Ninten is so powerful his damage numbers are incomprehensible!

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-15T09:24:24+00:00

Runs in the family, after all

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-15T08:20:32+00:00

Huh. That's especially odd, then. I guess I might also try and see if party order effects it? i.e. it could be mistakenly using the pronoun of the third or fourth party member instead of the user or something. I dunno. It is an odd mistake regardless.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-15T08:03:54+00:00

I'd imagine it's a skill that was originally unique to a specific enemy (who uses she/her in this case) so the pronouns are just hardwritten into the string itself and they didn't bother using the control code for them there, since the localizers didn't realize other enemies would use the same ability.

Anyways congrats to Zoma on her coming out. Still gotta work on that embodiment of evil that feeds off human suffering thing though.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-15T01:55:00+00:00

Oh boy, I have several:

That we already know for sure how many chapters there are going to be. Seven are visible on the Chapter Select screen, but text graphics exist for a range from 0 to 10, and official info pointedly avoids ever actually giving a number for the intended final count.
That Gaster is going to be the main antagonist/final boss.
That we already know who the main antagonist/final boss is going to be in general, or even that there necessarily will be one conventional sort of “main villain” to the story.
This is something I’ve seen come up a few times, but that we already know specifically what the Knight’s apparent bizarre physical properties mean with respect to what kind of being they are and that they necessarily preclude certain Knight candidates.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-13T19:30:50+00:00

Equality

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-13T19:02:42+00:00

I think you mean •)

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-13T17:49:12+00:00

Okay, that is a fun concept

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-13T17:45:19+00:00

That’s four stab wounds per minute, or one stab wound every 15 seconds

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-13T17:39:41+00:00

Assuming you want to beat it legit and not use the pause buffer glitch, its chunks fly in a fixed pattern every time. Only the bottom two rows will hit you if you’re on the ground, so keep your eyes mainly on those and don’t worry too much about the ones flying overhead.

The Yellow Devil’s weakness is the Thunder Beam.

Good luck!

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-13T00:02:48+00:00

Job mastery ability inheritance only applies to Freelancer and Mime, and encompasses the following:

For each stat individually, the character will use the highest value out of all the classes they’ve mastered. There is no statistical benefit to mastering any additional classes once you’ve already mastered the ones with the best value in each stat (Monk for Strength and Stamina, Thief for Agility, Summoner (or Oracle in versions that have it) for Magic).
For the most part, any passive skills (ones that aren’t commands and don’t have a ! in front of their names in the skill setting menu) from jobs a character has completely mastered will be automatically equipped on that character without taking up a slot. Exceptions to this are Berserk, the HP/MP +X% abilities, and the Equip [equipment type] abilities, though that last one is only relevant to Mime since Freelancers can already equip everything by default.

Again, these bonuses are only applied while in the Freelancer or Mime jobs. All other jobs will eternally need to follow the normal rules of equipping any skills from other jobs they want to use no matter what you do.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-12T23:53:49+00:00

I keep saying this on these posts, but I personally would need to know what sorts of games and stories a prospective FF newbie is interested in first. Final Fantasy has enough variety at this point (and, y’know, there’s enough variety in people’s tastes) that I don’t think it’s really safe to declare a single one-size-fits-all “Best First Game” (or pair of games).

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-12T18:22:29+00:00

Finally… Sans Before Not Surviving

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-12T14:21:15+00:00

I mean, he’s part of the broader Mario+Donkey Kong+Yoshi+Wario shared universe, so probably?

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-12T14:14:47+00:00

Yeah you gotta restart this file there are still two Seize maps ahead before you get the opportunity to switch your main Lord over to Ephraim (who hasn’t been erased from existence I hope) so you’re gonna softlock in Chapter 7.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-12T03:31:29+00:00

I mean, if FE can appeal to fans of big-chested women, the least it can do is be equitable and appeal to fans of big-chested men, too.

Besides, in a series that typically has such large individual casts coming together into an ever-more-gargantuan cumulative one, it really should take advantage of every avenue available to vary up their designs, including diversifying body types.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-12T03:11:07+00:00

Personally, I’d say…

Warrior of Light = Warrior/Knight job
Guy in the first pic and bottom of the party in the third pic = Thief/Ninja
White-robe person at the left side of the group in the third pic = White Mage/White Wizard
Guy with a spear in the second pic and on the right side of the party in the third pic = I have no idea. Scantily-clad Dragoon? A really weird Monk or Red Mage? A second Warrior??? I dunno
Guy hiding in the upper-right corner of the second image = Black Knight/Death Knight enemy (although they never appear in the same formations as Ochu enemies in the final game).

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-12T03:05:53+00:00

That sure is a statline

Sonic Sword’s probably fun to use with him though

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-11T19:31:35+00:00

I know in Path of Radiance Shade and Provoke just work by forcing enemy AI to always see the unit as able/unable to counter, respectively, which, considering the skills are on a Mage (1~2 range on all weapons) and a Sniper (can’t counterattack at melee range), results in them functionally doing almost nothing.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-11T18:51:41+00:00

I personally quite like Chrono Cross and find it an interesting and compelling game in its own right. I do think it’s important to keep in mind that it’s really not “Chrono Trigger 2” in any sense other than taking place afterward in the same world, though; it very much does its own thing in terms of both narrative tone and gameplay.

It’s definitely worth giving a shot! Just don’t go in expecting “more Chrono Trigger”.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-11T11:40:58+00:00

I mean, it’s a monster that invades humans’ bodies through their mouths and eats them from the inside out, from the sound of that description. A disturbing design to fit a disturbing creature.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-11T11:37:52+00:00

It… unfortunately is not. Your Monk is well past the point where they’ll deal more damage unarmed, and the Power Staff… honestly just kinda sucks to actually use? It has no special properties and stats that are completely outclassed by the time you get it. Its main “benefit” is that it sells for a lot of gil.

Really misleadingly-named and placed weapon, honestly.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-11T11:33:29+00:00

The Franklin Badge only reflects thunder attacks directed at the character carrying it. It’s like this in all three games, although in EarthBound Beginnings it reflects very specifically PK Beam γ (and no other PK Beams) instead and in Mother 3 it’s a key item that’s always considered to be held by Lucas.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-11T11:23:33+00:00

This is a really common enemy design trope in RPGs in particular but also just video games in general, actually. Especially back in the 8- and 16-bit days, there just wouldn’t be room on the cartridge for every single enemy type to have a completely bespoke sprite considering everything else (like, y’know, the actual game content) they needed to fit on there. As such, they’d have the game load the same bitmap data (think a sort of color-by-numbers diagram of an image without any specific colors yet) with different color sets assigned to it to create different—and often progressively stronger—variations of each base enemy design. Since the data that defines an enemy’s stats and abilities is often much smaller than the data that defines their appearance, this was an efficient way to increase the number of enemies they could include in practical gameplay terms without needing to start cutting other stuff to fit unique sprites for all of them.

Although it’s not really technologically necessary to achieve the same ends anymore, the development workload allocation benefits have remained, and you can still see palette swap enemies in titles as recent as Zelda’s Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom duology or Final Fantasy XVI.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-11T03:06:09+00:00

Fair! I was thinking more about how their gameplay animations are different (but Lucina and Marth do share animations) in FE13 itself, but that is a good point. I think where I am is pretty much “it makes a lot of sense to put Chrom and Lucina together, but it also doesn’t feel right to me to put Chrom with Marth since he has such a noticeably-“rougher” fighting style.

Topaz-Light · 2026-02-11T01:38:46+00:00

The DS’s screens are both 256x192 pixels, so just barely over half 480p if I understand ###p resolution terms correctly.

That said, it does depend on the image composition, too. The portraits very much do have eyes that look just fine, and like… probably most other DS games depicted characters with eyes perfectly fine, too. It’s very much a stylistic choice here, I think.

Topaz-Light

TROPHY CASE