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tenshinoakuma) wrote2011-07-05 07:09 pm
tenshinoakuma) wrote2011-07-05 07:09 pm
The Answer
Circumstances one way or another did not allow us to finish Tales of Vesperia, despite us (probably) being on the cusp of finishing it.
In regards to the Answer, we were almost finished, and the game became ridiculously easy because in the process of trying to get Akihiko to a level that wouldn't get him brutally murdered, the rest of my party (Aigis, Metis, Junpei) became ridiculously overlevelled. Okay that's not exactly true, but we were probably at the recommended level, rather than being underlevel. This wasn't so bad, since even then, the last few boss fights took a ridiculously long amount of time.
Gameplay wise, the AI was again doing some very strange things. Firstly, there was Metis using a Pierce skill on an enemy we just scanned that Nulls Pierce. Secondly, Junpei would just keep on casting spells or using his normal attack when his persona attacks deal more damage. And he's on full health. And he insists on using Gigantic Fist when he has Brave Blade. At least when Akihiko realised that one of the 3 samurai bosses absorbed lightning, he switched to a single target ziodyne instead of mazionga.
In general, tactical use of Attack and Magic Mirrors has saved me/sped up a battle immensely in the last few bosses. One particularly memorable moment was when the party could do with a heal, but the boss was Power Charged and would attack after Aigis. Attack Mirror. It does Vorpal Blade. Reflect more damage to the boss than we could have done in 10 turns. Win battle.
Supposedly the final boss of the Answer takes more damage from magical attacks (and with some trial and error, appears to be true). Unfortunately for me, half my party were far better physical hitters than mages 8| And because for some reason on that boss, the AI refuses to use HP draining persona attacks for the most part, they would use their normal attacks. Not usually a problem... except the boss has high evasion, so they keep on falling flat on their butts. NOT VERY USEFUL, GAME. Surprisingly, the final boss didn't take double turns like Nyx, so I was pleasantly surprised by a relatively easy final boss, considering I had a... less than optimal party for it.
I don't recall having such weird AI antics before in the original game, so I don't know if this is a quirk of FES' "improved" AI, or just something that happens in the Answer.
NOW. THE STORY. If I refer to the Journey, please note that I'm referring to my play through of the original game, not FES' Journey, since I've never played it (though I know of many of the extras).
You know, I actually didn't mind the Answer all that much in the beginning. I thought it was an interesting look into how every member of SEES dealt with Minato's death, how they moved on (or didn't), and how far they've come since they first awakened to their Persona (as well as when we first knew them from the Journey).
I've mentioned it before, but the Answer showed more of Ken that wasn't intent on revenge, and the fact he smiles quite readily in it really helped me to like Ken more as a character. Junpei has been nothing short of amazing in the Answer, to the point I spent of lot of time going "YOU'RE THE BEST BRO, BROPEI!" at the screen. The fact he keeps landing finishing blows helps. But more character wise, you can really tell he's matured from that goofy guy who was jealous of Minato's abilities (and perhaps just... afraid he's good for nothing) in the beginning of the Journey. Like, he still has shades of that guy we laugh at sometimes (the ending cutscenes where he falls asleep standing up, and when he falls down the stairs), but he does things like try and include Metis into the group conversations when she's standing off to the side, and tries to cheer up the two robots when they're being particularly 8(.
He's really grown. He mentioned Chidori's death at some point in the conversation, and while the game made it ambiguous as to whether she's alive now (thanks to that FES exclusive side quest to revive her), I think his statements feel less meaningful if Chidori had been revived. MIXED FEELINGS.
I think Junpei and Ken stood out the most. I'm trying to think about my thoughts on Mitsuru and Akihiko, but I don't think I felt any stunning revelations!! at watching their characters and their pasts; I'd already seen everyone's Persona awakening scene on Youtube earlier, though I didn't actually know until playing the Answer that they even were Persona awakening scenes. I don't really know how I feel about Aigis or Metis either; honestly most of my attention was on Ken and Bropei (when it wasn't on Koromaru).
But Yukari... Oh Yukari. In the beginning, I could understand and sympathise with her through the Answer. Because I could see that she's someone who tried to move on but couldn't, not really. And though I could see her irritation with the whole Abyss of Time, I really had no idea why people hated Yukari so much in the Answer.
WHELP. NOW I KNOW.
I am okay with Yukari being bitter about having to face the past when she's so determined to move on with the future/run away. I am okay with Yukari being standoffish with Aigis because of what an Aigis using Minato's power represented to her. I am okay with Yukari wanting to bring Minato back, even if it would doom the world.
I am not okay with how the game presented it.
Holy crap did they make her come off as a psychotic bitch in the end game. I don't even know where to begin. It's like she completely flipped her lid and just swung from one extreme emotion to another. From irritation to rage to sisterly to wrath to despair. All within a really short amount of time. As in, three nearly consecutive cutscenes involving her.
I think all this is made worse by the fact that Yukari's reaction is really extreme and over the top compared to the relatively calm and level reaction of the other characters, similar to how some people dislike Yuzu for wanting to run away (even though it's a perfectly rational reaction to the crazy shit in Devil Survivor) because no one else (except Atsuro sometimes) isn't scared like her. (Though I never really got annoyed at Yuzu to start off with so I guess I can't empathise with disliking Yuzu in the first place). When Yukari's words are filled with venom and vitriol while no one else's are, of course she's going to look like a Queen Bitch. Hell, even Junpei tells her to think through what she's saying to them.
I just. I guess I just don't understand why the writers felt like they had to do such a thing? Though I do have to say, Yukari's voice actor did a really good job of conveying the emotion behind the words. It's just that I don't agree that those kinds of words were necessary in the first place.
I probably would have more to say on the Answer's story, but seeing as I already knew most of the Answer's plot beforehand (because I wasn't expecting to get the opportunity to play it), I guess I feel there's not much for me to say on it now.
end thoughts on the Answer that doesn't actually have anything to do with it: I bet Mitsuru was behind the EXECUTION part of SEES' name.
In other Dissidia news, I beat up Chaos with Cloud, which was made infinitely easier by the fact Cloud gets good Brave-HP attacks (I did not know this!). This unlocked the Pretty Princess set. And a Cosmos Report but who cares about that.
Guess what I spent the next hour doing. Go on.
In regards to the Answer, we were almost finished, and the game became ridiculously easy because in the process of trying to get Akihiko to a level that wouldn't get him brutally murdered, the rest of my party (Aigis, Metis, Junpei) became ridiculously overlevelled. Okay that's not exactly true, but we were probably at the recommended level, rather than being underlevel. This wasn't so bad, since even then, the last few boss fights took a ridiculously long amount of time.
Gameplay wise, the AI was again doing some very strange things. Firstly, there was Metis using a Pierce skill on an enemy we just scanned that Nulls Pierce. Secondly, Junpei would just keep on casting spells or using his normal attack when his persona attacks deal more damage. And he's on full health. And he insists on using Gigantic Fist when he has Brave Blade. At least when Akihiko realised that one of the 3 samurai bosses absorbed lightning, he switched to a single target ziodyne instead of mazionga.
In general, tactical use of Attack and Magic Mirrors has saved me/sped up a battle immensely in the last few bosses. One particularly memorable moment was when the party could do with a heal, but the boss was Power Charged and would attack after Aigis. Attack Mirror. It does Vorpal Blade. Reflect more damage to the boss than we could have done in 10 turns. Win battle.
Supposedly the final boss of the Answer takes more damage from magical attacks (and with some trial and error, appears to be true). Unfortunately for me, half my party were far better physical hitters than mages 8| And because for some reason on that boss, the AI refuses to use HP draining persona attacks for the most part, they would use their normal attacks. Not usually a problem... except the boss has high evasion, so they keep on falling flat on their butts. NOT VERY USEFUL, GAME. Surprisingly, the final boss didn't take double turns like Nyx, so I was pleasantly surprised by a relatively easy final boss, considering I had a... less than optimal party for it.
I don't recall having such weird AI antics before in the original game, so I don't know if this is a quirk of FES' "improved" AI, or just something that happens in the Answer.
NOW. THE STORY. If I refer to the Journey, please note that I'm referring to my play through of the original game, not FES' Journey, since I've never played it (though I know of many of the extras).
You know, I actually didn't mind the Answer all that much in the beginning. I thought it was an interesting look into how every member of SEES dealt with Minato's death, how they moved on (or didn't), and how far they've come since they first awakened to their Persona (as well as when we first knew them from the Journey).
I've mentioned it before, but the Answer showed more of Ken that wasn't intent on revenge, and the fact he smiles quite readily in it really helped me to like Ken more as a character. Junpei has been nothing short of amazing in the Answer, to the point I spent of lot of time going "YOU'RE THE BEST BRO, BROPEI!" at the screen. The fact he keeps landing finishing blows helps. But more character wise, you can really tell he's matured from that goofy guy who was jealous of Minato's abilities (and perhaps just... afraid he's good for nothing) in the beginning of the Journey. Like, he still has shades of that guy we laugh at sometimes (the ending cutscenes where he falls asleep standing up, and when he falls down the stairs), but he does things like try and include Metis into the group conversations when she's standing off to the side, and tries to cheer up the two robots when they're being particularly 8(.
He's really grown. He mentioned Chidori's death at some point in the conversation, and while the game made it ambiguous as to whether she's alive now (thanks to that FES exclusive side quest to revive her), I think his statements feel less meaningful if Chidori had been revived. MIXED FEELINGS.
I think Junpei and Ken stood out the most. I'm trying to think about my thoughts on Mitsuru and Akihiko, but I don't think I felt any stunning revelations!! at watching their characters and their pasts; I'd already seen everyone's Persona awakening scene on Youtube earlier, though I didn't actually know until playing the Answer that they even were Persona awakening scenes. I don't really know how I feel about Aigis or Metis either; honestly most of my attention was on Ken and Bropei (when it wasn't on Koromaru).
But Yukari... Oh Yukari. In the beginning, I could understand and sympathise with her through the Answer. Because I could see that she's someone who tried to move on but couldn't, not really. And though I could see her irritation with the whole Abyss of Time, I really had no idea why people hated Yukari so much in the Answer.
WHELP. NOW I KNOW.
I am okay with Yukari being bitter about having to face the past when she's so determined to move on with the future/run away. I am okay with Yukari being standoffish with Aigis because of what an Aigis using Minato's power represented to her. I am okay with Yukari wanting to bring Minato back, even if it would doom the world.
I am not okay with how the game presented it.
Holy crap did they make her come off as a psychotic bitch in the end game. I don't even know where to begin. It's like she completely flipped her lid and just swung from one extreme emotion to another. From irritation to rage to sisterly to wrath to despair. All within a really short amount of time. As in, three nearly consecutive cutscenes involving her.
I think all this is made worse by the fact that Yukari's reaction is really extreme and over the top compared to the relatively calm and level reaction of the other characters, similar to how some people dislike Yuzu for wanting to run away (even though it's a perfectly rational reaction to the crazy shit in Devil Survivor) because no one else (except Atsuro sometimes) isn't scared like her. (Though I never really got annoyed at Yuzu to start off with so I guess I can't empathise with disliking Yuzu in the first place). When Yukari's words are filled with venom and vitriol while no one else's are, of course she's going to look like a Queen Bitch. Hell, even Junpei tells her to think through what she's saying to them.
I just. I guess I just don't understand why the writers felt like they had to do such a thing? Though I do have to say, Yukari's voice actor did a really good job of conveying the emotion behind the words. It's just that I don't agree that those kinds of words were necessary in the first place.
I probably would have more to say on the Answer's story, but seeing as I already knew most of the Answer's plot beforehand (because I wasn't expecting to get the opportunity to play it), I guess I feel there's not much for me to say on it now.
end thoughts on the Answer that doesn't actually have anything to do with it: I bet Mitsuru was behind the EXECUTION part of SEES' name.
In other Dissidia news, I beat up Chaos with Cloud, which was made infinitely easier by the fact Cloud gets good Brave-HP attacks (I did not know this!). This unlocked the Pretty Princess set. And a Cosmos Report but who cares about that.
Guess what I spent the next hour doing. Go on.