Last night I retired my old crew and started over, so I could get proper builds. Just now I went to B2F and defeated the first FOE with a lvl. 5 team. However, 4 people died, causing one character to nearly level up to lvl. 7 =p Ah well, one FOE down and B2F is a lot faster to grind on.

Stalkers aren't the only red ones. Red just means THEY'RE AFTER YOU.

Yeah, any of the FOEs can be aggressive. On the 2nd floor, there is a bull-like one that'll chase you. On floor 3 somewhere, there's one of those horned FOE critters (from floor 2) that is actually aggressive as opposed to passive.

Wolves on floor 4 have a pack mentality, and whenever you're fighting one FOE, the others will close in on you aggressively until the fight is over. Really cool concept =3

Since I've 100%'d the game.

Tip for anyone who reaches B16F.

Try to Mine 50 Cullinans (rarest drop) from A-4. They make an accessory that costs a fuckton (130000 ental to be exact), but helps a bunch in the long run because it reduces all physical forms of damage.

The +6 defense from an accessory is neat too.

I just got the game guys, wooo. Well I doubt I'll finish it nearly as early as some of you do, since I'm going to be busy with spurts of free-time for a while ahead. However, any tips for the first floor or just in general? Haven't run into any FOEs yet >_>

FOEs hit on floor 2. The first one is weak vs thunder =U I've specialized my alchemist in Fire and somewhat in Thunder. Gave him the first ice spell and the first poison spell, and he's dandy.

There are crab monsters that become more common, and they require magic to kill. Blue ones, that is. I haven't dabbled enough, but on Floor 4 you run in to red ones, and I've noticed that poison is probably the best way to handle them. But I haven't tried ALL the elements :U

I've just barely got to the second stratum and it's kicking my ass. It's like you're back at Lvl. 1 again. My party is one Protector, two Landsknecht, a Medic and an Alchemist who specializes in Poisons. I try and substitute the Alchemist with a Troubador, but things move much slower (but on the plus, some nice buffs).

Lacerta, did you beat the JPN version or the US?

US version.

Both versions are shitty in terms of actually helping the player though.

wtf @ skill descriptions saying they do this, but in actual testing they do something else.

>=0!

I've tried 4 times but I just can't get myself motivated into playing this game whatsoever.

For example, drawing your own maps. Why the hell is this a requirement. I don't see how this is fun at all. And absolutely no battle animations and hard as hell enemies as well. Your own characters lack personality since you can't even see them. It's just "Slash. Damage. Attack. Slash. Win." Lame as hell. Oh and the "You slowly approach him, while scratching your neck. Then you ask, ..." roleplaying is just weird.

I didn't play any of the Wizardry games though, so I will assume this is a "love or hate" type of game. It's not the difficulty which annoys me, it's the way it's presented.

Yeah, this game is certainly aimed towards those who have played these types of games before, and perhaps ample amounts of classic Dragon Quest. I assumed that I wouldn't get into this game due to the presentation, since I never played Wizardry. I did, however, play plenty of Phantasy Star so that probably helped.

I agree that more character personality woud be nice. Atlus's localization put small amounts of personality in it by giving the NPCs names and idiosyncrasies in speech, but that's all that the game gives you. The director of the game encourages you to fill in the gaps in character back story and personality with the power of your Imagination™, but I think that's an excuse for lazy writing. Still, it can be fun sometimes.

I've never played Wizardry or Dragon Quest or the like, but I still enjoy this game, if not for the anime-inspired art style. The mapdrawing feels like a throwback to the days when you really had to do it in games, though I will admit, I've never had to do it before.

I suppose another reason I like it is because of its depth. I mean, sure, it's not the depth of games like Final Fantasy Tactics or anything, but it can be quite deep and set aside a lot of rooms for many possible combinations for your party. Challenge is also another reason I like it. While many can view this as just massive leveling up of your party, I think there's more to it than that.

So really, in the end, it's a love-or-hate game.

The map drawing is only required for the first floor, other than that it's entirely optional. It's not supposed to be "fun", it's supposed to help you out if you take the time to use it (similiar to some of the stuff in Odin Sphere that everyone is bitching about being worthless and a waste of time, except their benefits are more easily seen). This game was created to be somewhat of a new Wizardry. In those types of games you had no map, and huge dungeons. The only way to remember where you were going was to pull out some of that good ol' fashioned graph paper and draw your own map, and at least hope your drawing was correct.

It is though pretty much aimed at those types of fans... although people with creativity can enjoy it too I guess.

"I put on my robe and wizard hat"

The difficulty is pretty wild though. Even with maxed stats, best equipment, and maximum HP. Monsters are still going to go like 4000~30000 damage in the end.

Then again with careful skill planning that becomes... 0~100 damage.

The one thing I really dislike is the 8 character limit in names though. Most of the monsters ended up having to get assigned new names just to fit the limitation, yet their original name is still seen in item descriptions.

My friends and I agree.

Just got into this game recently. I've advanced past the first stratum (by cheating -- you can actually run past Fenrir and into the second stratum, save at the geomagnetic warp, take out the remaining skolls, then reload as many times as necessary until you successfully beat him), currently grinding my protector for the Defender skill.

Holy crap. I just bought this game yesterday.

This game is hard as bollocks.

I need to grind like hell in this game. T_T I swear, I'm gonna cry.

Grinding isn't that bad. My entire party is already level 32 and I'm only at B08, probably overlevelled =p Healing springs are great for extended stays in the dungeon. I'm doing the 5-day quest where you have to spend the entire duration down in B08, and my inventory is already full at day 2 :(

Hint: get Defender (protector skill) and Immunize (medic skill) maxed and FOEs at the second stratum will barely do any damage.

Wait, Level 32 at B08 is overlevelled? Damn, I'm at B06 at Level 23 - 27...

Anyways, does anybody else find money to be VERY scarce in this game? I mean, yeah, if you're leveling up massively, you probably won't notice it, but these pieces of equipment are pretty damn expensive. Not to mention Inn stays are also fairly pricey and party revival begins to add up too.

Defender and Immunize will make it so you take very little damage from everything this game has to offer =D

Unless it does an "instant death" attack, which tends to carry an element on it, so you need one of the elemental guarding skills from the Paladin then (Troubadour will just make it do less, but instant death is still instant death).

Inn isn't that expensive if you know how to manipulate it, but then it involves making 4 Lv 1 "Slaves" and then switching out person you're going to be healing (since it ignores the last person's level, only the first four count into price).

Money isn't that hard to come by, if you make a team exclusively for harvesting materials (mine/chop/take). Take note of harvesting points that are located near warp points.

Also, you'll come across healing springs and a certain two-person party who will heal your party for free.

Once you reach the 3rd stratum (B11), there's the Treefrog right beside the geomagnetic warp which you can grind forever for exp and drops since it keeps calling in allies. Well, almost forever, since the exp cap per battle is 21375 ;_; (that's 4275 per person for a 5-member party)

I love Defender + Immunize, I haven't had to revive anybody since Fenrir. Just got TP Regen level 3 for my medic too, so now we can grind Treefrogs all day long until our inventory fills up.

That means it's time for me to get a Protector again. :|

Another tip: the most typical party configuration is:

Front row: Landsknecht + Dark Hunter + Protector
Back row: Alchemist + Medic

Replace Dark Hunter with Survivalist, if you like. I don't see Troubadour being used much. There's two additional classes but I haven't unlocked them yet.

Well, I suppose that's why I might be having a harder time. I have Immunize from my Medic, but I don't have Defender for my Protector yet. I also use only 1 of every class and juggle them around for even exp. growth.

So My front Row consists of a Protector, a Landsknecht, or a Dark Hunter and my backrow consists of a Traubadour, a Survivalist, a Medic, or an alchemist. I don't have any party members focused on Mining/Taking/Choping stuff. Those 7 characters you see there are all I've got. I suppose this'll screw me over later, but that's okay. No fun if you can breeze through the later parts of the game anyway. ;)

Is there a story behind this game? If so, is there a place where I can read it? :p So far I've finished the first mission, but this game is a bit tedious. It's not so bad if you're into that kind of mindnumbing leveling, but I can only take so much of it.

I just recognized that the SECOND PART was released in Japan yesterday!

Does anyone have further information about this new game?

PlayAsia: Sekaiju no Meikyuu 2: Shoou no Seihai

I don't know much from what I've seen and read some where there are going to be three new job classes. A Gunslinger, a doctor magus(?) and pets which so far I've only seen a bear and a tiger thing.

There was also talk that they were going to make the battles visually more pleasing than the first. All in all, I'm looking forward to it and wish Atlus would hurry up and announce it.