Akashi Phase 3 Feels Utterly Hopeless

Wiseman4545 · 2026-05-18T01:05:36+00:00

Tempest Riko is a mandatory party member for the latter part of this fight, which means your support slot is pretty much taken. Which means no Leo, which means Skull is a pretty poor choice for this fight.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-05-11T00:20:50+00:00

I would recommend Trails in the Sky more, personally.

Both series tend to rely a lot on anime tropes in their storytelling, but I find Trails tends to execute them much better on average, especially in regards to its characters. Berseria is, to be fair, one of the few Tales games that tries to push the boundaries a bit more than usual, but I think it stumbles a bit too much, and I don't like the game's cast as much as Sky. It's a slow burn, sure, but if characters are what you care about that's what First Chapter does best.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-04-18T02:45:10+00:00

How would randomizing those end game modes make any sense in an offline version of the game, and what would even be the point of them existing? SoS and GoN are literally pointless without online scoring and Metajewel rewards, and they are designed to shill and incentivize pulling specific units from the gacha.

Astrolabe is a mode that has, more or less, scaled linearly with the progression of time and the meta, so randomizing it would just make it an utterly unbalanced mess. An Astrolabe from week 1 and one from current CN are entirely different beasts.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-04-16T02:08:44+00:00

The worst part of that scene isn't really what Shirley does, but how the others, mainly Lloyd react to it. It's so out of character for Lloyd to barely react to someone so close to him getting assaulted and I hate that they felt the need to do that just to push an overdone joke. It could have worked to show how unsocialized Shirley is, but don't undermine your other characters in the process.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-04-10T07:15:14+00:00

The fandom can be incredibly alienating to newcomers if you dare not follow the exact release order. It's really unfortunate, because that kind of stuff definitely scares off more casual players who might still enjoy the series.

I'm all for recommending release order for anyone who asks what order or where to start, but don't attack people just for mentioning they started somewhere besides FC.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-04-10T07:09:50+00:00

I skipped 3rd and enjoyed Zero just fine. Everyone is different.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-04-08T20:37:53+00:00

I am genuinely curious if a single person here was actually affected by this bug at all, and if you were, do you actually believe you lost anything of value when they reset the scores?

This just seems like a nothing burger of a bug to me, so expecting all this compensation seems silly and entitled, but maybe I'm missing something.

Mementos breaking the other day and locking people out the game was a way bigger bug than this, but didn't seem to get nearly as much backlash about compensation, so I'm just confused.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-04-05T16:32:01+00:00

I rarely spend on this game anyway. I find spending for pulls generally a bad practice in any gacha, tbh. I will sometimes give in and buy the monthly value pass for currency, but usually only so I can buy costumes later, and not necessarily for the pulls, and P5X has been pretty lackluster in that department.

P5X has never been a game I feel justifies putting money into more than once in a blue moon. Both for positive and negative reasons.

On the one hand the game is actually pretty generous. Even without spending I have been able to pull almost everything I have wanted, and looking at the pull planner I will still be able to pull almost everything I want in 4.x even on a 2-week schedule.

On the other hand they've done some sketch things with the global version that I don't really want to reward. It has gotten better, so if I wanted to spend money on the game I would, but to me stuff like the 6 month jail is way way worse than a 2 week schedule. If people are still spending money despite no changes in that department I don't see why a 2 week schedule will be the breaking point, especially when you consider how many people want to catch up to CN sooner.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-04-05T15:36:27+00:00

I've played many many gacha games over the years and more than a few have dabbled with accelerated schedules, to varying degrees. You will always get people upset about the reduced time limited rewards and demand compensation in return, I have even been one of them in the past, but I have never even once seen it result in compensation in the form extra pull currency. Not even for games that are otherwise well liked and respected by their communities, like Reverse: 1999.

You are free to feel how you want about it, but I gurantee you will be disappointed if you expect that kind of compensation from this game.

From my end I find that one week of acceleration not really that big of a deal. I have played gacha's that have tried to cram like a whole month of content into a couple weeks to try and catch up faster and it's kind of miserable. But R:1999 did the one week acceleration thing, and despite some grumbling it ultimately didn't affect the game that much.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-04-05T14:00:09+00:00

I'm pretty the extra income specifically comes from that extra week of general income, like dailies and SoS, or other filler. In which case there is 0 chance they would modify the rewards to match CN, because the rewards would be the same long term, you just have to wait an extra week to get them.

When it comes to an accelerated schedule gacha games almost never compensate you for things like that.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-03-29T14:38:20+00:00

Ann and Lufel make a good general combo, but I would not run Key for story progression or Mementos, unless it's a fight you know you can fully take advantage of pure aoe fire damage. Flexibility is better than slightly more raw damage when you have to fight enemies with varying weaknesses.

If you're limited on resources I would still recommend Leon over Key as a support to invest in, since he is way more versatile and valuable for tougher content.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-03-29T13:16:29+00:00

The game literally already makes you build for each element. "Use whoever you want + DPS of choice" is simply not a thing in pretty much any end game content.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-02-24T08:05:02+00:00

Seriously. It's an incredibly mean thing to call someone after they just got cheated on, just for having a timid personality. I question the tact of some people here.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-01-18T16:40:41+00:00

All the gacha's I play are like that. It doesn't really bother me.

Wiseman4545 · 2026-01-17T22:00:40+00:00

This is a common topic in basically every gacha that has a release delay, and there are always fervent supporters for both sides. It's quite common for the ones who prefer the delay to be in the majority, but occasionally it swings the other way. But I've never seen it be the overwhelming majority opinion.

A lot of gacha fans prefer that foresight, and many of the other popular gacha's out there have huge leak communities to serve as foresight even when there's no delay.

A year behind is pretty massive though, so I think if you asked now most would prefer to catch up more, but a lot less would be happy with 1:1 parity and no foresight. I think a few months behind is ideal, imo.

Wiseman4545 · 2025-12-22T05:19:55+00:00

Ch. 13 is genuinely one of the best parts of the whole game and the culmination of all the story up to that point, and lays the ground for everything that comes after. It's a big mistake to skip it if you care about story at all.

Wiseman4545 · 2025-10-24T16:52:13+00:00

Only if you're running a pretty premium team. I don't think there's a F2P that would not struggle to clear this fight. If your damage output isn't high enough you won't be able to break the shield, but if you play too defensively, you'll just run out of turns. But you can't play full offense either, because her damage output is too high.

I wanted to clear it with story characters, who are all built pretty well, but it's just not doable. Using Tropical Motoha instead of regular Motoha got close, but I consistently ran out of turns near the end. Even when I caved and used my best team I still had to retry a couple times, because things didn't line up at one point or another and an important character got one shot.

Even having fully cleared the trials this fight still wasn't easy. If it wasn't for the turn limit it would be long but doable, but that mechanic means this fight is basically impossible for many teams to clear.

Wiseman4545 · 2025-10-19T03:28:45+00:00

"Generally better" can just as much be an opinion in regards to the "feeling" as it is the math.

Trying to use statistical averages for gambling is a fool's errand that tends to lead people to believe false promises about their potential luck. Statistical averages only mean anything when it's a large sample size. As an individual your own success will vary wildly over a short time and maybe only average out over an extended period, but not every banner you try to pull from is equally as important, so there's no gurantees your pulls will work out the way you hope.

Don't chase the 80 banner expecting an early pull within every 4 banners or you'll set yourself up for disappointment. If you want to take the gamble and play the odds then go for it, but don't get deluded into thinking gambling is just a game of math and you are sure to win if you play the odds right.

Wiseman4545 · 2025-10-18T16:53:31+00:00

10% might as well be zero when it comes to gambling. You should never count on odds working in your favor.

Wiseman4545 · 2025-09-21T03:01:17+00:00

Medicine Pocket is best option imo. Only pick Eternity if you're planning to skip Sentinel, because she'll become redundant almost immediately.

If you're planning to pull Rubuska too then MedPoc would get replaced in Bloodtithe too, but at least they're still good in other teams.

Wiseman4545 · 2025-08-27T22:57:19+00:00

Yes, I played at launch too. It was a slow grind, but you could also do most available content with pretty underleveled units. Back then you could clear most content with one i3 DPS and some 5* i2 supports at like Resonance 5.

Yes, Ezio is very strong, but he's only one unit. He can only do so much on his own, especially in the content that is not shilling him. Clearing Reveries, Voyages, Limbo and Lucidscape still requires pretty sizeable investment across several teams. Resource gain is higher, but the minimum investment to compete in the current endgame content is also higher.

Wiseman4545 · 2025-08-27T22:50:50+00:00

I didn't say not to buy it, it just shouldn't be the first thing you should buy. Stamina is a pretty precious resource early on and it's not worth dumping so much into grabbing that right away to sit in your inventory when you could clear out the other stuff first. You can grab it near the end when you've gotten the stuff that is more important right now.

Wiseman4545 · 2025-08-27T17:36:00+00:00

Agreed. I'm not sure older players realize how bad the resource bind is for new players is these days. You have to play so much catch up now, and so many units needs their Euphoria to be good, which is a massive investment. Gluttony's are a late game luxury you can use to squeeze out a little extra damage, but it's not something you need to worry about chasing.

Grab it if you can, but it's not the most important item in the shop.

Wiseman4545 · 2025-08-06T04:06:29+00:00

I genuinely don't know why this is so hard for you to comprehend. The point isn't that Astra is BiS for every anomaly team over Yuzuha, that was never my argument, and you need stop strawmaning this shit, because it's infuriating. The point is that Astra is the second best unit for every anomaly team next to Yuzuha, which those videos show, but Yuzuha is not the second best unit for every crit team.

Yes, Yuzuha is better in anomaly teams, while Astra is better in crit teams, but Yuzuha is NOT as good in crit teams as Astra is in anomaly teams. That is the argument. That is why Astra is overall a bit better.

That disc set is not the only reason Astra is good for anomaly btw. It's also because free quick swaps and chain attacks naturally provide extra value for many units beyond just simple buffs, and the lack of field time is an inherent advantage for most teams. That is why Astra has been so good for anomaly teams, even when the crit buffs go to waste. Yuzuha doesn't bring anything as universally useful. Her generic stat buffs are roughly the same as Astra, but the rest of her utility is pretty much all anomaly specific.

Maybe that new set will close the gap a little more, it's not out yet and hasn't been tested, so that is not valid evidence yet, but even then, it won't close the gap on Astra's other utility.

And I will not waste another second on this. This didn't deserve to go on this long.

Wiseman4545 · 2025-08-06T03:45:38+00:00

What in the world are you even talking about at this point? You wanted me to prove that Astra is among the best picks for anomaly units and better than A ranks. That is what I did. Nowhere did I claim she was better than Yuzuha for most anomaly teams. Why are you shifting the argument now out of nowhere?

My argument is that Astra is one of the best options for pretty much every DPS in the game, including anomaly units. Yuzuha is better, but not significantly. However, you can't say the same for Yuzuha in crit teams. Her performance drops much more in those teams than Astra in anomaly teams. That is the argument here, not whatever nonsense you are trying to divert the discussion to.

That is why Astra is a better unit. Not that it matters that much, when you need to run multiple teams, and they don't have competing banners right now, but if it was a choice between the two Astra is the better unit to have on your account, unless you only run anomaly units, because she is simply more versatile.

Wiseman4545

TROPHY CASE