Together Retro: Eighties' Ladies' Night

[noiseredux]

Can we talk about Phantasy Star II parties for a second here? I'm about 10 hours in now, and have access to all the characters. My party has been Rolf, Nei, Amy and Rudo because that's the order I got them and leveled them up and didn't want to have to spend more time leveling up others. Now, please don't jump on me about not having a full female party for this month - again, this is basically because it's a long game with a lot of grinding and as I hit the midpoint of the month, I don't even think I'm halfway through the game.

Anyway, I've been referencing the walkthrough at RPG Shrines as far as an idea of what gear I might want for each character at each point in the game, and all of the sudden that walkthrough suggests replacing Amy and Rudo with Shir and Kain and leveling them up to lvl 10 each. TBH, that sounds pretty unappealing to me right now. I spend so much time like BETWEEN actually doing stuff just grinding that I'm like, ugh... why?

So I guess that's my question: WHY should I swap out party members at this point in the game? Is there a reason I shouldn't just keep my current party? Would I greatly benefit from another lineup?

[BogusMeatFactory]

Can we talk about Phantasy Star II parties for a second here? I'm about 10 hours in now, and have access to all the characters. My party has been Rolf, Nei, Amy and Rudo because that's the order I got them and leveled them up and didn't want to have to spend more time leveling up others. Now, please don't jump on me about not having a full female party for this month - again, this is basically because it's a long game with a lot of grinding and as I hit the midpoint of the month, I don't even think I'm halfway through the game.

Anyway, I've been referencing the walkthrough at RPG Shrines as far as an idea of what gear I might want for each character at each point in the game, and all of the sudden that walkthrough suggests replacing Amy and Rudo with Shir and Kain and leveling them up to lvl 10 each. TBH, that sounds pretty unappealing to me right now. I spend so much time like BETWEEN actually doing stuff just grinding that I'm like, ugh... why?

So I guess that's my question: WHY should I swap out party members at this point in the game? Is there a reason I shouldn't just keep my current party? Would I greatly benefit from another lineup?

There is a reason to swap them out..... but it's spoilers. Big, big spoilers.

[noiseredux]

Alright... I actually know what you're talking about and was considering that. So let me rephrase - I know I'll need to level up ONE more character. Is there a reason to level up more than one more, though? And WHO should it be?

[prfsnl_gmr]

If I can recall correctly, I leveled up Shir because there is a really big player convenience thing she can do at level 10 or so. Otherwise, I think that I just stuck with most of my original party. Maybe, I swapped Ksine for Shir at level 10; I don’t remember. They level up really fast if you swap them later in the game, and I don’t remember it being a big deal. (You will have to some late-game grinding regardless.)

[noiseredux]

Shir is who I was considering because - I'm the only one playing it this month so spoilers are okay, right? - I know she can steal stuff. So yeah I guess that makes sense. Who should I sub her for for now? I'm thinking Amy since Rudo's strength will help level Shir up pretty quickly. Though Amy's healing spells are helpful as well.

Just to bring y'all up to speed, I have PLAYED Phantasy Star II before, but I never finished it. I started it up maybe five years ago and someone spoiled a rather major plot point for me and I had a tantrum and stopped playing like a baby. I think I was like 3-5 hrs in at the time, though. Not very far.

[PartridgeSenpai]

I finished Dragon Quest 2~!
I got a bit lucky more than once in the final boss rush, especially with a lucky crit from my warrior taking out Belial after he'd full-healed, and also with the final boss being not quite as vindictive as he could've been with his fire breath.
This game has some CRAZY serious design issues as far as magic and dungeon design go. It is definitely growing pains on a generic level, so I'll forgive it for that, but I can certainly see why people say it's the worst Dragon Quest mainline game pre-IX. I don't know a whole lot about 3 and 7, but I'm pretty comfortable saying that there really isn't a contest as far as how badly DQ2's design has aged.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Shir is who I was considering because - I'm the only one playing it this month so spoilers are okay, right? - I know she can steal stuff. So yeah I guess that makes sense. Who should I sub her for for now? I'm thinking Amy since Rudo's strength will help level Shir up pretty quickly. Though Amy's healing spells are helpful as well.

Just to bring y'all up to speed, I have PLAYED Phantasy Star II before, but I never finished it. I started it up maybe five years ago and someone spoiled a rather major plot point for me and I had a tantrum and stopped playing like a baby. I think I was like 3-5 hrs in at the time, though. Not very far.

If I recall correctly, you can steal something that will let you save anywhere on the overworld once Shir reaches level 10. This is a critical item IMO, and after she has stolen it, you can pretty much drop her from your party for the rest of the game.

[noiseredux]

well that's totally null considering the 360 version lets you do this from the get go.

[MrPopo]

well that's totally null considering the 360 version lets you do this from the get go.

So here's how I did my party when I played the game:

I started with Rolf, Nei, Amy, Ruto, then replaced Ruto with Anna as soon as I got her. I spent a little time with Shir to get the save phone. Then when I needed a new character I put back in Ruto. Anna is pretty good for random battles with her slashers. I wanted to use Shir over Ruto, but Shir's stealing is a major mixed bag. On the one hand, you can get some nice gear early. On the other hand, she will do it when you're on another planet and you need to turn around and go back to the start to get her back. If it were an optional thing it would be better, and I probably would have powered through.

[prfsnl_gmr]

well that's totally null considering the 360 version lets you do this from the get go.

You kids these days are so soft...

If that’s the case, then she’s pointless.