(no subject)

[kjorteo]

Getting back into Etrian Odyssey 2 now that I'm finally free of Trauma Center: UTK2. I recall being very close to finishing it before it just happened to fall into the cracks of my backlog. I like the feeling of accomplishment when I can actually cross something off of my backlog, and Etrian Odyssey 3 is coming (I already preordered it to get that sweet-looking art book preorder bonus) so I thought that taking care of EO2 real quick would be a wise move.

I have three things left to do: beat the bonus boss on 28F, beat the bonus boss on 30F, and find and defeat the WarMECH-like super rare, super tough "you probably won't encounter one, but woe unto you if you do" random encounter on 30F. I need to build levels for goals one and two anyway, so I figured I'd have a go at trying for three by wandering around on 30F. (If I see it, yay, otherwise, experience is good for putting me in position for the other two, so yay.)

I forgot that the problem with hunting for an elusive yet obscenely tough random encounter is that you can have the somewhat disappointing end result where you actually find one after about forty minutes, and then lose to it. And that a game over means you don't get to keep that experience you got while looking, either.

Oops.

Comments

[sethimothy.livejournal.com]

You can preorder EO3 already? I need to do that. I must have that game. MUUUUST.

I still need to beat floor 30's boss, and hahaha the only thing harder than finding the WarMECH is beating it.

Remember, Save and Save Oft-oh shit, out of rope!

[kjorteo]

Not only can you preorder EO3 already, but they're also giving out preorder bonus art books! It's a "while supplies last" thing so you might want to get on that.

God, I love your FOE icon. Only FOEs aren't the problem this time!

You know, I almost had the damned thing. I knew in advance that its whole thing is its devastating Bite attack, but it has almost no bind resistances so you're okay if you keep its head bound, but ABSOLUTELY DO NOT BIND ANYTHING ELSE because of the "do I have two or more binds simultaneously? Oh hey, time to use Frolic" check. Which means NO DOMINATE even though my Dark Hunter is right there, but Gag is good. I knew that, and I gagged it immediately and had it completely helpless as I worked it down to a small sliver of health. Victory was almost mine... then the head bind wore off, Gag, for whatever reason, failed to take when I used it again, and it bit my entire party to death in two rounds. :(

My roommate used to make it a point to always have two warp wires in EO1--the second was a spare in case he ever warped out and forgot to buy one before going back in. I thought that was stupid, just because I never forget to buy warp wire. (With how suicidal it is, you really have no business making it all the way to 30F if you're the kind of person who forgets to buy warp wire. D:) However, I adopted the practice in EO2 after about the fourth time I fell for a "You see a cute squirrel, do you pet the squirrel? Yes? HAHA IT RUNS UP YOUR SLEEVE AND INTO YOUR PACK AND STEALS A WARP WIRE :D" event.

[davidn]

I'm going to fall back into not understanding this journal!

[kjorteo]

I put that journal in the most general and accessible terms I could! (Though the comment thread with sethimothy did get into more specific... specifics, I suppose.)

[davidn]

I understood this one! It's just that I view it as my farewell to understanding until these objectives are completed. Until you convince me to play it, of course.

[kjorteo]

You mean I haven't yet? Good God, how much more gushing about the series' incredibleness does it take?

[davidn]

I think it's because I still have bad memories of Eye of the Beholder and all its dreadfulness that I have a subconscious hesitance to seeing how something like this game could possibly be enjoyable, even though your game recommendations have had a 100% success rate. Then again, if you'd told me last year that I would be playing and enjoying a series that involved aquatic parasites that cut people's lungs apart from the inside, I wouldn't have believed that either.

[kjorteo]

I seem to recall you being quite adamant in your stance on the matter! Of course, I said I wouldn't do anything nearly as insane as XS all of UTK2 almost as often as you said you wouldn't get into the series, so....

Anyway, it helps a lot that Etrian Odyssey handles combat via fading out into the menu-based battle screen just like any other JRPG, rather than the real-time "click the picture of the sword next to the portrait to do temporarily gray it out and damage the enemy in front of you about 5% of the time and nothing at all the other 95%" system. (And, of course, their answer to "how can we bestow such a kind and generous mercy on the player and yet still have it sufficiently soul-crushingly difficult to be worthy of the name Atlus?" lies in the FOEs.)