The Spirit of Eternity Sword (Eien no Aselia, Seinarukana)

Didn't see a thread for these games. I just started playing Eien no Aselia. Oh god, the character sprites. They look like Key's awful sprites taken to the extreme. :| The interface looks pretty fancy, though. So far the atmosphere feels like Fate/stay night if it was made by Key. I'm only at the prologue, though, so I might change that sentiment later.

This Akitsuki guy is a creep. God.

The sprites look awful, but the CGs look pretty okay. Huh.

edited 25th Mar '12 12:04:32 AM by LiberatedLiberater

The art is simply awful. You should probably do Aselia route first.

Bah, never mind.

I like this game. It doesn't treat getting whisked away to another world as something to be liked.

edited 25th Mar '12 1:03:13 AM by LiberatedLiberater

Never mind what? And yeah, Rakios kinda sucks.

Oh, I asked whether they actually made up a new language for this game. Got my answer soon enough.

Oh god, this Orpha girl is going to be a heroine. Why.

If it makes you feel any better, Eien no Aselia's sex scenes aren't in the version you're reading. And Kaori at least isn't a heroine, she's just a MacGuffin.

edited 25th Mar '12 1:23:55 AM by Arha

Ah, right, it did say all-ages when I downloaded it.

Yay, first battle. This game feels a bit like Warcraft or Command and Conquer.

Wow, this game. It really feels like a crapsack world. Props for that.

edited 25th Mar '12 2:43:23 AM by LiberatedLiberater

So far, I really like this game, apart from the god-awful art. The gameplay's pretty addictive and the story's pretty damn interesting. Almost makes me forget that I have a Biology final exam tomorrow. I hope it can keep my attention span enough for me to finish all of the routes.

I never did finish the last route, which was one of the two bonus routes.

Okay, I'm at the continuous battle at Sardbart. God, the last battle is insane — the attacker's Fury I skill keeps on 2HKO-ing my spirits. Managed to beat it once, but got two of my more powerful spirits killed. Bah.

Also, Orpha is useless. Her HP is shit.

Yes, Sardbart conquered! This game's more difficult than I thought it would be.

Ugh, this king is a huge prick. I hope someone teaches him a lesson.

edited 27th Mar '12 9:01:29 AM by LiberatedLiberater

"Good job saving the kingdom. As a reward, I will now rape you." Okay, not quite that bad, but close! I guess what he actually says is "Good job saving the kingdom. As a reward, you can go rape all the people who actually treat you okay."

You're remembering to properly level characters, right? And Orpha gets better once she learns some spells like Apocalypse.

I remember maps where I had to start over if I wanted to take a city and get the proper bonuses because of the way the terrain was split and of who I sent where. I've even had to factor in skills like Revive to my strategies because my forces were spread so thin I literally could not spare some of my better defensive units. That was for the nastiest map in the game though, so fortunately it's a bonus mission that only appears in one route. And these both still apply: If I want to beat those maps the way I want to I have to spend endless time trying to get exactly the perfect squads. At least there's no real luck factor.

edited 27th Mar '12 9:12:10 AM by Arha

What level am I supposed to be by chapter 3? Most of my characters are around level 12 by now, except for that one level 18 blackspirit that you get before Sardbart; are my levels too low or still okay? I think it might be too low considering how relatively difficult the previous battle was.

Damn, what a terrible place this country is. So much racism and general jerkassery.

edited 27th Mar '12 9:18:17 AM by LiberatedLiberater

I think that's about how my spirits were on my first file. It might be a good idea not to level everyone equally. For example, I don't really do much with Helion. Hell, the only thing I really use her and to a lesser extent Faren for is tanks since they have surprisingly high health. Just be sure to get the best bonus you can out of the maps because a lack of mana adds up over time and you might get to later maps rather underleveled and basically unable to get those bonuses anymore. And the final bosses can be kinda brutal because they're complete cheaters. The jerks have priority moves that remove all your actions and there's nothing you can do about it until they run out.

edited 27th Mar '12 9:25:21 AM by Arha

What the fuck. Bah, I need to learn how to conserve ether then. I've drained my mana to 0 in the last two or three maps.

Spend all your mana immediately. Stockpiling it does you no good. You can also use a sword release on any character you find to be underperforming and don't intend to use anymore and get a lot of mana back. Did that to Helion on my second playthrough on the NG+ because I simply didn't use her, but for some reason she was my highest level character.

Oh, and cities that default to you rather than being captured don't give you any bonus mana. I don't think this really matters until chapter 3, though. How far are you?

Yup, I'm at chapter 3, preparing for the war against the Republic. So what does NG+ give?

Well, your characters carry over, hard mode is unlocked and after you clear hard mode super hard mode is unlocked. Those just buff enemy levels by 30 and then another 39, so they're just meant to be played on a NG+ really. You also have the ability to recruit two more characters at the end of chapter 3 that were unavailable before. You have to meet certain conditions for it though. There are also some bonus scenes many of which deal with those two characters.

Oh, and the early game gibberish language is now understandable. After playing the game twice, you can choose whether you want it as gibberish or understandable.

Edit: By the way, do you actually want me to give gameplay tips or would you like to learn on your own?

edited 27th Mar '12 2:03:03 PM by Arha

Sure, I'd like some tips, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of the game. I find that Yuuto's insanely useful in terms of both offense and support, and he really works well with both Aselia and Esperia in the team. My main squad currently consists of Yuuto, Esperia and Aselia — Esperia almost always in defense, while I switch around Yuuto and Aselia at my convenience.

And oh god, Norio Wakamoto is voicing someone in this game. I was not expecting that.

What the hell? I'm back on Earth? This game sure likes to throw random shit at the protagonist.

edited 28th Mar '12 1:23:35 AM by LiberatedLiberater

Should I pick this up after Kamidori? (If there is an after Kamidori)

Haven't played Kamidori, but I think Eien no Aselia's gameplay is pretty solid. And unlike what I hear about Kamidori, this one actually has a pretty good story, too. So yes, pick it up if you have the time.

Yuuto is a great unit. I felt he started a little slow, but once he gets some better attacks and a couple good support skills he's amazing. He even makes for a good defender eventually. Orpha probably is the best red spirit, but she's not as obviously great at her job as Aselia or Esperia. In fact, her best skills are a little tricky to use.

And I see you're on Aselia's route. Norio Wakamoto actually voices two characters. Fun fact: My favorite character is Desire. His evilness is somehow endearing.

Yeah, this game was pretty good and the story is a lot stronger than Kamidori's, though to be fair that's not a great accomplishment. If only it didn't have such crappy art.

Yeah, I'm using the walkthrough bundled with the patch. Going for Aselia -> Esperia -> Orpha -> Lesteena -> Kyouko -> Tokimi -> Uruka. I wanna see more of Lemuria/Lesteena, though. She's one of my favorites so far.

Yuuto's support skills are awesome. Resist I managed to save me from Apocalypse twice (in separate battles, though), and Inspire I is awesome when used with Aselia's high-damaging physical attacks.

Those abilities also heal and can't be interrupted. It can make for an excellent defensive squad if you're getting the shit kicked out of you by something. Apocalypse is quite the nasty ability though. Hello removing your opponents ability to fight back.

For some reason, I didn't not catch on to the Lemuria thing until my second or third playthrough. I felt kinda dumb when I realized.

edited 28th Mar '12 8:39:45 AM by Arha

Currently at chapter 4. The game's gotten a lot easier at this point in the game, especially since most of my sub-spirits have gotten to the highest rank. And Shun continues to be a hugely unlikable prick and a huge creep.

Hmm, Takios hasn't appeared again. I wonder.

He's off being manly somewhere, I guess.