Non-Flash Links At Bottom Of Page

Malik (6/9/09)

I'm a bit slow on posts lately...then again, that seems to be my normal situation recently. Too much going on with stuff in my real life to get caught up with anything remotely close to fun. Between a lot on my plate at work, and it always seems to be growing, and some important chores I need to do, I'm left with only a little time to enjoy the unusually sunny weather in Seattle and then sleep to start another day of chaos.

I can't add much geek related to this post since the only thing I'd do if I had the time would be to continue playing Rydia's Tale on Final Fantasy 4: The After Years. I guess it's good that I'm busy since it lowers the time between finishing the current bath of The After Years and when the next batch arrives (July 6th).

Malik

Malik (6/11/09)

I hate being in a constant battle between work and responsibility versus my desire to be able to relax and have fun. It's a lot like the constant flood of fighting between my party and the random encounters in FF4: The After Years. Now this has to be one of the few games out there that make me want to get rid of random battles...and that's saying something since I may be one of the tiny minority of RPG fans who actually enjoys random encounters.

Anyway, I'm still trying to find the time to get through Rydia's Tale. It's been slow going since I've been having those real world type things to keep me occupied. In fact, Rydia's Tale has only, from what I understand, around one and a half dungeons to get through. Although this number seems off to me. I mean I've gone through the cave to escape the land of summoned monsters (that felt like half a dungeon since it was one way and pretty quick), I completely explored the Sylph Cave (feeling like a good whole dungeon to me), and have explored half the Sealed Cave (feeling like I did half a dungeon). I know there's more in the future for Rydia's group, so I think the one and a half dungeon description floating around many message boards has to be off.

Anyway, I think one of the single most broken RPG characters in any RPG I've played is in Rydia's Tale. I'm not talking about either of the two main characters (Rydia or Luca). I mean (this may be a minor spoiler...but I don't think so) the puppet Brina who joins shortly after you get Luca (who basically joins right after you start the sub-game).

All you have to do is trade a dagger and some ore to the blacksmith (who can make you weapons if you give him some ore you find scattered around Rydia's Tale) to make a dancing dagger. This is the same dancing dagger from the original FF4. You can equip it for some good damage, or you can use it as an item for good damage to the front or back row from the front or back row.

Next you go through the Sylph cave and find the clown suit armor for Brina. You can give the dancing dagger and clown suit to Calca (the other doll...get it? Calca and Brina...Calcabrina). Now you have your broken character. Keep Brina in the back row and have her dance (her special ability) for constant healing or status buffs. With the clown suit, she gets about three actions per enemy action. This means you can either snipe some monsters with the dancing dagger and thin the heard or do some dancing before they get a chance to attack. Now the main thing is that you will keep healed with her dancing since most effects of dancing are the cure family of spells (including cureaja, formerly Cure4), but you can also get shell or protect to buff your magic and physical defenses of the entire party. Best of all, I find haste comes fairly regularly, which now boosts the speed of the entire party. This is all you need to dominate the enemy.

Once your party is hasted, you have Rydia and Luca attacking at least twice per enemy action, Calca averaging around two attacks for every 1.1 enemy actions (he's a bit slow), and Brina keeping the entire party healthy or the enemies sniped with six attacks per enemy action.

Sadly I know this cannot last. I'm not going to include spoilers, but the simple fact remains for any FF4 fan; the dancing dagger is awesome when you first can get it, but it does lose it's value with time as it becomes weaker and weaker compared to the enemies and the other weapons available. However, while you're still in the start of Rydia's Tale, this makes for the most broken fighter and healer you could ever ask for. Best of all, it's entirely your choice on how to play Brina. If you need damage, you can do so without changing her equipment, and if you need healing you can also do so without losing her fighting edge. It's win-win...and it's also a way to definitely make the massive random battle encounter rate tolerable when you don't have a conventional healer (who can heal between fights).

Malik

Malik (6/12/09)

I feel like crap right now, so I was going to skip posting today.  Afterall, I have nothing to say beyond the fact that feeling like crap has limited anything fun I've done to basically sitting on the couch and watch lame TV (not much good on since it's between seasons and all that).  However, when I saw the Rock Band DLC for next week, I knew I had to post.

I don't really care about three songs from Evanescence.  I'm not much of a fan, although I guess I could say I don't always change the station if their stuff comes on.  However, I sure don't actively seek out their music.

On the other hand, I f#@$ing love Spinal Tap.  I could go all cliché right now and say some poser crap like "they go all the way to eleven!" but I won't.  Instead I'll just say they f#@$ing rock harder than almost any other pseudo-real band.  Plus, with how much of an influence they've had on Harmonix (like the amp knobs shown in loading screens for past GH games going to eleven or the drummer exploding after Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight, or that song even being in GH2) and music pop culture in general, all I have to say is...About f$#%ing time!  I'll finally have a reason to download some more RB DLC after taking a few weeks off.

Now, back to me feeling like crap.

Malik

TopDepo.com

For Those Who Don't Have Flash Plug-Ins...

Rested XP    News    Reviews    Videos    Features    Forums    Archives    Search This Site    Links    Contact Us    Disclaimer

Non-Flash Links At Bottom Of Page