Gar's Gaming Blog (Animal Crossing: New Leaf)

[Gargravarr]

New entry: Saturday 12th September – Sunday 13th September
I thought I might as well post my experiences in Firion’s story thus far, then come back later with my experiences of the end of the story & my character impressions. Basically, this entry is my experiences from yesterday. So, without further ado…

Destiny Odyssey II – The Unending Dream (Part 1 – 12th September)
Thus far (as of stage 3), Firion’s story has been pretty good. The odd layout of his levels and placement of enemy encounters makes it difficult to get positive DP counts, so I ended up being more strategic about the level boards than I have been in previous Destiny Odysseys, and started going after the DP bonuses in certain battles. I’ve also found Firion himself to be surprisingly easy to fight with.
The only difficult bit I’ve come across so far was a very aggressive Imaginary Soldier (Cloud copy) in stage 2. Like the Phantasmal Girls in Cloud’s story, he only had 1HP, but he was ridiculously good at dodging. He could also Break me in just one combo, and a couple of said combos later, he’d be ready to OHKO me with a Braver. So I was left frantically dodging and blocking as best I could, and firing off Staightarrow attacks (Firion’s only current HP attack) as often as possible. He beat me a couple of times, but I eventually managed to hit him full in the face as he dashed towards me after an unsuccessful Braver. Jecht, the boss of stage 2, was easy in comparison.
Stage 3 brought with it a boss fight against Ultimecia, and an optional fight against a Fallacious Tree enemy (Exdeath copy) that was about 7 levels higher than me. He had a lot of HP, so the fight lasted a long time, my health descending into double digits at one nerve-wracking point. It was during this fight that I started truly appreciating Firion’s EX Mode bonus: Blood weapons. Whenever I performed a successful HP attack in EX Mode, I would regain health equal to the damage I’d done. Thanks to a couple of EX Bursts (lots of HP damage there), I was back up to full health by the time I struck the final blow. I even went up two levels for my trouble. Similar to stage 2, the Ultimecia boss fight was easy in comparison. Although that might have also been because I was two levels higher than her, and we were fighting on a stage I’m pretty comfortable on: World of Darkness.

So that’s it so far. The only thing I’m really worried about now is the final boss fight against The Emperor in Pandaemonium. As you may have read in my entry about Tidus’s story, I haven’t exactly fared well against him in the past. On the other hand, I’ve done pretty well against the various Imitation Despot enemies (Emperor copies) in Firion’s levels, but those fights were all in pretty open arenas, making it easier to avoid the traps. Ah well. I’ll just have to wait see how it turns out, I suppose.

Next time: Firion’s story concluded! Gar’s opinions of Tidus and Firion! I'm gonna be king of the pirates!!

*cough*

[I_like_Nonon]

There's nothing better in any RPG than to defeat a higher level'd enemy and go up a few levels.

[NPC Overlord Nikoleis]

Beating it without any effort?

[Masterman]

I'm having a great time reading this.

I wish I still had my PSP, Dissidia sounds like a blast to play...;_;

[Gargravarr]

There's nothing better in any RPG than to defeat a higher level'd enemy and go up a few levels.

Nope. And the Fallacious Tree was the first enemy I've faced so far that was that much higher a level than me. Normally I try to avoid such enemies. But in addition to that, I'm pleasantly surprised by Firion. Until now, he was never really a character I was that bothered about, having never played FFII.

Beating it without any effort?

Well, you have to bear in mind that so far I've only done the easiest bits of the story mode. And as I said, there've been some nasty enemies. But I'm starting each Destiny Odyssey with the respective character at level 1, and the levels of the enemies get progressively higher as you go through the stages. I've really only been able to get as far as I have by levelling up sufficiently, just like any RPG.

I'm having a great time reading this.

I wish I still had my PSP, Dissidia sounds like a blast to play...;_;

Thanks. And it is. It can be frustrating at times, but nothing too terrible. Then again, I'm still in the earlier levels...

[I_like_Nonon]

So you like him?

[Gargravarr]

So you like him?

Yeah. Until now I was never really that interested in Firion. Plus he's voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch, which is pretty cool, though I keep half-expecting him to shout "Bankai!" when going into EX Mode.

[I_like_Nonon]

Heh, lulz.

Johnny Yong Bosch is like a voice acting machine. Off the top of my head:

Guy Cecil
Ichigo Kurosaki
Emil something-or-other (Can't remember his last name)
Almaz Almandine Adamant (or something like that)
Daisuke Ono form Lucky Star

And I think he was a power ranger at some point.

[Gargravarr]

Heh, lulz.

Johnny Yong Bosch is like a voice acting machine. Off the top of my head:

Guy Cecil
Ichigo Kurosaki
Emil something-or-other (Can't remember his last name)
Almaz Almandine Adamant (or something like that)
Daisuke Ono form Lucky Star

And I think he was a power ranger at some point.

Yeah, he was the second black ranger in the original Mighty Morphin lot. And the green ranger in Zeo. And the first green ranger in Turbo. And I think he made a guest appearance in one of the more recent series...

But yeah, as I don't really remember him that much from Power Rangers, he'll always be Ichigo to me.

Oh, and I think he also voiced someone in Devil May Cry.

[I_like_Nonon]

Ah, that's right. I think he's Nero, but I'm not sure.

To me, he'll always be Guy Cecil. That's where I first remember hearing his voice. Ichigo was the second I think.

[Gargravarr]

Where's Guy Cecil from?

[I_like_Nonon]

From the game Tales of the Abyss.

[Gargravarr]

New entry: Sunday 13th September

Destiny Odyssey II – The Unending Dream (Part 2 – 13th September)
The rest of Firion’s story went by without much incident, apart from hitting a Capricious Reaper enemy (Kuja copy) right in the face with Straightarrow at point-blank range. The final boss fight against the Emperor, while not as bad as Sephiroth or Golbez, certainly wasn’t easy either. I was able to beat him on the first try, but it was a very close match.
The main problem was that he was very good at dodging my Straightarrow attacks, so even when I went into EX Mode, I was never able to regain any health apart from the small amounts granted by the “Regen” status. I didn’t manage to land a single EX Burst on him either. And it didn’t help that he has a very annoying, almost mocking, dodge noise. The fight wore on for quite a while, though not as long as the earlier one against the Fallacious Tree, before I was finally able to deal the finishing blow. I would’ve managed it sooner, but he had accessories that left him with 1HP after my attack instead of him dying.
Anyhoo, I was able to finish Firion’s story and I bought The Emperor from the PP Catalogue as a reward.

Character Impressions 2 – Tidus and Firion
Tidus
I thought Tidus controlled pretty well, and his movement speed was noticeably faster than Cloud or Cecil (as I ended up using his Dark Knight class more often than his Paladin class). I also found it easy to get in the first hit of the match due to his quick attacks. The only Brave attack I had trouble hitting with was the aerial attack Stick & Move, as I kept misjudging the range. As for HP attacks, I rather liked the ground attack Spiral Cut, since even if the opponent dodged the first couple of hits, they would usually be caught by the final one due to the attack “tracking” them. Energy Rain also worked rather well. I didn’t really manage to work with his EX Mode bonuses very much, but his movement speed definitely increased. I found his EX Burst hard to get a Perfect on, but that was more a matter of bad timing rather than fiddly controls, unlike Cecil’s.

Firion
Firion might just be my favourite character so far. His main strength is his ground game, as many of his attacks have a fairly long range and can drag opponents toward you, often catching them off guard. By contrast, however, his aerial game is rather poor, with his only aerial Brave attacks (thus far) being some fairly slow magic attacks. He also suffers a little by only having a single HP attack (Straightarrow) for quite a long time, and although it has a long range, it can be difficult to land a hit on an opponent that’s good at dodging. I found his EX Mode bonus, Blood Weapons, to be useful in a pinch, but that does rather depend on actually landing an HP attack. Once you do, however, you can often regain all your health by using said HP attack to trigger an EX Burst. I found Firion’s EX Burst to be in the middle ground of difficulty: Harder than Cloud’s, but easier than Cecil’s & Tidus’s, as it’s just a matter of rapidly entering a series of commands. Plus, I personally think it’s an almost ridiculously cool animation, as it ends with him firing all of his weapons from his bow at the same time.

Next time: Squall’s story begins! The brooding loner with the roaring blade!

[I_like_Nonon]

Teehee, the peepee catalogue.

*Cough*

I've always liked playing characters with bows and arrows, so I'd probably like Firion as well.

[Gargravarr]

Teehee, the peepee catalogue.

*Cough*

I've always liked playing characters with bows and arrows, so I'd probably like Firion as well.

Yeah, he's pretty cool. And when you do manage to hit someone with Straightarrow, it's pretty satisfying. Especially when you get them right in the face (as I described) or when you've just slammed them against a wall.