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Mischief Maker would hate it by FABIO 03/21/2010, 12:56am PDT
He hates standard turn based jRPG combat and teenagers standing around overstating the obvious. The game has both in spades. At one point, just like Xenogears, the nihilist baddie captures our heroes without a fight and strings them up on crucifixes =(

Lizard_King wrote:

If anything, I thought the way xp balancing was handled relative to your level was very smooth, and meant that really only completists needed to grind for anything (and it's definitely there if you want the alternate challenges). The game gives you instantly diminished returns for not taking risks, and at most you have to one or two runs between full moons to get to the next boss.


You get the most experience for rushing to the highest possible floor and grinding there, but if you do that then you miss out on pokemon exclusive to a couple floors.

Also the "risk" is getting wiped out by the insanely unforgiving system regarding the main character ( who can be killed in 2-3 attacks, snuffed out by an instant death spell (losing a homunculus to a random encounter is almost enough cause to reset), or disabled by status ailment rendering your entire party brainless) , making you lose all progress in your grinding run. You also cannot pull out of dungeons whenever you wish, and must pray to the random number generator to throw you an access point or survive to the next boss floor teleporter.


Now, I witnessed the grinding potential when my wife beat the ever-loving shit out of this game, but even then I thought it was pretty kind and modern-feeling. There just aren't many games in a traditional turn-based framework that do the sort of rock-paper-scissors + winner takes all moments as well as this one.


What strategic elements are these? It never goes beyond the usual jRPG combat tropes, but even Final Fantasy X had more depth to combat. Hit every enemy once with their weak element until they're all knocked down, hope the main character doesn't get hit with insta-kill/charm/fear/knockdown/falldown, pray your party members do what you want them to through voodoo commands. All it takes is the main character getting disabled while you have the wrong commands and you're fucked. Back to the start screen.


I could definitely see Fabio fucking it up though. It's very easy to assume that the reason a boss is hard is because you don't have enough levels, when brute force is rarely the best solution. You're either down with the demon pokemon or you're not, and if that shit doesn't interest you there are going to be some difficulty walls that you bounce off while the answer is ten minutes of experimentation away. Plus, it hurts to get killed by a laughing table.


The entire pokemon fusion system is extremely vague. The main problem is it makes all the information so ridiculously difficult to get. You are shown what skills new pokemon will receive, but not what those unintuitively named (Marakaja, Diaharma, Megideloan? awesome!) skills do. You are not even told what those skills do once you obtain them on the pokemon screen, but must go to a skill menu where it lists every single skill all your pokemon have put together, but will not tell you which pokemon has that skill without going back to the pokemon screen to cross reference. You are not told what each skill does in battle without first switching to that pokemon.

And even keeping track of the all pokemon isn't a sure thing because the game gives you zero information about bosses. You can never scan them, must experiment with trial & error (10-45 minute setback for each error) and hope that one of them isn't reflected back to kill or disable the main character. Often the bosses will have new or unique super killing attacks that give no hint what damage type they are so another tactical option for choosing the right pokemon is abandoned to rote trial & error.

There's just no excuse for the lack of checkpoints on story bosses. It's the reason all sane people gave up on Grand Theft Auto and switched to Saints Row. To hail it as rewarding thinking outside the brute force box is the same garbage eaten up by Demon Soul fans.

Then again, I thought the story was great in that it had teenage protagonists and dating sims and all of that and somehow avoided making it a miserable experience. Certainly, it's light years ahead of the sort of drivel that passes for a Final Fantasy plot and character menagerie.


You level up pokemon by hanging out with characters after school, and unfortunately the power of each person's pokemon group is directly proportional to how annoying they are (the most powerful belong to a speed-eating foodie).

They should just give Elizabeth her own game.
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Review Request: Shin Megami Tensai series in general by Mischief Maker 03/20/2010, 11:42am PDT NEW
    Hated Devil Survivor, I mean. NT by Mischief Maker 03/20/2010, 11:43am PDT NEW
    Spoony sort of reviewed them in some vlog entries. O_O NT by Jhoh Creexul (custom software) 03/20/2010, 12:04pm PDT NEW
    Ask Wromg NT by Fortinbras 03/20/2010, 12:05pm PDT NEW
    this review covers everything atlas has ever released by irony 03/20/2010, 12:07pm PDT NEW
    It was just a review in the forum by Worm 03/20/2010, 12:57pm PDT NEW
        Re: It was just a review in the forum by Fortinbras 03/20/2010, 10:50pm PDT NEW
    You will hate them by FABIO 03/20/2010, 3:33pm PDT NEW
        Re: You will hate them by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/20/2010, 3:43pm PDT NEW
            You haven't gotten to the soul-crushing grinding yet by FABIO 03/20/2010, 3:56pm PDT NEW
                I didn't even know people could be bad at RPGs ... stunning. NT by Worm 03/20/2010, 4:03pm PDT NEW
                    Well, what is your reaction to that?You're saying you didn't see the same thing? NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/20/2010, 4:40pm PDT NEW
                        I didn't, that's for sure by Lizard_King 03/20/2010, 9:10pm PDT NEW
                            Mischief Maker would hate it by FABIO 03/21/2010, 12:56am PDT NEW
                                Re: Mischief Maker would hate it by Lizard_King 03/21/2010, 8:12am PDT NEW
                                    Re: Mischief Maker would hate it by FABIO 03/21/2010, 8:28pm PDT NEW
                                        Re: Mischief Maker would hate it by Lizard_King 03/22/2010, 9:18pm PDT NEW
                                            Re: Mischief Maker would hate it by FABIO 03/23/2010, 8:18am PDT NEW
                                Re: Mischief Maker would hate it by Mischief Maker 03/23/2010, 12:33pm PDT NEW
                    thanks jsoh NT by FABIO 03/20/2010, 5:29pm PDT NEW
                        What? The bosses are pretty easy. by Worm 03/21/2010, 5:07am PDT NEW
                            Re: What? The bosses are pretty easy. by FABIO 03/21/2010, 8:40pm PDT NEW
                            re: plot by FABIO 03/21/2010, 8:56pm PDT NEW
                                That isn't what I said anyway. :( NT by laudablepuss 03/22/2010, 11:34am PDT NEW
                                Oh man two replies, how can I fucking contain myself? by Worm 03/22/2010, 2:00pm PDT NEW
                                    John was right. You do eat up shit =( NT by FABIO 03/23/2010, 8:20am PDT NEW
                                        Well it was no Bloodlines ~_~ NT by Worm 03/23/2010, 8:24am PDT NEW
                Re: You haven't gotten to the soul-crushing grinding yet by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/20/2010, 4:38pm PDT NEW
        As to why it's hugely popular... by FABIO 03/20/2010, 3:45pm PDT NEW
    Oh bitch you did not just by Nomura Dau Don 03/20/2010, 4:48pm PDT NEW
        Re: Oh bitch you did not just by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/20/2010, 5:03pm PDT NEW
            Re: Oh bitch you did not just by Nomura Dau Don 03/20/2010, 6:13pm PDT NEW
                In FF6 you learned magic from equipped Espers NT by Nou Doof Dong Ching Chong Wing Wong 03/20/2010, 7:16pm PDT NEW
                I played most of FF12 on autopilot gambits. by Jhoh Creexul (custom software) 03/21/2010, 12:08am PDT NEW
                FF2j and FF5 had job systems. by Worm 03/21/2010, 5:11am PDT NEW
    it counts as a review, and a comic strip about fursona 4 by irony 03/21/2010, 7:33pm PDT NEW
        ha ha, yup by FABIO 03/21/2010, 8:04pm PDT NEW
            DIDDLING YOUR SOUL CLIT by Entropy Stew 03/21/2010, 11:59pm PDT NEW
            It's certainly no Bloodlines, you got that right. NT by Charles Edwards 03/22/2010, 3:07pm PDT NEW
                Now I know how the Cables feel. Shattering sanities with one sentence. NT by FABIO 03/22/2010, 8:16pm PDT NEW
                    or getting trolled by an ICJ ator ... same difference, right? NT by Worm 03/22/2010, 8:44pm PDT NEW
        Re: it counts as a review, and a comic strip about fursona 4 by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/21/2010, 11:37pm PDT NEW
            it's already a worse game than gtavc NT by irony 03/22/2010, 4:28am PDT NEW
                Yes, but does it destroy lives like GTAVC? by Jerry Whorebach 03/22/2010, 6:35am PDT NEW
                    thanks for your insight fatso NT by nobody 03/22/2010, 10:30am PDT NEW
                        When nobody calls you a fatso, that means your diet is working 8) NT by Jerry Whorebach 03/22/2010, 11:03am PDT NEW
                            If you ain't fat and we're skinnier than you then we are also skinny. :3 by Jhoh Creexul (custom software) 03/22/2010, 2:32pm PDT NEW
                How? Does falling in water in P4 kill you and delete your save game? NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/22/2010, 9:01am PDT NEW
                    p4 doesn't even have water because weeaboos suck at video games NT by irony 03/22/2010, 5:16pm PDT NEW
                        In other words, yes. 8) NT by Jhoh Creexul (custom software) 03/22/2010, 5:24pm PDT NEW
                            it wasn't a yes or no question but that's because we have vision the rest of the NT by irony 03/22/2010, 5:27pm PDT NEW
                                Well the second part was yes or no, but it also answers the other question. O_O NT by Jhoh Creexul (custom software) 03/22/2010, 5:59pm PDT NEW
                                    Well the second part was yes or no, but it also answers the other question. O_O by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/23/2010, 10:36am PDT NEW
        Yeah, but that guy loved the game :( NT by Worm 03/22/2010, 2:02pm PDT NEW
 
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