Together RPG - SRPG - Ogre Battle MotBQ - 1/11/14 -> 3/11/14

[Ack]

Whoa you guys are jumping right into this. Nice! Too bad Together Retro is also an RPG, I have a ways to go in PSO.

This is actually why I didn't start playing PSO, so I could devote more time to my favorite console.

So I have another question, since we're talking about alignment and charisma. All characters have those stats. Is the alignment for a squad liberating a city based solely on the leader's, or is it an average of the team, and which units get affected by things like tarot cards? And when alignment gets affected by fighting, do all units get their scores calculated separately, or is it again only the leader that matters?

[Jmustang1968]

Average alignment of the team.
Each character gets a tarot card liberation bonus.
In fighting each ccharacteris calculated. So if you have a 30 align wizard and a 90 aligned knight, they will respond differently.
Once you get an alignment to an extreme, it is easier to further go into that extreme as more enemies are likely to have alignment higher or less than theirs. So that unit wth those 2 characters above could both have thebguys lower and increase their alignments killing a neautral enemy.

[Ack]

Average alignment of the team.
Each character gets a tarot card liberation bonus.
In fighting each ccharacteris calculated. So if you have a 30 align wizard and a 90 aligned knight, they will respond differently.
Once you get an alignment to an extreme, it is easier to further go into that extreme as more enemies are likely to have alignment higher or less than theirs. So that unit wth those 2 characters above could both have thebguys lower and increase their alignments killing a neautral enemy.

But if I want to power level characters, it sounds like it will be easier to go for the evil alignment.

[Jmustang1968]

Average alignment of the team.
Each character gets a tarot card liberation bonus.
In fighting each ccharacteris calculated. So if you have a 30 align wizard and a 90 aligned knight, they will respond differently.
Once you get an alignment to an extreme, it is easier to further go into that extreme as more enemies are likely to have alignment higher or less than theirs. So that unit wth those 2 characters above could both have thebguys lower and increase their alignments killing a neautral enemy.

But if I want to power level characters, it sounds like it will be easier to go for the evil alignment.

Yeah low alignment units will typically have higher levels. Power leveling isnt really a thing in this game though. You have finite enemies. It is also easy to break the games challenge once you know its ins and outs.

[Ack]

Yeah low alignment units will typically have higher levels. Power leveling isnt really a thing in this game though. You have finite enemies. It is also easy to break the games challenge once you know its ins and outs.

Yeah, I get the feeling I'm way too inexperienced with the game to really grasp all this stuff just yet, but at the same time I'm worried that I'll miss something important as a result of my inexperience and not get interesting characters, items, or events.

Anyway, I've modified a few of the starting armies to give myself some speed advantages. The seer, Warren, now has a Griffon in his squad to give him mobility along with a Hellhound. Lans still has his base squad, but with the Sigmund, nobody has been able to beat him, and his is probably my highest-level squad. I also have another Knight armed with a Relic sword, a Griffon, and a couple of Amazonians in the back row, as well as a Cleric backing a Hellhound and Octopus...though truth be told, I'm not really sold on the Octopus unit. I also have a squad composed of a Samurai leader, two Amazonians, and two Fighters. These are the squads I've been primarily using, alongside the Opinion Leader squad(mine ended up some kind of magic user). Any thoughts or suggestions? For those of you who are experienced with the game, what kinds of squads do you field early on?

I suppose this is a good time to say that before this, the only game in the series I had really played was Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis.

[Jmustang1968]

I would consult a guide for hidden items and special story events. Uou can easily miss getting an iconic character Canopus (my avatar) and Gilbert in one of the first stages. There are also several other important items that can be missed. The game is very very subtle on how to accomplish this if not downright hidden altogether.

Part of the fun of the game is to try out unit configurations. I personally dont care much for octopus or golem units. Octopi will allow you tonmove fast in water.

I also typically only like 1 monster in a group. Later on, you just dont get enough attacks with 3 units.

Be careful getting Lan too high as you risk plummeting his alignment and they front guys cant become paladins. Lan's unit is tough to get right. You want his front guys to get high alignment and the wizards in the back low.

[nightrnr]

Power leveling isnt really a thing in this game though. You have finite enemies. It is also easy to break the games challenge once you know its ins and outs.

Power Leveling CAN be done if you keep to just a few select parties.

Yeah, I get the feeling I'm way too inexperienced with the game to really grasp all this stuff just yet, but at the same time I'm worried that I'll miss something important as a result of my inexperience and not get interesting characters, items, or events.

As I've already mentioned, the game can still be enjoyed without getting too deep into the mechanics (even if most people disagree). I'm proof of that.
A basic understanding can't hurt though.

As for worrying that you'll miss something, that mentality has killed a lot of games for me. Nowadays, I usually save that thinking for a second playthrough, and the 1st is all my own journey (unless I get hopelessly stuck). Right now it's your game and nobody else's. Of course, if you only plan to play once, I do understand that you want to make it count.

[Jmustang1968]

It can also be done if you just select leader strategy and keep killing the leader off to return. However, if you want a 'good' or the best ending, you have to worry about alignment, rep, and hidden characters etc...

[MrPopo]

Well, started today and got a white weapon in Sharom District, so I'll be able to ALI grind on undead for my chars as needed. I'm going to follow a checklist to go for getting all recruitable characters in a single playthrough.

[Ack]

I've made it through the Pogrom Forest and defeated Sirius at Lake Jannenia. I'm now paying more attention to my units' charisma and alignment scores, and I am seeing the migrations that characters make to the extremes. Much of the stress of the early game trying to get characters to go a particular way so I can have certain kinds of units is beginning to wear off as many of my base Fighters and Amazonians begin transforming into the next step of my desired classes(though I'm struggling to get Berzerkers. Are Black Knights worth having?). And yes, I've begun using guides to guide those transformations, because this game just about requires one to learn all of its intricacies.

I did manage to recruit a couple of undead(a pair of ghosts) in the Pogrom Forest, but I don't think they can ever upgrade. I like the Nightmare ability so I've stuck one in the back row of Warren's squad. I'm still using a few griffons for mobility, and one squad has a giant out front, but beyond that I'm largely no longer using monster units(with the exception of Canopus and Gilbert, who both have monster squads).