If I have to exclude the Dallas-developed Anachronox, which is JRPG in style, then FFXII’s probably my favorite, too. I feel I really need to pick this up.
God yes… where is my HD re-release!!!
Had my first ever party wipe vs the Gloomnivore, because I was being careless and it got lucky. Went back and kicked its ass without grinding.
Just got Kingsbarrow, level 6 is no way high enough, die immediately in there, looks like some grinding will be needed
What is happening in my game right now is unexpected and awesome.
I’m excited to get there! I have 5 in my party now; and, with a certain acquisition, the world has opened up a bit. It’s a lot of fun. So many great touches everywhere!
It’s such a fantastic game, I am looking forward to spending the weekend with it.
Oh my. Some really cool stuff ahead of you as you meet the remaining 2 party members. This game is awesome.
Which was used to great comedic effect whenever Yangus was around!
Cor, blimey!
I still cant decide if I want to keep ‘stronger enemies’ on. I tried the Kingsbarrow area with it on and then made a save and turned it off and there was a LARGE difference. I could not beat the Griffons with it on and it was not too hard with it off. And, the trash mobs were simple with it off where it was tough with it on. Level 9 both guys.
I dunno…Im now a bit sick of grinding. But, I also want a challenge. I wish there was a intermediate enemy level!
Who was woefully underleveled for the boss in the ruins of that village south of La Petit Medal Academy?
This guy.
Youch.
That’s funny, I just fought that boss and thought the same thing. Some very impressive defensive stats on that thing.
Wait, we may be talking about different bosses. A clue - I was level 37 or so.
Was this the Dragon creature with a lisp, Averith?
Dora-in-grey. Lots of chatter about her being especially undertuned for hard mode. Relative to normal, she gets 3 attacks instead of 2, about 50% more damage and healing, and uses the hard hitting laser eye group attack a lot. And I tried to fight her with a party of 27-29. Just a few attempts and I didn’t get anywhere close. Sylvando is my only source of removing charm but he can’t do that when he’s charmed.
Also I am behind on some gear upgrades again.
Anyway I’m off to grind in favorable grinding places (I’ve already gotten to 30-32 across the board). I’ve finally gotten group heal or whatever it’s called on Rab which should be a big help once I return to the boss
(Rab’s healing rain is nice but it’s not enough regen to be effective in that fight without a group heal backing it I think). I think I want go grind until I get it on Serena.
I am now a wolloping six hours in and en route to the Manglegrove when I wake up tomorrow… That place sounds nice…
I just finished up Octagonia after 30 hours with stronger enemies on and I’m enjoying my time with the game quite a bit. People on the default difficulty are probably quite a ways ahead of me since each boss has been a wall. You really got to bring it to every boss, working out a strategy, getting the best gear, pepping your team up beforehand. Leveling is a major part of it of course, but you really have to make the most of everyone’s skills and figure out what works. It’s been very satisfying getting by these seemingly insurmountable bosses. The regular enemies are no joke either. You better learn which enemies to focus on first, which ones attack multiple teammates, which ones call in reinforcements, their weaknesses, etc. The difficulty is just what I was looking for in the game, so I’m quite satisfied with it.
The game is kind of a messy collision between old school and modern game design. The save/load system sucks, it’s like they couldn’t decide between saving at statues and autosaves, so they just tossed both in. I learned to Zoom and Evac regularly since it creates an autosave each time you use them. Several times when a fight hasn’t gone my way I closed out of the game entirely and reloaded since it was faster. Cutscenes are skippable…sometimes. I don’t know what’s up with this. I went to attempt a boss again today and had to watch the cutscene again. The attempt after it let me skip the scene, but I died again. Grinded out a couple levels and went back, and couldn’t skip the cutscene. I love the forge, but I have to zoom out of the city to a camp to use it? The hell? Why isn’t there a damn forge in every town I can use? Oh, and the music, what a disappointment. Feels like there are about 5 tracks in the game. You got all these gorgeous and unique towns and it’s the same damn song. Anyway, enough bitching, love the game, just wish they made some better decisions on some parts.
That’s about my pace as well. Game is a total delight.
How do you change the difficulty?
You can only turn the “make enemies stronger” off, never on, while playing (you have to start a new game with it). You can turn it off by going to a church, one of the options does it.
I turned it off early on and I’m glad I did - I can’t even fathom how some of the boss fights would have been winnable with it on, and if the solution to hard mode is “grind more” I don’t see what value there is. You either grind enough the normal fights are trivial so the boss fights are winnable, or you turn off hard mode, DON’T grind, and then normal fights are (somewhat but trust me, not the entire game) trivial, but the boss fights are winnable. Same outcome, smaller numbers.
Is everyone using a game controller for the PC version or mouse/keyboard?
I was thinking of waiting to see if this would come to the Switch but maybe it would be best to play on the computer to admire the art and scenes everyone is gushing over.