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

[Gargravarr]

Yup.

That's one thing I don't like about prequels. You can tell they'll end on a downer or at least on a bittersweet note, y'know, to set the scene for the "original" installment. That happened a lot in this game. It's like the Star Wars prequels. You can see Anakin performing all sorts of heroic deeds, but you still always know he'll eventually become the guy in the black helmet with the breathing problems. You can like the Jedi all you want, like Mace Windu, but you will always know that something bad will happen to them because they don't appear in the original stories. It's the same deal for quite a lot of prequels. However, if it's handled well enough, the ending can still be enjoyable, despite all the doom and gloom.

[I_like_Nonon]

That's true. The problems a prequel faces are quite big, since it has to stay true to the original, without creating plot holes.


Also, poor Mace Windu...

[Gargravarr]

That's true.

[I_like_Nonon]

Mmhm.

[Gargravarr]

New Entry: Monday 8th February 2010

Wow, has it really been over two months since I last updated this properly? Apologies to my readers (both of you), but I got distracted by other games over Christmas. And a little bit afterwards...

So, without further ado, here’s the next part of Shade Impulse.

Shade Impulse 2 – The Schemers (Cloud Playthrough)
The first battle was a little shaky at first as I was a bit rusty with the controls. Now that I think about it, Playing as Exdeath and Jecht could be rather unpleasant next time I try it… Anyway, the first level allowed me to try out the remaining Omega Stages, but none of the initial fights lasted long enough for me to properly experience them… Still, here are some explanations.

Ultimecia’s Castle
The gimmick of this stage is that every so often, it will be affected by “Time Compression”. During this time, the stage BP randomly changes, broken stage elements rebuild themselves, and the gears in the level spin wildly, damaging anyone who touches them. The blur effect during this time is annoying, though…

Planet’s Core
As far as I can tell, this stage’s gimmick is very similar to The Rift. Every so often the stage will change, and the stage BP will rise. Unlike The Rift, Planet’s Core only has two variations. One is a group of medium-sized platforms, similar to the normal stage, while the other consists of two tall pillars floating in mid-air and lots of grind rails. The central platform at the bottom of the stage remains in place in both versions of the stage, however.

Crystal World
The gimmick in this stage is very simple. Crystals continually appear in set areas around the stage, and the stage BP rises as they do. They are easily broken, and new crystals appear in their place once they are destroyed, causing the stage BP to rise even more.

The regular enemies of the stage fell quickly, and the end of level Boss, Kuja, only fared a little better due to his Magic Pot summon. All that levelling up I did was paying off so far. I didn’t manage to get a decent DP bonus, but that’s not my main priority right now.

The opponents of Level 2 didn’t cause much trouble either, apart from a rather stubborn Garland copy. However, I did manage to inflict a full 9999 damage with Cloud’s EX Burst against one foe, which is a bit of a first with me. Another lousy end-of-level score, but you can’t have everything…
In fact, the rest of the chapter passed in much the same way. Some of the levels had variations, such as “hidden” spaces, or fights that trigger the appearance of other enemy pieces later n the level, but nothing too terrible. Along the way I also became able to try out Cloud’s Brave-to-HP attacks: Finishing Touch and Omnislash Version 5. They’re both suitably flashy and sealed my victory on numerous occasions. Eventually I made it to the Final Boss of the chapter, The Emperor. With all his talk of ruling everything and the Heroes of Cosmos just being pawns in his game, it was very satisfying, and a little funny, to smash him to pieces in just under a minute.

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So there we have it. Shade Impulse 2 is done. Sorry it wasn’t more interesting, but levelling up so much has proven to be a little bit of a double-edged sword. Still, I’d rather have a game that’s easy and fun than hard and frustrating. Maybe I’ll have something more interesting to say after I play through the chapter with the other Heroes.

[NPC Overlord Nikoleis]

Which level are you with Cloud? Also, he is a beast against computer.

[Gargravarr]

After finishing the chapter, he was about level 63. But I did get a load of EXP bonuses via that playplan thing. Y'know with the Chocobo. I started the chapter at level 55.

[NPC Overlord Nikoleis]

... You're overleveled for this, then (poor Chaos...)

[Gargravarr]

*shrugs* Better to be safe than sorry. I tend to go by the highest level enemy in a given chapter, minus the Ultimate Battle Pieces. In Shade Impulse, it's level 51, so I decided to go for Level 55 for my own characters.

[Gargravarr]

NOTICE
I was hoping to post my playthroughs for the other Heroes before I left on Saturday, but it doesn't look like I'm going to have time. Expect the next update next Wednesday when I return.

[Gargravarr]

New Entry: Thursday 18th February

Sorry, I was intending to post all this before I left, but it just wasn't plausible.

Shade Impulse 2 – Other Playthroughs

Cecil
Things played out much the same in Cecil’s playthrough, though some of the DP bonuses were trickier to get, as Cecil lacks Cloud’s raw attack strength, making it less easy to inflict Break status on the opponent. There was a rather nasty Golbez copy on level 5 that I had to retry against, however. The fight took place on the Planet’s Core stage, so when the stage changed, the BP pool could raise to almost 5000 at a time. He used his Lich summon to reduce my BP to 0 after a short time, then I got caught in his Genesis Rock attack, and the rest is history. I managed to beat him on my second attempt, though.
The real Golbez at the end of level 4 was a much easier fight, but there was the bonus of cutscenes before and after the boss battle that are exclusive to Cecil’s playthrough, so that was nice. The highest amount of damage I was able to do with a single EX Burst was 7137 HP.

Tidus
Tidus had the same problem as Cecil, though it’s probably only because I got used to playing such a heavy-hitter as Cloud. DP chances were equally tricky to gain, but there was the added complication of a lot of the enemies seeming to be really good at dodging my attacks this time around as well. Maybe I was just using Tidus incorrectly, maybe I’m just not used to the odd movements of his attacks. Who knows? Tidus’ first line in the pre-final-boss cutscene made me laugh a little, though (“My dear tools of war… Do you come to your master, finally tired of the struggles?” “We’re here to sock you one!”). The highest amount of damage done with a single EX Burst was a full 9999 HP, against a Garland copy in Level 2.

Firion
This chapter took on a little more significance during Firion’s playthrough as the main enemy of the chapter is clearly shown to be The Emperor. The pre and post-final boss cutscenes seemed more important as well as a result.
Firion is a bit more of a heavy-hitter than Cecil and Tidus (in my experience, anyway. His Rope Knife Brave attack came in very handy for inflicting Break status). The only times he really suffered were on the stages with little floorspace. Planet’s Core and Ultimecia’s castle were horrble to play on, especially against Kuja copies as Kuja is one of the best aerial fighters in the game, while Firion’s aerial game is almost non-existent. To be honest, though, Firion has a better time going through these levels than other Heroes simply because of his Blood Weapons EX Bonus. Speaking of which, the highest amount of damage I did with a single EX Burst was 7398 HP, against a Firion copy in Level 5.

Squall
Squall might not have the most raw power, but the sheer number of hits he can get in definitely makes up for it. I had no problems Breaking the enemies during his playthrough, though I did have trouble landing his HP attacks a couple of times. The CPUs can be annoyingly good at dodging sometimes… Still, I managed to try out his Revolver Drive HP attack for the first time. If you can actually manage to hit with it, it’s a really nasty move…
The highest amount of damage I managed to do in a single EX Burst this time was 9137 HP, against an Onion Knight copy in Level 5.

Zidane
I was surprised by how easy Zidane’s playthrough was. I new he was a fast attacker, but I don’t remember his hits doing so much damage. Breaking enemies wasn’t a problem, and thanks to his Meo Twister Brave-to-HP attack, winning within a time limit was rarely an issue either. The only enemy I had trouble against was the Golbez copy on Level 5 that I mentioned in Cecil’s section. This guy managed to get me down to 1 HP, and probably would’ve beaten me if it weren’t for Zidane’s uber-fast Free Energy attack. I also finally got to see the proper cutscenes before and after the Kuja boss fight at the end of Level 1. I’m not exactly the biggest fan of FFIX, but it was still quite nice to watch, as they’re one of the only pairs that end on relatively good terms.
I also managed to deal a full 9999 HP of damage with a single EX Burst again, this time against a Cecil copy on Level 5.

Bartz
I had very few problems with Bartz. He has a pretty good moveset, does a decent amount of damage, and in EX Mode he gets the fastest-deployed HP attack in the game: Goblin Punch. That move comes in very handy against the more dodge-happy CPUs. I can’t really think of any enemies that gave me any major problems, and the most damage I was able to do in a single EX Burst was 7700 HP against an Onion Knight copy on Level 3.

Onion Knight
I didn’t have many problems with Onion Knight, either. I’d forgotten how much of a beast his Ninja EX Mode could be at gathering BP, and I even had to resort to using it a couple of times for DP chances. Finally, I managed to see the last remaining character-exclusive cutscenes in this chapter, this time between Onion Knight and Cloud of Darkness at the end of Level 3.
Because of Onion Knight’s dual EX Modes, I was able to get two high scores with this playthrough. The top amount of damage caused by a single Ninja EX Burst was 6971 HP against an Onion Knight copy on level 5, and the highest amount caused by a single Sage EX Burst was 7976 HP against a Bartz copy on Level 2.
As a final note, after defeating a Cecil copy on Level 5, I was awarded with 9000 EXP, and a bonus of 1 EXP. You probably don’t need to think very hard to work out why I’m bothering to tell you about that…

Terra
As anyone who’s read my previous blog entries regarding this character will know, it’s probably safe to say that Terra is my least favourite Hero to play as. She’s slow, she has pretty poor jumping ability, she has an annoying voice, and it seems to be rather difficult to fill up her EX Gauge without constantly going after EX Cores or spamming her Blizzard Combo attack. However, I have to appreciate her for the amount of damage she can dish out if her attacks actually hit their targets (that’s not to say she’s inaccurate, it’s just that some CPUs are very good at dodging and/or blocking). To give you an example of this, the aforementioned Blizzard Combo can deal over 1000 Brave damage with the final strike alone if it’s a critical hit, enough to Break most opponents in a single attack. Yeah…
To be honest, since the Kefka boss fight already took place in Chapter 1, there isn’t much for Kefka to really do in cutscenes anymore. However, I did have a pretty cool battle against a Cecil copy in Level 4, where I achieved a DP bonus with just 0.06 seconds remaining on the timer. The most damage I was able to do against a single enemy was 8055 HP against a Bartz copy in Level 2. To make matters worse for him, I ended up doing 9999 HP of damage against him just with the HP attack that triggered the EX Burst. And guess how much HP this enemy had to start with? One. He was one of those “strange” battle pieces, so he had a grand total of 1 HP. Overkill on my part? Just a tad…

Warrior of Light
Ah, good old WoL. Definitely one of the more straightforward and reliable characters to use. I’ve become very fond of his Bitter End Brave-to-HP attacks and now use them to finish most of his fights, partly because they’re effective attacks, but also because they just look pretty cool. I didn’t really have an problems as WoL, except for the few enemies that pretty much all the Heroes had trouble with, like the Golbez copy on Level 5 and the Kuja copy on Level 3. Then again, these matches were also on fairly nasty stages (Planet’s Core and Ultimecia’s Castle respectively) and were two of the higher-levelled enemies in the chapter, so I’m taking that as a sign that it wasn’t simply my incompetence.
I ended up using WoL’s EX Mode (and therefore EX Burst) quite a lot, so there was a fair amount of competition this time around. However, the highest amount of damage I was able to do with a single EX Burst was 8522 HP, in the boss fight against Cloud of Darkness in Level 3

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And so, with a final “UNGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!” from The Emperor, Chapter 2 of Shade Impulse draws to a close. Time to go about levelling up the Villains now, and I’ll try not to have such a long hiatus before I attempt Chapter 3.

[I_like_Nonon]

A good read, as usual. I also hope for a shorter hiatus before the next update.

Zidane is awesome

[Gargravarr]

A good read, as usual. I also hope for a shorter hiatus before the next update.

Zidane is awesome

Well for a start I'm not planning to level the Heroes up as much before the next chapter. Hell, Bartz and Firion only need to go up one level each before they reach my goal. The only thing that'll be very time-consuming is the Villains.

[I_like_Nonon]

Haven't used them much?

[Gargravarr]

No, it's just that they seem to take longer to level up than the Heroes.