The Dark Pontifex

Day 373

It's starting to look like I'm going to be behind schedule on finishing Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem. I fully intend to finish it tonight, but it could easily be well past midnight by the time I do. I do this mostly because I'd like to be done with the game. I love the series but New Mystery is definitely not a highlight, though I'd say it edges out Shadow Dragon in a few key areas. Above all else, I supremely regret my decision to play the game on hard mode. It has made the game so much longer than it had to be.

I'm going to go into more detail on what I liked and disliked about New Mystery tomorrow (or possibly some day soon after that) but tonight I'd like to discuss the units I used in this playthrough, much like I did for Super Robot Wars J and Alpha Gaiden.

 Like many games in the Fire Emblem series, randomness is a huge factor in developing your characters. I prefer the games in the series that add features that help to combat this randomness. In Path of Radiance on the GameCube for instance, it was possible to somewhat compensate for poor luck with stat growths by using Bonus XP accrued between chapters. Levels gained from this method would guarantee at least three stat ups. This is very much appreciated in a game in which certain characters will occasionally receive no benefit from leveling whatsoever. I've had more than a couple of these levels in this playthrough of New Mystery.

I was particularly screwed by RNG with the My Unit character I named Brea. I started her as a Myrmidon, an agile sword-wielding class. In most Fire Emblem titles, these units are glass cannons with extreme speed and offensive capabilities. However, they were somewhat protected by their high evasion due to a sky-high speed stat. I'm not sure how New Mystery's mechanics work, but despite capped speed, Brea's evasion is not spectacular. She'll dodge more than the average character, but it's not nearly enough to protect her from danger. Frequently, she'll be taken out in one or two hits. This is doubly concerning because her offense is frankly not that good either. I don't know if her growths are really just that poor or I have very bad luck but she still had about 12 strength well into her promotion. I've been forced to recall her to Paladin just to be at all relevant in combat. At the time of this writing, she still only has 17 strength when other characters like Palla and Catria hit their strength cap many many levels ago.

My star units have been my flyers Caeda, Palla, and Catria. Est seemed to show promise but she comes so late in the story that it's almost impossible to train her. Palla and Catria spent most of the game as Pegasus Knights and Wyvern Riders, but I was forced to reclass them to Generals to better deal with stronger enemies in the late game chapters. It turned out to be a good decision especially for Catria, who ended up capping four of her stats. Her resistance is still very low, but Generals have traditionally been very weak to magic in the series.

My two magic users are also very good. I had had plans at certain points of the game to attempt to use Merric and Elrean, two mages available starting from chapter 12. If I'd put more effort into it, I might have been able to get them to work--but they were very difficult to train and didn't seem to have very good stat growths anyway. That's one thing that's disappointing about New Mystery compared to other Fire Emblem titles. Many characters are comparatively very weak. When playing hard mode, I'm forced to use whatever I can get ahold of that's strong. It really does limit my choices. Linde and Malicia are both very good though, with Malicia surprisingly capping her magic stat at promoted level 15. Linde has been extremely useful at various stages of the game by tanking enemies with the absurdly useful Nosferatu spell that drains HP from enemies.

Barst is my only real dedicated axe user. I really wanted one on my team but Bord and Cord seemed mercilessly dull--and everyone else you encounter in the game is prepromoted with poor stat growths. Have I mentioned how irritating that is? The game gives you the illusion of choice. I guess it wouldn't matter in Normal, but I'm playing Hard here! Barst has absurdly high stats in pretty much every area but defense and resistance. Despite this, he's been pretty hard to train. Many of the game's missions are tough enough that you frequently can't rely on weaker units to get through.

My other units are unfortunately less impressive. Warren started out as a Hunter, which as far as I know is exclusive to this game and Shadow Dragon. Hunters are thematically no different from Archers, but they promote into Horsemen, which--you guessed it--are bow users who ride horses. They of course have excellent mobility but his stats are only average. Ranged units in general seem to be a tad underpowered in New Mystery. It seems better in most cases to rely on weapons like javelins and hand-axes--both of which can be wielded by classes with much higher stats. Like Warren, Cecille has been similarly unimpressive. None of the mounted units seemed noticeably strong, but Cecille in particular could not accrue many points in strength at all. Every time I bring her along, she seems like more of a liability than anything else.

My tone would indicate that I don't particularly enjoy this game. My tone is correct. It's not a terrible game per se, but it's definitely not a great Fire Emblem game. I'm only completing it as a measure of loyalty to the series--and after I'm done, it's bye-bye. I'd like to play the other games in the series that I haven't finished yet, but if this one is any indication of the quality of the others, then I may not be missing much.

A Not-So-Impressive Odyssey

Day 372

I briefly considered passing out before writing this entry but a surge of energy provided by funny cat pictures on Reddit has convinced me otherwise. I have returned from Elizabethtown and have driven somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 miles today. This is no small feat for me because I don't drive long distances. I drive to work and I drive home from work. Sometimes I will go to Walmart. Otherwise, I don't drive much of anywhere at all. There was a time in my life where I would drive to the houses of friends, but these still weren't very out of the way. These amounted to a few extra miles at most.

I realize that for most people driving to a town 63 miles away is not a big deal and I would be quick to agree that it's not a big deal for most people. I'm not most people though and I have a pretty serious driving phobia. I'm proud of what I've accomplished today, regardless of how mundane it might appear from the outside. Having said that, I'm stupidly exhausted because of how little sleep I got last night. At the very least I can say I abandoned the idea of pulling an all-nighter (thank goodness) but it's still very likely I got less than three hours of sleep total. It's not much, but it's surprising how much good just a little sleep can do compared to none at all.

Thankfully, I have tomorrow off. This should give me more than enough time to relax tonight and hopefully get some sleep. I'm determined to make some more progress on Gungnir tonight because I feel like I'm having a hard time advancing in that game. After playing Dissidia 012 and Divinity back to back, I'm hungry for a game that just yields to my demands. Gungnir may not be that game, to be honest. I'm having a hard time getting a hang of the mechanics and so far it's been a very challenging and punishing game. I've had to restart each of the missions I've played since returning to the game at least a couple times.

The only other two PSP titles left to complete after Gungnir are Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. The latter should be child's play for me because I've played the original so many times before. Normally I think I'd do some kind of special playthrough to make the game more challenging, but I think in this particular instance I might just field the most ridiculously powerful team I can think of .I might even use Orlandu for once if I'm feeling particularly vengeful.

I'm not too sure about Innocent Sin. The first Persona remake on PSP was reasonably challenging, but not unreasonably so. I imagine the level of difficulty is probably about the same, but the Shin Megami Tensei games are generally fairly difficult, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if it ended up being quite the challenge in the latter stages of the game.

Inferno of the Demon Lance

Day 371

Gungnir is an odd little strategy RPG from Sting, the developer that brought us games like Riviera: The Promised Land and Knights in the Nightmare, both of which are awesome for different reasons. Sting has always been a developer that loves to innovate. One could argue that their penchant for including never before seen features in their games often backfires on them--and I could see that being the case in some situations. Ygddra Union was an enjoyable game but it didn't quite live up to expectations set by their other titles. 

It is also an entry into the so-called Dept. Heaven series, a title for which I can derive no particular meaning. The games in this series share a few common elements, but for the most part they are very different from each other. They are all RPGs but feature wildly varying mechanics. Riviera is a Game Boy Advance title (later released for PSP) that features an almost traditional turn-based combat system centered primarily around the use of found weapons with limited durability--as well as some dating sim elements. Knights in the Nightmare is a strategy RPG/bullet hell bybrid which is just as crazy as it sounds and one of the most fun games I've played on a handheld.

Like Knights in the Nightmare and Yggdra Union, Gungnir is a strategy RPG that features nods to Norse mythology. The protagonist Giulio wields the demon lance Gungnir, capable of summoning the powers of gods. He has access to this very powerful weapon from the very beginning of the game, although you may choose to equip him with additional weapons if you wish. This is frequently a good idea because Gungnir's primary attack hits the three panels in front of Guilio--friend or foe. 

 On the surface, Gungnir is a traditional strategy RPG in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics. It even resurrects the charging mechanic that you don't often see in other RPGs of that vein. Most spells will require the caster to charge for a certain period of time before the spell executes, meaning that it is important to keep track of when allies and enemies will get the opportunity to move. This is easy to do because of the handy listing at the bottom of the screen. However, it's not always obvious how long a spell will take to charge and after 10 hours of gameplay, I'm still not sure if there's a static charge time for spells or not--and what affects whether or not that charge time is reduced. I've seen the charge time being discounted on a few occasions, particularly when my healer casts Criss-Cross--but I have no clue why it happens.

Unlike Final Fantasy Tactics, your allied units are not treated as separate entities when it comes to the turn order. In that game, there was a speed stat that determined how often that character would be allowed to take action. In Gungnir, the player is allowed to move a unit any time it is the party's turn, indicated by a yellow square with the letter P at the bottom of the screen. The actions that unit takes during that turn will determine how long it takes before it is the party's turn once again. If the player chooses to move a unit one panel, it will likely become the party's turn very quickly afterward.

The format present in Gungnir is kind of strange, honestly. Every enemy unit is treated a single entity and all have their own turn. It feels like the player's party is at a disadvantage because it is only possible to move a single unit every once in awhile, whereas the enemy is constantly moving all units. It's not difficult to become overwhelmed and feel as if you have no recourse for dealing with it. It's certainly possible I don't understand the system well enough to exploit it. Only time will tell if I get a better handle on it.

Land of Discord

Day 370

The more I think about it, the more I realize that Confessions of the Creator must surely be considered optional content. I've just now completed it by taking out level 130 Feral Chaos (no small feat) but the reward for my efforts was little more than a simple message saying that I could continue to play and feel free to explore as I wished. I had already viewed the credits sequence countless gameplay hours before after completing the main story chapters. 

Was it a waste? No, I really enjoyed grinding my characters up to level 100 and tracking down the best gear I could get. A lot of the enemies near the end of the game became frustrating to square off against, however, with their staggeringly high HP totals and tendency to dodge every single attack. The majority of enemies in the final areas were level 125 or more, 25 full levels above the cap for human players. This gave the AI a pretty sigificant boost in damage and survivability, leading to countless resets. Just about every fight in the final areas required multiple attempts except of course for the ultimate encounter with Feral Chaos himself. It would have been a horrifying difficult fight that would have taken me weeks to conquer if not for the simple fact that the big bulky guy can't dodge Yuna's Mega Flare to save his life.

After devoting so many hours to feverishly playing the game over the past few days, I'm glad to be done with it. It's a fantastic game with a ton of content and plenty of enjoyable characters to develop. It makes me wish more than anything that Square-Enix would make a crossover Final Fantasy title that's more of a traditional RPG. I would totally dig into that level of fanservice, regardless of how well it would be handled. Dissidia is pretty awesome, but despite all of the statistics and equipment behind the scenes, it is at its core an action game. I like it a lot, but RPGs are always going to be my favorite.

Prishe is adorable

 I don't have a lot of insight into how popular the Dissidia games are, but I feel reasonably confident they're among the most popular for an admittedly overlooked handheld. The Final Fantasy theme of course makes them niche in other ways, but they're very polished and fun to play regardless of one's familiarity with that mythos. I've never played Final Fantasy XI for instance but Prishe is still one of my favorite characters. I also love Final Fantasy VI but can't stand Terra's playstyle--and that's unfortunate, because Terra's a really cool character.

I'm not sure what's next on the agenda, but I'm considering continuing to clear out my PSP backlog. I'm kind of glad I started with Dissidia 012 because it seems unlikely any other unfinished games would take me anywhere near as long to finish. It should be smooth sailing from now on. Of course, there's also Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem to be completed, but it doesn't really fit into my backlog marathon and I'm still mostly just playing it at work. My progress on that game has been stagnant for some time, but I've definitely not forgotten it.

You're Never Gonna Be On Time

Day 369

I have to drive to Elizabethtown for work on Wednesday. It's about 60 miles away and I've never been there before. I've been told by several people that it's not a big deal and the drive is mostly interstate the whole way, but this does little to allay my fears. I don't drive very often. I drive to work and I drive home--that's about it. Ever since I got my driver's license at the ripe old age of 19, I've never been completely comfortable with it. I have a great deal of anxiety even during routine drives. I second guess myself a lot and drive very defensively.

The point is that I'm very uncomfortable driving to new places. I lived in Austin for a few months and didn't have a car the whole time I was there. It was great because I could usually walk wherever I needed to go. Admittedly, there were a few occasions where having a car would have definitely helped, but for the most part I made it work. Hey, maybe if I'd stayed there longer I might have overcome my fear of public transportation. . .

It's clear that this is a fear I'll have to overcome. I'm 26 years old; it's more than a little ridiculous that something like this is still a pressing concern for me. I've been to the neighboring town of Bowling Green many times, but never once have I driven there myself. It's an odd thing to admit to people that live around here who have been driving there for years and don't think of it as a big deal. It's not a big deal, but I am uncommonly apprehensive about driving.

This is something I've been talking about for years and it's never really changed. I wonder why that is? I guess I just have never made it much of a priority to become a more confident driver. It's a pretty important part of becoming an adult and that's something in my life that I have been fighting against for a long time. I have definitely passed the point in my life where I can continue to hold the delusion that I'm a child--but I'm so apathetic about it that I'm not making a lot of steps to grow up. 

I've gotta get some things in order pretty soon. I can take it one step at a time but it's important that I don't just sit here and let the world pass me by. It's fine if I play a lot of video games. That's my passion and a big part of what fuels me creatively, but there are other things that are important too. 

All Glories Must Fade

Day 368

I have the next two days off once again, which means I'm afforded plenty of time to complete the two games I'm playing. I feel confident I'll be able to finish Dissidia 012 unless Feral Chaos really throws me a curveball. I've read a lot about him and fought the level 90 version of him already. The final boss is evidently a level 135 variant with some more attacks and a summon--but I'm confident I can beat him. If worse comes to worse, there are plenty of cheesy strategies I can fall back on. I won't be ashamed to do this because I've already spent 50 hours on this game! Enough is enough.

I've finally settled on a final party that I really like after unlocking the final two secret characters, Prishe and Gilgamesh. I'd never heard of Prishe before, but she's apparently an important character from Final Fantasy XI. Her playstyle is interesting because it allows you an extreme level of customization over your combos and most of her attacks can be used on the ground and in the air. Gilgamesh is reasonably slow and RNG-based, meaning he's not really my kind of character--although he is pretty hilarious and I loved him in Final Fantasy V.

My party consists of Cecil, Yuna, Squall, Prishe, and Kain. It's a very melee heavy composition with Yuna being the only caster. Honestly, even though Yuna does have a few long-range summon spells, a good percentage of her attacks are melee to mid-range spells, so I still feel pretty comfortable with her. Her ability to control the map with a solid mix of dangerous spells at all ranges is a big part of why I enjoy her playstyle. It also really helps that I can cheese Feral Chaos really hard with her HP attacks. It's almost impossible for the AI to dodge Mega Flare--and on the rare occasion he does and moves close enough to Yuna to attack, I can throw a Thor's Hammer at his face and knock him back to the wall, where he'll be fried with Mega Flare once again.

Cecil and Yuna are both level 100, but the other characters are lagging behind. I imagine all five will be at 100 before I'm done with the game, but I have a ways to go particularly on Prishe since I only unlocked her recently. If I wanted to, I could spam some matches against level 100 Gabranth and level up very quickly--but I'd rather take some time to redo some earlier gateways and level up slowly, getting used to Prishe's playstyle as I go. She has a ton of moves.

The Tainted Source

Day 367

I didn't mention this when it happened thanks to the retrospective year-end entry and the Dissidia 012 binge that followed, but my co-op partner and I finally finished Divinity: Original Sin the other night. Our final game time was just about 76 hours, which is impressive considering how little time we wasted. This is not to say that we weren't very thorough, because we were. We did just about every quest we saw and at least in my case, read all of the dialogue. It kind of seemed to me that he skimmed the dialogue on a few occasions, but I can forgive him for that--mostly.

It's a great game. I've said as much before on this blog, and the ending did nothing to sway my beliefs. The dialogue and plot are interesting and well written and the recruitable characters have a decent amount of character development. The main draw is of course the strategic combat system, but there is also plenty to explore in the world of Rivellon, and lots to do outside of physical combat. Many fights can be avoided through diplomacy or charm--and by the same token, it is possible to start fights with those whom you might otherwise have exclusively peaceful interactions.

I could definitely see Divinity having a fair amount of replay value as well. One skill tree that I didn't experiment with at all was Scoundrel. I found it pretty interesting, but it wasn't a logical fit for any of the characters we were running. By the end of the game, our two spellcasters had just about every elemental spell in the game learned between them. My co-op partner covered Expert Marksman and Madora had Man At Arms. There just wasn't any room for Scoundrel there unless my co-op partner decided he wanted to switch from a ranged weapon to a melee  weapon mid-combat. That might have even been a cool thing to try, but I'm not sure how viable it would be.

I don't generally replay games all that often and when I do, it's usually only when it's been many years since I played it last. I remember replaying Suikoden II about a year and half ago or more, mostly just because I'd just finished playing Suikoden for the first time. In other cases, I'll start games over from the beginning in an effort to finish them, either because I lost the original save data or had lost complete track of what was going on the last time I played it. Even though I'm interested in replaying Divinity, it probably won't happen soon. But maybe I'll check in four or five years from now.

I've heard there's a couple more RPGs coming out sometime soon that hearken back to that Baldur's Gate playstyle, but I haven't heard they have co-op support. I'd like to give them a try, but unless it turns out they have co-op, I probably won't play them until I've finished a lot of other games first. I'm pretty committed to this whole backlog thing.