Arc Rise Fantasia

...2 feldragon scales?

Where'd you get the second one?

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

I got the second one when I killed Fafnir, and I got the first one in Retea Forest. It's found on the spot where the Feldragon almost exploded at the start of the game.

edited 16th May '11 9:39:25 PM by Enlong

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...really?

Whelp, back to the beginning of the game I go!!!!.......

As a person who goes back to all previous parts whenever something majors happens just to see if theres any changes, I can't believe I'd miss some of these things.

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Btw, does it seem like...the Feldragons were discarded a bit too early on?

They're mentioned a few times...but judging from the earlier parts of the game, it felt like Feldragons would play a much bigger part of the story.

More importantly, the Wyvern, those swarms of large dragons! They were featured in the opening cinematic! I thought they'd make an appearance as enemies! L'Arc's signature sword he uses in all the cutscenes was Balmung, a sword designed to kill dragons. But no, all we see are tiny versions of them(who has higher stats). And they were just used as a plot device to show how evil Ignacy was.

I can't help but think...the developers completely forgot about them when brainstorming on the story. In fact, ALL dragons in this game are surprisingly weak. Dragons are often the most powerful enemies in any game. In this game, they're the weakest.

What does everyone else think?

Is this what tvtropes call What Happened to the Mouse? ?

edited 16th May '11 10:06:16 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

They were rather few and far between, weren't they? I feel like the revelation that Feldragons are Hozone-infected Divine Race folks would've had more punch if we'd seen more, you know? I suppose the party had bigger fish to fry after the Dragon Prison debacle, but... well, maybe if L'Arc had been slaying Feldragons left and right throughout the game, it'd be more of a shock to learn that every one of them, and not just the ones made by the Aion Unit, used to be human.

edited 16th May '11 10:31:48 PM by Enlong

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It would be nice to see a few more half transformed Human/Feldragons

Alright, I got unlocked all the new weapons without levelling up! Also...I found a new inn in the isolated islands near Jada and a new optional boss in Ebur Ruins.

The developers really went all out when it came to adding lots of stuff in there just to make the world more colorful. I wonder how many extras and bonuses are littered throughout the world that I still haven't discovered yet. I hope I didn't miss any other out of the way inns.

PS- speaking of abandoned plot points. Does Alf's mother, Gruene, ever get mentioned again?

edited 19th May '11 7:22:33 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

You mean after Ignacy almost kidnaps her as leverage? I wouldn't know. Still where I was last time I posted.

By the way, L'Arc is half Divine Race, and Weiss is Common, so... that means that Rex was Divine Race, right?

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No, Ignacy tried to kidnap Elena, L'arc and Weiss's mother. I'm talking about Alf's mother, the banished one.

And yeah, I'm kinda confused about their parents too...so is Weiss also Rex's son? Or is it L'Arc who is Lord Mahat's son, but he was born after Elena fled the castle and had Rex pretend to be the father??

Of course, it can't be the latter since Alf is a pure common race. In that case, does that mean it is Elena who is the Divine Race?

edited 19th May '11 7:45:21 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

Oh right. I don't think she's ever mentioned again...

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hmmm....for some reason, Mashgar was even easier to beat than that optional Ladybug boss in Verct skywalk....

Looks like I won't be able to beat the game in a while though since I won't have access to my Wii for a while.

And I'm even at the final boss too.

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Since I beat Mashgar, I decided to fight Luze just to see what happens.

And....HOLY SHIT ALLUL IS A ROGRESS?!? Hmmm...I guess it makes sense, since she's one of the Noire 12.

From what it looks like. The strongest Rogress are the ones with Combo element...and the weakest are the basic elemental ones. Not sure what to say about Absin. I just like his line. Squill is the weakest...

edited 22nd May '11 2:15:30 AM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

I finally have time to play again and now I beat the Final Boss!!

The final boss...Luze/Eesa sure was a satisfying final boss...but I still found her to be easier than Alf.

As for this boss...

• boy am I GLAD I didn't bring Serge with me. He woulda been useless against Eesa except as a support/healer, and 90% of his Excel Acts would do nothing.
• glad I brought Cecille with me, I reset her Orb and redone her so that she has one of every element, up to level 3 spells each, and levelled up each element once. She was very handy. And she's good with physical attacks, making her even more useful.
• in terms of Rogress, Rufunga>all other offensive Rogress. I thought about bringing Banchu, but he minuses my offensive stats.
• she immediately killed two of my members the moment we started to fight her second form

So...who else is playing/beat the game?

My thoughts on the ending overall...

• damn, talk about a Downer Ending
• I wish they showed us the future of Fullheim, like what the world looks like, and Cecilia in the future since she waited 5 years before going back to sleep
• so this game...never really had a Big Bad did it? It had villains here and there, but none of them were Big Bad...the closest we got died years before the game start, King Meridia
• I...I...I think they just turned the Final Boss into a Woobie.
• the Feldragons...I was hoping they'd be relevant to the plot somehow. They gave so much attention to them in the beginning of the game. And then they stopped mentioning them afterwards.

As for my thoughts on the game........Needs More Love, big time*

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Because I haven't played in such a long time, I totally forgot...what was so bad about the Hozone again? And why remove it? The Common Race are fine with it, and the Divine Race can use those dragongems of theirs to survive it. They implied that dragongems are slowly made, and they aren't all being awoken because they aren't being made fast enough, but eventually all the Divine Race should have one of their own. And...considering humans lived without gods before, and that they created Eesa out of loneliness...what's to stop them from doing it again in the future?

And now...off to Post Game Contents!!!!

edited 18th Aug '11 10:15:30 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

Hozone, in mass quantities, will crystallize the land, making it inhospitible. True, new life is born beneath it, but it kills the things it crystallizes.

Also, it's absolutely toxic to the Divine Race, and without Dragongems, they'll turn into Feldragons. And there's a limited number of Dragongems out there. More can and will be made, but it's the equivalent of needing to always wear a (less obtrusive) scuba mask, or die. It's not exactly an ideal setup for them, and the danger of losing your Dragongem, or having it intentionally stolen or broken by some assassin, is too great to abide.

However, to completely remove Hozone would kill the Common Race, who have evolved accustomed to a Hozone-laden atmosphere. So, the only way to save both races is to keep Hozone in the world, but neutralize the qualities that are toxic to the Divine Race.

Which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Wouldn't removing its toxicity change its chemical makeup enough that it would kill off the common race?

and dang, I meant to play this game over the summer, but never got around to it. Eh, I'll go back to finishing the Verect Skywalk during Fall Break, I guess.

And yeah, this game was far better than I initially gave it credit for. I only wish physical Combos were introduced earlier.

edited 18th Aug '11 10:24:24 PM by Enlong

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Oh right...yeah, forgot about the Crystallization, those were a pretty big element of the plot wasn't it?

Wait...this raises some questions. Zamuel died from Crystallization after being beaten by Ignacy...how does that make any sense? If Ignacy was on Real's side I guess they could justify it, but no, he's technically on Imaginal's side at that point.

As for making sense of neutralizing the Hozone's toxic properties, think of it as converting to a similar substance, but only this time it won't be lethal to the Divine Race but also sufficient to keep the Common Race to survive. This is probably why it required as long as 500 years in order to achieve. While completely different, I guess it's sorta like vaccines.*

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You know what sorta surprised me? I thought this game would reveal itself to be an After the End story. I mean, both Sky Walks are essentially giant space colonies with futuristic technologies such as holograms, cryo-chambers, and sentry robots. There are functional air ships, yet the next most advance piece of technology is primitive boats. Even the gods themselves appear to be computer-like. And how there's no "magic" in the game, but "codes".

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

There's plenty of "magic", but it's done by "coders".

I think, perhaps Ignacy just had a blade that was coated/infused/enchanted/whatevered with a lethal amount of Hozone, enough to cause crystallization on wounds it inflicted.

Might be why he has that freaking annoying petrification attack.

It'd be akin to poisoning your blade.

edited 18th Aug '11 11:00:38 PM by Enlong

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Huh...that kinda makes sense if it were true

Also, that attack of his only petrifies you if you are buffed with "May the land SAVE you!" and "Crimson Blessing!".........the level 3 earth and fire support spells respectively...whose names I don't remember anymore because they always have two names due to chain-magic.

More games should have lines accompany each and every spell...and have every character recorded to say those lines.

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

Like Tales Of Symphonia Dawn Of The New World?

And it's "Revival/Reincarnation" and "Life Force/Above And Beyond", respectively.

And that's why I was getting petrified? Serves me right for coming to adore the latter spell...

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Yeah I found it best to avoid using those buffs against him, even though not using Above And Beyond results in quite a few one hit kills, atleast there's a chance of surviving it.

As for Tales Of Symphonia...the fact that the game on the Wii is a sequel of a game I never played before worries me. That, and it's bloody impossible to find.

But gameplay wise...is it as great as Arc Rise Fantasia*

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

It depends, I suppose, on your team setup, spells learned, and skill with the character you're using. I find that it can certainly be challenging at times, but Arc Rise Fantasia surprised me with the sheer difficulty of its bosses, so I guess it's not quite as difficult as it.

The battle system is quite different. It's real-time.

If you can find a copy of the first game, I'd suggest that first, then go to DOTNW. DOTNW is a bit of a Contested Sequel (I like it, though I will admit to some flaws), but the quality of the original is near-universally regarded as pretty damn high.

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Don't have a gamecube.

I guess I won't be able to play a game similar to Arc Rise Fantasia for...quite a long time. Especially considering how often players these days actually sell their games once they die a couple of times.

Interesting thing I forgot to mention about the last boss...I was level ~59, so coincidentally, Ryfia JUST learned her 100% Excel Act. I managed to learn my final Excel Act RIGHT at the final boss! I like to believe it's symbolic somehow.

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

But you do have a Wii and some Game Cube controllers do you? If that's the case then all you have to do is find the game.

Fantastic Supreme Überkaiser Emperor Folt of The Infinity and Beyond" ... "The First"!

Wii plays Game Cube games? I'll also have to buy the controllers too I guess...I heard lots of good things about gamecube games...though I'd prefer to play some Wii games, but since theres no game being released next year, I'll try it out....if it's even sold at all anymore.

PS- does anyone have a picture of Cecille in her Squirrel Outfit? Having trouble finding it.

edited 19th Aug '11 5:22:07 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

Try Amazon.

I have a message from another time...

Amazon.

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heheh, finally did all the quests. Kinda disappointed theres nothing special for completing all quests though. Kudoan is actually a pretty fun boss fight as long as atleast one of your party member have Dispel...and learn how to properly time it so that you also dispel all the other buffs he casts on himself.

Of course, the highlight of beating Kudoan isn't being able to complete the Armchair Pilgrim quest or getting him as a Rogress, it's the optional dialogue immediately afterwards where Cecille reveals that she wants to be like Absin or Girtab if she could choose.

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

Been playing the post game. And for the first time, I saw a quadruple sync. Dynos and my 3 team members were using.......erm...."flames consume you!"(lvl 3 fire) on the boss. For some reason, Dynos was faster than Serge.

I was cool to see all 4 do it at once, but...I kinda wished my 3 party members would call Dyno's name, I mean, one of the members was Cecille for god's sake! Although tech wise I guess it's because this is only a post game material and no one would ever think of adding more voice acting into the game just for that.

When dark overlaps with dark, the doors of the underworld will open to a world without light!

RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!

Anyway, I think I'm probably going to be getting some extra money for Christmas this year, and I kinda want to see what other people think of this game.

I need a good Wii RPG to hold me over until Xenoblade hits American shores, and this is the one that interests me the most.

I've heard bad things about the voice acting, but ever since I discovered that there's an option to turn the voices off, this doesn't really bother me at all.

What do you people think of this game?

I like it. Combat is real slow until you learn to chain your attacks to themselves, and after that, it gets real good. I can often be quoted as saying that the voice acting improves a good deal as the game itself progresses.

Also, Arm Forces (these skill-granting gemstones that can be unlocked from weapons through battle experience) are absolutely king. You also get secret powers for filling up a weapon's entire grid. Some of those powers are godly. Like giving the best caster in the game faster casting speed than anything. Then you can have the entire party chain their spells to hers. Not only are the spells souped-up for being chained, but they all execute with the speed of the fastest caster in the group. Is very nice.

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