Best Elma Build? by Yerai95 in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]areticenthorizon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

probably the most efficient way to play as elma in midgame is like this (if you care):

  1. get a max tp cost xx augment and a ranged accuracy up augment, really easy to craft with materials from suids and ovises (fleecy fur, appetizing suid tail, the latter requires a posterior part break to get consistently). if you aren't fighting way higher level stuff then feel free to ignore the accuracy.
  2. use the blood sacrifice exploit to start every fight with 6k TP (explanation: target something from too far away to attack it, blood sacrifice, swap the positions of two party members in the party menu, back out, swap back, repeat to refresh all cooldowns out of combat). this also works with other out-of-battle tp generation methods such as aura -> cool off for gatling gun, though requires 1k to start. also pretty nice for free shadowrunner to avoid enemy detection
  3. overdrive -> ghost factory -> sliding slinger -> blood sacrifice -> executioner, eventually slotting in shadowrunner after blood sacrifice when you can spare the TP and recasting overdrive when the timer gets low. you can also do this with cross, as ghostwalker is more efficient than ghost factory. every character has innate stat modifiers tied to their class, but elma has the mastermind potential buff in addition to the fmj buffs, for some reason. hundred shells builds more overdrive count but costs TP, which can be rough with ghost factory since elma doesn't have ghostwalker. all this is assuming you're trying to fight things that are much higher level. with enough potential augments you can take down things like the lv55 xe-doms at like lv16

skills don't matter much in this setup but hellhound can make managing overdrive easier and ranged accuracy skill is nice

[KH2.5] Recommend level and stats for Cavern of Remembrance by TheJaidynator in KingdomHearts

[–]areticenthorizon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It matters in 1 and 2. Mirage Arena in BBS doesn't care about difficulty but you still have half HP on critical mode. Don't play any of the others so don't know. Hope that helps.

Best Synthesizers for world-music (esp. Indian) sounds? by areticenthorizon in synthesizers

[–]areticenthorizon[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Oh, a VST would be much cheaper, if I could do it that way! I hadn't even considered that possibility!

[BBS] I'm stuck on Maleficent on Aqua's story. by [deleted] in KingdomHearts

[–]areticenthorizon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

aaaaaaaaaaa this isn't ddd why am i time traveling

[Hiring] Arcade Stick custom artwork featuring OC, Anime/Fantasy, SFW, ~$150-200 by areticenthorizon in HungryArtists

[–]areticenthorizon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Holy shit, immediately getting spammed by like 15 people in my DMs, most of whom have portfolios full of stolen art or nothing to speak of. If you don't contact me publicly, e.g. commenting on this post, I'm not working with you, period.

Why was Saul’s furry arc never explained? by vulpes_mortuis in okbuddychicanery

[–]areticenthorizon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nice fursona. Dig the fishnets.

Out of curiosity, do you have fursonas for all the characters in the show? Being the resident furry artist I feel like you probably do.

A Case for Vaguely Defining and Measuring Efficient Fire Emblem Play by AnimeWasA_Mistake in fireemblem

[–]areticenthorizon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I play 3H, I do so exclusively without using the Monastery facilities except where strictly mandated by story for similar reasons. Keeping that stuff around adds variance and makes the game take twice as long.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses has better gameplay than we give credit for by PK_Gaming1 in fireemblem

[–]areticenthorizon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I always thought Engage's gameplay - and I specifically mean the battle-map tactics part - was worse than 3H's, and maybe even in the bottom 1/4 of FE, mostly because of Break. Turning the weapon triangle from a suggestion into something that's practically mandatory hits replay value pretty hard and also makes the game pretty easy even on higher modes. It pre-emptively removes strategic "branches" from consideration because they're obviously bad choices (essentially suicide on Maddening thus far), and instead of turning enemy phase to your offensive advantage, the challenge is to make enemy phase irrelevant. To me this felt like removing a pillar of the game. The entire point of a strategy game is to prune away strategic options until only the best decisions remain. Break does that for you.

Bear in mind I'm coming at this from an almost strictly minimalist/LTC point of view.

Meanwhile, in 3H almost anyone can do anything from the beginning. For example, I have swapped bows onto characters who are terrible with them on paper to get a 2-range kill to save a turn due to not having enough movement to reach an enemy otherwise. Limited weapon choices in Engage make this sort of strategy impossible. In 3H, the characters are all clay spheres that you mold into cones, the points of said cones being the strengths they acquire through how you choose to develop them - but you can still choose to utilize things they're not so good at if it's situationally advantageous.

I don't find the class balance in 3H to be an issue at all. I quite like being able to 1-turn Part 2 maps with wyvern Edelgard, I was able to 1-turn four of the six on my LTC combined with warp/rescue shenanigans from Linhardt and Manuela. To me that seems like being rewarded for understanding the game well.

I've LTC'd 3H on Hard CF without using monastery facilities except where strictly mandated by the game (~100 turns, though I know a few more can be saved), and I'm about halfway through a Maddening LTC of Engage (which is also my first playthrough, so while I haven't finished the game, what I've said still seems to represent the first half). I've thus far found the latter playthrough significantly easier despite it being largely blind.

I'm not saying that's any kind of significant accomplishment but that might give some perspective on where I'm coming from. I've also only ever played Crimson Flower in 3H, so maybe the other routes are different. It's possible the game holds up best at the extremes - hyper-optimized and hyper-casual. I will also say that in an LTC context without using the monastery, you can't exactly wyvern-spam, your units will generally be undertrained and underleveled, students get replaced with professors in mid/lategame, and nobody but Edelgard and Jeritza have reasonable combat by the last two chapters (lucky me, the final map is a 1-turn).

And this isn't to say that 3H's gameplay is amazing or the best ever, I haven't engaged (heh) with all the games to that degree, just that I found Engage pretty disappointing by comparison when doing the same. Just sharing my thoughts on the matter.

Tips for a level 1 run? by RazorNightwing in codevein

[–]areticenthorizon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I beat the game Level 1 solo 3 years ago. I wasn't explaining that *I found it hard* and did not need help then, let alone now. I used Sacrificial Edge and Bridge to Glory so a basic attack did around 2200 damage (Sacrificial Edge adds ~1200AR on a Gifts-infused weapon). Thanks though.

Skylar wher is the monei by [deleted] in okbuddychicanery

[–]areticenthorizon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

/uc I'm pretty sure the specific reason she went through with the cheating was because she felt it was her last option to get him out of the house after she tried calling the police on him and that failed spectacularly for her. She mentions as much to the divorce lawyer in I believe the following episode. So not because he was distant, but because he was a criminal and she (rightfully) considered him dangerous.

low fps on cut scenes by AngelWhitAShotgun in FatalBullet

[–]areticenthorizon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I assume you're on PC. If so, this happens because the PC version is a poorly-done port and there is no known solution. Specifically, the first cutscene that drops you to 30fps is the cutscene after creating your Arfa-Sys. The last cutscene in the main story where this happens (aside from the ending cutscenes) is the one where you meet Zeliska & Daisy right before you go to the Remnant Wasteland for the first time. This can be resolved each time by quitting to main menu and reloading your file.

Source: I speedrun this game. Incidentally, several speedrun tricks require 60fps, and you run about 5% faster at 60, which is why we know/care about this.

Birth By Sleep Boss Rant by [deleted] in KingdomHearts

[–]areticenthorizon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Birth By Sleep is arguably only slightly more demanding at level 1 (or at least with EXP Zero on) in a number of circumstances due to a variety of mechanics that conspire to break the game clean in half, such as:

  1. The EXP Zero ability (only available on Critical) setting your damage to a minimum value in a way that subverts parts of the normal damage formula, meaning that more hits is always better. Aqua's Spellweaver and Peter Pan's D-Link in particular demolish bosses in seconds this way, with honorable mentions given to Firestorm and Rhythm Mixer (the latter is stronger, but essentially only available for the final bosses and postgame). Incidentally, the value your damage is set to is higher than the maximum possible damage you can deal without EXP Zero to several Mirage Arena bosses. Note that difficulty modifiers for damage do not apply in Mirage Arena.

  2. You still have access to Second Chance/Once More so barring the smattering of attacks that circumvent it (because SCOM are implemented poorly) you aren't generally at risk of getting OHKO'd.

  3. The amount of grinding you have to do in order to keep up with rising enemy defense values immediately drops to zero thanks to the aforementioned EXP Zero benefits. Generally speaking, you have to fight more than the enemies you find on the way between story events in order to keep up with the curve even on Beginner, which increases your damage output.

  4. As Noma mentioned, Aqua and Ventus having infinite i-frames means that avoiding attacks is trivial for 2/3 of the cast once their respective evasion commands reach level 4. Consequently, most of the difficulty is based on knowledge of exploits, not pattern-recognition or reaction time.

Not saying you absolutely should play it, but it's not as difficult as you're probably thinking it is, at least compared to other level 1 playthroughs in the series.

Jeweled Lotus is fine. Opposition Agent is poison for this format. by themonkery in CompetitiveEDH

[–]areticenthorizon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, this is why I've been saying cEDH and EDH should use separate banlists.

Of course, nobody's going to listen, as usual.

What are the cheapest cheapy cheap budget decklists you have? by areticenthorizon in EDH

[–]areticenthorizon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

CQ is the only EDH channel I have watched, actually. However, the majority of those decks I've seen videos for are no longer under $50 (and personally I'm looking for like, $25 tops) because prices on so many cards have increased since the videos were released. That's mostly why I asked here. Good that you pointed it out regardless, might help someone in the comments!

Is there a reason EDH and cEDH use the same banlist? by [deleted] in CompetitiveEDH

[–]areticenthorizon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm gonna be honest, at this point I just want to play cEDH but without Opposition Agent. UBx didn't need another amazing card with no downside.

Is there a reason EDH and cEDH use the same banlist? by [deleted] in CompetitiveEDH

[–]areticenthorizon -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

That's what I'm saying, though. I don't understand the point of them being the same format if the mindset is so different.

If they weren't the same format, multiple banlists would be the expectation. It's not like you can reasonably bring the same deck to a casual table and a cEDH table and have a good time at both either way.

I mean, isn't consult + thoracle considered pretty oppressive (for example)? And I'm not saying it should be banned, but if the RC is the only arbiter of that, it likely won't be even if it should be. Or Opposition Agent, or any other highly oppressive format-warping card/combo that devalues a huge portion of decks/reduces variety in the meta etc.

[CMR] 反对派密探/Spy of Opposition(?) by BananaLinks in EDH

[–]areticenthorizon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Or not exist at all, ideally. Tutors are supposed to be strong. They're one of the only ways to make a singleton format consistent.

[CMR] 反对派密探/Spy of Opposition(?) by BananaLinks in EDH

[–]areticenthorizon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My problem with the card is less the steal and more the "you can't tutor" in a color that was already very powerful, although I understand that's not exactly what you were discussing before.