Ogres, Empires, and a witch named Deneb

[LoliSauce]

I've been playing Ogre Battle 64 again (drew that ^ a few hours ago, while taking a break from my OB64 gaming marathon).  It's very rare that I find a game that I love enough to come back and play over again every year or two, but this is one of them.  I just love the unique play style and the amount of customization both on a macro (the many classes and squad setups you can have in your army) and micro (the specific equipment/attacks each unit can utilize) level.  And the story!  There's so many times where it branches and you can get a variety of small, yet lasting effects on how the story plays out.  I also like how you have no direct control over how combat is played out, yet still can control how your various squads will fight by their orders and the position of the units within them.  Just all around excellent, imo.

So, with one of my favorites fresh on the mind, I figure I'll ask around to see what everyone elses is.  Any of you guys have games that never get old and you find yourself coming back to regularly?  What games, and why do they keep you coming back for more?

[Devereaux]

Any game that uses the Scumm, SCI, or GrimE engine.

[Greyvangelist]

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

I run through that game at least once a month and enjoy every second.

[Ice Queen Lotus]

RPGs: Ogre Battle, Final Fantasy Tactics, Seiken Densetsu 2, Seiken Densetsu 3, Chrono Trigger, Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Symphonia, SaGa Frontier, Atelier Iris 3, Madou Monogatari (Puyopuyo RPG).
Puzzles: Panel de Pon, Puyopuyo 2, Ranma 1/2 Ougi Jaanken, Magical Drop 3, Twinklestar Sprites...

You know what, I'm gonna be here all day. Let's just leave it at that. x_x

[iHasAMeltyCheezBurger]

I'm also playing OB 64 at the mo' as well.

I luff the combination spells. Any body else in here utilize witches? I do think I'm the only one who enjoys them being in my army. 

[LoliSauce]

I'm also playing OB 64 at the mo' as well.

I luff the combination spells. Any body else in here utilize witches? I do think I'm the only one who enjoys them being in my army. 

I only occasionally use witches in the early-mid game.  Later you can do so much more (in terms of hitting multiple people, and doing good damage along with the status effects) with venerable dragons and combo magic, that witches just become obsolete, imo.  I'm trying to get the bad ending this time around (where you can get to fight a special end battle vs the Zenobians).  =>  I've already lost Dio, and am working on getting some of the "bad" characters, like Paul Lukishe/Biske La Varet/Carth.  I'm not sure if I can actually get demon child Paul AND the werewolf Biske at the same time though...so I'll have to do some testing to find out.  Got any favorite unit setups? 

Hasuko: Holy shit that's a lot of games to be constantly going back and playing over again.  I guess I am far too picky to have that many favorites.  Pretty good list though, I must say.  =o  You should check out the NIS games, such as Disgaea or Soul Nomad sometime.  From the looks of it, you'd love them.

Grey-Van:  Definitely one of the best Castlevania games.  Good shit man.  =>

Devereaux:  @_@  You totally lost me.  Toss out some examples of games using Scumm, SSCI, or GrimE?

[Devereaux]

Devereaux:  @_@  You totally lost me.  Toss out some examples of games using Scumm, SSCI, or GrimE?

Scumm: All old LucasArts games (Monkey Island series, Maniac Mansion, Loom, Sam & Max Hit the Road, The Dig, Full Throttle)

SCI: All old Sierra On-Line games (King's Quest series, Jones in the Fast Lane, Police Quest series, Space Quest series, Hero's Quest series, Torin's Passage, Phantasmagoria)

GrimE: Successor to Scumm (Grim Fandango, Escape from Monkey Island)

As an added note I would also like to add any games from New World Computing (My favorites being Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen, Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen and only one game after 3DO took over the company and that would be Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor)

Also, I never played Ogre Battle 64, but I have played the original Ogre Battle and I have to say, that one was bad ass.

[Irovax]

Shadow of the Colossus and ICO for me.

I also love OZ/Sword of Etheria. DMC's combos are cool and all, but I still like OZ's better.

[LoliSauce]

Devereaux:  @_@  You totally lost me.  Toss out some examples of games using Scumm, SSCI, or GrimE?

Scumm: All old LucasArts games (Monkey Island series, Maniac Mansion, Loom, Sam & Max Hit the Road, The Dig, Full Throttle)

SCI: All old Sierra On-Line games (King's Quest series, Jones in the Fast Lane, Police Quest series, Space Quest series, Hero's Quest series, Torin's Passage, Phantasmagoria)

GrimE: Successor to Scumm (Grim Fandango, Escape from Monkey Island)

As an added note I would also like to add any games from New World Computing (My favorites being Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen, Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen and only one game after 3DO took over the company and that would be Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor)

Also, I never played Ogre Battle 64, but I have played the original Ogre Battle and I have to say, that one was bad ass.

Ah, classic adventure gaming at its best.  I've played only a few of them, but I've heard so much about a vast majority of them.  If you had to pick one as your overall favorite, which would you go with?

And honestly, both the original and 64 Ogre Battle games have their strong points, but 64 is a little easier to play with the way your cursor locks on to units/strongholds/etc.  I like OB64 a little better mainly because I know it so well, but truly they are both excellent games.

Irovax, oh man.  I fucking love Shadow of the Colossus and ICO.  I haven't played through them any more than the first time though, but I wasn't introduced to them until the time that SotC was released, so it hasn't been too long since I've played them.  And what's OZ/Sword of Etheria?  Some sort of fast paced action/adventure type game?  If so, I should hop on that.  I'm a huuuuge fan of Ninja Gaiden (can't wait for the sequel~) and DMC1/3, so I'll definitely want to check out any other games in that same vein.

[motoh]

'Look behind you!  A three headed monkey!'

God, I need a copy of that game again...

~M

[mizuki]

STREET FIGHTER THE MOVIE THE GAME. PARDON THE CAPS.

[Devereaux]

If you had to pick one as your overall favorite, which would you go with?

For adventure games I would say it's a tie between Monkey Island 2 and Sam and Max.

For RPG's any of the Might and Magic games I mentioned. Doesn't matter which one.

Jones in the fast lane for quirky board-game type games.

I would have narrowed it down further into a general overall category and only choose one game but honestly I just don't think that's possible for me.

STREET FIGHTER THE MOVIE THE GAME. PARDON THE CAPS.

I second this.

[Ice Queen Lotus]

Hasuko: Holy shit that's a lot of games to be constantly going back and playing over again.  I guess I am far too picky to have that many favorites.  Pretty good list though, I must say.  =o  You should check out the NIS games, such as Disgaea or Soul Nomad sometime.  From the looks of it, you'd love them.

I've played Atelier Iris 3 and Ar Tonelico and while I liked AI3 AT is kind of.. blah. I've been meaning to try Disgaea but it's still so damn expensive.

[iHasAMeltyCheezBurger]

currently dealing with oddball units(Witches, Dragons, Opininci, Golems, Gremlins, no faeries though), since the AI doesnt assemble it's units quite well I might say. and a few Power house units, (two blockers and 2 sorcs behind and a valk, can't wait to turn them to sirens. I've also got future ninja master groups so that my sirens in the future would be able to combo spell during the start of the round)

Currently grooming angel knight candidates so when killed, will be able to slaughter anybody else in the way.

[abitofBaileys]

For me it's Terranigma, Lufia (Estpolis II, I think, the part where you play Maxim vs Sinistrals), Abe's Odyssey + Exoddus, Donald Duck in Maui Mallard, Grim Fandango and - HELL, MARBLE MADNESS!

I love those games.

[Devereaux]

Lufia (Estpolis II, I think, the part where you play Maxim vs Sinistrals)

Yea that is Estoplis Denki II, honestly I was a bigger fan of Estpolis Denki as I played that one first. (and by doing so spoiled the general plot line and ending of Estpolis Denki II)

Lufia II is a good example why you shouldn't release accurate prequels after you have already released the main game.

[Phil]

I play Morrowind every winter break. I seem to want to play Final Fantasy Tactics in the spring, and Phantasy Star Online in the summer as well. I don't understand why, but each game calls to me in its own turning-of-season. Always more fun playing it then than any other time of year too.

[Irovax]

Urk--! PSO!

I was somewhat disappointed with PSU, seeing as how it wasn't even done when it was released. ;-;
Has anyone played the game recently? How're things now?
Thinking back... I miss the game. :3

However, PSP PSO/U port/release is really, really, really enticing. I can't wait!

Speaking of which, would any PSO fans like to join me in playing on private servers?


Anyways, back to OZ. If I might ask an enormous favor... If you do pirate it, and you like it, could you buy it? I hope to one day be a programmer, and if the venue dies due to piracy... Ahaha~ I don't think I can think about it; it's too depressing...

It's a game entirely based on looking cool. Run up to the enemy, slice and dice, and to finish a combo, you perform a launcher. However, instead of your character continuing and doing the j.BC>j.BC>air throw, one of your partners hops in and takes over. When they're done, your other partner hops in and OTGs, and resets everything, tossing the opponent back to you to continue the combo. When you reach full tension, you can perform a finishing move that multiplier the EXP you receive. It's a simple formula, but the game is amazing at mixing things up: Water, illusions, darkness-- in one level, you're alone and have to use the environment to combo with.

[LoliSauce]

HOLY LONGEST POST EVER BATMAN!

Hasuko: Holy shit that's a lot of games to be constantly going back and playing over again.  I guess I am far too picky to have that many favorites.  Pretty good list though, I must say.  =o  You should check out the NIS games, such as Disgaea or Soul Nomad sometime.  From the looks of it, you'd love them.

I've played Atelier Iris 3 and Ar Tonelico and while I liked AI3 AT is kind of.. blah. I've been meaning to try Disgaea but it's still so damn expensive.

Eh...those ones aren't actually made by Nippon Ichi.  They just bring em over to the US.  I personally find the Atelier Iris series to be boring, and haven't even bothered to pick up Ar Tonelico, since it's made by Gust too.

Disgaea 1 is hands down the best srpg in terms of story I've ever played.  Incredibly memorable and it was super original in a lot of things it did (like dark assembly and item world), but Disgaea 2 improved on the mechanics a lot.  Weapons and classes are a lot more diverse and balanced in Disgaea 2.  Definitely check them both out.  Also, Soul Nomad is very similar to Ogre Battle style of play, and is the most recent NIS game.  It's shocking because in every NIS game, it's all set in the same universe (their nanuverse, they call it) but this was their first game to break away from that.  It's really fun, and has a lot of awesome improvements over the Ogre Battle system, even though it has some other aspects that aren't quite as good.  It's another I'd definitely suggest playing at some point.

currently dealing with oddball units(Witches, Dragons, Opininci, Golems, Gremlins, no faeries though), since the AI doesnt assemble it's units quite well I might say. and a few Power house units, (two blockers and 2 sorcs behind and a valk, can't wait to turn them to sirens. I've also got future ninja master groups so that my sirens in the future would be able to combo spell during the start of the round)

Currently grooming angel knight candidates so when killed, will be able to slaughter anybody else in the way.

Ugh, fuck getting angel knights.  lol.  Those bitches are so damn annoying to get.  I just save up all my Love&Peace's and just steal them in the second Celesis mission(I think that's the name of the place anyways).  Sooooo much easier.  And once I have two, if I have another Love&Peace left over I'll steal another Black Knight.  lol.

When I play through, I almost always have a sorceress/siren unit with 3 of them in the back row and two skeletons in the front row as meatshields(boneshields?) since I never have to worry about healing/reviving them.  That unit alone, when they're all Sirens, can usually OHKO an entire enemy unit unless they have strong characters in the corners.  Triple combo magic ftw.  => 

Also, I like to have one full ninja master group led by Vad the Grappler, a bruiser black knight group with 3 front row black knights and a couple archers or something in the back row, a full Valkyrie/Freya unit led by Leia, and one flying unit with three Ravens and a wyvern (or sphynx once I can get one) for recon.  I'm still playing with setups right now, since I'm not quite up to the point where I can get high rank classes yet in this file.  So we'll see what I end up making when I get to mid-game.  I know I plan on getting Carth the black knight and Biske the werewolf, so I'll prolly end up making a full 5 man black knight team (with the help of stealing one extra black knight via Love&Peace) and some sort of beastly unit with Biske, a Beast Master, a Cerberus, and something else.  I dunno, I like playing around with unit setups and changing things up often.  @_@

For me it's Terranigma, Lufia (Estpolis II, I think, the part where you play Maxim vs Sinistrals), Abe's Odyssey + Exoddus, Donald Duck in Maui Mallard, Grim Fandango and - HELL, MARBLE MADNESS!

I love those games.

Roa, is Abe's Odyssey really that good?  I've never played it before.  For that matter, I've never played Terranigma either.  =x  Also, lol Donald Duck in Maui Mallard.  I remember renting that way back in the day cuz I saw a walkthrough on it in one of the Nintendo Power magazines I got.  Fun game.  Also also, FUCK YEAH LUFIA SERIES.  "Uh...is there a Guy here?"  lol.  I need to find those games and buy them.  I borrowed them from a friend way back in the day to originally play them. 

I play Morrowind every winter break. I seem to want to play Final Fantasy Tactics in the spring, and Phantasy Star Online in the summer as well. I don't understand why, but each game calls to me in its own turning-of-season. Always more fun playing it then than any other time of year too.

Phil, that is pretty odd.  O.o  I'm not a fan of the other two, but Tactics is fun.  I completely destroy the game whenever I play though.  I'll get ramza level ~60 with all mastered classes by chapter 2.  =\  I have it down too well.  lol.  I got so bored with raping it that I started making special little units with their own made-up identity.  Like my male generic is a Samurai sub Theif with two swords ability.  So he's the dirty ronin who will steal and use underhanded tactics.  lol.  And I made Agrias into a Ninja sub Holy Knight, and gave her equip sword.  So now she's the holy ninja, able to dual weild and use holy sword techniques with ridiculous speed.  haha.  And Meliadoul (which is such a cool character in terms of sprite design, but her abilites suuuuuck hardcore) I made into a Lancer sub Ninja with two hands ability.  So she is the ultimate lancer, with super strong attacks, the ability to rain death on foes with her jump attacks, and even just throw spears/lances around at far away characters. 

I've got a little identity for all of my characters in it like that.  lol, I'm such a dork.

Anyways, back to OZ. If I might ask an enormous favor... If you do pirate it, and you like it, could you buy it? I hope to one day be a programmer, and if the venue dies due to piracy... Ahaha~ I don't think I can think about it; it's too depressing...

It's a game entirely based on looking cool. Run up to the enemy, slice and dice, and to finish a combo, you perform a launcher. However, instead of your character continuing and doing the j.BC>j.BC>air throw, one of your partners hops in and takes over. When they're done, your other partner hops in and OTGs, and resets everything, tossing the opponent back to you to continue the combo. When you reach full tension, you can perform a finishing move that multiplier the EXP you receive. It's a simple formula, but the game is amazing at mixing things up: Water, illusions, darkness-- in one level, you're alone and have to use the environment to combo with.

Irovax, surprisingly enough, games are one of the only things I won't pirate.  I'm in college for game design right now, so I support the industry however I can.  Anyways, the game sounds mad fun.  I'm definitely going to look into it.  Thanks for the heads up.  =>

[abitofBaileys]

For me it's Terranigma, Lufia (Estpolis II, I think, the part where you play Maxim vs Sinistrals), Abe's Odyssey + Exoddus, Donald Duck in Maui Mallard, Grim Fandango and - HELL, MARBLE MADNESS!

I love those games.

Roa, is Abe's Odyssey really that good?  I've never played it before.  For that matter, I've never played Terranigma either.  =x  Also, lol Donald Duck in Maui Mallard.  I remember renting that way back in the day cuz I saw a walkthrough on it in one of the Nintendo Power magazines I got.  Fun game.  Also also, FUCK YEAH LUFIA SERIES.  "Uh...is there a Guy here?"  lol.  I need to find those games and buy them.  I borrowed them from a friend way back in the day to originally play them.

Abe's Odyssey is in my opinion one of the most innovative and original Jump'n'Run games. It has a weird but cool graphic style and the game combines action, puzzles, riddles and jump and run parts. The OST is very dark and the atmosphere in general is more depressing, but it's funny at the same time because the cool but weird Abe as the main char.
And hell, I like getting control over a Slig only to shoot other sligs or let him explode. 
Abe's Exoddus is just Odyssey, only better. The gameplay was improved, eg in communication with other Mudokons, the graphic was improved a bit and there are new enemies, harder levels and such stuff. Try it. It's worth watching.


As for Maui Mallard I can say that I loved this one for SNES. I would say that Maui Mallard is the Melty Blood under the J'n'R's. I mean the very genius animation, the wordless humour, the abstract way of Donald getting a ninja (!!) and damn - a NINJA DONALD! No matter how much you accomplish in life, you'll never be as awesome as this! And yes, that was a motivator quote from ninjas with guitars.

[ehrik]

I always go back to Melty Blood. Anyone else heard of this game?

[abitofBaileys]

I always go back to Melty Blood. Anyone else heard of this game?

That's why we are here anyway.

[LoliSauce]

For me it's Terranigma, Lufia (Estpolis II, I think, the part where you play Maxim vs Sinistrals), Abe's Odyssey + Exoddus, Donald Duck in Maui Mallard, Grim Fandango and - HELL, MARBLE MADNESS!

I love those games.

Roa, is Abe's Odyssey really that good?  I've never played it before.  For that matter, I've never played Terranigma either.  =x  Also, lol Donald Duck in Maui Mallard.  I remember renting that way back in the day cuz I saw a walkthrough on it in one of the Nintendo Power magazines I got.  Fun game.  Also also, FUCK YEAH LUFIA SERIES.  "Uh...is there a Guy here?"  lol.  I need to find those games and buy them.  I borrowed them from a friend way back in the day to originally play them.

Abe's Odyssey is in my opinion one of the most innovative and original Jump'n'Run games. It has a weird but cool graphic style and the game combines action, puzzles, riddles and jump and run parts. The OST is very dark and the atmosphere in general is more depressing, but it's funny at the same time because the cool but weird Abe as the main char.
And hell, I like getting control over a Slig only to shoot other sligs or let him explode. 
Abe's Exoddus is just Odyssey, only better. The gameplay was improved, eg in communication with other Mudokons, the graphic was improved a bit and there are new enemies, harder levels and such stuff. Try it. It's worth watching.


As for Maui Mallard I can say that I loved this one for SNES. I would say that Maui Mallard is the Melty Blood under the J'n'R's. I mean the very genius animation, the wordless humour, the abstract way of Donald getting a ninja (!!) and damn - a NINJA DONALD! No matter how much you accomplish in life, you'll never be as awesome as this! And yes, that was a motivator quote from ninjas with guitars.

Mm...I guess thinking on it, I've heard from someone else that it was an excellent platformer as well.  Still, not really my style of game, to be honest.  If I ever happen to come across it, I'll be sure to check it out, but I prolly won't go actively looking for it really.  @_@

I always go back to Melty Blood. Anyone else heard of this game?

What's that?  Is it one of those newfangled Jappo games?  That title doesn't even make sense!  What kind of blood melts?  Sheesh...crazy Japs and their crazy names for things.  Next thing you know, you'll hear of some game's name make it sound in relation to some mechanical inanimate object having feelings of remorse!  ...oh wait...

[Phil]

HOLY LONGEST POST EVER BATMAN!

 

Phil, that is pretty odd.  O.o  I'm not a fan of the other two, but Tactics is fun.  I completely destroy the game whenever I play though.  I'll get ramza level ~60 with all mastered classes by chapter 2.  =\  I have it down too well.  lol.  I got so bored with raping it that I started making special little units with their own made-up identity.  Like my male generic is a Samurai sub Theif with two swords ability.  So he's the dirty ronin who will steal and use underhanded tactics.  lol.  And I made Agrias into a Ninja sub Holy Knight, and gave her equip sword.  So now she's the holy ninja, able to dual weild and use holy sword techniques with ridiculous speed.  haha.  And Meliadoul (which is such a cool character in terms of sprite design, but her abilites suuuuuck hardcore) I made into a Lancer sub Ninja with two hands ability.  So she is the ultimate lancer, with super strong attacks, the ability to rain death on foes with her jump attacks, and even just throw spears/lances around at far away characters. 

I've got a little identity for all of my characters in it like that.  lol, I'm such a dork.

Best I did was get Hamedo on Ramza by Ch1 the last time I played through it. All I mastered was Squire and a little of Samurai. But then I found out that no one uses regular attacks on you when you have Hamedo. That and Ramza in general tends to be a less-tempting target than anyone else near him at all. I'm not that much of a grindaholic, I always had trouble on the Monastery and castle levels where you can't go back and grind levels. Ramza and Wiegraf's 1v1 took me a week to beat since it was pure strategy; he beat my face in when I attacked head-on.

When I recruit/get a new character, I do that too. Think of what I want this guy to be, maybe a Priest/Mediator, capable of healing someone from the brink of (or darkness of) death and giving them the courage to get killed again or a Monk/Knight who can punch his enemy's point of death on his body or equipment... (What is this Melty Blood you speak of? It sounds like some kinda booze to me. ) I always try to keep my special characters 'cause I'm afraid I'll get locked out of certain subplots if I don't (I don't ever remember which ones you need...) even when some of them suck. Like Rafa and Malak. I think you only need Mustadio and Beowulf later on? 'Course ya don't wanna get rid of them, they're beastly.

  The first time through that I never hit the triangle button. I have no idea how I got a Mediator but that was the only way I got jobs other than the starting 2.

[LoliSauce]

Best I did was get Hamedo on Ramza by Ch1 the last time I played through it. All I mastered was Squire and a little of Samurai. But then I found out that no one uses regular attacks on you when you have Hamedo. That and Ramza in general tends to be a less-tempting target than anyone else near him at all. I'm not that much of a grindaholic, I always had trouble on the Monastery and castle levels where you can't go back and grind levels. Ramza and Wiegraf's 1v1 took me a week to beat since it was pure strategy; he beat my face in when I attacked head-on.

When I recruit/get a new character, I do that too. Think of what I want this guy to be, maybe a Priest/Mediator, capable of healing someone from the brink of (or darkness of) death and giving them the courage to get killed again or a Monk/Knight who can punch his enemy's point of death on his body or equipment... (What is this Melty Blood you speak of? It sounds like some kinda booze to me. ) I always try to keep my special characters 'cause I'm afraid I'll get locked out of certain subplots if I don't (I don't ever remember which ones you need...) even when some of them suck. Like Rafa and Malak. I think you only need Mustadio and Beowulf later on? 'Course ya don't wanna get rid of them, they're beastly.

  The first time through that I never hit the triangle button. I have no idea how I got a Mediator but that was the only way I got jobs other than the starting 2.

Lol, yeah.  Hamedo is great.  Especially when you max your brave out and never miss it.  I personally prefer Blade Grasp a little more though.  With high brave you are completely untouchable by anything cept magic, whereas Hamedo you have to be within range to attack the enemy and I think it only works on enemies with weapons (as in, human enemies) but I don't remember that for sure.

Also LOL Mustadio.  So much awesomeness can be had with him.  I set him up as Engineer sub Knight, so he could seal your actions and movement from 8 panels away, and then break every piece of armor or break down your stats from that distance too.  Haha, it's so mean.  Oh, and Worker 8 was the only non-human character I would use.  So yeah, definitely keeping him around is beneficial.

Beowulf gets you Reis, but really the only smart thing you can do with her is Dragoneer sub Monk.  Double fist attacks plus all the monk special abilities like wave punch and chakra?  I'd buy that for a dollar!  Beowulf was just a champ though.  One of the most broken characters in the game, easily.  I remember maxing his faith out with the help of mediatior skills, and watching him cast Break with 70% accuracy at the extreme least (usually more).  Plus what's better than turning a foe into a chicken in 1-2 attacks?  I think actually what makes him so broken is being able to instant cast basically any yin-yang magic.  No cast time for stuff as debilitating as that?  lol, that's just rape.

The only thing that can best something like Beowulf's cheapness is a Black Mage sub Calculator.  The raw magical beef that the Black Mage has along with instant casting for almost any spell in the game.  It's pretty fierce, especially if you mass cast Faith right at the beginning of the round when everyone on the map has the same CT.  That basically guarantees 100% accurate status effects and usually OHKO with strong magic like holy or flare.  Olol, speaking of mass casting holy, that reminds me of one of the cheapest tactics in the game.  Equip everyone with those one robes that absorb holy or Excaliburs and then just mass cast holy so that it hits as many allies and enemies at the same time as possible (usually CT casts can pull this off well) and you get major damage + free healing on the side.  Totally broke.

And the battles with Weigraf and Elmdor were my favorites <3.  Er...I think his name was Elmdor.  The guy with those two assassin chicks that looked like dancers that you learn Ultima from.  My personal pride and joy was figuring out purely on my own how to completely rape the second Elmdor battle, when he has his assassin chicks helping him and he has blade grasp and all that goddamn genji equipment...  I stole every last genji piece off of him, learned ultima, spanked those two bitches, and then made Elmdor bend over.  It was a goddamn masterpiece of a battle.  (also, I wish I could steal that fucking Teleport 2 ability!)  The first Elmdor battle is the hardest thing ever though.  Managing to steal off the good shit from his assassin chicks while keeping Rafa alive is HARD.  That battle gives you absolutely no room for error, if you're going for anything more than a quick kill of Elmdor.

Damn...I'm surprised with myself.  I still know this game inside and out, even after having not played it for like 2-3 years.