I still have brown hat Mithra. I gotta dump his ass. Had him forever.

You know what I wish this game had more of? Dialogue between the main characters. It's so slim, you only get it in cutscenes. In a different perspective, one that imagines that the game time is real time, and that it's okay for the main characters to only talk that much, it might make SOME sense. But you'de think they'd have more to say to each other. It's like based on the cutscenes, Alicia's confidence has grown fuckin' 1/16th since the beginning of the game.

Seriously, there is no main character dialogue besides those in the cutscenes. NONE. What's up with that? Silly Tri-Ace.

Due to this, I think I've automatically chosen not to use the main characters, sorely due to the fact that their personalities don't grow! The cutscenes are very suggestive. In the Crawsus Forest Ruins cutscene you see Arngrim and Dylan chatting in the background, while Leone and Alicia's voices are the only ones audible. Tri-Ace is telling us that Arngrim and Dylan are having some kind of, perhaps manly "shoot the shit" dialogue, but you don't get to know what it is. I don't see any reason than obsession of a specific character to not use a trifecta of Einheriar to feed Alicia stat points. I'm convincing myself that the game actually wants you to feed Alicia the Einheiriar bonuses, and hoping that you find one Einheriar that you do indeed like and would keep longer than their free level.

I finally found one of those Einheriar, Lydia is a pretty stylin' 'n young Archer who has 100% resistances on a lot of stuff. Pretty nice.

Well, the cut scenes certainly aren't the strong point of the game, hence general complaints against the plot and character build up. I sort of wonder if the Einherjar have physical bodies all the time and manifest in a physical life form from their spirit, or if they only come together during battle, like Lenneth's DARK WARRIORS that materialize during battles, but appear as ghosts during the towns. Probably the latter.

Also, is it any real point to keep on uping the level past their level of freeing the Einherjar? I guess this is only worthwhile if you actually want to keep the Einherjar. Like I said, that metallic chick-man is gone come level 10.

Good question. Kinda hard to say, funny to imagine a party of 10-20 of your characters raiding a dungeon. They materialize when you release them, that's fact. As far as I can tell there's no point in keeping them except for if you think having them as backup will be a good help. In some of the earlier dungeons it was cool because my whole party died or was on the virge of dying, so I was forced to bring in some backup Einheriar. I like that style, but I haven't needed to do THAT for a while.

Hardly 24 hours, but I do have plenty of cash. In fact, I unlocked all the ?????????? accessible up to chapter 3. I like how you can fight bosses over and over again.

Guh! I tried doing some item hunting today but I didn't do too successfuly. It's kind of difficult when the guide on gamefaqs has japanese names for most everything. I'm just gonna trudge on, pro'lly though. Yeah, how'd someone beat it already? I thought I was playing it a lot... -_-

Tell me, are there any specific tactics for item-collecting to note? I change my attacks to ones I think will strike that part of the monsters body. But I fear it doesn't make a lot of difference. From what angle I attack monsters does make a difference though. Does sheer strength determine the rate at which items drop? Is it guard breaking?

According to the strategy guide, the strength of the stat booster they give you when you free them is determined by their level and equipment.

I don't have any guide for this, but what I think is; it's based mostly on luck. You can increase your chances by attacking at the right sides of the enemy, so you break certain parts of their body, but it still goes down to luck.

I have to say though, my all 2H swordsman team is pretty good at tearing up enemy parts, compared to bow or 1H sword or magic.

This isn't entirely true. Well, at least not in chapter 5+ with Alicia and Rufus. I think this game really jut focused on them and not really anyone else. They both have a fair share of dialogue between each other at that point onward, and are the only characters truly fleshed out by the end of the game.

I like how Celes (the girl you mentioned) and Jessica (low-level chick) pratically had the SAME finishing move.

I think.


Also on the item-gathering, like said, pure luck. Hell, you may be even lucky if you acquire "Bat ears".

I'm doing some powering up with a few guys, I got rid of that Trylan chick with the metal helmet and visor, with her annoying battle stance and replaced her with the archer women, a much nicer looking female, because we all know VP caters to horny fan boys with super fan service of medival-fantasy dressed battle maidens.

I have to say the "power ups" you get from freed Einherjar are disappointing, however I haven't met any of them yet in the towns.

Trylan hehe. I believe her name was Tyrith. I got rid of her...hmm... I think she's in Solde, but she won't give you anything... I also noticed, however that depending on what point you're at in the game, the released Einheiriar will say different stuff and might be enabled to give you items. You'll find them in various places actually. This Khannon mage guy just chills at the top of a summit in the Sukavia plains. Another one will hang out at the right end of the Kythena Plains. They usually occupy empty houses in the towns.

Yah I have to agree I'm tending more towards the attractive female characters with good voices. What can I say? I can say that Crescent and Xhenon (light sword and mage characters) interact in battle.

Xhenon: Thank you for your services in the <insert some war name>
Crescent: Not at all, I was only following Elle.

or something like that... I believe there were some funny translation to voice recording error there... (As you can see "Not at all" is not exactly a correct response, where "No problem" would suit better.) Not horribly surprised because Star Ocean 2 had some of those funny things. Like Opera would say "I'll turn you into a beehive!"

Good ole Tri-Ace.

According to the Strategy Guide, some freed einherjiar give you an item before the end of chapter 4, some give you an item after chapter 5 starts, some give you an item after you reach the last save point and unlock seraphic gate. Some of them give you an item at 2 or all of those times. That's one of the only parts in the strategy guide I've really read since it's pretty much spoiler free. So if they don't give you an item at first, try again later.

There's an einherjar FAQ over at gamefaqs that explained a lot of it for me.

Just stay the hell away from the forums over there, needless to say.

Quick question: Where's the -best- place to level at around 20? -Still- Chapter 3 and I'm not touching the Turgen Mines yet. Party's more or less level 14s (I mean like 70% of them. I know I divert my attention to them too damn much anyway).

Go complete the mines. I think that is where you get the "added bonus" sealstone, which doubles EXP. Add that with "double check" and you get 4 times the EXP from bosses. Plus, there are 2 more optional areas after the mines. You could always refight a certain squid boss later.

Chapter 3 is far from over by the way.

Should've taken Lwyn instead of Crescent even though she doesn't converse with anyone. Hands down the best looking female sword user in the entire game, and she has the "cute/fun" voice samples too.

Turgen mines is no where near as bad as it seems. Like I said, if the wasps are bugging you, then just cast fire magic/explosion on them. The rest shouldn't be too bad. Sure you got stronger lizard men, but I don't worry about them too much.

Is anyone else actually replaying the game already? I wasn't going to, but for some reason I am easily amused by the ability to control the music. Plus, hearing the original VP battle music is neat. I am too easily amused. =(

WHAT! Control the music? I guess this must be a little surprise after beating the game?

Whooops, that sealstone don't double EXP. It simply extends the bonus gauge time so it reduces at a slower rate.

The desert you come across later is quite a good place to level up. 20k EXP per fight. My level is still at the early 20s, so I'll post any good place to power level if I find it before chapter 4.

Yes, hold L1 for the VP1 battle song and L2 for a random song as you enter the fight.

Can someone tell me where I can find the third rune type for the First Aid skill? What mobs/shops can I get a light rune accessory from? I've been playing the game for over 70 hours now, beat the final boss, Seraphic Gate and got Alicia to Lv.99 but still never unlocked First Aid. She practically solo'd every boss because my party could never stay alive. It's kind of funny that I went all this time without it, but I haven't fought the real boss of SG yet. After maxing her level out, I retired Alicia and replaced her with a certain character that has much more growth potential. ;) So First Aid is definitely a must have skill now.

Ugh, I'm so confused. Why have all of my front liner's weapons dissapeared in the Palace of the Venerated Dragon? It makes no sense. Has this happened to any one else? Some one explain this to me because this handicap is pissin' me off.

Er, are you carrying the sealstone which breaks weapons at 1/5 ratio? 300% attack but 1/5 weapon break rate.

I like how I've basically sent all the newb Einherjars with minimal stats, since I probably won't be using them again. I'm about 19 hours in with Alicia at level 18. She's relatively low compared to you guys since I haven't always had her in my party.

Also, I'm finding Arngrim's somewhat overrated, I think Dylan is a bit better. But of course I like Arngrim's finishing words, "They're probably sorry, I but I don't care". That's so him.