Message #877312

[Gargravarr]

New entry: Thursday 17th September

Destiny Odyssey III – The Pride of Youth
Unlike those found in Bartz’s story, Onion Knight’s levels have a very clear strategic gimmick: hidden board pieces. All pieces on each level (apart from the Stigma of Chaos and one or two enemies or a chest) are hidden from view until you engage them. This would’ve been pretty difficult, but I have a guide that told me what all the pieces were. Yeah, I guess it was kinda cheating, but still…
Level 1 was pretty easy, and helped me get to grips with Onion Knight’s combat style. There was a 1HP Capricious Thief enemy (Zidane copy) on level 2 that was pretty annoying. He used a Cactuar summon to reduce my BP by 1000, and was really good at dodging my attacks, making it hard for me to land any Brave attacks, let alone an HP attack to finish him. With level 3 came a high-levelled Imitation Despot (Emperor copy), but I decided to play it safe and avoid him for now. I managed to get a decent amount of EXP in that level even without taking him on, and was able to master some of Onion Knight’s attacks, something that I haven’t yet managed with any of the other characters.
Level 4 brought another 1HP Capricious Thief, which was more annoying than the first one because of the awkward stage the fight takes place on: Planet’s Core. This made it even more difficult to land attacks. The boss of level 4, Terra, was pretty easy. I did accidentally get caught in a couple of her HP attacks, but thankfully she seemed very hesitant to use her EX Burst. I was able to wear her down and win the fight, levelling up twice in the process.
On level 5, I managed to beat a level 12 Imitation Despot without sustaining any damage whatsoever. Brave or HP. Though this was partly because the stage (Order’s Sanctuary) gave me lots of room to run around and manoeuvre in. The final boss, The Cloud of Darkness, was pretty easy. She had a pretty nasty-sounding Iron Giant summon, that would halve my BP whenever she hit me with an HP attack during a certain period of time. However, like Order’s Sanctuary, the boss stage (World of Darkness) also has lots of room to move about in, so I was able to effectively avoid her and her huge number of HP attacks (she has more than any other character in the game) until the summon ran out. I finally finished her with Onion Knight’s Sage EX Burst, and went up five levels in the process. And so, Onion Knight’s story ended, with a rather cute image of him and Terra sleeping on the ground next to each other, exhausted by the story's events. I finished by purchasing The Cloud of Darkness from the PP Catalogue. Just two Destiny Odysseys left!

Character Impressions 4 – Bartz and Onion Knight
Bartz
Bartz was pretty interesting to play as. In a way, it was a bit like a retrospective of the characters I’ve already played as, and a preview of sorts for the characters I have yet to use.
Most of Bartz’s Brave attacks combine two attacks from the other Warriors of Cosmos. For example, Reel Impulse starts by him throwing Firion’s axe to draw the opponent close (which I think may even have a longer range than Firion’s attack), then unleashing a combo with Zidane’s Mage Masher weapons. The only Brave attack that doesn’t follow this pattern is Holy, which is entirely copied from Terra. The Brave attacks I tried were good mixture of combos and attacks that start Chase Sequences. Another thing about Bartz’s attacks is that they all have added effects like increasing certain kinds of damage or boosting certain stats, but I personally didn’t really notice any of these.
His HP attacks all come directly from other characters without being combined with any other attacks, similar to the aforementioned Holy attack. They too come with special effects, but again I didn’t notice them. What I did notice, however, was Bartz’s voice changing in tone when he used certain attacks (both Brave and HP). For example, he sounded a bit like Cecil when he used Soul Eater, and his voice became lighter (like Terra’s) when he used Holy, which I thought was a nice touch.
Bartz’s EX Mode was the first one I’ve used that’s had a special EX Mode-exclusive attack. In this case, Goblin Punch. It’s a short-ranged but powerful attack that does Brave, then HP damage, and it’s activated by pressing the R and Square buttons after activating EX Mode. Apparently, if your level is equal to you opponent’s level while using it, the attack becomes even more powerful. His EX Mode also involves him gaining three retro-looking stars over his head to show his Job mastery, which is pretty cool.
Finally, his EX Burst. It has a pretty cool animation that involves Bartz striking his opponent with two weapons at a time (Cecil’s spear & Zidane’s daggers, then Tidus’s & Warrior of Light’s swords, and so on), before combining them into his own Brave Blade for a final strike. In order for the EX Burst to be pulled off perfectly, 4 pairs of D-Pad commands must by input quickly, otherwise he’ll strike fewer times. It wasn’t too bad, but I often found myself getting muddled with the third or last pair. Stupid thumb…

Onion Knight
Playing as Onion Knight was fairly interesting for me, as the very first full fight video that was released after Dissidia’s first trailer was between him and The Cloud of Darkness. Granted I didn’t get to use all of the moves that were in that video, but still… Anyway, Onion Knight’s attacks all revolve around multiple fast strikes (reminiscent of the attacking style in the DS remake of FFIII), and all of his Brave attacks can be chained into more powerful ones or, eventually, HP attacks. Because of this, and because of his relatively small number of “starter” attacks, Onion Knight is able to master most of his initial attacks in roughly half the time it takes for any other character, unlocking more chaining options. Onion Knight’s regular HP attacks don’t chain into anything, but are still pretty good. Their main downside seems to be their relatively short range.
His EX Mode is pretty interesting, simply because he has two of them: Ninja and Sage. Each one also has their own EX Burst, though both attacks follow the same idea. Which form he takes in EX Mode depends on the attack you use, kinda like Cecil changing Jobs when he performs certain HP attacks. Onion Knight becomes a Ninja when he uses close-range sword-based attacks (which increase in power during EX Mode), and becomes a Sage when he uses long-range magic attacks (which fire more projectiles at a time in EX Mode). The EX Burst he uses also depends on what HP attack you used. The “minigame” for both EX Bursts is pretty much the same: select either “Magic” for Sage or “Throw” for Ninja, and then select Holy or Shuriken from the menus of spells and items that appear. Provided you have a decent eye, they’re not hard attacks to pull off.

Next time: Terra’s redemption! A struggle for control!