KOFF'S PROFILE

one thing's for certain: that teenage lead has some beautiful hair

i don't think i would have half as much love for heartgold if not for the pokéwalker. having such a wide range of pokemon available so early is really exciting, i just got to violet city and i'm already getting exotic 'mons like Magby and Kangaskhan. and i ran many of the required steps, so i feel like i actually earned them.

best gimmick ever.

i am playing 7th saga as olvan and valsu, and while i frequently find myself cursing at the game, i'm somewhat amused by the way the gameplay is balanced. most of your spells are so unreliable or costly (HEAL2 costs 4.5 times as much as HEAL1 yet restores less than twice as much HP) that they are rendered inutile. the dungeons are stacked with monsters that dodge 75% of your attacks (magic included), frequently poison you (you can only carry 9 antidotes), one-shot you with critical hits, or drain all your MP at once (you can use the same spell but it costs 8 MP and rarely succeeds). as a result the battles are utterly frustrating and often force you to return to town prematurely.

the game would be unplayable if not for the runes: plot-related items that function as unlimited sources of white magic. you receive the water rune (which basically lets both of your dudes cast HEAL2 all you like for literally no cost) just before the encounters get unbearable, and while an item like this would be game-breaking in most RPGs, in 7th saga it is virtually required to make any progress. i recently acquired the star rune, which doubles one character's defense, and i hear another rune later on restores MP (although thanks to the other runes i hardly have to spend MP anymore). i kind of regret picking valsu, the cleric, as my partner.

it's an interesting approach, i think - making the enemies so "overpowered" that the only way the player can beat them is with his own "overpowered" facilities (or by grinding, but you would have to grind a lot). after nabbing the water rune i was able to devise a defensive strategy (whoa strategy in a jrpg what is this) that saw me safely through the last dungeon, and although the battles were as tedious and frustrating as they always were, it saved me from the hours of grinding that would have otherwise been necessary to make it through. the battles may be miserable crapshoots, but i'm still managing to enjoy myself because it's fun to formulate and implement strategies, and because strategy is necessary to make it past enemies, i don't feel like i'm wasting time on tactics.

this is not all that 7th saga does to facilitate strategy, however. in an attempt (the only successful one i've seen) to make the defend command useful, defending has the added bonus of making your next attack two times (often more, in my experience) stronger. thus it is often worthwhile to alternate between defending and attacking for the damage reduction, particularly once you start running into the enemies that can kill you in 3 hits. i think defending might also increase your evasion for the turn, but it's hard to be sure. unfortunately, it doesn't seem to increase your accuracy (which blows because you miss a lot in this game).

i'm also finding buffs to be highly valuable, not because the uppers in 7th saga are any particularly different from those of other RPGs, but because the game creates an environment in which they're easier to use and their effect is more profuse. naturally, since there are a lot of hard-hitting foes in 7th saga, defensive magic makes your engagements much safer - but there's more to it than that!

first off, you only have two party members in 7th saga. you select one at the start of the game, one more joins at a later time, and the rest become your rivals in the search for the runes. since you only have two party members, casting DEFENSE1 on an ally protects 50% of your party, as opposed to say, Safe in FF6, which only protects 25% per cast. in that sense you get more bang for your buck, and buffing the whole party takes two turns instead of four. since several runes let you raise your stats for free, i don't feel like i'm wasting MP i'll need for the boss (kind of a trivial point in 7S, though, since boss battles are relatively brief and MP-healing items are cheap). and when i'm fighting a boss, i don't feel like i'm wasting MP i'll need for healing (another trivial point, since one can heal with the water rune for free). since the enemies have the advantage of strength, i am forced to adopt defensive strategies, and as a result i fight a lot of long, slow battles. this lets me experience the full benefit of each buff, and when i know the battle is going to last a while, i'm less reluctant to sacrifice a precious turn for protective magic. i've gotten into the habit of having valsu use the star rune in regular battles, since he's prone to critical hits (which can quickly ruin a promising expedition) and his physical attacks are shite.

all in all, i don't think the game itself is any more fun because of the way it's balanced (in fact, i maintain that it is the most frustrating game i have played), but it certainly is unique. for every terrible choice the designers made, they had one exciting original idea. i'm glad to be playing it - even if it's a drag sometimes. it's sort of charming in its own way!

post=125969

milk in bags like a bunch of fucking savages.

what the hell are they teaching you

i have never seen BAGGED MILK in my life

nor have i, mainly because bagged milk is a slanderous myth fashioned by the yankee government to unite the people of america against their canadian superiors. i assure you as a proud canadian, neither i nor my brothers would attempt such an outrageous method of liquid containment!

as a matter of fact, the only reason we went to klahanie in the first place is because alice lake was full. x:

(and then we returned in subsequent years because i was 9 and loved the BUNNIES EVERYWHERE)