FireSeraph wrote:That is true but you also lose out on 20% of your Stamina/Spell points
I see, didn't realize this. 20% more stamina/spell points is indeed an adequate compensation for -20% or so skill points.
As for whether those extra skills are worth it... Probably not, but Im a skill point hoarder xP
Right...now that we've established Speed and Skill as the go to attributes for the game, it's time for party member evaluation! Here's my two cents on how each member ranks in a fight:
Saren/Elenor (Warrior): A good choice. High hit points, healing skills, relatively fast and ability to equip bows as well as most melee weapons makes this combination more viable than the thief option. 4/5 stars.
Saren/Elenor (Thief): Fastest character in the game hands down. Good for speedy healing and pinging away enemy's hp. Bad points are that thief characters have low durability and poor main skill tree. 3/5 stars
For both warrior and thief Saren/Elenor, be sure to pick up Neutralize I. Extremely useful and together with Myrth, Saren/Elenor will keep the party healthy throughout most of the difficult fights.
Loren: Best single-target damage dealer of the game. She'll be the one that you'll want to stagger the enemies as well as occasionally guarding characters in the backline. Her skills are a little lackluster since they focus on dealing damage with the exception of Rally and Knockdown. No Mercy looks good but has a long delay. Ditto with Wide Slash. 4/5 stars.
Ramas: Good tank thanks to warrior hit points bonus and his resistance skills allows him to shrug off all those annoying status effects. Equip him appropriately and he can even be immune to them. Otherwise his skill tree isn't really too impressive. Give him the Kazinga warhammer and he'll be the second heaviest hitter in the game after Loren. 3/5 stars.
Amukiki: In theory, I can see how he can be useful, Battle-cry debuffing the enemies' defense and Shield Bash paralyses the enemies. Unfortunately, I think Dora and Karen are far better at this job than Amukiki is and so he ends up being relegated to back-up tank. 2/5 stars.
Dora: Ignore all those stereotypes about elves being the best archers. In Loren, Dora is the archer to go to. Area attack, extremely powerful debuffs (paralyse and scare), fast and capable of tearing through the enemy's hp with a good bow. 5/5 stars.
Rei: Decent enough. Has a passive resistance skill (those are always worth maxing out) and his other skills deals good damage and Confuses. Too bad he's got to compete with Dora and Karen in the Thief department. 3/5 stars.
Karen: Also another strong character. She gets Leg Break which slows the enemies, an area attack that weakens the entire front line thus helping your frontline to survive longer. Pair her up with Dora to take out a staggered enemy out of the fight with Leg Break and Pining shot. 5/5 stars. EDIT: Removed Karen's Focus Attack skill since I realised that the skill is intended for the nerf hammer. But everything else still stands.
Draco: Poor, poor Draco. Elemental attacks are slightly weaker than normal attacks and while their debuff effects are quite powerful, they don't really measure to the warrior's and thief's skills as their percentage of happening is low compared to the other skills. 2/5 stars.
Apolimesho: He looks like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings and is just as useful as the old bat is. His paralyse spell is his main saving grace; Regenerate takes to long to recover HP and you want the HP now instead of later. His other spells look interesting if you can get it to the higher Tiers, but are the higher Tiers worth it? 2/5 stars.
Myrth: The best mage in the game, in the sense that she is the only character in the game that has a mass healing effect. Max out her bonus SP skill and take cure ailment to keep the party healthy in major fights. Her damage skills are sort of okay, with the best being Tangle Weed and Hailstorm since they reduce the enemies' speed. Just don't rely on her doing damage. 3/5 stars.
This is based on my gaming experience and may differ for other play styles. Discussions are very much welcomed.
Combat is turn-based instantaneous, like Final Fantasy X. When it's a character's turn, you select an action, which has a delay built in. That character's next turn is then calculated based on the character's speed and the action delay.
Personally, I've played mostly in Normal mode while testing. I share many favorite characters like you (Dora and Karen) but I found Apolimesho and Myrth quite powerful both. Apolimesho because he can neutralize enemy casters/shooters with the Paralyze spell in early turns of battle, and Myrth because of the big area of damage and healing spells.
I am wondering if I should make Amukiki more powerful? Like have him give more defense bonus to the frontline (I was thinking as him like a tank but also having very strong defense buffs for himself and the party). I think also Draco Phantom Form is one of the most powerful buff of the game since increases Speed/Defense. Probably because of your style of play, you didn't find it much useful (since you maxed Speed).
Maybe I should also increase the amount of HP the Regenerate skill heals?
Maybe have it heal an amount of say (15*Tier+Magic*0.1)? I don't really know. Anyone else have an input on Regenerate? My own response whenever I see an enemy casting Regenerate on themselves amounts to "Hurray! They've wasted a turn!" >_>
Amukiki turning into a defense buffer for the whole party? Or maybe a passive that gives him a small boost to defense and makes his attacks generate more threat? Tossing out ideas. Loren and Ramas already generate a fair bit of aggro since they do a decent amount of damage so Amukiki needs a way to keep up, imo.
I can honestly see a use for the Paralyse spell but that's about it for Apolimesho. Play styles will necessitate changes in how each character forms the party, hence my call for opinions since there are four characters that I never really use.
Regarding Regenerate:I think it's also because in Hard mode enemies does more damage. While 15hp regen each turn is "OK" in Easy/Normal maybe in Hard mode is a pathetic amount ? I might change it to be 25-50-75hp each turn instead, that should be better. And Amukiki defensive skills should indeed grant more defense buffs and generate more aggro...
25/50/75 per tier does look much, much better. This lets it potentially heal 50% more than Life I/II/III but at the same time, because the healing isn't instantaneous, allows the other side a chance to knock out the character who has the regen buff. I think that's fair enough.
Yeah, Amunkiki definitely needs the competitive edge. I can see that he was meant to be the Stone Wall type character but compared to Loren who is a Lightning Bruiser, Ramas who is a Mighty Glacier with lots of resistance and Saren/Elenor who's the combat medic, it's hard to find a reason to pick Amunkiki.
Last edited by FireSeraph on Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Can't wait for that and to see how the slow effect for Syphon Life will affect combat with Fost now ^_^. Heh...can you believe I'm already waiting for a sequel to this game?
