The Last Remnant - Wow!

[Deleted User]

Yes! That's the design point Zloth missed, Fluent is trying to hide and I was so much into spitting on grind everywhere design I didn't describe it properly.

joxer, I'm not even reading your posts anymore. At this point I don't even know what you're talking about.

The game was fun to me. I'm not hiding anything. I loved every minute of it. There was little to no grind in my game, because I chose not to do that. Any sane human being would realize that in a game like this you can CHOOSE to grind, or you can CHOOSE not to. You're choosing to grind, so it's your own fault.

That's all I'm going to say about it. To those reading this, play the game and make up your own mind. You will probably like it, unlike joxer who seems to have mental issues keeping him from enjoying it. Or he's just plain insane and can't find fun in anything anymore, I'm not sure.

 

[joxer]

Or he's just plain insane and can't find fun in anything anymore, I'm not sure.

Eh?
In so many posts I've repeated that grinding is crap and not fun. Everything else is fun. Imagine that. I find fun in everything, except the only thing that seem matters to you - grinding.

I don't know how did you play this game, all I know is that you didn't finish it. You had your reasons for that, just like I have my reasons still trying to get to the bottom of this game and finish it.

See, on PC there are many games that contain none to minimal grinding and people who hate grinding to you are insane and can't have fun with anything? Okay. It's good to clear things up!

 

[Deleted User]

The insane part is someone deliberately grinding even though they claim to hate grinding. Why would anyone do that?!

I didn't think the game was a "grind" at all (I happen to think most all RPGs are grinds, that is the point of RPGs, to grind your character to a higher level), but those that want to grind are allowed to. Any sane being would choose the path they want to go and have fun with it. You seem to deliberately pick the path of least fun for yourself and then complain about it! In-sane!

 

[Thrasher]

Yeah, after a while, it's time to stop grinding, if you're not liking it.

 

[joxer]

Yea, yea, whatever you all say, the game is so brilliant it's just me who is an idiot dared to say it's garbage.

Meanwhile stumbled upon a certain quest, Zloth, is this the peak of the game you mentioned?
The masterpiece quest? A blueprint for all modern games?

Made a separate save before taking it. Will try my luck though. Didn't win the lottery, maybe the game gives it out fast.

 

[Zloth]

Yep, that's the EVIL quest. We hates it forever. (And trying to find Prometheus for that guild quest.)

Joxer, you're the one that suddenly decided he had to grind poor Mr. Diggs up into the stratosphere. You really didn't have to do that at all. I don't know anyone who HAS done that, in fact. If you go through all the game mechanics, find something to exploit, exploit it, and promptly come in here complaining about the exploit then people like Fluent and me are going to call your sanity into question.

If Emma needs some component and you buy it then Emma DOES get that component. And so do you. It's a rather odd thing, which is why I explained what was going on in my guide.

It's been a long time since I had to worry about cash (you start with a ton of it in Plus mode) but, if I remember right, I got most of mine by selling off captured monsters.

I don't even know what the Hades you're talking about with respect to characters asking for items. They'll all ask for items. If they are asking for one, though, it means you have one in your inventory. Why are you going out to buy one??

Now if you want to go and build/buy some item out of the blue then yes, you better look up in the Wikia to see if anyone is actually going to want what you're getting.

McGrady starts out as more of a healer (17 STR, 28 INT) but it looks like you've been using him to pound on things so now he's gotten a lot stronger. Rhagoh is similar but also gets Hexes and Lotions. Lotions won't be too handy for Rhagoh but Hexes sure are. Still, if you want to stick with McGrady then that's fine. Plenty of folks win the game with both him and Oakes still in their party from the early days.

Formations are actually pretty fun stuff now that the Wikia has documented just what they all do. Belt formation gives you more speed but at the cost of destroying your defense. This makes it great if you need a union to run past some enemy unions to attack somebody in the back though you're certainly going to pay for it in damage taken. Come to think of it, you could also use this as a "healer trainer" formation. Fill it up with people who need to practice their healing arts plus possibly somebody with a boatload of HP. They should get PLENTY of healing opportunities in this formation.

 

[joxer]

Joxer, you're the one that suddenly decided he had to grind poor Mr. Diggs up into the stratosphere. You really didn't have to do that at all.

But I did.
Not that it brought me some huge benefit except I didn't have to worry about cash at all.

If Emma needs some component and you buy it then Emma DOES get that component. And so do you. It's a rather odd thing, which is why I explained what was going on in my guide.

Eh? But... Okay I'll check it again. If I can, I went much forward and I think items they asked from me now are not in stores (some rare stuff I can't remember seeing anywhere really). Where's your guide?

It's been a long time since I had to worry about cash (you start with a ton of it in Plus mode) but, if I remember right, I got most of mine by selling off captured monsters.

Yup, captured mobs are cashcows, especially greens (rares).
What I didn't try is to split them for components. Is it worth doing at all? Can I get some unique or rare thing that way?

I don't even know what the Hades you're talking about with respect to characters asking for items. They'll all ask for items. If they are asking for one, though, it means you have one in your inventory. Why are you going out to buy one??

Now if you want to go and build/buy some item out of the blue then yes, you better look up in the Wikia to see if anyone is actually going to want what you're getting.

I'd go buy one if I know they'll ask for it. Since I don't know will they ask for it or not, I buy it - just in case they do ask.
But that was earlygame. I stopped doing it. Stopped caring. Especially since my party is now very different from the starting one. I don't want to give items to party members I don't use.
And I'm not doing wiki research for it - there is no table of items to buy and I should go check each party member, one by one...

McGrady starts out as more of a healer (17 STR, 28 INT) but it looks like you've been using him to pound on things so now he's gotten a lot stronger. Rhagoh is similar but also gets Hexes and Lotions. Lotions won't be too handy for Rhagoh but Hexes sure are. Still, if you want to stick with McGrady then that's fine. Plenty of folks win the game with both him and Oakes still in their party from the early days.

Yea, both Rhagoh and McGrady are now out of my party, found better staff. I can write it down if you want.
Lotions seems underwhelming, but hexes rock!

Formations are actually pretty fun stuff now that the Wikia has documented just what they all do. Belt formation gives you more speed but at the cost of destroying your defense. This makes it great if you need a union to run past some enemy unions to attack somebody in the back though you're certainly going to pay for it in damage taken. Come to think of it, you could also use this as a "healer trainer" formation. Fill it up with people who need to practice their healing arts plus possibly somebody with a boatload of HP. They should get PLENTY of healing opportunities in this formation.

Good thinking about that one! But I'm mostly with chalice formation - maybe it's just me, but it seems that chalice has a bonus chance for unique art option to appear (omnistrike, gae bolg, summons, etc.).

 

[joxer]

Rereading my own post, maybe it's confusing? It definetly would be for someone who didn't play the game.
No matter.

As mentioned and now I'm back home, I've passed Aqueducts and am playing the game as I play other games, sidequests first, main quests next to open more sidequests.

Boosted all party members I could, this means I still can't power up Loki, Maddox, Zolean and Jager. Unlocked potential for everyone else. Including Caedmon with his three personal quests where in the end you meet the duo from that quest you mentioned, Eagle's Nest. But unlike the first time where I had to reload, here they were easy-peasy. It's the same old strategy as with other bosses, don't march to them, stand your ground and let them come to you.

Currently am on a sidequest The Assistant, it feels like another chore, but well.


This is how my party currently looks like (first character is union leader):
1. Rush, Baulson, Torgal, Zolean
2. David, Gabriel, Blocter, Gaou
3. Emmy, Caedmon, Roberto, Darien, Violet
4. Irina, Jager, Paris, Flenys, Allan

Reserves (and I don't plan to use them actually):
Pagus, Loki, Nora, Rhagoh, Leshau, Maddox, Kate


Pagus, Loki, Nora, Rhagoh and McGrady were in my party before, but newer recruits were simply better than them. Leshau, Maddox and Kate seem worse than McGrady so I didn't put them to use at all after recruiting.
Irina got Omnistrike unlocked that's why I've made her leader although she's somewhat lacking in other specs.
Total HP in all active units is near 5K. I plan to break them into 5 units when I can make 5 units of 5K HP each.
For all members I went balance route. Maybe it wasn't the best strategy, but I don't know:
- what difference does that choice make
- what new recruit I'll get
- if I recombine units, will they desperately lack of stat/skill

Not saying this was the best possible units setup I could make, but currently it works well. Means, I had to use resurrection (vivification) only once past aqueducts. Prior to aqueducts, my basic strategy was practically having 100/100 Relaxing Herbs and Restoreleaf. I didn't use them 24/7, but were needed in some boss fights and are dirt cheap (at least were to me after Mr. Diggs halfhour grind ).

 

[Zloth]

Where's my guide? Awww man… it's the guide you posted a big hunk of! My moment of fame… gone… just like that. The mighty Joxer quoting my stuff… but he didn't even know it. <smirk> So anyway, it's right here - specifically the Weapon Components part.

Splitting up monsters is worth it if they have something one of your characters needs. Later in the game you get a lot of people clamoring for items so it can be a bit difficult to remember.

But that was earlygame. I stopped doing it. Stopped caring. Especially since my party is now very different from the starting one. I don't want to give items to party members I don't use.

Good - I never bothered. If they asked for something and Rush didn't want it then I just let them have it. Otherwise, let'm buy it themselves. (They do actually get money and do actually buy things but I don't know if anyone has figured out just how that mechanic works.)

Lotions are fairly nice. There are a few really nasty critters out there that can silence a union which makes the Throat Salve a life saver. Eye Cream is a weird name for a healing power but it's a fairly good one. The problem with the art is that it's a bit expensive. If several characters are using it, the prices are going to add up.

Goblet/Chalice is a good one. It shows another tactic you can use, too. You have to use the first slot in any formation but, after that, you get to pick. The first slot's character gets his/her strength mangled so that's a good place for a mage to stand. But look at slots 2 and 3 compared to 4 and 5! If you've only got three people in the union then you can avoid a defensive hit by using slots 4 and 5 instead of 2 and 3. (Of course, having just 3 people means you aren't going to open up the "more advanced" versions of the formation with better bonuses.)

Wow, you zipped right by Hell's Gate and Jaeger! That's another choke point for a lot of folks. Oh, here's another quick tip: when you get to the Six Bases, go and talk to the Duke of Ghor between each base fight. He doesn't always have something to say but it makes it possible to actually recruit him into your party.

The Assistant might be a bit hard to get through right now. He is a bit tedious but he's funny. Oh, and there's one rare monster in those caves that's… tricky. You know the Calvary Call power some critters use to call more? There's a rare in there that does it. A lot. At least I came back with 22 captured monsters to sell.

Oh, speaking of hard… THE FALLEN! That was actually part of the DLC in the old XBox game but they shuffled it into the main game on the PC. That thing is a friggin' god. People have beaten it on their first play-through but I wasn't even close.

 

[joxer]

But that's… "Things that in normal world would be in the manual", I thought you have a guide with details on every NPC or mob!

Tip about six bases not needed. I did it!
Not only that, I also got more forward and made Duke of Ghor my new party member (instead of Violet, she… isn't bad really, but lacks of damage output).

Now I'm checking pubs if another new sidequest appeared. Not going to forward the story till I solve them all. Except…

Got whacked on some Nora's new quest though. It put's me against 5 boss unions and two hypnos units. I can kill 2-3 boss groups but then I'm out. LOL
Well that one will wait till I feel confident to split my party into 5 units.

The assistant is my second worst quest in this game. I had to exit/enter the cave to gather everything that quest giver asked for. My Mr. Diggs is maxed now, but I can't dig endlessly!
And yea, some critters can call for reinforcements, not just rares. Donda calls Dondada groups for example. Dunno if they count on skills gain…

Jäger unit has 8K on that video… I'm not sure I can compete with that player… Is that the final game boss? I mean… The final DLC boss added to PC as a part of the game?
And ewww, I play with japanese audio. Those yells in that vid… So uninspired. So unnatural!

 

[Zloth]

Every NPC/mob!? That'd be a month's work!

Nora's quest is a hard one for sure. It might be the hardest non-DLC battle in the whole game. Killing the hypnos doesn't help much, they just come right back.

The Fallen is actually one of several extra fights the XBox version got as free DLC back in it's day. Rush gets to learn Wards after that and you get a key to the Ancient Ruins. Those ruins hold some nasty critters and special rare components. At the top of ruins is Demigod, another seriously nasty challenge.

Personally, I consider all that stuff "second play-through" material. I typically don't like the plus modes in JRPGs but I did enjoy this one. You start with tons of money and components so, once the crafting shop opens, you can give Rush some pretty incredible stuff. All the extra money makes those item-based arts like explosives and lotions a lot more viable, too. Of course, in return the enemies hit harder and have more hit points. Advancing your healing skills will NOT be an issue.

I've got a quick guide (covered with spoiler tags) for the DLC, too: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=129125443

Edit: I guess The Fallen was actually part of the main game on the XBox? Oh well, whatever.

 

[joxer]

Every NPC/mob!? That'd be a month's work!

Nora's quest is a hard one for sure. It might be the hardest non-DLC battle in the whole game. Killing the hypnos doesn't help much, they just come right back.

Yup if I kill them first, two more appear, so I went on boss units first but… They use hits that deal 2.5K damage multiple times and I cannot survive that. Can't resurrect fast enough my fallen units and can't kill fast enough boss units even with a summon.

The Fallen is actually one of several extra fights the XBox version got as free DLC back in it's day. Rush gets to learn Wards after that and you get a key to the Ancient Ruins. Those ruins hold some nasty critters and special rare components. At the top of ruins is Demigod, another seriously nasty challenge.

Actually found it. First time… Don't ask. Wiped me out with magic attacks hard. Just to say I switched all units on Vampire (magic def. bonus).
Then second time I was doing good, he even started blinking red and I issued "finish him", but then he stepped on the ground and it was game over.

Checked wiki, for god's sakes.
Half of million HP and the fight has to finish in 10 turns?! And the bastard pulls out AoE attacks and instakill all the time? I really dunno how am I supposed to do this.
I waste time on resurrecting and thus can't get an average 50K damage per turn. I could if every turn I'd have omnistrike, but… Omnistrike appeared only once and on Irina.
I'll try once or twice more, maybe I get lucky...

But I'm… Not happy. Wiki says if I don't do it before proceeding with the main story, the quest will disappear and eventually I won't get the proper ending…
What kind of stupidity is that?
http://lastremnant.wikia.com/wiki/Meet_the_God_Emperor

And what's that? PC ultimate grind, OMG… LOL
Yea, I guess I can go grind to beef up I guess… I did clear all quests (I think) there is none available except that hard one from Nora so that leaves me guild challenges…
But this is IMO another design crime in this game. Assuming the wiki is correct and I won't see the real end unless I kill this overpowered boss right now.

Oh and wiki says this too: "If you have Cachexia, try to use it on the fourth turn to prevent The Fallen from using Animalcule.". ROTFL. But I recruited Zolean too late in the game and opened hexes for other characters including Rush pretty recently, how on earth can I get hexes so improved to open Cachexia, hahaha

Personally, I consider all that stuff "second play-through" material. I typically don't like the plus modes in JRPGs but I did enjoy this one. You start with tons of money and components so, once the crafting shop opens, you can give Rush some pretty incredible stuff. All the extra money makes those item-based arts like explosives and lotions a lot more viable, too. Of course, in return the enemies hit harder and have more hit points. Advancing your healing skills will NOT be an issue.

I seriously doubt I can put myself onto this game once more. Honestly.

I've got a quick guide (covered with spoiler tags) for the DLC, too: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=129125443
Thanks!

Edit: I guess The Fallen was actually part of the main game on the XBox? Oh well, whatever.

Seems it's a critical part of the game. Optional sidequest that is in fact not optional according to wiki as it seems to unlock some grand finale.
What to do, what to do?

I don't want to grind, but I don't want to miss the ending either.

 

[Zloth]

Grand finale?? It unlocks the Ancient Ruins, which unlocks Demigod, which unlocks White Conqueror. Getting through The Enlightened Seven would be mighty hard without access to the Ancient Ruins. All those are very much optional, though.

Maybe you're thinking of the final boss? There are different versions of him with different powers depending on what quests you've done. If you do absolutely EVERYTHING in the game then you get the "ultimate" version but I've never been even slightly tempted to do that. The ending is the same either way. In fact, you can see it if you have a BIK movie player. The only two endings are the US and the JA endings.

 

[joxer]

LOL but I hate to leave "unfinished" business in games.
Why did they make so it disappears like some preaqueducts quests? Because of that design after every main story step I was visiting all towns several times and doing all quests just so I don't miss any.
I do always play like that, sidestuff first, main stuff later, leaving unfinished things that are too hard currently, but I don't remember any other game that puts you against "impossible" boss who'll disappear if you didn't do them in before you proceed with the story. If a quest will disappear it's never some OP enemy against you.
This is retarded.

You say there is game+. I didn't see any item or something that, equipped, makes all random encounters skippable. There isn't also norespawn mod or something that'd prevent repopulating areas at least till I exit them. Just as with other grinders, I won't be able to bring myself into replaying grinding themepark/area just to kill this The Fallen boss.
And I've retried now two more times, each time I bring him to flashing red (I bet it means his HP is on 20%) but I just don't have alive units enough to finish him before 10th turn. I wonder if I constructed some magic resistance accessories my party members would ask and use. Geez…
I'm probably thinking too much, I don't see any actual strategy against this boss except upping my HP. I do hit him with silence stuff but it doesn't help against his AoE attacks.

Now I'm really unsure what to do. To skip this quest and continue with the main story or go grind a bit on guild tasks… But since the game contains another design crime - levelscaling - I'm not sure The Fallen won't be even harder to kill when I return.

At least wiki doesn't say Nora's quest will disappear so I guess that one, just like Caedmon's quests, will still be there.

 

[wolfing]

LOL but I hate to leave "unfinished" business in games.
Why did they make so it disappears like some preaqueducts quests? Because of that design after every main story step I was visiting all towns several times and doing all quests just so I don't miss any.
I do always play like that, sidestuff first, main stuff later, leaving unfinished things that are too hard currently, but I don't remember any other game that puts you against "impossible" boss who'll disappear if you didn't do them in before you proceed with the story. If a quest will disappear it's never some OP enemy against you.
This is retarded.

You say there is game+. I didn't see any item or something that, equipped, makes all random encounters skippable. There isn't also norespawn mod or something that'd prevent repopulating areas at least till I exit them. Just as with other grinders, I won't be able to bring myself into replaying grinding themepark/area just to kill this The Fallen boss.
And I've retried now two more times, each time I bring him to flashing red (I bet it means his HP is on 20%) but I just don't have alive units enough to finish him before 10th turn. I wonder if I constructed some magic resistance accessories my party members would ask and use. Geez…
I'm probably thinking too much, I don't see any actual strategy against this boss except upping my HP. I do hit him with silence stuff but it doesn't help against his AoE attacks.

Now I'm really unsure what to do. To skip this quest and continue with the main story or go grind a bit on guild tasks… But since the game contains another design crime - levelscaling - I'm not sure The Fallen won't be even harder to kill when I return.

At least wiki doesn't say Nora's quest will disappear so I guess that one, just like Caedmon's quests, will still be there.

not talking about this game in particular as I don't remember much, but in general jRPGs tend to have things like 'bad ending', 'good ending', 'perfect ending'. I usually, for my sanity, just go for the 'good ending', which is what most people would get unless they're following a walkthrough step by step. Since that's not enjoyable for me, I'm ok with the 'good ending', and if curious I go to youtube after I finish the game and watch the 'perfect ending'. In some jRPGs you can't even get the 'perfect' ending unless you play the game several times, what they call a 'new game +'. That's just insanity if you ask me, jRPGs are already normally 60+ hours to finish, and doing it all over again just to watch a different ending? pfff!!!!!! youtube is your friend.

 

[joxer]

Finished the game.
Solved all quests except The Fallen (I just couldn't force myself into grinding) and that automatically means I couldn't solve the semifinal quest (there is a quest that unlocks only if you solve all previous quests).

Checked the wiki, Zloth is right, only the last boss scales depending on quests you did through the game. More quests you solve, less tricky this boss will be.
There is no good, bad and perfect ending, whatever you do, the story will close the same way.

I'll do the game+ till the part with recruiting your first party to see what exactly you inherited. And then I'll write in "just finished" thread.


In here I'll add a few notes:

- Didn't try every special NPC as unit leader so can't say which ones are best. I used Rush, Irina, Emma and David, when Irina was unavailable I used Jager. From them 5 David is the best leader as his unique arts trigger more often then others. Never used 5 units, finished the game by having 4.

- From all special NPCs the best sidekick is Caedmon. That cat brings everything to the party, HP, heals, damage, cc, spells from afar and has a great weapon art.

- I've instructed everyone to go balanced route. Which means you can finish the game this way. However, you will notice lategame that some characters are not really fit for this route, for example Baulson won't do superdamage and will have just mediocre heals and while still good, it'd be better to specialize him either in melee or magic. Can't say which route fits the best for which character, wiki also doesn't have such info.

- I've been frustrated with crafting components NPCs want and I couldn't buy anywhere. You shouldn't be. Don't bother with that. Upon reaching a certain battle rank, when you enter a town, NPCs will improve their weapons regardless of components you found or didn't. Not sure why is that and why are they ask for components then. Maybe they'd get +1 or +2 or something on weapons instantly instead of having to fight if they had components?

- This still doesn't apply to accessories, they won't construct them on their own but will ask if they see something "shiny" in your inventory. Again, wiki won't help much, with accessories you'll have to experiment yourself. Better the accessory, higher chance someone in your party will ask for it.

- The strategy to pass challenging fights is to stand your ground whenever possible. Or attack only the closest group, just don't choose the option "close in"! That way, the other hostiles, distant ones or reinforcements, have to lose a turn on marching to get close to you. Meanwhile your AP raises so you can smack them with more damage from weapons or magic.

- Mobs you catch - sell. Don't kill for components. you need cash, not components.

- The only thing you need to (re)stock in towns are Relaxing Herb and Restoleaf (Vivification). This way there is (almost) no fight you can't win. Eventually those herbs will feel dirt cheap and you're able to buy them in the first town (Athlum, not at the game start but a bit later). I'm not saying you shouldn't buy other herbs for other herb skills, but these two are a must have.

- Finally don't recruit everyone possible! If you can for example use max 5 units on the battlefield, get only 5 recruits, although the game will allow you to recruit more. Otherwise it's a waste of money.
From initial recruits I had McGrady for a long time with me, everyone else felt too pathetic compared to unique NPCs so my suggestion is to switch those initial recruits with unique ones as soon as you can. And although I said balance is not the proper path for everyone, keep it for McGrady as he'll provide decent damage output and decent amount of heals this way.
In fact since I'll replay game+ for a bit, maybe I can see what's your initial option since I can't remember which different recruits are available at first.

- Chain fights! As much as possible. Don't attack one by one mob (unless superhard like Harpylia mob that has instakill spell) but pull as much groups as you can with timeshift. More groups you fight at the same time, bigger chance to get weapons, skills, arts and stats upward!
During the fight, don't bother if something wrong can happen by using attacking with combat arts, magic arts or something. Even if you use plain attack (charge) your party members can pull out something that costs AP and is not on the list of their actions (except unique leader arts like Omnistrike, those stuff you have to instruct them to use). NPCs will get new skills eventually and no matter what options you use during the fight. So use any commands you feel are best for the occassion.

 

[Zloth]

I definitely don't like that quests can just vanish on you. Witcher 1 and 2 pull that, too, and I don't like it there, either.

I do like The Fallen, though. It gave me a reason to actually play the game a second time. A big reason, in fact. I went through the whole first two thirds of the game with that battle in mind. Finishing it was a heck of a victory!

I think the idea is that you can get out whatever you want to put in. If you want, you can simply play the main game and some of the sidequests and get through just fine. Or you can do almost all of them and you'll still be able to get some tough fights from the DLC content. Or you can get really hard core, play the game through multiple times, and try to beat even the most extreme encounters.

Didn't try every special NPC as unit leader so can't say which ones are best. I used Rush, Irina, Emma and David, when Irina was unavailable I used Jager.

Even if you did you wouldn't be able to say. The characters all develop differently in each game just by the luck of the draw and how you have everyone grouped together. You've got 18 of them so the Law of Averages should make sure you have plenty of good ones. Plus there are a couple of pretty strong do-everything characters near the end that can stand in for any of your characters that find themselves on the random number generator's bell curve tail.

Don't bother with that. Upon reaching a certain battle rank, when you enter a town, NPCs will improve their weapons regardless of components you found or didn't. Not sure why is that and why are they ask for components then. Maybe they'd get +1 or +2 or something on weapons instantly instead of having to fight if they had components?

They can't always upgrade. As you get into the higher level weapons, the things they need to buy simply aren't for sale.

More groups you fight at the same time, bigger chance to get weapons, skills, arts and stats upward!

Also, if there's one particular monster that you want to capture or get good drops from, try and defeat it last in your battle. You might even want to pull some trash mobs in on fights against rare monsters (the ones with green names) just to up the chances of them dropping something good.

I'm probably thinking too much, I don't see any actual strategy against this boss except upping my HP. I do hit him with silence stuff but it doesn't help against his AoE attacks.

One word:

Spoiler

Cachexia. Here's a video demonstration. Just nail him with the highest level hex spell near the end of the turn and it won't have the AP to do it's big attack between turns.

 

[joxer]

On that spoiler - I didn't have that on my party members.
And I didn't have it because… Let's put that aside.

Game+ things.
You keep all ingredients but not equipment from the first runthrough. So if you'll be playing the game for the second time, make sure you break every weapon/accessory into parts you don't use before going for final battle.
And you start with crapload of cash (almost 3 millions in my game!).

I've played the game a bit, nothing is really changed from the first run except your starting inventory.
So this goes even for those who'll start the game for the first time. How to start.


1. Follow the story and solve quests till the point you're suggested to recruit some people from the guild. You'll be able to have max 3 people, means you need two.

2. Recruit McGrady (healer) and one more then add them into your party (two more are available) in the guild. Then go into the pub. Baulson who is unique NPC will be there and will give you a quest of his own (save a child). Do the quest, then go to guild, recruit Baulson, dismiss the second generic recruit and now make your party to be you, Mcgrady and Baulson.

3. Proceed with the story, you'll be in an area with many spiders, make sure you kill at least 8 of them there.

4. Next thing that will happen is you being allowed to have 9 people fighting and new 5 uniques will now join your side as actual recruits, not as guests (David and his generals).

6. So you have 8 people and need one more. And now another unique is available in the guild, his name is Loki. Recruit him and while there, check guild tasks, one was to kill spiders, the reward for that one is Cup of Celapaeis unit formation. Switch to it! It's superior to the default melee one.


For weapon I suggest sticking to axe/shield at least early (you'll find a good axe soon and shields are cheap to buy). I played with halberd my first run but now when I played with this, seems this shield made things easier, I was blocking hits like crazy!

Hell if I only knew this the first time I played… And don't forget to kick McGrady out as soon as you find another unique NPC! They are usually available on guilds' recruitlists if you solve a quest, so make sure you check pubs regularily for new quests!

All I need to add is the "finished thread" post. And I'm too lazy to do it now. Tomorrow maybe. Hopefully I won't skip to mention anything…

 

[Deleted User]

joxer, For being a "garbage" game that you hate, you seemed to have a lot of fun with it. Will you finally just admit that the game is great and you were wrong all along?

 

[joxer]

Sadly, there wasn't lot of fun with it, but lot of chore. And grind.
It's a not a great game. Not every game I played and finished is a great game. It's like with movies, watching them doesn't mean they're great.

Patience please, I'm writing down notes, wouldn't want to miss somthing in the post tomorrow. Remind me if I do forget to mention one definetly positive thing. The game has absolutely no bug. If there is one, I dunno how to force it out and didn't experience it. If anything, that helped me enduring the grinding torture.

Could be a culture thing. You know… A bugged game could be seen as dishonorable thing and lead to seppuku over at Square Enix… God I wish Square buys Bethesda.