[PS2] SMT: Persona 3 (The RPG to keep talking about, since :awesome:) Now with more PEZ.

Oh Fuck you hanged man.

Spoiler:

What a terrible boss design. Huge HP + i can't touch it unless i kill the statues bullshit + summoning maya bullshit + god hand 1 hit kill crit for no reason but to spite me.

I'm going to go grind until i have Ma?dyne spells. See you in 5 years.

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

Akihiko is starting to piss me off. For the last several floors, he's been using Zio instead of Mazio. My other characters always use their Ma- spells but he stopped for some reason. I encounter alot of enemies that are weak to electric and he's wasting precious time by use single target spells. Anyone know how to counter-prevent this? He's set to Act Freely (like everyone else), not Conserve SP. When he is set to Conserve SP he just kills himself by spamming Sonic Punch.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Guest

Akihiko is starting to piss me off. For the last several floors, he's been using Zio instead of Mazio. My other characters always use their Ma- spells but he stopped for some reason. I encounter alot of enemies that are weak to electric and he's wasting precious time by use single target spells. Anyone know how to counter-prevent this? He's set to Act Freely (like everyone else), not Conserve SP. When he is set to Conserve SP he just kills himself by spamming Sonic Punch.

Have you tried setting him to Knock Down on the enemies that are weak against electric attacks? I haven't been able to experiment with it myself, so I don't know how that affects their skill use.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Chaotic

Anyway, should I bother keeping my team even? When I get Konomaru, he's at level 34, I'm only level 29 and my lowest level, Junpei, is at level 21. I'm just wondering if I should go out of the way to keep my whole team even.

Is it worth it?

I'd say yes, especially considering how easy it is to drag characters up to where you need them to be. You'll wind up with them leveling up after almost every battle if you take them to the highest floors you've reached so far.

That way if a boss or area leans towards one type of attack or weakness, you can have them ready to use. Plus, the enemies aren't shy about ripping you several new asses via a team member's weakness.

Koromaru is awesome.

About Akihiko, if you set him to Knock Down, he'll either use Zio/nga/dyne on each enemy weak against it or Mazio/ng/dyne. As far as I've seen, he does the former more often, though I wonder if it's because he goes for the strongest spell (He's a level or two away from getting Maziodyne).

The game's been piling on the crazy, but I've got a question:

Anyone know in what block are the Nata Taishi cards are dropped? Those and Mithra cards.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'll probably keep Konomaru as a permanent member of my team.

He's just that awesome.

But I think for now, I'll bum rush to the 5th document then grind for a couple levels until Junpei hits 30.

FELIPE NO

Konomaru has been a member since he came and is now 55. He's the best on my team, absolutly.

Like a good dog he always knows when to do Mudo/Mamudo/Agidyne/a critical hit. If i ever get a dog, i'm naming it kono in hope that it will somehow inherit the pure burning awesome that is Koromaru.

Totally better than 'hey the main character has less than 30% hp let me use Garudyne instead of healing him' Yukari and 'wait, wait, wait, wait' Aigis.

Aigis, i wish you had magic

Spoiler:

11/22 never forget. First time a game's made me cry. Ever.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Quote:

Aigis, i wish you had magic

Thanks for spoiling my anticipation. =/

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Guest

Thanks for spoiling my anticipation. =/

Don't worry much about it. She's awesomely strong anyway. The only problem is fighting mobs that block physical attacks, which are few.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well, technically she does have magic, it's just nothing but support buffs. In situations where she can do nothing but wait most of the time, just set her to support and she'll toss around defense/attack/evasion boosts and whatever healing items you've got.

Koromaru is pretty awesome and he'd be even better if he had healing skills, but I've got other folks for that. Not to mention his immunity to fire and mudo skills, the latter of which makes facing insta-kill bastards that much easier.

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

Speaking of items, can your characters ever run out? Back when I still used Junpei he used alot of healing items, and I was worried about them going to waste.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Guest

Speaking of items, can your characters ever run out? Back when I still used Junpei he used alot of healing items, and I was worried about them going to waste.

It doesn't seem that way. I know for sure that they're definitely not taking for the inventory stock since the first time Junpei used an item, I was like "wtf, don't use my items without asking".

Turned out when I went to the Pharmacy, I didn't even have any at all. Apparently he's making his own supply.

In any case, throughout the many grinds that I've been doing, he's used healing items many times. His SP-free healing is one of the main reasons he's sticking around (for now).

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Ashton

Totally better than 'hey the main character has less than 30% hp let me use Garudyne instead of healing him' Yukari

That is so true! That idiot Yukari caused me to lose the full moon battle against the hierophant the first time because she thought it would be a good idea to keep attacking the boss instead of healing anyone, never mind the fact that she wasn't smart enough to think "Gee the entire party except me has a fear status, shouldn't I use one of those gems to remove it?"

I'm beginning think this game has something against me where it wants me to lose every single one of the full moon battles once...

EDIT: Just saw the mention of items and how other characters use them. I never knew that all each had their own stash, I thought it was all shared. Interesting, well I guess I can't hold my second complaint against Yukari on that one then.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

If you want a character to prioritize healing/buffing over attack just set them to Heal/Support and they'll heal/buff until everyone's HP are full. Only then will they attack the enemy, or wait.

I finally reached the top of the tower today, definitely happy to have gotten up there. This seems to have a triggered something, since there's now huge gold and white double doors in the lobby. I'm guessing it's a secret dungeon since there was a new block in there along with level 98 monsters.

Either way, looks like a bit of celebratory grinding is in order for reaching the top.

FELIPE NO

I'm intrigued, how much do you play the game Metal Sphere? I've always been curious about how the game length actually shapes up to be, and just wanted to see what it took to get to the to.

Just want to see if I should devote a couple more hours in the day (or just grind less) to get the game finished in a reasonable amount of time (day-wise that is...I don't want to have to split gaming time among a number of games).

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Rollins

I'm intrigued, how much do you play the game Metal Sphere? I've always been curious about how the game length actually shapes up to be, and just wanted to see what it took to get to the to.

Just want to see if I should devote a couple more hours in the day (or just grind less) to get the game finished in a reasonable amount of time (day-wise that is...I don't want to have to split gaming time among a number of games).

I've been hammering the game, actually. If it helps any, here's the save I made right after reaching the top:

Originally Posted by Top of Tartarus

PLV77
PLAYTIME 127 hr, 3m
NORMAL

And that wasn't without some difficulty, the enemies in that last block are in the low to mid 70s. Hell, somewhere between floor #220 and #228 there's two level 89 enemies which spooked me.

Oh, one good way of knowing how far along you are in the game is by looking at your SEES Social Link rank. What I'm not sure of is whether your choice at a major turning point affects the length of the game.

How ya doing, buddy?

Damn, Metal Sphere. You weren't kidding about that boss on floor #135.

Spoiler:

No matter what tactic you use, it seems to rely mostly on hoping he won't hammer you with Megidola. That's the first boss where I've had to go back and grind for a bit so that my party could survive the hits; particularly Yukari handling the Maragidynes.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Yeah, I definitely had to point out what a bastard he is.

Spoiler:

It seems like most encounters where your opponent has a Megido spell in their skill set boils down to just that: survival. Eventually you get into a safe groove so you can chip away at them, but it's definitely an unwelcome spell.

#211 and #252 will have you using that same tactic, now that I think about it.

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

Originally Posted by Metal Sphere

If you want a character to prioritize healing/buffing over attack just set them to Heal/Support and they'll heal/buff until everyone's HP are full. Only then will they attack the enemy, or wait.

True, but the issue I had was twofold. First that boss used it's attack to instill fear on the entire party which worked on everyone but Yukari. Since I didn't have control of my character, I couldn't change her tactics.

Second, I have often gotten healed by Junpei using an item on me when my hp have been going low, and that's with him set to Act Freely. Since Yukari has healing spells, I had kinda hoped she would've done the same in that instance. As it stood, I basically got to watch myself get annihilated since the battle had been progressing well, thus I had no reason to let up on the damage everyone was doing since I decided to play support with the healing, as well as the boss had 1/3 or fewer HP remaining.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Quick question about Persona 3. How is the pacing of the story? I rented the game for a day and only got to the 15th floor. Nothing much really happened in terms of storyline. So, I really have no idea if the story is any good or not.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by horseman85

Quick question about Persona 3. How is the pacing of the story? I rented the game for a day and only got to the 15th floor. Nothing much really happened in terms of storyline. So, I really have no idea if the story is any good or not.

I personally love the story, but I was pretty much hooked from the start, and have been ever since. It moves along pretty nicely, and so far I've only hit one kinda dead spot where there wasn't much happening in the story, I had gone as far up in Tarturus as it would allow me too, and the shadows on those floors were a pushover. I even had a healthy amount of money after spending only a amount of short time in there, and thus I was kinda passing time trying to up my other stats as well as social links since the main story was at a standstill for that period of time. But that's the good part about it, even when the main story was a little stalled, I didn't feel like all that there was to do was grind out money and experience points.

I'd definitely recommend getting the game if you enjoyed what you played while you rented it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Kaelin

Since I didn't have control of my character, I couldn't change her tactics.

This used to really irritate me, but I've gotten over it by making sure to prepare for the worst by setting tactics at the start of the boss fight in anticipation for anything the baddie tosses my way.

Quote:

As it stood, I basically got to watch myself get annihilated since the battle had been progressing well, thus I had no reason to let up on the damage everyone

This happened enough times that even with them set to Heal/Support, I make sure to heal myself come the next turn after a particularly brutal assault. While a good bit of the time they pull through, they choose the worst times to deviate from that. That way, I get healed and they can focus on someone else.

Edit: Ah, forgot to mention that after a certain event, the story's pace picks up quite a bit.

FELIPE NO

I imagine many people are farther than I am at the moment, so it's probably not surprising or news to you, but I just love this.

Floor 25:

I get the distinct feeling that I was not meant to beat the three tables while at level 10. And I'm sure I wouldn't have if the game wasn't designed so that the enemy can always have there turn skipped entirely.

With the right element or physical attack, enough patience and luck, sp restorative items, relenting on all out attacks, and employing the stand by option, I imagine you could conceivably take out any boss while way under leveled as long as they have a weakness to begin with.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

The problem is there are some bosses that doesnt have any weakness, good example is the guardian on 59th floor, Having a hard time against him.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Do Block Sections only unlock once after a full moon? After Block 3 opened I went through the first section on the first night. Now I'm kinda bored.. Am I stuck playing with trash mobs until the next full moon?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I wasn't too far into the game and decided due to my inefficient use of time towards boosting my academics, charm, and courage, I could stand to start again from the beginning. My first real night in Tartarus, climbed up to 5 and warped back down. Everyone was tired by then but I had some additional goals. I wanted to hit level five so I could make a Nekomata, I wanted to build up enough yen so I'd be funded for the week's donations and karaoke, and I wanted to leave with Orpheus, Nekomata, Pixie, Apsaras and Angel. One problem I'm having and one odd thing I've encountered.

It seems like the only way to obtain Angel right now is to fuse Orpheus and Apsaras. I've had no luck seeing a single Angel tarot; I suspect they do not drop until after the fifth floor. I'd like not to lose Orpheus but it wouldn't be the biggest blow as Nekomata has agi and better stats for the most part. Thing I'm worried about is, do I need Orpheus with me by the time I have access to the compendium for him to be in it? Will he be at his default level or the one he was at when I fused him? And are there any story or bonus consequences to not retaining the original? For example, in Nocturne, if you kept the Pixie you get early in the game to a late point, there was a certain door you'd be able to open, if not, you were out of luck. Anything like that?

The odd thing I encountered was at a certain point, there were no access points for two floors in a row. I'm sure of it, it was a small area that I went over like mad looking for it. I have not come across that in this game until now. I don't know if it was because of how many times I had already entered and warped down to ground level, because I've done it a lot in this single run, or what. It's bizarre and kind of fear instilling to think that, when I need one the most, I could possibly be searching in futility.

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