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

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Author Topic: Gar's Gaming Blog (Animal Crossing: New Leaf)  (Read 12049 times)
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Gargravarr
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« Reply #60 on: 15 September, 2009, 07:32:58 pm »

New entry: Tuesday 15th September

Destiny Odyssey IX – Melodies of Life
A new day, and the start of a new Destiny Odyssey. Playing as Zidane was a pretty new experience for me, as he’s primarily an aerial fighter. All the other characters I’ve played so far have either been ground-orientated (like Firion and, to a lesser extent, Squall) or pretty neutral between the two.
The first two levels in Zidane’s story were pretty straightforward, but the final three required strategic thinking, as certain locked areas could only be opened by defeating certain enemies. You had to recognise the pattern on the level and figure out which enemies would open which locked areas. Level 1 passed without incident, mostly being used by me to get used to Zidane’s fighting style. Level 2, however, brought with it the first 1HP enemy of Zidane’s story: a Delusory Knight (Cecil copy). Unlike previous 1HP enemies, this one was rather easy, despite the cramped conditions of the stage I had to fight him on (Kefka’s Tower). He was rather good at dodging, so I had to corner him before taking him out with an HP attack. The level 2 boss was Kefka, which meant I finally got to see him in a proper cutscene, which was pretty awesome. The battle itself was nothing too bad. I didn’t get totally pwned, at least.
Level 3 brought the first real example of the strategy required in Zidane’s levels, as the boss was totally surrounded by locked areas. I also completely got my ass handed to me by a Delusory Warlock (Golbez copy), as he was 8 levels higher than me. Even when I managed to land a hit on him, Zidane’s combos barely seemed to make a dent in his BP. Eventually I had to flee and restart the level, avoiding him on my second attempt. I know I should have expected to be owned by this enemy, but the guide I’m using said that Zidane should be able to win “without too much trouble” and that CPUs “generally have a hard time avoiding Tidal Flame”. The latter statement was total garbage, as the Delusory Warlock would often just jump over that particular attack. ¬_¬
So with Level 3 restarted, and my self-esteem several notches lower, I made it to the boss. I got to see the pre-final-boss cutscene from Squall’s story from Zidane’s perspective before taking on Garland. He was pretty tame compared to my fight with his copy in Squall’s 4th level, though that was probably due to him being 8 levels lower than he was in that fight.
The 4th and 5th levels of the story passed without much incident for the most part, although in level 5 I had to be careful not to lose much health in the matches, as there wasn’t a Potion on that map to bring me back to full health before the final boss. The fight against Kuja was in the middle ground of final boss difficulty: not as bad as Sephiroth or Golbez, but not as easy as Ultimecia. I didn’t have to flee & level up some more, but I did have to retry a couple of times, which puts him roughly on the same level as Jecht. Kuja also had a pretty annoying Carbuncle summon (which would instantly lower my BP to the same level as his) and he would often activate it when he’d just performed an HP attack, when his BP was just building back up to base level and was in single digits. This wouldn’t have been too bad if I had been able to land a Brave attack, but inevitably he’d always get in the first hit, sending me in Break status and letting him take the stage BP as a result. Still, at least he didn’t have an annoying dodge quote, like The Emperor. I was eventually able to win the fight, finish Zidane’s story, and bought Kuja rom the PP catalogue as a reward.

Character Impressions 3 – Squall and Zidane
Squall
Squall took a bit of getting used to after Firion, as Squall is primarily a close-range fighter while Firion fights from a distance. His Brave attacks mostly revolve around combos and often end with Squall slamming the enemy into a wall or the ground. However, he also has a couple of magic attacks for ranged combat, one of which draws the opponent closer.
He has the most initial HP attacks out of any character I’ve played so far, although two of them (Fated Circle and Aerial Circle) are almost identical. However, if used correctly, they can both block an opponent’s magic attacks. The other HP attack I tried out, Rough Divide, is strong and fast but has a slow start. This makes it fairly easy to dodge unless it’s used properly, like Firion’s Straightarrow attack.
I didn’t really notice Squall’s EX mode bonuses, but I found his EX Burst one of the easiest to pull off so far, and I have yet to fail in getting a “Perfect” on it.

Zidane
Out of all the characters I’ve used so far, Zidane has been the most different. This is because he is primarily an aerial combatant. He’s kinda like the opposite of Firion in this respect, having lots of aerial attacks, but only a few ground attacks. I found myself initiating Chase Sequences a lot more often with Zidane as well, something I previously tried to avoid with the other characters.
As I’ve just said, most of Zidane’s Brave attacks are aerial ones. And his only current ground-based Brave attack finishes by knocking the opponent into the air, leading to a chase sequence, which in turn can lead to another aerial attack. Which could then lead into another chase sequence… and so on, allowing of course for the possibility that your opponent might dodge or block.
I found Zidane’s most useful HP attack so far to be the aerial attack Free Energy. It has short range, but it’s possibly the fastest-acting HP attack I’ve used so far. The other two HP attacks I tried, Tidal Flame and Shift Break, were both often dodged by my opponents due to their fairly long wind-ups.
As with Squall and Tidus, I found myself not noticing or using Zidane’s EX Mode bonuses very often, but his EX Burst was pretty easy to pull off as it followed the same idea as Cloud’s (hammering the circle button). However, as cool as some people might think Zidane is, I’m afraid I simply can’t take him seriously thanks to his EX Mode appearance. Yes, I know it’s his “Trance form” and is supposedly uber-powerful, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s bright pink, fluffy, and almost as revealing as Kuja’s outfit.

Next time: Bartz takes the stage! The adventure of the lost Mime!
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« Reply #61 on: 16 September, 2009, 04:47:08 am »

*Wait for some copy pasted ... err I mean mimicked infos*
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« Reply #62 on: 16 September, 2009, 09:14:37 am »

*Wait for some copy pasted ... err I mean mimicked infos*

Eh?
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« Reply #63 on: 16 September, 2009, 01:40:27 pm »

As in ... use mimic, copy last post. Try to be fun...

Man I can't wait for Terra and Kefka infos...
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« Reply #64 on: 16 September, 2009, 01:47:11 pm »

Well I won't be doing Kefka info for a while, I'm afraid.
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« Reply #65 on: 16 September, 2009, 01:52:13 pm »

I know, Terra is last and you will unlock him after this. But I have something interesting to read while I wait... all the needed info to counter everyone... Mhuhuhahaha!
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« Reply #66 on: 16 September, 2009, 02:06:17 pm »

Yeah, Zidane in his trance form is quite lame looking.
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« Reply #67 on: 16 September, 2009, 02:08:32 pm »

I know, Terra is last and you will unlock him after this. But I have something interesting to read while I wait... all the needed info to counter everyone... Mhuhuhahaha!

It's not just that. I'm not sure yet how what I'm going to do once I've finished the Destiny Odysseys. I might even end up taking a bit of a break from Dissidia.


Yeah, Zidane in his trance form is quite lame looking.

Yeah. His alternate costume is a little better, where he has silver fur in EX Mode instead of pink, but still...
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« Reply #68 on: 16 September, 2009, 03:43:03 pm »

Still looks ¨kind of lame.
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« Reply #69 on: 16 September, 2009, 07:25:04 pm »

New entry: Wednesday 16th September

Destiny Odyssey V – Journey, Courage, Friends
Finally, we reach the last part of the Squall/Zidane/Bartz trio of storylines. Bartz’s levels don’t seem to have any specific gimmick that requires a certain strategy, but they do have a lot of enemy encounters. This can make the later levels difficult to get positive DP counts on.
The first two levels passed without much incident, although I did get to see quite a lot of the villains interacting in cutscenes, which was pretty cool. Level 3 brought the first 1HP enemy of Bartz’s story: an Imitation Liegeman (Firion copy). This enemy’s gimmick was to summon Tiamat immediately after the fight begins, which would then triple his BP after a certain amount of time had passed. He would then try to OHKO me with a Straightarrow attack. This wouldn’t have been a bad strategy, if it weren’t for the fact that I managed to take him out with a single HP attack before the summon’s effect kicked in.
Level 3 also had a Capricious Reaper enemy (Kuja copy) that was 8 levels higher than me, but I’d learned from my experience with the high-level Delusory Warlock (Golbez copy) in Zidane’s story, decided that the extra EXP wasn’t worth it, and avoided it. The boss of level 3, Golbez, wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be. Considering my track record of getting owned in Golbez (real or copy) fights, this battle actually went pretty smoothly. Granted, he got me down to less than half my full HP, and at one point he dealt me an instant Break with his EX Mode’s Black Fang ability, but I managed to get my own back with Bartz’s own special EX Mode attack: Goblin Punch. I managed to beat him without needing any retries, and gained two levels for my trouble.
Level 4 passed without incident (except for another 1HP Imitation Liegeman, which was also quickly dispatched), but it had a very awkward layout, which meant I ended up finishing with -1DP. Level 5 was pretty much the same deal, just with more going on and less starting DP. I failed to get most of the extra DP chances, so I ended up finishing the level with -5DP. I found the final boss, Exdeath, to be almost as easy as Ultimecia. He did have an Atomos summon, which would drain my BP if I damaged his HP for a period of time, but since the stage we were on (The Rift) is a pretty large one, it was easy to avoid him until the summon’s timer ran out. He did manage to hit me with a pretty hefty HP attack after blocking one of my own strikes, however, bringing me down to about half my full HP. I won all but one of the Chase Sequences that were initiated, which helped me Break him twice over the course of the battle. This gave me enough BP to finish him off with a Goblin Punch leading into an EX Burst. I won the fight, levelled up twice, and was able to finish Bartz’s story. I then bought Exdeath from the PP catalogue as a reward. Only three more villains remain!

Next time: The Onion Knight’s quest! Cosmos’ youngest warrior!
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« Reply #70 on: 17 September, 2009, 05:41:44 am »

Are you sure the bosses are getting easier? Because I think it's you getting better.
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« Reply #71 on: 17 September, 2009, 08:17:55 am »

I don't know... I still think some of the pairings are less balanced than others. Then again, I've only tried a few of the heroes' attacks. Plus I'm not sure Exdeath counts, as I've never had much trouble against him or his copies. I mean, he's supposedly deadly in the right hands, but I've heard the AI doesn't use him very well.
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« Reply #72 on: 17 September, 2009, 11:22:24 am »

It's kind of sad when a game has bad AI...

Though if it's only for one character, that's okay.
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« Reply #73 on: 17 September, 2009, 12:27:30 pm »

I think Exdeath is just the kind of character that's tricky to use right. He moves slowly and his fighting style is mostly based around counterattacks.
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« Reply #74 on: 17 September, 2009, 01:52:37 pm »

Oh, I see. And the AI isn't that good at counter attacking?
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