Hence, why getting him as Illusionist and playing to the enemies' weaknesses (including Geomancy) works so fine. The thing is that Illusion A-abilities are pretty weak, so it's either getting an insanely high Magick Attack score + Geomancy or use it for something else. That, and books unable to be used with Dual Wield kinda kills the set-up. As for Frimelda, go nuts. She'll definitely do well with Paladin and Dual-Wield, so Seer is a reasonable idea; Cura and Raise, Refresh and Magick Frenzy will do well to supplement Saint Cross and Holy Blade. Fighter also complements real well: with Frimelda's attack power (I haven't noticed, actually, if she has a S growth on Attack), she can dish enough damage even with Blitz. To be precise: my Frimelda has Blue Mage as her secondary ability, if only because I already had a Fighter/Thief. Though, I ended up having a Blue Mage/Seer for the heck of it, using the Blue Mage's scimitars in Dual Wield and having a load of spells. As for Moogles: Chocobo Knights are some of the most powerful classes, even though their abilities are limited. The reason is because they have the best Speed rate of any class. Although, to be precise, Gunner, Mog Knight and Juggler are the best Moogle classes: Gunner's Stopshot is still the best way to stop enemies, since it has a reasonably good chance of inflicting Stop AND also deal damage; Mog Knight is pretty solid despite the Attack and Defense penalties for purposes of race, plus they still have Ultima Charge; Juggler has Ring (the second best method to inflict Stop), Dagger (Disable + damage) and Smile, arguably the best way to deal Quicken since it's pretty much the same range, no MP requirement, and always works. Good combos with Moogles are: Flintlock/Gunner (you can use the Cannon to heal from a distance and deal damage at the same time, and it's insanely complete in terms of healing, damage and status effects), Gunner/Mog Knight (sure: Ultima Charge + range might not seem the hottest thing. However, Mog Rush + Concentrate does, plus you can do Mog Attack from a distance which means damage and knockback from around 6-7 squares); Juggler/anything or anything/Juggler (because of Ring, Smile and Dagger). Bangaas are an acquired taste. I must admit that I'm a fan of Bangaa, if only because I can always trust they'll dish some respectable damage, but also because even the Bishop can take hits before falling. Cannoneer is a great class, but it's mostly stand-alone: you MUST remain in Cannoneer to take advantage of ranged combat and abilities, and few Bangaa attacks work in range (and badly enough, Gladiator isn't one of them). Cannoneer/Warrior is a deadly combo, since you can use Body Slam in melee or debuff in range. Templar, on the other hand, is sick as heck (the least-useful abilities are Rasp and Silence, but otherwise it is a very complete class), Gladiator is pretty useful, White Monk is pretty close to FFT's Monk (it has most of the abilities, and a Master/White Monk pretty much replicates the old class in its entirety), Dragoon has the use of spears, Jump, three elemental breaths and solid defense, Defender is usually one of the sickest classes to lob around (in FFTA, Aura + Meltdown usually meant going kamikaze and killing enemies without even thinking about it; FFTA2 nerfed that by making Aura use MP). I'll admit, Bangaa were pretty nerfed from their FFTA brutality (Defender's Aura + Meltdown, Bishop/Templar's Soul Sphere healing battery), but what they got in exchange makes them one of the best races in pretty much anything except magic. I also had a Sage/Morpher in FFTA, but I digress on the sadness for its disappearance. I'm irked that Gadgeteer remains in FFTA2 (as Tinker) because the abilities are horrible, but Morpher didn't really had a way to be: the "Morphed" status pretty much replaced both your A-abilities AND they were just a so-so method to use monster attacks, and even then you didn't had all monsters to choose from. Finally: Mantra Magic wasn't so lethal. I rarely used it, unless it was against Adamantoise since those are really hard to kill (not anymore, since Lifebreak and similar attacks are far more effective, plus they apparently are less formidable to break). And as for the Alchemist, you can't go wrong with Sage. Another Illusionist isn't going to cut it real well, while an Alchemist/Sage will have the best spells at its disposal.
Ah, I see. Though, I'm starting to kind of doubt my Seer now. I like his design, so that's why I use him, but he's a tad on the low-damaging side, hmm? Both Luso and Adelle have different jobs, so the only Hume left that has an original design that I like would be Frimelda; thankfully, she comes with Dual-Wield already. Would you suggest going Parivir/Paladin and Seer instead, with Friemelda? I hear that she has an incredible attack growth of S+ for Paladin. I never found any races of them that are that useful, though. In the first Tactics Advance, I had a Gunner with Ultima Shot who was really powerful, but in this game, your MP starts at 0 so it kind of ruins it. And I've never really liked Bangaa much. ^_^" On the topic of Alchemists, I have one, but I don't know whether to make his other job Sage or Illusionist. Alchemist/Illusionist was my Tactics Advance setup (my Sage was with a Morpher, which sadly disappeared). When using an Alchemist with Rasp, it's basically lethal when you have a Blue Mage traveling along with him that has Matra Magic, right?
Geomancy only works on elements (Fire, Ice, Lightning, Water, Wind, Earth, Holy and Dark). The idea is that you'll be reinforcing your offensive Ra-magic through High Magick, and your Illusions to deal as much damage as possible to compensate for the low attack power of books. I find odd that you're lacking Bangaa or Moogle, considering that they're available pretty quick (and they are easier to get than Gria, which means at least you must be at 2/3rds of the game and already having access into Ordallia). IIRC, one of the starting characters should be a Bangaa, but that shouldn't matter. Recall that, in the case of Nu Mou, the Alchemist can use items on behalf of the party, so that would imply getting Ethers and Hi-Ethers. Recharge doesn't recover a random amount of MP, but a fixed amount: you recover 24 MP, but with the ability cost of 4 MP you gain 20 MP with each use (technically, you're "tripling" what you get with each turn in terms of MP). In the case of a Seer, Friendly Fire Replenish MP isn't a very good idea. At most, with Recharge for two turns you can launch two straight Magick-Frenzied Illusion spells on the next two turns before you need to recharge once more. Replenish MP grants 20% of the HP damage you get as MP, so for every 20 points of damage you get, your Seer gains 4 MP: to get enough for a single casting of Magick Frenzy, you need to have your Seer receive around 110 points of damage before the first turn, and the Seer doesn't have much HP to begin with (much less if you consider that you'll be spending part of your levels as Illusionist). Replenish MP is mostly an afterthought; a punishment on enemies that attack your Seer, since they can allow him to recharge his MP much faster, hence moving away and attacking from virtually any range.
Yeah, I understood everyone's reasoning for Magick Frenzy, but I never really liked the designs of Hume fighters much. xD Sucks that books can't be dual-wielded, though, even though they're one-handed. With Geomancy, any element that the enemy is neutral to they would become weak to instead, correct? Would that only work for the eight elements or normal, too? I need to think of whether to use that or Halve MP, though, because in my party, there's no Flintlock or Canoneer. I have Luso, Adelle, a Hume, a Viera, a Nu Mou, and a Gria. I've tried it, and to my surprise Illusions do work with Magick Frenzy. I forget, what does Recharge do? Does it just randomly replenish your MP by a little each use? If that's the case, then I suppose Geomancy's the better way to go after all. Hahaha, I looked back at my Seer, and he did have Replenish MP equipped from the start. xD I think if you just attack them on your own, they should recover some MP, right? I'm not ever too concerned about HP (since I always have like ten levels on the enemy from doing lots of quests), so that it seems friendly fire is good? ^_^"
Seer as main job is a bit weak, mostly because you need a strong weapon to have Magick Frenzy deal as much damage as possible. Hence, why Fighter or Paladin/Seer with Dual Wield often works. However, if your intention is to make it Seer primary...Seer/Illusionist with Halve MP would be a good idea, but not exactly the best idea (specially if you have MP batteries such as a Flintlock or Cannoneer). Seer/Illusionist with Geomancy makes your spells much more powerful (which will help with the magic side, which should be stronger), as well as a high amount of Magick Attack (sp?) overall. I'm not sure if Illusionist works, since I only have a Paladin (Luso) and a Blue Mage (generic) as Seers; given that, not all spells work for Magick Frenzy (in the case of Blue Mage, only Quake officially works). Also, once you get Recharge, you might not need Halve MP that much, since Quick isn't so difficult to get (Quicken through Time Magic, or the Juggler's Smile) For a reaction ability, Absorb MP is kinda weak: it only works when they use spells on you, which is not always (even if monsters have spells on their attack list sometimes). I presume you mean Replenish MP, which works a bit better (though it forces you to take damage, which isn't a good idea).
Oh, you have quite a bit of knowledge on Grimoire of the Rift, right? Well, I need some advice. I'm wanting to make a Seer as one of my main Hume jobs, since I happen to just like the design (yeah, I know, weird xD), but I'm having trouble trying to figure out what secondary ability to give him so that he becomes the best he can be, and also passive an reaction abilities. And I want the Seer to be the main job, not the secondary job, which is kind of mindless, but it's what I prefer. Do you have any thoughts? I was going to try Illusionist with Halve MP and Absorb MP so that my Seer can target every enemy with only 14 MP each time, plus an extra hit with Magick Frenzy, but is there a better setup?
For example, in the Cave of Wonders (I believe that's the stage) 3, where you get all of the Cyclops lined in such a way that beating them all at once nets you an insanely high XP bonus, enough to get any character over 200-300 to then move forward, get more items, and so on. And of course, getting specialists is tediously long, but the idea is that if you can get some items you can level up, and to get the best weapons you can get, you can take advantage and level them up. Also, IIRC, you can just throw weak characters at them and artificially increase their levels. Dunno how that works, but it makes battles less of a hassle. I tend to get to the Item World to raise some of the stealing hands, in order to have a very high chance of stealing stuff. Usually, I take the time to move some specialists while at that. Though, I have rarely gotten over the 20th level, methinks.
I always found getting specialists and leveling them up to be so tediously long. The Gladiator thing, I've never even gotten one to 9,999. Grinding appropriately? I'm not sure I get what you mean by that. xD Care to clarify? I always wanted Asagi to be the actual protagonist, though. Nippon Ichi doesn't seem to be extremely popular for some reason, though. I guess in terms of strategy RPGs, Tactics and Fire Emblem has them weighed down? Besides Disgaea 3, I don't think I've seen any other Nippon Ichi game even in stores.
Doing it the old-fashioned way (level-grinding, and trying to get a few Statisticians on items for larger amounts of XP). The big problem is that I can't get to grind appropriately at the places where I should, and I haven't played Disgaea since...well, a long time ago. As for Makai Wars...I think it's the kind of development that plagued Duke Nukem. Although Asagi has had a fair share of protagonism (she's pretty much an unofficial mascot, alongside Pleinair and the official Prinnies).
Are you abusing the Foresight glitch in the first Disgaea? x3 It's unbelievable how fast you can raise your levels, but it's so tedious after you get most of everything. All I have left is a level 9,999 Cosmic Hero with a Yoshitsuna that can wipe out the game. >> I have a question for you regarding Nippon Ichi, actually. Do you know anything more about Makai Wars? I heard they abandoned it at one point, and then picked it up again, but that was around 2005, I think. I want to see that game released really bad (because of Asagi), but then there's the problem of Nippon Ichi maybe going for bankruptcy. =\
I've only played the first Disgaea, in any case, but I'm well aware of the large universe of Nippon Ichi (the Netherworld, Celestia, Earth, the Marl Kingdom and whatever else is missing, which would be Marona's world). Though, I have both Phantom Brave and Makai Kingdom waiting for me. I still haven't "finished" Disgaea completely (I finished the game per se, good ending while at that, but I still haven't done all of the secondary endings, gotten a truly high-end character, or beaten Baal/gotten Marjorie or Priere). Then again, my PS2 is a bit abandoned. I nowadays play mostly 360, DS or PSP.
You... do all that in your spare time? How many weeks, if not months, does it take you?
Oh, fine. I've been playing a lot of D&D (playing two, and actually DMing one), but aside from that, not much. Trying to do a lot of stuff at a time; writing a bit of fiction, working on a specific list for one of the games, and so on.
Hello there, Oskar. I haven't spoken to you in a while. How have you been?
Well, in opposition for that, if the game's not a turn-based RPG, I attempt the Level 1 Challenge instead. I assume you're good at gaming?
