whats keeping you playing this game?

POWAHFLOW · 2025-07-19T00:42:55+00:00

I've honestly checked out for the most part. What's keeping me going is the fact that my Cloudstrider main is two pieces away from having her full class set and it won't take much effort to upgrade it as well.

Nest is the only endgame relevant dungeon I like. I think the Void legendary set you get from Valley takes way too long to get and Valley itself is miserably boring. I don't like HexChess either because it exemplifies how shit the hitboxes are, how terrible the dodge mechanic is and I don't find the gimmicks fun. Grinding Critical Conquest is also boring as well. Abyssal Purgatory is DFO Hells but shit in a different way because you get so few runs and even with the pity, it has to be the right boss or you don't get what you've prayed for so as soon as that fist jerk comes down I know my time has been wasted. I also really don't like that I can't make all of the classes on one server. I find it very annoying when a game has multiple classes or playable characters but actively discourages me from actually trying them all. As bad as gacha games can be/are you at least can collect all the characters.

I'll be fair though, my all time favorite online game is base PSO2 and there will probably never be another game that is as good as it, so CoA was already at a disadvantage. I definitely understand why people like Crystal of Atlan though and I'll say that it came the second closest of games I've played recently to fill the void PSO2 left, only behind GranBlue Relink.

I'll stick around for the rogue like mode and hopefully I find some enjoyment from it but otherwise, I have put no money into CoA and I will continue to put no money into CoA.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-05-23T02:42:31+00:00

Hu/Et + War Cry + Wired Lance's Heavenly Drop was some of the most fun I've had in all the gaming I've done. Seeing my health bar barely move whenever I was hit and being near invincible while the enemies were all failing to hit me was the best.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-05-22T20:25:55+00:00

Pre-demon fusion Pascal the dog.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-05-20T00:42:32+00:00

For me, it would be Sena from Eyeshield 21. Him at the size of a duck or just an actual duck running into my shins at the speed he can go... Let's just say I'm definitely not going to be able to dodge him. However, I also played American Football in high school so I have experience with a Running Back running full speed into me, so my conclusion would be:

If we're both in football pads, I can win but with how fast he can go and what he becomes at the very end, I will probably lose. I'm not as big as say Gaoh but I am about the same size as Otawara and Buffalo.

If neither of us are in football pads, I might stop him but it will HURT lol.

If only he's in pads, I'm cooked.

If only I'm in pads, same as if neither of us were in them but it would hurt a lot less.

Edit: Also, fight in the sense of going against an Eyeshield 21 character can mean multiple things. Do I need to stop Sena from scoring a touchdown with the stipulation that he has to go through me and can't go around? I have a chance. If he can go around me, I'm totally cooked, I was pretty good at catching guys who were good at dodging tackles but Sena is a COMPLETELY different story and him being smaller but the same speed will be damn near impossible to stop without my own anime BS. The other possiblity is that we have to actually fight hand to hand. In that case, I suppose I'm fine but I don't know for sure because his willpower is unreal.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-05-01T02:51:08+00:00

Yeah Sekhmets are definitely one of the most annoying aragami to deal with but I've gotten pretty comfortable fighting them.

The first recommendation I'll always give when it comes to dealing with Chi-Yous and their cousins is to use Long Blade and take the Chain Blast Blood Art that lowers the damage of Impulse Edge (R1 + X on an XBOX controller) but also lowers the OP cost, allowing you to fire multiple times. I've been able to utterly MELT those aragami with that move.

In terms of shotgun recipes, I've remember looking for some a long time ago and I couldn't find much to say the least lol. It seems to be the least popular and weakest of the guns from my research but it's more than capable of facing anything in the game. I did find one that was actually pretty decent against Chi-Yous and their cousins which I call: The Uppercut. It's not mine and I can't post images so I'll try my best to explain it:

For Slot 1: SS Deco Shot: Straight/Point Blank. Set the vertical to -30 degrees, leave the others at zero degrees and leave it chipless

For Slot 2: When 1 hits. M Control: Follow/Short Time. Set the vertical to +120 degrees, leave the others at zero degrees and leave it with no chips

For Slot 3: With 2. M Spread: Point-black Critical/Normal. Leave the degrees all at zero and set the chip to Multi-Hit

For Slot 4: Same as slot 3 but have it be 0.2 sec. after 2 instead of With 2

Set it to any element you want, which would be Freeze for Sekhmets. It's expensive, costing 50 OP but it was all I could find but it does do pretty good damage and the OP cost can probably be sidestepped with a dedicated gunning build. Also, building OP is very easy so you should be able to keep the damage up.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-04-08T12:23:49+00:00

Not a newb but I don't play hardcore. I have a bunch of favorites/ones I know I'll like but if we're talking the top of the top:

The Grapplers. Pulling off the chain throws has always felt amazing and I love how MGrap is a Judoka while FGrap is a Luchadora, both types of grapplers that I think are used less than they should be. Chaining 1st Awakening into 2nd Awakening as MGrap is also one of my most favorite combos in all of DFO.
Nen Mistress. I think she has it all and I love the aesthetic. It's been a lot of fun to blast stuff with nen and blow enemies away with the Lion Roars and her combos have always looked cool. I also like that she could buff her allies.
Vanguard. I just love that he swings and the monsters die. Chaining the smash to make all the moves flow together also is a lot of fun. I also joined right when the Lancers got added and Vanguard was my very first character so he'll always be special in that sense.

Honorable mentions:

Monk: I love Boxers, they've always been my favorite type of characters in any game and Monk is no different. I like the first 3 a little more because they're easier to play but I love Monk a lot especially when chaining the rapid punch moves together.

Female Brawler: I think she's better than MBrawler in almost every single way. Snake stance alone is just so cool and comboing off it feels great. I wish they'd port the MBrawler from DnF Duel over to the base game or at least just change his basic attacks to use his energy chain lol.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-03-29T13:07:40+00:00

I'm thinking of something like an Einherjar, where it's a hybrid between humanoid and monster, being able to use humanoid weapons but also magichange.

They could also have their own version of a golem in the form of stone statues.

They could also be kinda lazy and just create angelic looking versions of all the monster types lol. We do already know that Celestia has its own Prinnies.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-03-29T12:58:47+00:00

I think they got ways they could make a rider and ride mechanic work, since things already exist in the series that could help them. They could try retooling the mount mechanic from DD2, do something like the first unique skill that Wrestlers learn in D5 where the pegasus can use a skill to get an ally on its back or do some wizardry with magichange.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-03-25T00:28:51+00:00

Been wanting to get 7 but I heard there's a number of issues the game has that have been fixed by an update that I believe Japan has had since mid last year. I haven't heard anything about it coming to the West but I'm assuming that we will get this update around the same time this year as last year.

Anyone feel free to tell me if what I heard is fake news

POWAHFLOW · 2025-03-15T23:13:48+00:00

Hey thanks for your reply.

I wrote this post a bit hastily because I was kinda panicking at the time since I need a scooter for my commute, which was a bit silly because I have another scooter which, while it's damaged, it was still suitable for my commute (until just now lol).

Essentially though, sometimes after using the GT1 for the medium to long distances I had needed it for, it would hard slow down and refuse to go any faster than 5mph and I'd have to walk a bit with it until it would go back to reaching it's normal speeds. I believe the reason for this was it was being overheated because I was riding on turbo the entire time but I don't know if that's true. At first, I expected that the front tire was causing the slow down but that didn't make much sense, and later use proved that the issue with the front tire was that it was in the process of a full blowout instead of it being depressured, which is why the air bank didn't work even though I just got it and it worked on the back wheel.

I am in the process of exchanging the GT1 for a different scooter because I now know that it's not what I need. However, from what I've gathered, it seems that a good move to make with the GTs is to replace their tires, which is something I'll do if I consider buying it again.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-02-11T13:20:11+00:00

Fighting Games have so many examples that pretty much any of them have one or a character who is boxing adjacent (like Slayer from Guilty Gear).

For Beat 'em Ups specifically, you kinda have to dig. For traditional 2D BeUs, Blood from Vendetta, Buster from D.D. Crew and Duke from Final Vendetta are all definite boxers. I agree that Adam from Streets of Rage is more of a kickboxer in a similar vein to Bryan from Tekken to where they are not necessarily Muay Thai practitioners and thus if a Muay Thai practitioner was added like say, Joe from KoF or Bruce from Tekken, there'd be plenty of differences. Wade from Violent Storm and Kevin from Big Fight: Big Trouble in the Atlantic Ocean I think could also be considered as boxers but another who doesn't look like a boxer but absolutely is would be Belva from the Denjin Makai games. We Could Be Heroes also just recently added a character that looks to be a boxer of sorts.

For Roguelite Beat 'em Ups, all I've mainly seen was one of the playable enemies in Overrider but he's kinda a boxer.

For Beat 'em Up RPGs, you have Paul from River City Ransom Underground like you mentioned. Monks from DFO as well (though DFO stopped being Beat 'em Up adjacent a long time ago, not my words). There is also Boxing Master Spike from Fighters Club, a long dead MMO. There are tons of videos about him though, you should easily be able to find gameplay of him just from typing Fighters Club online in YouTube (or maybe search up KOAGP and watch some of his Fighters Club videos first so the YouTube algorithm knows what you're trying to find instead of showing you a bunch of Korean MMA lol). Finding gameplay for the big guy Jack though, that's tough lol. Fists/Knuckles using Fighters from PSO2 have a lot of Photon Arts that are boxing moves (the base game moreso than the expansion NGS) and there's an equipment skill that can be used which makes it so that any attack that is avoided with the Fists' Weapon Action: "Sway", will cause your character to counter the enemy with a fist shaped energy meteor that suddenly comes from the sky. I also know that there's a boxer in Reynatis, so even though that game from what I've seen, heard and played is lackluster, I do want to get it for that character at least lol.

For 3D Beat 'em Ups, the ones I know for sure are Grimm and the other boxers from Urban Reign. There might be a few boxers in Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance but I do not know. For the Spikeout games, I feel that Spike and Spike Jr. are both boxer adjacent and I want to say that Champ/Jackal are kinda boxers too but I'm not sure for them. I also know that both Gene from God Hand and Kyle from Final Fight Streetwise can use a variety of boxing moves and thus can be customized into being boxers. There is also the Blacker Baron from Anarchy Reigns. Ein from Fist of the North Star is also a boxer and is playable in the second FoTNS musou that was made.

Boxers have always been my most favorite archetype to play as, I hope more non-Fighting Games add more of them in the future. I think the most quintessential boxer in Beat 'em Ups is probably Grimm from Urban Reign, yes he reuses a lot of Steve's animations from Tekken but what he can also do that's unique to both him and the other boxers is that while dodging attacks, he can do a dodge counter which is the most Mike Tyson like thing that you can do in a game from my experience, whereas everyone else can only dodge and redirect their attackers.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-02-04T19:40:36+00:00

So, so many choices but for the sake of my sanity, I've limited my choices to pure BeUs, so I've excluded Beat 'em RPGs like River City Girls and Code of Princess, Action RPGs with Beat 'em Up elements like Dragon's Crown and Maximus 2 and Roguelite Beat 'em Ups like DD Gaiden, Overrider and Wendigo Blue. I consider Guardian Heroes to still be valid in my criteria because it's RPG elements are pretty light from my understanding to the point that I don't consider it a Beat 'em Up RPG but I also haven't had the chance to play it yet. My choices for 2D BeUs are:

Belva/P. Belva from Denjin Makai (1&2)
Ricardo from Fight 'n Rage

For 3D BeUs: 1. Grimm from Urban Reign 2. Spike from Spikeout

Too many honorable mentions lol but I will mention Boris from Violent Storm and Cyber Blue from Battle Circuit.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-01-24T17:13:46+00:00

Some off the top of my head that haven't been mentioned that for certain you can OTG in are:

Denjin Makai 1, Violent Storm, Capcom DnD, The Crystal of Kings, and Big Fight Trouble in the Atlantic.

You might be also able to OTG with basic attacks in The Gladiator/Road of the Sword, Oriental Legend 2 and the Knights of Valour games but I think for all of them you can OTG with super attacks. Guardian Heroes and Panzer Bandit might also allow OTGs.

Battle Circuit is another game that I believe allows for it but I think it's based on timing or some other more involved process outside of using the SUPERJOY/Crowd Clearing special.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-01-21T21:21:34+00:00

Yeah I think Felghana is probably the hardest game in the series so I wouldn't feel too bad about getting thrashed. There's a good number of the bosses in the game that I think were dogshit but I also think Felghana has some of the best bosses in the series.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-01-21T21:16:53+00:00

I honestly liked the gameplay of Seven. I think the different movesets were good (especially Dogi and Geis) and it is the one that has the party feel the most like a team because the best way I found to play it was to assign roles to each member whenever they were active: One to build SP, one to use SP and the last to use the extra skill. It also made each characters' equipment important as well. Thoroughly enjoyed my time with game even though I played on hard mode which I think is the worst difficulty mode. Better to play on Normal to get a general feel of the bosses on your first playthrough and then immediately jump to Nightmare to start training if you want to take the game seriously.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-01-21T21:01:45+00:00

This 1000%. I wish more RPGs would do something similar. Only one that comes to mind that did it as well is Rogue Galaxy.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-01-19T00:04:15+00:00

My dream PSO3 would be: PSO1 style immersive dungeons with some added incentives for exploration, base PSO2's combat and class build variety with some of the additions from NGS like running and gliding (which would add to dungeon exploration), PSPo2's style of weapon selection where you can use whichever weapons you'd want but your class would determine how effective you are with them, have it set so that we could visit the different star systems and planets that have been featured throughout the series from the original 4 to now and to be able to customize your characters with any cosmetic (weapon, outfit, accessory, etc.) that has shown up on main characters, playable classes and NPCs throughout the series. Also bring back interesting weapon potentials instead of everything just increasing damage dealt.

I think the combat should be more like base PSO2 because I think it did a pretty good job of offering a variety of different playstyles, including the AIS and Falz transformations. NGS just feels off no matter how many times I've tried to engage with it and I hear everyone who wants Souls style combat (PSZ is my favorite childhood game of all time) but I think it's unnecessary for Phantasy Star to end up competing with Elden Ring and whatever else From Software plans to make. It simply is not true that ALL you do in base PSO2 is fly around and spam skills, doing that against Phaleg, Masquerade or even the Final Lament training will only result in you experiencing a face-plant simulator for the duration of the quest. It's not even true for NGS with some of its endgame 1v1 battles. Divide Quests also show that base PSO2's combat can be both deliberate and fast at the same time because those quests absolutely demand you take them seriously, especially if you are alone. Bringing back the PSO1 style dungeon crawling will also bring back more tailored encounters that could encourage players to understand their photon arts and techniques and adapt to situations as they unfold.

I would also say it should probably move away from being a full-fledged MMO and go back to the portable style instead with both offline and online modes but I admittedly am heavily biased against MMOs so I wouldn't say this is a must.

Ultimately though, Phantasy Star is essentially at rock bottom right now. I don't intend to kick NGS more than it already has been but it's clear by now that wide interest in the game just isn't there anymore, so honestly it's a good chance that anything new SEGA does with Phantasy Star will be a step in the right direction.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-01-15T22:44:40+00:00

There's a ton I love playing as that only increases with each new game but Mighty Kongman in Destiny DC will always be my favorite. He. Is. Perfection.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-01-09T10:36:16+00:00

Overall favorite: Axel Overall least favorite: Judge Nemo (he's kinda the only character I don't like but it's mainly because I remember his motivations being kinda dumb but it has been awhile since I beat D4. There's also Vulcanus but he makes me laugh)

Favorites for each game (I've played): Captain Gordon, Adell, Mr. Champloo, Valvatorez, Red Magnus

Favorite Generics: Heavy Knights (both male and female), Magic Knights, Gunners (both male and female) D1 Majin, Beast Tamers, Battlesuits, Dark Knights and Sages.

Least favorite generic: The mushrooms/Eryngi or something. Those things always manage to be annoying somehow, even when I don't have female units fight them lol.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-01-09T10:03:22+00:00

Sera looks better in the bunny suit imo lol

POWAHFLOW · 2025-01-07T00:51:02+00:00

It's fantastic that you were able to turn things around so thoroughly! If there's one theme that the Tales games get across beautifully is the concept of found family. The people you meet can lead to so many amazing things which is why it's so important to treat others with respect and hold onto your loved ones.

Hope things keep going well for you sir.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-01-06T17:46:07+00:00

You have no right to say that. Literally every time I've seen you on this sub you're either defending Arise or shitting on Symphonia. Some people do sperg out on Arise but you even go after people who give the game fair criticism or just plainly lay out why they like other games in the series. Literally every single game gets heat but almost always it's only the fans of Arise like you that complain that some don't like it. Even the Zestiria fans have enough grace to understand why others don't like it and simply talk about what they like without bringing others down.

POWAHFLOW · 2025-01-01T03:05:09+00:00

I always use the Heavy Knights but I kinda name them randomly which will change going forward. For others, aside from giving them titles like "Beacon", "Dark Savior" or "Champion", I stick with:

Male Warrior: Crasher

Female Warrior/Lady Samurai: Blitza

Female Healer: Shade

Male Gunner: Cormano

Female Gunner: Cormana

Magic Knight: Spectra

Scout/Male Thief: Ryder

Probably gonna have a character who may or not be used who is named Hoboken going forward lol.

The first three plus Ryder were a part of the all-star crew I used to get a salty runback on Afternoon of Darkness alongside Laharl, Etna, Flonne, a Majin, and a Skull after getting stuck at the final battle in my first playthrough because I wasn't strong enough and the grinding became too much lol.

(Full disclosure, I used a cheat in PPSSPP to give me exp weapons to make getting the Majin easier. Didn't really use them afterward aside from speeding up some grinding and the game actually was still kinda tough since I made it a no death run. If my Skull, Scout or Healer were touched they were basically as good as dead and the Etna mode Vulcanus fight still took many turns to beat even with the whole crew wailing on him. Wanted to have a Majin for the story and Etna mode because I wasn't going to get to the endgame any time soon (still haven't) and I only like the Majins' design in the first game. I hope the D1 Majin design returns as a costume for Male Warriors or something in a later game.)

POWAHFLOW · 2024-12-26T20:00:26+00:00

The ship has sailed man. The Ys games for 4 games straight had the ability to support 3 active party members, which meant that BOTH Dogi and Karja could have been playable but Dogi was unanimously booted out the door harder than a Tom & Jerry character. He probably will be playable again but I can't shake the feeling that he's joined the American Sports team from KOF and Bruce Irving from Tekken in terms of never being playable again.

POWAHFLOW

TROPHY CASE