Games you are playing

[Sampson]

The Umineko anime would be better if it wasn't crammed into 26 episodes.

I'd read Ep 4 if not for the heavy Ange content. I really don't like Ange.

[spoiler]And yet I love Erika (especially after Ep 6). I'm not sure if this makes sense.[/spoiler]

[scy]

Hating Ange makes me hate you. Just saying.

[spoiler]She ... she just wants her brother back man.

Clearly wincest ending. Flags have been raised. The ship has sailed. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Plus the whole mystery of "DID AMAKUSA KILL HER? IS SHE DEAD? DOES SHE SURVIVE GAME 4?!"

I have no idea why I'm partial to Ange. I really don't [/spoiler]

Anyway, continuing on in DQIX. Finally spent points since I was tired of sitting on ~200 of them.

[spoiler]Maxed Spear for my main who is currently an Armamentalist; Axes for a Ranger, Claws on a Paladin, and Bows on a Gladiator. Not final classes (probably doing Pal/Glad/?/? with those weapons) but I ran out of basic classes to grind to ~16-20 so ... they donedid moved on up.

Though ... not liking the low Agility on the Paladin and Gladiator. Thinking MA with Claws and Armamentalist or Ranger with Bows for the last two so not too many options for the first two as I don't want to double up classes. Oh boy.[/spoiler]

[beekee]

Dragon Quest IX here. Got my main as a Sage currently, using Gritty Ditty and Hustle Dance. I should be getting Luminary soon.

My group has been liking multiplayer, and just like with D&D, the four of us filled up key roles in the party when we go into maps.

All the outfit hunting has been a bigger enjoyment than I even expected it to be.

[eharper256]

My main in DQIX is still a Priest (Spear); along with a Gladiator (Sword), Ranger (Axe) and a Mage (Knife).

I had intended to make the main into a Pally, and Mage into an Armamentalist, but the lack of initial healing the former was a bit meh, and I can't do the latter until I get the mage to master her knives. Since I don't like Wands. I like basic attacks and wands suck at that. And I have 60 points in Knife already so I don't want to switch.

Not to mention the Mage just got Boom and I managed to make an awesome Demon Spear to make up for the Priests meh STR. Dang nab it. Maybe I'll keep this setup for the end. I'd like to see the multiheal anyway.

[Maxine MagicFox]

Getting through Ep 4

o_o HOW THE HELL CAN YOU HATE ANGE?!

[spoiler]I so understand her and the bullshit that she's been going through and... to think that she would attempt to withdraw so much into herself that she would create her own imaginary friends and pretend that magic exists -_-. And then realizing when those girls were torturing her that this daydream was incapable of actually helping - that horrible moment of solitude and isolation.

<_< Her story just hits several key notes with me. My books and my precious stories that I write. >_< And then when someone reached into my bag and stole some books - that night I had just thought I left them in my locker, and to go to school the next day to hear that they had been burned. To have to go to the principal's office and see my notebook full of stories burnt like that. The world I escaped to - had been defiled and it couldn't assist me.

>_< Damn, I think that's why Ange's story is so good to me. And then at the end, she's trying to pick up the pieces to herself. She can't believe in that imaginary world but she realizes it's a part of her. She understands it and for just a little, it does help once again. Probably even more so this time since she has slightly transcended the actual "need" for it. ^_^ Kinda weird and ironic in that way.

I can't wait to reach the ending that the anime fucked up so bad. I love Ange's story so much.[/spoiler]

[Sampson]

I never said I hated her. It's more that I don't have much fondness for her. So it's more like I don't particularly care about her (which I suppose is even worse).

[spoiler]I understand that her life isn't all that great, and I do feel bad for her. She just bores me. I don't know why.

And by ending, do you mean the Battler/Beatrice fight or Ange's ending? Because I thought the fight on the island was one of the few things the anime did justice (relatively).

Interestingly, if I recall correctly, most people were irritated that the anime spent too much time on Ange/Maria instead of portraying the gameboad correctly.[/spoiler]

Also, concerning Ep 7:
[spoiler]There is a possibility that Ange actually comes to the island this time, based on one of the screenshots (Natsuhi with Rudolf, former telling Gohda to consult with Kyrie concerning giving "the poor girl that can't stand tension" porridge).[/spoiler]

[scy]

Yeah, the episode before the finale was done painstakingly well. Like, it's easily the best episode in the anime in terms of staying true to the source material.

They then shit themselves hardcore the next episode. I mean, it plays out relatively similar but condensed into ~20 minutes. If there was a second season announcement with that episode, it would be a lot better.

Though that would mean another season of Studio DEEN raping Umineko.

Game 7
[spoiler]Clearly, Ange was manipulating everything from the mainland in the previous games. It all makes sense now![/spoiler]

In DQIX news, whomever designed Quest #65 (The Level 30 Spear Quest) can die in a fucking fire.

Edit (6:28 PM): It took from the post time until now to get the other _two_ kills for that quest. Went from Level 1 to 23 on a fresh batch of classes. For a Spear that is barely an upgrade.

Fuck that.

I'm just going to watch Mu (BlazBlue: Continuum Shift) do crazy shit.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1f2oyMig3c[/youtube]

[eharper256]

Well, whoever invented most of the DQIX sidequests is a sheer masochist. Even moreso when get 'transgressed with finesse' and you can only rage at how that is completely inaccurate due to the sheer effort (or mind numbing tedium) involved.

Oh well... I doubt I'm going to do all of them, anyway. Doing the Gladiator and Ranger ones were enough effort for me. The former especially grated me when slimes kept running away: had to use sleep to keep them under control as tension charging for the requirement took 2 turns minimum. And killing with poison damage for the ranger wouldn't have been so bad...if that goddamn chimera didn't cast midheal on itself when it was about to die all the time and increase the battle time by another 15 turns. Fuck you.

Now why can't they all be as easy as the Pally one?

[scy]

The best part of the 30 Spear Quest? You can buy the reward in the next town. Want to know what's even better? For some of the other weapon quests, the next town has upgrades to those anyway.

The Level 15 Paladin quest is fucking terrible too. Reflect kill (~25% of damage taken) a ~105-120 HP enemy 4-6 HP at a time via Pincushion. Three times. This enemy summons help that casts Midheal. My main jobs at the time weren't taking enough damage even when naked (thanks, +Resilience) and even bringing in a low level, lower Resilience class (Martial Artists) didn't raise the damage dealt that much. Actually, I think it only brought it to 5 instead of 4-5.

...it did make it so I couldn't one shot the healers with Mercurial Thrust though and they were faster than my team in that set-up. Glorious.

...


As for the Gladiator quest, Slimes themselves are not set to run away. They're running because of the script in the game that causes enemies vastly under your level to flee in battle. Just switch to some level 1 jobs and do what needs to be done. Or fight the higher level ones (Alltrade Abbey, Bloomingdale) but those can combine if enough are in the battle.

Also, the Ranger quest sucks sure but you can hit the Chimeras down to ~10 HP fairly easily and let the Poison do the rest. On top of that, they're not immune to Sleep, Silence, or War Cry.

Armamentalist is the only "I fucking hate you game" Class unlock quest really.

[spoiler]Well, maybe. Haven't done Sage or Luminary yet.[/spoiler]

[eharper256]

[scy]

For the Armamentalist quest, I used a single Wizard Ward + Metal Slash character since I didn't want to waste skill points on a class tree I never planned to use. Ever. If I had just went with 4x Ward + MS characters, it would've been a lot easier. Since I didn't, it was just stupid frustrating to watch them flee and me lose EXP I really wanted. That's probably the reason why the Spear 30 Quest was so annoying; watching Metal Medleys flee when I could've killed them

Incidentally, there's no "rarely" Slime King combine. If they have the right amount, they combine into a Slime King. It's not a chance. I don't even think the Alltrade Abbey Slimes will combine into a Slime King.

What weapons did you use for the Ranger quest? I just grabbed the weakest dagger I had and I think used a Minstrel class for it? I forget, to be honest. Whatever it was, I was in my low-20s at the time for it I believe and had no trouble getting two shots in without killing it.

Also, I have all my vocations at ~20 I think. I just reached a spot with Liquid Metal Slimes so I may take the time to get up to ~30 for them all. Oh boy.

Think I've finalized my party: Paladin|Spear, Gladiator|Axe, Ranger|Claws, Sage|Bow. Maybe >>. Still need to unlock Sage before I decide 100% on that.

Edit:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACojfSvhAeY[/youtube]

I lol'd.

[spoiler]Song made me lol.

Also, people raging at Arakune loops make me laugh a little. There's a reason BlazBlue has a "get out of combo" card in bursting. It's literally impossible to trap anyone in a massive loop unless you've done so already pretty much.

...not that I don't want to try getting good at Arakune so I can catch someone in one of them~[/spoiler]

[noodles]

I can't even see his walking animation without laughing

hater's gonna hate

[Riseatrance]

[eharper256]

[scy]

Wizard Ward is 8 points. In a tree I'll probably never use (since I switched to maybe using Sage, I may fill it out for the M. Might now); the Sword points weren't totally wasted as I plan to eventually have Uber Falcon Blades + Falcon Slash for later Metal farming ... but that plan may have changed too >>.

As for Metal Slash, it's nice for the low level slimes since it does a nearly guaranteed 1 or 2 damage but, in retrospect, isn't that necessary for basic Metals. For LMS and beyond, though, multi-hit attacks (Multithrust, Flailing Nails, Rain of Pain, etc.) are all pretty much necessary and the 50% Miss/Critical are even better. Actually, I'm not too sure how nice the multi-hits are anymore since my two fastest characters are my insta-kills for Slime Hunting so they get two turns before the others go lethal >>.

Anyway ... Alena added via DLC today.