Zodi Plays: Tactics Ogre The Knight of Lodis (Crime Island Adventure)

[DataNinja]

The no AoE thing was because AoE magic costs 12 mp, you get 10 a turn so because it wasn't turn 3 Zodi couldn't throw it down... without using another characters turn to feed Vecna an item to boost his mp.

Ah, riiiight. That makes sense. Forgot that MP starts empty.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Man, that is such a stupid mechanic. Is the MP regeneration rate the same for all characters, or does it at least scale for intelligent casters?

[jindra34]

Man, that is such a stupid mechanic. Is the MP regeneration rate the same for all characters, or does it at least scale for intelligent casters?

Tis always 10 per turn.

[LansXero]

Man, that is such a stupid mechanic. Is the MP regeneration rate the same for all characters, or does it at least scale for intelligent casters?

Its a portable game, so its more simple, because of its 'I go, you go' turn sequence. On other tactics ogre games its based off wait time, which is, it increases at a steady rate thats based on how often you get to go.

Gold and its equivalent are still super easy to get on both games though, so it usually doesnt matter because you'll be popping 100mp pots at the start of any battle by default. Or getting someone to feed you mp with the darkness spell that does that.

[LaZodiac]

One of the cool things about LPing a game with a hungry fanbase is that most of the stuff I was gonna say in response when I get home from work has already been said.

But yeah that's the gist of it. The intent was that since Vecna wasn't charged up yet we didn't have any AOE stuff to use, even though Vecna is capable of AOEing stuff.

[tonberrian]

I highly suggest taking a detour and visiting the shop in Scabellum. For reasons.

Also now would be a good time to look at some secret item FAQs and find some more pumpkins. For more reasons.

[LaZodiac]

I highly suggest taking a detour and visiting the shop in Scabellum. For reasons.

Also now would be a good time to look at some secret item FAQs and find some more pumpkins. For more reasons.

Don't worry, I'm well acquainted with what to do next. I may look it because I'm bad at tactics and always sound like I'm in a constant state of confusion, but that's just because I'm dumb. I know what to do

[DataNinja]

Don't worry, I'm well acquainted with what to do next. I may look it because I'm bad at tactics and always sound like I'm in a constant state of confusion, but that's just because I'm dumb. I know what to do

To be fair, when things go wrong, you tend to realize your errors in the next few instants. So, clearly, what you need to do is get your brain a few seconds into the future so you always realize what you should do.

[LaZodiac]

Nom nom video games. Consider this a snack before the Nintendo Direct today.

A Taste Of: Flinthook

Video Length: 15:30

A rogue like platforming action game where the levels are vaguely Zelda dungeon esque! Flinthook is...a fascinating game, with a cool couple of mechanics. The problem I had with it is that the "hold button to grapple" means you want to hold it the ENTIRE duration of the hook use. This is 100% my bad, but it would have been nice to have it be explained clearer. Also, just by virtue of playing with a gamepad for this video makes the game far, far less fun to play. The gamepad controls have you aim and move with the same stick, which is just awful an idea that the game should NOT have done. There are two control sticks on the controller for a reason.

What's worse is that you get a permanent upgrade that lets you lock yourself in place so you can aim without moving...which is entirely counter to the game's feel. You're a quick super fast ghost boy possessing a pirate guy and you're gonna fling yourself around real fast and do cool acrobatic stuff. And here is an item that locks you in place so you can actually aim. This is why the keyboard controls are better, you can aim with the mouse while standing still. Ultimately, because of that, this is an avoidable problem...but it shouldn't be a problem I need to avoid in the first place, I think?

All this negativity aside I really like this game! It's super fun and stylish, it's just...got some weird control decisions, and absolutely a little too difficult for it's own good.

[DataNinja]

(Note that this video still seems to be unlisted, in cast you weren't wanting it to be thread-exclusive.)

Well, that was an opening. Looks like it goes pretty well over the gist of the game, without spoiling anything, which is nice (that's an issue I have sometimes of pre-game cinematics). Also, Mermaids are everywhere in these videos lately.

Yeah, that type of movement/aiming controls seems really awkward and unwieldy for a platformer like this.

[LaZodiac]

(Note that this video still seems to be unlisted, in cast you weren't wanting it to be thread-exclusive.)

Well, that was an opening. Looks like it goes pretty well over the gist of the game, without spoiling anything, which is nice (that's an issue I have sometimes of pre-game cinematics). Also, Mermaids are everywhere in these videos lately.

Yeah, that type of movement/aiming controls seems really awkward and unwieldy for a platformer like this.

That was a mistake on my part oops.

[LaZodiac]

Oh hey more of this!

Zodi Plays: Tactics Ogre The Knight of Lodis [11] Further Fish Violence

Video Length: 51:39 (!!!)

It's kinda sad this is a long once since I don't have all THAT much to say. Starting us off, we return to Scabellum to quickly unlock Deneb's Secret Shop! The secret shop is just like all the regular stores, except it's run by a pumpkinhead monster and it stocks some...unique equipment, that only the store provides. As well, Glass Pumpkins can be liquidated here for a vast amount of money, and if we sell them five pumpkins...well, you'll see, because I do intend to get it, to the best of my abilities.

After that, we head off to Rana, wherein we get attacked by another mermaid! This one is Aerial, and she's a slight bit stronger than Minerva was. She's enraged at Minerva's death, and will do everything she can to kill us. Her allies aren't that significant, except for the mermaid with the dragon gem, a hawkman with an earth shield, and the two Naga's on her team. Naga's are the neutral evolution of the dragon, because while dragons cannot class change they CAN mutated. Naga's are the neutral dragon, swimmers that coil and slither around. I forget what, if any, special features they have. Whatever the case may be, they're incredibly powerful and no guide I read have ever listed them as being part of this fight so HMM. That's uh...not good.

About 55 minutes later, we finally put an end to all the enemies. Aerial, bleeding and wounded, demands we finish her off or she'll keep fighting. Gaston doesn't want to, and much to the relief of everyone another mermaid rushes out to save Aerial from a cold, unwanted death. This random mermaid guard reveals that uh...the mermaid town is literally right here in Rana, and the Mermaid Queen would like to speak with us. Which she does, and in a round about way explains that the Sacred Spear is a horrifying black device that shoots people to death, rending through armour and flesh. It's basically a gun and that's really amusing to me. The mermaids used it to fight the war, but humans are nothing if not persistent. More humans came, no matter how many the future queen struck down with her lightning gun, and many more mermaids died as a result. Sometimes, you need to compromise some of your positions to ensure you'll live. An unfortunate and unwanted thing, but sometimes true all the same.

Of course it's not like the Queen learned that lesson. The spear got vanished out from under their noses and she was forced to watch as humanity beat them back, slaughtering them all wholesale. So the mermaids retreated from the ancient ground that was their home and are now kept nice and tidy up in this pocket of coastal ocean caves. They never found the spear, though they know who took it. The queen's sister, Berevra, who fell in love with a human and so absconded with it in the night to prevent further war. I don't know how she got her hands on it but it...well, I won't say it didn't help, because the war did stop. But it stopped because the bad guys finally killed enough of you that they decided they'd won. That's not a victory by any stretch. Would it have been right to keep the spear? Who knows! But probably, yeah.

And that's it for today. We've got some more information, and a lot of dead mermaids on our back. I hope you're happy Gaston, all you had to do was listen to Cybill being a psychopath about torturing mermaids and you wouldn't of have to torture any mermaids. That said I hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time!

------

Two new emblems today, courtesy of DataNinja making the ultimate sacrifice; not attacking with his cool katana. Also dying.

Angel Feather: Rewarded to a unit that gets revived from death. Let's you become an Angel Knight, but...we'll talk about what exactly that MEANS at a later date. I do intend to get one, that's all I can really say here for now. I will note, you can get this emblem in training! I don't quite know why!

The Pen And The Sword: By killing four enemies with physical attacks and four enemies with magic/skill attacks, we get this! It lets a dude turn into a warlock (no ladies allowed) which is a pretty good class. We'll talk more about it later, once/if I do get one, which I think I will since I think this emblem is one of the ones you can't get in training! If someone could correct me on that that'd be cool.

[jindra34]

So, gems are really stupidly good.

Also this map is just messy, oh so messy. Deneb does get to show why she is considered so good. But this map pretty much nessecitates messy tactics.
Also back to the plotlines mostly being merged.

[LansXero]

Do you get guns on this one, btw? And the spear is a spear.

[DataNinja]

On the one hand, that's a neat little thing to have happen, with extra equipment. On the other, I dunno how I feel about having it locked behind a secret character.

Don't ninjas still take an attack penalty if they're on water squares, even though they're on top of it? I feel like that's something we found. So, wouldn't it be better, especially with the ranged people like Trobby, to just use the water-walk to try and skide around to lone pieces of land before attacking? (Or is the penalty only to Melee?)

Well... uh, oops. I am very glad you still have an Altar, because... yeah.

Man, a whole level from killing that dragon.

Spoiler: Army

Show

Unit	Kills
Gaston	11
Deneb	10
DataNinja	8
Blue	2
Celestine	7
Trobby	3
Vecna	11
Ivanna	2
Glycinia	0
Terepat	1
Orson	1
Friendly Fire: 4	Whoops, An Object Got In The Way: 10

[Ninja_Prawn]

DataNinja getting the authentic Shimada Genji experience, there. Dives in solo, stunned up, killed. At least you had the rez available!

[LaZodiac]

So, gems are really stupidly good.

Also this map is just messy, oh so messy. Deneb does get to show why she is considered so good. But this map pretty much nessecitates messy tactics.
Also back to the plotlines mostly being merged.

I'll keep that in mind!

Do you get guns on this one, btw? And the spear is a spear.

We do not get guns in this as near I can tell.

You can pry the "black magic spear that shoots light is just a gun" goof from my cold dead hands.

On the one hand, that's a neat little thing to have happen, with extra equipment. On the other, I dunno how I feel about having it locked behind a secret character.

Don't ninjas still take an attack penalty if they're on water squares, even though they're on top of it? I feel like that's something we found. So, wouldn't it be better, especially with the ranged people like Trobby, to just use the water-walk to try and skide around to lone pieces of land before attacking? (Or is the penalty only to Melee?)

Well... uh, oops. I am very glad you still have an Altar, because... yeah.

Man, a whole level from killing that dragon.

Spoiler: Army

Show

Unit	Kills
Gaston	11
Deneb	10
DataNinja	8
Blue	2
Celestine	7
Trobby	3
Vecna	11
Ivanna	2
Glycinia	0
Terepat	1
Orson	1
Friendly Fire: 4	Whoops, An Object Got In The Way: 10

If you're like, two levels below someone, a kill is 100 EXP. It's kind of ridiculous and has uh...lets say, helped me catch up a unit or two!

DataNinja getting the authentic Shimada Genji experience, there. Dives in solo, stunned up, killed. At least you had the rez available!

Comments like this make me not want to change him to a new class.

[LansXero]

You can pry the "black magic spear that shoots light is just a gun" goof from my cold dead hands.

Spoiler: Not like it matters

Show

Isnt it actually the angel's horn? so its as un-gunlike as any other spear. In LUCT you do get guns, and it mentions a whole island or continent of people who make and use guns. So while maybe the description makes it sound gunlike, its not like guns are an entirely alien thing to the series.

[LaZodiac]

Spoiler: Not like it matters

Show

Isnt it actually the angel's horn? so its as un-gunlike as any other spear. In LUCT you do get guns, and it mentions a whole island or continent of people who make and use guns. So while maybe the description makes it sound gunlike, its not like guns are an entirely alien thing to the series.

No spoilers but yes.

anyway it's a joke. Fantasy people talk about a solid black object that tears through armour and flesh with bolts of light, that sounds like a gun to me.

[DataNinja]

If you're like, two levels below someone, a kill is 100 EXP. It's kind of ridiculous and has uh...lets say, helped me catch up a unit or two!

Only two? Huh. That's generous. ...granted, doesn't help when a dragon's stealing your kill.

Comments like this make me not want to change him to a new class.

But I've got all these fancy emblems!

[HalfTangible]

No spoilers but yes.

anyway it's a joke. Fantasy people talk about a solid black object that tears through armour and flesh with bolts of light, that sounds like a gun to me.

You've never seen a gun fire, have you?

[LaZodiac]

You've never seen a gun fire, have you?

No HT, I haven't. Goofball

[jindra34]

Also just realized that when I said gems I actually meant orbs.

[LaZodiac]

Speaking of realizations, here's one for you I realized after recording the next two videos.

I'll elaborate more in a future video, but in order to get Aerial to join you, you have to take Minerva down to critical health, so she slumps over. She'll surrender, and then when we fight Aerial we'll only fight octopi instead of naga's, and Aerial will join us.

None of the guides told me this explicitly, and none of them even made mention of the naga punishment. The pain of playing a game from a series no one really cares about.

[LansXero]

from a series no one really cares about.

:(. It makes sense though, like you said, you went this route because you didnt want to hurt and kill Mermaids. Then why are you killing the first one you face thats not a random NPC?

[HalfTangible]

No HT, I haven't. Goofball

You would not see the bullet. As far as the observer is concerned, there is a loud BANG like a bomb going off (because there kinda is, albeit a tiny one), something explodes and if it's a living thing it falls over dead.

Also, when firearms were first getting popular, armor was still useful against it. As firearms became more powerful and more able to pierce/shatter armor, the armor got thicker to compensate. Eventually, however, armor was so thick that it was an active detriment to the soldier wearing it more than a help, and so it was abandoned.

... I used to hunt

Speaking of realizations, here's one for you I realized after recording the next two videos.

I'll elaborate more in a future video, but in order to get Aerial to join you, you have to take Minerva down to critical health, so she slumps over. She'll surrender, and then when we fight Aerial we'll only fight octopi instead of naga's, and Aerial will join us.

None of the guides told me this explicitly, and none of them even made mention of the naga punishment. The pain of playing a game from a series no one really cares about.

You did the path that involved NOT torturing mermaid only to end up killing mermaids.

=|

[LaZodiac]

:(. It makes sense though, like you said, you went this route because you didnt want to hurt and kill Mermaids. Then why are you killing the first one you face thats not a random NPC?

I'm sorry but it's true. I like this series, many people like the series! It's otherwise...not very popular and that's sad.

I mean, the game said to kill them. And literally every other character we meet that we recruit, we have to kill to beat. Even if we did spare Minerva, the one time that ever happens ever, we still have to kill Aerial...though apparently Aerial also surrenders, and those two are the only two that do that in the whole game. So...I call the game on that, personally.

You would not see the bullet. As far as the observer is concerned, there is a loud BANG like a bomb going off (because there kinda is, albeit a tiny one), something explodes and if it's a living thing it falls over dead.

Also, when firearms were first getting popular, armor was still useful against it. As firearms became more powerful and more able to pierce/shatter armor, the armor got thicker to compensate. Eventually, however, armor was so thick that it was an active detriment to the soldier wearing it more than a help, and so it was abandoned.

You did the path that involved NOT torturing mermaid only to end up killing mermaids.

=|

Neat gun facts. Still think it's valid to call the spear a laser gun. Pew pew.

Yeah, womp womp.

[HalfTangible]

Neat gun facts. Still think it's valid to call the spear a laser gun. Pew pew.

A LASRER gun, maybe

[LaZodiac]

Fi...fight it out?

Zodi Plays: Tactics Ogre The Knight of Lodis [12] Interruptus

Video Length: 21:00

Bit of a short one today, for reasons I'll get into momentarily. Starting us off, we've got two new changes to the army! Trobby has grown into a Valkyrie, a fantastic female warrior that specializes in spears. They get two slots for spells, and they're even good at water. They also provide a +1 morale bonus to men within three squares of them, which rules. We also hired Deme off screen, and after a short hour or so of grinding she's up to par with the rest of the army as our Siren, a powerful magic caster in her own right! Jumping a bit ahead, we also end up using the Mirror of the Gods to change Terepat to change his element to wind...which also changes him into a Thunder Dragon! Dragons are weird like that.

Anyway, plot stuff! We say our somber, sad goodbyes with Arial, who then proceeds to join the party! Except not. Because, for reasons that are entirely unclear, you have to SPECIFICALLY lower Minerva to critical HP levels, after which she will surrender. None of the guides I was using specified this, and simply said "don't kill her". This is...bothering, because the game says to kill her so I was kind of at a loss for what that MEANT exactly? Now, admittedly I should have dug a little deeper, but I'm taking the full blame for it because literally every other enemy you recruit in this game is someone you have to beat to death. So yeah, no mermaid for us, instead she just muses about how humans and fish are likely incompatible. This is ultimately not a big deal since mermaids are less than good on land and spoilers, we don't...really get any more water maps. We're done with wet.

After that we return to Cybil to inform her of our wonderfully our No Torturing Mermaid plan went. She appreciates the help, but notes that none of her searching has found Berevra either so we're at a loss. This is where things get...silly. I realize that they have to write the plot so that it works no matter which path you're on, but...apparently, even though Gaston completely disagrees with Cybil's methods, he still feels he owes her. He said he would help her, just in his own way...he never said when he'd STOP. It just...it feels really weird to see Gaston being so chummy with her considering everything. However, at the very least talking with her as proved fruitful for our own investigations! We remember about Eleanor's story about seeing a golden scaled mermaid. So now it's time to head back to Solea to talk to her about a fish.

And we would absolutely do that...were it not for a random encounter! Random encounters are...a frustrating and kind of terrible mechanic honestly? It's probably because of the level 6 fairy sitting in my army acting as mascot, but the enemies are barely worth the effort, giving at most 1 EXP a kill just because they're one or two levels lower than us. The ones that are on par, through being that strong or simply leveling up off of US, aren't even that worth it either since none of them drop much of value item wise. I'd of maybe liked to get one of those spell robes they have, but ultimately there's very little of worth in random fights like these. Which is unfortunate because you CANNOT RUN from fights. At the very, very least what this random fight lets us do is show off how strong our units have gotten since the beginning of the game. A long time ago a fight like this could have been a slog. Now we're kind of ripping everything apart.

But yeah, that's it for today. I hope you all enjoyed! Join us next time where we actually proceed with the plot mission. And if you've got any input on how to handle potential future random encounters, please feel free to speak up!

[jindra34]

Zodi here's a really funny part of this. The paths cutscene here is basically the same if you took path A. So no, this is mostly to establish Gaston's character or lack there of.

Oh hey, look another water map. Also if you really want an item from an enemy, recruit them, steal the stuff and then dismiss them. But yes random encounters are based on the average level of your team. Hey 10 heal is more than cleanse does. And this took long enough to start flooding the map. Which shows how silly flooding is with tiered water.