails if it's not is too great.

Edited by Jotari
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3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Alright, Felix is fortunately immune to Death Knight's crits and has a strong chance of doing good damage or even killing, with two 65% 35-damage hits with a Vajra-Mushti nimble combo. Let's do it.

Immune to crits how? Because the only ways to negate crit chances completely are with the Rafail Gem or the Ochain Shield, and I am ten billion percent certain you have neither (the former is gotten from Mercedes and Caspar's paralogue, and the latter from Ferdinand and Lysithea's paralogue. Incidentally, both are not available in Crimson Flower). Incidentally, if you play Mercedes and Caspar's paralogue and have the latter defeat him, you can get the Scythe of Sariel for yourself (though I do think I stated this before).

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Fucking Christ game, make up your goddamned mind about what Dimitri believes! He goes from seeming almost certain his stepmother was involved when demanding answers from Arundel, to now going ā€œof course notā€ when Professr asks the prisoner if she was involved. But apparently she was, according to Gilbert's offscreen research into the matter.

I can see this is somewhat understandable; from an intellectual perspective, one would think it's bullshit considering the sources, but at the same time, from an emotional perspective, one would still want to make sure it is bullshit, because the emotional magnitude of what this entails if it ISN'T would be massive.

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1 hour ago, Shadow Mir said:

Immune to crits how? Because the only ways to negate crit chances completely are with the Rafail Gem or the Ochain Shield, and I am ten billion percent certain you have neither (the former is gotten from Mercedes and Caspar's paralogue, and the latter from Ferdinand and Lysithea's paralogue. Incidentally, both are not available in Crimson Flower). Incidentally, if you play Mercedes and Caspar's paralogue and have the latter defeat him, you can get the Scythe of Sariel for yourself (though I do think I stated this before).

Well, DK didn't have a crit rate on Felix is what I meant.

1 hour ago, Shadow Mir said:

I can see this is somewhat understandable; from an intellectual perspective, one would think it's bullshit considering the sources, but at the same time, from an emotional perspective, one would still want to make sure it is bullshit, because the emotional magnitude of what this entails if it ISN'T would be massive.

Ā 

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

I can afford to give Dimitri some leeway. Intellectually one can say that such information is coming from dubious sources who have reason to lie, but emotionally one woud still be driven to make sure its not true. Its like you can't ignore it because ifs probably bullshit, but the magnitude of what it entails if it's not is too great.

Ā 

I mean:

Ā 

Dimitri: What did Cornelia... no... what did my Stepmother do!?

Later...

Professr: Was his stepmother involved?

Dimitri: Of course she wasn't, that's nonsense.

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20 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Well, DK didn't have a crit rate on Felix is what I meant.

But how did you do that? Because he'd be pretty much guaranteed to have non-zero crit chances on anyone unless you took his scythe.Ā 

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19 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

But how did you do that? Because he'd be pretty much guaranteed to have non-zero crit chances on anyone unless you took his scythe.Ā 

No clue. High dodge on Dimitri's battalion I gave him?

Ā 

Edit: Nope, just checked, battalions don't seem to give crit evade.

Edited by Alastor15243
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Three Houses Day 69 (Heh): Chapter 21 Weeks 1-2

Okay, so I can get a speedwing if I collect enough trade secrets this month. I think I'm gonna try to do that, but be smarter about my adjutanting to get units other than my major juggernauts some good exp.

...Aww, it's Dedue's birthday right after the mission! That's kind of adorable.

Anyways, with everyone fully motivated, I'm starting the month off with some skirmishes. I'll keep you posted if anything interesting happens.

...So I've been thinking about the ā€œdumb funā€ category, which I've decided I will in fact be adding. But with regards to this game, I'm torn about what to give it. There is indeed a ton of crazy stuff you can do to stomp the game, but it's such an incredibly slow burn for it. Of course, it's a slow burn for everything, so my instinct is to go ā€œassume you have infinite patience when grading everything but pacingā€. But that still feels... wrong somehow. Like this feels like one of those situations where categories bleed into each other. I dunno.

Note to self: buy more smithing stones at the Monastery next week. Lots more.

Also note to self: give Dimitri the aurora shield I just remembered Leonie picked up.

We just got a second fortify user in Flayn, so that's awesome.

Leonie asks me to give her a ā€œBlade Breakerā€-esque nickname, and with the choices of ā€œThe Raging Bearā€, the ā€œExecutionerā€ and ā€œThe Woodland Spriteā€, I go with ā€œThe Raging Bearā€, but honestly I don't think any of those particularly fit her.

Constance just unlocked ā€œBlack Magic Range +1ā€. Kickass, that's going on her. Pity she's struggling to double and to one-shot lately. I think I'm gonna crack into my magic stat boosters on her.

...That netted her 8 more magic. Given how close she's consistently been to one-shotting, I think that should be more than enough, especially for just two more chapters.

Also, apparently she got a silver shield at some point and auto-equipped it, and I never noticed. Hopefully getting rid of that improves her attack speed a bit.

Seeing that the slayer immunity shields have no weight, I give the lampos shield to Leonie as well, replacing her silver shield. Excellent. Alright, let's see what else we can accomplish today. Up next: exploration.

...Yeah, I'm definitely not getting done this week.

...Another sword tournament? Really?

...This seems like the same one. What's up with that? I know that last tournament was done last month.

So, remembering that the cathedral exists and that I have lots of mages... fuck it, I'll do choir practice.

Annette and Mercedes don't have shared dialogue together for it. Huh. Also, it's weird that Mercedes doesn't have that blue up arrow for this activity, given she wants to work in the church.

...I can only do it once a day.

Well that blows.

...Anyway, unfortunately I have to finish earlier than I could normally, because I've got a doctor's appointment I've got to prepare for in a bit.

So tomorrow we'll finish up the month probably, and then do the chapters next week.

Stay safe, everyone.

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1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, apparently she got a silver shield at some point and auto-equipped it, and I never noticed. Hopefully getting rid of that improves her attack speed a bit.

She only needs 20 strength to off set the weight of a silver shield. Giving her a strength stat booster might actually be a good choice. On most other units at this point a strength booster would probably result inĀ diminishing returns. Then again with black magic range+1 she probably won't be taling many attacks so a ring would probably be better.Ā 

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1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

There is indeed a ton of crazy stuff you can do to stomp the game, but it's such an incredibly slow burn for it. Of course, it's a slow burn for everything, so my instinct is to go ā€œassume you have infinite patience when grading everything but pacingā€. But that still feels... wrong somehow. Like this feels like one of those situations where categories bleed into each other. I dunno.

The longer it takes you to get to the dumb fun, the less time for it you will have, and therefore you will have less dumb fun. The slow burn aspect should thus penalize the score.

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44 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

The longer it takes you to get to the dumb fun, the less time for it you will have, and therefore you will have less dumb fun. The slow burn aspect should thus penalize the score.

...Shit, right. Of course. I was mixing up the myriad ways in which this game is slow. Thanks so much for pointing that out and reminding me.

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9 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Seeing that the slayer immunity shields have no weight, I give the lampos shield to Leonie as well, replacing her silver shield. Excellent. Alright, let's see what else we can accomplish today. Up next: exploration.

Making anti-effective-damage shields weightless was such an odd design choice. Where other shields could be seen as balanced (Protection and bonus effects vs. Weight), the Aurora/Lampos/Kadmos Shields are strictly positives. Maybe they're "balanced" around showing up late, and in relative scarcity?

9 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

..Another sword tournament? Really?

...This seems like the same one. What's up with that? I know that last tournament was done last month.

This happens on VW as well. I think it's because these routes have one more chapter than the "template" route, SS. Still, it's very lame.

9 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Annette and Mercedes don't have shared dialogue together for it. Huh. Also, it's weird that Mercedes doesn't have that blue up arrow for this activity, given she wants to work in the church.

I don't believe any character pairingsĀ get unique choir dialogue? Which is unfortunate. If they do, I've not seen it.

9 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Anyway, unfortunately I have to finish earlier than I could normally, because I've got a doctor's appointment I've got to prepare for in a bit.

Hope it went well. I'm always nervous when it comes to the doctor.

8 hours ago, Jotari said:

She only needs 20 strength to off set the weight of a silver shield. Giving her a strength stat booster might actually be a good choice. On most other units at this point a strength booster would probably result inĀ diminishing returns. Then again with black magic range+1 she probably won't be taling many attacks so a ring would probably be better.Ā 

Yes, but Fire, her lightest offensive spell, has a Weight of 3. So she'll need a Strength stat of 35 in order to not lose Attack Speed with the Silver Shield equipped (assuming no weight mitigation skills).

If she's missing out on one-shots, then the Magic StaffĀ is the obvious choice equippable. On the flip side, the Speed Ring may secure her doubles she'd otherwise fall short of.

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Shit, right. Of course. I was mixing up the myriad ways in which this game is slow. Thanks so much for pointing that out and reminding me.

There's a potential counter-argument in the form of New Game+. Namely, that you can buy powerful skills back right at the start of the game, rather than needing to work to earn them in the current playthrough. Of course, it took effort to achieve them in a prior playthrough.

Personally, I see the sheer variety of options, and ability to use the same units in totally different ways, as a clear instance of "dumb fun". Yet "fun" is, by its very nature, subjective. So I couldn't fault you for holding a different impression.

22 hours ago, LoneRecon400 said:

Combat arts that give Avoid also give the same amount of Crit Avoid.

So that'd give Felix 20 Crit Avoid when using Nimble Combo.

Thanks for the insight! I was wondering about this too. I generally haven't cared for Avoid-boosting combat arts, but this information makes them slightly more considerable in my eyes.

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