Well, it's that time again

[ShinMasaki]

Seeing that you're a vesperia veteran, can you enlighten me when is the earliest anyone in your party can pull off his or her hi-ougi? I'm currently at the Port of Capua Nor, and I assume that's still awfully early game.

Yeah, you are very early in the game. By Hi-ougi, I'm assuming that is referring to their final level attack spells/Mystic Arts. This is done by activating a Lvl 3 or lvl 4 Overlimit then chaining an Arcane Art into a Mystic Art. You won't be able to do this until you get the Limit Trio or Limit Quartet item (which you make through synthesis). The earliest you can make the Limit Trio would be after hitting Mantaic. After creating the Limit Trio, you can get lvl 3 Overlimits, but in order to activate a Mystic Art, you need to have the skill "Special" equipped on the person you are looking to use it with. I believe the first person to get "Special" would be Yuri when you are in the Shrine of Baction...which is quite a long ways away.

So it'll be quite a while before you can activate a Mystic Art.

[Alfonse]

Goodness gracious, it's way more difficult than it was in Abyss (all you need was what, level 30, level 35 for Jade).  I'm running the PS3 version, by the way, and yes, I do mean Mystic Artes when I said Hi-ougi.

[MasterT]

I believe the first person to get "Special" would be Yuri when you are in the Shrine of Baction...which is quite a long ways away.

I'm probably wrong since its been a long time since I played but I thought Raven got it first?

But you should use Raven anyways because he's awesome.

[ShinMasaki]

Vesperia winning team

Yuri - All-out DPS
Estelle - Healer
Rita - DPS mage

If playing your first time through, I recommend Repede for your fourth since Repede can learn the awesome "Check All" and "Scanner" abilities that makes filling your monster book cake. If not your first time through and you are on a new game+, I am assuming you spent the 10 grade points to repurchase your monster book because that makes sense to do, then use Raven/Karol for your fourth. Raven is good only after learning a few abilities, like "Attack Change" and "Artes Change" and "Love Shot". With these, he can back up heal and still do decent damage. Karol is another alternative. He's slow and doesn't have the best range, but he can hit downed enemies and knock them back up for continuing combos.

For comboing, Judith is godlike after learning her Altered Artes, while Rita is your Grade Farmer.  blahblahblah

As you have the PS3 version, you also have the option of using the new pirate loli girl. I have no idea what she specializes in nor how effective she is in combat so I can offer no info regarding her. I find it bullshit that the version released initially did NOT have her included nor were they offering DLC that added her to the game. Basically, I see the 360 version (the only version to hit the states) to be like...Tales of Vesperia: Beta...whereas the PS3 version as the full game.

Anyway, as far as "Special" goes, Yuri learns it via a sword you get through an event in Baction. The others you obtain "Special" for them through weapons in item synthesis. You don't earn enough synthesis rating to make them until after the return to Zaphias. If you are in a New Game+ and transferred over your item synthesis info, then these are available right from the get go.

[Ice Queen Lotus]

Blast from my past. And yes, I made a custom Sion icon.

[MasterT]

Yuri/Rita/Karol/Raven

Karol gets the heal that heals for 50% and love shot works well enough for the group since its instant. Estelle gets wrecked in battles where you're surrounded or boss fights with two or more bosses. Only problem is while Love Shot doesn't take long to get, Karol's best heal does.

Besides Raven has time stop.

[Alfonse]

Spoil me a little - how tough are the loli twin bosses with the X-strike-like mystic arte?

[ShinMasaki]

depends on what level you are. I'm not quite at them yet on this playthrough. They are near the end of the second chapter and that's where I'm at, however I'm still going around trying to learn all the weapon skills I can. Of course this just amounts to me fighting Lord of the Plains over and over since he gives decent LP and is easy to beat. btw...by this point in the game, it is recommended to be about lvl 50. I am currently lvl 70 because I am being silly with power leveling.

If you are 'appropriate' level for the point in the game, they may stomp you. I find it fun how this game is easy, easy, easy...then they throw a boss at you and all of a sudden things become hard because the boss activates Overlimit and roflstomps your teams' faces into the dirt.

[academico]

Now i'm playing devil may cry 1 but my PS2 emulator sucks, it runs at 40-50 fps

[Van_Artic]

Now i'm playing devil may cry 1 but my PS2 emulator sucks, it runs at 40-50 fps

i've played the hell out of DMC3 SE

now i'm always playing Mushihimesama Futari on 360, it's that kind of mind-blowing difficulty that doesn't stop you from playing

[LoliSauce]

now i'm always playing Mushihimesama Futari on 360, it's that kind of mind-blowing difficulty that doesn't stop you from playing

Is Futari much more difficult than vanilla?

[Van_Artic]

Is Futari much more difficult than vanilla?

i guess you're talking about PS2 Mushi

IMO, first Mushi was harder (considering the nature of the port, it wasn't near arcade perfect at all: laggy controls and BLURRY, it was confusing and almost unplayable)

the scoring system is easier to understand, the accuracy from the original arcade PCB is higher (that means you won't have to stretch your eyes to see what's coming on you, and there's a Novice mode too
in terms of difficulty as bullet patterns, depends on what version you're playing, it goes like this from easiest to hardest:

Novice > Arrange (uber easy: giga wing gameplay and autobombs) > 1.5 Original > 1.5 Maniac > BL Maniac > BL Original > BL God > 1.5 Ultra

Arrange, Novice and 1.5 are available in the disc, Black Label will cost 1200MS, but trust me, BL is fresh air compared to the rest

so the second one is "easier"; you know what you're doing, you know how to score, and the controls are responsive, even with the 360 stock pad i can 1CC 1.5 and BL Original without much problem

if you're thinking about getting the game.. what are you waiting for???  

[LoliSauce]

Is Futari much more difficult than vanilla?

i guess you're talking about PS2 Mushi

IMO, first Mushi was harder (considering the nature of the port, it wasn't near arcade perfect at all: laggy controls and BLURRY, it was confusing and almost unplayable)

the scoring system is easier to understand, the accuracy from the original arcade PCB is higher (that means you won't have to stretch your eyes to see what's coming on you, and there's a Novice mode too
in terms of difficulty as bullet patterns, depends on what version you're playing, it goes like this from easiest to hardest:

Novice > Arrange (uber easy: giga wing gameplay and autobombs) > 1.5 Original > 1.5 Maniac > BL Maniac > BL Original > BL God > 1.5 Ultra

Arrange, Novice and 1.5 are available in the disc, Black Label will cost 1200MS, but trust me, BL is fresh air compared to the rest

so the second one is "easier"; you know what you're doing, you know how to score, and the controls are responsive, even with the 360 stock pad i can 1CC 1.5 and BL Original without much problem

if you're thinking about getting the game.. what are you waiting for???  

No 360 yet.

[Van_Artic]

No 360 yet.

PS3 user or RROD'd??? 

[ShinMasaki]

RROD is easy stuff to fix. Most people don't know wtf to do when the 360 gets like that. It's simply $8 of supplies from Home Depot and maybe 30 min of time.

[LoliSauce]

Neither.  Last system I bought was a jp ps2.  I'll be buying a 360 whenever I feel I have enough of a financial cushion to drop $400 to get a full setup.  I'll prolly end up buying a jp 360 as well for senko no ronde duo, and also since most US games are not region locked (or so I've heard).

[Van_Artic]

I'll prolly end up buying a jp 360 as well for senko no ronde duo, and also since most US games are not region locked

you should do so, games like Blazblue are region-free (at least for US and NTSC-J consoles)
also, Deathsmiles 2X is out today

[Bonkler]

Oh snap, I played Deathsmiles 2dx when I was in Japan. The changes to the system are really weird. Weird as in I don't know what they are exactly, like the lock-on system is different but I don't know how it works. On the plus side, the lolis look even more loli than in the original, if that's possible.

I also played Mushihimesama Futari in Taiwan, that was fun. When I came home I immediately bought that for the 360 (even though I don't have a 360, lol), but I'm still waiting for that to come in (damn ebay).

[Van_Artic]

Oh snap, I played Deathsmiles 2dx when I was in Japan. The changes to the system are really weird. Weird as in I don't know what they are exactly, like the lock-on system is different but I don't know how it works.

during power-up, every shot causes the enemies to drop valuable rings to score (Lei/trap is the most effective character)
and the lock is used by holding a shot direction, as long as the bar around the character doesn't empty; it's most used in 2 situations
1) background enemies
2) when you're going to exit power-up mode, if you destroy enemies with the lock shot, but you still hold the shot button, suicide bullets spawn and the start to chase you, when you leave the button, those bullets will turn into a great number of rings, very useful to recharge from 0 to 1000 and re-enter power-up mode immediately

On the plus side, the lolis look even more loli than in the original, if that's possible.

in shmups girls age backwards

When I came home I immediately bought that for the 360 (even though I don't have a 360, lol), but I'm still waiting for that to come in (damn ebay).

i hope you really get that game, as the very first region-free game in vidya history, it's damn great

[Bonkler]

during power-up, every shot causes the enemies to drop valuable rings to score (Lei/trap is the most effective character)
and the lock is used by holding a shot direction, as long as the bar around the character doesn't empty; it's most used in 2 situations
1) background enemies
2) when you're going to exit power-up mode, if you destroy enemies with the lock shot, but you still hold the shot button, suicide bullets spawn and the start to chase you, when you leave the button, those bullets will turn into a great number of rings, very useful to recharge from 0 to 1000 and re-enter power-up mode immediately

Ah, that explains it, for some reason I thought it was used exclusively for background enemies.

i hope you really get that game, as the very first region-free game in vidya history, it's damn great

But yeah, I've got hype for Mushihime-sama Futari, as much as I love Touhou, I've been itching to play some other shmups at home.

[LoliSauce]

I'll prolly end up buying a jp 360 as well for senko no ronde duo, and also since most US games are not region locked

you should do so, games like Blazblue are region-free (at least for US and NTSC-J consoles)
also, Deathsmiles 2X is out today

I don't really care about BB.  I want 360 for the SRPGs and Danmaku, since all the other games I'd want are multi-platform.  I'll probably end up compiling a list of US games that I want and check around if they're all region free or not.

[Van_Artic]

I'll probably end up compiling a list of US games that I want and check around if they're all region free or not.

you might want to check obviously this: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-00-3-xbox360_compatibility_guide-49-en.html

[LoliSauce]

I'll probably end up compiling a list of US games that I want and check around if they're all region free or not.

you might want to check obviously this: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-00-3-xbox360_compatibility_guide-49-en.html

Awesome.  That's exactly what I needed.

[Saikyo Joe]

Mass Effect and Fallout 3 until I get all achievements and possible endings. Any Metroid game has a high replay value from me as well.

[Van_Artic]

and FINALLY i got my xconverter 360, i made a quick video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oHu5IxlBp4

enjoy my scrubby english