881 I Heard You Liek Movies.

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I was given Tactics Ogre for the PSP and have spent some time playing it but, as with all games of its type, I came to a point where my characters seemed broken and unable to advance. What happens is that I just charge forward buying skills and abilities, not focusing on a set advancement path for anyone, and end up with a team full of people who aren’t good at anything. I don’t start out understanding each class so I always end up playing one of these fuck up games, which essentially teaches me the mechanics of things. I do this with most games that give you choices about how to level your team. The upshot, if you choose to see it that way, is extending the playtime of any given title.

I’ve come to a point where I accept this flaw in my character. Which is why I played 40 some odd hours of this game doing just as I pleased. Now I’m starting over so I can actually win a battle without it taking all eternity. Some of these fights have gone on so long that I’ve actually fallen asleep while playing. I love these tactical RPGs though. They remind me of playing with action figures. All games do on some level, but these in particular.

This time I’m all about using my wizards better. I really didn’t get that whole thing when I started out. Now I see that specializing is key. I’ve also seen what sorts of spells I like, so I can spend carefully. This time things are gonna be different.

I’ve also been playing Mario Kart 7 in the between times. Every course has a 2 star rank, and most of them have 3, but I’m having problems with the mirror tracks. The kart customization has caused me to jump around from one setup to another rather randomly. Which is fine. I’m having a good time, but it is slowing my star gathering. Honestly the customizing it one of the best parts of the game. You can have a huge range of experiences with all the choices available.

I finished that Back To The Future game too. It was cool. Made me want to watch the movies again… and play a sequel. XD

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As far as Tactics Ogre goes, I’ve found that the auto-battle is surprisingly competent… not as aggressive as I’d like, but good all the same. And like Final Fantasy Tactics after it, yeah, specialization is the way to go. Hybrids didn’t really work in the original, and still don’t really work in the PSP version (though they’re better)…

But I’m on the far other end… I have a team built in my head before I even own the game. But I’m a war-gamer and have played lots of tactics games and TBS games. I tend toward an “unlosing skirmish” playstyle, but because of the way levelling in Tactics Ogre goes, if I build a group of 7 archers (which, if you want to see how silly, make a second file), it means that the archer class shoots up in level and has no skill points to reinforce itself with… while the enemies have skills appropriate for their level, and once they’re about 2x the level of the rest of your classes, they just steamroll you forever >__>

I love that it forces you to keep your classes even, more or less, or get eaten alive~

Also: silly doof! stop trying so hard and you might win~

Heh, can totally relate to how Jolene is responding there, been guilty of doing that myself.

Speaking of Mario Kart, have you ever dodged a blue turtle shell? I’ve done it twice before, it was the Mario Kat for gamecube with 2 people in each kart, was racing in the koppa kart and power-slid at just the right moment. Sorry, i felt compelled to share XD.

I know you can do it on the Wii and the DS, but you have to time it just right, and have a speed boost item. I’ve never done it without help. So far I haven’t been able to do it on the 3DS, but it seems like you should be able to.

Holy crap, he put her on the spot and she couldn’t answer it… Ace has been hit! Do a barrel roll to recover! Yes, she recovered!

Does she at least have a favorite genre?

Also, Wes, you would have better luck armed with a toothpick against any major movie villain, with the threat of snoo snoo if you lose.

On to your comments below the comic, never played Tactics Ogre, was too caught up in the first game, Ogre Battle.

Also, in relation to your Big Bang Theory Comment in your twitter feed (not that I have twitter, but I see it up there on your site), yeah. BBT is like “Hey, we got some wacky hijinks with people like you.” However, it quickly devolves into “stereotype, stereotype, almost too painful too watch joke, stereotype, stereotype, stereotype.”

Firstly, AUGH!!!
People do that to me ALL THE TIME!!
Why don’t people realise that it is impossible to pick on after you’ve read/watched/played so many?

Additionally, you want a silly tactics game, try the original Shining Force.
The healers didn’t level by healing. To prevent them from getting instantaneously owned later in the game, you had to have them up front clubbing enemies from the beginning.

I find a good deflection is to just say “I’ve been enjoying X recently”, but that doesn’t make the question any less stupid. Also doesn’t make it any better conversation, because inevitably they haven’t heard of it.

People need to start realizing that if you don’t know enough about the subject you’re trying to engage them in to contribute your own thoughts and opinions it’s not a conversation. It’s an interrogation.

I tend to suffer from the opposite problem. They ask what my favorite movie is, and I’m like, “I don’t know. I haven’t seen them all yet.”

If I remember right from early on in the comic, and I think I do, this is actually less of him failing and more of it being just classic Brooksie. If I recall right, didn’t they praise her when Ed came in saying that she had spoken more then like 3 words in a sentence and that was the longest they’d really heard her speak? (To which she replied the single word Yay! or something to the effect)

So this is just her being her.

Well, while I’ve never played Tactics Ogre, I have played a few other good SRPGs. My personal favorite is Disgaea! I love you, Disgaea, with your awesome level up systems, your silly humor, your complete disregard for the fourth wall, and above all else, max level cap of 9999! (which on one of my team I managed to get.. twice. I reincarnated him back down to a level one… that had all the power of a 9999… then I leveled him back to 9999, then reincarnated him again… he’s currently level 3500 or so (total level: about 23498 or so))
Also played Phantom Brave from the same creators as Disgaea (Nippon Ichi Software, or NIS), who have the habit of taking characters from some of their games and putting them in others. Laharl of Disgaea has traveled into most every game NIS has ever made, and always makes for a hilarious (and often hard to fight) cameo!

My other personal favorite is Final Fantasy Tactics (not Advanced or Advanced 2, just FFT: War of the Lions/Zodiac Brave Story)! Almost every class is pretty self-explainitory (archers shoot arrows, time mages control time and space, Knights break equipment with swords, monks are god, that sort of thing) the story is awesome, the story characters are awesome (except Cloud, who despite how I normally hate him and FF7’s cast, I was going to cut him some slack, but then got him at the ABSOLUTE END OF THE GAME… AT LEVEL 1, where the rest of my team was pushing 70s, inexcusable), the generic characters are awesome. And just everything about the game is just really well done. It’s got a solid story, characters, plot progression, level up system, power building system, and if you know how each of the skills work (a feat that took me years, and gamefaqs), you can make characters who do not fear death!

Let me just say for FFT:
Primary: Monk
–Secondary: Calculator(PS1)/Arithmatician(PSP) Class
–Counter Ability: Blade Grasp(PS1)/Shiradori(PSP) [Samurai counter]
–Support Ability: Two Swords(PS1)/Dual Wield (PSP) [Ninja support]
–Movement Ability: Teleport [Time Mage movement]

Makes a GOD of a class! Monk gets all that raw power and HP. Sure they can’t equip a helm or shield, only body armor, and only the light stuff, and an accessory, but the below makes up for it. Not only that but monks get skills that can attack all foes around them, cause a target to get doom status, can attack foes from 3 squares away, can hit ALL foes in a line of up to 6 sq away for earth element damage (hard to come by element in the game), and can even heal HP/AND MP, heal basic status ailments on themselves and others, and even BRING BACK THE DEAD! He’s a warrior, healer, and offensive mage, all in one awesome bundle!

With Calc/Arith class you can cast ANY spell (except summoning magic) on any character (friend or foe) multiple times (single hit spells can hit various targets on the map from anywhere), costs no MP, and has no casting time (no turns aren’t wasted)!

With Shiradori, the char’s brave= char’s evade, so using a Mediator’s “Praise” skill to max out a char’s brave to 100 temp (or if used enough increase’s the char’s max Brave to 97) makes it so physical attacks (including arrows, ignore the game, it’s wrong) cannot even HIT your character. Add a cloak on that character to increase magic evasion, and boom hard to hit monk! No need to worry about lack of armor!

With “Dual Wield” the character uses each hand to deal damage, so a weapon in each hand makes the character dish out more. A monk who’s sickeningly high physical attack makes him pretty damaging ONE-HANDED, means he deals DOUBLE! Making him disgusting! My monk, through rigorious training, deals 999 (max damage) with each hit for a disturbing 1998 damage each attack! NOTHING survives, except bosses… and even then not for long!

And finally teleport, to be able to move about his average move range (4/5 squares) more easily, plus more as teleport allows for movement across the entire battlemap, however you have a 10% failure for each square outside your characters natural movement range… so 7 squares out of 4 means 30% failure. But even this isn’t bad, you MIGHT still make it, and get to do something, if you fail, with the calculator/arithmatician magic you can still attack all sorts of foes from wherever you are anyway, for free, no MP, and with no casting time. Not to mention that teleport only counts the squares, not the height or what’s between you and your target, meaning I don’t have to walk around a wall, or climb up slowly to a high point on the map, I just *boop* and I’m there.

O.O’
Holy crap this got long.. Sorry for foaming at the mouth. I just love these two games a lot, Disgaea and FFTactics! If you folks managed to read these, please look them up, if you don’t already play them!

(Last tip: Non-magic using class, who has no need for MP, take oracle-class’s “Manafont” (PSP) movement ability, and give the same character Time Mage’s counter ability “Mana Shield” (PSP) ability. Mana Shield takes damage and converts it into MP damage. If your character doesn’t have any need for MP, give them this combo. All damage is dealt to MP until you have no more MP! Further, if you only have 10 MP TOTAL, and the attack deals 25 damage, you still take all damage in MP, there is no HP damage for the difference. So you take THAT ability, and combine it with Manafont movement ability, which makes it so that every time your character takes a step, they heal a small amount of MP (usually like 5-20 MP), so your character, who has no need for MP will ALWAYS have MP to sacrifice for HP. It’s a downright wicked combo to use! However, I will point out, it doesn’t ALWAYS work, sometimes you still take HP damage, but I would estimate about 15-10% of the time, if that, it’s just a rare occasion… that or some attacks just penetrate the combination! Give it a try! ‘.^~* )

Sorry again for monolithic post… just had a lot to say. T-T

Sorry one last point I would like to point out, the combination of class/abilities I described above with the monk, I learned that combination myself. I know I said I used gamefaqs, which is true, but I just want it on record that I learned that combination myself. I have yet to see it anywhere else and am proud to pull it! The only part of it I didn’t know was that the Mediator’s “Praise” skill actually permenantly increases the target’s brave by one for every 4 temperary points you give it! Meaning that if you keep spamming “praise” on the target, in the end they will have a permenant max brave of 97 (needs 3 more points to 100, but can’t get 4 so max doesn’t increase). It should also be pointed out that this works in reverse should a character needs decreased Brave. 4 points lost is one point permenantly lost. And this also works for Faith as well!

Sorry just wanted to clarify.

~God Among Geeks
Chaos Sorceror Davidicus

Looks like Wes is trying to kill two birds with one stone – sucking up to the boss, and sharpening up his TV Journalist interviewer skills…

Why are her eyes green? I thought her contacts were purple and her real eyes were brown. Did she switch when I wasn’t looking?

If you haven’t, you should try another Tactic Ogre game… Knight of Lodis. It’s on the GBA, but you can find good emulators and such if you don’t mind pixel-y graphics :) I recommend it to anyone.

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