I'm now up to Chapter 8 on Hard 5, and I have a confession to make: I...used a save point once. Yes, it is very shameful to do such a thing, but believe me when I say I wasn't eager to make the decision to use it. Here's the situation:
Pretty late in Chapter 5, with Social Knights and Pegasus Knights spawning out of various forts at an absurd rate (they appear on the beginning of the Enemy Phase too). The Social Knights aren't a huge concern, because I could've easily made a chokepoint or two and healed the meatwall(s) while blasting away.
The real problem was with the Pegasus Knights, because chokepoints mean nothing to them. In addition to this, they were armed with Javelins, which does not bode well for a meatwall (Steel Lance hit from the Social Knight and then a Javelin hit would easily be fatal). They were so powerful that even Wolf or that other Horseman were completely worthless against them, because a Steel Bow hit would not be fatal and they would receive a fatal double in return. Stupidly, the only unit capable of winning against one of them with some ease was Marich with Excalibur.
Anyway, the mistake I made was actually the second time I did it in the same attempt, so you'd think I would have learned from before. The mistake was to get too aggressive, which lures a Pegasus Knight towards my main team (on the right side of the map). Because of this, you end up with two choices: retreat and make absolutely sure to limit the attacks received to one round per unit (any more would be fatal), or go all out and limit the attacks received by reducing enemy count.
The first choice tends to run into problems with movement. Your weaker characters have a harder time getting behind your new wall, and Social Knights have 9 movement, which makes an effective wall difficult to construct.
The second choice was what I went with the second time around, and is the reason I used the save point. There were three enemies left in the area (one Pegasus Knight and two Social Knights), and I had used a unit or two more than I would've liked. I was left with a few specific units to kill off some rather super enemies, so things were pretty bad.
Once I finally decided on a plan, I knew Sheeda would be required to drop the full HP Social Knight in a single hit, because evade is pretty unheard of in this game (excluding ballistae attacks). To do this, I needed a critical hit at around 23% with the Wing Spear, and by this point, I wasn't fond of the idea of staking my progress on such low odds. This is why I saved.
Sure enough, the first try gave me a normal hit. I reset and then tried again, and got the critical hit I needed. After that, the chapter was mostly a cakewalk (especially because I had a save to fall back on if I really wanted).
So there you have it. I still strongly disapprove of using save points, but I feel it was slightly justified in this instance. Regardless though, what's done is done.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Shin Ankoku: Day 9
I completed Normal mode in somewhere around 23 hours. The game sort of gets old as you get close to the end, but I had a lot of saved up Warp uses to get things over with fairly quickly at the very end.
Speaking of the end, Medeus's battle model is stupid looking. It doesn't even come close to looking as good as Monshou Book 2's version (which was awesome), but I suppose it's a small step up from Book 1. Or at least, it would be, if the 3D model used for him didn't suck so much; because of that, it becomes a contest between poor 3D and a giant yellow mole.
Also worth noting that the ending, regardless of the fact I can't understand anything that was said, looked terrible. Some short dialogue (considering it's supposed to be an ending) between various people, a picture, and then very short endings for each character. Was it too much to ask to get an ending worth watching at least once? What happened to the "perfect" ending from Monshou? That sucker was long and seemed to contain tons of information.
Anyway, now that I've checked around various areas online, I'll note some things:
1. Normal mode is the only mode with Freyr and some replacement dork named Naron. I can see that changing, simply because adding a new character for only one mode (Naron doesn't matter much) isn't a good idea.
2. The reason they aren't available is because the Prologue maps are skipped entirely in Hard mode. This means it's a good thing I chose to play Normal first! :)
3. I started a Hard level 5 save (screw the stuff in-between!) a while ago, and WOW is it hard. It's like playing Souen Maniac all over again, only with an even less capable Jeigan (heh, get it?). Keep in mind, I'm only on Chapter 2, so this statement about the difficulty could change as I get farther in the game.
That said, Chapter 1 was insane. Massive Pirate charge from the beginning + no healing items (only forts) + all of your units, with the exception of Doga, can be killed in 2 or 3 hits (Doga takes 4, if he's armed).
Honestly, I had Jeigan use a Silver Lance just to weaken some enemies, and even the Thief won't die to a single shot from that!
4. All enemies in that chapter had, I kid you not, A ranks with their weapon type. A is the maximum in this game, and the new formula says that it gives +3 attack. Most Pirates had 18 attack because of this.
5. Sure enough, the boss was also a complete psycho. Steel Axe and crazy high attack meant that only Jeigan (I think) could survive even one round with him...and not by much (22/22 -> 6 or 7/22, depending on weapon choice). Obviously, Javelins are the way to go when it comes to defeating him, but your hit rates hover around 30 - 5x% (Gordon had 5x% with a Steel Bow), so you better hope for tons of luck with that approach.
I tried that method for a while, but then the miss-fest began (the RNG of Chrono Cross followed me! NOoooOoOOOoooOoo!), so I changed it up a bit by making Jeigan counter with a Silver Lance every other turn (11 damage, 59%). Riff was unable to fix Jeigan's HP enough to do that every single turn, so this process took a while.
6. Chapter 2 is almost as bad, since you are immediately thrown into a warzone with enemies that mean business. In my second attempt at this chapter, I had to suspend because the battery light was red. I'll get back to it tomorrow though, of course.
In summary, I'd have to say this game is worth playing, but don't expect something super duper awesome (like Megami is, the first time around or so). If the difficulty stays like this or gets even harder, my opinion of the game will likely go up. That is, as long as they don't start doing any "cheap" forms of difficulty...
Speaking of the end, Medeus's battle model is stupid looking. It doesn't even come close to looking as good as Monshou Book 2's version (which was awesome), but I suppose it's a small step up from Book 1. Or at least, it would be, if the 3D model used for him didn't suck so much; because of that, it becomes a contest between poor 3D and a giant yellow mole.
Also worth noting that the ending, regardless of the fact I can't understand anything that was said, looked terrible. Some short dialogue (considering it's supposed to be an ending) between various people, a picture, and then very short endings for each character. Was it too much to ask to get an ending worth watching at least once? What happened to the "perfect" ending from Monshou? That sucker was long and seemed to contain tons of information.
Anyway, now that I've checked around various areas online, I'll note some things:
1. Normal mode is the only mode with Freyr and some replacement dork named Naron. I can see that changing, simply because adding a new character for only one mode (Naron doesn't matter much) isn't a good idea.
2. The reason they aren't available is because the Prologue maps are skipped entirely in Hard mode. This means it's a good thing I chose to play Normal first! :)
3. I started a Hard level 5 save (screw the stuff in-between!) a while ago, and WOW is it hard. It's like playing Souen Maniac all over again, only with an even less capable Jeigan (heh, get it?). Keep in mind, I'm only on Chapter 2, so this statement about the difficulty could change as I get farther in the game.
That said, Chapter 1 was insane. Massive Pirate charge from the beginning + no healing items (only forts) + all of your units, with the exception of Doga, can be killed in 2 or 3 hits (Doga takes 4, if he's armed).
Honestly, I had Jeigan use a Silver Lance just to weaken some enemies, and even the Thief won't die to a single shot from that!
4. All enemies in that chapter had, I kid you not, A ranks with their weapon type. A is the maximum in this game, and the new formula says that it gives +3 attack. Most Pirates had 18 attack because of this.
5. Sure enough, the boss was also a complete psycho. Steel Axe and crazy high attack meant that only Jeigan (I think) could survive even one round with him...and not by much (22/22 -> 6 or 7/22, depending on weapon choice). Obviously, Javelins are the way to go when it comes to defeating him, but your hit rates hover around 30 - 5x% (Gordon had 5x% with a Steel Bow), so you better hope for tons of luck with that approach.
I tried that method for a while, but then the miss-fest began (the RNG of Chrono Cross followed me! NOoooOoOOOoooOoo!), so I changed it up a bit by making Jeigan counter with a Silver Lance every other turn (11 damage, 59%). Riff was unable to fix Jeigan's HP enough to do that every single turn, so this process took a while.
6. Chapter 2 is almost as bad, since you are immediately thrown into a warzone with enemies that mean business. In my second attempt at this chapter, I had to suspend because the battery light was red. I'll get back to it tomorrow though, of course.
In summary, I'd have to say this game is worth playing, but don't expect something super duper awesome (like Megami is, the first time around or so). If the difficulty stays like this or gets even harder, my opinion of the game will likely go up. That is, as long as they don't start doing any "cheap" forms of difficulty...
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Shin Ankoku: Day 8
I apologize for the lack of updates recently. As of now, I'm at Chapter 20 with a time of 17:44.xx. My team is a little one-sided in terms of class choices, and capacity isn't agreeing with me, so I have to leave various units out sometimes. For the record, I'm using all four Pegasus Knights, because I know they are good (from Monshou experience).
Notes:
1. I acquired all three orbs in Chapter 20, so now I have the broken Star Orb/Light Orb/Miracle Sword combo! Whee!
2. Chiki's in-game art makes her look like an elf, instead of "loli" bait. This is disappointing, considering she was quite hawt in Monshou Book 2.
3. Perhaps it's because I've never gotten very far in Ankoku, but I noticed a Book 2 map (mostly the same layout, but that's all) in this game. Pretty cool.
4. Quite a few of my units are close to promotion, but I'm still waiting until level 20 for everyone.
5. Some music changes have occured, so it has avoided Monshou's mistake of playing the same music track for a billion chapters in a row.
6. Lawrence looks like Solidus Snake (Metal Gear Solid 2). Not necessarily a bad thing, but it's very unoriginal of the artist.
7. Chapter 13 on level 5 Hard will probably be totally ridiculous. That chapter is filled with ballistae...
Notes:
1. I acquired all three orbs in Chapter 20, so now I have the broken Star Orb/Light Orb/Miracle Sword combo! Whee!
2. Chiki's in-game art makes her look like an elf, instead of "loli" bait. This is disappointing, considering she was quite hawt in Monshou Book 2.
3. Perhaps it's because I've never gotten very far in Ankoku, but I noticed a Book 2 map (mostly the same layout, but that's all) in this game. Pretty cool.
4. Quite a few of my units are close to promotion, but I'm still waiting until level 20 for everyone.
5. Some music changes have occured, so it has avoided Monshou's mistake of playing the same music track for a billion chapters in a row.
6. Lawrence looks like Solidus Snake (Metal Gear Solid 2). Not necessarily a bad thing, but it's very unoriginal of the artist.
7. Chapter 13 on level 5 Hard will probably be totally ridiculous. That chapter is filled with ballistae...
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Shin Ankoku: Day 4
I'm up to Chapter 12 now, with a time of 11:57.28. I tried class swapping the Pirate guy to a Mercenary, but I just changed him back and benched him a chapter later. It's probably also getting close to the time where I need to decide what two Social Knights to stick with, and drop the other one. Hardain is doing very well (though a bit one-sided toward offense), and I guess Freyr is ok. Abel is the weakest link, so he'll likely be the one to get benched.
Notes:
1. Rena will easily hit level 20 before anybody else, so she'll probably be the first to get a promotion (considering I plan to keep her permanently).
2. Navarre's strength still sucks (7).
3. I checked Serenes Forest to figure out how to recruit Jake, since I wasn't going to restart and try more people. I had already tried the "seize, but leave him alive" plan before even playing the chapter seriously.
Turns out that you need Sheeda to talk to him after visiting Anna, but I don't use the class swap feature much (though I browse the selection often), so she would've been required to dodge a lethal shot to get in range. I'm not stupid enough to try that (and I don't use save points), so I just moved her in and used Warp to put her in a safe spot.
4. Linda's in-game art doesn't even compare to her official art (one of the few good pictures), which is sad. She also seems a bit hard to use, so I guess I'll have to baby her pretty soon or she'll be beyond hope (or rather, just not worth it).
5. Hardain's battle model is also generic, so it lacks the turban. :(
Notes:
1. Rena will easily hit level 20 before anybody else, so she'll probably be the first to get a promotion (considering I plan to keep her permanently).
2. Navarre's strength still sucks (7).
3. I checked Serenes Forest to figure out how to recruit Jake, since I wasn't going to restart and try more people. I had already tried the "seize, but leave him alive" plan before even playing the chapter seriously.
Turns out that you need Sheeda to talk to him after visiting Anna, but I don't use the class swap feature much (though I browse the selection often), so she would've been required to dodge a lethal shot to get in range. I'm not stupid enough to try that (and I don't use save points), so I just moved her in and used Warp to put her in a safe spot.
4. Linda's in-game art doesn't even compare to her official art (one of the few good pictures), which is sad. She also seems a bit hard to use, so I guess I'll have to baby her pretty soon or she'll be beyond hope (or rather, just not worth it).
5. Hardain's battle model is also generic, so it lacks the turban. :(
Monday, August 18, 2008
Shin Ankoku: Day 3
I'm up to Chapter 10 now, with a time of 8:33.45. You can see that I take my time, but I've generally tried to avoid wasting turns for no good reason (such as waiting around and healing when all enemies are dead). My current team is: Marth, Sheeda, Oguma, Navarre, Barts, Hardain, Abel, Freyr, Doga, Kashim, Rena, Maric, the Pirate guy, and Julian (when I have the space or want a Thief around).
Out of that group, Navarre and the Pirate guy are the ones disappointing me the most. Navarre's strength is sad (6), and the Pirate guy simply can't hit anything. I considered changing Navarre into something that would boost his strength, but the drawbacks are too high to be worth it.
Anyway, it's time to bring back the numbered list format I like so much:
1. This one gets first mention, because the potential is amazing. Apparently, there's an option (available from the start too!) to skip enemy turns entirely. No joke.
All you do is change to that setting in the options menu, and then sit through a black screen with the word "skip..." on it, for what I assume is a varying amount of time (depending on enemy count). After the screen goes away, it's your turn again, and crap happened. Obviously, this would be hard to get used to for casual play, but the feature just screams "Run this game!"
First "animations: off" in Megami, and now this? Thank you, Intelligent Systems.
2. Maria's in-game art actually looks good! This also means she doesn't look like a man! Huzzah!
3. Weapon triangle is just like Thracia: +/- 5%. Not exactly a good thing, but oh well.
4. Tomes don't consume usage if they miss. This is good.
5. Hand Axes aren't boomerangs anymore. This is also good, but I still hope for an overhead toss instead.
6. Forging is weird in this game, but drastically improved nonetheless. This time around, you enter the weapon shop from the base (don't remember about the ones on the field) and choose what weapon to alter. A lot of weapons can be played with, including Marth's Rapier and Sheeda's "Wing Spear" (or whatever the name is), but unfortunately, the guy won't touch Maric's Excalibur tome. I assume this means "real" personal weapons can't be messed with either, because of that fact.
Forging options: +/- 10 might, +/- 50% hit (1% increments), +/- 30% critical, and +/- 10 weight. As you can see, things have definitely improved.
7. The "talk" part of the status menu has been removed, so it's back to old-school when it comes to recruiting characters. This is a bit painful, but I'm managing well enough so far.
8. There was an Armor Knight with pink hair in Chapter 8, and he was tricky to recruit. I let him come to me the first time I tried the chapter, and none of my people could speak to him. Because of that, I restarted and tried a completely new batch of people, but no luck there either.
My next theory (still attempt two) was that maybe he would join after the chapter if he survived. Therefore, I did some warping and completed the chapter. Still nothing.
After this, I just decided to play through it and leave him alive if at all possible (even if I had to end the chapter with him around). After killing the boss, I noticed Sheeda could speak to him (a yellow square appears under the target when this is possible), and so I sent her over to him. +1 Armor Knight for my team after that, so I'm pretty pleased that I figured that out on my own.
9. Dragon stones function like they did in Fuuin and Seima, but with a noticeable drawback: they consume usage even if you don't attack. I noticed this when fighting the boss of Chapter 9, as I had Maric blast him from a distance the entire time.
Please note that they function on a "per morph" basis, so if they double in a battle, it only consumes one use.
10. Blizzard doesn't seem to be effective on Fire Dragons anymore. Thunder also isn't effective against Dragon Knights, but that's not exactly a huge surprise.
11. The battle model for Fire Dragons is really stupid looking. It's like some giant balloon animal.
12. Bantou's character art actually got a bit of an improvement, but that's not hard to do. Amazingly, he doesn't look like your other characters. Wow!
Out of that group, Navarre and the Pirate guy are the ones disappointing me the most. Navarre's strength is sad (6), and the Pirate guy simply can't hit anything. I considered changing Navarre into something that would boost his strength, but the drawbacks are too high to be worth it.
Anyway, it's time to bring back the numbered list format I like so much:
1. This one gets first mention, because the potential is amazing. Apparently, there's an option (available from the start too!) to skip enemy turns entirely. No joke.
All you do is change to that setting in the options menu, and then sit through a black screen with the word "skip..." on it, for what I assume is a varying amount of time (depending on enemy count). After the screen goes away, it's your turn again, and crap happened. Obviously, this would be hard to get used to for casual play, but the feature just screams "Run this game!"
First "animations: off" in Megami, and now this? Thank you, Intelligent Systems.
2. Maria's in-game art actually looks good! This also means she doesn't look like a man! Huzzah!
3. Weapon triangle is just like Thracia: +/- 5%. Not exactly a good thing, but oh well.
4. Tomes don't consume usage if they miss. This is good.
5. Hand Axes aren't boomerangs anymore. This is also good, but I still hope for an overhead toss instead.
6. Forging is weird in this game, but drastically improved nonetheless. This time around, you enter the weapon shop from the base (don't remember about the ones on the field) and choose what weapon to alter. A lot of weapons can be played with, including Marth's Rapier and Sheeda's "Wing Spear" (or whatever the name is), but unfortunately, the guy won't touch Maric's Excalibur tome. I assume this means "real" personal weapons can't be messed with either, because of that fact.
Forging options: +/- 10 might, +/- 50% hit (1% increments), +/- 30% critical, and +/- 10 weight. As you can see, things have definitely improved.
7. The "talk" part of the status menu has been removed, so it's back to old-school when it comes to recruiting characters. This is a bit painful, but I'm managing well enough so far.
8. There was an Armor Knight with pink hair in Chapter 8, and he was tricky to recruit. I let him come to me the first time I tried the chapter, and none of my people could speak to him. Because of that, I restarted and tried a completely new batch of people, but no luck there either.
My next theory (still attempt two) was that maybe he would join after the chapter if he survived. Therefore, I did some warping and completed the chapter. Still nothing.
After this, I just decided to play through it and leave him alive if at all possible (even if I had to end the chapter with him around). After killing the boss, I noticed Sheeda could speak to him (a yellow square appears under the target when this is possible), and so I sent her over to him. +1 Armor Knight for my team after that, so I'm pretty pleased that I figured that out on my own.
9. Dragon stones function like they did in Fuuin and Seima, but with a noticeable drawback: they consume usage even if you don't attack. I noticed this when fighting the boss of Chapter 9, as I had Maric blast him from a distance the entire time.
Please note that they function on a "per morph" basis, so if they double in a battle, it only consumes one use.
10. Blizzard doesn't seem to be effective on Fire Dragons anymore. Thunder also isn't effective against Dragon Knights, but that's not exactly a huge surprise.
11. The battle model for Fire Dragons is really stupid looking. It's like some giant balloon animal.
12. Bantou's character art actually got a bit of an improvement, but that's not hard to do. Amazingly, he doesn't look like your other characters. Wow!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Shin Ankoku: Day 2
I'm up to Chapter 7 now, and the in-game clock says 5:35.16. This means I average 2:47.38 per day, unless my math sucks. I'll make a numbered list of things I want to mention, since it eliminates some of the need for a "flow" to the ramble. Go go laziness:
1. I still haven't had any losses, but that's probably to be expected on something like Normal. I actually came really close to losing Oguma in Chapter 6, because of stupidity on my part. You see, Thieves are running around swiping all the goodies, and I wanted to stop them before they escaped (which I did).
Crap hit the fan when I got into a position where it seemed best to just charge in and kill as many of the enemies as possible before ending my turn. If I remember correctly, there were 8 enemies in the area: 1 Priest, 1 Thief, 2 Armor Knights, 2 Social Knights, and 2 Archers. Seems fairly tame for now, but I should mention that one of the Social Knights had a freaking Silver Lance...and I didn't see that coming at all.
Before ending my turn, I think I cleared out both Armor Knights and an Archer. I kind of figured Oguma was going to get roasted from focus fire, but then I saw the Silver Lance on the last guy during the battle animation, and that was obviously O_O. Luckily for me, he survived that turn with 1 HP left, and I went on to complete the chapter with some ease (though the boss was a bit of a pain).
2. A correction to what I said about animations before: Social Knights will double smoothly if equipped with a sword. Apparently, they forgot how Seisen/Thracia handled animations, which is a shame.
3. I passed by an arena in Chapter 4, but didn't actually use it in the real save (though I think I entered and left, after checking the music). The track when entering the arena and before you make a wager is a version of Seima's "Follow Me!", which is one of the many great songs on that soundtrack. Sadly, this version is very short.
Later on, I loaded my old Chapter 4 save to hear the arena battle track. I actually had to do this more than once, so that I could check the "arena win" track as well. The battle track is taken from Thracia 776, but I can't remember which one it is exactly. This version wasn't really a standout, and I've only heard it a few times, so that explains why I can't remember it that well.
[Edit]: I'm a moron. Vincent's site says that the arena battle track is from Souen. How did I screw that one up? O_o
All you get for winning is a little fanfare and some clapping. How stupidly dull.
4. Speaking of the arena, the dude asks if you want to continue on to the next battle after winning. While this would be neat for people who want to use the arena and keep a low turn count, it just doesn't seem logical. Last time I checked, your unit usually gets the crap kicked out of them after one round, and there is no auto-heal (I checked). Had to turn the game off before Oguma died, of course. That doesn't render my "no losses" comment invalid though, if you ask me.
5. Wendel now looks like the Pope. Seriously, go look at his in-game art and tell me he doesn't have that look to him.
6. Battle models do not sag at low HP or kneel when they die. Both of these were added to Megami, so to take a step backward like this seems stupid. "Oh, I'm dead. *Poof*" Over and over.
7. The Rescue command (and thus Give/Take) was removed. This is majorly stupid. Anybody who says otherwise is a moron, or just hasn't felt the joy of a well planned Rescue train.
On a similar note, I really wish Thracian style Rescue/Give/Take/Trade would return to the series. That opened up a lot of possibilities for awesome strategies and general fun.
8. The player character art continues to reek of cloning and fugly. I suppose Paola, Katua, and Est are supposed to look alike (sisters, I think), but why do they look like people on my team already? Why should they bear any resemblance to MALES on my team? Why does this art suck so much?
Oh wait, it's Masamune Shirow. Now I get it.
9. The enemy character art, on the other hand, isn't half bad. I remember the Chapter 3 boss looking pretty freaking cool (quite an evil looking dude), and I appreciate the updated versions of the Monshou (not sure about Ankoku) boss portraits. Those updates stay close enough to the originals to cause a grin, but also improve them a bit at the same time. Good job there.
10. The boss battle track is great. It easily makes you think of Monshou's version, but they improved this version by putting some fairly heavy guitars in there. It's a shame you don't hear it much though.
11. The Warp staff still functions like the Ankoku/Monshou/Thracia versions, so we can all agree that is a HECK YES.
12. Class swapping is weird. I have yet to actually change someone's class in my real playthrough (did this while testing the arena though), and I'm not quite sure if I will. Some people do seem better suited to a different class, but it doesn't "feel very Fire Emblem" to me. I imagine it adds some points to the replay value, but I think they are taking a step in the wrong direction with this feature.
It seems to me that if they keep this sort of thing going, and aren't careful about it, the series could be going the way of Langrisser.
For the uninformed, the basic idea (and my opinion) is that Der Langrisser (remake of Langrisser II) is the best game in the series. After this, they kept changing key elements in the gameplay, and the later games never regained the pure awesome of the tried-and-true tile-based/turn-based (I-talk-like-Grobyc!) system of Der Langrisser.
Call me paranoid if you wish, but this is just the feeling I get. The trend of pathetic difficulty and this save point/Battle Save nonsense doesn't exactly ease this suspicion either. I'll let height advantage (Megami) slide, because that was a logical and cool addition.
13. When looking at my class swap options, I can't help but think of the speed run possibilities there. The Rescue command may be gone, but the idea of having Jeigan (yes, I know he sucks) as a Dragon Knight or Swordmaster? Surely I can't be the only one seeing a gold mine in there somewhere.
1. I still haven't had any losses, but that's probably to be expected on something like Normal. I actually came really close to losing Oguma in Chapter 6, because of stupidity on my part. You see, Thieves are running around swiping all the goodies, and I wanted to stop them before they escaped (which I did).
Crap hit the fan when I got into a position where it seemed best to just charge in and kill as many of the enemies as possible before ending my turn. If I remember correctly, there were 8 enemies in the area: 1 Priest, 1 Thief, 2 Armor Knights, 2 Social Knights, and 2 Archers. Seems fairly tame for now, but I should mention that one of the Social Knights had a freaking Silver Lance...and I didn't see that coming at all.
Before ending my turn, I think I cleared out both Armor Knights and an Archer. I kind of figured Oguma was going to get roasted from focus fire, but then I saw the Silver Lance on the last guy during the battle animation, and that was obviously O_O. Luckily for me, he survived that turn with 1 HP left, and I went on to complete the chapter with some ease (though the boss was a bit of a pain).
2. A correction to what I said about animations before: Social Knights will double smoothly if equipped with a sword. Apparently, they forgot how Seisen/Thracia handled animations, which is a shame.
3. I passed by an arena in Chapter 4, but didn't actually use it in the real save (though I think I entered and left, after checking the music). The track when entering the arena and before you make a wager is a version of Seima's "Follow Me!", which is one of the many great songs on that soundtrack. Sadly, this version is very short.
Later on, I loaded my old Chapter 4 save to hear the arena battle track. I actually had to do this more than once, so that I could check the "arena win" track as well. The battle track is taken from Thracia 776, but I can't remember which one it is exactly. This version wasn't really a standout, and I've only heard it a few times, so that explains why I can't remember it that well.
[Edit]: I'm a moron. Vincent's site says that the arena battle track is from Souen. How did I screw that one up? O_o
All you get for winning is a little fanfare and some clapping. How stupidly dull.
4. Speaking of the arena, the dude asks if you want to continue on to the next battle after winning. While this would be neat for people who want to use the arena and keep a low turn count, it just doesn't seem logical. Last time I checked, your unit usually gets the crap kicked out of them after one round, and there is no auto-heal (I checked). Had to turn the game off before Oguma died, of course. That doesn't render my "no losses" comment invalid though, if you ask me.
5. Wendel now looks like the Pope. Seriously, go look at his in-game art and tell me he doesn't have that look to him.
6. Battle models do not sag at low HP or kneel when they die. Both of these were added to Megami, so to take a step backward like this seems stupid. "Oh, I'm dead. *Poof*" Over and over.
7. The Rescue command (and thus Give/Take) was removed. This is majorly stupid. Anybody who says otherwise is a moron, or just hasn't felt the joy of a well planned Rescue train.
On a similar note, I really wish Thracian style Rescue/Give/Take/Trade would return to the series. That opened up a lot of possibilities for awesome strategies and general fun.
8. The player character art continues to reek of cloning and fugly. I suppose Paola, Katua, and Est are supposed to look alike (sisters, I think), but why do they look like people on my team already? Why should they bear any resemblance to MALES on my team? Why does this art suck so much?
Oh wait, it's Masamune Shirow. Now I get it.
9. The enemy character art, on the other hand, isn't half bad. I remember the Chapter 3 boss looking pretty freaking cool (quite an evil looking dude), and I appreciate the updated versions of the Monshou (not sure about Ankoku) boss portraits. Those updates stay close enough to the originals to cause a grin, but also improve them a bit at the same time. Good job there.
10. The boss battle track is great. It easily makes you think of Monshou's version, but they improved this version by putting some fairly heavy guitars in there. It's a shame you don't hear it much though.
11. The Warp staff still functions like the Ankoku/Monshou/Thracia versions, so we can all agree that is a HECK YES.
12. Class swapping is weird. I have yet to actually change someone's class in my real playthrough (did this while testing the arena though), and I'm not quite sure if I will. Some people do seem better suited to a different class, but it doesn't "feel very Fire Emblem" to me. I imagine it adds some points to the replay value, but I think they are taking a step in the wrong direction with this feature.
It seems to me that if they keep this sort of thing going, and aren't careful about it, the series could be going the way of Langrisser.
For the uninformed, the basic idea (and my opinion) is that Der Langrisser (remake of Langrisser II) is the best game in the series. After this, they kept changing key elements in the gameplay, and the later games never regained the pure awesome of the tried-and-true tile-based/turn-based (I-talk-like-Grobyc!) system of Der Langrisser.
Call me paranoid if you wish, but this is just the feeling I get. The trend of pathetic difficulty and this save point/Battle Save nonsense doesn't exactly ease this suspicion either. I'll let height advantage (Megami) slide, because that was a logical and cool addition.
13. When looking at my class swap options, I can't help but think of the speed run possibilities there. The Rescue command may be gone, but the idea of having Jeigan (yes, I know he sucks) as a Dragon Knight or Swordmaster? Surely I can't be the only one seeing a gold mine in there somewhere.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Fire Emblem: Shin Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Ken
Yes, it finally arrived. I placed a pre-order at Play-Asia on July 9th, and it started shipping on August 5th. That means it took 10 freaking days (including Sunday) to get here with the lowest grade shipping (though I chose the box instead of the paper sleeve thing). I know I brought it on myself, but in my defense, my other orders usually arrived with that same shipping option in about 5 or 6 days at maximum (or so I remember).
So now that I've gotten the chance to play the game, at a whopping 8 days after release, I'll ramble about my first (and second, if that counts the second session only) impressions of the game (I'm at Chapter 4, by the way):
1. Split screen is kind of difficult to get used to, especially in the introduction, because it just looks weird to see a "large" image spread over both screens. A good example is the shot of Sheeda, where the view scrolls slowly to left...eventually giving you a fairly lengthy shot of the pegasus's butt, because the top screen isn't showing much worth noting at the time.
In-game, the split screen also feels awkward (at this point?). The game is played on the bottom screen, and you can flip between two top screen modes: one is the equivalent to a jazzed up (and quite neat) Start menu from Souen and Megami, and the other is the equivalent to checking a unit's status screen (highlight a unit to view it automatically). A lot of the information is condensed for the latter mode, so there is only one status screen for everybody.
Also of interest is that the status screen mode will leave the unit last highlighted on the top screen, so you can probably use this for some sort of future reference. Pretty neat, at the very least.
2. The touch screen controls seem gimmicky and stupid to me. While it is interesting to select a unit and do things with simple pokes of the stylus, the thing seems much more suited to left-handed people (I'm right-handed). I say this because you can scroll with the stylus by dragging it around an area near the edge of the screen, but the command menu has very small targets to hit if you want to take specific actions (such as using items or changing equipment).
Then again, attacking is possible by poking the enemy, but this leads to a different point I need to explain first (#3):
3. Selecting one of your units and then selecting an enemy in range will automatically generate an arrow path to that enemy and bring up the attack menu as usual. This is pretty cool, because I can see this making things quicker for people with good coordination.
Also, pressing X or Y in the attack menu changes the weapon you are equipped with, which probably works well with what I just mentioned. Personally, I prefer the same old "bring up menu, choose weapon, roast face" approach with the D-pad. Holding Y increases scroll speed once again (it's been gone since Thracia!), so that is great for people like me.
4. Animations are pretty good overall, but the graphics on them suck goat balls in some ways. For example, this new Pirate guy looks just like the enemy Pirates, only in blue instead of orange/red (whatever it is). Obviously, this just makes things look painfully generic.
Another problem is the border around the battle models, which clearly clashes with some of the backgrounds. You get used to it, for the most part, but there really doesn't seem to be a good excuse for such a thing.
One other problem is that some classes don't double smoothly, but others do. Example: Marth gets attacked by an enemy, and then doubles. Instead of hitting once and returning for a second shot, he just does both attacks in one trip (like Megami does in most (if not all) cases). Social Knights, on the other hand, will make two trips. To further add to the "huh?" value, keep in mind that Paladins (Jeigan, in this case) do both attacks in one trip.
5. Let's be honest here, the character art sucks in general. I like a few pieces of the official art, but in-game, most of the characters I've seen so far (up to Chapter 4) are downright ugly. Honestly, it's like they didn't even try.
A while ago, Spineshark basically said something like "finally, Fire Emblem characters don't all look alike", in reference to a page of the Shin Ankoku official art that I linked him to (a view I don't agree with). This is mostly true for the Shin Ankoku official art (at the very least, Marth/Camus seem to be similar), but in-game is a completely different story.
Unless my eyes play tricks on me, a lot of my characters look like semi-clones, just with different expressions or hair color/hairstyle. I wish I were kidding, but it's true.
6. The map graphics and backgrounds are fantastic. Everything looks "grittier" to me, but that could just be because they actually have detail this time. By the way, the thought that the sprites look like Tear Ring knockoffs has kind of died out for now, because it's not really the case when you see them in action.
7. The game has 6 difficulty settings, and I decided against starting on the hardest one (Hard level 5) for my first playthrough....choosing Normal instead (the lowest). At this point, the game seems stupidly easy, but I figure that will change a little as I go on.
8. You are forced to sacrifice a character in the fourth part (I think) of the Prologue, because someone is required to play decoy for this ridiculous ambush. Now, before you say "you suck!", I should repeat that you are required to do this. The door to continue is locked, and you have no keys available (the only one you had was one use, and is used before that).
You can choose any character you want for this, except for Marth (obviously). I had read about this choice earlier, but I don't know Japanese, so I just sent Marth to the designated fort square first. I can only assume that the nagging that followed was basically saying: "You moron! You can't have Marth be a decoy for himself!"
After giving it some thought, I eventually decided to send Kain as my decoy. I probably should've sent Gordon instead, because I've always preferred Kashim as my bow user in Monshou. Oh well, too late now.
9. The music is pretty decent, but some of it comes across as wacked up Pokémon music at times*. Perhaps this is because of the crappy speakers on the DS?
* Trainer: "Jeigan! Use Bubblebeam NOW!"
Jeigan: "JEIGANANANANAN!"
10. Save points are on the map, but I've never used one. I don't plan to either, because save points are for complete morons who lack brainpower and can't handle anything resembling difficulty. I exaggerate, but I hope you understand that I just don't like the idea (or Megami's "Battle Saves" for that matter).
For the record, saving in Seisen is ok in my book (and should be done often).
So now that I've gotten the chance to play the game, at a whopping 8 days after release, I'll ramble about my first (and second, if that counts the second session only) impressions of the game (I'm at Chapter 4, by the way):
1. Split screen is kind of difficult to get used to, especially in the introduction, because it just looks weird to see a "large" image spread over both screens. A good example is the shot of Sheeda, where the view scrolls slowly to left...eventually giving you a fairly lengthy shot of the pegasus's butt, because the top screen isn't showing much worth noting at the time.
In-game, the split screen also feels awkward (at this point?). The game is played on the bottom screen, and you can flip between two top screen modes: one is the equivalent to a jazzed up (and quite neat) Start menu from Souen and Megami, and the other is the equivalent to checking a unit's status screen (highlight a unit to view it automatically). A lot of the information is condensed for the latter mode, so there is only one status screen for everybody.
Also of interest is that the status screen mode will leave the unit last highlighted on the top screen, so you can probably use this for some sort of future reference. Pretty neat, at the very least.
2. The touch screen controls seem gimmicky and stupid to me. While it is interesting to select a unit and do things with simple pokes of the stylus, the thing seems much more suited to left-handed people (I'm right-handed). I say this because you can scroll with the stylus by dragging it around an area near the edge of the screen, but the command menu has very small targets to hit if you want to take specific actions (such as using items or changing equipment).
Then again, attacking is possible by poking the enemy, but this leads to a different point I need to explain first (#3):
3. Selecting one of your units and then selecting an enemy in range will automatically generate an arrow path to that enemy and bring up the attack menu as usual. This is pretty cool, because I can see this making things quicker for people with good coordination.
Also, pressing X or Y in the attack menu changes the weapon you are equipped with, which probably works well with what I just mentioned. Personally, I prefer the same old "bring up menu, choose weapon, roast face" approach with the D-pad. Holding Y increases scroll speed once again (it's been gone since Thracia!), so that is great for people like me.
4. Animations are pretty good overall, but the graphics on them suck goat balls in some ways. For example, this new Pirate guy looks just like the enemy Pirates, only in blue instead of orange/red (whatever it is). Obviously, this just makes things look painfully generic.
Another problem is the border around the battle models, which clearly clashes with some of the backgrounds. You get used to it, for the most part, but there really doesn't seem to be a good excuse for such a thing.
One other problem is that some classes don't double smoothly, but others do. Example: Marth gets attacked by an enemy, and then doubles. Instead of hitting once and returning for a second shot, he just does both attacks in one trip (like Megami does in most (if not all) cases). Social Knights, on the other hand, will make two trips. To further add to the "huh?" value, keep in mind that Paladins (Jeigan, in this case) do both attacks in one trip.
5. Let's be honest here, the character art sucks in general. I like a few pieces of the official art, but in-game, most of the characters I've seen so far (up to Chapter 4) are downright ugly. Honestly, it's like they didn't even try.
A while ago, Spineshark basically said something like "finally, Fire Emblem characters don't all look alike", in reference to a page of the Shin Ankoku official art that I linked him to (a view I don't agree with). This is mostly true for the Shin Ankoku official art (at the very least, Marth/Camus seem to be similar), but in-game is a completely different story.
Unless my eyes play tricks on me, a lot of my characters look like semi-clones, just with different expressions or hair color/hairstyle. I wish I were kidding, but it's true.
6. The map graphics and backgrounds are fantastic. Everything looks "grittier" to me, but that could just be because they actually have detail this time. By the way, the thought that the sprites look like Tear Ring knockoffs has kind of died out for now, because it's not really the case when you see them in action.
7. The game has 6 difficulty settings, and I decided against starting on the hardest one (Hard level 5) for my first playthrough....choosing Normal instead (the lowest). At this point, the game seems stupidly easy, but I figure that will change a little as I go on.
8. You are forced to sacrifice a character in the fourth part (I think) of the Prologue, because someone is required to play decoy for this ridiculous ambush. Now, before you say "you suck!", I should repeat that you are required to do this. The door to continue is locked, and you have no keys available (the only one you had was one use, and is used before that).
You can choose any character you want for this, except for Marth (obviously). I had read about this choice earlier, but I don't know Japanese, so I just sent Marth to the designated fort square first. I can only assume that the nagging that followed was basically saying: "You moron! You can't have Marth be a decoy for himself!"
After giving it some thought, I eventually decided to send Kain as my decoy. I probably should've sent Gordon instead, because I've always preferred Kashim as my bow user in Monshou. Oh well, too late now.
9. The music is pretty decent, but some of it comes across as wacked up Pokémon music at times*. Perhaps this is because of the crappy speakers on the DS?
* Trainer: "Jeigan! Use Bubblebeam NOW!"
Jeigan: "JEIGANANANANAN!"
10. Save points are on the map, but I've never used one. I don't plan to either, because save points are for complete morons who lack brainpower and can't handle anything resembling difficulty. I exaggerate, but I hope you understand that I just don't like the idea (or Megami's "Battle Saves" for that matter).
For the record, saving in Seisen is ok in my book (and should be done often).
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