The Last To Post Wins!

[Armagon]

7 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

I do hope that they take their time with it, though, and release it when it's absolutely ready.

Natrually.

I'd say it's been cooking for a while, especially given Monolith Soft has five studios now. At a guess, they probably started working on it right before Xenoblade 2 was released. To compare, Xenoblade 2 began development a few months before the Japanese release of Xenoblade X.

The only Xenoblade game that felt kinda rushed was Xenoblade 2 at launch and even then, it was mainly just missing some QoL, which was added through updates (like the ability to skip Blade Summon cutscenes). If game development is an oven, then Xenoblade 2 at launch simply needed a few minutes of reheat in the microwave.

17 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Part of the reason I consider FF to be vastly overhyped, tbh.

I wouldn't say FF is overhyped but it personally never really appealed to me. Even 7, i only played so i could say i played it. I mea, i liked what i played but i got as far as Gold Saucer and was like "yeah, i'm done here".

I will say that if i got into FF when i was younger, i probably would be a fan today. But then again, the first Final Fantasy game i ever saw was 13.

[Lightcosmo]

9 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I will say that if i got into FF when i was younger, i probably would be a fan today. But then again, the first Final Fantasy game i ever saw was 13.

This saddens me. 😪

I never understood why people think this, but to each their own I suppose.

[Interdimensional Observer]

For an older Final Fantasy, V, available on iOS/Android, is my preference in terms of gameplay. 5 doesn't try an overly dramatic narrative like 4, 6, 7, 8, or 10, it stays simple and crystal clear in that regard. It doesn't feel like it's trying to be the coolest thing around, humility is preferential to pride.

But a nice class system makes 5 fun, not as nuanced as the Bravely games, makes some sense b/c it's much older, yet it holds up the best of any older FFs to me. I still need to get to IX and XIII (despite me owning IX for years now), but I found everything else, barring maybe X-2 which I never finished, was more the experience than the gameplay by itself. -Or so I think in retrospect, at the time, I certainly enjoyed it more, people change.

I actually didn't love VII's gameplay, I didn't find Materia too fascinating, it was plasticity apart from a class system, but ended up being too undefined. Still better than VI though, which deserves a major remake with seriously enhanced gameplay IMO. Though, FF did have a season of love with me a phase of utter joy I'd be willing to return to it if SE ever rereleased FFTA2 with a 10x gameplay speed option. I wanted to cry when I heard the music playing on the title screen of FFXII, as someone whose first title was IV GBA, it was touching what a shame the IZJS gameplay failed to click.

 

Speaking of tears, my next DQXI log, SPOILERS!:

Spoiler

• The Dundrasil revisit was good. I thought it'd take until everyone rejoined to regain the Luminary trait. Omniheal on the Hero as expected, but its MP cost is extreme. Not long before I got there, I put the hero in the Dundrasil knight armor, which coincidentally was a perfect choice. I noticed Irwin used a Falcon Blade and Magic Shield, exactly as my Luminary did. As traditional as DQXI's plot is, it threw a lot effort into fleshing out that tradition, it didn't have to give so much good flashback to that fateful day. My only problem was this resting of Irwin's soul in a sense undermined the prior visit to Dundrasil, where you thought the ritual had put the Luminary's parents to rest.
• I got Jade back shortly afterwards. The bosses are getting tough in the 2nd half in terms of damage dealing now, albeit Oomphle + Sap + Gyrfalcon Slash cuts through them all with ease. I should've lost these back-to-back fights, besides damage, the charm, befuddling, MP draining, and evasiveness of these bosses were all very debilitating. Weird the rest of her Claws tree has no great new attacks, but Miracle Moon can be obtained eventually. But I think I'll grab the +Atk boosts first.
• Erik's stuff was shorter to resolve than I'd thought it'd take. But overall it was nice. The one notable flaw is that to me, it had sounded like the Seer earlier had consumed Erik's memories to make him stronger, so nothing would remain. It just being a seal was underwhelming and much less permanent. Also, why did the sea monster get the Red Orb to guard and not Gyldigga? Minor nitpick. Queen Marina being alive after the Nautica attack was unexpected too.

 

And... I was not expecting that. Veronica is dead? For good? All her powers passing into Serena pretty much confirms she is never to return, as much as I'd like to hope it wasn't. If she were to return, then what would she get to make her different from her sister and Rab? I can't think of what that'd be, so I know she has to be permanently gone, despite her portrait lingering in the Pep Power and Equipment menus. I actually cried for her, a rarity for me, usually I stop at "wanting to cry" in video games.

As for Serena, this is good development for her, I felt she was the weakest character-wise before, Veronica had no lack of attention in the first half too. Gameplay-wise, Serena was feeling a tad weak in the 1st half, so the new powers brought to her by Veronica's heavy wand fixed that, even if the loss of Veronica means only 2 dedicated magic users to 3 dedicated physicals. The haircut of mourning is fine to me.

 

 

6 hours ago, Armagon said:

And then Xenoblade X fans are on a higher plane of existence.

The hyper-attentiveness of Overdrive can feel that way, but I can assure it you it is no higher existence. Neither fighting un-Hilberted Gnosis nor attaining a state of spiritual nudity can be done in Overdrive. You'll have to wait for humanity to discover Tantra Overdrive, necessary to oppose the Ghost, before either of those things becomes possible.

[Lightcosmo]

2 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Speaking of tears, my next DQXI log, SPOILERS!:

  Reveal hidden contents

• The Dundrasil revisit was good. I thought it'd take until everyone rejoined to regain the Luminary trait. Omniheal on the Hero as expected, but its MP cost is extreme. Not long before I got there, I put the hero in the Dundrasil knight armor, which coincidentally was a perfect choice. I noticed Irwin used a Falcon Blade and Magic Shield, exactly as my Luminary did. As traditional as DQXI's plot is, it threw a lot effort into fleshing out that tradition, it didn't have to give so much good flashback to that fateful day. My only problem was this resting of Irwin's soul in a sense undermined the prior visit to Dundrasil, where you thought the ritual had put the Luminary's parents to rest.
• I got Jade back shortly afterwards. The bosses are getting tough in the 2nd half in terms of damage dealing now, albeit Oomphle + Sap + Gyrfalcon Slash cuts through them all with ease. I should've lost these back-to-back fights, besides damage, the charm, befuddling, MP draining, and evasiveness of these bosses were all very debilitating. Weird the rest of her Claws tree has no great new attacks, but Miracle Moon can be obtained eventually. But I think I'll grab the +Atk boosts first.
• Erik's stuff was shorter to resolve than I'd thought it'd take. But overall it was nice. The one notable flaw is that to me, it had sounded like the Seer earlier had consumed Erik's memories to make him stronger, so nothing would remain. It just being a seal was underwhelming and much less permanent. Also, why did the sea monster get the Red Orb to guard and not Gyldigga? Minor nitpick. Queen Marina being alive after the Nautica attack was unexpected too.

 

And... I was not expecting that. Veronica is dead? For good? All her powers passing into Serena pretty much confirms she is never to return, as much as I'd like to hope it wasn't. If she were to return, then what would she get to make her different from her sister and Rab? I can't think of what that'd be, so I know she has to be permanently gone, despite her portrait lingering in the Pep Power and Equipment menus. I actually cried for her, a rarity for me, usually I stop at "wanting to cry" in video games.

As for Serena, this is good development for her, I felt she was the weakest character-wise before, Veronica had no lack of attention in the first half too. Gameplay-wise, Serena was feeling a tad weak in the 1st half, so the new powers brought to her by Veronica's heavy wand fixed that, even if the loss of Veronica means only 2 dedicated magic users to 3 dedicated physicals. The haircut of mourning is fine to me.

 

Spoiler

No, she's not dead, your not at the end yet, not even close.

Major spoilers, by the way.

Also, I like reading your logs. 😁

[Acacia Sgt]

Oh, FF talk.

I'll just say, X-2 was my first, hah. I knew FF through KH, for what it's worth. IV quickly became among my most favorite.

Also, as an aside, related to the above topic and related...

Spoiler

Never been a fan of that trope. Which for DQXI's case, makes me glad it gets... well, dealt with. Although I do complement that there's a way to reverse that for those that did liked it in the first place.

 

Edited March 5, 2020 by Acacia Sgt

[Lightchao42]

If I have one complaint about Dragon Quest XI, it's that it has too much content (which isn't too much of a complaint). Referring to the "post-game" as such is rather inaccurate because there's so much to do after defeating the "final" boss, which seems to be why people call it Act 3 instead. I've been playing it a lot recently so I took a break after going through the Disciple's Trial and fighting Blind Hatred.

While I've had trouble with several bosses, Alizarin bothered me in particular because I was tired, I was on a plane and I don't like being on planes, and I wasn't expecting to fight a boss when he showed up. But the next time I fought him he was defeated with an attack that did 3400 damage, so I'd say that's fair.

Edited March 6, 2020 by Lightchao42

[Lightcosmo]

36 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said:

If I have one complaint about Dragon Quest XI, it's that it has too much content (which isn't too much of a complaint). Referring to the "post-game" as such is rather inaccurate because there's so much to do after defeating the "final" boss, which seems to be why people call it Act 3 instead. I've been playing it a lot recently so I took a break after going through the Disciple's Trial and fighting Blind Hatred.

While I've had trouble with several bosses, Alizarin bothered me in particular because I was tired, I was on a plane and I don't like being on planes, and I wasn't expecting to fight a boss when he showed up. But the next time I fought him he was defeated with an attack that did 3400 damage, so I'd say that's fair.

Yeah, theres alot to the "post game" content, but I didn't mind that at all! I thought that it was pretty fun, but that's just me.

[Codename Shrimp]

So, as i said a bit earlier today..

i miss Trails...

so i fired up one of my old Sky3rd boss save files

Spidey Time!

First, everyone starts casting, and Tita goes ''ORE WA GUNDAMO DA!''

Spoiler

Ries summons a Digimon to take out Spider-chans!

Spoiler

Once you take one of the 3 big ones out...

Spoiler

Momma Spidey comes!

and wrecks the Party...

Spoiler

...I am rusty xD...

Spoiler

I guess My Mistake her is that i let Nun-chan Summon her Digimon instead of Clock up'ing Olivier to cast Heals and guards 🤔

And iirc this is one of the easier boss fights in the game xD

 

Edited March 6, 2020 by Shrimperor

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The hyper-attentiveness of Overdrive can feel that way, but I can assure it you it is no higher existence.

It was more of joke on how Xenoblade 1 and 2 fans debate on which game is better while Xenoblade X fans are like

[Codename Shrimp]

https://store.steampowered.com/sale/koei-tecmo-publisher-weekend/?snr=1_4_4__118
>koei Tecmo

>Sale

O.o

so...

If there's one Atelier game i should pick...

which one should it be?

 

When you get ambush spawn'd

Edited March 6, 2020 by Shrimperor

[Armagon]

41 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

If there's one Atelier game i should pick...

which one should it be?

Since it's better to start with the beginning of each Atelier subseries, here's my assesment:

Atelier Rorona: This is the one i started with. It's got a segemented timelimit, in which every three months for three years, you have to complete an assignment. It's pretty easy to do and alchemy is pretty easy to pick up. Unless you're going for specific endings, combat matters the least in this game. Weapons and equipment you make will always be better than what you can buy or get from monster drops if done correctly but in this game, you can just get away with non-crafted gear.

Atelier Ayesha: This one is regarded as the Atelier starting point but i fail to see how. Alchemy is convoluted and barely explained (tbh, most Atelier games don't properly teach you how alchemy works but it's usually something you learn by doing but Ayesha's is the only one where i still don't understand how it's alchemy works) and the weapon crafting is even further complicated. The game has a continous timelimit, in which you have three years to complete your main objective. But it's kinda vague in what you're supposed to do. Don't start with this one imo.

Atelier Sophie: I'll let @DragonFlames talk about this one, i'm still too early into the game. It doesn't have a timelimit btw.

Atelier Ryza: The "Fire Emblem Awakening" of Atelier in the sense that it's the first game in the series to recieve proper marketing and as a result, this is most people's first Atelier. It's got no timelimit, alchemy is hard to describe but super easy to understand and the weapon crafting is one of the best in the series tied with Escha & Logy and Shallie's. As it's the most recent title, it's got a technical superiority over the other games i've mentioned (you couldn't even turn the camera in Atelier until Shallie). It's combat is ATB, and it's the currently the only Atelier to do so. No timelimit. It does have a rather low number of character events though unfortunately (the characters themselves are good).

Other decent starting points:

Atelier Escha & Logy: This game is basically Rorona 2 so most of what i mentioned in Rorona applies here except combat matters way more in this game. This game also has one of the best combat systems. This game has both the best Atelier protagonists and the best cast. The timelimit is segmented in the same way except i think it's you've got four months instead of three (and an extra fourth year if you build the dreadnought, which isn't hard to do at all).

Atelier Shallie: The first Atelier game to not have a timelimit (that's a lie, Atelier Judie did it first but shhh) and it kinda shows. You can read my review, which i posted a link to earlier (two pages ago iirc).

Atelier Lulua: The other Atelier game that came out in 2019. The best in the series imo and you can definitly start with this one but it's the fourth game in Arland so it's probably better to do those first. But nothing's really stopping you.

So in conclusion, ranking the starting points: Ryza > Rorona >=Sophie (i garuantee Sophie is a better starting point than Ayesha) > Ayesha. The other starting points i mentioned aren't here since they aren't the first games of their subseries but nothing is really stopping you from using one of them as your first one. 

Quick thing, the Dusk trilogy (Ayesha, Escha & Logy and Shallie) and Ryza are a bit more serious in tone when compared to Arland (Rorona, Totori, Meruru and Lulua) and Mysterious (Sophie, Firis, Lydie & Sulle).

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

The spider boss is considered as the hardest boss in a Sky 3rd speedrun.

 

@Shrimperor

Lulua is available for 20 € and less on PS4 and Switch, but I already mentioned it before.

Lulua is also a good starting point despite not having played more than four chapters.

I also would recommend to buy the Arland and Dusk series as a whole because you can save a lot of money.

The Arland series is obtainable for 55 € in PS Store till this weekend.

If you want to play only on PC, then I definitely recommend Ryza for its price.

 

Is a KT sale also going to happen on e-shop?

I prefer to play games on my consoles since my laptop is not made for gaming.

Edited March 6, 2020 by Falcom Knight

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Seriously the sale is lame overall, at least regarding Atelier games.

I will wait for Easter sale for hopefully seeing the Dusk trilogy on sale.

It's on sale on Steam too, but I do not consider 75 € as a great deal overall.

I really regret to give away my 20 € copy for PS3 regardless their version is inferior to the DX version.

[DragonFlames]

13 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

So most of what you said makes me think FFX, which I can say the battle system isnt the best one. But there is plenty strategy In XII and XIII, mostly XIII, though. Also, the Molboro bad breath is stoppable by first strike on a weapon, to be fair. But I think that the other mentioned things are fair points, considering you haven't played IX and down.

Yeah, most of these complaints do come from FFX, that's true. But XII and XIII have their fair share of BS, too, particularly when stuff from outside the main plot are concerned.
The optional Espers from XII come to mind. Zeromus gives me nightmares to this very day...

Though even with my complaints, I can't exactly say I hate FFX, FFXII, or FFXIII. In fact, I actually like all three of these games, with XII being my absolute favorite among them.

13 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

This saddens me. 😪

I never understood why people think this, but to each their own I suppose.

As I said earlier, I actually like XIII. I had fun playing it.

9 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

https://store.steampowered.com/sale/koei-tecmo-publisher-weekend/?snr=1_4_4__118
>koei Tecmo

>Sale

O.o

so...

If there's one Atelier game i should pick...

which one should it be?

@Armagon pretty much covered it, but since he summoned me to talk about Atelier Sophie, which, incidentally, was my personal starting point into the series due to its main character being one of my absolute favorite characters to use in Warriors All-Stars, I'll give you a quick rundown of what to expect from that game.
Expect lots and lots of bias from this one, because it's my second favorite Atelier game after Lulua.

Atelier Sophie features no time limit, as Armagon said, but there is a weekday system in place that does see use. There are certain characters and events that only appear on certain days of the week and/or certain time periods (morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night). The alchemy system is different from all the other Atelier games, since it essentially has you play a little minigame to make your item. It's not too complicated, but it's a lot deeper than it appears at first, yet super easy to understand and super satisfying to use and master. Characters are fantastic (Sophie especially is a bundle of adorable), the story isn't exactly grand, dealing with more personal stuff, and it's an overall very feel-good game. It also has plenty of funny scenes in it, which is always great, but every Atelier game I've played so far has that.
Unique to Sophie, as far as I know, is the fact that the standard battle music changes depending on how hard the battle is. So if you hear a certain tune, you'll be able to tell how hard an enemy, or group of enemies, is going to kick your behind into next week. This is not the case for boss battles, however. The battle system is turn-based and, like Trails, it features a timeline system where you can see who is up when, allowing for a lot of strategery. Difference is, you select every characters' move first and then the turn plays out as opposed to other games with this system where a character immediately acts after a move is selected.
It is also the first game in its trilogy, just like Rorona and Ayesha are for their respective series, so there's nothing you can miss out on if you start here.

Music-wise, the other Atelier games have yet to give me a better standard battle theme than this one. The rest of the music has a very friendly, almost welcoming feel to it, which adds to the overall feel-good atmosphere the game has, which is part of what got me into the games in the first place.

Personally, I see Sophie as a perfect starting point to Atelier, but I do believe that Rorona, Ryza, and Lulua are also very good at getting you into the swing of things.

And it is now I realize I haven't played the other games in the Mysterious trilogy yet. I should get on that.

Edited March 6, 2020 by DragonFlames

[Codename Shrimp]

11 hours ago, Armagon said:

Quick thing, the Dusk trilogy (Ayesha, Escha & Logy and Shallie) and Ryza are a bit more serious in tone when compared to Arland (Rorona, Totori, Meruru and Lulua) and Mysterious (Sophie, Firis, Lydie & Sulle).

Good to know! While i don't mind lighearted games, i prefer a bit of seriousness mixed in.

 

11 hours ago, Armagon said:

This game also has one of the best combat systems. This game has both the best Atelier protagonists and the best cast

9 hours ago, Falcom Knight said:

Lulua is available for 20 € and less on PS4 and Switch, but I already mentioned it before.

 

yeah, if i decide on Lulua, i will get it for the switch.

The others for the switch are super pricy, especially the trioligies

9 hours ago, Falcom Knight said:

I will wait for Easter sale for hopefully seeing the Dusk trilogy on sale.

KT never joins the steam seasonal sales for some reason. They have to be special and have their own sales <.<

2 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Difference is, you select every characters' move first and then the turn plays out as opposed to other games with this system where a character immediately acts after a move is selected.

So like Radiant Historia?

2 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Music-wise, the other Atelier games have yet to give me a better standard battle theme than this one.

Reminds me of Sky FC's battle theme for some reason xD. Both being silly and stuff haha

Also, speaking about Atelier OST, i was listening to this yesterday. In the words of a friend ''What kind of Ys is this?'' ''The Cute Alchemist Waifu kind'' xD

9 hours ago, Falcom Knight said:

I also would recommend to buy the Arland and Dusk series as a whole because you can save a lot of money.

...If i can find them for less than 70€...

I don't a PS4 so i can't get them on Ps store sale. They aren't on sale on e-shop, either.

 

So, Either Ryza, Lulua, Sophie, Rorona or Escha & Logy.

I am kinda biased towards the last one because i find combat to be a pretty important aspect (yeah, i know i am a bit weird, but if combat isn't good i just don't have the motivation to continue xD), even if the games aren't really made for combat. That, and the ''bit more serious'' part hmmm

Edited March 6, 2020 by Shrimperor

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

13 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

KT never joins the steam seasonal sales for some reason. They have to be special and have their own sales <.<

Though KT joined the Big in Japan sale and a few Atelier (Sophie and Dusk and Arland triology were offered in Christmas sale in PS Store)

That's how I got Sophie.

Quote

...If i can find them for less than 70€...

I don't a PS4 so i can't get them on Ps store sale. They aren't on sale on e-shop, either.

They are on sale as a whole, but it's not offered directly.

If you click on one game of the series, the others are shown as a set:

Arland triology costs 54 € and Dusk triology costs 76 €.

Edited March 6, 2020 by Falcom Knight

[Codename Shrimp]

13 minutes ago, Falcom Knight said:

Huh i missed that one xD

I looked at the Dusk price and thought it would be same price for Arland...

That's actually a good price hmm...

Edited March 6, 2020 by Shrimperor

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

4 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

I look at the Dusk price and thought it would be same price for Arland...

No, it's not!

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

.

Edited March 6, 2020 by Falcom Knight

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Music-wise, the other Atelier games have yet to give me a better standard battle theme than this one.

To which i counter with: Gnome from Atelier Ayesha. So good i overwrote E&L and Shallie's regular battle themes with this one (bless Change BGM).

7 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

yeah, if i decide on Lulua, i will get it for the switch.

The others for the switch are super pricy, especially the trioligies

Worth noting that all of the Switch ports are very good (i saw a comparison between Switch Lulua and PS4 Lulua and there's a very miniscule difference) except for Lydie & Sulle. So if you ever decide to play L&S in the future, play it on anything but the Switch.

10 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

Also, speaking about Atelier OST, i was listening to this yesterday. In the words of a friend ''What kind of Ys is this?'' ''The Cute Alchemist Waifu kind'' xD

Yeah, Atelier boss themes popoff. In my personal opinion, i think Shallie has the best boss themes.

11 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

I am kinda biased towards the last one because i find combat to be a pretty important aspect (yeah, i know i am a bit weird, but if combat isn't good i just don't have the motivation to continue xD), even if the games aren't really made for combat.

I will mention that Shallie's combat is mostly identical to Escha & Logy's, the main differences being that there's no grid system (I say grid but it's not like Trails or Neptunia, it's simply just changing the position of your characters to in front of, behind or next to an enemy) and the Support Meters are individual as opposed to party wide. Personally, i prefer Escha & Logy's version more because of it.

Lulua's combat is very similar to Shallie's, with the main difference being that your alchemist characters can interrupt mid-combat and use any item equipped to a certain slot for free (it has uses but after the uses are used up, it can still be used but it'll just be weaker). There's also no Assist Guards but there Assist Attacks and instead of being triggered manually, they trigger after certain conditions are met, kinda like TMS' Session Attacks.

Escha & Logy, Shallie and Lulua all feature rearguards (though in Lulua, your rearguard consists of two people while the other games have three people in the reargurd). I still think Escha & Logy has the best combat but overall, these three games i mentioned are very much contenders for best combat in the series.

Also i figure you might wanna know but there are difficulty settings......sometimes. Atelier is inconsistent when it comes to this. Arland lacks them (except Lulua), Escha & Logy lacks them and Sophie lacks them (don't know about the other Mysterious titles). Lulua, Ayesha, Shallie and Ryza do have difficulty settings, with the last two letting you change it whenever. But even without the difficulty settings, the games can still be tough at times and if you aren't making good use of your alchemy, then you ain't really getting anywhere.

[Codename Shrimp]

16 minutes ago, Armagon said:

To which i counter with: Gnome from Atelier Ayesha. So good i overwrote E&L and Shallie's regular battle themes with this one (bless Change BGM).

 

Time for a BGM battle?

18 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I will mention that Shallie's combat is mostly identical to Escha & Logy's, the main differences being that there's no grid system (I say grid but it's not like Trails or Neptunia, it's simply just changing the position of your characters to in front of, behind or next to an enemy) and the Support Meters are individual as opposed to party wide. Personally, i prefer Escha & Logy's version more because of it.

Lulua's combat is very similar to Shallie's, with the main difference being that your alchemist characters can interrupt mid-combat and use any item equipped to a certain slot for free (it has uses but after the uses are used up, it can still be used but it'll just be weaker). There's also no Assist Guards but there Assist Attacks and instead of being triggered manually, they trigger after certain conditions are met, kinda like TMS' Session Attacks.

Escha & Logy, Shallie and Lulua all feature rearguards (though in Lulua, your rearguard consists of two people while the other games have three people in the reargurd). I still think Escha & Logy has the best combat but overall, these three games i mentioned are very much contenders for best combat in the series.

Also i figure you might wanna know but there are difficulty settings......sometimes. Atelier is inconsistent when it comes to this. Arland lacks them (except Lulua), Escha & Logy lacks them and Sophie lacks them (don't know about the other Mysterious titles). Lulua, Ayesha, Shallie and Ryza do have difficulty settings, with the last two letting you change it whenever. But even without the difficulty settings, the games can still be tough at times and if you aren't making good use of your alchemy, then you ain't really getting anywhere.

What i get from this is ''Shrimpy play Dusk'' xD

How's Ryza combat btw? I know it's ATB and all, but does it give you enough time to think and strategize? Or is it just mash button as fast as possible before enemy attacks?

[Lightcosmo]

3 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Yeah, most of these complaints do come from FFX, that's true. But XII and XIII have their fair share of BS, too, particularly when stuff from outside the main plot are concerned.
The optional Espers from XII come to mind. Zeromus gives me nightmares to this very day...

Though even with my complaints, I can't exactly say I hate FFX, FFXII, or FFXIII. In fact, I actually like all three of these games, with XII being my absolute favorite among them.

As I said earlier, I actually like XIII. I had fun playing it.

Playing through the original FFXII IZJS, which is way harder than TZA, I didn't find it too difficult, really. The Espers, with the exception of Zodiark, aren't too bad either. Zodiark is just painful, really. Although I don't like the enemy augments that you have to deal with, it's really stupid.

I can't defend FFX, though. It's game design was just bad.

XIII didn't have much to complain about either, although it was decently challenging, but I don't see anything wrong with that.

Edited March 6, 2020 by lightcosmo

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

10 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

How's Ryza combat btw? I know it's ATB and all, but does it give you enough time to think and strategize? Or is it just mash button as fast as possible before enemy attacks?

For me it's latter.

[Armagon]

5 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

How's Ryza combat btw? I know it's ATB and all, but does it give you enough time to think and strategize?

Yeah, i'd say so. Unlike in FF, your actions are mapped to buttons. I'm gonna use the Switch control scheme here but A is your standard attack, X is your skills and Y is your items. Skills and items do have their own menus but they very big at all. Once you've saved up enough AP, you can interrupt, which stops time and lets you pick what you want to do. Though it costs AP to use this and to use a skill (items have a different limit) so it's slightly counter-intuitive but it's not a big deal.

Also, you can instantly switch between your controlled party member at any time and there's normal and aggressive settings. Normal has your AI party members do normal attacks exclusively while aggresive will allow them to use skills and items as well.

Speaking of items, this is important for the series but for the most part, only alchemists can use items. Sophie and Ryza let everyone use items though the latter does put a limit on item use for anyone who isn't Sophie.

[Codename Shrimp]

Well, Lulua is winning the race for my first atelier atm xD

Not only good price, but alot (not only you all here) say it's series' best.