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Topics - DragonKnight Zero

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1
  So I had this nutty idea for an exhibition match bouncing inside of my head for a while now and finally decided frick it, lets roll.  Seeking 32 duelers to combat a twisted mystery creation that Hojo has cooked up in his lab.

Nomination process -

Up to 8 noms per person; you're not compelled to use them all.

Order matters as the fighter list will be seeded by an equal number of top picks from each nominator, with the remainder chosen by RNG.

It's suggested to choose 2 fighters from each of the 4 divisions but I'm gonna be lazy and am unlikely to enforce it.  With the setup I have in mind, higher divisions are not necessarily an automatic superior choice.

And that's it.  Pretty simple, no?  Noms will be open for a week though I may extend it at my discretion depending on turnout.

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Might as well get things started with finishing up writeups from FFT Fiesta.

  Was being indecisive about what I needed for the final series.  For accessories, picked up 2 Rubber Shoes (just in case though I don't plan to use them) and a 2nd Defense Armlet.  Grabbed a 2nd Red Shoes. (should have picked up a 3rd as well) Most of my remaining funds went to extra katanas for Draw Out.  Kikus and Murasames mostly with a few more Kotetsus and Heaven's Clouds.

UBS4

  Priest with Draw Out, Dancer with Punch Art and Martial Arts, Samurai also goes Punch Art + Martial Arts.  Blade Grasp on all.  The only really meaningful threat on the field is the lower leveled monk.  He dies to a Bolt3 from the mediator's Blast Gun and an Earth Slash from the dancer.  After that, it's just taking out everyone else.  Other monk, then archer, knights last.  I checked the knights' secondaries for anything that would threaten a full team of 80 Brave Blade Grasp, danger level nil.  Elemental boosted Blast Gun, Earth Slash, and Draw Out > enemy evasion.
  Did stall for a bit at the end.  Could have dropped the last knight with Holy but the first monk would crystalize first so I opted to wait a round to go for all the marbles.  Crystal which Felicia picks up.  Learn Counter and Move-HP up off it.  She now can master the class.  Only damage I take all fight is one arrow and random Throw Stone.

UBS5

  Everyone but the dancer is set up with a spell gun and a Black Robe if they can.  Arrange PBF to draw Rofel forward with a Petrify.  Firing squad executes him in three shots.

Morund Death City

  Priest and mediator go in squad 2, everyone else in squad 1.  Mediator, monk, and samurai have Hamedo and keep Blade Grasp on the rest.  I give the dancer a Bracer and a Power Sleeve to go with her Thief Hat.  Punch Art and Martial Arts on her and the samurai.  Move Ramza exactly 3 panels from his default location.  Kletian comes forward to charge Holy on the dancer.  Ninja on squad 2 side goes for Throw on the Mediator, Hamedo.  Other enemies advance doing nothing.  Dancer advances with a Spin Fist on Kletian, a ninja, and a time mage hitting all three. (this is the only time I've used Spin Fist all game)  Mediator shoots ninja dead.  Priest does nothing of importance: using Kiku on a samurai just for the action.  Monk Ramza punches Kletian for 210.  Wave Fist from the samurai does enough to drop him.

Death City Presincts

  My female Gemini's turn to be the priest.  I give her Blast Gun, Thief Hat, Black Robe, and Red Shoes and set Hamedo.  Samurai Artemis gets a Blaze Gun, Black Robe, and Hamedo.  Everyone else sticks with Blade Grasp.  Defense Armlets on the members unable to wear Thief Hats.
  I messed up PBF placement putting the female Gemini in squad 2.  So Balk ends up shooting at Artemis on his first turn instead.  Gun Hamedo.  Priest moves up and Kiku on Balk for 160. (and the hyudra)  Enemy Chemist tosses a Hi-Potion on the hyudra, not that it matters.  Monk Earth Slash on two, 40 to Balk.  Samurai and mediator shoot the hydra dead.  Dancer starts Nameless.  Balk gets his second turn and shoots at the female Gemini.  Just as planned.  Gun Hamedo procs a Bolt2 leaving him at 124 HP.  She does 153 with the Blast Gun allowing me to end it right there.  Easiest Balk 2 fight I've ever had.  And hey, that 40 damage Earth Slash mattered.  Dancer doesn't get any actions this battle.

Hashulam

  Black Costumes for all but priest and samurai to ward of Spell.  Hamedo on monk and samurai with the rest sticking with Blade Grasp.  MagicDefend Up on all.
   Turned out to be very straightforward bashing.  Hash mostly stuck to hitting 3-5 units at a time with magic but MagicDefend Up (and Move-HP up on the two who had it learned) along with Chakra, Murasame, and the occasional Cure were sufficient to keep up.  If someone got low enough to die to a physical, well that's why I have Hamedo on the two units with decent physicals.  Priest supports and uses Draw Out.  Monk and samurai go between offense and support as needed.  Mediator shoots,  Dancer uses Kiku or Slow Dance if not able to get a good fining line/offense would require too much bunching up.  Hash couldn't really get damage to stick and went down like a chump.  No Slow procs from Heaven's Cloud but didn't really need it anyways.

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Tournaments / King of RPGDL: Bonus match
« on: May 21, 2023, 12:20:10 AM »
Because it wouldn't be a King of Fighters inspired tourney without getting shredded by the iconic Genocide Cutter.  Repeatedly.

  So of course this bonus bout will be against the first SNK boss of the series, Rugal Bernstein.  In line with being a cheap SNK boss, he'll also deal 20% more damage and take 20% less as well as having nearly complete blanket status immunity.  Also, he needs to be defeated twice to be victorious.  One more fight for the heavy division champs to prove themselves.

It's a bonus match so there's more freedom on how to interpret Rugal for this context.  Also, I wouldn't be opposed to giving the RPG characters some extra options outside their normal dueling skillset, though nothing too crazy.

Team Speed Manip: Fie (Cold Steel) / Arnaud / Tidus vs Rugal Bernstein (king of Fighters series)

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Tournaments / King of RPGDL: Grand finals
« on: April 15, 2023, 12:23:06 AM »
Sorry, it's late.  The final round is here.  Rather than having the same matchup two weeks in a row, I'm ruling that the team coming in from losers need to obtain double the votes or more of the team from winners to take the crown.  Any other result (including no votes whatsoever) and the team from winners will be declared victorious.

Heavyweight

Team SMASH: Geno / Alexia / Zerase (winners) vs Team Speed Manip: Fie (Cold Steel) / Arnaud / Tidus (losers)

Lightweight

Team Servants: Gremio (S1), Brey/Borya (DQ4), Jakob (FE Fates) (winners) vs Team Cats & Frogs Living Together: Cray (Breath of Fire 4), Lethe (FE9), Frog (CT) (losers)

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Tournaments / King of RPGDL: Losers finals
« on: April 03, 2023, 08:32:04 AM »
On the home stretch and the finish line approaches.

Heavyweight -
 
Team Speed Manip: Fie (Cold Steel) / Arnaud / Tidus vs Team Sexy Beasts: Rei (BoF3), Nikki (MK), Kevin (SD3)

Lightweight -

Team Isekai: Aurora (Child of Light), Frederick (Eternal Sonata), Rabbid Peach (Mario+Rabbids)  vs Team Cats & Frogs Living Together: Cray (Breath of Fire 4), Lethe (FE9), Frog (CT)

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Tournaments / King of RPGDL: Losers bracket 3
« on: March 26, 2023, 01:46:34 AM »
  Oh boy, rematch in lightweight.  Will team Super fare any better this time against the team that put them in losers initially?

Heavyweight -

Team Speed Manip: Fie (Cold Steel) / Arnaud / Tidus vs Team Fellowship of the Ring: Athos / Rufus (VP2) / Geddoe

Lightweight -

Team Superaielman: Kain / Noel / Nergal vs Team Cats & Frogs Living Together: Cray (Breath of Fire 4), Lethe (FE9), Frog (CT)

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Tournaments / King of RPGDL: Losers Bracket 2
« on: March 18, 2023, 01:22:10 AM »
Winners bracket 2 will remain open for the conventional one week voting window.

Wasn't going to repost the match format writeup but I already had it open in a separate window so it's a 20 second cut-and-paste job.  So it follows.  There are a few additional rulings, for the curious and to clear up potential confusion.

- Though the teams are 3 members each, matches take place as a series of 1 on 1 bouts.  First bout starts with the first member of each team.  When one fighter is knocked out, the next member of the team in sequence steps up and the fight continues from that point.  Winner of the match is the team that knocks out all 3 of the other team's fighters.
- Each bout is timed.  After 50 turns (shared by both fighters) if neither fighter is knocked out a Time Over will be declared. Both will be considered defeated and the next bout will begin with the next members of each team.  Hopefully it's obvious but the timer does reset to full after any KO.
- A fighter who knocks out an opponent will receive a small amount of HP recovery.  This starts at 20%HP if winning in one action and scales linearly downward to 0.4% recovery for winning on turn 50.  Note that this winner's HP recovery is scaled to an average HP fighter.  To use the Wild ARMS 3 crew as an example.  Virginia would regain more life proportional to her max HP than Gallows and Clive would under equal win conditions.  I originally envisioned this as an event based heal that bypasses statuses but I found the idea that Disease or similar statuses that prevent in-battle healing also blocking this recovery so amusing I decided to incorporate it as standard.  So if a winning fighter is under a status effect that would prevent HP recovery, they get nothing.  Undead reversal does not apply to this recovery so any states that would reverse cures aren't applicable here.
- Other than this HP recovery, the winning fighter continues from where they left off.  HP, MP, skill charges, and other resources will remain depleted.  Meter gain, if applicable, also carries over.  So do all status effects and stat changes, positive or negative and their durations.  This is different from fighting games, which will clear all status buffs and debuffs between rounds.
- Turn order is reinitialized when a new fighter comes in.  This is for interpretation simplicity.  No initiative advantage from KO'ing an opponent with a counter, too bad.  The re-initialization only applies to turn order.  Any independent effects such as Mana Khemia timed cards remain active.
- No dead team member bonuses or penalties.  The fights are 1 on 1 after all.
- There is a new voting option.  Double KO, if the match ends with a Time Over with the last member of both teams.  There are a number of options to handle this.  Decision (cast vote either way based on whatever personal criteria you please), Coinflip, or (my favorite comedy option) Reserves, which I've made a post about in the nomination topic going into greater detail.

Heavyweight -

Team Surprisingly Deadly Thieves: Eric (DQ11), Therion (8PT), Morgana (P5) vs Team Speed Manip: Fie (Cold Steel) / Arnaud / Tidus

Team Fliers: Nina (Breath of Fire 4), Sumia (FE Awakening), Rose (Legend of Dragoon) vs Team Fellowship of the Ring: Athos / Rufus (VP2) / Geddoe

Lightweight -

Team Palmer: Olivier (WA3) / Linny (FM3) / Palmer vs Team Superaielman: Kain / Noel / Nergal


Team Cats & Frogs Living Together: Cray (Breath of Fire 4), Lethe (FE9), Frog (CT) vs Team C-tier ninjas: Akahgi (Suiko 4), Frank (SH3), Sheena (ToS)

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Tournaments / King of RPGDL: Winners bracket 2
« on: March 12, 2023, 09:07:43 PM »
Voting on Losers bracket 1 will remain open for another day or two.  I was not busy at the moment and decided to get this round posted.

Only two matches.  Voting time will be a week as usual though I do plan on posting the second losers bracket set sometime in the middle of the week.

  I'm guessing that anyone inclined to vote on these is already familiar with the format from past rounds and I don't need to repost that block of text.  Can still do so if requested.

Heavyweight:

Team SMASH: Geno / Alexia / Zerase vs Team Sexy Beasts: Rei (BoF3), Nikki (MK), Kevin (SD3)

Lightweight:

Team Servants: Gremio (S1), Brey/Borya (DQ4), Jakob (FE Fates) vs Team Isekai: Aurora (Child of Light), Frederick (Eternal Sonata), Rabbid Peach (Mario+Rabbids)

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Tournaments / King of RPGDL: Losers bracket 1
« on: March 07, 2023, 04:52:23 AM »
Voting on winners bracket 1 is technically closed but since I'm not posting their next round for a few days, I'm going to be lax with late votes there.

Match format, reposted for convenience

- Though the teams are 3 members each, matches take place as a series of 1 on 1 bouts.  First bout starts with the first member of each team.  When one fighter is knocked out, the next member of the team in sequence steps up and the fight continues from that point.  Winner of the match is the team that knocks out all 3 of the other team's fighters.
- Each bout is timed.  After 50 turns (shared by both fighters) if neither fighter is knocked out a Time Over will be declared. Both will be considered defeated and the next bout will begin with the next members of each team.  Hopefully it's obvious but the timer does reset to full after any KO.
- A fighter who knocks out an opponent will receive a small amount of HP recovery.  This starts at 20%HP if winning in one action and scales linearly downward to 0.4% recovery for winning on turn 50.  Note that this winner's HP recovery is scaled to an average HP fighter.  To use the Wild ARMS 3 crew as an example.  Virginia would regain more life proportional to her max HP than Gallows and Clive would under equal win conditions.
- Other than this HP recovery, the winning fighter continues from where they left off.  HP, MP, skill charges, and other resources will remain depleted.  Meter gain, if applicable, also carries over.  So do all status effects and stat changes, positive or negative and their durations.  This is different from fighting games, which will clear all status buffs and debuffs between rounds.
- Turn order is reinitialized when a new fighter comes in.  This is for interpretation simplicity.  No initiative advantage from KO'ing an opponent with a counter, too bad.
- No dead team member bonuses or penalties.  The fights are 1 on 1 after all.
- There is a new voting option.  Double KO, if the match ends with a Time Over with the last member of both teams.  There are a number of options to handle this.  Decision (cast vote either way based on whatever personal criteria you please), Coinflip, or (my favorite comedy option) Reserves, which I made a post in the nomination topic going into greater detail.

Heavyweight -

Team Fellowship of the Ring: Athos / Rufus (VP2) / Geddoe vs Team FE Heroes: Ike, Lyn, Ephraim

Team Speed Manip: Fie (Cold Steel) / Arnaud / Tidus vs  Team ...: Crono (CT), Luminary (DQ11), Freyjadour (Suiko V)

Lightweight -

Team C-tier ninjas: Akahgi (Suiko 4), Frank (SH3), Sheena (ToS) vs Team Mostly Harmless Dancers: Primrose (8PT), Dancer (FFT), Azura (FE Fates)

Team Kitteh: Purugly (Pkmn) / Daena (LoM) / Mao vs Team Superaielman: Kain / Noel / Nergal

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Tournaments / King of RPGDL: Winners bracket 1
« on: February 28, 2023, 04:30:22 AM »
Match format, copy and pasted from last week -

- Though the teams are 3 members each, matches take place as a series of 1 on 1 bouts.  First bout starts with the first member of each team.  When one fighter is knocked out, the next member of the team in sequence steps up and the fight continues from that point.  Winner of the match is the team that knocks out all 3 of the other team's fighters.
- Each bout is timed.  After 50 turns (shared by both fighters) if neither fighter is knocked out a Time Over will be declared. Both will be considered defeated and the next bout will begin with the next members of each team.  Hopefully it's obvious but the timer does reset to full after any KO.
- A fighter who knocks out an opponent will receive a small amount of HP recovery.  This starts at 20%HP if winning in one action and scales linearly downward to 0.4% recovery for winning on turn 50.  Note that this winner's HP recovery is scaled to an average HP fighter.  To use the Wild ARMS 3 crew as an example.  Virginia would regain more life proportional to her max HP than Gallows and Clive would under equal win conditions.
- Other than this HP recovery, the winning fighter continues from where they left off.  HP, MP, skill charges, and other resources will remain depleted.  Meter gain, if applicable, also carries over.  So do all status effects and stat changes, positive or negative and their durations.  This is different from fighting games, which will clear all status buffs and debuffs between rounds.
- Turn order is reinitialized when a new fighter comes in.  This is for interpretation simplicity.  No initiative advantage from KO'ing an opponent with a counter, too bad.
- No dead team member bonuses or penalties.  The fights are 1 on 1 after all.
- There is a new voting option.  Double KO, if the match ends with a Time Over with the last member of both teams.  There are a number of options to handle this.  Decision (cast vote either way based on whatever personal criteria you please), Coinflip, or (my favorite comedy option) Reserves, which I will make a post in the nomination topic going into greater detail.

Heavyweight:

Team SMASH: Geno / Alexia / Zerase vs Team Surprisingly Deadly Thieves: Eric (DQ11), Therion (8PT), Morgana (P5)

Team Fliers: Nina (Breath of Fire 4), Sumia (FE Awakening), Rose (Legend of Dragoon) vs Team Sexy Beasts: Rei (BoF3), Nikki (MK), Kevin (SD3)

Lightweight:

Team Servants: Gremio (S1), Brey/Borya (DQ4), Jakob (FE Fates) vs Team Palmer: Olivier (WA3) / Linny (FM3) / Palmer

Team Isekai: Aurora (Child of Light), Frederick (Eternal Sonata), Rabbid Peach (Mario+Rabbids) vs Team Cats & Frogs Living Together: Cray (Breath of Fire 4), Lethe (FE9), Frog (CT

11
Tournaments / King of RPGDL Round 1: Underway
« on: February 19, 2023, 05:14:58 AM »
Rolled up some brackets and we're off.  Going to be double elimination since with only 8 teams in each division, it's very little extra work.  I don't really have any hype announcer speeches in me so I'm going to go straight into the match format.  Got a few added surprises so be sure to read up.

- Though the teams are 3 members each, matches take place as a series of 1 on 1 bouts.  First bout starts with the first member of each team.  When one fighter is knocked out, the next member of the team in sequence steps up and the fight continues from that point.  Winner of the match is the team that knocks out all 3 of the other team's fighters.
- Each bout is timed.  After 50 turns (shared by both fighters) if neither fighter is knocked out a Time Over will be declared. Both will be considered defeated and the next bout will begin with the next members of each team.  Hopefully it's obvious but the timer does reset to full after any KO.
- A fighter who knocks out an opponent will receive a small amount of HP recovery.  This starts at 20%HP if winning in one action and scales linearly downward to 0.4% recovery for winning on turn 50.  Note that this winner's HP recovery is scaled to an average HP fighter.  To use the Wild ARMS 3 crew as an example.  Virginia would regain more life proportional to her max HP than Gallows and Clive would under equal win conditions.
- Other than this HP recovery, the winning fighter continues from where they left off.  HP, MP, skill charges, and other resources will remain depleted.  Meter gain, if applicable, also carries over.  So do all status effects and stat changes, positive or negative and their durations.  This is different from fighting games, which will clear all status buffs and debuffs between rounds.
- Turn order is reinitialized when a new fighter comes in.  This is for interpretation simplicity.  No initiative advantage from KO'ing an opponent with a counter, too bad.
- No dead team member bonuses or penalties.  The fights are 1 on 1 after all.
- There is a new voting option.  Double KO, if the match ends with a Time Over with the last member of both teams.  There are a number of options to handle this.  Decision (cast vote either way based on whatever personal criteria you please), Coinflip, or (my favorite comedy option) Reserves, which I will make a post in the nomination topic going into greater detail.

And now the matches.  Using the stat topics or other outside resources to get an idea of how fighters from games you haven't played is encouraged.  Otherwise, I have reason to believe some matches wouldn't get voted on at all. -

Heavyweight division -

Team SMASH: Geno / Alexia / Zerase vs Team Fellowship of the Ring: Athos / Rufus (VP2) / Geddoe

Team Surprisingly Deadly Thieves: Eric (DQ11), Therion (8PT), Morgana (P5) vs Team FE Heroes: Ike, Lyn, Ephraim

Team Speed Manip: Fie (Cold Steel) / Arnaud / Tidus vs Team Fliers: Nina (Breath of Fire 4), Sumia (FE Awakening), Rose (Legend of Dragoon)

Team Sexy Beasts: Rei (BoF3), Nikki (MK), Kevin (SD3) vs Team ...: Crono (CT), Luminary (DQ11), Freyjadour (Suiko V)

Lightweight division -

Team Servants: Gremio (S1), Brey/Borya (DQ4), Jakob (FE Fates) vs Team C-tier ninjas: Akahgi (Suiko 4), Frank (SH3), Sheena (ToS)

Team Mostly Harmless Dancers: Primrose (8PT), Dancer (FFT), Azura (FE Fates) vs Team Palmer: Olivier (WA3) / Linny (FM3) / Palmer

Team Kitteh: Purugly (Pkmn) / Daena (LoM) / Mao vs Team Isekai: Aurora (Child of Light), Frederick (Eternal Sonata), Rabbid Peach (Mario+Rabbids)

Team Cats & Frogs Living Together: Cray (Breath of Fire 4), Lethe (FE9), Frog (CT) vs Team Superaielman: Kain / Noel / Nergal

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Tournaments / King of RPGDL nominations: It's happening
« on: February 05, 2023, 08:57:44 PM »
Inspired somewhat by RPGVO, this is a tourney modeled in a King of Fighters format.  Teams of 3 battle each other in a bid to be named the King of fighters.  Matches take place in 1 on 1 bouts.  When one fighter is knocked out, the next member of the team comes in to take their place and the match continues from there.  Winner of a match is the one who knocks out the other team's fighters.

Nomination guidelines:

There will be two divisions: lightweight and heayweight
Lightweight is for light tier fighters and those on the border of light-middle
Heavyweight is for heavy tier fighters and those on the border of middle-heavy
Middle tier fighters don't get a separate division but they'll lean one direction or the other.  So use your own judgment to determine which side of the power curve they're on.

Godlike tier fighters will not be participating in this tourney, to prevent boring, one sided stomps where a single godlike crushes an entire team.  Heavy-godlike borderline noms are also discouraged for a similar reason.

Up to 4 team nominations per division per person.  This is an upper limit; there's no pressure to use them all.  Character order matters: the listed order is the order the fighters will go in the matches.
- You are permitted to nominate punies for lightweight.  As long as you're OK with them getting pummeled.  Not really recommended but the entertainment potential is enough to have it as an option.
- While godlikes aren't part of this tourney, you may nominate a single godlike. (separate from the other noms)  No promises I'll use them but it does seem fitting to have 1-2 SNK bosses to go with an SNK game inspired tourney.

Probably close nominations by the end of next Sunday, Feb. 12.  I think that's all the necessary info.

13
New year already?  Didn't really register for me.  Oh well.

Lufia 2 stomp continues.  From the time of having a full party, gameplay gets more interesting with enemies with more varied weaknesses and resistances to pay attention to if one doesn't want to be stuck dealing scratch damage.  Given how I was somewhat underleveled, the next couple of boss fights outsped Tia which complicated my survival.  The clown bosses went down in 3-4 rounds since I paid attention to setting up my characters to hit their weaknesses.  The one after that inflicted a casualty due to their speed advantage.  And I was still without revival.  Gades 1 reduced the team to a smear; no surprise since I got there at Lv 18-19.
    Gades 2 gave less trouble.  I gave Maxim the Mind Ring and Guy the Undead Ring to go with his Thunder Ax.  Got buffs up on round one after which Maxim goes on heal duty.  With Guy and Dekar slugging away for about 350-400 a round, didn't take long and nothing terrible happened.

There's more but I'm cutting it off here to get the topic up.

14
Got words to say about your nominations?  This is the place set up to leave them, whether they're selected or not.  Because reading other's thoughts on their choices is fun.  Or if you don't feel like waiting to put down your nominator commentary.  Or whatever other reason motivates you.

  For those who want a format to follow, one can go with Track name - Game - where used in game - commentary.  Or use your own, I don't mind either way.

I won't ask for links; that sounds like more busywork.  But you can include them if you really want to.

There may be unmarked spoilers ahead.  Just putting this out there if that matters to you.

15
  Surprisingly, not starting off with yapping about Atelier.  Well, only a little.  It just sunk in I have a console capable of playing early Atelier.  I lack the Japanese literacy to do so though and I hear the early games are kind of clunky and rough so not much incentive to seek imports.

Tales of Symphonia - The last rodeo

   Thought I'd have nothing interesting to relate about a replay where I start with carryover titles, over 350,000 Gald, and 30 item capacity.  But then proto-Flonne dies in 3 consecutive boss fights, twice while controlling her which is quite comical considering I got Friendship First on the previous playthrough (no allies KO'ed before a set boss fight).  As well as Eternal Apprentice on the same one (and glad I never have to do that again unless I'm feeling masochistic).   So she's very low-leveled for a while which is compounded by blazing through not fighting many randoms.  Raine also dropped at the Clumsy Assassin and I managed to finish a later boss with Lloyd in the dirt too.  This time around, I do the unicorn quest before unlocking the 4th seal which gives scenes that are new to me.  Some of them are quite funny.  "Pact, pact, pact."

   I reach just before the first Tower of Salvation visit and its big plot reveals with a battle count of 124.  This is noteable only because the last Training Manual entry requires 150 and a party member who won't be around for a while after the tower.  Could have played it safe and grind them out and get some progress towards Berserker while at it.  Go on for science and because how often am I really going to look at this point?

16
General Chat / The Phantasy Star 4 cast takes on FF6: Beyond Chaos
« on: October 27, 2020, 03:39:26 AM »
Plus a few guests since there are 14 playable characters in FF6 but only 11 in PS4.  This was a silly idea I had for a playthrough that I'm choosing to split off into its own topic to avoid clogging up the games topic with randomizer chatter.  Some of the wacky, silly, and just plain weird things that the randomizer can do are fun to write about.  So this will end up as a quest log of sorts.

There's already a Beyond Chaos Let's Play up at the LP archive and it's probably higher quality than anything I'll be posting.  Still, I'll be glad to show off like an obnoxious know-it all answer most questions that anyone feels inclined to ask.  Won't answer everything; want to keep some of the surprises of the randomizer a surprise.

Casting -

Chaz as Locke: Chaz was a street thief before Alys whipped him into shape so it fits.
Wren as Edgar
Demi as Sabin: PS4 characters don't really slot neatly into FF6 roles but casting the androids in the Figaro brothers slot felt suitable.  Wren acting as a systems controller is the closest thing to a king in PS4.  Demi is Sabin because she's younger, just like Sabin is the younger twin.
Rune as Strago
Kyra as Relm: Magi descendants  Espers  This will work.  Rune is kind of catankerous and Kyra headstrong so there's some personality match too.
Gryz as Gau: Not quite like the others.  Personalities don't match up at all; token Motavian/best boy is the reasoning here.  Could have placed him as Mog instead but Mog is fully optional and I'm reserving those for the guest names.
Seth as Shadow: One of the two PCs in PS4 who die.  Shadow can die for good (though I'll be saving him) so it kind of works.  Seth is mysterious.  Shadow is mysterious.

The rest I'm less happy with but they needed to go somewhere.

Rika as Terra: Represent the beings of a not-exactly-human but close enough race.  They're both young of mind even if they're personalities feel completely different.
Alys as Celes: Experienced fighters with serious personalities.  That's about it for their similarities.  Just going to pretend the Locke-Celes romance doesn't exist for this run.
Hahn as Setzer: The non-combatant  Also, hahaha this doesn't fit at all.  Setzer displays far more daring then Hahn ever does.
Raja as Cyan: (snigger) Total misfit casting here; these are the leftovers.  Doma falls to the Empire.  Raja's temple has a spaceship fall on it.  Yeah, grasping at straws here for a sensible explanation.

Randomizer is very customizable.  It's possible to have a nearly vanilla game with only cosmetic differences and the quality of life additions.  I'm looking for chaos, as long as it's playable, so I'm randomizing nearly everything.  Won't go into every option (and this post is already getting long as it is) but here's a sample of some of the bigger changes I went for.

Character commands - Replacing existing commands with new commands is very much part of the spirit of Beyond Chaos.  They can range from really powerful to really useless though most will be somewhere in between.  Sometimes, parts get way easier because of the commands my team has available; sometimes it's much harder.

Items - Consumables are unchanged but equipment is no longer tied to the same characters as vanilla.  Their stats are randomized within a range.  Leather gear is still weak and Behemothsuit will still be strong.  They can also gain additional effects they didn't have in vanilla.  Usually these are bonuses but every once in a rare while, there will be a permanent negative status.  Elemental attributes can sometimes change too.  One of the QoL additions is more detailed item info so you don't have to enter a fight to find out your Oath Veil has auto-confuse.  (yes this has happened)

Treasure - Different items in treasure locations.  This includes event items such as the Gauntlet/Genji Glove choice at the Returner's hideout.  Colloseum rewards are also scrambled; no more Chupon fights for Elixirs you can't win.  Almost any treasure spot can contain monsters now.

Monsters - They're less predictable and their stats are randomized (generally higher).  This does lead to BS moments now and then but I'll suffer through it.

Sprites and music - There's going to be no attempt for sprites to match the character playing them, even if I had the technical know-how.

No planned update schedule.  They'll go up as I type them up.

17
Unranked Games / Atelier Ayesha
« on: August 08, 2020, 06:40:19 AM »
After much procrastinating and indecisiveness, first revision is finally here.  First revision?  There's more stuff I could do to make a more comprehensive stat topic but would involves several days more drudgery and delay.  Plus having something up is better at providing motivation to gather more data.

To do list:
- More specific data on buff and debuff abilities. 
- Accessories
- Alternate weapon data
- Support skills info for team situations.
- Maybe Ayesha Altugle stats.  Don't count on that though.

The battle stats

Level: Appears to raise damage done when high enough.  Also impacts the rate at which the super meter increases.
HP: Needs to be above 0 to act.  If all party members hit 0 HP, the battle is lost and you're kicked out onto the world map.  (Ayesha is too cute to be monster food.)
MP: Needed for character skills.  Not enough MP, can't cast skill.  For Ayesha, she has items that consume MP when used.  If she has less MP than the item costs, its power will be halved.
Atk: Factors into the offensive power of all offensive moves.  Except for items.
Spd: Used to determine the initial turn order at the start of a battle.  A random number (guessing from 0-31 here) is added to each participant's Speed stat to determine their initial placement on the CTB gauge.  Doesn't appear to do anything else; all battle participants will advance on the CTB gauge at the same rate.  May have an influence on the Wait Time (hereafter referred to as WT) of actions but this topic will assume that is not the case.
Ph Res: Higher numbers means less damage from physical damage.  Generally, every 2 points in this stat will subtract 1 from incoming damage.
Ail Res: Ability to resist status ailments.  Different abilities have different chances to inflict their associated status which is checked against this stat.
F/I/L Res: Resistance to fire, ice, or lightning element damage.  Element damage is considered a separate attack type and Ph Res doesn't seem to help defend from elemental damage.  Appears to be a fraction out of 120.  So 60 F Res would reduce fire damage by half and so on.  Magic damage doesn't appear to exist in the frontier where Ayesha's workshop is.
Crit rate: Percentage chance of landing a critical hit under normal circumstances.  Hitting an enemy's back or attacking an enemy with a matching species weakness produces an automatic critical.
Crit power: Percentage of damage increase when a critical hit has occurred.  Caps at 100.  This is computed after defense so if the attack would have tinked for 1, it's still doing 1 after.
Evasion: Ability to completely dodge incoming damage.  Characters and nearly all monsters have 0 evasion innately so including this is mostly for completion.  There are properties and effects to boost evasion and a select few monsters can boost theirs during combat.

The damage formula seems to be something like - Atk xA + Lv factor - Def/2 where A is a constant dependent on the particular ability used.  Lv factor is mostly a mystery to me since it seems to vary based on the enemy fought.

Status effects

Status effect durations seem to be based more on the passage of time rather than turns taken.  (incidentally, this prevents abusing actions with fast recovery to quickly run out the turn timer like in Meruru).  Still, stating durations in turns is a good enough approximation for most purposes.  Generally, bad status lasts for about 3 turns except for Hold.

Poison: About 6% max HP damage at the start of each turn.  Cannot kill.  No PC can inflict poison innately.
Weak: All stats down.  From observation, this appears to be -5 Atk and -5 Ph Res but hasn't been tested thoroughly at this time.  Only one source of this status from PCs and it's a support move off another ally's attack so doesn't come up in a duel.
Blind: Accuracy down.  This appears to be straight subtraction to accuracy so someone with high enough accuracy could potentially act like it wasn't there.  Seems to be -75 accuracy.
Hold: Cannot act and position on CTB gauge freezes for duration.  That means no support abilities for the duration too.  Very short duration, maybe 0.25 of an average turn at best.
Slow: Raises WT after anything other than Move or a support to the maximum.  This is very bad if Ayesha gets slowed since items generally have fast recovery time.  On average WT moves, increase the time until next turn by about 50%.

Super moves

  At Lv30 or above, Ayesha's companions gain access to their super moves.  It requires building up a meter which increases when taking actions (including support actions) or being attacked.  When its at 100%, a character can use their super move on their turn by choosing Special.  Each time a character uses a super move in battle, the rate at which the super meter builds slows for the rest of the battle, up to two uses, at which the meter will have reached its minimum growth.  At stat topic levels, base meter gain is 12%.  Some rules of the super meter:

It will increase the base amount for each target hit.  Kills have no impact on this increase.
It will increase even if the action misses for some reason.
Dying has no effect on the super meter.
If the character lands a critical hit, the meter gain for that action is multiplied by 1.5.
Using the super itself gives 2x base meter.  This is computed after the reduction for using the super.
If the super would finish off the last enemy, a special animation sequence plays and it does 50% more damage.  The extra damage is mostly meaningless but there are means out there which benefit from it.

Weapons and armor notes

  In-game, other than a few buyable sources, weapons and armor are obtained as random drops from Slag type enemies.  And they can only drop something a character in the current party is capable of wearing.  This can make it a pain to arm someone, especially if you haven't used that character in a while.  The quality and properties are also very variable from dropped equipment.  For the character builds in this topic, I'll be using the Fur Coats from Hornheim as default.  The stats on this are 16 Ph Res and 22 I Res with a HP +15 property.  Did consider using a view that includes the delivery rewards from the girl in the Black Cat shop (as they're the same every game, thus consistent) but it tends to unfairly favor the people that can use the Golden Shirt.  For weapons, I'll be sticking to the ones sold by the Homuculus merchant.  No headaches from random properties and random drops and even if you never use a particular character, it's always available to them.

Accessories: To be completed.  I'll mention the Medical Earring I used in my damage testing sessions though.  It's the main status protection item and is also available as a prize for winning the 4th Treasure Contest so it's consistently obtainable (as well as wholesaled with Regina at the bazzar for any duplicates you may like).  Immunes poison, blind, and weak and lowers duration of bad status a bit.  No innate stats but the properties give 2 HP, 2 MP, 2 Atk, 2 Spd, 7 Ph Res, and 20 Ail Res.

Whew, that's a lot of mechanics.  Onto the character damages.  Testing was done at max level since it's trivially easy to reach it in-game.  My test target of choice was the Dragoon in the Alt. Zweititurn.  It has 20 Ph. Res, 50 I Res, 0 for fire and lightning which made it an ideal test target for elemental attacks (other than the one ice move where I looked for a different test target).  Enough HP that it would stay alive long enough to get numbers for super moves.  I had on a Medical Earring and a Pnoenix Bracelet (for my convenience in keeping people alive) when I obtained the damage numbers so the Atk stats during testing were 4 points higher than those I'm listing below.  Shouldn't be a big deal unless someone wants to reverse-engineer a more accurate damage formula though.

Status accuracy was tested on randoms with zero status resistance.

For stats, the first number is raw base.  A number in paranthesis is equipped with weapon and armor but no accessories (this is the number that goes into computing averages)  I've included hit count but it only matter if fighting something with such high defense that the attack would tink for 1.

Range key:
ST: 1 enemy
GT1: all enemies within small radius from target
GT2: all enemies within large radius from target
MT: all enemies
1 ally and all allies are self-explanatory.
Recharge: The main stat that affects when a character gets their next turn.  I assumed most regular attacks as a base 1.0 and scaled off that but the numbers are somewhat approximate.  Lower numbers are faster moves.
Timed effect: Also known as time cards in Mana Khemia and a few other games.  These act independently.  Timed effects generally will not build super meter.  The game allows the party a max of 3 timed effects at once.  If someone tries to use a 4th, the 1st one used will simply vanish.  The hard limit won't come up in a duel but matters in-game since some of the most useful items are timed, either innately or granted through Power Transfer.

Regina Curtis

101 (116) HP
78 MP
44 (55) Atk
34 (46) Spd
40 (56) Ph Res
0 Ail Res
0 F Res
0 (22) I Res
20 L Res
20% Crit Rate
35 Crit power

Weapon: Alloy Pickax - 11 Atk, 5 Spd  Property: Spd +7

Passives:
Prospective Guts - 33% chance of surviving a fatal blow with 1 HP (unless already at 1 HP, then it doesn't work)  Stacks additively with similar effects.
Woman's Nerve - Increases evasion and Crit rate by 15%  The evasion isn't shown on the stat screen but it is there.
Preferred range - short  Defense down on targets hit

First damage number is base damage.  Second is after landing Def down.  And even though elemental damage is a different attack type, her elemental skills still hurt more after defense is lowered.  Curious

Attack: 28 (30)
Double Smash: 5 MP, 39 (41) physical + target takes neglible HP damage at start of next 3 turns.  This damage cannot kill, ST, 3 hits, 1.1x recharge
Stone Crack: 12 MP, 37 (39) physical + Atk down for 3 turns  Appears to be 5 less damage from attacks.  GT1, 4 hits, 1.2x recharge
Flare Blast: 10 MP, 52 (58) fire + 95% chance of inflicting blind, GT2, 1 hit, 1.1x recharge
Rock Blast: 20 MP, 60 (67) fire, MT, 3 hits, 1.2x recharge

Lady End: 254 (264)physical, ST, 2 hits, 1.5x recharge, requires full super meter

Wilbell vol Ersleid

73 (88) HP
155 MP
53 (62) Atk
66 Spd
30 (53) Ph Res
10 (21) Ail Res
20 F Res
0 (22) I Res
0 L Res
5% Crit rate
40 Crit power

Weapon: Charm Broom - 9 Atk, 11 Ail Res  Property: Ph Res +7

Passives:
Witch's Quality - max MP +30 and skills do 10% more damage.  Stacks additively with other skill power increases.
Fire Magic - Adds additional Fire damage to all attacks.  Stat screen says 25% but it feels like more sometimes
Preferred range - long  Reduces WT  This is already factored into the recharge times below.

First damage number is base.  Second is under Atk up from Element Call.

Attack: 36 physical + 24 fire (37 + 26) 60 or 63 total  0.85x recharge
Pumpkin Bomb: 9 MP, 80 (84) fire, GT2, 1 hit, 0.9x recharge
Arcane Call: 24 MP, 102 (106) fire + target takes neglible damage at start of next 3 turns.  This damage cannot kill.  GT2, 1 hit, 0.95x recharge
Shielding: 12 MP, Def and Ail Res up  Lasts a long time but does eventually wear off.  About 7-8 turns is my guess.  Lowers incoming physicals by 3-5 in practice.  Ail Res increase is probably 20 but too troublesome to confirm.  1 ally, 0.85x recharge
Element Call: 15 MP, Summons a timed effect at 1.2 which will act 3 times, random ally, 0.9x recharge  When it's action comes up, the spirit will do one of three things.

- If an ally is KO'ed, it will revive them with 24-26 HP.  Will pick one at random if two are down.
- Otherwise, if at least one ally is at under 50% max HP, it will aid the one with the lowset percentage of current HP/max HP and restore 62 HP or 1/4 max HP, whichever is greater.  HP restoration goes down with each successive appearance but the 1/4 max HP minimum stays unchanged.
- Otherwise, it will restore a small amount of MP and grant all stat buffs.  The MP restored goes down each time during the same summoning it appears.  13 MP for the first time, down to 10 on the second, and 8 MP if this action occurred on all 3 turns.  This favors the ally missing the greatest percentage of MP but there are times it will activate on another.  In a duel, there's only Wilbell herself so simple there.

Meteor Storm: 284 (294) physical, ST, 6 hits, 1.5x recharge, requires full super meter

Linca 

94 (109) HP
54 MP
48 (60) Atk
60 Spd
32 (53) Ph Res
10 Ail Res
15 F Res
15 (37) I Res
0 L Res
5% Crit rate
50 Crit power

Weapon: Glass Blade - 12 Atk, 5 Ph Res  Property: Skill Power +5% - Skills are 5% stronger but MP cost increases 10%

Passives:
Calm and Serene - Decreases duration of status ailments (guessing by 10%, never really noticed) and shortens WT by 15%.  This is already factored in the recharge times below.
Reinforce Body - Decrease Ph damage by 15% and increase Crit power by 15%
Preferred range - short  Added damage.  This appears to be computed independent of the target's defense.

First number is with range bonus, second without

Attack: 38 (30) physical  0.85x recharge
Start Rush: 6 MP (5 base)  59 (51) physical + 90% chance of inflicting Hold, ST, 2 hits, 0.9x recharge
Stomp Charge: 14 MP (13 base)  69 (61) physical + 75% chance of inflicting Hold, GT1, 1 hit, 0.95x recharge
Adrenaline Dance: 7 MP (6 base): 61 (52) physical + increases chance of being targeted to 50% (meaningless in a duel), GT1, 4 hits, 0.95x recharge
Valkyrie Dive: 10 MP (9 base)  65 (57) physical + 50% chance of inflicting Slow, MT, 1 hit, 1.0x recharge

Raging Edge: 275 physical, ST, 6 hits, 1.3x recharge, requires full super meter

Juris Gruden

108 (123) HP
72 MP
51 (63) Atk
43 (46) Spd
37 (53) Ph Res
15 Ail Res
0 F Res
20 (42) I Res
0 L Res
5% Crit rate
55 Crit power

Weapon: Bloody Saber - 12 Atk, 3 Spd  Property: Skill Power +7% - Skills are 7% stronger but MP cost increases by 14%

Passives:
Aim Master - Accuracy +50  Normally not a factor in-game but relevant on evasive opponents or if blinded.
hunter's Knowledge - Increase Crit power by 15% and raises offense damage some.
Preferred range - long  Knock back  Physically moves the target back on hit.  Doesn't seem to be any benefit to doing so unlike with Ayesha.

Attack: 39
Hunter Blow: 6 MP (5 base), 67 damage + Atk down for 3 turns.  Seems to reduce incoming damage by about 5.  ST, 6 hits, 1.1x recharge
Hunter Raid: 11 MP (9 base), 84 damage + 100% chance of instant KO, ST, 6 hits, 1.2x recharge
Snipe Shot: 7 MP (6 base), 62 damage + target takes 1% of max HP damage at start of next 3 actions.  This damage cannot kill. ST, 1 hit, 0.8x recharge time
Rain of Shots: 14 MP (11 base), 42 damage  Places one timed effect at 1.5 which acts once and does the same thing.  GT2, 3 hits, 1.2x recharge

Grand Slam: 374 damage, ST, 7 hits, 1.5x recharge, requires full super meter

Kiethgriff Hazeldine

91 (106) HP
134 MP
63 (76) Atk
40 Spd
37 (64) Ph Res
20 Ail Res
10 F Res
10 (32) I Res
10 L Res
5% Crit rate
35 Crit power

Weapon: Star Ring - 13 Atk, 11 Ph Res  Property: Skill usage -15% - Skills costs decrease by 15%

Passives:
All Knowledge - Increases abilities when facing special enemies or those 5+ levels above him.  My testing target appears to be a special enemy for the purpose of this passive.
Heal Ring - Regens 15 HP at the start of a turn.  Stacks additively with other regen effects.
Preferred range - long  Lowers WT  Already factored into recharge times below.

Attack: 45 physical
Heat Hand: 10 MP (12 base)  69 fire + decrease fire resistance.  Cannot drop target below 0 resist.  Testing on Porters with their 30 fire resist, it did 40 the first time and 50 the second.  ST, 1 hit, 0.9x recharge
Cool Foot: 10 MP (12 base)  64 ice* + decrease ice resistance.  Cannot drop target below 0 resist.  Testing on Steel Skin with their 30 ice resist, did 50 the first use and 57 the second.  GT,1 1 hit, 0.95x recharge
Mirage Trick: 17 MP (20 base)  Sets 1 timed effect at 1.3.  Reduces damage taken by all allies by 25% for duration.  Deals 77 physical at end of duration.  This attack cannot take on elemental damage boosts (irrelevant for this topic but relevant in-game).  Super meter gain is based on number of living allies at time of casting.  all allies, 1.3x recharge
Double Up: 34 MP (40 base)  Sets 1 timed effect at 1.3 which acts 3 times.  No immediate damage for the initial casting. Each time it activates, Keithgriff spends the skill's MP cost for it to do physical damage.  The first two activations did 53 physical damage.  The 3rd and final use did 97.  If Keithgriff dies or is inflicted with Hold (or any other status which disables the ability to act), the effect ends.  It will also end if its turn comes up and Keithgriff doesn't have enough MP.  GT2, 1 hit per use, 1.25x recharge
(At base MP, he's 2 short of fully using this skill.  Allowed the Medical Earring, he has just enough though he won't have any MP to spare on his other skills.)

Special: 352 physical, ST, 8 hits, 1.5x recharge, requires full super meter

* Tested on Pico Slag.  Significant in that the All Knowledge passive wasn't active.

Nio Altugle

81 (122) HP
86 (97) MP
28 (42) Atk
37 Spd
34 (55) Ph Res
33 Ail Res
33 (44) F Res
33 (55) I Res
33 L Res
10% Crit rate
30 Crit power

Weapon: Single Mixer - 14 Atk, 11 HP, 11 MP, 5 Ph Res, 11 F Res  Property: HP+15

Passives:
Sister's Love - Increases Crit rate when Ayesha is below 25% max HP.  Not very useful.  Even if allowed a phantom critical Ayesha, it wouldn't make much difference with her damage so low.
Ready to Go - Rate of increase for AC gauge is boosted by 50%. (more like double in practice now that I've started to document support gauge mechanics)   This allows for more frequent use of her support actions in-game and in team situations but has no impact on a duel.
Preferred range - short  Atk down on all enemies hit.  Seems to lower incoming damage by about 5.  Lasts about 3 turns.

First damage number is base.  Second in parentheses is after Atk up from Panacea.

Attack: 19 (26) physical
Pana Rush: 4 MP, 24 (31) physical, GT, 1 hit, 1.1x recharge
Pana Charge: 8 MP, 34 (43) physical + 75% chance of inflicting Hold status, MT, 1 hit, 1.2x recharge
Panacea: 10 MP, Cures status ailments and grants all buffs. 1 ally, 1.1x recharge
Specialty: 20 MP, Resurrect with 20 HP and grants 8 HP regen for next 3 turns.  Can be used on living allies.  1 ally, 1.3x recharge

Pana Special: 187 (192), ST, 1 hit, 1.5x recharge, requires full super meter

18
Discussion / Alternatives to Amazon: a resource topic
« on: June 12, 2020, 02:17:07 AM »
  For the more socially conscious members of the DL, it will not be much of the surprise that Amazon engages in some shady practices.  After the pandemic began.  I'll let the article I'm linking do the talking.

https://www.greenamerica.org/sustainable-alternatives-amazon?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=c8419b80-018a-4541-a301-3f9baa044920

  What motivates me to make a post here is to provide alternatives for those who feel called to seek them rather than giving Amazon more money.  I was already at the point where I don't use Amazon unless there is no other accessible option for obtaining what I want and what I've learned recently only reinforces that decision.  A starter set of sorts is also found in the linked article for a variety of daily living items.  (no clothing, at least not yet though I'll keep looking)

  I have no vested financial interest in any of the linked businesses.  Part of me wishes I did but I believe it's against the forum rules to shill like that anyways.

19
A silly idea I had for a team match proving grounds.  The showcase team of pink haired ladies will be pitted against a wide variety of opposition.  Team pink is as follows:

Rika (Phantasy Star 4)  Supreme speedy supporter with a variety of offense options
Meruru (Atelier Meruru) Another scary support member with lots of items for all occasions
Mystic Knight Lenna (FF5): Spellblade.  Guaranteed petrify on hit is just one of her many options.
Noa (Legend of Legaia)  100% charm.  Even if guarding the status, there's still her melee.

As an alchemist, Meruru will bring her supply of items to battles.  She will have two of every item in her handbasket except for the following:

Auto-Alarm and Magical Ankh (1 each, they start at 120 Quality and use 25 Quality per use)
Rescue Signal (only restores LP, arguably useless in this setting)
Homemade Pie (obsoleted by better stuff)
Dessert Basket (a nightmare to interpret)
Craft (obsolete for damage)
Time Lithograph (arguably pointless, also the highest effect is missing from the stat topic)

And the first batch of opponents.  I'm not being particular about matching power levels so expect lots of variation.

Pink Powerhouses vs Lady and Killer (SH3)
Pink Powerhouses vs Vyse, Aika, Fina, and Enrique (SoA)
Pink Powerhouses vs Maxim, Selan, Guy, and Artea (Lufia 2)
Pink Powerhouses vs Ghaleon and Xenobia (Lunar)
Pink Powerhouses vs FFT Swordskillers - Agrias, Meliadoul, Gafgarion, Beowulf, FFT Cloud (FFT)
Pink Powerhouses vs Queen Zeal, Magus, Manmon Machine (CT)
Pink Powerhouses vs Yggdrasil, Yuan, and Kratos  (ToS)
Pink Powerhouses vs Maverick Hunters - X, Zero, Axl, and Cinnamon (MMX- CM)

Bonus matchups - If it's not very well documented in a stat topic or for some other crazy reason, they'll go here.

Pink powerhouses vs Necron (FF9)
Rorona (Atelier Rorona) vs Souji (Persona 4)

Rorona doesn't look pink haired to me but this one amused me enough to toss it in the bonus section.

Second batch will be up in a week or whenever I compile enough interesting ideas.  Suggestions welcome; I would like to include a Fire Emblem matchup but I don't know Fire Emblem at all.

20
I wasn't watching the clock (by design) but I was playing Mana Khemia when I heard fireworks so I suppose that's the game I had running at the start of the new year.  This is a game where I find the first 90% very enjoyable and the last 10% feels sloggish.  Being a replay, one would think the player would easily dominate but the game still found a way to troll me even when I was paying attention.  Chapter 6 boss fight: Turn order shows Azulflare Mana and Renee right after.  Renee was charging a Full Power Blade.  Her HP is low enough that I go for a kill but don't quite make it.  So of course, the mana casts Boost on her right before it goes off and she overkills Jess with 250 HP of damage on a max of 210.  I still win because Renee goes down right after so no more status to rob me of turns.  Still annoyed because I thought I was doing a good job of keeping Jess alive and healthy and the game goes "nope."

    Game feels paced really well for my playstyle.  I fight the occasional battle here and there but not that many and combined with required fights and job bounties, I earn enough AP to keep up with stat growth.  New chapter starts can still feel put on pause because of a bunch of new recipes and doing a lot of digging into new synthesis but it's an enjoyable experience.

21
General Chat / What games are you playing 2019?
« on: December 31, 2018, 09:10:40 PM »
It's 2019 somewhere.  Also gives me an excuse to wax about a game I'll still be finishing up in 2019.

Final Fantasy 4 replay:

  With all that I've learned about FF4's ATB system and other assorted mechanics trivia, felt inclined to pound my way through this with the intent of domination.  First thought, soooo slow, how do people stand walking so slow everywhere.   Used Slow on nearly every boss fight for my convenience and also saw to making using of Berserk on more durable fights.

Cagnazzo: Party order is Tellah, Palom, Porom, Yang, Cecil  Yes, this does matter for turn order manipulation.  Yang has ice and thunder claws.  Yang punches, Cecil hits, Tella selects Bolt 3 even though water hasn't gathered yet because charge times.  Palom casts Bio; Porom casts Slow.  Cagnazzo doesn't get to do anything besides his turn 1 attack and retreat into shell.  Yang's next attack finishes him.  Dominated.

Magus Sisters: Only memorable because Delta attack Bio oneshots Tella.  Battle ends soon after.  Oh well, don't really need him standing at this point.

Lugeie: Yang's thunder claw takes him down fast.  By the time he gets to Laser someone, it only does about 150.

Rubicant: Fire 2 is a fight counter so Cecil uses attack items and helps with healing while Edge opens with Suiton and throws a bunch of weak weapons.  Got super lucky and Inferno only targets Kain who lives thanks to fire resistance.  Having put on Slow with Rosa's first turn, I keep up without a sweat.

Rosa's only level 32 when I emerge with the underground airship.  So end up going partway into sealed cave for EXP; some equipment upgrades are a welcomed side effect.

22
Tournaments / Halloween battle: lost hope
« on: December 03, 2018, 02:40:33 AM »
The conclusion of the series of battles draws near with the last four teams still in.  Puppeteers get the short straw of fighting the undefeated ghosts so if they win, there may be a 3-way faceoff in the future.

Ghosts: Pamela Ibis (MK), Wraith (VP), Auron (FFX)
vs
Puppeteers: Elize (ToX), Gepetto with Spikes and Mind's Eye (SH2), Mel with Lightning Rune (Suiko3)

Robots: Asgard (WA3?), Tio with option of Tight Robe (Grandia2), Zero (MMX: CM)
vs
Pirates: Rufus (VP2?), Pirate (BD), Aika with Purity Shard (SoA)

Bonus: Malik's Story Time

  Wild Arms 3 players may remember Malik as the prophet who loved his mama to such an extent to be disturbing and creepy.  To further reinforce the image of a psychopath man-child, he summons bosses based on fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and kid's stories to battle Virginia's crew.  This is the crew the four defeated teams will be facing in the DL simulator.

  The opponents will be fought as a series of continuous battles without a break in between fights.  First up will be the Bremen town musicians consisting of Donkey, Hound, Cat, and Flier.  They've dropped the musical act and have decided to stick to brawling.  Next up are Humpty and Dumpty and it will take more than dropping them off a height to crack them.  Following them are twisted versions of Dorothy's companions from the Wizard of Oz: Scarecrow, Steamgear, and Lionheart.  Don't confuse them with their competent forms from the Wizard of Oz game.  Teams that make it through the series will have the privilege of giving the psychopathic man-child himself a well-earned spanking.

  Malik's summons are scrubs and the teams will be more than a match for them.  Thus, victory in the bonus match will be based on which team wins the series of fights most decisively.  Use your own criteria for what constitutes decisive.

Teams, for reference
Werecreatures: Rei (BoF3), Bob with Water Rune (Suiko2), Kevin (SD3)
Demons: Beatrice (WA3), prinny Kurtis (Disgaea), Laharl (Disgaea)
Witches: Lulu (FFX), Thage (EP), Arche (ToP)
Vampires: Hida (SH3), Joachim (SH2), Asellus (Saga)

- Werecreatures growl, rip, and tear their way past the storybook brigade.
- Demons demonstrate why they're the top of the netherworld food chain.
- Witches work their arcane spells to dominate the field.
- Vampires drain the opposition dry and give Malik even more reason to fear the night.
- Malik.  All four teams meet defeat in the special battle.

23
Tournaments / Halloween battle: tiil the end of time
« on: November 22, 2018, 11:05:02 PM »
It didn't occur to me to nominate a single Star Ocean character even though there are plenty of freaks to choose from.  So t goes.  Werecreatures and demons have been sent home though demons earned a vote so they can claim some pride.  Pirates claim the bonus match with no nonsense popping up.

Winners bracket -

Robots: Asgard (WA3?), Tio with option of Tight Robe (Grandia2), Zero (MMX: CM)
vs
Ghosts: Pamela Ibis (MK), Wraith (VP), Auron (FFX)

Losers bracket -

Witches: Lulu (FFX), Thage (EP), Arche (ToP)
vs
Pirates: Rufus (VP2?), Pirate (BD), Aika with Purity Shard (SoA)

Vampires: Hilda Valentine (SH3), Joachim Valentine (SH2), Asellus (Saga)
vs
Puppeteers: Elize (ToX), Gepetto with Spikes and Mind's Eye (SH2), Mel with Lightning Rune (Suiko3)

Bonus: A warlock, a paladin, and Jason Vorhees walk into a bar.

  for a quick break from a nearby dance party.  Lezard, Edgar, and Cecil were having a great time.  Then another trio showed up in nearly identical costumes.  This isn't a situation on its own but the hosts and a lot of the partygoers thought it would be funny to have them compete against each other in a crowd-pleaser contest.

  Thus, two trios find themselves in a dance-off.  You can vote for whichever trio has better dancing moves or wins in a conventional team match.  I won't be picky when counting votes.

- Lezard (VP series), Cecil (FF4), Edgar (FF6)
- Magus (CT), Beatrix (FF9), Vincent (FF7)*
- Wilbell,  Witchier than the other witches in the tourney, sweeps the popularity vote.

*Vincent starts with a full Limit bar and a Ribbon.  He's at Limit level 3 and must transform on the first turn.  This assume the duel path.

24
Tournaments / Halloween battle: second story
« on: November 15, 2018, 08:51:25 AM »
First round was a one-sided stomp for all the winners.  What will round 2 bring?

Winners bracket -

Robots: Asgard (WA3?), Tio with option of Tight Robe (Grandia2), Zero (MMX: CM)
vs
Witches: Lulu (FFX), Thage (EP), Arche (ToP)

Ghosts: Pamela Ibis (MK), Wraith (VP), Auron (FFX)
vs
Pirates: Rufus (VP2?), Pirate (BD), Aika with Purity Shard (SoA)

Losers bracket: Lose here and get sent home

Werecreatures: Rei (BoF3), Bob with Water Rune (Suiko2), Kevin (SD3)
vs
Vampires: Hilda Valentine (SH3), Joachim Valentine (SH2), Asellus (Saga)

Any battle with werecreatures will be held at night.

Demons: Beatrice (WA3), prinny Kurtis (Disgaea), Laharl (Disgaea)
vs
Puppeteers: Elize (ToX), Gepetto with Spikes and Mind's Eye (SH2), Mel with Lightning Rune (Suiko3)

short form

Robots vs Witches
Ghosts vs Pirates
Werecreatures vs Vampires
Demons vs Puppeteers

Bonus: Ninjas vs Pirates, does it ever end?

  A longtime staple rivalry of the internet while mostly supplanted by other forms of seeking attention, can still provide hours of procrastination for determined adolescents and teens across the globe.  Anyhow, ninjas have recruited another body to issue a challenge to the pirate team.  This is a friendly sparring match.  With Edge occupied and Bahamut to keep him in line if it comes to that, there's no high stakes consequences such as ninjas taking over pirates spot in the tourney if they win.  That would be silly.  Anyways, the outcome?

- Ninjas  Frank (SH3), Ninja (FFT), Suzu (ToP)
- Pirates  (see above: Rufus, Pirate, Aika)
- Edge  Interferes anyways
- Piastol  Edge tries to interfere but Piastol keeps him in line, with or without help from Rydia and Bahamut

25
Tournaments / Halloween battle: First deparature
« on: November 07, 2018, 12:48:04 AM »
It's here.  Eight teams have been assembled for your Halloween themed amusement.  Format will be 2 losses to be eliminated much like the hair tourney I ran.  It worked out well other than a few potential hiccups.

Since I'm running late, no witty flavor commentary on the teams this week.  Let's go right on to the matchups.

Demons: Beatrice (WA3), prinny Kurtis (Disgaea), Laharl (Disgaea)
vs
Robots: Asgard (WA3?), Tio with option of Tight Robe (Grandia2), Zero (MMX: CM)

Ghosts: Pamela Ibis (MK), Wraith (VP), Auron (FFX)
vs
Werecreatures: Rei (BoF3), Bob with Water Rune (Suiko2), Kevin (SD3)

Any battle with werecreatures will be held at night.

Witches: Lulu (FFX), Thage (EP), Arche (ToP)
vs
Puppeteers: Elize (ToX), Gepetto with Spikes and Mind's Eye (SH2), Mel with Lightning Rune (Suiko3)

Vampires: Hilda Valentine (SH3), Joachim Valentine (SH2), Asellus (Saga)
vs
Pirates: Rufus (VP2?), Pirate (BD), Aika with Purity Shard (SoA)

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