Desbreko

[quote name='Lord Eliwood']And Morpha? Ooh, don't even get me started... :flaming:[/quote] [color=#4B0082]Heheh. The thing about Morpha, though, is that you can also use the cheapest strategy in the game to beat it. [spoiler]Simply stand all the way back in one of the corners and Morpha can't touch you. Try as it might, its tentacles just can't reach far enough, leaving you to sit there and fire away at its nucleus with the Long Shot until you score a hit and can bring your sword into play.[/spoiler] Easiest boss in the game if you do that. I think the next time I play through OOT, though, I'm going to try fighting Morpha from the four middle platforms. The first time, I just circled around the outside of the room while fighting it and never took a hit. Second time, I used the above strategy and never took a hit. Seriously, Morpha has never done any damage to me and I find that kind of boring, so I'm hoping that staying on the middle platforms the entire fight will make it fun the next time I play through the game.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]For the second half of the Ridley battle in Super Metroid, I find it's all about being able to aim in the air. I'm pretty much constantly jumping, dodging Ridley's attacks with the Space Jump before firing off a couple super missiles, and then I'm back in the air again as soon as I land. But you're right, if that tail smacks you, even if you're doing a screw attack, you get hit hard. Add to that the fact that his tail will also block missiles, and you've got the biggest threat in the fight. I remember the first time I fought Ridley and got hit out of the screw attack by it, it really surprised me; nothing else up to that point had been able to break through a screw attack. And then you have Zero Mission, where it's like, "Tail? Oh, yeah, Ridley's tail. He tried to hit me with it, but he died too quickly." :p As for Meta-Ridley, I don't remember the number of super missiles required to destroy it varying. All three times I played through the game, I played though, beat the game, then went back and beat Meta-Ridley again once I had gotten 100%, and I only remember the number of super missiles varying with the difficulty setting. I wonder if I just wasn't paying enough attention. ... Oh, and have you ever played through the original Metroid? You have an even smaller area in which to hit Mother Brain in that one, since you don't even break away all of the glass surrounding it. You only break away a section of the glass about one and a half, maybe two times the width of a missile, so there's very little room for error when timing your shots. In Zero Mission, though, I thought you had to crouch on the little platform and fire at Mother Brain's eye when it's open. Whenever I shot Mother Brain anywhere else, or when its eye was closed, it didn't look like I was doing any damage. For me, that added a good amount of difficulty to the battle, since later in the fight you have a pretty narrow opening in which to shoot it, between when it opens its eye and when it shoots an energy wave at you.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]I remember hearing rumors quite a while back about a Golden Sun game being developed for the GCN, but I don't think it was ever officially announced. I think that was back before Golden Sun 2 had been released, and there were rumors about there being both GBA and GCN versions of the game, or something like that. I didn't really pay much attention to it, though, so I could be wrong.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]So you believe me now, eh? :toothy: But yeah, Ridley is a [i]lot[/i] harder in Super Metroid, if only for the fact that it takes nearly all 50 of your super missiles to bring the sucker down. So if you miss a few times and/or haven't gotten all the super missile tanks in the game, you're also going to be unloading a lot of normal missiles into him. Not to mention the fact that, if you just stand on the platform and don't bother jumping around to dodge while shooting him, you'll take a ton more damage. After I fought Ridley in Zero Mission on the normal difficulty level (fighting him like I would in Super Metroid and realizing how unnecessary it was), I came up with this strategy for beating him on hard mode, and it worked flawlessly: When the fight begins, crouch and fire your normal beam diagonally up at him to block the fireballs he spits at you, then stand up and fire super missles/missiles like crazy once he stops spitting fireballs. Doing that, I never even had to move. And the funny thing is, I even skipped one of the super missile tanks up to that point (the one that you have to fight the wasp miniboss for), so I could've even had another super missile to use against him if I had bothered to get it earlier. Meta-Ridley is also just a huge joke. I actually beat it one time before it ever had a chance to attack me. It appeared and I was able to hit it with the four (pretty sure it's four) super missiles that it takes to kill the thing before it could so much as raise a claw. On one hand, I was laughing at it because I had just made four perfectly timed shots on the thing in quick succession, but on the other hand I was feeling sorry for how easy it was. So I really have to agree; the bosses were a big disappointment for me in Zero Mission, though with one exception. Mother Brain, considering that they were sticking to the original game and couldn't really include the second form as seen in Super Metroid, was a pretty fun fight. Having to dodge all the little turret shots, rings, and energy waves from Mother Brain itself while managing to stay on that narrow little platform without falling into the lava provided a decent challenge. You might reconsider going for 100%, though. Personally, I had a lot of fun tracking down all the hidden powerups; the "puzzles" in Zero Mission are the best I've seen in the Metroid series. Most of the best ones require you to do some pretty cool shine spark (flying with the Speed Booster) tricks that can take a while to figure out and can be pretty hard to execute correctly. They really put your platforming skills to the test and encourage you to figure out all of the shine spark techniques.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]A couple issues with this thread: First, if you want to make a thread about the Mega Man series in general, that's fine. If you want to make a thread about Mega Man X: Command Mission, that's also fine. Just try and keep them seperate, as they're two different subjects. For more details, please read the [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=37270][u]How to post in Play It[/u][/url] sticky thread at the top of the forum. Second, if you're going to create a new thread, you should say more than "What do you think about this?" Like Shinmaru said, you should include some of your own comments and opinions, to help get a real discussion going. If you want to get something out of a thread, you should put something into it. Thread Closed[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Sword Breaker, just to let you know, we already have the [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=40830][u]PSP or Nintendo DS?[/u][/url] thread for discussion relating to both systems, so please post in there if you'd like to talk about which system you think will do better, etc. This thread is for the talking about the DS specifically. Anyway, there's also a news article up on [url=http://www.nintendo.com/newsarticle?articleid=6a6f583d-1711-47be-b03c-d64d6bdd1d66][u]Nintendo.com[/u][/url] about this. Pretty much the same stuff that Semjaza posted, but whatever. Myself, I'm still waiting for a list of games that are going to be released at or near the system's launch. The article on Nintendo.com says that "The complete lineup of games planned for the launch of Nintendo DS will be announced in the near future," so hopefully they'll get that out soon. Like I've said before, nothing that's been shown so far really interests me enough to buy the system at launch; I'm still hoping Nintendo has something up their sleeve. Though even so, I probably won't get one any sooner than mid-January anyway, just because there are already too many GCN/GBA games that I want. After Christmas and my birthday are past and I've picked up my most wanted GCN/GBA games, I'll look at how much cash I've got left and what games are available for the DS before deciding whether to get one or keep waiting.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]I've actually had thoughts on this subject every now and then, while playing various games. My conclusion is that I will do "unfun" things in games for various reasons, but there's a limit to how far I'll take it. And that limit is usually the point where I stop caring about whatever it is I'm trying to accomplish because it's just not worth sitting there any longer, doing something I don't enjoy. A good example would be F-Zero GX's story mode. I played through the entire thing on its normal difficulty setting, and quite a few levels were frustrating to the point that I wasn't having fun. But I kept going because the levels weren't frustrating beyond the satisfaction of finally having beaten them and getting the prize at the end. So while playing through story mode was somewhat of a chore, it was still more overall fun than it was frustrating, making it worth it to me. But on the other hand, when it comes to playing through story mode on the hard and very hard difficulty settings to unlock the F-Zero AX racers ... it's not going to happen. For me, the required hours and hours of playing the same levels over and over again in order to beat them just isn't worth the fun of being able to play on the AX racers, so I don't bother playing story mode anymore. I'd rather just play grand prix mode on the racers I do have instead. Also, on the subject of tournaments, a good example for that was when I participated in a Mario Kart: Double Dash!! time trial tournament on N-Sider.com. Normally, I barely ever play time trial in racing games because I have more fun playing grand prix, but the competion made it fun. Yeah, racing the same track over and over again and restarting whenever I made a mistake got to be boring and frustrating after sitting there for a couple hours, but it was the competition that kept me coming back to keep trying each time I'd stop playing. So while the process of getting better and better times wasn't that fun in itself, finally achieving good times and watching myself move up in the rankings was a very satisfying feeling. And when it was all said and done, even though I didn't get first and win the prize (a GBA SP and Fire Emblem), the experience was, overall, more fun than frustrating and I'm glad I participated. So personally, I look at all the factors involved; I don't just ask myself "Am I having fun [i]right now?[/i]" and stop playing if the answer is "No." Doing a certain thing in a game may not be fun at the moment, but I weigh that against how much fun/satisfaction I'll get from completing that thing and then decide whether or not it's worth doing. But if, after that, the answer is still "No," I will stop playing and go do something else.[/color]

[quote name='Wingnut Ninja']One thing I'm really eager to try out in Zero Mission is fighting Ridley in the earlier stages of the game on hard mode, because you wouldn't be as powerful then as you would be in accordance to the game's order. Kraid is a wussy, however, heh.[/quote][color=#4B0082]Actually, I find Ridley to be the easiest boss in the entire game, on all three difficulty levels. I think it only takes something like four or five super missiles to bring him down ... and I believe I had four max when I played through on hard mode. If I remember correctly, he got in all of two hits before dying, and I actually ended up taking less damage than when I fought him on normal mode. But anyway, this isn't the [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=36379][u]Metroid: Zero Mission[/u][/url] thread, so I'll get back on track. About Skies of Arcadia Legends, I also have to agree with that. I just finished playing it for the first time a couple days ago, and I can definitely see myself going back and replaying the game a year or two from now and having it still be lots of fun. What first looked like a pretty bland story turned out to be very interesting, with lots of little twists that got me more and more into the game the farther I got. I didn't really find the battle system to be anything special, and I actually have a couple gripes with it, but I did highly enjoy the airship battles and most of the normal boss battles. It may not be my favorite RPG, but one that I know I'll enjoy if I decide to replay it.[/color]

[quote name='Spiritbreeze']How do you convert bmp. to jpeg. ?[/quote][color=#4B0082]If you have any image editing software such as Paint Shop Pro or PhotoShop, open the image in that and select Save As from the File menu. You should be able to select what file type you want to save the image as. Or, if you've got nothing else, you can always use MS Paint to do it, though the image quality will drop significantly since MS Paint does crappy jpg/gif compression. If MS Paint is all you have, I'd recommend downloading [url=http://www.irfanview.com/][u]IrfanView[/u][/url], a freeware image viewer. It'll let you convert images between quite a few different file types, and it will do a much better job of it than MS Paint.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Ah, that would explain it. I'm pretty sure I had a full clan by the time I got those missions/items, so I wouldn't have gotten any offers for new members joining. But whatever; I'm happy with my clan as it is. Thanks for the info, though. And yeah, I have a Seventh Heaven bow and Zanmato katana already, so my characters (a few of them anyway) know Ultima Shot and Ultima Masher. I find them useful for finishing blows every now and then, but they take so dang much MP that I can usually only use them once per fight.[/color]

[QUOTE=Wingnut Ninja]I'd be inclined to argue with that and say that Super Metroid owns these two for free, my friend, but in terms of timelessness, you're right. Zero Mission has a hard mode that I'm still trying to wrap my finger around (can't remember if Fusion does... it's a crap game, anyhow), where Super Metroid does not. Metroid Prime was a great game, and it had a hard mode, but I like my Metroids in 2D. But still, Zero Mission is a bit so-so for me, so I'm still waiting for my ultimate Metroid game, heh.[/QUOTE][color=#4B0082]Yeah, I'd agree that Super Metroid is better than either GBA Metroid game. ... But calling Fusion a crap game? I think that's going too far; I enjoyed Fusion pretty much the same as Zero Mission, even though Fusion didn't have varying difficulty levels to extend the replay value. For me, both GBA Metroids stand up to Super Metroid pretty well, they're just not quite in the same league. Personally though, even with Zero Mission's hard mode, I find Super Metroid to be more timeless. I mean, when I play through Zero Mission again (I'm sure I will eventually, even though I've already beaten it on each difficulty), I'll probably just play on the normal difficulty level. Hard mode was a nice challenge, but some parts of it were just annoying; I found normal mode to be more actual fun. And having just recently played through Super Metroid again after not having played it in a long time, I can say that I had a lot more fun playing it again than I had with Zero Mission when I was playing through that for the first time. Very few games actually increase in fun each time I go back and replay them, but Super Metroid is one of those few.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Okay, now I'm wondering why I've never heard of Quin, Palanza, or Lini. Do you get them from playing multiplayer or something? For job pairing, though, that's what's nice about regularly using a full clan of 24 characters. Myself, I have four Moogles in my clan, so until I started mastering jobs and switching around, I had them each doing something different. Montblanc was a Thief/Juggler, Lidenbok a Gunner/Gadgeteer, Sharu a Mog Knight/Time Mage, and Kent an Animist/Black Mage -- and that's all of the jobs that Moogles can have, I think. So I got the full variety of jobs, while being able to mix and match them however I wanted. I guess instead of having a smaller group of highly diversified characters, I prefer the route of having a larger group of specialized characters. Before I started mastering many jobs, I'd decide what jobs I wanted a character to have, and then stick with those two until I mastered them or I ran out of abilities that I could learn with them at that point. I had specific characters for pretty much every area: Fighter/Paladin, Thief/Ninja, Archer/Hunter, Fencer/Red Mage, White Mage/Sage, Black Mage/Alchemist, Gladiator/Templar, Gunner/Gadgeteer, etc. I found managing a large group of specialized characters to be a lot of fun, since I was constantly changing the characters I'd use in battle, depending on what the situation called for. Maybe if I ever play through the game again I'll try limiting myself to eight characters or something and see how I do. It would be interesting to use a different playing style instead of just doing everything the same again. I'd probably plan very carefully how many of each race I'd want, though, and what jobs/abilities I'd have them learn first. I don't think anything's going to get me away from the habit of micromanaging my RPG characters, heh.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Ultima Blow? I've never heard of that ability before -- what weapon teaches it? I'd thought I had all the Sagacity abilities besides the combo, but I guess not. As for Doublecast, it can be used with any magic abilities, you just have to select it from the Red Magic abilities. Then it brings up a list of all your magical action abilities, including summons. If not for Doublecast, I just wouldn't bother with summon abilities -- I don't find their wider area effect to be all that useful. And yeah, I'm using a Nagrarok and an Excalibur2 on Marche. They rock, heh. Not only is the Nagrarok powerful, but I think it also adds one to the wielder's movement stat. Also, I'm pretty sure the Excalibur2 has a Holy elemental attribute, making it even better against undead monsters. And as for abilities, I usually keep my A2 set to Fighter, which nicely compliments the Paladin's more defensive abilities. About the Mog Knight with Gunner abilities, though, I thought I had tried that, and the Gunner's abilities weren't long range. From what I remember, the abilities would have the same effects, but they'd also have the same range as the Mog Knight's normal attacks. Ie, one panel, which I didn't find too useful. The combinations I find most useful for Moogles are Gunner/Juggler and Mog Knight/Time Mage. With Gunner/Juggler, you have pretty much all of the best status effects in the game right at your fingertips, and all of them can be used from range. And with Mog Knight/Time Mage, you've got some decent physical attacks (Mog Knight abilities are very similar to those of a Fighter), and you can also use Haste and Quick to speed up your party or give one of your more powerful characters another attack instead of attacking yourself. Also, Thief/Juggler can be amusing when you're feeling sadistic; disable an enemy, then steal his crap while he can't do anything about it, heh.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Yeah, I have [spoiler]Cid. He's okay, and his abilities can be useful sometimes, but I don't really use him too much besides keeping his level up with my other clan members. The three abilities of his that I find useful (I can't remember if he has others) are Yellow Clip, Bind, and another that I can't remember the name of. Yellow Clip removes a yellow card from a character during battle, which can let you get away with breaking lower level laws every now and then since the penalties aren't incurred until the end of the battle. Bind, if it hits, inflicts both movement and action disabilities for one turn against a single enemy. And the last one, the name of which I forget, lets you break the law with no penalties during your next character's turn. Mainly I find Cid useful for when I get stuck in a fight with really annoying laws.[/spoiler] And actually, yeah, I don't think I ever even had a character that could be a Summoner until really late in the game. I mainly use my Viera for their Sniper/Assassin abilities, and attack magic is mainly left to Frantz (Nu Mou), Clay (Nu Mou), and Jon (Human) when I'm serious; Clay's Giga Flare is a force to be reckoned with, heh. Odette, my Summoner, really only got good once she learned Doublecast. Bangaas, though, I've had a lot of appreciation for since the start of the game. Early on, White Monks' Air Render ability was extremely useful, and later, I grew to love Dragoons' two panel piercing attacks with spears and their breathe attacks, not to mention the long range Jump ability. And then Gladiators' magic sword abilities. Short of Marche, my Bangaas can more damage with a single attack than any of my other characters can, besides possibly my two best magic users when they cast Flare. As for Ninjas, they are indeed useful. But myself, I mainly just find them useful for their Double Sword ability, which can be transfered to other jobs. When I have Marche as a dual-sword wielding Paladin, he can easily do over 500 damage with both slashes. And that, combined with him having stuff equiped that boosts his movement to seven panels, makes him a grade-A badass. A Ninja's action abilities, however, I find to be rather useless. If I want to inflict status effects, I can do that a lot better with an Archer, Sniper, or Gunner. Speaking of which, does anyone else find Gunners as awesome as I do? Their attack range is insane, they can learn the Concentration ability which makes it so they almost never miss, they're pretty powerful for a Moogle job, and they can inflict status effects while doing the same or very close to the same amount of damage as with a normal attack. I don't think there's anything I like more in FFTA than wreaking abolute havoc among my enemies with a Gunner, while he sits far enough back that they can't attack him. Plus, I think it just looks hilarious when a cute little Moogle walks right up behind someone, pulls out a gun, and shoots them in the back to KO them. Nothing can top that.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Well, this game finally has an official title and a US release date. According to [url=http://www.nintendo.com/gamemini?gameid=39e68dfb-62b6-4799-9b73-fbffa804378b][u]Nintendo.com[/u][/url], Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls will be released on November 29, 2004. Personally, this is my most anticipated GBA game that's set to be released during the rest of the year. (Sadly, Zelda: The Minish Cap is set for a January 2005 release.) And I haven't bought a new GBA game since Metroid: Zero Mission, so this will definitely be up there on my "to buy" list. Looks like I'll be shelling out $80 come November, combining this with Metroid Prime 2 Echoes. I've actually thought off and on about playing the original NES version of FFI, but the large amount of leveling required to make any progress has always put me off from the game. So this remake will be really nice, since I'll get to play through the game with improvements made to the battle and magic systems. And it'll be interesting to play FFII, which will also be a new experience for me (as I said earlier in the thread, I skipped the PS1 compilations), as well as the extra additions to the games. I've always wondered about the storylines of the first three games in the series, as well as the origins of some of the things that have come to represent Final Fantasy itself, such as Chocobos, so it should be fun to finally learn the stuff I've wondered about. Anyone else looking to pick this title up in November?[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Heh, I'm actually lending my copy out to a friend, too. (Nice that you get at least two save files in FFTA. Games with only a single file annoy me.) I kind of wonder how long he'll have it; whether he'll go through it quickly, without bothering to do too many "side quest" missions, or try and go for all 300. Also, I'm curious about he'll manage his clan. It'll be neat to see another playing style, with how he builds up his characters and how many of them he regularly uses. And come to think of it, I wonder if he'll figure out the controls alright, heh. I didn't give him the instruction booklet, and I forgot to mention some of the weird little things about the menus. ... Like holding in B and [i]then[/i] pressing Start to bring up the main menu in a battle. Even with the instruction booklet, it took me a couple weeks to learn how to do everything, that being the last thing I figured out. :cross: And yeah, I went kind of crazy with my clan. Even after I completed all 300 missions, plus the extra missions, I just wandered around the map, getting in fights and taking on what few missions I could keep doing over again, trying to get more mythril weapons. I think I gained three or four levels across my whole clan (as in, all 24 characters went up three or four levels) from doing that before I finally got bored. And in all that time, I only managed to get one more mythril weapon. So I say again: those things are an absolute pain in the [expletive deleted] to find.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Actually, it would be nice if people would refrain from simply posting a list of games, as posts that don't tell anything about why you think certain games are timeless and just give a list will be deleted. Without any sort of detail, lists of games are bland are boring to read, and don't encourage any kind of discussion. So please, try to at least write a short paragraph about each game you list. But anyway, there are two games that have stood the test of time for me better than all else. They're the two games that I've played, maybe not the longest, but the most times. I first played them on the Super NES, and then when they were re-released on the Game Boy Advance, I bought them as soon as I could. And I continue to go back and play them every now and then. The first game is my all-time favorite, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Spanning both the SNES and GBA versions, I've played through this game seven times, and each time it's been just as fun as the first. What really makes this game so fun for me, even after I've memorized pretty much every inch of it, is the brilliant overworld and dungeon layouts mixed with the wide variety of monsters and weapons. Fighting a room full of enemies or a boss is always fun, especially when you give yourself challenges or just experiment using different weapons on enemies. (For example, I had never thought of using the Bow & Arrows on Vitreous before my last time through the game, but it turns out that arrows work really well against the small eyeballs.) I usually learn something new each time I replay the game, which really helps keep it fun and interesting after playing it so many times. The second game would be Super Mario World, which is probably my second overall favorite game, or close to it. Over both the SNES and GBA versions, I've played through it approximately 12 times (I say approximately because I can't quite remember how many times I played through on the SNES), and three of those were right in a row when I got the GBA port. Super Mario World is, in my opinion, the best 2D platformer I've ever played. I love blazing through the levels as fast as I can, then going back through and taking it slower to pick up every last Yoshi Coin in the game -- there's just so many ways to play each level, especially with the addition of switching between Mario and Luigi in the GBA version. This is a game that I can pick up anytime, anywhere, and enjoy playing.[/color]

[QUOTE=Shy][size=1]I'm having an issue with the links I include on [url=http://www.myotaku.com/shyguy][i]my[/i] myOtaku site.[/url] For some reason the links do not work correctly, and by clicking on them it sends them to one of those random and run "This page cannot be found" pages. The html I use for links is TEXT and only recently has this become an issue. Is there an alternate html code that I could try, or better yet, is there some explanation as to why this is happening? -Shy[/size][/QUOTE][color=#4B0082]myOtaku seems to do funky things with double quotes sometimes -- especially in post titles or the info on the sidebar. I'd try using single quotes in HTML tags instead of double quotes. Unless you're doing some funky nesting of tags, single quotes will work the same as double quotes, and myOtaku shouldn't mess with them.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Hmm, that's kind of disappointing. All I knew was that there's co-op and versus modes, but I was hoping there'd be another mini-story for co-op mode, like there is for the extra missions that open up after you beat all 300 of the normal ones. And for versus, I was hoping you'd actually get to play a six vs. six match against your friend's clan, like you do against any other clan you meet on the road. But as it is, it sounds like I'd get bored with multiplayer pretty quick. ... Though I'd still like to try it some time, if only to get the rest of the mythril weapons I'm missing. As I've said many times, those things are a bugger to find. And yeah, this was a fun thread when a bunch of people were playing through the game. I'd still be interested in reading some of your clan's stats, though, if you want to post 'em.[/color]

[quote name='Wingnut Ninja']My only beef with the game was the multiplayer mode. I would have much preferred to battle against a friend's clan than "compete" with them in a points style format. That was one of the rooting factors that put me off from playing FFTA to the bone. Oh well.[/quote][color=#4B0082]Hey, just be glad you got to play multiplayer mode at all. I've played the game to death by myself, but no one else I know owns the game, so I've never even gotten to try out multiplayer. I'm still wondering what the two player missions are like.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]We've already got a thread about the [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=36436][u]Nintendo DS[/u][/url], so please use that thread if you'd like to talk about the DS. And in the future, please run a search to check if there's already a thread covering a certain subject before creating one of your own. Before I close this, though, I should mention that some of the details posted here are wrong. The DS isn't the next Game Boy system, but a completely new handheld; a successor to the GBA will be released at a later date. Second, the bottom screen is the one that has touch screen capabilities, not the top screen. Check out the thread I linked to for more info; it's got pretty much all the latest news about the DS posted or linked to in it. Thread Closed[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Eh, I'll just merge the threads. It's a decent enough question. Anyway, I'd check and see if that second sword you're using has an elemental attribute. Most likely it has a holy elemental attribute (it being a paladin sword) and the boss absorbs holy attacks, which would cause it to heal the boss. If that's the case, just swap it out for another sword that doesn't have the same elemental attribute and you should be fine. As for what jobs to use, I don't think it really matters a whole lot as long as your characters aren't underpowered and you've got a good healer with you. Just use your strongest characters on whatever jobs they're best with. Personally though, I tend to go with a set of three close range fighters (paladins, fighters, gladiators, etc.), one long range fighter (archer, hunter, assassin), and two magic users (one for healing, one for attacking).[/color]

[color=#4B0082]I merged this with another, older thread with a similar subject and gave it a new title. These sorts of threads have popped up a few times in the past, so I figured we could just have a single thread for all general questions and discussion relating to the development of video games. And I don't have any info that would help, but good luck with your project, Narakou.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]I've actually written an article about my preference for 2D games, if anyone wants to read it. It's called [url=http://www.wrappedinplastic.net/rupees/miscarticles-editorials.html][u]Two-Dimensional Taboo[/u][/url], and I think it relates to this thread rather well. Overall, I do prefer 2D games over 3D, though there are some exceptions. But mainly, I like how easy it is to pick up and play 2D games. Controls are rarely complicated, movement rarely requires time to get used to it (assuming the game doesn't have bad play control), and action/combat is usually a lot more fun, at least for me. For the most part, I enjoy 3D games for somewhat different reasons than I do 2D games. The biggest example in control/movement that comes to mind right now is the Metroid series' transition to 3D, having just replayed Super Metroid. Because of Metroid Prime's 3D environments, the game loses a lot of its platforming action, since there's stuff you just can't do well in 3D. In Super Metroid, there's a lot of vertical jumping, shooting, and dodging, rather than mainly just side-to-side as in Metroid Prime. In Metroid Prime, when you're having to climb or descend through a room, you're rarely confronted with attacks from multiple sides, and when you are, good luck dodging all of them without falling. And that leads into my third point: combat. In Super Metroid, running through the game and blasting all the baddies as I go is one of the biggest things I enjoy about the game; I can blast things as I go. I can run, shoot something in a lava pit with the Ice Beam to freeze it, and then hit it with a super missile as I jump over it, the only thing slowing me down being me maybe stopping to pick up whatever the enemy drops when it dies. In Metroid Prime, enemies just started getting annoying after the first few hours of playing; every time I'd come to a room with some space pirates, I'd have to stop, fight them, and then move on to the next room where -- guess what? -- there were more space pirates. Progress in any area where there were space pirates felt like a stop-and-go process. So the main thing I enjoy about Super Metroid is the platforming action mixed perfectly with combat; shooting at something horizontally, then jumping over it as it charges at you and shooting down at it as you fly overhead is something that just can't be done in Metroid Prime. In Metroid Prime, however, I enjoy exploration more than anything else in the game; the 3D world lends itself to exploration much more than 2D, making it more fun to just wander through the areas while looking for secrets. As I say, though, there are some exceptions -- RPGs, for example, are pretty much exempt since the graphics rarely affect gameplay. F-Zero GX is a good example of a game where I really prefer 3D over 2D, though. This is mainly because the addition of 3D environments only adds to the gameplay, without taking anything away; as Wingnut Ninja put it, nothing gets cancelled out. Comparing F-Zero: Maximum Velocity on the GBA to F-Zero GX on the GCN, the core of the gameplay is pretty similar, while the main difference between the two are the 3D tracks in GX. With the transition into 3D, much more complex tracks are able to be created, while still maintaining the same basic gameplay and controls. Nothing is really taken away from the gameplay, but the fun of racing through looping, jumping, and spiraling 3D tracks adds to the already intense feeling of speed that the series has always held fast to. It really does depend on the game, then; some styles of gameplay can be translated into 3D worlds without losing anything, while others can't. Then again, there are things that can be done in 3D which don't translate at all well to 2D. I just prefer more 2D games than 3D games, really.[/color]

[color=#4B0082]Heh, looks like Ranma doesn't have too many fans. Personally, I like him because, on one hand, he has to deal with so much crap started by other people. But on the other hand, he starts so much crap himself, it's just hilarious. That, and he takes so much abuse from all the girls; I gotta feel kind of sorry for him sometimes. But anyway, I started watching Ranma ½ a few weeks ago, and so far I'm up to episode 19, I think it is, of the fourth season. I really enjoyed almost all of the first season and most of the second, but since then, there haven't been too many episodes that I've really liked. Although, there have been few that I've actually disliked; most are at least fairly amusing. Usually the episodes centering around Ranma and Akane are my favorites. ... But they usually also end up annoying the heck out of me. I swear, every single time it seems like they're making some progress at getting to like one another better, it gets screwed up and then they're back to where they started by the end of the episode. It's just so dang frustrating, since it makes it feel like the series is going absolutely nowhere. And am I the only one who thinks that Akane [i]is[/i] actually cute? I mean, sure, she dislikes most guys -- but I think that's justified. Just look at the guys she has to put up with at school. ... Especially Kuno. I mean, I have to give her credit for not inflicting more bodily harm on him than she does. And she seems to like Ryoga well enough (she called him a friend in one episode, I remember), so it's obviously not [i]all[/i] guys. Myself, I like her personality, and I think she also looks cute enough after getting her hair cut. (Short hair really does suit her better.)[/color]