Status Chovus Jan 15, 2021
Beat 90%. My preferred party was Amon, Gnart, Ivory and Taika. This was largely because by the time Olia rejoined the party she was significantly underleveled, and PAT was also significantly underleveled when I got it. I had Gnart and Ivy paired up for enhanced healing and did not put much thought otherwise into the bond pairs. During the late …
Beat 90%. My preferred party was Amon, Gnart, Ivory and Taika. This was largely because by the time Olia rejoined the party she was significantly underleveled, and PAT was also significantly underleveled when I got it. I had Gnart and Ivy paired up for enhanced healing and did not put much thought otherwise into the bond pairs. During the late game I rotated Olia and PAT into the party to max out bond levels, but PAT only had max bond with Ivy and Gnart by the time I beat the game. Neither Olia nor PAT ever levelled up enough to be useful. Only 2 or 3 bosses gave me a little trouble to the point where I had to restart the battle and try something slightly different; Aerdyn had too much evasion so I had to slot more accuracy, and rely on bleed and magic. The fire titan after you first get Taika took a few tries until I figured out the entire fight is like a tutorial for the elemental absorb ability. The repeat ice version late game I managed to beat on the first try, but only Taika survived. I managed beat the final boss on the first try, but it was a close fight where I was not sure I would make it. I collected the 4 barnacles, got gold in the arena and farmed the plants most times I visited a save point. I think there were a couple minor things I missed, like 1 bestiary enemy.
Ivory used: thunder fist, mug, trip wire and first aid; regular, electric and toxic ammo. I used mug a lot to keep enemies stunned, and trip wire came in very handy for some boss fights; I probably should have used it more in the final boss. I rarely needed her to heal and only tried traps a few times; I did not like them.
Her talents include: immunity chance, ammo master, plant and elemental buster, back again, health master, plant and human buster, energized and battle medic. I focused her stats on offense giving her the highest attack of the team, and her secondary stats accuracy and magic.
Amon used: stab, mug, gouge, throw sand; regular, fire and water ammo. Along with Ivory, that stun with mug was amazing. I liked how gouge does slashing damage, allowing him more variety in attack types, and bleed worked very well on some of the bosses to bypass high defense/evasion.
His talents include: back again, immunity chance, ammo master, pickpocket, cutpurse, double turn, health master, and energized. I focused his stats on agility, evasion, speed and accuracy. Accuracy was his highest stat with attack pretty high too. He got a crazy amount of turns from the thieving talents and dodging attacks with double turn, but his damage was not as good as Ivory; especially the shooting.
Taika used: bite, fire breath, lighting and curse. I only used her alternate form for the bosses that required it to provide immunity to elemental damage. For a couple of the barnacles I used the stacking magic defense buff.
Her talents include: immunity chance, back again, energized, fire master, master health and quickstep. Her highest stat was magic resist followed by attack and then magic. Her defense was low, and evasion was terrible. I used her like a battle mage, able to do great damage with both physical attacks and nukes.
Gnart used: regen, heal, whirlwind and smokescreen. I never once used his alternate form. He was the dedicated healer. I never got heal until late game so regen was the way to go. Even in late game regen did more total healing than heal, so I only used heal if someone was very close to death. The ultimate heal was awesome as a full group heal, then use group regen afterwards. I only used the 2 attack spells if no one needed healing, and he spent quite a bit of time resting to be able to heal.
His talents include: quick rest, energized, back again, strong resolve, immunity chance, battle medic, bonds of battle and master health. I by far focused his stats on magic for more powerful healing. Throw in the occasional armor, magic resist and speed boost to help keep him alive. He was the only character that I felt I absolutely needed in the group at all times.
Olia ended at level 15. She was good in the early game but was too weak to be useful later on. I really did not see a point to use her tank mode.
PAL ended at level 13 and I used his passive support mode to weaken enemies, buff defense and provide physical immunity. I never felt I was missing out by not having physical immunities.
I enjoyed this game and found it to be a relaxing experience. The battle mechanics stood out as solidly designed, and I especially appreciated being able to switch party members at any time outside of battle. Too bad you can’t switch during battle though. The characters, world building and plot were likeable, though felt like there could have been more. As it stands, the game is a good budget hallback to oldschool jrgps without the unneeded bells and whistles that many older games felt the need to have.
7.7/10