I would like 99 of these, and 99 of those, and 99 tents to pitch at the hottie.

I try to get as many healing items as possible-since as someone said, casting healing spells takes too long.

But, on the other side--MP can be deleted by those attack spells, too, so it's nice to have a back-up healer who can use an object--like one to replenish MP.

That's what I thought was fun about Suikoden and Star Ocean. FOOD could replenish HP and such.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Megavolt

In Grandia (at least the first one) there are a few hints you can pick up. It's always suspect to find that a character levels up more slowly (or more quickly) compared to the others and you know things probably won't last when a new party member just happens to be at a much higher level than you.

I discovered that in FF8 when Edea joined. I didn't waste anything on her.

We talk about having room for items. Suikoden made it a strategic point with its item inventory. Each member of the party only had room for so many things, and the items came with a "pre-packaged" number.

For those who haven't played, here's an example:
Needle 4
Medicine 3
Mega Medicine 3

And you can't go higher than those numbers, so to have say, 6 Medicines, you have to use 2 lines.

And like I said, you only have so much room, since Suikoden does the weird thing of counting your armor/accessories as part of your item inventory. (I think there's only 6 slots left)

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Denicalis

I was going to come in here railing about Suikoden, but I figured you'd probably beaten me to it, Lek.

Yea, in most FF games I spend like a pimp on shoreleave day. Tents, ethers, potions... tons. In Suikoden though, I budget for weapon upgrades and runes. They force you to be much more economical.

Heh. One of two things I never liked about Suikoden.

Of course, there's always the trick of spending money at an inn to heal, but if you have the money for that, then why not buy the healing items?

In my case, it's because I like to upgrade weapons as well as buy items AND keep healing MP up. This is what I do in a fight:

Go in fighting.
Physical and magical attacks.
Apply HP item when person is under half HP--use strong item if available.
Use those items until they run out.
Use weaker items until they run out.
Use All-party healing items after All-Party attack from enemy (if available).
If not--All-member healing spell.
Use MP items (if available) to return MP to higher numbers.
Defeat enemy.

This is normally a boss-fight scenario, since some enemies don't require much to defeat them. (Unless it's Diablo from FF8--bugger starts to heal you after a while).

After that, I generally go to an inn to rest up and heal--then go shopping all over again.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.