Lightcosmo Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 55 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said: Well, I would argue it's a good idea for enemies to be consistent and self explanatory, so you can tell what they do roughly from a glance. Otherwise you have to check every single enemy for skills, which is a pain. Besides, the huge variety in the playable characters proves they weren't starving for creativity. Some of these unit concepts are utterly insane, and not even just their stats. It's my favorite thing about the game, honestly. But then it just becomes "going through the motions. Options allows for more creativity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interdimensional Observer Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) I swiftly watched the remainder of XS Episode I. Just a few comments.: Spoiler First, back to the Cathedral Ship scenes. I've forgotten to mention that it was strange in the flashback that it took Shion one shot from a standard-looking handgun to blow off V1 Kossy's head. She is made of the toughest stuff around, and a single bullet shattered her android skull? Almost inconceivable. Jumping to the ending on a related note- I had expected the ending would be where V2 ends as a charred piece of wreckage, thus laying the groundwork for V3 in Episode II. Hmm... The ending overall- XC2, your lack of creativity is showing. Oh, and one glimpse of Not-Child-Fei, the perfect companion for Not-Child-Elly, I wasn't expecting the lead of XG to get that. The 2nd and 3rd most important playables yes, but not the 1st. I shall admit, I did skip around when it came to the cutscenes with Albedo. He can go fork himself. I'm not in the mood for that brat. Oh, and Virgil came back this early. So these plague doctors, of which they've shown two so far, are the Reclaimers. Got it. BTW Namco, if you ever do set aside your profitability complaints and give us HD Remasters, let us skip/accelerate attack animations, it's a QoL improvement that would make Ep. I much more playable for me. Will watch Episode II gradually and later, not sure when I'll start on that if you asked me to pick a date on the calendar. Edited March 14, 2022 by Interdimensional Observer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpica Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Rubenio Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 1 hour ago, Sooks said: Wait, what? Weren’t you set on doing the evil path at the beginning? What changed? Or did you accidentally miss out on it? Benedict turned out not to be the evil one after all. That's what changed. 1 hour ago, Shrimpolaris said: guess who's playin on classic O O F Quote Well, i am also save stating every 5 turns because playing this completely classic doesn't sound any fun at all. The Berwick approach, eh. Certainly should make it a lot more manageable. 54 minutes ago, lightcosmo said: But then it just becomes "going through the motions. Options allows for more creativity. Well, I believe enemy positioning, terrain and objectives can more than make up for a more homogeneous enemy force. But that's just me, or course, and I suppose the game could do with a bit more enemy variety, even if I don't personally think it's that big of an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interdimensional Observer Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) Scores for Stranger of Paradise are out. Perhaps surprisingly, most fall into in the 6-8 range. I've seen a few criticisms in the reviews that the combat has some minor faults the two Nioh games didn't, but otherwise the gameplay is great. Which it kinda needs, given the very bad plot and graphics. Feels downright bizarre that this is the second best of four Square titles released in short succession. ----- I'll have to tune in.😄 It's odd, but so very cute that Kirby has a glow stick for their instrument. Most adorable raver ever.😊 Edited March 14, 2022 by Interdimensional Observer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benice Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) I thought I was doing so well in English this year because I've been spending a lot of time to make sure everything's on-point, and I've been super proud of all my work (which is a rarity for me), but I'm still only at 90%... How on earth do people get good grades? I'm sure as heck not gettin' into uni with these sorts of marks. Edited March 14, 2022 by Benice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightcosmo Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 8 minutes ago, Benice said: I thought I was doing so well in English this year because I've been spending a lot of time to make sure everything's on-point, and I've been super proud of all my work (which is a rarity for me), but I'm still only at 90%... How on earth do people get good grades? I'm sure as heck not gettin' into uni with these sorts of marks. Thats way better than mine ever was! 24 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said: Well, I believe enemy positioning, terrain and objectives can more than make up for a more homogeneous enemy force. But that's just me, or course, and I suppose the game could do with a bit more enemy variety, even if I don't personally think it's that big of an issue. Lategame the game was really easy imo. 1st half was way more "fleshed out" gameplay wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpica Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 17 minutes ago, Benice said: I thought I was doing so well in English this year because I've been spending a lot of time to make sure everything's on-point, and I've been super proud of all my work (which is a rarity for me), but I'm still only at 90%... in what world is 90% bad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightcosmo Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 3 minutes ago, Shrimpolaris said: in what world is 90% bad? I was thinking the same thing, I mean my average was... Awful. Somewhere around 20% or so? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Rubenio Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 Well, that's been Triangle Strategy. Thoughts later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interdimensional Observer Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 2 minutes ago, Shrimpolaris said: in what world is 90% bad? Mine! I remember during my graduate studies getting a low 90 and thinking I was slipping, and had to remain vigilant so as to not allow that to happen. Dropping to a B+ would mean entering the danger zone. So I had to stay out of the pre-danger zone danger zone. -Of course, I'm talking graduate studies here, so it's topics you must love or at least be talented at. High school & undergrad and subjects you don't like, yeah, then a 90 isn't so bad, as long as you pass those courses well enough, it's enough. Grades 0 and 100 alike mean absolutely nothing if you don't do anything with anything you've learned however! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpica Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 5 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said: Grades 0 and 100 alike mean absolutely nothing if you don't do anything with anything you've learned however! don't hurt me like this lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interdimensional Observer Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 1 minute ago, Shrimpolaris said: don't hurt me like this lol I had no intention of stabbing you, I was disemboweling myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 42 minutes ago, Benice said: I thought I was doing so well in English this year because I've been spending a lot of time to make sure everything's on-point, and I've been super proud of all my work (which is a rarity for me), but I'm still only at 90%... How on earth do people get good grades? I'm sure as heck not gettin' into uni with these sorts of marks. Bro, those are damn fantastic grades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benice Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 1 hour ago, lightcosmo said: Thats way better than mine ever was! Yeah, but you're a maths kind of person, whereas numbers are mysteries to me. 58 minutes ago, Shrimpolaris said: in what world is 90% bad? 23 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said: Bro, those are damn fantastic grades. Well, you see, grades here are like Awakening's stats: Inflated. The bar of expectations is very low, so not trying very hard will earn you probably about a 75-80 in most classes; doing the bare minimum is usually in the mid-80's. IIRC you need about 93% in English to get any sort of scholarship for it 'round these parts, and since I hope to go to Vancouver for post-secondary, by god I need some scholarships. But yeah, most of the hard-working types get about 95%, even if they don't understand the subject material. I'm theoretically supposed to be fantastic at English and I do get the subject materal, but... Well, we're still just under halfway, maybe I can pull myself up a little. I'm also a bit disheartened because we had a big group presentation on the topic of the Great Depression today. I did everything except for the last slide and the bibliography for my group, but then we presented really poorly; the mark is only for the group as a whole, so I expect something in the high seventy range. The worst part is is that a lot of it is my fault, as I wrote all the scripts and everything, but I didn't give my group-mates a chance to get involved, not that they would have wanted to anyways so they were left reading a big wall of text I wrote in the speaker notes that I made as a reference sheet. ...And I lost my spot on the page during my portion and started stuttering, so that didn't help. Still, I'm probably all stressed over nothing. 90% is pretty OK, even here. 51 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said: Grades 0 and 100 alike mean absolutely nothing if you don't do anything with anything you've learned however! Don't worry, I hope to go into Music major with an English-History double minor, and all of those are definitely useful! Yep! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Rubenio Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) The thumbnail is cut off, I think, so I will say it here: Massive spoilers here. So y'know. If you care, don't click. And with that, my first run of Triangle Strategy is done. 75% chance I continue playing on NG+ and do another route. From a few factors I discovered online, it seems the intended approach is to do all four routes on NG+, with the golden route at the very end. I'm afraid I might be a bit disappointed with the remaining regular routes, however... Benedict's strategies were great to behold. I cannot imagine Frederica's wishful fairy tale or Roland's... route could possibly surpass it. For now, though... my veredict. Remember when I said I was in between good and great on this game? Honestly, at this point, I'd go with great. That was a really good game. Particularly noteworthy points: The difficulty was on point the whole way through. I've not played hard yet, but on normal, it felt fair from start to finish. I never felt completely overwhelmed, and the almost universal requirement to lose every unit on the board to fail makes it difficult to get a game over, but that doesn't mean the game is mindless. You have to think and use your assets if you want to win. Very fair difficulty, not too bad, not too easy. Very slightly on the harder side, I'd say. Great stuff. On a related point, experience balancing is really well thought out. Units catch up super quick, but overlevelling on tavern battles is impossible. In fact, the game encourages doing tavern battles just to keep up. If you don't want to bother, however, the game also lets you keep all experience obtained when you reset, so if you're too underlevelled to confront a main battle, you can just give it a couple of attempts and naturally catch up. On another related point, the tavern. I love the tavern. Instead of the story bending over backwards to provide filler battles for the player's enjoyment, each battle serves a proper purpose to the story, and the filler is all contained in the tavern mock battles. The tavern is the key to withstanding the game's big wordiness, and I must say, I really like this solution. Unit design is absolutely incredible. Every single unit I could play with feels completely different from the rest. They all have their strengths and their unique niches to fill. There's a woman who can summon rain and howling wind, a girl who creates clones of herself and throws balls, a pudgy merchant who can turn people to his side, an old woman with knuckle dusters, an apothecary who maximizes the potential of healing items, a pen pusher who manages everyone's Technical Points and is every mage's best friend... Just a few examples. This game's cast is so awesome. And I don't even have them all yet! There's 30 people! The story is good. It took a number of turns I was genuinely not expecting, and past the slow start, it is a competent war drama with plenty of politics, dark moments and neat characters and villains. Also, choices. It wasn't without its oddities, it had a number of dumb moments, but generally, it's good, I'd say. The soundtrack is excellent. Same vein as Octopath Traveler - a bit worse than OT, I will admit, but that's a rather unfair comparison. Still a beautiful, grand soundtrack with plenty of bangers. Pretty game. It's a great art style, this one they've created. The game runs at a solid 30 FPS, with very occassional drops in certain areas. Overall, in many ways I describe Triangle Strategy as I would describe Octopath Traveler related to classic JRPGs. It's a modern, improved take on the Tactics Ogre / Final Fantasy Tactics-esque SRPG, something I didn't even enjoy all that much, with none of the problems and plenty to love. It feels great to play, it is excellently designed, characters are super unique, story is good, soundtrack is good, visuals are good... I can think of nothing to fault it for gameplay-wise, and nothing too major in the story. Then again, I am easy to please, in that last aspect. So yeah. Triangle Strategy good. Bar Mom best waifu. Modern Square Enix is best Square Enix. 1 hour ago, Benice said: I thought I was doing so well in English this year because I've been spending a lot of time to make sure everything's on-point, and I've been super proud of all my work (which is a rarity for me), but I'm still only at 90%... How on earth do people get good grades? I'm sure as heck not gettin' into uni with these sorts of marks. I will go against the rest here and say, I get it. In a vacuum, that's a great grade, but when you put so much effort into something you enjoy, you're happy with your work, you're sure you've absolutely kicked it out of the park, and then the teacher decides "yeah no, you've made these mistakes"... It may be irrational, but it's super disappointing. I remember when I did this thing in Spain called EBAU, which are a series of exams for every important subject that you can optionally take at the end of high school. I poured my heart out on my English exam. Given my fluent English from all my years on the internet and videogames, I thought for sure I'd ace it. Then I got an 87.5%. To this day, I haven't the faintest idea what I did so wrong to warrant losing over a whole point. Meanwhile, I barely passed math because the supervisor was kind enough to point out I was making the world's dumbest mistake. A lot of things had been leading up to it, but I'm pretty sure that was the killing blow to the educational system in my heart. From there on, I've been completely disillusioned with it, and I've found it increasingly difficult to care about anything that isn't the passing threshold. Because, ultimately, who cares. 1 hour ago, lightcosmo said: Lategame the game was really easy imo. 1st half was way more "fleshed out" gameplay wise. Really? Either Freddie's route is like that or you're just better than me, because I found the endgame to be perfectly fair, on normal. Heck, the final battle took me three tries. If anything, I found the difficulty to be incredibly on point from start to finish. 16 minutes ago, Benice said: Well, you see, grades here are like Awakening's stats: Inflated. The bar of expectations is very low, so not trying very hard will earn you probably about a 75-80 in most classes; doing the bare minimum is usually in the mid-80's. IIRC you need about 93% in English to get any sort of scholarship for it 'round these parts, and since I hope to go to Vancouver for post-secondary, by god I need some scholarships. But yeah, most of the hard-working types get about 95%, even if they don't understand the subject material. I'm theoretically supposed to be fantastic at English and I do get the subject materal, but... Well, we're still just under halfway, maybe I can pull myself up a little. I'm also a bit disheartened because we had a big group presentation on the topic of the Great Depression today. I did everything except for the last slide and the bibliography for my group, but then we presented really poorly; the mark is only for the group as a whole, so I expect something in the high seventy range. The worst part is is that a lot of it is my fault, as I wrote all the scripts and everything, but I didn't give my group-mates a chance to get involved, not that they would have wanted to anyways so they were left reading a big wall of text I wrote in the speaker notes that I made as a reference sheet. ...And I lost my spot on the page during my portion and started stuttering, so that didn't help. Still, I'm probably all stressed over nothing. 90% is pretty OK, even here. Oh dear... Yeah, I get why you're feeling the way you are. But still, do try not to stress too much. It's not good. Edited March 14, 2022 by Saint Rubenio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpica Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 3 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said: Modern Square Enix is best Square Enix dats a hot take if i ever saw one then again you love OT, which many jrpg players would put at 'like' at most 4 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said: It may be irrational, but it's super disappointing I mean, i get it, and i might be a bit hypocritical by not agreeing to what you say, as i was also one who was mad when getting a 99% instead of a 100%, but calling 90% ''only'' is kinda.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightcosmo Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 24 minutes ago, Benice said: Yeah, but you're a maths kind of person, whereas numbers are mysteries to me. ? What gave you that impression? 10 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said: you're just better than me Unwarranted praise, i'm not that great, not even close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sooks Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 Oh hey, I forgot about this, so this is everyone’s reminder that the Steam JRPG sale begins today and ends on the 21st. Since I’m so far into Cold Steel 2, I’m certain I’ll grab Cold Steel 3 for half off but 4… I don’t know… 31 minutes ago, Benice said: I'm also a bit disheartened because we had a big group presentation on the topic of the Great Depression today. I did everything except for the last slide and the bibliography for my group, but then we presented really poorly; the mark is only for the group as a whole, so I expect something in the high seventy range. The worst part is is that a lot of it is my fault, as I wrote all the scripts and everything, but I didn't give my group-mates a chance to get involved, not that they would have wanted to anyways so they were left reading a big wall of text I wrote in the speaker notes that I made as a reference sheet. You would go down to the seventies just for presenting poorly? The only way I’ve ever had teachers take off for presenting is if you just chose not to present. Which would get you like a 70, but is presenting really graded that harshly? 31 minutes ago, Benice said: Still, I'm probably all stressed over nothing. 90% is pretty OK, even here. I mean, do they tell you what specific mistakes you get? Will you get anything passed back with everything you did wrong written in read? I’d just take a look at that to teacher yourself for next time, but otherwise, beating yourself up over it doesn’t help. Which might feel weird to hear, since emotions are not known for being rational or easy to control, but that’s definitely not the best thing you could do for your grades. Hope those scholarships go well though! 31 minutes ago, Benice said: Don't worry, I hope to go into Music major with an English-History double minor, and all of those are definitely useful! Yep! Being happy in your eyes is more important than being “useful” in someone else’s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Rubenio Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Shrimpolaris said: dats a hot take if i ever saw one I mean, it's just my personal biased subjective opinion. I am completely unable to enjoy classic Square Enix. They couldn't make a fun game if they tried back then. Sure, Live a Live was great, but that's because it's an outlier, and even it had plenty of flaws, even if they couldn't measure up to the game's virtues, in my humble opinion. Everything they made in their signature Squanix formula are the most boring, uninspired, repetitive games. And their stories weren't nearly good enough to compensate for me. Chrono Trigger was probably their best classic game, but... Well, that's a game that didn't make it past "eh it's okay" for me personally. Played it as a kid, made it pretty far. Tried to come back to it a couple times later, but I couldn't be arsed. Too JRPG for my tastes. That's about it, really. Quote then again you love OT, which many jrpg players would put at 'like' at most OT is actually fun to play. That's what's stuck out the most to me about this Geometrical Genre duology. It feels they put a lot more care and love into the gameplay part of it. They're not without flaws, but they're a lot more enjoyable than the classics, and that's really all I require. Quote I mean, i get it, and i might be a bit hypocritical by not agreeing to what you say, as i was also one who was mad when getting a 99% instead of a 100%, but calling 90% ''only'' is kinda.... No no, that's fair. I mean, there's a reason people make memes about and laugh at folks who despair over marks when they're top scorers. It does come across as painfully arrogant, even when it isn't the intention. I mean, we know Ben, he's not that kinda guy. 10 minutes ago, lightcosmo said: Unwarranted praise, i'm not that great, not even close. Hey, "better than me" isn't exactly "great" praise. "Better than me" includes a wide range of tactical prowess. Let us not forget, Lightcosmo, that I am a peerless tactician who has fought countless battles. Sometimes I even won them! 1 minute ago, Sooks said: Oh hey, I forgot about this, so this is everyone’s reminder that the Steam JRPG sale begins today and ends on the 21st. Awesome, time to not buy anything. Edited March 14, 2022 by Saint Rubenio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpica Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said: I am completely unable to enjoy classic Square Enix same but also modern Squeenix There's no game of them that i tried that i yet had to enjoy xD 7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said: verything they made in their signature Squanix formula are the most boring, uninspired, repetitive games Quote It does come across as painfully arrogant Not even that, but also not good for your own (mental) health Edited March 14, 2022 by Shrimpolaris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acacia Sgt Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 Good thing I enjoy both... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightchao42 Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 27 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said: Modern Square Enix is best Square Enix. Modern Square Enix made this, so maybe you're right. 11 minutes ago, Sooks said: Oh hey, I forgot about this, so this is everyone’s reminder that the Steam JRPG sale begins today and ends on the 21st. Since I’m so far into Cold Steel 2, I’m certain I’ll grab Cold Steel 3 for half off but 4… I don’t know… CSIV will probably go on sale again sooner or later, so you shouldn't feel obligated to get it now. Unless you'll really want to play it after CSIII, which is possible considering the series' fondness for cliffhangers. I won't get Cold Steel I at the present moment because I have to redo my Windows bootcamp to download it, and I would have to copy my save data and photos for the Sky games to my SD card if I want to keep that; I could theoretically do all this now, but I'd rather save the hassle until after I finish Sky the 3rd. I could also get CS now and wait to download it, but I want to be able to refund it in case my computer can't run it (which I think it can, but I don't know for sure). Lastly, Sonic 2 has a neat poster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Rubenio Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 41 minutes ago, Shrimpolaris said: same but also modern Squeenix There's no game of them that i tried that i yet had to enjoy xD I'd still recommend Triangle Strategy. It's a far cry from their usual shtick. As for your concerns of it being slow... First four chapters are slow, I'll admit, while it sets everything up. Then you unlock the tavern and its battles, start making more decisions and the pace becomes brisker overall. In my opinion, a great time. Up to you, of course. 41 minutes ago, Shrimpolaris said: "Never thought I'd die fighting side by side with a TiTS fan." 41 minutes ago, Shrimpolaris said: Not even that, but also not good for your own (mental) health True, too. Overly high expectations are not good... Though Benice does bring up fair points for wanting such high marks. 21 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said: Modern Square Enix made this, so maybe you're right. To be fair, when I say "modern Squanix" I really mean the Geometrical Genre duology. Everything else eludes me. That is pretty amazing, though. Someone needs to make a version with Faye and Chaos from Berwick. For obvious reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpica Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) 1 minute ago, Saint Rubenio said: Up to you, of course I plan to try the new demo soon-ish then i will decide Quote "Never thought I'd die fighting side by side with a TiTS fan." "How about a fellow Berwick player?" Edited March 14, 2022 by Shrimpolaris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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