ALttP has the best dungeons, this is not my opinion, this is fact.
i . . . really don't like when you assert things like this
i guess maybe, gameplay-wise? i am not a typical gamer, i don't think
the main factors that influence my appraisal of a dungeon are probably whether i liked the aesthetic, and whether i got stuck there for long enough to feel bored. Aesthetically, the 2D dungeons are never the most interesting to me, as they feel sort of flat
I had no trouble with that puzzle, since I had read the instructions to the original Zelda about 29 times.
LA is kinda like Metroid 2 for me in that I think it has some very cool stuff, but the limited Game Boy hardware held it back, I think. Time for a remake
I never finished Link's Awakening (I should actually do that some time, it's one of the only 2D Zeldas I haven't beaten) but I remember that puzzle. Yeah I was confused by that for a long time.
Also, the puzzle that has you open a door by throwing a pot at it.
It's still not as bad as the puzzle in Phantom Hourglass where the solution is closing your DS, haha. I felt like such an idiot when I accidentally solved it after trying all sorts of stuff to no avail.
oh i'm not saying the reward is inadequate, just that it rarely has anything to do with the puzzle
like, case in point, iirc the 'hidden pol's voice' puzzle makes a chest appear
why? what relates the solution (killing a bunch of enemies in a particular sequence) to the reward (treasure chest spawns)?
we don't normally question it because it's the logic the Zelda games run on, but it makes for a lot of lazy puzzles like 'find the switch and shoot it' or 'push the right block'
Related to the Miitomo conversation on the previous page, I just discovered that you can also add people if you have a sufficient number of mutual friends with them. So that's something.
Also, the puzzle that has you open a door by throwing a pot at it.
It's still not as bad as the puzzle in Phantom Hourglass where the solution is closing your DS, haha. I felt like such an idiot when I accidentally solved it after trying all sorts of stuff to no avail.
I'll admit I only knew how to solve that puzzle because I'd heard of it before.
Which was fortunate, because I was playing it on a 2DS. It completely loses its weird geometric moon logic because the 2DS doesn't fold, and you have to flick the sleep switch on and off instead.
Arcanist. 3x poison + instakill all poisoned will trivialize random encounters at this point and make any remaining grinds very quick. Also need it to boost magic for Belphegor.
Spiritist and ninja. Ninja attack spam followed by Stillness is pretty much your only way of surviving some boss fights, like Mephilia's or Braev's team during the asterisk rush. Spiritist's status immune skill is essential to beating some bosses.
Vampire/ninja is crazy good, and most vampire element attacks can hit damage cap easily.
Knight lets you do some amusing stuff, like deliberately drop your own party to critical HP then rofltank the whole fight. It's very strong if you're playing a permanent lv1 game.
I've also seen people leverage Merchant and Time Mage to some pretty impressive ends, but the problem is it only pays off at the very end of the jobs and they're kind of shit before it.
I was fond of Knight/Swordmaster for party cover during big attack turns. Valkyrie/Spellsword (spellfencer? Whatever) for damage output. Also, very much Dark Knight/Spellsword for regaining HP right after draining it in order to power remarkably powerful attacks.
There's always the classic Swordmaster/Pirate exploit, wherein the Swordmaster's Free Lunch ability makes all the Pirate's big, MP intensive damage-dealers free. Helpful, as that class combination covers offenses and defenses nicely.
Oh God, Dark Knight + Spell Fencer was absurd. Get Sword Magic Amp, Drain Attack Up (Vampire), and a Blood Blade. Put Drain on the weapon. Hit Life or Death.
Then Rage and lol for approximately forever. Back them up with a Knight cover, a quick heal, and a Performer for BP. Rage again on the next turn and lol some more.
Like, Alex's Swordmaster/Pirate setup is able to spam Amped Strike for free. What I just described is usually much, much more powerful because individual Rage shots will damage cap.
I think I didn't really know what I was doing when I played Bravely Default, because I didn't really use any of those strategies in the main game. I remember using the spiritmaster's stillness + ninja one against a bonus boss, though that was because I was frustrated with it and looked online to see if there were any strategies that worked well.
The only real strategy I used a lot was double shields knight + super charge, which is ultra defensive, but can make some bosses a lot easier to deal with. I guess I'm also a fan of using a natural talent monk with the conjurer's buffing abilities to do a lot of damage quickly.
I really like the Salve-Maker job myself. Mixing it up stuff to create damaging attacks, healing thingies and other random stuff was nice. I completely ignored White Mage once I got it.
Goddammit Fi. Hero Mode lets you skip all the cool cutscenes you actually want to watch again, but Fi's ridiculous and redundant tutorials are still unskippable. This is the opposite of what makes sense!
Sweet Farore I know what a Silent Realm is, I've done four of them.
Seriously though, other plot characters will comment that you're in Hero Mode and have done all this before, and the Kikwi elder will straight-up let you skip his entire conversation telling you as much. Why is the unskippable tutorial spambot the only one in the game who thinks you're a lobotomized moblin with a concussion and Alzheimers? Why not capitalize on the opportunity and give her some personality and flavor text when you shut down her tutorial?
Like, it doesn't even make sense that this game would be the one in the series that insists on holding your hand at every opportunity just in case you're a 4-year-old kid. The combat is by far the least forgiving in the series other than Zelda II. Demise is basically an Iron Knuckle that stuns you when you're off by a hair of a second.
I just did a Gotcha Bitch on a gold rathian. While it was in midair. With the lv3 super swipe instead of the main lv3 charge.
I don't think I've ever been this satisfied with a kill before.
My favourite is always finishing a monster with a Spirit Roundslash from the LS. That post strike sheath provides a little bit of cinematic flair that goes with the camera angle shift. In terms of feel, though, there is nothing else quite like that super swipe.
I picked up Hyrule Warriors. It's fun, but it feels like it's in spite of half the mechanics instead of because of it, because goddamn the friendly AI is worse than Star Wars Battlefront. The Hylian military is getting utterly murdered by 1 HP bokoblins that literally anyone else up to and including Random Bug Girl can kill 5-10 in a single attack with a parasol.
There was a point where I had to leave Link in a keep I was about to cap while I dealt with some elite attackers back at base. Took a good two minutes to stem the tide. By the time I moved back to Link, literally no progress was made on the keep. Two spin attacks later I went from no progress to spawning the boss, and hacked him down with half a combo -- took less than ten seconds. /facepalm
Also the music is...kinda bad. I know it's Team Ninja, but as far as metal goes it's just really bland and unfitting. Maybe I'm spoiled on Falcom. Their reorchestrations during the menu themes are fine though.
Oh, and Fi continues to be completely useless. She does long combos that do almost no damage, and have so much knockback that half the hits miss. And when I had to escort her, she dicked around with infinitely spawning trash bokoblins for so long I lost the mission.
I picked up Hyrule Warriors. It's fun, but it feels like it's in spite of half the mechanics instead of because of it, because goddamn the friendly AI is worse than Star Wars Battlefront. The Hylian military is getting utterly murdered by 1 HP bokoblins that literally anyone else up to and including Random Bug Girl can kill 5-10 in a single attack with a parasol.
There was a point where I had to leave Link in a keep I was about to cap while I dealt with some elite attackers back at base. Took a good two minutes to stem the tide. By the time I moved back to Link, literally no progress was made on the keep. Two spin attacks later I went from no progress to spawning the boss, and hacked him down with half a combo -- took less than ten seconds. /facepalm
Also the music is...kinda bad. I know it's Team Ninja, but as far as metal goes it's just really bland and unfitting. Maybe I'm spoiled on Falcom. Their reorchestrations during the menu themes are fine though.
Oh, and Fi continues to be completely useless. She does long combos that do almost no damage, and have so much knockback that half the hits miss. And when I had to escort her, she dicked around with infinitely spawning trash bokoblins for so long I lost the mission.
Yeah, it's a pretty graceless game overall. It has its fun elements, but there isn't much combat depth and the lack of unit control or influence prevents anything resembling a concerted strategy. I know, I know; musou's gunna mosou. Although I'll say that there are some good music arrangements.
There are some elements of the gameplay design that are just a mess. Like having the magic bar, special bars, and even another resource bar for some characters. So you get situations where characters like Gannondorf have three expendable resources available for their attacks. That'd be fine for some games, but it's kind of just ridiculous and indulgent here. There's also the story mode bias, which means Link is going to be, nearly definitively, your most powerful character by time you really dive into adventure mode. With that kind of balance gaff, there's not much incentive to play other characters unless the game forces you to. Or unless you have some kind of strong preference.
There are some neat things done with some mechanics for some characters/weapons, but there are just as many movesets that are obtuse and clunky. Hyrule Warriors is a pretty average game riding on the popularity of the Zelda series. Kind of a shame, since that popularity might have been used to deliver a more deliberate kind of musou game to a wide audience.
Black Magic honestly kind of sucks in Bravely Default. Unless you're fighting something with extreme physical resists, there's never really much justification to spend 30+ MP on mediocre damage when physicals can easily critical, damage cap, and do so multiple times in one attack for a fraction to none of the cost.
If you really, really need to nuke something really hard with element magic and have it actually do noticeable damage, Reflect the whole party and then cast the attack against the whole party. It hits a random enemy (preferably only one present) with the combined damage of all the hits against your party.
Mostly though, Spell Fencer enchants or Vampire physical-element genomes will outclass black magic in every way.
Comments
i . . . really don't like when you assert things like this
i guess maybe, gameplay-wise? i am not a typical gamer, i don't think
the main factors that influence my appraisal of a dungeon are probably whether i liked the aesthetic, and whether i got stuck there for long enough to feel bored. Aesthetically, the 2D dungeons are never the most interesting to me, as they feel sort of flat
Kex i agree, wrt: LA, i think. although it's a while since i played either.
iirc i was able to figure it out only because i'd played OOT and knew what a 'stalfos' was, which i don't think was ever stated in LA?
LA is kinda like Metroid 2 for me in that I think it has some very cool stuff, but the limited Game Boy hardware held it back, I think. Time for a remake
bugs me a little bit
IS THAT NOT ENOUGH
like, case in point, iirc the 'hidden pol's voice' puzzle makes a chest appear
why? what relates the solution (killing a bunch of enemies in a particular sequence) to the reward (treasure chest spawns)?
we don't normally question it because it's the logic the Zelda games run on, but it makes for a lot of lazy puzzles like 'find the switch and shoot it' or 'push the right block'
Currently in Chapter 5. Enjoying what I'm playing so far, but yeaaaah, I can see why people tend to not care much for the second half of the game.
I wonder what other classes I should level up before continuing with the rest of the game.
Yay for going even further from my interests.
The only real strategy I used a lot was double shields knight + super charge, which is ultra defensive, but can make some bosses a lot easier to deal with. I guess I'm also a fan of using a natural talent monk with the conjurer's buffing abilities to do a lot of damage quickly. I found the spiritmaster and white mage abilities to be helpful to have, but you probably picked up on that yourself, haha.
https://www.gog.com/game/rayman_origins
on sale until April 12
I just wasn't expecting...that ending.
In any case, I recommend it. Along with the same devteam's previous game, Mutant Mudds.
i hadn't seen that coming, yeah, i know
but i'm still thinking about it and feeling bad about it
that end of xeodrifter, the last thing you do in the game