Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Longer than I’d thought (spoilers)

40 hours in. Chapter 4 out of 8 (?). Just finished yet another battle against a certain repeating boss who refuses to stay dead. Eh, I guess I could spoil a little bit. The boss is a giant snake called Shesha, annoying like all repetitive bosses tend to be but luckily not very strong. Actually I haven’t met any really strong bosses in SMTIV:A so far, but I’m only halfway in. Very easy game, TBH. But not so easy that I want to switch to the Hard setting, haha.

I was building a Phys-based main character, but after putting 200 points in Strength and only 50 or so in Magic I realized that -dyne magic was murdering the enemies much faster and more consistently than physical attacks. You also get access to -dyne magic much faster than Heavy physical attacks become available. Magic misses far less often, and gives you extra turns more easily than relying on criticals that may or may not come. If only I could reset my stat distributions to focus on Magic instead. It’s not too late though, so that’s what I’m working on now.

I made a silly mistake though. Somehow my eyes glossed over that Skill Slot+ option in the apps. I’ve been going through the whole game with only 4 skills on my main character, wondering when at all new skill slots will unlock. Level 20? Level 30? 40? It’s only when I hit level 60 and nothing unlocked that I took a second look at the App list. GAAAHHHHHHH…. Well, as I said Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is a really easy game so it doesn’t matter anyway. I can think of it as an accidental challenge run or something.

Current Story – Everyone’s about to launch an all-out attack on the supposed Big Bads of the game. Except we’re only in chapter 4 of 8 so they’re doomed to failure. Either that or an even Bigger Bad will show up and make things worse. To be honest it feels like I’ve been playing SMTIV:A for a really long time now, so I’m ready for it to end so I can start something new. At the same time, gathering and fusing demons is still fun enough that I can keep going for a while now. If it ends around the 60-hour mark that will be good enough for me.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Reads like a kid’s self-insert fanfic

I always have a hard time writing posts about Shin Megami Tensei games. I love them and all, but they all feel the same. Kill or befriend demons, kill or befriend various people, choose Law/Chaos/Neutral, kill boss, end. It’s usually fun, especially the demon-fusing collect-em-all aspect, it’s just not interesting to write about.

Current progress in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Moon Phase 2/8 (or 3?), level 36, just finished retrieving the parts to make the monster-detecting radar. That should be non-spoilery enough. The story is a spin-off set shortly before the end of the original Shin Megami Tensei IV. Some random annoying kids get involved and mess things up for Flynn so it’s up to them to set things right and ultimately save the people of Tokyo.

I hear SMTIV‘s director is called Kazuyuki Yamai. I bet his son little Tarou Yamai read the original script and thought “Wow, Flynn is so cool! But y’ know what would be even cooler? If Flynn had a little sidekick who looked just like me! And the sidekick has a cuuuute childhood friend! And, and then Flynn gets kidnapped so I, um I mean the sidekick is all heroic and stuff and then he saves the day! Wouldn’t that be the coolest? Daddy do it do it do it do it please please pleeeeaaase???” And that’s how we got Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse. My uncle who works at Atlus told me everything.

Of course just because something is a derivative spin-off packed with recycled assets doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, I’m enjoying it more than I did the original with around the same amount of time invested. The pace is faster and more focused, for one thing. And the game just packs on the EXP so I’m always leveling up. What RPG gamer doesn’t enjoy level ups? Atlus also changed the demon negotiation system so demons pity-join you if you fail enough times. The whole negotiation process is just 100 times easier than in any other SMT game to date, which is great. The best part is how the maps are sooooo much easier to read so I never get lost.

The negative side… there aren’t many negatives. I probably shouldn’t have expected much new content from a spin-off game anyway, but the number of new locations is low so exploration is a bit dull. And the whole blah blah mankind needs this, no, mankind needs that, no, mankind needs such-and-such drill has gotten old. Who cares what mankind needs, you pretentious pseudo-philosophers. My MC is just gonna beat everyone up and “carve his own path” anyway. Always carving our own path, then the next SMT game comes out and we carve again. And again. We must have carved the whole Statue of Liberty by now but it’s never enough.

Eh, anyway, I’m having fun. Except for that night I played so much I started seeing flashing spots before my eyes. That was scary. I’ve slacked the pace of my playing a bit, but I’m still on track to finish SMT IV: Apocalypse by the end of the week. You can get a lot of gaming done even with one eye on the World Cup matches. After SMTIV: A, what should I play? I’ll think about that next week!

Picross e, SMTIV: Apocalypse and other adventures

I took more time off from gaming than I’d planned to, but it’s all good. When you’re not feeling it, you’re not feeling it. After lounging on my sofa watching K-dramas with my sisters for a month, I’m just about ready to get back in the saddle. I realized two things: 1) I love Picross, and 2) I need a break from Action RPGs for a while. Nothing personal, just that sim games and turn-based RPGs are more relaxing and that’s what I need right now. So here’s what I’ve been messing around with for the past two weeks.

Anno 1404 – I’ve played it before, so I just started it up as rehab. Getting back in the groove with some sun and sea and hungry peasants and all that. Such a gorgeous game… I started the story mode again but then I remembered that Guy Forcas and Cardinal Lukius are going to mess up my fleet and ports in a couple of chapters and got upset. This time they’re not going to have their own way! That said, I only play about 1 hour of Anno a week so they’ll be at large till 2019, probably.

Picross e – Obviously just Picross e is not enough to satisfy me. That’s why I have Picross e2, e3, e4, e5, e6, e7 and e8 lined up to play once I’m done. I play it in snatches during the day. Like, once every 10 minutes or so, nothing crazy. I’m really happy because now I’m good enough to play Free Mode (with hints). I used to get so nervous about making mistakes and having to start all over again but it’s not so bad as long as you don’t guess. Picross is the best!

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Slightly improved sequel to SMTIV, which I quite enjoyed when I wasn’t getting lost in Tokyo. I’m enjoying the faster pace right off the bat, the more navigable map and the smaller cast. None of the faffing about with Jonathan and Isabeau for 20 hours that I suffered in the original.

This time I’m going to be nice to everyone and take my Law route as it comes. It sucks having to choose choices you don’t agree with just to get the route you want, so I’m not going to play along with that nonsense any more. I’ve played about 5 hours now, just hit level 10 and headed off to Ueno to find Nozomi. I’ll write a proper post about it when I hit level 20/play 10 hours, whichever comes first.

get off me get off me get off me get off me

Enkeltbillet – Mediocre otome game I tried to play but lost interest in before even meeting all the main guys. The character designs are okay, I got a good laugh out of the “English” and it has gameplay in the form of HanaIchi-style quests.

The problem is that the characters are too dumb. Especially the main character who goes running off with a stranger in a foreign country. Idiot. And the idiot strangers who take her in. And the idiot incompetent tour agency she was with. And the idiot foreign guys who randomly show up and start pawing at her. The whole game is just stupid. I want to say it’s dropped, but somehow I still want to play a little more. Even though it’s bad and I will regret it.

Right now my main game is Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse Picross e. Lying is bad. I pick up the 3DS meaning to play SMTIV but “just one puzzle” syndrome kicks in. But I’m making good progress in both of them so I’ll post about one or the other next time. See ya!

Everything is too much work

Yo! I’m still alive. Sorted through the “stuff” I mentioned in the last post (family health crisis, everyone’s fine now). The only problem is I’m exhausted and don’t feel like playing anything. I’ve tried to start a couple of games. I’m okay until they start introducing instructions. Press B to do this, press R1 to bring up such and such. It’s work. Too much work. I don’t want to think so much right now, so I end up dropping everything after 5 minutes.

What’s the plan, then? Give up gaming? Hell no. My next attempt will be an otome game. That won’t have any controls, right? Just read and read and occasionally pick some stuff. But visual novels are really boring. Boring stuff is work. So an otome game with gameplay, of which I have about 100 to choose from. Except console games are work too, so it has to be handheld or PC. That narrows things down a bit. I’ll pick something and start…. maybe… if it’s not too much work. Or chances are good I might take the whole May off from gaming and resume normal activities in June.

Anyway this was just a quick message to say I’m alive and well. See you all again soon!

Moonlight Basket – Too many limitations, and yet…

Moonlight Basket is a trading simulation game from inutoneko, an indie game company whose library I have been steadily working through for the past couple of years. Tico, the mean and lazy alchemist from Lemuore no Renkinjutsushi, is still up to her no-good profligate ways and now has to resort to trading goods from town to town to make ends meet.

The core gameplay is simple. You buy goods in one town and sell them in another where there’s higher demand. The continent is divided into different climate zones. Forest, desert, plains, that sort of thing. What grows well in the desert might be unavailable in the forest, so if you can truck a cartload of forest goods over there you can count on a huge profit. That’s the general idea.

If she has the MP to spare, Tico can squeeze more profit out of the goods by refining raw materials into better goods. Paper into notebooks, cloth into carpets, milk into cheese, water into wine (don’t question alchemy). Sometimes the items can be refined even further, like notebooks into diaries, but whether the time and MP costs are worth it is varies from case to case. Long story short, Moonlight Basket boils down to identifying demands and meeting those demands.

Different stuff is popular in different zones

There are just two little problems you have to deal with. The first is the horse and cart you need to transport your goods. The more goods you can carry and the faster you can deliver them, the more money you make. Many items are perishable so time is of the essence. Once you buy a horse, you can upgrade it, but every upgrade reduces the amount of goods the cart can carry. They’re more like downgrades, TBH, but sometimes you want to go a bit faster or explore more easily so you have no choice.

Ideally you should go for a really good horse in the first place, but the better horses are EXPENSIVE! And can only be bought at certain times of the year from a few cities. There’s a breeding option where you can buy horses from one town and breed them with others until you get your ideal horse, but first you have to pay out the nose for both the parents ($$) and the offspring ($$$$$$$$$$$!). It’s only now after 69 hours (eh?! really?) of playing that I can afford to play Mr. Fancy Horse Breeder.

Once you’ve got your horse and cart sorted out, you have to deal with the second problem: security. The continent of Ishwald is ridden with monsters and bandits that have a good nose for treasure. The more expensive your goods, the stronger the monsters that attack. You need bodyguards…. Actually you shouldn’t need bodyguards because Tico and her slave/apprentice Ruvel are plenty strong already, but neither of them want to fight so yeah, you need bodyguards. Bodyguards that join you readily are weak. Stronger ones make you jump through a ton of hoops before they join.

The good news is bodyguards are free once they decide to join you. The bad news is you have to provide their equipment yourself. The absolutely terrible news is that you have to sell 100 copies of any one weapon before you’re allowed to equip it on your guards. And you can’t equip the same weapon on different party members either. For example even though both Fill and Shio use swords, if you sell 100 Wyvern Swords you can only give one of them a Wyvern Sword, the other will have to keep using that pointy stick until you sell another 100 of a different kind of sword.

It’s even worse than that, though. Party members’ stats level up as they fight. They have a level cap that depends on the power of the weapons they wield, so you can’t just equip them with weak stuff and try to compensate with levels. Not only that, but for anything but the weakest weapons, you have to forage the materials yourself, give them to blacksmiths around the country, return the next season and buy them ($$$$$) and move to a different area to trade them before you can rack your sale count up enough to be worthy of equipping the weapon. Oh, and if you wait too long to buy the weapon, the smith will sell it to another customer and you’ll have to start all over again from step one. See why I said the game has “too many limitations” in the post title? I haven’t even gotten into the convoluted skill system yet.

If you want a break from all the trading and breeding and fighting, there are a few other things you can do. Farming, dungeon crawling, battle tournaments, playing doctor at local clinics, etc. However, like all the other stuff in this game, you can only do all these things at particular times and particular locations. Planting and harvesting can only be done in March, June and September and you have to supply your own water, seeds and fertilizer. Which means you’ll regularly have to dump all your valuable goods to truck 100KG of water halfway across the content so you can get a few herbs 3 months down the line. So many limitations!

Demand/seasonal growth chart. Looks complex but is quite easy to follow.

And yet… 69 hours… Where did the time go? For the past 10 hours I’ve been working on a goal of earning 1,000,000£. I thought it would be impossible, but I’m already up to 500,000£ now. I put it in all 5-year bonds at an 11.47% interest rate while I try to earn the rest of the money. Ah, if only real world interest rates were that delicious.

What’s keeping me playing Moonlight Basket despite all the inconveniences? MONEY. I like making game money. Also pure laziness. Everything works with a few simple mouse clicks and all the battles are automatic. The relative lack of a story and any character interactions means I can focus on my goals. Also I’m not a collectionist, but I do enjoy discovering and synthesizing new items. Oh, and making in-game money is fun too. I’m saying it twice ‘cos I mean it. Although, come to think of it… if I had applied those 69 hours to a $10-an-hour job… It’s better not to think about it.

Well, enough about Moonlight Basket. It’s the only thing I’ve played seriously for the past couple of weeks because I’m dealing with real life “stuff” that leaves me no time for “proper” games. Like Tokyo Xanadu eX+ which I started but had to shelve because the various commands take up too much mental space. Plus the enemy density is too low to provide the catharsis I crave. Too much walky-talky, not enough slashy-stabby. But I did like the little slashy-stabby that I played, so I look forward to playing it when I have the time and energy to spare. Okay, that’s enough blogging for one day. Time for a break!