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To tweak, or not to tweak?
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Hey Goog.
You said there's some fights in Hoshigami that are nastier in the Japanese version? Is this supposed to mean that Atlus toned down these fights somehow for the American version? Even if this isn't what you meant here's my question.
Is it pure crap that publishers feel the need to do this? Like Final Fantasy 4. What I find odd is that there be changes in a tactics game. If people say Hoshigami is hard (I've heard about it from other game sites) then I wonder how they would feel with Fire Emblem 5. That game is still one of the hardest games in Japan. It's near impossible to go through certain areas without having to restart it because something happened. Is that bad? Shouldn't be. If a person is turned off because a game is hard maybe it isn't for them. People who want a challenge shouldn't get blown off because they're the minority, but that concept won't ever get through to companies so not like it matters. Is making a game easier something publishers should think about?
Tristan Adnade
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Googleshng:
Some publishers feel the need to tweak the difficulty of some games, but their logic occassionally bugs
me. For me, and I think most people, the acceptable difficulty range goes from about FF at the easiest,
to a game where bosses need you do have a decent level and a good strategy at the top... maybe a little
attrition from normal monsters thrown in. If I were translating a game that went outside that range in
either direction, I'd probably want to tweak it a little. Or, if there was a massive spike in the difficulty
curve of a game, I'd probably harp on that too. So, while I agree that watering FF4 down was a bit much,
I have no objection to tweaking a couple fights in Hoshigami, especially since you can really pick your
own difficulty there. More on that later though.
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Coinage
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Hey Google:
Hoshigami is causing me more problems than any other RPGs. But, I'm not willing to give up.
1. Say I buy a coin and I can only use it to cast it's spell once (ie: 20 CP), how do I level it up so that I can use it several times without having to wait for it to recharge? (engraving might be the key but what to engrave?)
2. I've pretty much figured out the 3rd fight, but when you say the "waterfall fight" are you referring to the 4th one? That's quite hard. Is having Fazz and 6 allies standard for the game? Are there lots of fights (that you know of) which have as many enemies as the 4th one? (13 in that one, I believe)
--Maikeru
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Googleshng:
It's really the 5th if you count the jail break cakewalk, but yes. That's one of the hardest fights in
the game... especially when you're opperating under the assumption that every enemy will always be on
the same level as your highest leveled character. 13 on 7 with them having an archer on a mountain is
a PAIN even if you do have a slight edge. After that you get a nice breather though.
Now, as for coins, until someone bothers to throw together an FAQ, you'll just have to experiment around.
I found some combos that give me 2 high power high range castings on almost all my spells before the
waterfall fight, and you CAN seal the same coin more than once, so play around a bit. Oh, and you realize
MP regenerates, right?
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A short break from Hoshigami
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Hello quivering jello-
I have a few off the wall personal questions...
1) What did you think of Legend of Dragoon?
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Googleshng:
It was the most generic RPG ever made, but its release was timed extremely well, making it a nice break
from the weird experimental stuff out at that time... briefly.
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2) Why does everyone hate Secret of Evermore?
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Googleshng:
It has some indefinable sucky quality... I think the soundtrack is a big part of it though subconciously.
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3) What is your favorite town in all RPG-dom?
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Googleshng:
That's a tough one. I think I'll go with... Figaro from FF6. Just a cool concept.
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4) Would Johnny the Homicidal Maniac make a good video game?
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Googleshng:
No. It'd make a rather nasty one really. Can't make it an RPG since there's not a big cast or a grandiose
quest. Can't make it a doom clone because he doesn't use guns. Can't make it a fighting game for MANY
reasons. Generic action doesn't mix with black comedy well. I SUPPOSE you could make some sort of screwed
up puzzle or rhythm game out of it, but you can make a screwed up puzzle or rhythm game out of ANYTHING.
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5) I don't want a tilde... NOOOO TILDE!!!
-Lv. 101
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Googleshng:
Then don't guess any quotes.
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And now back to your regularly scheduled Hoshigami
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Hi Caelas here, First time writer long time reader and
I have a question...
Can Hoshigami be beaten? Seriously, I have a slight
bit of trouble, nothing serious on the first level. A
real easy time on the second (Silphatos rocks!) And at
that point It got hard, I got ANNILHALATED on the
third level, leaving me with no mercs.
At that point, my guard went down because the 4th
place was laughably easy, but then I looked at the 5th
place, and turned the game off.
Can it be beaten?
Caelas
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Googleshng:
Again, that's one of the nastiest fights in the game. I'd suggest you get yourself up to level 10 by having
your two characters beat the snot out of each other, hire a new set of mercs (who will also be level 10,
and that works with any multiple of 5 as long as everyone you have is at least that level), and THEN try
it. If you can't win with a 3 or 4 level edge, I'd be surprised quite frankly. Even a 1 level difference
has a MAJOR impact in that game.
- The Q&A host who spent a week trying to get through that fight with 6th level characters.
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And here's the question I've been looking for!
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Hey Goog,
Hoshigami seems to be quite the hot topic doesn't it? Well I hate to throw for fuel into the bonfire but I was wondering if you could clarify something for me. You said a couple days ago that if you level up a little it'll hurt you, but if you level up a lot it'll help you. How does that work? Are the enemies levels based on the levels of your characters? Is there a limit to how high enemy levels can go on a given map? I thought I was sitting good, leveled up for ten hours yesterday, beat both towers of trial, and decided to move on... only to run into enemies that are the same level as most of my characters. :-(
Thanks for your time!
Deadly_Bait
"I should Godlike after ten hours!"
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Googleshng:
Every fight in Hoshigami has a range of levels to it. The enemies in it will be as close as possible to
being on the same level as the highest levelled character in your party without leaving that range. So,
if you're below the range, it'll be insanely hard, if you're in it, it'll generally be just hard enough
to make you really sweat, and if you get up past it, things just get steadily easier. Oh, and for the
record, climbing the towers isn't a very good way to get levels. The inhabitants tend to be lower than
you and thus give you practically nothing. It's much better to sit around the first floor in a little
ring lightly smacking your own characters. Plus that way you can guarrentee the best possible devotion
growth for everyone. Oh, and I'm serious about the experience thing by the way. Hoshigami comes from the
Tactics Ogre school of experience. Hit someone 2 levels higher than you, get 20 EXP, hit someone 2 levels
lower, get 2. When you need 100 to go up a level, it's REALLY not worth it to pound on wimps.
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and a final non-Hoshigami question
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Salut Mademoiselle Goog,
So what's up with Wild Arms 3 being the brownest game like maybe ever? I
just checked out the screenshots and nearly every one of them is like, you
know, BROWN. While the series has never been graphically competitive, this
mass of brown is truly. . . uhm. . . brown.
Which wouldn't be so bad, except for the way it clashes with everything in
the game that isn't brown. There is a reason why cowboys wear earth tones
instead of royal purple gowns, and that reason is aesthetics!
That being said, I'm still mildly excited. Wild Arms was cool because of
gameplay, unique plot, and soundtrack; not because of graphics (although I
would have sat pretty hard on my VERY brown screenshots if I was developing
this game).
This is more of a comment than a question, I know. But, like you don't have
to post it. I just like writing you.
bean
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Googleshng:
Yes, the game IS quite brown. BrownEST though? Not by a long shot. Just take a look at Vagrant Story.
You don't see any colors other than brown until about halfway in, not counting special effects.
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