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Gacha, gacha, gacha pon! Banner rolls and pity pulls
- Thread starter SabreCat
- Start date
Code of Brawl is being rerun this Thursday, for everyone who missed it the first time.
What's your player ID, Denn? You could join up in the clue-swap bonanza that is the Talking Time friends network!
Denn
(him)
Sounds good, my player ID is 87481081. I'm Dr Acula, because this was originally supposed to be my alt account.
I'm enjoying Code of Brawl so far, the event gives me a Blood Blockade Battlefront vibe that I'm in to. I love every character in this event. I'm currently stuck on CB-10. There's so much going on here that it'll take multiple tries for me to figure out a good strategy.
CB 10 is entirely about managing the Rat King, who will attack the lowest max HP unit on the field with a heavy damage over time tick and the highest HP with a bomberman cross explosion. Deploy order isn't important for that, and you only have to deal with crossbowmen for ranged damage.
Request sent! Dr. Elseleth, here.
Finished through CB-10 last night. Does anyone understand what is going on in these stories? There are so many factions, and the dialogue is so vague and rambling, I get to the end and I'm still completely lost.
There's a disgraced Siracusan mob family that's come to Lungmen to establish new territory. But there's a schism! Gambino and Capone are fighting because... something. Also they don't get along with the Rat King because ... something, and want to destroy Penguin Logistics for... reasons. They also want to kidnap Bison, which would help them against Penguin somehow, but they kinda give up on that midway through?
The Rat King dislikes the Siracusans and Penguin Logistics, also for reasons. There is also some guy the Rat King talks to in the graveyard a couple times. Who is that? shrug??
Mostima is the mysteeerious member of Penguin who goes away for years at a time. Exusiai is thirsty for her, so this makes Exu sad. Mostima chats and briefly coat checks her staff with some guy in a suit who has a robot head I guess?
Bison's butler is also a sniper who was tasked by Bison's father to get the kid killed? Or at least to constantly put him in the way of lethal danger so as to get an opportunity to assassinate the Rat King?
Jaye and Waai Fu are also here, representing some other faction that is chummy with the Rat King and the old graveyard chat dude who lacks a pfp. They punch people sometimes! Sometimes they don't!
The main story's line-by-line writing can be pretty bad, but at least I know what the main players want and why. I feel like Gavial: The Great Chief Returns wasn't too hard to follow. Maria Nearl I could grasp the main plot and the Nearl family stuff, but the main villain's motivations were inscrutable. This one, though, going completely over my head.
There's a disgraced Siracusan mob family that's come to Lungmen to establish new territory. But there's a schism! Gambino and Capone are fighting because... something. Also they don't get along with the Rat King because ... something, and want to destroy Penguin Logistics for... reasons. They also want to kidnap Bison, which would help them against Penguin somehow, but they kinda give up on that midway through?
The Rat King dislikes the Siracusans and Penguin Logistics, also for reasons. There is also some guy the Rat King talks to in the graveyard a couple times. Who is that? shrug??
Mostima is the mysteeerious member of Penguin who goes away for years at a time. Exusiai is thirsty for her, so this makes Exu sad. Mostima chats and briefly coat checks her staff with some guy in a suit who has a robot head I guess?
Bison's butler is also a sniper who was tasked by Bison's father to get the kid killed? Or at least to constantly put him in the way of lethal danger so as to get an opportunity to assassinate the Rat King?
Jaye and Waai Fu are also here, representing some other faction that is chummy with the Rat King and the old graveyard chat dude who lacks a pfp. They punch people sometimes! Sometimes they don't!
The main story's line-by-line writing can be pretty bad, but at least I know what the main players want and why. I feel like Gavial: The Great Chief Returns wasn't too hard to follow. Maria Nearl I could grasp the main plot and the Nearl family stuff, but the main villain's motivations were inscrutable. This one, though, going completely over my head.
There's only one real conflict, between the Siracusan Mob and the Rat King. Everything else kinda radiates out from that, and a lot of context for the characters and events that happen in this are only provided externally through later events. The Rat King just used PL as a stalking horse to draw out the mafia ahead of the new year celebrations. Mystery no-picture guy is likely Wei Yu as a sort of nod that Lungmen officialdom doesn't really have a place in this story.
Syracuse Mafia: Chased out of their city by the main branch of their mafia for being a bunch of screw ups (by Lappland, no less, I think?), think that the Lungmen Triads will be easy marks. PL also has a number of ties to different national governments and related crime syndicates.
Lungmen Triads (Rat King): Existing criminal underworld in Lungmen that mostly rules the slums and lower income areas of the city, and seen as a kind of necessary evil by the non-infected citizenry in those areas, as the L.G.D is mostly concerned with city-wide security and the upper income areas. The Rat King (aided by Bison's father) puts this whole thing in motion as a way to head off the Syracusian mafia at the pass and also to fuck with Emperor. Bison's father also looks at this as a good test of Bison's personality and skills when put to the test in a life-threatening scenario without obvious backup.
Penguin Logistics: Logistics and Transport company run by Emperor, who is a famous(ly) in-exile noble from Victoria on the lam from the Victorian authorities (see the unit May). Also a pretty successful rap musician who runs his own label, and potentially an Immortal(?). He also has a bad habit of rubbing people the wrong way just through casual interaction, and his company is also largely staffed by exiles from various influential parts of society from different countries. Exu and Mostima are half-sisters, Texas comes from a Columbian crime family (or nobility, it's not clear), Sora's a budding and famous pop star and so on.
Jaye and Waai Fu at this point are just kids from the slums who don't want to rely on the Triads for protection from shit like the Mafia.
Syracuse Mafia: Chased out of their city by the main branch of their mafia for being a bunch of screw ups (by Lappland, no less, I think?), think that the Lungmen Triads will be easy marks. PL also has a number of ties to different national governments and related crime syndicates.
Lungmen Triads (Rat King): Existing criminal underworld in Lungmen that mostly rules the slums and lower income areas of the city, and seen as a kind of necessary evil by the non-infected citizenry in those areas, as the L.G.D is mostly concerned with city-wide security and the upper income areas. The Rat King (aided by Bison's father) puts this whole thing in motion as a way to head off the Syracusian mafia at the pass and also to fuck with Emperor. Bison's father also looks at this as a good test of Bison's personality and skills when put to the test in a life-threatening scenario without obvious backup.
Penguin Logistics: Logistics and Transport company run by Emperor, who is a famous(ly) in-exile noble from Victoria on the lam from the Victorian authorities (see the unit May). Also a pretty successful rap musician who runs his own label, and potentially an Immortal(?). He also has a bad habit of rubbing people the wrong way just through casual interaction, and his company is also largely staffed by exiles from various influential parts of society from different countries. Exu and Mostima are half-sisters, Texas comes from a Columbian crime family (or nobility, it's not clear), Sora's a budding and famous pop star and so on.
Jaye and Waai Fu at this point are just kids from the slums who don't want to rely on the Triads for protection from shit like the Mafia.
Thanks for that! Sounds like there's a lot of stuff going on that's just sort of smokescreen, so maybe my confusion was the intended result, ha.
It's cool that they have such extensive lore for the setting of a gacha, but referencing it by having a bunch of conversations like...
A: You remember back in the old days, when we did a thing?
B: Yeah. That sure did happen.
A: Those were the times. Hot damn.
...is not impressing me.
It's cool that they have such extensive lore for the setting of a gacha, but referencing it by having a bunch of conversations like...
A: You remember back in the old days, when we did a thing?
B: Yeah. That sure did happen.
A: Those were the times. Hot damn.
...is not impressing me.
Honestly, in hindsight it feels like this event was solely here to introduce the Rat King and the underworld part of the Lungmen setting for the later main story chapters and for a bit of a look at how in-world logistics/courier outfits work in a setting where the major cities are vehicles with a few teases for countries not in the main story (yet).
Denn
(him)
I get the impression that Mostima is jumping through time (dunno if just forwards, or more wibbly wobbly). There's a line that Exsusia says at one point, "It's just a few hours for you, but for me..."
That is an interesting theory. Could also help explain the seeming plot hole with the staff, where she leaves it with Yiff or whatever his name is, still has it when fighting the Rat King, then collects it from the Daft Punk bandmember in the epilogue.
CC#3 drops this Friday (5/28), no new CC shop unit this time (new outfit for bagpipe and an old free outfit for matterhorn being the new items).
DFalcon
(he/him)
I was hoping to get through CC#3 risk 18 fast because the next couple weeks will be kind of busy for me - happily, it worked out. I'll let myself feel good about this for a little while before I go look at videos of how somebody did risk 18 with all 3-4* operators or whatever.
(Not pictured: Sentinel 3, Bladeweaver 3, enemy +ATK 2)
This was not a run that made me feel especially skillful - I had to scramble to deal with a couple deaths that didn't match my neater risk-17 proof of concept. Still worked out, though, and I'll take it.
The Shieldguard has some weird pathing: it sneaks through a gap that's unlikely to be defended, walks up to the square next to your base, stops a while, turns around and exits through the same gap, and then makes a big loop that takes it into another lane. I'm not sure I'd ever have guessed I didn't have to block that first incursion without seeing a route chart.
I was also amused to see that if you use a weak enough operator to pull a sleeping Sarkaz, they have to beat on it a couple times before it wakes up - the trigger isn't any damage whatsoever, it's going below 99.9% HP.
(Not pictured: Sentinel 3, Bladeweaver 3, enemy +ATK 2)
This was not a run that made me feel especially skillful - I had to scramble to deal with a couple deaths that didn't match my neater risk-17 proof of concept. Still worked out, though, and I'll take it.
The Shieldguard has some weird pathing: it sneaks through a gap that's unlikely to be defended, walks up to the square next to your base, stops a while, turns around and exits through the same gap, and then makes a big loop that takes it into another lane. I'm not sure I'd ever have guessed I didn't have to block that first incursion without seeing a route chart.
I was also amused to see that if you use a weak enough operator to pull a sleeping Sarkaz, they have to beat on it a couple times before it wakes up - the trigger isn't any damage whatsoever, it's going below 99.9% HP.
Yeah, I haven't had a lot of time with it yet (did the daily map and a few of the perm challenges), but once you know the gimmick this map isn't too bad.
And Risk 18 down once I had some time to actually devote to it. This one's pretty easy, you only really need one or two cheese units decently levelled at E2 to carry you through this as you have all the time in the world to pick and choose which of the sarkaz special units to aggro and murder.
Denn
(him)
The Mansfield Break was enjoyable, once again showing that I much prefer the side stories over the main plot (at least as far as I've progressed). I also managed to pull Silence at the start of the event which is great she seems to be a better ST Medic than Gavial, and it's also fun to play with her drones. Her character also grew on me throughout the event, so Silence has earned a place in my core team.
I wish I could get Saria to fight the way she manhandled Jesselton, though I still appreciate her medic tank role.
Yeah, it's not bad, but uh...... The small map sizes and enemy counts lent the stages a more puzzle-y experience which is where the unit/stage design shines I think, at least more so than the endurance matches/slugfests.
They're starting the next event (think it's a mini?) riiiiight after this ends it looks like. Odd unit banner; six star is basically the sniper equivalent of Eyja (soft physical aoe on fast cooldown), five star is an oddball caster archetype that will either fit into a cheaper Ifrit replacement role or as part of a Sleep effect-oriented squad.
They're starting the next event (think it's a mini?) riiiiight after this ends it looks like. Odd unit banner; six star is basically the sniper equivalent of Eyja (soft physical aoe on fast cooldown), five star is an oddball caster archetype that will either fit into a cheaper Ifrit replacement role or as part of a Sleep effect-oriented squad.
Spiral Depths is the worst event in the history of FF Record Keeper, and coming on the tail end of the absurdly grindy labyrinth dungeons (which at least can be autoed, even if that negates anything interesting about them) is not a good look.
I wasn't around for Parade Float and I also don't care; there's no way it was worse than this.
I wasn't around for Parade Float and I also don't care; there's no way it was worse than this.
I am fucking done with this bullshit.
Finished floor 93 and did not get mastery!? What the actual fuck, I already mastered 95. How long ago was mastery when a thing, aside from radiant shield exploits? 3rd Anniversary superboss?
First time limited event I haven't cleared in roughly 6 years. Will try the floor 100 superboss but no gil, lense and scroll is worth this.
Finished floor 93 and did not get mastery!? What the actual fuck, I already mastered 95. How long ago was mastery when a thing, aside from radiant shield exploits? 3rd Anniversary superboss?
First time limited event I haven't cleared in roughly 6 years. Will try the floor 100 superboss but no gil, lense and scroll is worth this.
DFalcon
(he/him)
I loaded up the Arknights daily Contingency Contract map, looked up the challenge mission. No guards, casters, medics, or specialists? That's broad, and it's only worth 3 points?
Then I went to start and saw my squad it had saved from the last cycle had, in fact, no guards, casters, medics, or specialists.
Then I went to start and saw my squad it had saved from the last cycle had, in fact, no guards, casters, medics, or specialists.
Yeah, yesterday's map was surprisingly easy.
Dunno who's still playing if anyone at all, or where the US version is compared to the JP at this point, but Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe just wrapped up a huge event to close the major story arc at the same time as celebrating its 2.5th anniversary (since JP release of course).
New styles keep getting stronger, of course. A while ago they started introducing new abilities (the things that really define a style more than anything else) that combined effects, so instead of e.g. one ability for Fired Up IV and another for starting the battle with +1 BP, those were combined into one ability that gives you Fired Up IV's damage boost and +1 BP. Damage boost + weak damage boost in the same skill, etc. Another common one was "FU4 damage, plus you get another FU4 damage boost if you combo or overdrive (and if you combo-overdrive you get boosts for both)." Of course plain old FU5 has existed for a while, but they started having combos with that one too (FU5 and start battle with 1 bp, or FU5 + combo boosts, etc.) These open up more slots for things like another damage boost for example, I got a style of the Young Boy with FU5 +1 BP for one ability and FU5's worth of damage when equipped with a greatsword (which, you can't equip different weapon types beyond your one, so it's all the time.) Then, just as the 2.5 anniversary kicked off, they started introducing styles with Fired Up 6, too.
There's only one style that has a combo'd FU6's worth of damage - they introduced a style for Asellus after having ascended the Mystic throne. She has a skill to deflect attacks with a really high trigger rate, a skill with a chance to increase every stat and generate 3 BP at the start of a turn (and it has a pretty high trigger rate itself, so it goes off commonly), and the kicker, one skill that gives FU6 damage in general AND FU6 damage with a sword (but has the "drawback" of losing 3 LP at the beginning of battle, so you can't revive her as many times). She's absurdly good and very quickly became not just the first Asellus style I used but one of my best styles period.
There's more cool stuff, like a Bertrand (has he been introduced yet? Looks like he probably should've been based on the story progress) who has an always-trigger counter to attack all with a sword, and who generates 1 BP every time he hits with an attack (so 4 bp almost every turn instead of 3, and one more for every counter he does after getting hit) and unremarkable-but-very-strong styles for Jo and others. Just dropped a few more SaGa Frontier and Frontier 2 characters the other day too, and had a Scarlet Grace event introducing a bunch of new characters from there (Elysed, Macha and some others); they've been doing good at rotating through the later parts of the series after a lot of the early game was much heavier on RS1-3 than any others.
Anyway I'm sure nobody cares but that's what's up!
New styles keep getting stronger, of course. A while ago they started introducing new abilities (the things that really define a style more than anything else) that combined effects, so instead of e.g. one ability for Fired Up IV and another for starting the battle with +1 BP, those were combined into one ability that gives you Fired Up IV's damage boost and +1 BP. Damage boost + weak damage boost in the same skill, etc. Another common one was "FU4 damage, plus you get another FU4 damage boost if you combo or overdrive (and if you combo-overdrive you get boosts for both)." Of course plain old FU5 has existed for a while, but they started having combos with that one too (FU5 and start battle with 1 bp, or FU5 + combo boosts, etc.) These open up more slots for things like another damage boost for example, I got a style of the Young Boy with FU5 +1 BP for one ability and FU5's worth of damage when equipped with a greatsword (which, you can't equip different weapon types beyond your one, so it's all the time.) Then, just as the 2.5 anniversary kicked off, they started introducing styles with Fired Up 6, too.
There's only one style that has a combo'd FU6's worth of damage - they introduced a style for Asellus after having ascended the Mystic throne. She has a skill to deflect attacks with a really high trigger rate, a skill with a chance to increase every stat and generate 3 BP at the start of a turn (and it has a pretty high trigger rate itself, so it goes off commonly), and the kicker, one skill that gives FU6 damage in general AND FU6 damage with a sword (but has the "drawback" of losing 3 LP at the beginning of battle, so you can't revive her as many times). She's absurdly good and very quickly became not just the first Asellus style I used but one of my best styles period.
There's more cool stuff, like a Bertrand (has he been introduced yet? Looks like he probably should've been based on the story progress) who has an always-trigger counter to attack all with a sword, and who generates 1 BP every time he hits with an attack (so 4 bp almost every turn instead of 3, and one more for every counter he does after getting hit) and unremarkable-but-very-strong styles for Jo and others. Just dropped a few more SaGa Frontier and Frontier 2 characters the other day too, and had a Scarlet Grace event introducing a bunch of new characters from there (Elysed, Macha and some others); they've been doing good at rotating through the later parts of the series after a lot of the early game was much heavier on RS1-3 than any others.
Anyway I'm sure nobody cares but that's what's up!
That sounds cool! I think I tried that one but it was really sluggish on my phone and I couldn't really understand how it was supposed to go.
I've shifted from Hearthstone (not quit entirely, but considering it depending on how the response to the walkout goes) to Magic the Gathering: Arena this week for obvious reasons, and I've gotten some really good pulls out of free packs of the new D&D set, which I am greatly enjoying the theming of. I even spent a few bucks (like $5; I haven't spent a cent on Hearthstone) on the welcome pack so I could try out a constructed mode (just one win but got three packs just for that, plus the ones from entering—not a bad deal at all). I wish there were a way to earn gems without money for events like that, but the game is generous enough with gold that I feel like the packs I'm getting for free are mostly enough.
I've shifted from Hearthstone (not quit entirely, but considering it depending on how the response to the walkout goes) to Magic the Gathering: Arena this week for obvious reasons, and I've gotten some really good pulls out of free packs of the new D&D set, which I am greatly enjoying the theming of. I even spent a few bucks (like $5; I haven't spent a cent on Hearthstone) on the welcome pack so I could try out a constructed mode (just one win but got three packs just for that, plus the ones from entering—not a bad deal at all). I wish there were a way to earn gems without money for events like that, but the game is generous enough with gold that I feel like the packs I'm getting for free are mostly enough.
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I know few if any other people play this game but this is too good not to share:
The current event in Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe is a tie-in to the 2nd album from Destiny 8, which is basically The Black Mages for the SaGa series - a band formed by the composer to do rock covers of the game series' songs.
The main takeaway is that Kenji Ito is now a character you can get in that game.
The current event in Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe is a tie-in to the 2nd album from Destiny 8, which is basically The Black Mages for the SaGa series - a band formed by the composer to do rock covers of the game series' songs.
The main takeaway is that Kenji Ito is now a character you can get in that game.