#spack-smack

[burgermiester]

spack-smack  Oh ok I feel like I should clarify that I didn't mean to come across as accusatory (for lack of a better term), I was just curious about your opinion since it's an old game I don't get to discuss very much. Also while I'm here I wanna gush about how much I'm looking forward to FFXII:Zodiac Age. I went to an ff orchestra recital where they did a ff12 medley and I dying to hear the music in-game again

Dont worry, I didnt feel attacked, I just realized how I probably came across differently than I intended and wanted to be clear. 

Nice! From my limited experience FF does an amazing job with their concerts.  You planning on keeping the original tracks or the remastered ones on while you play? 

(Im gonna tag @tokyotheglaive here too because we were chatting about this and I didnt get back to them with my thoughts)

I am very, VERY excited for the job system.  I know some people are upset that its a one-and-done deal with the jobs unlike other FFs with a job system where you can constantly switch around, but I guess since I am familiar with the international zodiac job system and have seen lps of it and just in general have gotten time to get used to the idea of permanent jobs and appreciate how deep each job is that I am very sold on the idea. 

My biggest conundrum is who to give which classes to.  I really like the idea of giving characters classes that seem to suit them best in canon.  Like Balthier and Fran would be Machinist and Archer (the gun and bow using classes, respectively, since those are the weapons they are typically depicted with) Captain Basch fon Ronsenburg of Dalmasca would be a knight, Vaan a thief (well, Shikari, but its the closest thing to a thief class,) and Penelo a black or white mage.  The problem is that leaves Ashe with no clear job associated with her.  Shes a Time Mage in revenant wings, wields the treaty-blade in theatrhythm, has high magic in the original XII but much better strength in International zodiac.  Its a mess.  Logically I should make her whatever mage Penelo isnt, because going through the game without a black or white mage would be terrible, but I just hate the idea of making her a caster because to me knights are so much cooler and knight fits her just as well and I think she deserves a frontline role in combat since shes more or less the main character.  But if I do that then I need to make Captain Bash fon Ronsenburg of Dalmasca something other than a knight, and thats just as intolerable to me.  Oh, why must I be so attached to this nonsense idea of the “right” classes? 

Sigh.

So yeah I am really excited for this game. 

[burgermiester]

spack-smack  Wtf Burger?! How am I meant to remember that you are 85 years old now?

I want everyone to forget about that. Im rebranding myself as the hip and cool burgermiester that all the teens feel like they can relate to.

[burgermiester]

spack-smack  What do you want from the carrot in the new famitsu article about gaiden?

I personally was not a fan of food and the mess hall mechanic in Fates, so I dont really know what I want from Echoes food.  I think the best implementation would be to completely remove the randomness that was involved with Fates food.  Have different food be found in set amounts in set places on the map or dungeons and it gives set boosts.  And I want it to be really tightly designed

I am torn about whether or not I want to see a favorite/least favorite food system.  On one hand it is kind of cute info about characters but on the other hand I think like 1/4th of all fan content for Lon’qu is potato related and theres not even a food system in that game so people might go a little crazy with that kind of information being right in their face.

[burgermiester]

spack-smack  Hey it's me, a persona who wants to brag about a 5 star Camilla she got as a first pull you didn't ask for Glad you're enjoying the game! Any idea what the feathers do in-game?

The feathers, in conjunction with different colored shards are what you use to raise a level 20 or higher character to the next star ranking.  Im a bit lost on how to collect them.  You supposedly get them from tower leveling but ive messed around in the tower a lot and ive only ever gotten shards.  As of now I only have 15 feathers from gifts from talking to heroes in my home base.

[burgermiester]

spack-smack  What's the food mechanic like in SoV? Do you buy it? Are there tiers for how strong the effects of the food are? How useful did you find them?

I dont believe you can buy it; as far as I could tell the only thing you spend money on is forging.  You find food all over the place in towns and in boxes in dungeons. 

Its a nearly pointless mechanic.  You can use it in battle to heal, but with only one item slot theres no real reason to have food equipped instead of a weapon or a ring, so by the time you can get a weapon for every unit you no longer will be equipping food and can just heal via rings/forts/ healers.  That leaves its only other use: recovering fatigue.  I have already discussed a few times how utterly insignificant fatigue is in Echoes.  It might as well not be in the game its so pointless, and by extension food as a means of curing fatigue is pretty pointless as well.  You can give them their favorite foods to...make them smile bigger (not sure the exact name for it because japanese but it basically means they will go even longer before getting fatigued again) but youll have such a massive stockpile of food that you dont really need to know their favorites. 

The most meaningful contribution food has on the Echoes experience is in learning the food likes and dislikes of every character if you find that sort of characterization charming. 

[burgermiester]

spack-smack  Oh I totally understand trying to give appropriate classes! Not being able to change classes is kind of a bummer for me, but it also means a reason for multiple playthroughs. I agree with you about Ashe too, in that I can't really peg her one class. Is there a red mage class available? Those tend to be sword-weilding magic users

Heres my case for the class locked system:

For starters, the liscense boards are very big for every class.  They are supposed to last you through the whole game, constantly letting you do new things.  If you could swap around, youd find yourself very weak very quickly, and forced to grind (though thats much easier now with a speed-up button, its still not great game design.)  The counter argument to that is that, well, the game didnt have to be designed around locked in classes, they could have let you switch around. And to that, I say I dont think there was any other option to fix XII’s liscense board system while still keeping the basics in place.  Giving it a FFIII, V or Bravely style job system and its not really XII’s core system anymore. 

The basic problem with the original XII licenses board (to those who have a problem with it, of course some people liked it how it was) was that it was a massive directionless square that was the same for every character.  The Zodiac system fixes it by giving the boards unique shape so you can still have that “explore the board” way of collecting skills but this time with a bit more focus, plus unit uniqueness (that you still have some power over everytime you play a new game) is finally there. 

And as you said, it gives you a reason to play multiple times.  I still have yet to find the motivation to play the original XII more than once, because even though its so open-ended and customizable, it ultimately winds up playing almost the same every time.

As for Red Mage, yeah, thats a job in intl job system! I think its been officially localized as Red Battlemage for Zodiac age, but its the same thing.  I dont know about it though.  I watched a lp where the guy made Balthier a red mage and he was great for about 1/4th of the game and then got eclipsed by his black and white mages and physical units. Which seems like the red mage experience tbh, but I dont know if theres actually a way to make them good or not. 

[burgermiester]

spack-smack   What parts of 3 didn't you like? I wasn't a huge fan of how grindy it was, or the long-ass dungeon-crawling but I thought it was a fun game

Dammit, I really need to stop myself from saying “dont like” so much.  Its needlessly confusing and doesnt get across what I am trying to say. I’m a big old fool and I apologize, but heres what I mean:  When I say “dont like” I dont mean “dislike.”   I dont mean to imply the presence of negative feelings, just the absence of positive ones.  So a more accurate thing to say would be that I couldnt really get into it. Or, “meh.”   I didnt latch onto any of the characters and I didnt enjoy the dungeon crawling.  Actually, now that I think on it I can say that I did indeed DISLIKE the dungeons.  Were they randomly generated?  That might be why.  In any case its been years since I played it, and I just think of it as a game I tried because lots of people loved it but it didnt click with me.

[burgermiester]

Swap and Rightful god?

Swap –Did you ever sacrifice a unit in order to save another? 

I couldnt tell you a specific moment but sure, I do it all the time.  If a units going to go on the bench anyway and they arent needed for any specific events later then why not use them as bait or meatshield? Especially in Awakening and Fates where rankings dont exist so you arent taking a hit on your survivability and you are just using your benched units as pairup backpacks.  In a pinch you can swap the backpack to the front and have them take a hit or even die to keep the unit you are actually using alive. 

RightfulGod – Favorite boss in the series? 

Storywise probably the final boss of Conquest. Him or Ashnard.  Gameplay wise I think maybe Limstella.  I dont really care for stationary bosses, which are 99% of FE bosses but Limstella is cool because the bolting keeps you engaged before direct fighting starts, and of bosses with siege times she stands out because of the hectic nature of the map and the fact that you are contending with ballistae as well.