Things are still going pretty well with Rogue Galaxy. The moves have gotten a bit more ridicu-awesome; I've managed to unlock a 'spell' that summons a bunch of space helicopter to unleash laser death upon the forces of evil. The move itself isn't all that impressive graphics-wise or in terms of damage (at least not now), but the idea of an ex-soldier (who may or not be a deserter) that spent the last ten years in a bottle on a mining planet somehow having the resources to call in organized, precision gunship strikes jumps right past "incongruously dumb" to "holy crap this is awesome, EAT LAZORS!"
The factory system is also kinda fun, but it's just too finicky for me to get completely behind. The developers were probably trying to convey the difficulties in real-life assembly processes, as well as making sure we earn our extra toys. To be fair, at least so far I've only made minor screw-ups, without losing any materials to failed attempts. Watching the factory actually do things to materials is also fun to watch. Oh well, perfection is not a thing that exists on this earth anyway.
I've actually found some emotional moments; ironically enough, the biggest one so far was a tear-jerking bit involving the backstory behind a dungeon boss, which came right after an episode of a recurring mother-and-daughter melodrama (they're looking for daddy and the galaxy is all mean and lots of crying and it's-so-damn-sad-why-don't-you-give-them-a-hug "BLURG MAKE IT STOP DAMMIT"). No, I can't stand those two, why do you ask? It's still good to know that Level-5 can do tragedy and angst right.
Overall, the experience is quite enjoyable, and far from over. We'll see what craziness is in store. The Harvest Never Rests.
Friday, May 13, 2016
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
How To Raise The Stakes
So. Rogue Galaxy has some faults, to be sure; the mooks are nasty, the dungeons tend to be internally repetitive in their layout, it really could've used at least a limited after-combat healing (or a regeneration mechanic). But damned if isn't a blast.
Then it happened. Somebody has finally come up with the next level in item crafting concepts. They up and gave me a factory. I get to make assembly lines and watch widgets do stuff to materials and fiddle with power lines and stuff. I actually haven't had much chance to fiddle and play with it yet, but it was pretty fun once it got going.
We shall see how things go, since we've seemed to have some really cool stuff coming (which is how it should be for crafting), including ancient legendary artifacts and hi-tech harbingers of doom. How we make things that are supposed to be legendary relics of antiquity is beyond me, but RPGs have been doing this forever (probably since frickin' Angband) so whatever.
One of the things that makes this system (and the game as a whole) interesting is that they openly mix futuristic technology with magic, without even really calling attention to the fact. This is space fantasy at its finest; you don't need to sit there and be all "ooh we got magic and spaceships." Show, don't tell, eh? It's like this throughout the whole game, just giving us patently ridiculous things and concepts and running with them without pedantic poking at the seams, never letting you really spot the thread.
The characters are mostly your average RPG fare, you got your standard protagonist (type A 'cheerful'), your usual demure love interest, the dark-and-totally-not-a-spy mercenary, and some other cliches. They're fairly well-done overall; you get a standard robot buddy that is pretty much C-3PO with some ball bearing upgrades, the jaded veteran is a literal dog soldier (that one was nicely done). Then there's Simon.
Simon is pretty much Character of The Game, in my opinion. Somebody at Level-5 wanted a space dwarf, but blended the usual stereotypes (stocky, big nose, Scottish accent) and subsumed them by making the guy wander around in a space-trenchcoat and a freaky mask that more than compensates for the lost beard. What we wind up with a boisterous, badass space Womble that tears around with a flamethrower pistol (with elemental variants even) and a multiple-missile launcher that unleashes explosive doom upon the unworthy. He even gets a special attack where he lobs a volley into the air and does a dance with a little paper umbrella. Best. Womble. Ever. Group him with Flashbang Poe, Salvador the Gunzerker, Bacchus D-79 (SPESS ELF ROBOCOP) and watch the forces of badness become meat smoothie flambe!
The guide for this game has a hilarious inconsistency, in that they flat out tell you to not fight all the random mook battles so you can conserve your items for the bosses. Then the rest of the guide goes and tells you about how you need to kill lots and lots of freaks for a bounty hunting sidequest, and then goes on to tell you that you should be farming mooks for rare random drops (instructions to farm drops shows up near constantly). So, we totally don't want to smack a bunch a random critters because we need to keep our potion stock up (by the way, basic heal potions and resurrection potions are sold in infinite or near-infinite quantities everywhere, including inside most dungeons), but we want to smack random critters for a bounty quest, and we want to smack random critters for random bitz. The Harvest may never rest, but it sure gets confused sometimes. It might have worked a bit better if they said that we shouldn't really farm until the boss is dead and we can keep our fancier healing items in reserve. Instead we have literary schizophrenic kleptomania in the guide. To be honest, I only buy guides for maps and to stare at something during lunch at work anyway.
Then it happened. Somebody has finally come up with the next level in item crafting concepts. They up and gave me a factory. I get to make assembly lines and watch widgets do stuff to materials and fiddle with power lines and stuff. I actually haven't had much chance to fiddle and play with it yet, but it was pretty fun once it got going.
We shall see how things go, since we've seemed to have some really cool stuff coming (which is how it should be for crafting), including ancient legendary artifacts and hi-tech harbingers of doom. How we make things that are supposed to be legendary relics of antiquity is beyond me, but RPGs have been doing this forever (probably since frickin' Angband) so whatever.
One of the things that makes this system (and the game as a whole) interesting is that they openly mix futuristic technology with magic, without even really calling attention to the fact. This is space fantasy at its finest; you don't need to sit there and be all "ooh we got magic and spaceships." Show, don't tell, eh? It's like this throughout the whole game, just giving us patently ridiculous things and concepts and running with them without pedantic poking at the seams, never letting you really spot the thread.
The characters are mostly your average RPG fare, you got your standard protagonist (type A 'cheerful'), your usual demure love interest, the dark-and-totally-not-a-spy mercenary, and some other cliches. They're fairly well-done overall; you get a standard robot buddy that is pretty much C-3PO with some ball bearing upgrades, the jaded veteran is a literal dog soldier (that one was nicely done). Then there's Simon.
Simon is pretty much Character of The Game, in my opinion. Somebody at Level-5 wanted a space dwarf, but blended the usual stereotypes (stocky, big nose, Scottish accent) and subsumed them by making the guy wander around in a space-trenchcoat and a freaky mask that more than compensates for the lost beard. What we wind up with a boisterous, badass space Womble that tears around with a flamethrower pistol (with elemental variants even) and a multiple-missile launcher that unleashes explosive doom upon the unworthy. He even gets a special attack where he lobs a volley into the air and does a dance with a little paper umbrella. Best. Womble. Ever. Group him with Flashbang Poe, Salvador the Gunzerker, Bacchus D-79 (SPESS ELF ROBOCOP) and watch the forces of badness become meat smoothie flambe!
The guide for this game has a hilarious inconsistency, in that they flat out tell you to not fight all the random mook battles so you can conserve your items for the bosses. Then the rest of the guide goes and tells you about how you need to kill lots and lots of freaks for a bounty hunting sidequest, and then goes on to tell you that you should be farming mooks for rare random drops (instructions to farm drops shows up near constantly). So, we totally don't want to smack a bunch a random critters because we need to keep our potion stock up (by the way, basic heal potions and resurrection potions are sold in infinite or near-infinite quantities everywhere, including inside most dungeons), but we want to smack random critters for a bounty quest, and we want to smack random critters for random bitz. The Harvest may never rest, but it sure gets confused sometimes. It might have worked a bit better if they said that we shouldn't really farm until the boss is dead and we can keep our fancier healing items in reserve. Instead we have literary schizophrenic kleptomania in the guide. To be honest, I only buy guides for maps and to stare at something during lunch at work anyway.
Saturday, April 30, 2016
The Space Pirates That Don't Do Anything
Well.
I've decided that yes, I needed some kooky space-pirate action after all and broke out Rogue Galaxy. You know, I thought I was hot stuff; I did kinda just slaughter my way through about every game I've tried out in the last year or so (except for Kingdoms of Amalur due to a really nasty glitch and Grandia due to the gaming equivalent of diabetic shock; don't play that after a 'serious' game whatever you do), including some fairly challenging ones.
I was wrong. Rogue Galaxy now stands as the first game in a very long time to get the distinction of knocking me right on my ass in the first mini-boss fight. I had to actually spend some time level grinding just so I could last long enough to hit of the blasted freaks; even then it was a very close battle. The subsequent boss was easier (but still no joke) and hopefully I've learned this game's measure, but we shall see.
In any case, the game itself is pretty fun, with some nifty concepts in place. You start off with the protagonist Jaster Rogue, a name humorous on several levels; you have a play on 'just a rogue' plus a well hidden Star Wars reference to 'Jaster Mereel' (I probable misspelled the last name there), a name associated with Boba and Jango Fett, appropriate because Jaster here is mistaken for a big scary bounty hunter. Then you wind up on a pirate spaceship that's also a ship, with sails and rigging and an anchor, the works. Screw Bowser, this bad boy prowls the star lanes and takes names like a boss! Yes, we have a total Treasue Planet thing going on here.
Well, we shall see what comes of this. There's some other fun things in store, hopefully, so hopefully we shall find a whole new way to bring doom upon the poor mooks. The Harvest never rests!
I've decided that yes, I needed some kooky space-pirate action after all and broke out Rogue Galaxy. You know, I thought I was hot stuff; I did kinda just slaughter my way through about every game I've tried out in the last year or so (except for Kingdoms of Amalur due to a really nasty glitch and Grandia due to the gaming equivalent of diabetic shock; don't play that after a 'serious' game whatever you do), including some fairly challenging ones.
I was wrong. Rogue Galaxy now stands as the first game in a very long time to get the distinction of knocking me right on my ass in the first mini-boss fight. I had to actually spend some time level grinding just so I could last long enough to hit of the blasted freaks; even then it was a very close battle. The subsequent boss was easier (but still no joke) and hopefully I've learned this game's measure, but we shall see.
In any case, the game itself is pretty fun, with some nifty concepts in place. You start off with the protagonist Jaster Rogue, a name humorous on several levels; you have a play on 'just a rogue' plus a well hidden Star Wars reference to 'Jaster Mereel' (I probable misspelled the last name there), a name associated with Boba and Jango Fett, appropriate because Jaster here is mistaken for a big scary bounty hunter. Then you wind up on a pirate spaceship that's also a ship, with sails and rigging and an anchor, the works. Screw Bowser, this bad boy prowls the star lanes and takes names like a boss! Yes, we have a total Treasue Planet thing going on here.
Well, we shall see what comes of this. There's some other fun things in store, hopefully, so hopefully we shall find a whole new way to bring doom upon the poor mooks. The Harvest never rests!
Friday, April 29, 2016
When Bad Guys Have Mommy Issues
Well, Atelier Iris 2 was beat fairly handily a night ago, and overall it wound up being a lot of fun. The final battle actually managed to be tense without forcing out copious amounts of cheese on either side. The world is saved and the Harvest must turn aside to root out more of the unworthy.
More or less for the hell of it, I pulled out another old friend, and jumped back into a playthrough for it.
Do you remember the old days, when one game effectively turned JPRGs from niche games for geeks into mainstream masterpieces? When most problems were solved by hunting down the nearest bishie prettyboy and knocking the crap out of him? A time when racing giant chickens for hours on end was something almost respectable, since it was the key to the grandaddy of badass summon spells?
I remember. Final Fantasy VII. I can sit there like a hipster tool and go on about how I loved RPGs long before I encountered this one (mostly because it's true), and dig myself deeper by going on about how I still go out of my way to nab new ones (if you didn't notice that already, than this blog is totally pointless).
But I won't. I will tell you about how I spent the night at a buddy's house way back in the day, who happened to have a Playstation and a copy of FF7. Him and some acquaintances kindly fired it up and let me take it for a spin; got to Wall Market before I had to turn it off and do something else. I will tell you about how I went out and got my own copy and a guide from Best Buy, and then proceeded to connive and hoard and outright steal lunch money so I can afford the damn console too. I came close to turning into a nasty little monster back then. Thank God it didn't turn out worse.
But you know what? FF7 is still a fine game, and thanks to a bit of luck and a very good friend, I still have that original copy in my stack. I admit that there's some nostalgia influencing me, but it's still a nerdy joy to fire it up and fiddle with your Materia collection and wreck corporate douchebags and watch Cloud randomly trip out. I still say that Cloud's biggest issue is that he got so close to nailing Aerith, but he couldn't go through with it so Sephiroth whips out his blade and does the deed himself. Double entendre ahoy!
I'm really just going ahead and fooling around with some sidequests for the moment, mostly because I'm between new games and a bit undecided. There's only so much chocobo racing I can stand, but I want Knights of the Round (if you played this game, you know why), so I'll be shooting up and inbreeding chickens for a bit. Still not quite sure what game to try next, but I'm thinking space pirates are in the near future now. We shall see.
More or less for the hell of it, I pulled out another old friend, and jumped back into a playthrough for it.
Do you remember the old days, when one game effectively turned JPRGs from niche games for geeks into mainstream masterpieces? When most problems were solved by hunting down the nearest bishie prettyboy and knocking the crap out of him? A time when racing giant chickens for hours on end was something almost respectable, since it was the key to the grandaddy of badass summon spells?
I remember. Final Fantasy VII. I can sit there like a hipster tool and go on about how I loved RPGs long before I encountered this one (mostly because it's true), and dig myself deeper by going on about how I still go out of my way to nab new ones (if you didn't notice that already, than this blog is totally pointless).
But I won't. I will tell you about how I spent the night at a buddy's house way back in the day, who happened to have a Playstation and a copy of FF7. Him and some acquaintances kindly fired it up and let me take it for a spin; got to Wall Market before I had to turn it off and do something else. I will tell you about how I went out and got my own copy and a guide from Best Buy, and then proceeded to connive and hoard and outright steal lunch money so I can afford the damn console too. I came close to turning into a nasty little monster back then. Thank God it didn't turn out worse.
But you know what? FF7 is still a fine game, and thanks to a bit of luck and a very good friend, I still have that original copy in my stack. I admit that there's some nostalgia influencing me, but it's still a nerdy joy to fire it up and fiddle with your Materia collection and wreck corporate douchebags and watch Cloud randomly trip out. I still say that Cloud's biggest issue is that he got so close to nailing Aerith, but he couldn't go through with it so Sephiroth whips out his blade and does the deed himself. Double entendre ahoy!
I'm really just going ahead and fooling around with some sidequests for the moment, mostly because I'm between new games and a bit undecided. There's only so much chocobo racing I can stand, but I want Knights of the Round (if you played this game, you know why), so I'll be shooting up and inbreeding chickens for a bit. Still not quite sure what game to try next, but I'm thinking space pirates are in the near future now. We shall see.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Ending a Mad Dream
Here we are again; a final dungeon. I already tore my way through the thing and walked back out, so I can bit of extra grinding and fiddling with the crafting system. Talking Sword Sauron is probably quite bemused at my antics.
I've always found the Temple of Creation to be something of a disappointment (except for the kickass soundtrack Battle in the Sunlight), since it goes right back to generic looking pillars and tiles, with only a hint of unique elements, and recycling a much earlier tileset (granted, it's the cool looking giant runestone tileset). It stands in contrast to the characterful Vintavne dungeon most players have just been through.
Otherwise, things are progressing quite well, and really i'm just holding off beating the game again so I muck about a bit. I've actually progressed a fair bit faster than normal, to the point where I don't have the main character's final weapon and best move unlocked, and thanks to the lessons I learned from Rorona, I've actually managed to make several of the more expensive-to-make combat items a lot more practical to produce.
It's been a blast, and playing a game that relies on harvesting materials and making your own gear just has its own special charm. There's a lot of things to love in this game, and though there are some rough spots (the storyline is usual JRPG fare, the dungeons are blocky and like to recycle graphics, there's a couple of battle backgrounds that do weird things if the screens gets too busy or flashy) it's still very much a joy to play.
I'm probably overthinking it and speculating a bit too hard, but there's just enough hints and similarities to make me wonder if Gust (the developer behind Atelier) wound up with a bunch of old Square employees that wanted make good World of Mana games really bad. The colorful drawn backgrounds, the emphasis on quirky elemental spirits (with some really freaky elements represented), and the emphasis on Mana and a goddess-like figure that controlled it (complete with a great disaster that ultimately sealed her away); there's just too many paralells.
In any case, the game is coming to a close, and I'll pull out a new one as planned. As I've already mentioned, I pulled out Iris 2 for a bit of walking down memory lane and as a mental palate cleanser, and it was very much worth it. I'm still not sure where the Harvest will go next, maybe something involving space pirates or a guy who punches demons or fantasy Western gunslingers or something.
I've always found the Temple of Creation to be something of a disappointment (except for the kickass soundtrack Battle in the Sunlight), since it goes right back to generic looking pillars and tiles, with only a hint of unique elements, and recycling a much earlier tileset (granted, it's the cool looking giant runestone tileset). It stands in contrast to the characterful Vintavne dungeon most players have just been through.
Otherwise, things are progressing quite well, and really i'm just holding off beating the game again so I muck about a bit. I've actually progressed a fair bit faster than normal, to the point where I don't have the main character's final weapon and best move unlocked, and thanks to the lessons I learned from Rorona, I've actually managed to make several of the more expensive-to-make combat items a lot more practical to produce.
It's been a blast, and playing a game that relies on harvesting materials and making your own gear just has its own special charm. There's a lot of things to love in this game, and though there are some rough spots (the storyline is usual JRPG fare, the dungeons are blocky and like to recycle graphics, there's a couple of battle backgrounds that do weird things if the screens gets too busy or flashy) it's still very much a joy to play.
I'm probably overthinking it and speculating a bit too hard, but there's just enough hints and similarities to make me wonder if Gust (the developer behind Atelier) wound up with a bunch of old Square employees that wanted make good World of Mana games really bad. The colorful drawn backgrounds, the emphasis on quirky elemental spirits (with some really freaky elements represented), and the emphasis on Mana and a goddess-like figure that controlled it (complete with a great disaster that ultimately sealed her away); there's just too many paralells.
In any case, the game is coming to a close, and I'll pull out a new one as planned. As I've already mentioned, I pulled out Iris 2 for a bit of walking down memory lane and as a mental palate cleanser, and it was very much worth it. I'm still not sure where the Harvest will go next, maybe something involving space pirates or a guy who punches demons or fantasy Western gunslingers or something.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
I'm Significant
Screamed the dust speck.
Hmph.
Anyway, the Atelier Iris 2 campaign goes well in hand. Finally got the big bad empire on the run and got the whole party together, so it's time to take care of business and tear through something resembling a unique dungeon (to be fair, Vintavne is actually pretty flavorful and interesting to go through).
I've forgotten how much the challenge can get ramped up in the combat once you close in on the endgame. It's actually something kinda nasty, yet a pleasant surprise. You smack your way through Fort Zeyung and Riese Palace, tearing through a ton of imperial minions (Riese Palace alone gives you more encounters with enemy soldiers than most players would face from their Gesthalian counterparts throughout all of Final Fantasy VI, not counting Veldt rematches) and thwarting Theodore McTwit, and then you delve into some dungeons and the mooks knock you on your ass.
An then there are the bosses. They're some of the most flavorful and unique things I've seen in an RPG, and I'd really like to see more like them. You start facing a short series of clockwork magitek automata, with lots of flash and freaky moves and light shows; compared to the variations on the usual fantasy critters, they come out of nowhere and give this game some much needed character. The sad part is that they seem to have been made even more rare in the PS3 Atelier games; I never faced anything even close to this stuff in Rorona, and I've only had bare hints that anything shows up later.
They really help give the Atelier games a character of their own, and to be fair there are a decent bunch of regular enemies that are fairly unique and characterful in their own right, and even the variation on the usual suspects have their own flair. Ghost enemies are actually outright immune to normal physical attacks and like flinging freaky fireballs and hexes. You encounter poison-elemental dragons (that are green no less), and while they are palette-swaps of normal dragons, you see them among their firey brethren (along with zombie dragons), and in the same place you face swarms of Charmander ripoffs that also have stone/poison and ice conterparts in the same place. The dungeon in question is a cave full of magma and brimstone, where most RPG designers wouldn't even think of putting in non-fire critters, much less ice-elemental ones as regular encounters. And the evil totem poles are hilarious. They hoot snippets of tribal chants while they try to kill your party. The demons are about what you'd expect, except that you can turn them into Elvis jackets for some reason. The next time you bump into an impersonator, remember that their getup is made from pure evil!
Well, I'm off for some rest and then the Harvest begins anew.
Hmph.
Anyway, the Atelier Iris 2 campaign goes well in hand. Finally got the big bad empire on the run and got the whole party together, so it's time to take care of business and tear through something resembling a unique dungeon (to be fair, Vintavne is actually pretty flavorful and interesting to go through).
I've forgotten how much the challenge can get ramped up in the combat once you close in on the endgame. It's actually something kinda nasty, yet a pleasant surprise. You smack your way through Fort Zeyung and Riese Palace, tearing through a ton of imperial minions (Riese Palace alone gives you more encounters with enemy soldiers than most players would face from their Gesthalian counterparts throughout all of Final Fantasy VI, not counting Veldt rematches) and thwarting Theodore McTwit, and then you delve into some dungeons and the mooks knock you on your ass.
An then there are the bosses. They're some of the most flavorful and unique things I've seen in an RPG, and I'd really like to see more like them. You start facing a short series of clockwork magitek automata, with lots of flash and freaky moves and light shows; compared to the variations on the usual fantasy critters, they come out of nowhere and give this game some much needed character. The sad part is that they seem to have been made even more rare in the PS3 Atelier games; I never faced anything even close to this stuff in Rorona, and I've only had bare hints that anything shows up later.
They really help give the Atelier games a character of their own, and to be fair there are a decent bunch of regular enemies that are fairly unique and characterful in their own right, and even the variation on the usual suspects have their own flair. Ghost enemies are actually outright immune to normal physical attacks and like flinging freaky fireballs and hexes. You encounter poison-elemental dragons (that are green no less), and while they are palette-swaps of normal dragons, you see them among their firey brethren (along with zombie dragons), and in the same place you face swarms of Charmander ripoffs that also have stone/poison and ice conterparts in the same place. The dungeon in question is a cave full of magma and brimstone, where most RPG designers wouldn't even think of putting in non-fire critters, much less ice-elemental ones as regular encounters. And the evil totem poles are hilarious. They hoot snippets of tribal chants while they try to kill your party. The demons are about what you'd expect, except that you can turn them into Elvis jackets for some reason. The next time you bump into an impersonator, remember that their getup is made from pure evil!
Well, I'm off for some rest and then the Harvest begins anew.
Friday, April 22, 2016
Alchemy, Dear Boy
Ah, the old crafting formula:
Step 1: Unleash the Harvest
Step 2: Toss the proceeds into the cauldron
Step 3: ALCHEMY
Step 4: Profit!
Step 5: Unleash the Harvest again
I'm not quite sure why, but there's something really satisfying about this Atelier business. Maybe it's because there's a real sense of player agency when it comes to what you get to make your toys from and what to do with your shinies. Maybe it's because you can actually make your own, better shinies from the shinies you find.
This series pretty much renders the Harvest to its essence; you go out and smack crittters, cultivate plants, and mine rocks, and then use them to fuel your crafting rampage. I can see why there is some suspicion among the series's population, and why there's such a sense of discipline and need-to-know and iniation among alchemists. Talking Sword Sauron alone came across like what would happen if a Captain Planet villain was actually competent and wound up with magical replicator technology. Damn if this isn't fun, though.
Things are coming along quite well in Atelier Iris 2. I'm already pretty close to the end of the game (Atelier games are many things, but 60 hour epics they are not) and I'm taking a brether and just fiddling with the Dragon's Den, a nice little arena where you can battle certain series of monsters for XP and prizes. On top of all that you get to keep the cash and item drops, so some planning and a bit of luck can really grow your material stash like crazy. It's great if you feel like level grinding, but really you're just here to grab rare alchemy ingredients (like the crazy expensive mana orbs), plus do amusing things like turn demons into Elvis impersonator suits. Whoever thought of that one is awesome, by the way.
Well, we'll see what happens when I finally get back to the storyline. The Harvest Never Rests!
Step 1: Unleash the Harvest
Step 2: Toss the proceeds into the cauldron
Step 3: ALCHEMY
Step 4: Profit!
Step 5: Unleash the Harvest again
I'm not quite sure why, but there's something really satisfying about this Atelier business. Maybe it's because there's a real sense of player agency when it comes to what you get to make your toys from and what to do with your shinies. Maybe it's because you can actually make your own, better shinies from the shinies you find.
This series pretty much renders the Harvest to its essence; you go out and smack crittters, cultivate plants, and mine rocks, and then use them to fuel your crafting rampage. I can see why there is some suspicion among the series's population, and why there's such a sense of discipline and need-to-know and iniation among alchemists. Talking Sword Sauron alone came across like what would happen if a Captain Planet villain was actually competent and wound up with magical replicator technology. Damn if this isn't fun, though.
Things are coming along quite well in Atelier Iris 2. I'm already pretty close to the end of the game (Atelier games are many things, but 60 hour epics they are not) and I'm taking a brether and just fiddling with the Dragon's Den, a nice little arena where you can battle certain series of monsters for XP and prizes. On top of all that you get to keep the cash and item drops, so some planning and a bit of luck can really grow your material stash like crazy. It's great if you feel like level grinding, but really you're just here to grab rare alchemy ingredients (like the crazy expensive mana orbs), plus do amusing things like turn demons into Elvis impersonator suits. Whoever thought of that one is awesome, by the way.
Well, we'll see what happens when I finally get back to the storyline. The Harvest Never Rests!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)