RPG Progress Report

[MrPopo]

Yeah, I played it (and all the previous games) though I haven't taken the time to beat the post-game yet. That stuff IS grind heavy.

So the nice thing about the Etrian Odyssey games is there are a lot of viable parties, especially as the series has evolved. Generally the only thing you NEED in your party is a healer; item healing is quite inefficient. You also only need to worry about leveling up your party of 5.

For party building, what I would do is look at the skill trees of each class and look for synergies between them. Will having class A make class B better? Also, remember that the front row/back row makes a difference in the damage you can do and the damage you take. So you should decide if you want 2 or 3 frontliners.

Don't be afraid to experiment. You can Rest your character to reset their skill points at the cost of 2 levels, which is negligible (equipment makes up a large part of your power). Similarly, when you get later in the game you can Retire a character to create a new one that has some bonus skill points (based on the level of the retired character, 1 per 10 levels). You'll probably use that when you unlock the additional classes, but you'll find that leveling up this new level 1 character isn't so bad; they'll still have very powerful equipment and it doesn't take much experience at the low levels.

[Soldier Blue]

Made it to the 4th disc of Lost Odyssey and just beat all of the Arthosaurs. Party Level was rather high and they didn't give us much difficulty. Next stop, Numara.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Made it to the Final Chapter of Radiant Historia. The game has become way too easy. I didn't do many sidequests or any extra grinding. It's because I finished a lot of battles with 20 or 25 hit combos. Money is so easy to come by, you can buy as many MP items as you want

The story is still interesting, but I feel like the loose threads are getting tied up way too quickly. Everyone is really quick to believe Stocke's preposterous (but true) statements. Everyone always does whatever he says, even if they're supposed to be really stubborn or emotional. Stocke himself is amazing though. I thought he was super cool at the beginning. Quiet, confident, and competent. I liked seeing him grow more mature. He always used his brains to decide the best course of action, but now he incorporates his teammates' feelings as important factors. What a dude.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Yeah the characters in that game were surprisingly awesome. Hope it gets a sequel.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Finished it. True ending. Egads.

Raynie's love confession was hilarious. Heiss changes his mind, and in a reasonable not-contrived way. The game let us forget his father-son relationship with Stocke, which should have been displayed a little. One of the few flaws I guess.

I'd love a sequel, considering the state of affairs at the ending. So much to do! So many characters to follow! I think Eruca would make a great protagonist for the next game. She's got plenty of personality and intelligence, and it would be cool to have a mage instead of a swordsman as a main character.

RH sold 230,000 copies overall. Wonder if it's enough of a success?

[Ack]

Live A Live

Chapters completed: Cowboy, Fighter, Robot, Kung Fu Master, Caveman
Currently working on: Cyberpunk
Chapters remaining: Ninja

Well, that's a couple more chapters complete. The Kung Fu Master chapter is an entertaining one where you have to pick a student to become the master and train that student effectively. It ends in a dungeon, something which hadn't yet occurred in the game in any chapters I had played through, followed by a series of mini-boss fights as you take down a rival master's star pupils, until finally your apprentice must take on the rival master. It's an excellent chapter, and one of my favorites.

And then there is the Caveman chapter. I finished that this morning. It's considerably racier than I remember and probably the biggest reason why the game was never translated: there's nudity, flatulence, unsubtle hints at sex, and so on. This chapter is by far the goofiest I've played, but in some ways it is also the most like a traditional RPG: there's a damsel in distress, large fields in which to encounter enemies, a hidden item, a hidden boss, regular boss fights, the opportunity to do some grinding, and even an item creation system. I didn't beat the hidden King Mammoth fight, though I did set aside an extra save to take it on at a later date. But the big kicker is that there is no speech, as language was not invented yet (you invent it at the end during the implied sex scene).

So far, the cyberpunk chapter is similar, though it offers some changes with its "world map" and also a robot companion that gets built up by destroying specific enemies for items to use on it. The lead, Akira, can read people's minds and is an orphan whose father was a riot police officer who was murdered by a gang. Have grown up with his sister in an orphanage, Akira now fights that opposing gang while helping around the orphanage...when he's not being too cool not to help, of course.

Anyway, I'm chugging right along in it.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Live a Live is a great game... I miss Squaresoft.

[Ack]

Live a Live is a great game... I miss Squaresoft.

We all do.

Anyway, I've made it to the knight chapter, which is the chapter which unlocks once you beat the initial 8. I got 100 kills in the ninja chapter and took down the secret bosses. I know I have a fair bit left to do, but it feels good knocking out each chapter as I move along. I really wish Square would take some time to translate a bunch of their RPGs that never made it out of Japan onto a compilation for the PS3 or PS4 (as long as they can reduce load times, that is). There are a lot of great RPGs that deserve to be played. Live A Live, Treasure of Rudra, Bahamut Lagoon, Seiken Densetsu 3, Romancing SaGa 2 and 3, Alcahest, Treasure Hunter G... I'd happily put down $60 for a chance to play these legitmately.

[alienjesus]

After a week away at a music festival, its back to Final Fantasy V to finish up the four job fiesta challenge.

Beat the pyramid in world 3 with my current Thief, Berserker, Dragoon party (I chose to ditch geomancer whilst one of my party was unavailable because it needs less AP to master and isn't very useful in the pyramid and poison element gaia is common, and most enemies absorb it).

Off to the sealed castle now with all 4 party members intact and I'm really happy because I'm finally going to have weapons that cause some real damage. My dragoon will go from a 50 power weapon to a 109 power one, and my Berserker is going to be swinging some hefty axes too. I dunno whether to pick up a rune bell for my geomancer or an assassins dagger for basically anyone as my last though. My thief will be running the 127 power chicken knife instead (one of the most powerful weapons in the game, powered up by running away)

[Stark]

I've gotten farther in Etrian Odyssey IV, just finished Land 1 and my characters are around level 15 or so. I like it alot, I like that you have to draw your own map, reminds me of the old PC game days where you had to do that just to win.