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1

Tournaments / Proving Grounds: Flonning it up in Heavy

« on: July 24, 2023, 04:35:03 AM »

Djinn nicely asked for another round, so…  here's some more Heavies of various varieties, along with the usual write-in option.

Flonne (Disgaea 5)
Rabbid Rosalina (Mario + Rabbids 2)
Harbinger (Etrian Odyssey 5)
Nightseeker (Etrian Odyssey Nexus)
Anna (Triangle Strategy)
Rubino (Brigandine: Runersia)
Kagetsu (Fire Emblem Engage)


Flonne vs. Jessica (Dragon Quest VIII)
Flonne vs. Ness (Earthbound)
Flonne vs. Purim / Primm (Secret of Mana)
Flonne vs. Arnaud (Wild Arms 4)
Flonne vs. Ninja (Final Fantasy V)
Flonne vs. Zapdos (Pokemon)

Flonne vs. Naoto (Persona 4)
Flonne vs. Justin (Grandia)
Flonne vs. Camilla (FE Fates)
Flonne vs. Zerase (Suikoden V)
Flonne vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy VII)
Flonne vs. Asellus (Saga Frontier)


Rabbid Rosalina vs. Jessica (Dragon Quest VIII)
Rabbid Rosalina vs. Ness (Earthbound)
Rabbid Rosalina vs. Purim / Primm (Secret of Mana)
Rabbid Rosalina vs. Arnaud (Wild Arms 4)
Rabbid Rosalina vs. Ninja (Final Fantasy V)
Rabbid Rosalina vs. Zapdos (Pokemon)

Rabbid Rosalina vs. Naoto (Persona 4)
Rabbid Rosalina vs. Justin (Grandia)
Rabbid Rosalina vs. Camilla (FE Fates)
Rabbid Rosalina vs. Zerase (Suikoden V)
Rabbid Rosalina vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy VII)
Rabbid Rosalina vs. Asellus (Saga Frontier)


Harbinger vs. Jessica (Dragon Quest VIII)
Harbinger vs. Ness (Earthbound)
Harbinger vs. Purim / Primm (Secret of Mana)
Harbinger vs. Arnaud (Wild Arms 4)
Harbinger vs. Ninja (Final Fantasy V)
Harbinger vs. Zapdos (Pokemon)

Harbinger vs. Naoto (Persona 4)
Harbinger vs. Justin (Grandia)
Harbinger vs. Camilla (FE Fates)
Harbinger vs. Zerase (Suikoden V)
Harbinger vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy VII)
Harbinger vs. Asellus (Saga Frontier)



Nightseeker vs. Jessica (Dragon Quest VIII)
Nightseeker vs. Ness (Earthbound)
Nightseeker vs. Purim / Primm (Secret of Mana)
Nightseeker vs. Arnaud (Wild Arms 4)
Nightseeker vs. Ninja (Final Fantasy V)
Nightseeker vs. Zapdos (Pokemon)

Nightseeker vs. Naoto (Persona 4)
Nightseeker vs. Justin (Grandia)
Nightseeker vs. Camilla (FE Fates)
Nightseeker vs. Zerase (Suikoden V)
Nightseeker vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy VII)
Nightseeker vs. Asellus (Saga Frontier)



Anna vs. Jessica (Dragon Quest VIII)
Anna vs. Ness (Earthbound)
Anna vs. Purim / Primm (Secret of Mana)
Anna vs. Arnaud (Wild Arms 4)
Anna vs. Ninja (Final Fantasy V)
Anna vs. Zapdos (Pokemon)

Anna vs. Naoto (Persona 4)
Anna vs. Justin (Grandia)
Anna vs. Camilla (FE Fates)
Anna vs. Zerase (Suikoden V)
Anna vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy VII)
Anna vs. Asellus (Saga Frontier)



Rubino vs. Jessica (Dragon Quest VIII)
Rubino vs. Ness (Earthbound)
Rubino vs. Purim / Primm (Secret of Mana)
Rubino vs. Arnaud (Wild Arms 4)
Rubino vs. Ninja (Final Fantasy V)
Rubino vs. Zapdos (Pokemon)

Rubino vs. Naoto (Persona 4)
Rubino vs. Justin (Grandia)
Rubino vs. Camilla (FE Fates)
Rubino vs. Zerase (Suikoden V)
Rubino vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy VII)
Rubino vs. Asellus (Saga Frontier)



Kagetsu vs. Jessica (Dragon Quest VIII)
Kagetsu vs. Ness (Earthbound)
Kagetsu vs. Purim / Primm (Secret of Mana)
Kagetsu vs. Arnaud (Wild Arms 4)
Kagetsu vs. Ninja (Final Fantasy V)
Kagetsu vs. Zapdos (Pokemon)

Kagetsu vs. Naoto (Persona 4)
Kagetsu vs. Justin (Grandia)
Kagetsu vs. Camilla (FE Fates)
Kagetsu vs. Zerase (Suikoden V)
Kagetsu vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy VII)
Kagetsu vs. Asellus (Saga Frontier)


XX vs. Jessica (Dragon Quest VIII)
XX vs. Ness (Earthbound)
XX vs. Purim / Primm (Secret of Mana)
XX vs. Arnaud (Wild Arms 4)
XX vs. Ninja (Final Fantasy V)
XX vs. Zapdos (Pokemon)

XX vs. Naoto (Persona 4)
XX vs. Justin (Grandia)
XX vs. Camilla (FE Fates)
XX vs. Zerase (Suikoden V)
XX vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy VII)
XX vs. Asellus (Saga Frontier)

2

Tournaments / Proving Grounds: Turtle & Tyrant Overlords vs. High Middle

« on: May 01, 2023, 12:57:47 AM »

It's been ages, so...  mostly an excuse to use the more recent stat topics in Unranked Games.  I used way more characters than "usual" on the theory that quite a few of them have just one or two voters, so the number of actual votable characters is more reasonable.  Included the usual XX vs. template if anyone wants to throw in some custom matches, too.

Killia (Disgaea 5) vs. Nash Latkje (Suikoden 3)
Killia (Disgaea 5) vs. Alena (Dragon Quest 4)
Killia (Disgaea 5) vs. Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Killia (Disgaea 5) vs. Crono (Chrono Trigger)
Killia (Disgaea 5) vs. Cherche (Fire Emblem Awakening)
Killia (Disgaea 5) vs. Adachi (Persona 4)

Killia (Disgaea 5) vs. Danette (Soul Nomad)
Killia (Disgaea 5) vs. Miranda (Legend of Dragoon)
Killia (Disgaea 5) vs. Bart (Xenogears)
Killia (Disgaea 5) vs. Kimahri (Final Fantasy X)
Killia (Disgaea 5) vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star 4)
Killia (Disgaea 5) vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)


Panette (FE Engage) vs. Nash Latkje (Suikoden 3)
Panette (FE Engage) vs. Alena (Dragon Quest 4)
Panette (FE Engage) vs. Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Panette (FE Engage) vs. Crono (Chrono Trigger)
Panette (FE Engage) vs. Cherche (Fire Emblem Awakening)
Panette (FE Engage) vs. Adachi (Persona 4)

Panette (FE Engage) vs. Danette (Soul Nomad)
Panette (FE Engage) vs. Miranda (Legend of Dragoon)
Panette (FE Engage) vs. Bart (Xenogears)
Panette (FE Engage) vs. Kimahri (Final Fantasy X)
Panette (FE Engage) vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star 4)
Panette (FE Engage) vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)


Hughette (Triangle Strategy) vs. Nash Latkje (Suikoden 3)
Hughette (Triangle Strategy) vs. Alena (Dragon Quest 4)
Hughette (Triangle Strategy) vs. Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Hughette (Triangle Strategy) vs. Crono (Chrono Trigger)
Hughette (Triangle Strategy) vs. Cherche (Fire Emblem Awakening)
Hughette (Triangle Strategy) vs. Adachi (Persona 4)

Hughette (Triangle Strategy) vs. Danette (Soul Nomad)
Hughette (Triangle Strategy) vs. Miranda (Legend of Dragoon)
Hughette (Triangle Strategy) vs. Bart (Xenogears)
Hughette (Triangle Strategy) vs. Kimahri (Final Fantasy X)
Hughette (Triangle Strategy) vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star 4)
Hughette (Triangle Strategy) vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)


Pugilist (EO5) vs. Nash Latkje (Suikoden 3)
Pugilist (EO5) vs. Alena (Dragon Quest 4)
Pugilist (EO5) vs. Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Pugilist (EO5) vs. Crono (Chrono Trigger)
Pugilist (EO5) vs. Cherche (Fire Emblem Awakening)
Pugilist (EO5) vs. Adachi (Persona 4)

Pugilist (EO5) vs. Danette (Soul Nomad)
Pugilist (EO5) vs. Miranda (Legend of Dragoon)
Pugilist (EO5) vs. Bart (Xenogears)
Pugilist (EO5) vs. Kimahri (Final Fantasy X)
Pugilist (EO5) vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star 4)
Pugilist (EO5) vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)


Nosuri (Utawarerumono) vs. Nash Latkje (Suikoden 3)
Nosuri (Utawarerumono) vs. Alena (Dragon Quest 4)
Nosuri (Utawarerumono) vs. Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Nosuri (Utawarerumono) vs. Crono (Chrono Trigger)
Nosuri (Utawarerumono) vs. Cherche (Fire Emblem Awakening)
Nosuri (Utawarerumono) vs. Adachi (Persona 4)

Nosuri (Utawarerumono) vs. Danette (Soul Nomad)
Nosuri (Utawarerumono) vs. Miranda (Legend of Dragoon)
Nosuri (Utawarerumono) vs. Bart (Xenogears)
Nosuri (Utawarerumono) vs. Kimahri (Final Fantasy X)
Nosuri (Utawarerumono) vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star 4)
Nosuri (Utawarerumono) vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)


Bowser (Mario+Rabbids 2) vs. Nash Latkje (Suikoden 3)
Bowser (Mario+Rabbids 2) vs. Alena (Dragon Quest 4)
Bowser (Mario+Rabbids 2) vs. Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Bowser (Mario+Rabbids 2) vs. Crono (Chrono Trigger)
Bowser (Mario+Rabbids 2) vs. Cherche (Fire Emblem Awakening)
Bowser (Mario+Rabbids 2) vs. Adachi (Persona 4)

Bowser (Mario+Rabbids 2) vs. Danette (Soul Nomad)
Bowser (Mario+Rabbids 2) vs. Miranda (Legend of Dragoon)
Bowser (Mario+Rabbids 2) vs. Bart (Xenogears)
Bowser (Mario+Rabbids 2) vs. Kimahri (Final Fantasy X)
Bowser (Mario+Rabbids 2) vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star 4)
Bowser (Mario+Rabbids 2) vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)


Wilbell (Atelier Ayesha) vs. Nash Latkje (Suikoden 3)
Wilbell (Atelier Ayesha) vs. Alena (Dragon Quest 4)
Wilbell (Atelier Ayesha) vs. Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Wilbell (Atelier Ayesha) vs. Crono (Chrono Trigger)
Wilbell (Atelier Ayesha) vs. Cherche (Fire Emblem Awakening)
Wilbell (Atelier Ayesha) vs. Adachi (Persona 4)

Wilbell (Atelier Ayesha) vs. Danette (Soul Nomad)
Wilbell (Atelier Ayesha) vs. Miranda (Legend of Dragoon)
Wilbell (Atelier Ayesha) vs. Bart (Xenogears)
Wilbell (Atelier Ayesha) vs. Kimahri (Final Fantasy X)
Wilbell (Atelier Ayesha) vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star 4)
Wilbell (Atelier Ayesha) vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)


Tressa (Octopath) vs. Nash Latkje (Suikoden 3)
Tressa (Octopath) vs. Alena (Dragon Quest 4)
Tressa (Octopath) vs. Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Tressa (Octopath) vs. Crono (Chrono Trigger)
Tressa (Octopath) vs. Cherche (Fire Emblem Awakening)
Tressa (Octopath) vs. Adachi (Persona 4)

Tressa (Octopath) vs. Danette (Soul Nomad)
Tressa (Octopath) vs. Miranda (Legend of Dragoon)
Tressa (Octopath) vs. Bart (Xenogears)
Tressa (Octopath) vs. Kimahri (Final Fantasy X)
Tressa (Octopath) vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star 4)
Tressa (Octopath) vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)


Umimaru (Brigandine 2) vs. Nash Latkje (Suikoden 3)
Umimaru (Brigandine 2) vs. Alena (Dragon Quest 4)
Umimaru (Brigandine 2) vs. Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Umimaru (Brigandine 2) vs. Crono (Chrono Trigger)
Umimaru (Brigandine 2) vs. Cherche (Fire Emblem Awakening)
Umimaru (Brigandine 2) vs. Adachi (Persona 4)

Umimaru (Brigandine 2) vs. Danette (Soul Nomad)
Umimaru (Brigandine 2) vs. Miranda (Legend of Dragoon)
Umimaru (Brigandine 2) vs. Bart (Xenogears)
Umimaru (Brigandine 2) vs. Kimahri (Final Fantasy X)
Umimaru (Brigandine 2) vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star 4)
Umimaru (Brigandine 2) vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)


Hilda (FE 3 Houses) vs. Nash Latkje (Suikoden 3)
Hilda (FE 3 Houses) vs. Alena (Dragon Quest 4)
Hilda (FE 3 Houses) vs. Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Hilda (FE 3 Houses) vs. Crono (Chrono Trigger)
Hilda (FE 3 Houses) vs. Cherche (Fire Emblem Awakening)
Hilda (FE 3 Houses) vs. Adachi (Persona 4)

Hilda (FE 3 Houses) vs. Danette (Soul Nomad)
Hilda (FE 3 Houses) vs. Miranda (Legend of Dragoon)
Hilda (FE 3 Houses) vs. Bart (Xenogears)
Hilda (FE 3 Houses) vs. Kimahri (Final Fantasy X)
Hilda (FE 3 Houses) vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star 4)
Hilda (FE 3 Houses) vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)


XX vs. Nash Latkje (Suikoden 3)
XX vs. Alena (Dragon Quest 4)
XX vs. Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics)
XX vs. Crono (Chrono Trigger)
XX vs. Cherche (Fire Emblem Awakening)
XX vs. Adachi (Persona 4)

XX vs. Danette (Soul Nomad)
XX vs. Miranda (Legend of Dragoon)
XX vs. Bart (Xenogears)
XX vs. Kimahri (Final Fantasy X)
XX vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star 4)
XX vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)

3

Unranked Games / Fire Emblem, Engage!

« on: February 14, 2023, 02:29:33 AM »

When times are darkest and cavity rates skyrocketing across the land, a long forgotten hero will arise from the slumber of a thousand years to educate the populace on the importance of regular brushing and flossing.  Maintain your original teeth, folks, they're better than artificial crowns and less expensive.  Good for heart health too, strangely enough.

Mechanics
It's mostly the Fire Emblem you know and love.  The notable big changes:
* If you have weapon triangle advantage on the attack and actually deal damage (i.e. no 0 damage hits), this will add "Break" status to the foe, causing them to be unable to counterattack both in the current combat and their next combat.  They'll recover after their next combat, though.  In the DL, I would see this as a property of the defender (read: the Engage cast) because there are various ways for defenders to neutralize this - being an armored unit, standing on a fortress or certain other defensive terrain, certain boss skills - but no real way for attackers to be "good" at breaking.
** In addition to the usual Sword>Axe>Lance triangle, Arts > (Tomes, Bows, Daggers) as well.
* Classes aren't too crazy this time around - they mostly want to let the Emblems shine, and indeed the Emblem Rings can dramatically switch up how a character performs.  Won't matter in this initial topic, though.
* Characters can equip up to two skills.  Learning a skill requires both SP and sufficient bond level with the Emblem that teaches that skill (as well as access to the Emblem, of course).  In-game, bond points are plentiful enough that it's absolutely trivial to buy the cheaper BLs, so that's not the limiting factor, but SP as well as only two slots are.  The current topic doesn't allow for any skills at all, but all the characters are a little tougher in-game than shown thanks to skills even when not equipped with an Emblem Ring.  (Notably, if allowed, lots of the cast would love to grab Avoid +20 from Marth, requiring only BL 9 with him, or maybe Corrin's Draconic Hex for stat-busting, requiring only BL 8.)
* Certain weapons have the "smash" attribute.  Smash weapons can't double and allow the other side's counterattacks to come first when initiating (but CAN counterattack in the middle when attacked by an opponent that doubles them).  They tend to be very powerful-if-inaccurate though and will push the enemy back a square (take that, WA4 Farmel).  Since counterattacks aren't as big a deal in the DL, they're probably going to be a bit overrated in the DL.

Level
Characters are taken at 20/20 (for most characters) or 40 (for special classes), as the second-to-final map suggests Advanced Level 18 and that matches my own experience.  The datamine shows the "Internal Level" of prepromotes and the claimed level there has matched with other evidence - e.g. Vander promoted at L16 (=internal level of 15), Qi Adepts gain less XP when Chain Guarding someone under their level, and a streamer saw a reduced gain of XP once their Chain Guarder got above level 16.  These prepromotes have been given levels to be an equivalent internal level, e.g. */20/5 for characters with internal level 15.

Formulas
Physical damage: Str + Weapon Might - Defense
Magic damage: Mag + Weapon Might - Resistance
Arts damage: (Str+Mag)/2 + Weapon Might - Defense.  Most Arts weapons have a Brave effect of attacking twice when initiating combat (but not for counterattacks).

Attack Speed: Speed - MAX(0, Weapon Weight - Build)
Follow up attacks ("doubling"): Happen if attack speed of one side > 5 by default.  There are a few FE Heroes-style effects from Emblems and Bond Rings that can mess with this and let both sides double or other weirdness, e.g. Olwen's Bond Ring or DLC Emblem Hector's Quick Riposte.

Hit: (Weapon Hit) + 2x Dex + [Lck / 2]
Avoid: 2x Attack Speed + [Lck / 2]
True Hit: (Hit-Avoid) -> Look up hit rates on this chart: https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/True_hit#Fates,_Shadows_of_Valentia,_and_Engage .  It's Fates/Echoes True Hit, so Hit less than 50 is just 1RN the number, and Hit higher than 50 is a bit better (~1.33 RN?), loosely equivalent to adding +5 to +10 to the displayed hit rate for the real hit rate.  Examples: 60 ->64.7%; 70 ->78.9%; 80 -> 90.1%; 90 -> 97.1%.

Critical rate (base): (Weapon Crit) + 0.5*Dex
Dodge (Critical evasion): Luck
Critical rate: Crit - Dodge
Criticals are 3x damage.

"Effective" weapons are 3x weapon might in the damage calculation (e.g. bows vs. fliers).

Status effects
Notable status ailments that exist in game are Poison, Freeze (don't move), and Break (can't counter next attack).  Poison is added via daggers - even chain attacks from daggers if you somehow make a Backup dagger user - and each dagger hit that connects adds a stack.  1 stack of poison is +1 true damage, 2 stacks is +3, and 3 stacks (the max) is +5 true damage.  However, a poisonous attack needs to break defense first to add a stack - a dagger-user fighting a General doing 0 damage won't add a stack.  Status can be cleared with a Restore staff or an Antitoxin item for poison.
(Note: This section, and much of the Internet, previously said that poison stacks forever and is +1 damage per stack.  This is not correct.)

Equipment
Engage has Echoes-style forging.  In-game, this means you will probably focus on one or two "good" weapons per-user with increasing the forge level and adding Emblem Engravings.  This is slightly awkward with the DL.  Weapons should be allowed to be forged up (which will still be worse than in-game due to no engravings), but the DL tends to allow a lot more flexibility, but it simply isn't realistic for, say, a Sword/Lance user like Goldmary to have forged all of a Silver Sword / Lance, Killing Edge/Killer Lance, Steel Blade/Greatlance, Slim Sword/Lance, Javelin, Spear, Armorslayer, Wyrmslayer, Ridersbane, Levin Sword, and Flame Lance.  I've elected to assume that there are primary weapons that are forged up, and backup weapons which are unforged or very cheaply forged.  Characters have access to 4 "primary" weapons, which will generally be Silvers of their primary weapon types, a different range weapon if possible (Javelin, Mini Bow, Elthunder, etc.), a Smash weapon, and something else if there's still room for more, e.g. a killer weapon or a weakness-hitter.  Some exceptions exist, as usual.  For me, I'd be inclined to say that if a character wants a backup weapon not in their primary 4, it should probably be unforged to reflect that you don't have infinite weapon slots in-game.

Equipment that is bought infinitely at shops and prfs are legal.  Some other equipment is also allowed if you can get at least 3 of them reasonably without need for equipment mutation, although potentially restricted minorly.  Notably, that means this topic does not consider Brave weapons (just 2 of each type), although Braves are harshly nerfed in this game anyway (sorry Panette / Louis).  Silver smash weapons, Excalibur/Thoron, and Peshkatz also only have 2 each and won't appear here.

For a list of raw weapon stats, see the appendix.

Assumed enemy stats
Enemy Defense:   25
Enemy Resistance:   25
Enemy Luck:     15
Enemy Hit:   140
Enemy Avoid:   50

For PC durabilities, I've assumed an enemy attack with power 46 for both physical and magical damage.

Averages

• HP: 51.4
• Strength: 23.4
• Magic: 14.6
• Dexterity: 27.8
• Speed: 27.5 (Attack Speed: 26.8)
• Defense: 22.4
• Resistance: 22.0
• Luck: 19.6
• Build: 10.7
• Move: 5.2

• Avoid: 64.7
• Evasion (against an enemy with 140 Hit): 18.2%

• Damage (Silvers): 19 (2.5 killpoint: 47.5)
• Damage (Silvers, w/ accuracy): 18.5 (2.5 killpoint: 44.8)
• Damage (Smash weapons, w/ accuracy): 22 (2.5 killpoint: 55), AS: 26.4

4

General Chat / What games are you playing 2023: WGAYP, Engage!

« on: January 22, 2023, 08:33:27 PM »

Guess somebody might as well start the new thread.

Finished C9, up to C10 in FE Engage.  Playing on Hard Casual (for 10 Divine Pulses + battle saves, death = reload / rewind still) with the Heroes DLC but without doing any grinding, at least so far.  It seems pretty great so far, definitely a nice update of some of the "classic" FE ideas (i.e. *strong* counters, somewhat fixed character initial builds) rather than the more freeform system of Fates.  I also like the reduction of some of the "monastery busywork"...  although stuff like the Arena is still "press this button 3 times and watch the game play itself" for a huge support bonus at the cost of your time, and there's still some picking-up-glowing-stuff-on-the-ground simulator also seen in Triangle Strategy.   (I know you automatically get all bond points when you exit even if you missed a conversation, but is the same true for ore?)

I am a little worried with the Emblem system getting a little too nonsense once more rings are acquired.  I'd have definitely kind of preferred a system where you only had 3-4 Emblem users on the team, a la Jeanne d'Arc, to make them stand out more - will this still be true when there's 10 Emblem Rings on the field?  (And it'll presumably devalue the Bond Ring internal gacha system after practically nobody is wearing a Bond Ring anymore.)  I do like the lack of Rescue / Shove and fairly low movement by default to make the crazy Emblem movement powers feel properly significant.

Plot-wise, I was chatting with Djinn in Discord on this...  some speculation as of C6 or so.  (Usual disclaimer that I haven't read Internet spoilers/leaks/trailers, so this is just SF's speculation, not raw truth.)
Before the game begins, the totally obvious assumption everyone had was that Alear is the child of a Divine Dragon and a Fell Dragon to explain the mixed toothpaste hair + heterochromia eyes.  As of C3, I was saying that I was getting the impression based on dialogue that it would also be entirely consistent with what was stated that Alear was in fact just a Fell Dragon straight-up.  (Or, alternatively, that there is no distinction between Fell Dragons and Divine Dragons to begin with.)  Basically, do the Knights of the Old Republic plot where you are a mind-wiped villain given a new start, it's about choices not an evil nature or some such.  Lumera specifically says that she enjoyed *becoming* Alear's mother, which is a very suspicious turn of phrase (yeah, yeah, amnesia excuse).  Lumera also asks "did fighting me trigger any memories" after C2.  The flashback Alear has shows a mysterious red-haired person talking with Lumera, but Alear isn't in the picture.  More bluntly, the opening video shows a red-haired person "beneath" Alear, suggesting that the blue is just a nice magical coat of paint on top of a red fell dragon, perhaps explained by Lumera injecting her divine dragon energy into Alear as she claims at the end of C3.  At the time, I thought it was still possible there's some DBZ-fusion between Mysterious Red Person and Lumera's real kid that made Alear...  but...

..as of C6, I'm willing to call the original theory near-confirmed, or at least the narrative wants us to think this (and ruling out the fusion possibility).  Both the bad guy in C5 and at the very start of C7 express surprise that Lumera had a kid at all, saying that they thought she was the last of her kind.  Once might be flavor, but twice is a plot point - this is pretty well identical to the "Huh, that's weird, I thought Mycen didn't have a grandkid" lines in FE Echoes.  So yeah, Lumera somehow "adopted" a fell dragon kid, used Emblem Marth to turn them into a paragon of fighting for friends and justice. and that's gonna be the Big Surprise revealed soon, and the villain's gonna be all "YOU CANNOT DENY YOUR NATURE" and Alear's gonna be all "I stand with my friends!" etc. etc.

Going to presume that the mysterious magical girl is the same person as the shadowed boss ordering the evil team around and is also a fell dragon.  She also had a fully red-stone she said came from her sibling so I presume she's dealing with the fact that her sibling has been brainwashed to join team good.

5

Discussion / 2022 games in review

« on: December 31, 2022, 07:56:25 PM »

What games did y'all play in 2022?

Previous years: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.

6

Discussion / 2021 games in review

« on: January 01, 2022, 04:50:35 AM »

Yep.  What games did you play in 2021, the first year of uninterrupted covid worries?

Previous years: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and  2020.

7

Tournaments / Proving Grounds: Low Light unleashes the Chuansformation

« on: January 23, 2021, 09:17:12 PM »

Been awhile, so some obscura with stat topics from the past year or so.  super demands slapfights, so enjoy.

Chu-Chu (Xenogears) - DL control.  A low level, inferior life-form.

Gilliam (Brigandine) - Did you know that a cardinal is a custom chess piece that can move like a knight OR a bishop?  Anyway, Gilliam is a cardinal and that's about all I know about him.

Taria (Saga Scarlet Grace) - A mage with a huge skillset, infinite resources, and a defensive formation that helps fix her mage HP!  Pity about those charge times.

Anjaya / Alicia (Wintermoor) - A mage with bad durability and meh damage, but at least has a devastating ultimate to build to?

Flayn (Fire Emblem Three Houses) - A mage with bad durability and meh damage, but at least has counterattacks and super regen courtesy of the fish in her diet.

Nio (Atelier Ayesha) - Known for unethical use of bovines.  Has a high hit rate of status on her best cow-related damage, what a goddess - oh, Hold only lasts 25% of a turn?  Never mind.



Chu-Chu vs. Rennac (Fire Emblem 8)
Chu-Chu vs. Luna (Lunar SSSC)
Chu-Chu vs. Thomas (Suikoden 3)
Chu-Chu vs. Selphie (Final Fantasy 8)

Chu-Chu vs. Marivel (Wild Arms 2)
Chu-Chu vs. Dragoon (Final Fantasy 5)
Chu-Chu vs. Primrose (Octopath Traveler)
Chu-Chu vs. Nina (Breath of Fire 3)

Chu-Chu vs. Female Thief (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Chu-Chu vs. Rufus (Final Fantasy 7)
Chu-Chu vs. Jelanda (Valkyrie Profile)
Chu-Chu vs. Amy Sage (Phantasy Star 2)


Gilliam vs. Rennac (Fire Emblem 8)
Gilliam vs. Luna (Lunar SSSC)
Gilliam vs. Thomas (Suikoden 3)
Gilliam vs. Selphie (Final Fantasy 8)

Gilliam vs. Marivel (Wild Arms 2)
Gilliam vs. Dragoon (Final Fantasy 5)
Gilliam vs. Primrose (Octopath Traveler)
Gilliam vs. Nina (Breath of Fire 3)

Gilliam vs. Female Thief (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Gilliam vs. Rufus (Final Fantasy 7)
Gilliam vs. Jelanda (Valkyrie Profile)
Gilliam vs. Amy Sage (Phantasy Star 2)


Taria vs. Rennac (Fire Emblem 8)
Taria vs. Luna (Lunar SSSC)
Taria vs. Thomas (Suikoden 3)
Taria vs. Selphie (Final Fantasy 8)

Taria vs. Marivel (Wild Arms 2)
Taria vs. Dragoon (Final Fantasy 5)
Taria vs. Primrose (Octopath Traveler)
Taria vs. Nina (Breath of Fire 3)

Taria vs. Female Thief (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Taria vs. Rufus (Final Fantasy 7)
Taria vs. Jelanda (Valkyrie Profile)
Taria vs. Amy Sage (Phantasy Star 2)


Anjaya vs. Rennac (Fire Emblem 8)
Anjaya vs. Luna (Lunar SSSC)
Anjaya vs. Thomas (Suikoden 3)
Anjaya vs. Selphie (Final Fantasy 8)

Anjaya vs. Marivel (Wild Arms 2)
Anjaya vs. Dragoon (Final Fantasy 5)
Anjaya vs. Primrose (Octopath Traveler)
Anjaya vs. Nina (Breath of Fire 3)

Anjaya vs. Female Thief (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Anjaya vs. Rufus (Final Fantasy 7)
Anjaya vs. Jelanda (Valkyrie Profile)
Anjaya vs. Amy Sage (Phantasy Star 2)


Flayn vs. Rennac (Fire Emblem 8)
Flayn vs. Luna (Lunar SSSC)
Flayn vs. Thomas (Suikoden 3)
Flayn vs. Selphie (Final Fantasy 8)

Flayn vs. Marivel (Wild Arms 2)
Flayn vs. Dragoon (Final Fantasy 5)
Flayn vs. Primrose (Octopath Traveler)
Flayn vs. Nina (Breath of Fire 3)

Flayn vs. Female Thief (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Flayn vs. Rufus (Final Fantasy 7)
Flayn vs. Jelanda (Valkyrie Profile)
Flayn vs. Amy Sage (Phantasy Star 2)


Nio vs. Rennac (Fire Emblem 8)
Nio vs. Luna (Lunar SSSC)
Nio vs. Thomas (Suikoden 3)
Nio vs. Selphie (Final Fantasy 8)

Nio vs. Marivel (Wild Arms 2)
Nio vs. Dragoon (Final Fantasy 5)
Nio vs. Primrose (Octopath Traveler)
Nio vs. Nina (Breath of Fire 3)

Nio vs. Female Thief (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Nio vs. Rufus (Final Fantasy 7)
Nio vs. Jelanda (Valkyrie Profile)
Nio vs. Amy Sage (Phantasy Star 2)

(Custom, make your own with find & replace!)

XX vs. Rennac (Fire Emblem 8)
XX vs. Luna (Lunar SSSC)
XX vs. Thomas (Suikoden 3)
XX vs. Selphie (Final Fantasy 8)

XX vs. Marivel (Wild Arms 2)
XX vs. Dragoon (Final Fantasy 5)
XX vs. Primrose (Octopath Traveler)
XX vs. Nina (Breath of Fire 3)

XX vs. Female Thief (Final Fantasy Tactics)
XX vs. Rufus (Final Fantasy 7)
XX vs. Jelanda (Valkyrie Profile)
XX vs. Amy Sage (Phantasy Star 2)

8

Discussion / 2020 games in review

« on: December 31, 2020, 07:22:40 PM »

The usual blah blah blah.  What games did you play in 2020 and why did they include a replay of Fire Emblem Three Houses?

Previous years: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.

9

Tournaments / Proving Grounds Heavy: KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM

« on: February 23, 2020, 07:08:46 AM »

Been pretty quiet lately here, so eh, some excuse for some 3H duelers to show off.

* Dimitri (Fire Emblem Three Houses) - Kill one of them in particular with Atrocity and excellent turn 1 evade.

* Claude (Fire Emblem Three Houses) - Kills somewhat more slowly than Dimitri, but a turn of perfect evade, longer range counters, and amazing movement / threat range is always scary.

* Erik (Dragon Quest 11) - Speedy glass cannon.  Not much of a personality but who needs that when you hit someone with 6 swords.

* Ceodore (FF4 TAY) - Annoying spoily game #28, with Blink & Reflect to cover his bases.

* Celes (Final Fantasy 6) - Dhyer did a new stat topic which I don't think changes that much, but maybe worth finding out, especially for people who deny Celes's later spells.  Low Godlike, High Heavy, or Low Heavy?

Dimitri vs. Luther (Star Ocean 3)
Dimitri vs. Terra (FF6)
Dimitri vs. Monk (Bravely Default)
Dimitri vs. Raquel (WA4)

Dimitri vs. Scias (BoF4)
Dimitri vs. Lenus (LoD)
Dimitri vs. Red (Saga Frontier)
Dimitri vs. Justin (Grandia)

Dimitri vs. Ephraim (Fire Emblem 8)
Dimitri vs. Yosuke (Persona 4)
Dimitri vs. Princess Toadstool (SMRPG)
Dimitri vs. Sara (Trails of Cold Steel)


Claude vs. Luther (Star Ocean 3)
Claude vs. Terra (FF6)
Claude vs. Monk (Bravely Default)
Claude vs. Raquel (WA4)

Claude vs. Scias (BoF4)
Claude vs. Lenus (LoD)
Claude vs. Red (Saga Frontier)
Claude vs. Justin (Grandia)

Claude vs. Ephraim (Fire Emblem 8)
Claude vs. Yosuke (Persona 4)
Claude vs. Princess Toadstool (SMRPG)
Claude vs. Sara (Trails of Cold Steel)


Ceodore vs. Luther (Star Ocean 3)
Ceodore vs. Terra (FF6)
Ceodore vs. Monk (Bravely Default)
Ceodore vs. Raquel (WA4)

Ceodore vs. Scias (BoF4)
Ceodore vs. Lenus (LoD)
Ceodore vs. Red (Saga Frontier)
Ceodore vs. Justin (Grandia)

Ceodore vs. Ephraim (Fire Emblem 8)
Ceodore vs. Yosuke (Persona 4)
Ceodore vs. Princess Toadstool (SMRPG)
Ceodore vs. Sara (Trails of Cold Steel)


Erik vs. Luther (Star Ocean 3)
Erik vs. Terra (FF6)
Erik vs. Monk (Bravely Default)
Erik vs. Raquel (WA4)

Erik vs. Scias (BoF4)
Erik vs. Lenus (LoD)
Erik vs. Red (Saga Frontier)
Erik vs. Justin (Grandia)

Erik vs. Ephraim (Fire Emblem 8)
Erik vs. Yosuke (Persona 4)
Erik vs. Princess Toadstool (SMRPG)
Erik vs. Sara (Trails of Cold Steel)


Celes vs. Luther (Star Ocean 3)
Celes vs. Terra (FF6)
Celes vs. Monk (Bravely Default)
Celes vs. Raquel (WA4)

Celes vs. Scias (BoF4)
Celes vs. Lenus (LoD)
Celes vs. Red (Saga Frontier)
Celes vs. Justin (Grandia)

Celes vs. Ephraim (Fire Emblem 8)
Celes vs. Yosuke (Persona 4)
Celes vs. Princess Toadstool (SMRPG)
Celes vs. Sara (Trails of Cold Steel)


(Copy, find, & replace this to make your own set for obscura!)

XX vs. Luther (Star Ocean 3)
XX vs. Terra (FF6)
XX vs. Monk (Bravely Default)
XX vs. Raquel (WA4)

XX vs. Scias (BoF4)
XX vs. Lenus (LoD)
XX vs. Red (Saga Frontier)
XX vs. Justin (Grandia)

XX vs. Ephraim (Fire Emblem 8)
XX vs. Yosuke (Persona 4)
XX vs. Princess Toadstool (SMRPG)
XX vs. Sara (Trails of Cold Steel)

10

Tournaments / Proving Grounds: The Darkness in the Light

« on: February 23, 2020, 07:04:25 AM »

Dark mages, dark instant death, and the darkness of 2004.

* Hubert (Fire Emblem Three Houses) - Hubert really doesn't like Elf's DL stat topic assumptions, since fighters are all grabbing Death Blow + Braves, and he isn't getting Dark Knight's Dark Tomefaire.

* Primrose (Octopath Traveler) - Dark magic buddies with Hubert!  She's fast at least, please ignore the questionable damage.

* Yangus (Dragon Quest 8) - Everyone used to think he was Light, then his Grimmer Reaper instant Death was hyped up as 50% in OK's stat topic, then it turned out this was way high even for PS2.  Back to Light!

* Katarina (Suikoden IV) - DL control.  One shot of super Lightning damage!  Pity about being slow and frail and being in a forgettable game.  This is Elf's fault.


Hubert vs. Lexis (Lufia 2)
Hubert vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)
Hubert vs. Frog (Chrono Trigger)
Hubert vs. Nergal (Fire Emblem 7)

Hubert vs. Luke (Tales of the Abyss)
Hubert vs. Setzer (Final Fantasy 6)
Hubert vs. Riona (Final Fantasy 8)
Hubert vs. Labyrinthia (WAXF)

Hubert vs. Parasect (Pokemon)
Hubert vs. Peco (Breath of Fire 3)
Hubert vs. Hix (Suikodens)
Hubert vs. Subaki (FE Fates)


Primrose vs. Lexis (Lufia 2)
Primrose vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)
Primrose vs. Frog (Chrono Trigger)
Primrose vs. Nergal (Fire Emblem 7)

Primrose vs. Luke (Tales of the Abyss)
Primrose vs. Setzer (Final Fantasy 6)
Primrose vs. Riona (Final Fantasy 8)
Primrose vs. Labyrinthia (WAXF)

Primrose vs. Parasect (Pokemon)
Primrose vs. Peco (Breath of Fire 3)
Primrose vs. Hix (Suikodens)
Primrose vs. Subaki (FE Fates)


Yangus vs. Lexis (Lufia 2)
Yangus vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)
Yangus vs. Frog (Chrono Trigger)
Yangus vs. Nergal (Fire Emblem 7)

Yangus vs. Luke (Tales of the Abyss)
Yangus vs. Setzer (Final Fantasy 6)
Yangus vs. Riona (Final Fantasy 8)
Yangus vs. Labyrinthia (WAXF)

Yangus vs. Parasect (Pokemon)
Yangus vs. Peco (Breath of Fire 3)
Yangus vs. Hix (Suikodens)
Yangus vs. Subaki (FE Fates)


Katarina vs. Lexis (Lufia 2)
Katarina vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)
Katarina vs. Frog (Chrono Trigger)
Katarina vs. Nergal (Fire Emblem 7)

Katarina vs. Luke (Tales of the Abyss)
Katarina vs. Setzer (Final Fantasy 6)
Katarina vs. Riona (Final Fantasy 8)
Katarina vs. Labyrinthia (WAXF)

Katarina vs. Parasect (Pokemon)
Katarina vs. Peco (Breath of Fire 3)
Katarina vs. Hix (Suikodens)
Katarina vs. Subaki (FE Fates)

(Copy, find, & replace this to make your own set for obscura!)

XX vs. Lexis (Lufia 2)
XX vs. Lemina (Lunar 2)
XX vs. Frog (Chrono Trigger)
XX vs. Nergal (Fire Emblem 7)

XX vs. Luke (Tales of the Abyss)
XX vs. Setzer (Final Fantasy 6)
XX vs. Riona (Final Fantasy 8)
XX vs. Labyrinthia (WAXF)

XX vs. Parasect (Pokemon)
XX vs. Peco (Breath of Fire 3)
XX vs. Hix (Suikodens)
XX vs. Subaki (FE Fates)

11

Discussion / 2019 games in review

« on: December 31, 2019, 04:33:44 AM »

I'll continue the tradition of posting this thread.  The decade comes to a close!  What games did you play in 2019 and why did they include Fire Emblem Three Houses?!

Previous years: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

12

Tournaments / Proving Grounds Low Godlike: Run, it's a vampiric spirit maid robot!

« on: March 09, 2019, 12:36:07 AM »

We've got some more stat topics for Proving Grounds for, so let's get to it.

So as to avoid accusations of bias, and since super did some "Re-running old DL seasons" awhile back, the opponents are exclusively taken from the actual season 56 & season 57 Heavy & Godlike here for this set's gimmick.  Threw out some weirdos and obscura (no thanks, AtLC Diekbeck), of course.  ( http://www.rpgdl.com/tournament/seasontree.php?season=57 & http://www.rpgdl.com/tournament/seasontree.php?season=56 if you're curious!)

* Rabbid Luigi (Mario + Rabbids) - Count Luigi will drain your precious blood by dashing through you stylishly.  Or possibly turn you into stone.
* Yokai (Bravely Second) - Why are Japanese spirits being themed after the Catholic Seven Deadly Sins?  We may never know.
* Veronica (Dragon Quest XI) - Meena & Maya are jealous of DQ11's Sisters of Fate.  Packs one shot of super damage, elemental protection nonsense, some status effects, and decent status protection for herself.
* Sharon (Trails of Cold Steel II) - One-ups Celia & Lede in the status-y assassin group by having her instant death have initiative.  Bunch of backup statuses like Nightmare too, although pretty uninspiring in a "fair" fight.
* Wren (Phantasy Star 4) - DL Control Robot.


Rabbid Luigi vs. Royce (Lunar)
Rabbid Luigi vs. Cloud of Darkness (FF3)
Rabbid Luigi vs. Cecilia (WA1o)
Rabbid Luigi vs. Tir (Suikoden)

Rabbid Luigi vs. Mewtwo (PKMN)
Rabbid Luigi vs. Jecht (Final Fantasy X)
Rabbid Luigi vs. Miguel (Chrono Cross)
Rabbid Luigi vs. Riou (Suikoden 2)

Rabbid Luigi vs. Ryu (Breath of Fire 2)
Rabbid Luigi vs. Millenia (Grandia 2)
Rabbid Luigi vs. Billy (Xenogears)
Rabbid Luigi vs. Ike (Fire Emblem series)


Yokai (Bravely Second) vs. Royce (Lunar)
Yokai vs. Cloud of Darkness (FF3)
Yokai vs. Cecilia (WA1o)
Yokai vs. Tir (Suikoden)

Yokai vs. Mewtwo (PKMN)
Yokai vs. Jecht (Final Fantasy X)
Yokai vs. Miguel (Chrono Cross)
Yokai vs. Riou (Suikoden 2)

Yokai vs. Ryu (Breath of Fire 2)
Yokai vs. Millenia (Grandia 2)
Yokai vs. Billy (Xenogears)
Yokai vs. Ike (Fire Emblem series)


Veronica (Dragon Quest XI) vs. Royce (Lunar)
Veronica vs. Cloud of Darkness (FF3)
Veronica vs. Cecilia (WA1o)
Veronica vs. Tir (Suikoden)

Veronica vs. Mewtwo (PKMN)
Veronica vs. Jecht (Final Fantasy X)
Veronica vs. Miguel (Chrono Cross)
Veronica vs. Riou (Suikoden 2)

Veronica vs. Ryu (Breath of Fire 2)
Veronica vs. Millenia (Grandia 2)
Veronica vs. Billy (Xenogears)
Veronica vs. Ike (Fire Emblem series)


Sharon (Trails of Cold Steel II) vs. Royce (Lunar)
Sharon vs. Cloud of Darkness (FF3)
Sharon vs. Cecilia (WA1o)
Sharon vs. Tir (Suikoden)

Sharon vs. Mewtwo (PKMN)
Sharon vs. Jecht (Final Fantasy X)
Sharon vs. Miguel (Chrono Cross)
Sharon vs. Riou (Suikoden 2)

Sharon vs. Ryu (Breath of Fire 2)
Sharon vs. Millenia (Grandia 2)
Sharon vs. Billy (Xenogears)
Sharon vs. Ike (Fire Emblem series)


Wren (Phantasy Star IV) vs. Royce (Lunar)
Wren vs. Cloud of Darkness (FF3)
Wren vs. Cecilia (WA1o)
Wren vs. Tir (Suikoden)

Wren vs. Mewtwo (PKMN)
Wren vs. Jecht (Final Fantasy X)
Wren vs. Miguel (Chrono Cross)
Wren vs. Riou (Suikoden 2)

Wren vs. Ryu (Breath of Fire 2)
Wren vs. Millenia (Grandia 2)
Wren vs. Billy (Xenogears)
Wren vs. Ike (Fire Emblem series)


For ease of find-replace, if people want to make their own bracket:
XX vs. Royce (Lunar)
XX vs. Cloud of Darkness (FF3)
XX vs. Cecilia (WA1o)
XX vs. Tir (Suikoden)

XX vs. Mewtwo (PKMN)
XX vs. Jecht (Final Fantasy X)
XX vs. Miguel (Chrono Cross)
XX vs. Riou (Suikoden 2)

XX vs. Ryu (Breath of Fire 2)
XX vs. Millenia (Grandia 2)
XX vs. Billy (Xenogears)
XX vs. Ike (Fire Emblem series)

13

Tournaments / Proving Grounds Heavy: The strong, silent type

« on: March 09, 2019, 12:32:21 AM »

More stat topics for Proving Grounds new blood!

The opponents are exclusively taken from the actual season 56 & season 57 Heavy & Godlike here for this set's gimmick.  Threw out some weirdos and obscura (no thanks, AtLC Diekbeck), of course.  ( http://www.rpgdl.com/tournament/seasontree.php?season=57 & http://www.rpgdl.com/tournament/seasontree.php?season=56 if you're curious!)

* Luminary (Dragon Quest XI) - Much like his personality, Luminary lets life come at him and takes things in stride with some excellent stall tactics.  Speed is nothing special though.
* Mario (Mario + Rabbids) - I'm sure Mario & a DQ hero could have a scintillating conversation consisting entirely of nods Yes and "Let's-a-go" type slogans.  Also lots of damage apparently.
* Golbez (FF4 The After Years) - Lots of damage, a paralysis game, and surprisingly high evasion.
* Olberic (Octopath Traveler) - While needing three turns to kill in Heavy is not ideal, it is some unholy overkill that happens with initiative on that third turn, so you better defeat this fallen knight in two turns.  Or shrug off physical damage.
* Ness (Earthbound) - DL control, silent-ish main, and eventual winner of Season 57 Heavy.  Time to relive the nightmare.

Luminary (DQ11) vs. Zeromus (Final Fantasy 4)
Luminary vs. Lulu (Final Fantasy 10)
Luminary vs. Nel (Star Ocean 3)
Luminary vs. Chaz (Phantasy Star 4)

Luminary vs. Artea (Lufia 2)
Luminary vs. Ernst (Suikoden 5)
Luminary vs. Sasarai (Suikoden 3)
Luminary vs. Saki (Shadow Hearts 2)

Luminary vs. Suicune (Pokemon)
Luminary vs. Rofl (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Luminary vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy 7)
Luminary vs. Elly (Xenogears)


Mario (Mario+Rabbids) vs. Zeromus (Final Fantasy 4)
Mario vs. Lulu (Final Fantasy 10)
Mario vs. Nel (Star Ocean 3)
Mario vs. Chaz (Phantasy Star 4)

Mario vs. Artea (Lufia 2)
Mario vs. Ernst (Suikoden 5)
Mario vs. Sasarai (Suikoden 3)
Mario vs. Saki (Shadow Hearts 2)

Mario vs. Suicune (Pokemon)
Mario vs. Rofl (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Mario vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy 7)
Mario vs. Elly (Xenogears)


Golbez (FF4 The After Years) vs. Zeromus (Final Fantasy 4)
Golbez vs. Lulu (Final Fantasy 10)
Golbez vs. Nel (Star Ocean 3)
Golbez vs. Chaz (Phantasy Star 4)

Golbez vs. Artea (Lufia 2)
Golbez vs. Ernst (Suikoden 5)
Golbez vs. Sasarai (Suikoden 3)
Golbez vs. Saki (Shadow Hearts 2)

Golbez vs. Suicune (Pokemon)
Golbez vs. Rofl (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Golbez vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy 7)
Golbez vs. Elly (Xenogears)


Olberic (Octopath Traveler) vs. Zeromus (Final Fantasy 4)
Olberic vs. Lulu (Final Fantasy 10)
Olberic vs. Nel (Star Ocean 3)
Olberic vs. Chaz (Phantasy Star 4)

Olberic vs. Artea (Lufia 2)
Olberic vs. Ernst (Suikoden 5)
Olberic vs. Sasarai (Suikoden 3)
Olberic vs. Saki (Shadow Hearts 2)

Olberic vs. Suicune (Pokemon)
Olberic vs. Rofl (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Olberic vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy 7)
Olberic vs. Elly (Xenogears)


Ness (Earthbound) vs. Zeromus (Final Fantasy 4)
Ness vs. Lulu (Final Fantasy 10)
Ness vs. Nel (Star Ocean 3)
Ness vs. Chaz (Phantasy Star 4)

Ness vs. Artea (Lufia 2)
Ness vs. Ernst (Suikoden 5)
Ness vs. Sasarai (Suikoden 3)
Ness vs. Saki (Shadow Hearts 2)

Ness vs. Suicune (Pokemon)
Ness vs. Rofl (Final Fantasy Tactics)
Ness vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy 7)
Ness vs. Elly (Xenogears)



If you want to use find & replace to create your own set...
YY vs. Zeromus (Final Fantasy 4)
YY vs. Lulu (Final Fantasy 10)
YY vs. Nel (Star Ocean 3)
YY vs. Chaz (Phantasy Star 4)

YY vs. Artea (Lufia 2)
YY vs. Ernst (Suikoden 5)
YY vs. Sasarai (Suikoden 3)
YY vs. Saki (Shadow Hearts 2)

YY vs. Suicune (Pokemon)
YY vs. Rofl (Final Fantasy Tactics)
YY vs. Cloud (Final Fantasy 7)
YY vs. Elly (Xenogears)

14

Unranked Games / Dragon Quest XI

« on: January 18, 2019, 02:43:05 AM »

According to legend, whenever the forces of darkness arise, a chosen one will come, commune with tree roots, fight evil, be turned into a fish, play minigames, and save the world.

This was using the PC version of the game, which is mechanically equivalent to the PS4 version from all accounts (you can install better music, though).  The 3DS JP-only version has some small balance changes vs. this version, and this version is mostly for the better, e.g. Pep Up lasting a longer time.

Useful resources:
* This spreadsheet of equipment: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pGQGO9M_OLNstXbY45t1_zMDCLpiw8pwB7y8fM3IKkA/htmlview?sle=true#
* This GameFAQs thread with the (JP) mechanics, stat ranges, etc.: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/179347-dragon-quest-xi-echoes-of-an-elusive-age/76888622


Normal Ending vs. True Ending

DQ11 has three distinct acts: Final Fantasy 6 World of Balance, Final Fantasy 6 World of Ruin, and Chrono Trigger-meets-Bravely Default.  There's a "normal ending" that rolls the credits after you beat the WoR final boss (Level 50 or so), and there's a "true ending" you get if you beat the Part III final final boss (Level 75 or so).  I've elected to take the game at the True Ending for a few reasons:

* You don't have access to your full party for the Normal Ending.  (See: Tide's Trails of Cold Steel II topic, which took the game at the Epilogue where you have full party member access.)
* The "True Ending" feels a lot plottier than, say, the DQ8 Dragovian Trials which were "I dunno, challenge some friendly dragons since you're bored I guess" or DQ5's "hey do a giant random 100 floor dungeon for no reason."  You're fighting real enemies & advancing the plot, which makes it feel closer to, say, Fire Emblem 6/12's extra true ending levels.
* Entire new skill trees open up for some characters, there's upgrades to existing abilities, etc.  Would feel weird to leave that stuff out.  Skill point allocation conundrums are easier to handle too with more levels.

All characters have around 4 million to 4.1 million XP.  (The characters do differ in level despite similar amounts of XP since they have slightly different levelling speeds, for whatever reason.)


Attack, Abilities, & Magic

DQ11 mostly uses the classic DQ formulas.  Characters can input Attack, Abilities, Magic, and DL-irrelevant Item / Defend.  However, Abilities tend to use two different formula types: one that is based off regular attack damage, one that is closer to the magic formula.  I have arbitrarily called them "Physical abilities" and "Psuedomagic abilities".  So:

* Regular attack: DMG = (Attack Power)/2 - (Enemy's Defense/4).  (If a critical hit: DMG = Attack Power, ignore defense / attack buffs.)
* Physical abilities: Are a multiplier times regular attack damage, and possibly multiple hits.  Example: Jade's Multifeet is 7x hits of DMG * 0.5  = 3.5 * normal attack damage total.  If one of those 7 hits is a critical, apply the multiplier as usual (e.g. multiply it by 0.5), and if somehow the crit would do less damage than 1.2x the normally calculated amount (massive atk buffs vs. a defense debuffed enemy?), do 1.2x the normal amount instead.
* Psuedomagic abilities: Based off a stat (differs by ability), deals damage based off a formula that scales up as the stat rises (perhaps you got Pep'd Up).  Not resisted by an enemy "stat"; however, many of these have an element attached, and that element can be resisted.  (For enemy psuedomagic, "Breath" typed attacks can also be resisted by Insulatle.)
* Magic: Based off Magical Might (MMi), magic spells deal damage based off a formula that scales up as MMi rises.  Not resisted by an enemy "stat"; however, almost all of these have an element attached, and that element can be resisted.  Additionally, buffs / debuffs like Magic Barrier & Anathemsize will affect spell damage.

Or, put another way:
* Physical attacks & physical abilities are heavily affected by enemy defense, and attack & defense buffs and debuffs.  Examples: Oomph / Blunt, Sap / Buff.
* Psuedomagic abilities arguably ignore most defensive stats in the DL, barring elemental resistance, and buffs / debuffs don't usually matter.
* Spells clearly can be resisted, but all PCs have equivalent magic resistance at base, so only buffs / debuffs cover blanket spell resistance.  Elemental resistance also works, of course.

Damage figures in this stat topic assume an enemy defense of 480 (= reduces damage by 120).  Durability vs. defense-subject physical attacks assumes an enemy attack of 650 = 325 incoming damage before defense = 227 damage to DL "average" defense, which is equivalent to .41 PCHP damage.


Evasion, parrying, and blocking

All the block rates, parry rates, and evasion rates below are exactly what they appear to be: Erik has a 16% chance to dodge physicals & physical-ish abilities, Serena has a 10% shield block rate, Jade has a 3% weapon parry rate, and so on.  There isn't an "accuracy" stat or anything to be compared against.  There do exist abilities which explicitly ignore evasion, ignore parry / block, or both, however.


Equipment

I've ignored certain extremely late-breaking item creation recipes in this topic.  For details, see the Appendix.  Short version: I'm ignoring rewards from the Final Trial of the Wheel of Harma and equipment recipes found inside the final postgame dungeon.

All equipment in the topic is forged to +3, which becomes way easier in the postgame.  I also only list "uniqueish" effects & stats.  For the optional equips, if I don't mention the likes of "big defence drop" then assume it's negligible.  For example, Rab loses 10 Defence and 8 Magical Might from equipping an Angel's Robe, which should matter approximately never.

Characters have 2 accessory slots; the stats here don't include them.

Character loadouts have opted for defense more than raw damage for the characters with a choice between two-hands vs. one-hand weapons - Serena and the eighth character, notably, who can both get mildly better damage from going two-handed.  I believe it's the overall better setup.  (Luminary, Sylvando, & Veronica can all go two-handed as well, but don't get better turn 1 damage from it.)

Note that not all abilities are listed.  Presume that if characters want to chip for less damage or be MP-efficient, they have an absolute ton of ways to do so.


Stats

Magic abilities all tend to run off Magical Might or Magical Mending.  Psuedomagic abilities all run off a stat too, although which stat it is changes.  Most of Sylvando's abilities run off Charm, most of Serena's run off Magical Mending, etc.  Strength & Resilience help determine Attack & Defense when combined with equipment for defense-subject attacks.  Charm and Deftness, when not powering a psuedomagic effect, don't really do much.

There are three derived stats below: PCHP, Physical Durability, and standard deviations from cast average agility.  PCHP is just max HP relative to the cast average (1.16 = 116% of the average 553 max HP).  Physical Durability is PCHP modified by the amount of damage taken from an attack of power 650 vs. average defense, and gives a sense of true durability vs. defense-subject attacks.  Std. deviations vs. average is exactly what it says, gives a sense of relative speed.

Cast Averages

HP: 553
MP: 382
Defense: 392
Agility: 266 (Std. deviation: 99)
Elemental damage reduction w/ default equipment, no accessories: 25% resistance

Damage, 1-turn: 579 (2.5x killpoint: 1448)
Damage, 3-turn: 609 (2.5x killpoint: 1523)

15

Discussion / 2018 games in review

« on: December 31, 2018, 03:44:55 PM »

2018!  Games!  Stuff!  Things!

Previous years: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015, 2016, 2017.

16

Tournaments / Proving Grounds Light-Middle: Monster attack

« on: November 06, 2018, 11:59:48 PM »

RPGs force us to ask deep questions about ourselves and the dangerous alliances man makes for power, like "would you ask a skeleton you just beat up to join your party" or "would you like to become the ultimate monster trainer" or "should you become an immortal blob with arms so that you can finish your secret library collection".

PC Sei (SaGa Frontier) - Spooky status-safe skeleton who is, I quote, "the most damaging monster in the DL."  What a god.
Morrie (Dragon Quest 8 DS) - Did anybody other than Pyro play DQ8DS?  And shouldn't Morrie be the one to get Call Team credit, if anybody?  Clearly a misranked Godlike as well.
Cyrus (Octopath Traveler) - DOOM DESTRUCTION DEATH DOOM DESTRUCTION DEATH DOOM DESTRUCTION DEATH DOOM DESTRUCTION DEATH, also clearly Godlike.
Zangetsu (FF4 The After Years) - Paralysis that is either really good or marginal, depending on interp?  Also godlike thunder of the gods, albeit sporting some charge time.
Felicia (Fire Emblem Fates) - Spoils mages hardcore, sports decent speed, godlike tea-brewing skills (?), pls don't poke the physical defense though.


PC Sei (Saga Frontier) vs. Zelos (Tales of Symphonia)
Sei vs. Karin (Shadow Hearts 2)
Sei vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star IV)
Sei vs. Teddie (Persona 4)
Sei vs. Juno (Soul Nomad)
Sei vs. Tony (Wild Arms 4)
Sei vs. Sage (FF3 DS)
Sei vs. Red XIII (FF7)
Sei vs. Kellam (FE Awakening)
Sei vs. Lucca (Chrono Trigger)
Sei vs. Cray (Breath of Fire IV)
Sei vs. Dave (Cosmic Star Heroine)


Morrie (DQ8 DS) vs. Zelos (Tales of Symphonia)
Morrie vs. Karin (Shadow Hearts 2)
Morrie vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star IV)
Morrie vs. Teddie (Persona 4)
Morrie vs. Juno (Soul Nomad)
Morrie vs. Tony (Wild Arms 4)
Morrie vs. Sage (FF3 DS)
Morrie vs. Red XIII (FF7)
Morrie vs. Kellam (FE Awakening)
Morrie vs. Lucca (Chrono Trigger)
Morrie vs. Cray (Breath of Fire IV)
Morrie vs. Dave (Cosmic Star Heroine)


Cyrus (Octopath Traveler) vs. Zelos (Tales of Symphonia)
Cyrus vs. Karin (Shadow Hearts 2)
Cyrus vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star IV)
Cyrus vs. Teddie (Persona 4)
Cyrus vs. Juno (Soul Nomad)
Cyrus vs. Tony (Wild Arms 4)
Cyrus vs. Sage (FF3 DS)
Cyrus vs. Red XIII (FF7)
Cyrus vs. Kellam (FE Awakening)
Cyrus vs. Lucca (Chrono Trigger)
Cyrus vs. Cray (Breath of Fire IV)
Cyrus vs. Dave (Cosmic Star Heroine)


Zangetsu (FF4 The After Years) vs. Zelos (Tales of Symphonia)
Zangetsu vs. Karin (Shadow Hearts 2)
Zangetsu vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star IV)
Zangetsu vs. Teddie (Persona 4)
Zangetsu vs. Juno (Soul Nomad)
Zangetsu vs. Tony (Wild Arms 4)
Zangetsu vs. Sage (FF3 DS)
Zangetsu vs. Red XIII (FF7)
Zangetsu vs. Kellam (FE Awakening)
Zangetsu vs. Lucca (Chrono Trigger)
Zangetsu vs. Cray (Breath of Fire IV)
Zangetsu vs. Dave (Cosmic Star Heroine)


Felicia (FE Fates) vs. Zelos (Tales of Symphonia)
Felicia vs. Karin (Shadow Hearts 2)
Felicia vs. Gryz (Phantasy Star IV)
Felicia vs. Teddie (Persona 4)
Felicia vs. Juno (Soul Nomad)
Felicia vs. Tony (Wild Arms 4)
Felicia vs. Sage (FF3 DS)
Felicia vs. Red XIII (FF7)
Felicia vs. Kellam (FE Awakening)
Felicia vs. Lucca (Chrono Trigger)
Felicia vs. Cray (Breath of Fire IV)
Felicia vs. Dave (Cosmic Star Heroine)

17

Tournaments / Proving Grounds Low Light: The Prophesized Concert

« on: November 06, 2018, 11:55:38 PM »

Since Futurama's finished up, more newish blood.  We have two "responsible" sisters who are showed up by their irresponsible yet more powerful siblings, 2 different musicians (maybe 3 if you count fortune telling as a performance?), and the blessings of the bishop.

Nara/Meena (Dragon Quest IV) - The classic combo of terrible durability and bad damage.  Vote whichever form you like, although DQ4o Nara is Punier of course.
Lauren (Cosmic Star Heroine) - Will totally status you out with Confuse..  for 1 turn, and only if Lauren gives up her Hyper turn for it, the one turn she can emit something resembling damage.
Flora (Fire Emblem Fates) - Spoils mages.  Pity about the worse nearly everything else compared to her sister...
Performer (Bravely Second) - Much improved from BD...  mostly because there's only one place to go, and that was up, and Performer is still goddamn terrible.
Bishop (Bravely Second) - Lots of healing!  No damage whatsoever, but hey, healing.


Nara/Meena (Dragon Quest IV) vs. White Mage (Bravely Default)
Nara/Meena vs. Kongol (Legend of Dragoon)
Nara/Meena vs. Setzer (FF6)
Nara/Meena vs. Nanami (Suikoden 2)
Nara/Meena vs. Nina (Breath of Fire 3)
Nara/Meena vs. MOMO (Xenosaga II)
Nara/Meena vs. Dancer (FF Tactics)
Nara/Meena vs. Isadora (Fire Emblem 7)
Nara/Meena vs. Guido (Grandia)
Nara/Meena vs. Leon (Star Ocean 2)
Nara/Meena vs. Shady Thousand (Wild Arms 3)
Nara/Meena vs. Harley (FF4 The After Years)


Lauren (Cosmic Star Heroine) vs. White Mage (Bravely Default)
Lauren vs. Kongol (Legend of Dragoon)
Lauren vs. Setzer (FF6)
Lauren vs. Nanami (Suikoden 2)
Lauren vs. Nina (Breath of Fire 3)
Lauren vs. MOMO (Xenosaga II)
Lauren vs. Dancer (FF Tactics)
Lauren vs. Isadora (Fire Emblem 7)
Lauren vs. Guido (Grandia)
Lauren vs. Leon (Star Ocean 2)
Lauren vs. Shady Thousand (Wild Arms 3)
Lauren vs. Harley (FF4 The After Years)


Flora (FE Fates) vs. White Mage (Bravely Default)
Flora vs. Kongol (Legend of Dragoon)
Flora vs. Setzer (FF6)
Flora vs. Nanami (Suikoden 2)
Flora vs. Nina (Breath of Fire 3)
Flora vs. MOMO (Xenosaga II)
Flora vs. Dancer (FF Tactics)
Flora vs. Isadora (Fire Emblem 7)
Flora vs. Guido (Grandia)
Flora vs. Leon (Star Ocean 2)
Flora vs. Shady Thousand (Wild Arms 3)
Flora vs. Harley (FF4 The After Years)


Performer (Bravely Second) vs. White Mage (Bravely Default)
Performer vs. Kongol (Legend of Dragoon)
Performer vs. Setzer (FF6)
Performer vs. Nanami (Suikoden 2)
Performer vs. Nina (Breath of Fire 3)
Performer vs. MOMO (Xenosaga II)
Performer vs. Dancer (FF Tactics)
Performer vs. Isadora (Fire Emblem 7)
Performer vs. Guido (Grandia)
Performer vs. Leon (Star Ocean 2)
Performer vs. Shady Thousand (Wild Arms 3)
Performer vs. Harley (FF4 The After Years)


Bishop (Bravely Second) vs. White Mage (Bravely Default)
Bishop vs. Kongol (Legend of Dragoon)
Bishop vs. Setzer (FF6)
Bishop vs. Nanami (Suikoden 2)
Bishop vs. Nina (Breath of Fire 3)
Bishop vs. MOMO (Xenosaga II)
Bishop vs. Dancer (FF Tactics)
Bishop vs. Isadora (Fire Emblem 7)
Bishop vs. Guido (Grandia)
Bishop vs. Leon (Star Ocean 2)
Bishop vs. Shady Thousand (Wild Arms 3)
Bishop vs. Harley (FF4 The After Years)

18

Tournaments / Proving Grounds Heavy: Swords & axes.

« on: September 28, 2018, 10:29:43 PM »

Some various Middle-Heavy borderliners to throw against mostly Heavies.  We'll see how they do.

Eileen (S1) - DL Control.  Jo'ou likes the Earth Rune Suiko users & all.  Really good in Middle, but maybe runs out of spell charge gas too often in Heavy, or is subverted by that lack of status protection?
Haru (P5) - By convention, thought to be a High Middle, so she should get blown out here, right?  I'm skeptical.  Has some powerful spoiling games and a buff game, but compromised by slightly below average speed & durability, and general skill slot shortage.
Laura (ToCS) - Another kneejerked High Middle that I suspect is at least Low Heavy.  Blows you the hell up on turn 1 with Purgatorial Flames -> Radiant Lion, but in trouble if the fight goes beyond turn 1, or you resist both water & fire.
Fencer (Bravely Second) - Just kinda all-around good stats.  Possibly really tanky post-Aurochs Stance buff, depending on feelings about which enemies to judge damage against?
Alfyn (Octopath Traveller) - A tanky, near-infinite healer with a saxophone who even has an answer for status.  That speed though.  Also damage may range from okay-to-kinda-bad by interps, although there's always waiting out 6 turns of poison for when the axe is rusty…


Eileen (Suikoden) vs. Knight (Bravely Default)
Eileen vs. Largo (Tales of the Abyss)
Eileen vs. Citrine (XS3)
Eileen vs. Arnaud (WA4)

Eileen vs. Rufus (VP2)
Eileen vs. Cloud (FF7)
Eileen vs. Rune (PS4)
Eileen vs. Cordelia (FE Awakening)

Eileen vs. Steiner (FF9)
Eileen vs. C1 Human Janus (WA3)
Eileen vs. Marle (CT)
Eileen vs. Alm (FE Echoes)


Haru (Persona 5) vs. Knight (Bravely Default)
Haru vs. Largo (Tales of the Abyss)
Haru vs. Citrine (XS3)
Haru vs. Arnaud (WA4)

Haru vs. Rufus (VP2)
Haru vs. Cloud (FF7)
Haru vs. Rune (PS4)
Haru vs. Cordelia (FE Awakening)

Haru vs. Steiner (FF9)
Haru vs. C1 Human Janus (WA3)
Haru vs. Marle (CT)
Haru vs. Alm (FE Echoes)


Laura (Trails of Cold Steel) vs. Knight (Bravely Default)
Laura vs. Largo (Tales of the Abyss)
Laura vs. Citrine (XS3)
Laura vs. Arnaud (WA4)

Laura vs. Rufus (VP2)
Laura vs. Cloud (FF7)
Laura vs. Rune (PS4)
Laura vs. Cordelia (FE Awakening)

Laura vs. Steiner (FF9)
Laura vs. C1 Human Janus (WA3)
Laura vs. Marle (CT)
Laura vs. Alm (FE Echoes)


Fencer (Bravely Second) vs. Knight (Bravely Default)
Fencer vs. Largo (Tales of the Abyss)
Fencer vs. Citrine (XS3)
Fencer vs. Arnaud (WA4)

Fencer vs. Rufus (VP2)
Fencer vs. Cloud (FF7)
Fencer vs. Rune (PS4)
Fencer vs. Cordelia (FE Awakening)

Fencer vs. Steiner (FF9)
Fencer vs. C1 Human Janus (WA3)
Fencer vs. Marle (CT)
Fencer vs. Alm (FE Echoes)


Alfyn (Octopath Traveller) vs. Knight (Bravely Default)
Alfyn vs. Largo (Tales of the Abyss)
Alfyn vs. Citrine (XS3)
Alfyn vs. Arnaud (WA4)

Alfyn vs. Rufus (VP2)
Alfyn vs. Cloud (FF7)
Alfyn vs. Rune (PS4)
Alfyn vs. Cordelia (FE Awakening)

Alfyn vs. Steiner (FF9)
Alfyn vs. C1 Human Janus (WA3)
Alfyn vs. Marle (CT)
Alfyn vs. Alm (FE Echoes)

19

Tournaments / Proving Grounds: New Blood in Godlike

« on: September 28, 2018, 10:25:01 PM »

Ryu (Breath of Fire IV) - DL Control.  Summons dragonz, goes fishing.  Not the best at putting away fights on turn 1, but if you let him throw his dragon parade at you, that's a lot of HP to eat through.
Alyssa (Cosmic Star Heroine) - The main character who gets some OP weapons near endgame.  Has a powerful buff, and also has an extreme turn 2 nuke.  Can even equip for status defense at the cost of damage.
Wizard (Bravely Second) - Either initiative OHKO average, or wait until their turn and kill even harder.
Rean (Trails of Cold Steel) - Oddly enough, I don't think Rean's ever been in, maybe because of giant robot interp split, and Delay vulnerability headaches?  Well, he's pretty good either way at least.


Ryu (Breath of Fire IV) vs. Apocrypha (Radiant Historia)
Ryu vs. Gilbert (Shadow Hearts 3)
Ryu vs. Ameno-sagiri (Persona 4)
Ryu vs. Dark Knight (Bravely Default)

Ryu vs. Empyrea (DQ8)
Ryu vs. Tir (S1)
Ryu vs. Orlandu (FFT)
Ryu vs. Terra (FF6)

Ryu vs. Miscreation (Wild Arms 4)
Ryu vs. Nailah (FE Radiant Dawn)
Ryu vs. Wakka (FFX)
Ryu vs. Alisa R. (Trails of Cold Steel)


Alyssa L'Salle (Cosmic Star Heroine) vs. Apocrypha (Radiant Historia)
Alyssa vs. Gilbert (Shadow Hearts 3)
Alyssa vs. Ameno-sagiri (Persona 4)
Alyssa vs. Dark Knight (Bravely Default)

Alyssa vs. Empyrea (DQ8)
Alyssa vs. Tir (S1)
Alyssa vs. Orlandu (FFT)
Alyssa vs. Terra (FF6)

Alyssa vs. Miscreation (Wild Arms 4)
Alyssa vs. Nailah (FE Radiant Dawn)
Alyssa vs. Wakka (FFX)
Alyssa vs. Alisa R. (Trails of Cold Steel)


Wizard (Bravely Second) vs. Apocrypha (Radiant Historia)
Wizard vs. Gilbert (Shadow Hearts 3)
Wizard vs. Ameno-sagiri (Persona 4)
Wizard vs. Dark Knight (Bravely Default)

Wizard vs. Empyrea (DQ8)
Wizard vs. Tir (S1)
Wizard vs. Orlandu (FFT)
Wizard vs. Terra (FF6)

Wizard vs. Miscreation (Wild Arms 4)
Wizard vs. Nailah (FE Radiant Dawn)
Wizard vs. Wakka (FFX)
Wizard vs. Alisa R. (Trails of Cold Steel)


Rean Schwarzer (Trails of Cold Steel) vs. Apocrypha (Radiant Historia)
Rean vs. Gilbert (Shadow Hearts 3)
Rean vs. Ameno-sagiri (Persona 4)
Rean vs. Dark Knight (Bravely Default)

Rean vs. Empyrea (DQ8)
Rean vs. Tir (S1)
Rean vs. Orlandu (FFT)
Rean vs. Terra (FF6)

Rean vs. Miscreation (Wild Arms 4)
Rean vs. Nailah (FE Radiant Dawn)
Rean vs. Wakka (FFX)
Rean vs. Alisa R. (Trails of Cold Steel)

20

Unranked Games / Octopath Traveler

« on: September 16, 2018, 05:17:18 AM »

Eight travelers on an adventure meet at a tavern… 

Cited resources:
* Octopath Traveler official guidebook, at least the parts of it I could read.
* Huge credit to Reddit user /u/Tables61 , who derived the formula for damage & healing via testing as well as how each skill interacts with it.  I have used the PDF/LaTex guide compiled by Reddit /u/Zhell_sucks_at_games extensively in making this.  (Thanks to RPGDL members Dark Holy Elf & Ciato for tipping me off to its existence, as well.)  See: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RJJnHXJICBrQyhxFBqxLwpwf-kzz3tjD/view

Level
I've assumed Level 50, largely because that's the level the guidebook has the no-stat-boosting-nuts stats for.  It's overlevel for the Chapter 4s, and a tad underlevel for the postgame superboss, but so it goes.  (L45 would probably be better, but you will also have in-game stat boosts from subclasses and stat-increasing nut items, so maybe L50 is okay to reflect those higher stats anyway.)

The general assumption for equipment is that this stat topic is modelling just-before a character's Chapter 4.  You've visited all the farthest crop of towns, bought cool stuff from their inhabitants, and done sidequests with recommended level < 45.  You haven't actually started or finished any Chapter 4, nor gotten treasure from C4 dungeons / bosses, nor unlocked various NPCs & quests that appear after a C4 is completed.


BP
Short for "Boost Points", BP is an extra stat that charges over time that is kind of like BP in Bravely Default.  It increases by 1 a turn, up to a maximum of 5 BP.  You can spend BP to boost an action so that it deals more damage, heals more, inflicts a buff or debuff effect for a longer time, etc.  In general, most abilities boost such that spending 1 BP is double damage, 2 BP is triple damage, and 3 BP is 4x damage.  If you spend BP, however, your next turn you won't gain a BP, so you are encouraged to wait a bit then spend it all at once.  Some abilities below will say "boosts at rate 0.8" or the like; that means that rather than double damage for spending 1 BP, it will instead be 1.8x damage (and 2.6x damage for 2 BP, and 3.4x damage for 3 BP).


Speed
Mentioning this up-front because it's weird and DL-important.  The speed stat isn't potent in Octopath; initiative has a huge random component, so you need to seriously outspeed enemies to consistently beat them.  So…  take it with a grain of salt, low speed isn't necessarily that bad, and high speed isn't that reliable.

The key weird thing in Octopath vs. other RPGs is that turn-order is calculated one turn ahead, as can be seen by the initiative forecast.  This combines with the fact that characters always default to a specific weapon type to mean that a character's default weapon type is what will affect the first two turns of initiative, even if their alternate weapon is faster.  (Thus Olberic is stuck with his Sword's speed score on turn 1 even if his Spear's speed is faster.)

In short: your speed stat at the start of turn 1 will affect your initiative rolls on turn 1 and 2.  Your speed stat at the end of turn 1 will affect your initiative on turn 3.  Your speed stat at the end of turn 2 will affect your initiative on turn 4, etc.

Also, note that Octopath Traveler is turn-based, not CTB based.  A super speedy character won't get in-game double-turns, a slow character won't get doubled.  The only way for this to happen in-game is Hunter's Patience skill, which offers a 25% chance of a free extra action in-between turns.  (No, you don't get BP on a Patience turn.)


Equipment
A lot more stats come from equipment than the characters themselves, and you can hypothetically juggle equipment quite a bit to get different builds.  In practice, this means that most characters will sacrifice everything for more speed if you let them.  I've elected to lock down options a bit and forbid this.

Armor, Helmets, Shields, and Accessories are all universal, so I've elected to be strict and say storebought only for these.  See Appendix below for the full list of options, but everybody is assumed to have the following defensive equips for ease of comparison:

Enchanted Circlet: Phys. Def. +79, Elem. Def. +104, Max SP +53
Dragon's Vest: Phys. Def. +183, Elem Def +185
Force Shield: Phys. Def. +102, Elem. Def. +102, Evasion -69
Sprightly Bracelet: Speed + 50
Empowering Ring: Max. HP +200

Weapons are trickier.  Going storebought-only would have some weird effects (e.g. Therion's best storebought speed-increasing dagger is hideously dated and outclassed).  Each of the six weapon types has 2 of the 8 base classes that can wield it.  However, DL-illegal subclassing in-game might mean that you now have 3-4 characters who can wield that weapon type if you give those classes to characters who didn't already have access to that weapon.  That said, I have elected to allow the 2nd-best weapon of a "type" as a measure of niceness to dagger & staff users.   Note that, as above, I've discounted most C4 and postgame drops, as well as some storebought stuff that is locked behind Scrutinizing somebody hiding behind a level 70 duel and so on (cough, cough, Hyperion Bow).  So no credit for, say, picking up 2x Rune Knifes in Tressa's C4, for all that Primrose would like that option.  I'm also not including items you get from drops from Provoke/Challenge (you have no way, short of a FAQ, of knowing who might be carrying the good stuff, and the only stuff that matters for this topic generally requires beating postgame-level opponents anyway).

See the individual character writeups for weapon options.


Subclasses
Are DL-illegal, but there's no reason not to equip one in-game unless you really like the base sprite of your characters.  They offer class-specific stat boosts, the ability to equip their favored weapons, and their skills.  The reason I bring it up is that the elemental attack stat is a little different - it uses your HIGHEST value among all your weapons, not your current weapon's value.  While it might be illegal to "use" an off-class weapon, it might be legit to bake in the existence of other weapons as a strict Elemental Attack holder?  This means that characters won't be obligated to equip for Elemental Attack on their main weapon selection unless they want to.  (Which is accurate to in-game, IMO, you'll have 3-4 weapon types and devoting a little-used one to Elemental Attack is cheap.)  This most matters for Primrose, and to a lesser extent for Therion & Alfyn if they have a match where they want to threaten both beatdown and backup magic at the same time.

Assuming we lock these off-class backup weapons to storebought only, the "worst" classes for this are Dancer and Thief, which only offer Daggers for +188 E. Atk off a storebought Soul Knife, so that seems like a good baseline of "you will always have at least this much of an E. Atk boost."  (Alfyn will sometimes want this if he can't afford to equip his mage axe option.)  For Primrose herself, this issue is actually kinda important…  she really wants to run both a Speed dagger for initiative as well as still have worthwhile magic.  While technically she could foolishly subclass to Thief and be stuck with worthless swords, of her other 6 options, the "worst" option as far as storebought elemental attack weapons is, oddly enough, Scholar & Cleric, which offer +216 E. Atk Meteorite Rods.  As such, as a measure of generosity, I've let Primrose & Therion have +216 E. Atk even when equipping a Speed Dagger.


Derived stats
PCHP is the HP of the character compared to average; i.e. Olberic has 1.25 PCHP = 125% average HP.  Physical & elemental durability are the PCHP affected by physical/elemental defense.  Specifically, it's a multiplier based on how much damage the character takes from an enemy attack with 1000 base power, an attack multiplier of 2.3, and that multiplies defense by 0.9.  Such an attack will deal 1100-1200 damage or so, which feels about right for powerful boss attacks.

All of the damage figures listed below assume an enemy with 225 Defense.


Cast Averages

HP: 2724 (equipped); 2787 (w/ Alfyn passive); 2524 (base, no equipment/skills)
Speed: 289 (equipped); 295 (w/ Therion passive); 178 (base, no equipment/skills)
Speed std. deviation: 91

("Natural" rules - no Guide/Allure summons, no Summon Beast, no Hired Help)
Damage, 1 turn: 860 (2.5x killpoint: 2145)
Damage, 2 turn: 895 (2.5x killpoint: 2235)
Damage, 3 turn: 1205 (2.5x killpoint: 3010)
Damage, 4 turn: 1010 (2.5x killpoint: 2530)
Damage, average of 1/2/3/4 turns: 990 (2.5x killpoint: 2480)

("Anything goes" rules - Summon help, within budget & sanity constraints.)
Damage, 1 turn: 1140 (2.5x killpoint: 2845)
Damage, 2 turn: 1245 (2.5x killpoint: 3115)
Damage, 3 turn: 1520 (2.5x killpoint: 3805)
Damage, 4 turn: 1315 (2.5x killpoint: 3285)
Damage, average of 1/2/3/4 turns: 1305 (2.5x killpoint: 3265)

21

Discussion / DLCon 2018 recap thread

« on: August 19, 2018, 07:15:43 PM »

See title, since it's winding down now.  For stuff like bowling scores, music quiz scores, and insulting superaielman.

22

Discussion / DLCon 2018: The Big Apple

« on: March 23, 2018, 01:15:19 AM »

The place: New York City, a distant southern suburb of Toronto

The time: Thursday, August 16 through Sunday, August 19

Stuff to do: It's New York.  There's everything from High Culture (art museums, concerts, historic sites, Broadway musicals & plays, pretentious indie film theatres, snobby French restaurants, artisan organic local Brooklyn cafes/breweries/snacks) to Low Culture (video game import stores, bars, bowling, karaoke, Mets / Red Bull games, Central Park, dim sum, cheap banh mi sandwiches).  Also chillin' and playing vidja games, board games, card games, role-playing games, mind games.  That works too.

Cost: TBA, but not as bad as you might think?  EDIT: I booked a spot, and while a little pricier than I hoped for, the location is great and we'll have plenty of room.  Probably around 270 per person, will go up or down based on surprise extra attendance / no shows.  As usual, if budget is the problem, contact SF & Meeple; we can work something out. 

Events will vary; no guarantees if you want, like, Hamilton tickets in the front row.

--
Coming
(SnowFire, Meeplelard)
NotMiki
Meiousei
Ciato
Dark Holy Elf
superaielman
CmdrKing
Veryslightlymad
Sierra
Talaysen
Aziraphale
Sopko
Magic Fanatic
OblivionKnight
Carthrat
AndrewRogue
metroid composite (Friday-Sun only)

Maybes
Nephrite

Maybes but unlikely
Yakumo
Dhyerwolf

Not Coming
Gatewalker
Grefter
Shale
DjinnAndTonic
LadyDoor
Tide
Magetastica
Niu

For the unlisted maybes out there: Confirmations help, even maybes with vague guesses as to how maybe it is.  Cloudy crystal balls are fine.  If you are a 90% maybe rather than a 50% maybe, please say so - it will affect the size of the place rented.  Which will probably happen sooner rather than later, so speak up!  (EDIT: Rental in, it's for 16x people by default.  Since I'll be chilling at my nearby apartment most likely, that's really 17x people, and we can easily go a bit over that as needed.)

Arrival & departure dates are also useful to know.  Note that if you are arriving Wednesday August 15, that's great, and I can host some people on my sofas, but if too many people want to do this, y'all may need to split a hotel.  It's probably fine, just we should coordinate it.  Same with people staying Sunday night; a few might squeeze in, but more may want to grab an extra hotel night.

23

Discussion / 2017 games in review

« on: January 01, 2018, 10:03:07 PM »

Since nobody's posted it yet, I guess I'll do the honors.  2017!  Games!

Previous years: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015, 2016.

24

General Chat / DL Quotes Quiz, Impossible Edition

« on: October 10, 2017, 02:23:18 AM »

There are three types of quotes: easy ones (for a given group), tough ones, and ones that people have a snowball's chance in hell of getting.  In the process of researching good quotes, you tend to find most in the third category.  This is my chance to burn 'em off guiltlessly.  This is your own fault if you keep reading.

The answers are already posted below; no submissions or scores.  This quote quiz is impossible.  Sources can be anything; RPGs, video games, TV shows, movies, novels, snarky Twitter comments, voices in SnowFire's head, anything, anywhere.  All bets are off.  Even the ones from RPGs might be from obscure Bad Ending #7, or debug mode on, or unused text type stuff.  Make no assumptions about fairness whatsoever.  Games shamelessly feature games SnowFire is more familiar with, too.  I wouldn't be shocked if the median score was, like, 2.

You can post your possible score in reply if you want.  Feel free to lie if you like; maybe everybody will all get a perfect score!  Maybe people will do so well they score better than perfect.  Who knows.


1.
I regret to inform you that the next test is impossible.  Make no attempt to solve it.

2.
A: …Perfection. Your skill…is far superior to mine…
B: You… You must be kidding! For {{NAME}} to fall like this… How could a nobody like that defeat…such a warrior…?

3.
Can you hear them?  The wailing of dying soldiers, echoing throughout the battlefield...  With an incompetent king, a soldier cannot show his true bravery.  Time for you to suffer!

4.
A: What's our purpose in life? Why are we here?
B: We're here to devour each other alive.

5.
You've heard of animals chewing off a leg to escape a trap? There's an animal kind of trick. A human would remain in the trap, endure the pain, feigning death that he might kill the trapper and remove a threat to his kind.

6.
Let me down, {{TITLE}}.  I'm begging you! I'm a human being.  Let me have my dignity back!

7.
You know what? I blame {{NAME}}.  When {{NAME}} was there to fuel my desire to open crates, my life was happy.

8.
SEE souvenirs of {NAME}’s most famous escapades! TASTE culinary delights approved by genuine pirates! HEAR beautiful pirate folk music! FEEL your souls being gently ripped from your bodies by this restaurant of uncompromising EEEEEVIL!!! MWAH-HAH-HAH-HAAA!!!

9.
General {{NAME}} said, "I've never seen anything like this," because he had to sign the ultimate.  He had to sign the ultimate, you know.  He said, "I've never seen anything like this before, as long as I've been in the military."

10.
Mother… Forgive me… I…lied… I stole… And this…is my punishment…

11.
Yo buddy, you want to play Cream-A-Cat.  I know it.

12.
All objects under heaven and earth are his weapon. Watch the topography and take full advantage of it.

13.
KILLING ME WON'T BRING BACK YOUR GODDAMNED HONEY

14.
You said to call you Ten.  Who are you?  Why does it take so long?  I don't understand what is going on.  I don't know who I am or where I am.  I'm all by myself.  Who are you?  I love you too.

15.
Another evil penguin.  Surprise, surprise.

16.
Who needs a girlfriend, when you can have the love of a giant poisonous bug? I feed it a steady diet of garbage so that its bite stays toxic to weak-blooded fools. Its strong mandibles can tunnel deep into the earth, break down walls, and cut people in two before slurping out their tasty innards. Honestly, I hope Mirky eats me when I die. I've never had a truer friend.

17.
Updated my journal.

18.
I was all set to terminate, you know? And this wasn’t like…this wasn’t a game I was playing. I’m not playing…you know, I wasn’t playing chess or poker or anything else. This was, I was, I’d never even thought about…it’s always the best when you really feel this way. But I was…I had no thought of anything else, and these two guys will tell you, I had no thought of anything else but termination.

19.
I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog!

20.
If the arbiter, which is meant to become one with the Time Devourer cannot neutralize Time Devourer's conflict with other lives when they unites, the resolution well be in Time Devoruer's favor, then the alien darkness shall devour the the dreams of all times. In the other words, as long as arbiter does not exist, the full awakening of the Time Devourer can be delayed indefinitely.

21.
I'm a farmer.

22.
You and I have a rendezvous with destiny…. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

23.
I want to meet this God guy face-to-face and beat his punk ass down!

24.
Stopped into Chattagnooga, Tennessee
Joined in the county summer jamboree,
Offered them the madness of the truly free.
He caused their crowns to crumble and their armies to flee

25.
*sigh* ...Good... I was so scared...
I didn't think I was gonna make it...
Oh, thank God...
There's a hole in the bag...
I need to close it...but I don't want to touch it... *whimper*
I don't think this is recyclable...
I wonder if the trash collector will take this...
But I... it's not my responsibility...
I don't wanna touch it again...
*sigh*
I want to shower now...
I hope the smell will come off…

26.
No one has EVER spoken ill of my pickles. This isn't over.

27.
The avalanche has already started; It is too late for the pebbles to vote.

28.
Prince {{NAME}}...yeah, so? 
I hate him!  Everyone does.

29.
It wasn’t two bites of the apple. It was one bite. Somebody set a time limit and that was mistake; I said never set a time limit but somebody set a time limit. So when they didn’t meet that time limit they said, “We didn’t get it there”, well, they shouldn’t have set a time limit.

30.
Dishonor can be washed away with success.  Feed your leftover pride to that dog.

31.
The Sun!  Worship the mercy that outshines sick truths!

32.
Ooh-wee!  … is this what it's like to die?  … ooh-wee...

33.
What is it like to chase cows every day?  I wager they bite, the nasty creatures.

34.
From Hell's heart, I stab at thee; For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee.

35.
This overwhelmingly forgettable appearance, generic speech style, and total lack of sex appeal…  {{NAME}}…  Are you an NPC!?

36.
Battle doesn't need a purpose; the battle is its own purpose. You don't ask why a plague spreads or a field burns. Don't ask why I fight.

25

Unranked Games / Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor: Overclocked

« on: August 26, 2017, 02:27:08 AM »

The year: 2009.
The place: Tokyo.
The problem: Thanks to the Internet and Google Translate, humanity has conquered the curse of Babel, uniting the world under one language, enabling a would-be dictator to rise again, perhaps, and invite a new Judgment of God.  An immortal genius programmer hired by a religious cult decides to use the Internet and a captured rock band member to help automate demon summoning rituals, but it turns out his server merges with the Tower of Babel which is taken to the demon realm, and then
(SEVEN PAGES REDACTED)
the cult members.  Can Our Hero win the war for the Throne of Hell so that he can hold an awesome punk concert which will banish the demons infesting Tokyo via the primal common tongue of music, thus surviving God's deadly seven-day ordeal?  Or will he haXX0r the server to make demons serve the Illuminati?  Or will he order the demons to obey God?  Or will he trust his shifty "cousin" with an agenda?  Or will he GTFO?

--

Devil Survivor 1!  It's…  damn near the same game as Devil Survivor 2 mechanically!  So see the DS2 topic, almost everything there applies here:

http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=6729.0

So…  what's different about DS1 original vs. DS1 Overlocked vs. DS2?

• Rather than magic cell phones, Our Heroes use magic modded Nintendo DSes.  (Ah, the optimism of 2009, that everyone might have these.)
• While the DS1 protagonist does vacuum up demon powerz into him, Mega Man style, he is not the super ultimate Shining One Bodhisattva that was the DS2 protagonist.  As such, the rest of the cast does not gain elemental resistances from forming a warm relationship with Our Leader.  (Okay, except for one frosty member.)
• Defensively, it feels like Str & Mag are more important defensively relative to DS2, and Vit is less important relative to DS2.  So Keisuke isn't quite as frail as you might expect, Amane gets owned by physical damage, and Izuna & Kaido fear magic damage.
• Stat requirements on skills are higher in DS1 Overclocked than in DS2, and even higher in original DS1.  Hypothetically, this would help uniqueness, except that the money skills the cast wants are generally ones with reasonable stat requirements anyway, so not that much.

This topic is a "Day 7" topic taken at lvl. 55, rather than a "Day 8" topic taken at ~lvl. 65.  This is for three reasons: first, for better compatibility with the original Devil Survivor, where all routes stopped on Day 7.  Second, because even in Overclocked, not all routes even have a Day 8; Gin/Haru & Atsuro both still end on Day 7.  Third, Gin doesn't even have a Day 8 form, so including him would require a Day 7 topic anyway.


Game mechanics / stats

See "Game mechanics" section of the DS2 topic:
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=6729.0
Except, two newish stats:
* Move: Some characters have 3 Move, others 4 Move.
* Speed: This is "map speed", the rate of the character's squad gaining turns on the map.  Has nothing to do with how quickly you act in actual skirmishes, which is still AGL.  (Al-Saiduq had good DS2 Spd, but that was hidden.)

In general, map speed is pretty irrelevant IMO - the differences are quite small.  Naoya's 4 Move & 50 Spd is way better than Yoohoo's 3 Move and 52 Spd.  The map-fastest character, Keisuke, will get 8 map turns for every 7 the map-slowest character, Kaido, gets.  Big whoop, most maps are over by then, and so will most DL duels.

"Effective Speed" ignores the "Speed" stat (ugh, nomenclature).  It assumes that a 7 AGL character never gets an Extra Turn, that a 16 AGL character gets a "natural" Extra Turn half the time, and that a 25 AGL character always gets an extra turn.  (This comes out to 7 AGL = 66% speed due to getting 2 turns for every 3 that average gets, and 25 AGL = 133% speed due to getting 4 turns to every 3 that average gets.)

Dancing all Night (Skills)

As with DS2, I'm only allowing basic damage skills for the cast, which sadly makes it very one-dimensional.  Unlike DS2, most of the characters don't even have boss forms for skill inspiration.

Magical skills I've opted to allow:
* There are 4 Dances - 5 if you include Holy Dance, and 6 if you include Cursed Dance - and sure, there's enough to go around.  They are all your best magic damage in a duel.
** Similar to DS2, to show which elements a character is "good" at, I've handed them out based on which element amps they can equip.  In Overclocked, it's a 12-12 stat requirement in two stats (Fire: Mag-Str; Ice: Mag-Vit; Elec: Mag-Agl; Force: Vit-Agl); in original, it was a 14-13 requirement.  I'm using 14-14 in this topic to reflect characters who can use the amp right from the start of Day 7, or by the end of Day 7 in the original.  For example, Gin, with his balanced build, can equip any Amp, and gets all four Dances.  Mari's 12 Agl means she misses out on Elec & Force and sticks to Fire & Ice Dance.  Amane's dedication to Mag & Vit means she only has Ice Dance.
** I would probably only allow Holy Dance to very high Mag characters - there's less Almighty damage in general than in DS2 (Megido & Drain, basically) so less good backups, and the damage is pretty trashy without a good base Mag due to no Amp.  Amane, Yuzu, & Naoya, perhaps.  It's 45 MP and worse on damage so isn't usually relevant, though.


Physical skills I've opted to allow:
* Berserk & Deathbound.  (And vanilla damage skills, I guess, but those hardly matter.)  There are two of these so you can outfit 2 fighters and they're just plain the best physical damage options.  Berserk is based off raw HP & Str, while Deathbound is HP / Vit / Str.  (Raw HP, not % HP, so Izuna does more damage than Atsuro with Berserk at full health despite them both having 22 Str.  She'd do the same damage when reduced to Atsuro's HP.)  I'm allowing these to characters that can use all of Berserk, Deathbound, and Phys Amp - in other words, Atsuro / Gin / Izuna / Black Frost / Kaido.  Keisuke, no dice, as his trash Vit means no Phys Amp for him.

Physical skills that are borderline on DL legality:
* Multistrike.  Unlike DS2, there isn't a Multi-Hit skill, just one Multistrike, so you can only outfit 1 character with it.  I might overlook that, but Multistrike is also crazy late; like, Belberith battle late.  And it wasn't in the original.  Nah.  (Izuna is really the only person who might be missing out here anyway.)
* Mighty Hit.  It's an automatic critical hit and pretty good (or, alternatively, the Anger Hit + Marksman Auto Skill combo for a much smaller HP cost).  However, there's only one of it ignoring the Anger Hit strat, and it makes speed a bit janky and weird, since crit-farming is a way to make yourself "faster" sort of and harvest more extra turns, at least if you're slow and/or the enemy is fast.  Kaido is the main character who wants it (maybe Black Frost if you squint, as well).

Damage Figures

I've tested damage from skills on an L54 Catoblepas with 22 Str and 18 Mag.  So yes, that means physicals are somewhat underrated by this topic as it stands.  (Alas, this was the closest to balance I could find.  An equal Str & Mag enemy would have been ideal to test on.)  OTOH, phys damage has some issues in DS1, most notably in absolutely requiring the "Pierce" passive to be equipped to deal with all the resistance floating around (almost all the Day 7 bosses either Resist/Null/Drain Phys, or have Tetrakarn), so maybe this is fair minor penalty to pay.  Up to you.