Life

Ok, that works better. Ties result in a tiebreaker game now.

I'd say play three games and be black and white in at least one each. Some people (me) prefer playing Black while others prefer White. Also, remember that White is never guaranteed a win.

Ok, perfect. 20 sign-ups. I've set this up as a round robin which is viewable in the first post. You must play at least one person by Feb 20 and everyone by March 1st. You may play via notation or by a chess server (chess.com works) or however you want. Both people should report the results of a match here. EDIT: Here's the scoring rules and the stuff about getting seeded in the knockout tournament. You get 1 point for a win and 0.5 for a draw. The person who comes first in their pool will get a first round bye while the second and third place players will make it in but be unseeded. In the case that we have a draw, it will come down to how many moves you made in all of your games combined (this means that you need to keep track of the number of turns a game takes). Capiche?

I'd love 2 more sign-ups. I'll set up the tournament tomorrow, too tired tonight.

COME JOIN LIFE'S FIRST ANNUAL SERENES FOREST CHESS TOURNAMENT! All you need to know is how to play chess! That's it! It doesn't matter if you suck or if you're good or whatever! Just have fun! Sign-ups are in Forum Games.

Bump. I blame NM's unhealthy love of HnH and "Post this!" threads.

With your mother.

If you don't know standard notation, please PM me with an MSN or AIM address. Add me to either and I will explain standard notation to you.

If you've never played before, that's fine. If you're a grandmaster, that's fine. It's all for fun. I'm not even that great myself. If anyone wants help, just ask me.

Well, I propose that we hold a Chess tournament. I haven't played chess in three years and I'm dying to get back into the game. So let's have a tourney! I'm undecided on the format (either full knock-out or round robin first) but I'll come up with it soon. I do have a bunch of rules (shamelessly copy pasted from somewhere), though. 1) Games can be played however you want. Standard notation over IRC is a great way to do it (probably the best too to be honest), but they can be played over msn, other websites or however you want to do it. You could even do it via Serenes PM if you want. Whatever you agree on. If you don't know standard notation, I will be more than happy to give you a quick lesson since it's not that hard to figure out. 2) All the standard forum-wide rules apply. 3) All players have a specific time-limit in each round. It does not matter how you get your match done, so long as it is played within the deadline. PM your opponent and agree how you wish to play. 4) PM any disputes to myself. I will make the final decisions. 5) You aren't allowed to use any resources except your own head to make your move choices. Things banned include move-generating bots, opening databases and endgame tablebases. Using a chessboard to view positions is acceptable and encouraged. 6) If you fail to complete your games within the given time period, and are deemed inactive, you will forfeit your game or be subbed out in the first round. Likewise, let us know if your opponent is inactive. 7) If both players agree, they may use a clock, but otherwise do not play a timed match. I suspect the standard will be to play without one. It is a friendly tournament, and I'm sure that you won't play stupidly. 8) It might be a good idea to keep a log. Don't send it to me, because I don't care, but in case of disputes it might help to keep one. 9) It should go without saying, but here in case someone is an idiot: standard chess rules obviously apply. So yeah. Who's interested? Group A: Life Admiral IntegerZero Radiant Dragon Furetchen Pariah Group B: Excellen Browning SlayerX Snike Kevin Lightning Group C: Acacia Sgt. JB25 Anouleth Fayt Zelphyr Narga_Rocks Group D: Lux Aeturna WoMC Mist mikethfc Bizz

It's been approved.

It's always a bad idea to lynch an inactive. 9/10 times, they're town.

I read this thread and I thought it's because you almost bought a shitty game for $135. This was my reaction from the truth.

Check it out for yourself.

I've seen 10 people die in a single night phase. Just throwing that out there.

Isn't the Shin Megami Tensei series stupidly hard?

Thank you. Donny here is exactly right. It takes a bit of effort to get Eliwood leveled but when you consider how long that we have to do on top of not having strict turn count requirements (read this as more than 8 turns in Whereabouts Unknown), it's really not that hard. Lyn's a pure glass cannon and her avoid isn't good enough that we can plop her down and not worry about anything. Lyn needs to go up, Eliwood needs to go down but don't start assuming that Eliwood is better than Lyn since his start is mediocre. Last I checked, promoting Eliwood gets you much better stuff than promoting Lyn.

Question: Why would you ever reveal the amount of mafia members to the town as the host?

It's because you're not supposed to eat meat and milk, you heathen.

Good plan... if you didn't apparently mention out loud that you were going to do this.

Floor 3 - Agrabah Enemies: Bandit Green Requiem Yellow Opera Fat Bandit Air Soldier Shadow Barrel Spider Decks: Mook: Boss: 1 Blizzard 8 Kingdom Key 6 Kingdom Key 5 Kingdom Key 4 Kingdom Key 7 Three Wishes 8 Blizzard (P) 6 Kingdom Key 5 Kingdom Key 5 Kingdom Key 7 Kingdom Key 9 Olympia 7 Blizzard (P) 7 Kingdom Key 4 Kingdom Key 6 Kingdom Key 5 Kingdom Key 5 Olympia 6 Kingdom Key 6 Kingdom Key 4 Kingdom Key 6 Kingdom Key 9 Olympia 6 Three Wishes 5 Kingdom Key 7 Kingdom Key 4 Cloud 5 Kingdom Key 4 Cure 5 Three Wishes 7 Cure 8 Kingdom Key 6 Cure 6 Kingdom Key 6 Potion 5 Three Wishes Blue Rhapsody 8 Cure (P) 8 Cure 9 Cure 8 Potion 5 Potion Shadow Barrel Spider Map: [6] [ ] [4] [5] [ ] [3] [ ] [1] [2] [ ] Room Synthesis: 1 - Tranquil Darkness 2 - Calm Bounty, Martial Waking, Moogle Shop 3 - Teeming Darkness 4 - Martial Waking 5 - Calm Bounty, Meeting Ground 6 - Moment's Reprieve (Automatic) New Cards: - Aladdin - Three Wishes - Gravity - Air Soldier - Ether - Jafar - Genie New Sleights: None Level Ups: 16 - CP Boost (500) 17 - Sleight (Blitz) 18 - CP Boost (525) 19 - CP Boost (550) 20 - CP Boost (575) Bosses: Genie Jafar - This fight isn't hard at all. It's just simply annoying. Jaffar himself is invulnerable to... well, everything and you've got to hit the lamp that Iago holds to defeat the fucker. The thing is, Iago decided that it would be a good idea to fly high above Sora's head... Great. Anyway, bring a pure beatdown deck to this fight, along with a couple of Cures and Potions (Hi-Potions are pointless because you don't have a sleight that hits Iago). I'd also take Shadow for Incrementor and and Barrel Spider for Quickload. Jaffar's attacks are horribly telegraphed and easy to avoid on their own right. Just keep swinging away at Iago and you'll come out as the victor. Notes on Floor 3: Aladdin - Aladdin is your first temp friend card and he's available for the entirety of Agrabah. He's pretty decent (think Goofy Tornado but right in front of you) when it comes to damage but the big thing he has going aside from being free to sleight is the fact that he cuts through Fat Bandit's defenses. That's absolutely key when you think about it since Fat Bandits are by far the most annoying enemy here (Barrel Spiders don't really count). Gravity - The thing about this game is that ID sleights don't really exist. Sure there's Warpinator (Stop/Gravity/Aero) but the cards for it are nuts, not to mention that they're useless after using Warpinator once. Warp does ID kill everything but you get no experience from it. Think of it as KH's version of Teleport (the actual Teleport is another sleight and it doesn't take you out of the battle). What we're then left with is the Gravity series and boy, is it good. Graviga will hit a good portion of the screen and will take off 3/4ths of your enemy's health. It triggers fast and isn't stupidly expensive (it costs as much as Simba does but does nicer damage to mooks). Don't bring it to a boss battle unless it's part of a non-Gravity based sleight (AKA not Graviga or Gravity Raid). Graviga also gets outshined by Gravity Raid but it'll be a while before we pick up the latter so dispense with the first one. Boss Deck - I've been recording the Boss Deck wrong until now. The deck listed for Olympus Coliseum is actually the Boss deck walking out of the Axel fight. Whoops. The listed Boss Deck here (and from now on) will be of the deck I have prepared for the boss. Jafar - Jafar is the single best card in the game, if you ask me. Attack Bracer stays on for 20 attacks and it will guarantee that if you play a card, it will not be broken. For 65 CP, this sounds quite costly... until you realize that the effect also holds for low value sleights like Ars Arcanum and Ragnarok, two incredible sleights that can easily be broken by even generic enemies. Huh. It only gets better in Riku's story but there are tons of lategame bosses here where you'll appreciate this card (the usual Riku IV and Marluxia I always come to mind). Note that this card isn't broken, it's just the best card in the game. Genie - I love Robin Williams but even his voice acting isn't enough to make Genie good. Summoning Genie makes him summon a random Thundaga, Gravira or Stopra. The problem is that it's random (limiting what you can do) and Genie decided to cost as much as Simba. Stick with Donald or straight-up Magic sleights for offensive Magic, Genie's just not worth it.

It worked. The take out the battery part, that is. Thanks guys.

Floor 2 - Olympus Coliseum Enemies: Blue Rhapsody Powerwild Shadow Large Body Bouncywild Barrel Spider Decks: Mook: Boss: 2 Kingdom Key 0 Kingdom Key 6 Kingdom Key 0 Kingdom Key 4 Kingdom Key 5 Blizzard 3 Kingdom Key 1 Kingdom Key 5 Kingdom Key 5 Kingdom Key 7 Kingdom Key 4 Kingdom Key 3 Kingdom Key 3 Kingdom Key 4 Kingdom Key 7 Kingdom Key 5 Kingdom Key 5 Kingdom Key 6 Kingdom Key 2 Kingdom Key 4 Kingdom Key 3 Kingdom Key 5 Kingdom Key 5 Kingdom Key 6 Simba 4 Kingdom Key 7 Cure 6 Kingdom Key 4 Cure 4 Kingdom Key 6 Potion 6 Kingdom Key Shadow 4 Cure 7 Cure 6 Potion Map: [ ] [ ] [3] [5] [4] [2] [ ] [1] [ ] Room Synthesis: 1 - Tranquil Darkness, Teeming Darkness 2 - Calm Bounty, Teeming Darkness 3 - Meeting Ground 4 - Alchemic Waking, Moogle Room 5 - Moment's Reprieve (automatic) New Cards: - Olympia - Hi-Potion - Cloud - Hades - Blue Rhapsody - Barrel Spider New Sleights: - Blizzard Raid Level Ups: 7 - Sleight (Stun Impact) 8 - HP Boost (110) 9 - CP Boost (375) 10 - CP Boost (400) 11 - CP Boost (425) 12 - Sleight (Strike Raid) 13 - CP Boost (450) 14 - CP Boost (475) 15 - HP Boost (125) Bosses: Cloud - If you thought Axel was tough, you're in for a bit of a ride here. Cloud likes to jump around a ton, enjoys breaking your cards but most of all, he uses his sleights for major damage, especially Omnislash. If you spot one in the making, get a 0 card ready since it's going to hurt. The nice thing is that his deck is quite small and he'll be reloading quite a bit, especially because he relies on sleights pretty heavily. Also, try to break the Hi-Potion if you see it. The last thing you want is more Cross-Slashes and Omnislashes going down your throat since the Hi-Potion reloads the entire deck, including cards lost to sleights. The best way to beat him is to cleanly hit him with a couple of Blizzard Raids at the start of the battle. If you aim them right, you can actually knock the majority of Cloud's HP off before you really start attacking him. After that, pound him into submission. Just remember to break Omnislash when it comes. Hades - Here we go, the big cheese. I'll stress the importance of Blizzard Raid below but the thing to remember is that Hades is weak to ice. Blue Rhapsody and Blizzard Raid combined do major damage to this creep and there's no reason not to use it. Now Hades is slow but he's got a lot of power behind his shots. A nifty little sleight by the name of Temper Flare ups his attack by a lot while Firaga Ball is going to hurt. Break Temper Flare when you see it simply to nerf Hades' power since Firaga Ball isn't bad enough to worry about unless your health is low. If you manage to connect with 3 or 4 Blizzard Raids, Hades will go down stupidly quick. Just hope that they don't get broken. After the Blizzard Raids, just hit Hades until he dies. Notes on Floor 2: Calm Bounty - These things start dropping in droves. As soon as you get one, start using it to synth rooms in order to grab some treasure. The thing that you want to pull on this floor is Blizzard Raid (required for the boss battle) but Fire Raid, Gravity and Stop are all things you want before you get to the second World Card set. Blizzard Raid is necessary for Hades since it hits on Hades' ice weakness and allows Sora to stay out of his range. As for the rest, Fire Raid is just as good as Blizzard Raid while Stop and Gravity give access to some nifty sleights, some of which I'll cover as I get there. Bouncywild - Try not to leave this floor without grabbing the Bouncywild Enemy Card. It automatically collects Exp gotten from killing an enemy. Which means that there's no more running around in battle for all the Exp you can get. Very useful and it only costs 10 CP. Blizzard Raid - This also applies to Fire Raid but Blizzard Raid is inherently more useful. For the price of a single Blizzard, Sora can toss out his Keyblade and basically sic a Blizzaga on his enemies. Yes it's possible to have the official Blizzaga at this time but since Blizzard Raid only requires 1 Blizzard Card vs. 3 for Blizzaga, this is the way to go. It absolutely murders enemies from Floor 2 to Floor 6 and still does some pretty hefty damage past then if Sora's hitting weaknesses. Start your Mook deck off with 3 Blizzard Raids and you'll be surprised to see enemies living past the third one. I would even combine it with Blue Rhapsody since Blizzard Boost gives Blizzard Raid enough power to OHKO Large Bodies (that's impressive) on this floor. Sleights - At this point, sleights will become your main source of damage in non-boss fights. I covered Blizzard Raid (and Fire Raid too) above but I just want to mention the other sleights that start appearing. Strike Raid is a non-elemental version of the two Raids listed above and does much better damage than Sliding Dash (this is your cue to drop that sleight). Stun Impact is used more for utility since it stuns along with the damage. The stun can be useful to let you regroup and activate an Enemy Card or something else. Cloud - Cloud is the single best Magic card in the game. He also gets to be the most expensive but honestly, what the fuck did you expect? Sleight two Clouds for Cross-Slash (adds an extra slash to the already powerful Cloud), three for that awesome sleight known as Omnislash (this thing fucks up anyone who comes in contact with it) and add Cloud to other cards like Keyblades or Stop for some nifty sleights in Cross-Slash+ (causes Stop) and Reflect Raid (I'll touch on this when I get there). Very nice card and great for all around damage purposes.