Reply With QuoteMaybe this post in the turn-based games thread was what you were thinking of.
I could have sworn there was a thread about this here, but google search didn't turn up anything.
Anyway after getting burned out on the last Advance Wars title I've been looking for another strategy title for the DS. So far the only review I've seen is from ign, which gave it a 6.8 for its punishing difficulty. Was wondering if anyone has played this yet and can comment on it.
Last edited by Jab; 04-23-2008 at 03:44 PM. Reason: missed the .8 score
Maybe this post in the turn-based games thread was what you were thinking of.
The very first level has you against like 20+ opponents. I haven't passed it yet.
The tutorials are poor, with actual gameplay practice after the explanation. I failed several of those.
This game is pretty damn difficult. I'm giving up on it now that I have the new Pokemon Mystery Dungeon in hand.
I'm reading this review based on this summary. It is sure to pay off.Originally Posted by Jab2565
...
It already has! The review is by someone named "Bozon", which I am pronouncing "Bozo" followed by the sound people make randomly for the rest of their lives after receiving a sharp blow to the head.
There are a couple of "classic" eras: one of them is Greece and the other is Rome. But I'm using a punishingly difficult definition of the word here. However, it is the original meaning of the word and the one that to this day is used in conjunction with a reference to eras. It does feel kind of nitpicky when there's so much other more stupid stuff going on here.Atlus's latest turn-based strategy blends the oh-so-classic medieval era
Well, that's one joke in the Holy Grail that he absolutely won't get. And then, the very next sentence:and find yourself face to face with a handful of nights, mages, and swordsmen
OK, ha ha, he wrote "midlevel" instead of "medieval", but what is going on here? Let's summarize:It's to be expected, as there are approximately 4.7 billion games set in the midlevel genre.
1. You cast fireball at the time period between after the sun goes down and before it rises again, and then your friend with a sword takes a swing at it.
2. This happened because it happens in a lot of other games.
Also:
"Hey, what's the setting of the G.I. Joe movie?"
"The action genre."
Not as punishing as your paragraph transitions.We're not sure if the RMS is really the way to go with all strategy games from here on out, but it's certainly a nice change of pace from the norm.
And while we're on the subject, Rondo of Swords is very, very punishing.
You will probably say something like, "This maps is unbeatable!"maps filled with baddies that you swear is unbeatable
I think in a long, long time all the time.it's also the first strategy RPG that's really made us think in a long, long time
It's nice, but on the other hand, it's also rewarding. That sounds like something Nathan Lane would say to Matthew Broderick before smiling at how funny that makes him.it's nice to worry every step of the way that you're being too sloppy, moving too fast, or wasting too much time on your attack. On the flipside, it's rewarding to finally smash defenses with true tactical prowess.
Then there's a bunch of crap about how it's a niche game and how the reviewer is worried that not many people will be interested-- this in advance of dropping a score on it that makes sure they won't be. Then in the final paragraph a couple of things that can only happen in IGN-land:
Showing off your familiarity with the "midlevel" genre by getting 2 out of 3 titles wrong is great, but fucking up Summon Night by making the exact opposite mistake you made earlier in the review is IGN.games like Lumious Arc, Etrian Odyssey, and Summon Knight
Thanks for reminding us of the title, but how did this game get "simple" all of a sudden? Oh wait, I was confusing the idea that it made an IGN reviewer "really think in a long, long time" with the idea that it was actually a complex game. My bad.It isn’t Fire Emblem, and it isn’t Final Fantasy Tactics. It’s Rondo of Swords: A simple, challenging, entertaining turn-based strategy that dares to be different, and succeeds despite its flaws.
He's not even hip enough to make an outdated There Will Be Blood reference.If that’s your cup of tea, by all means drink up.
Then in the scoring section:
Not a mis-paste. The section ends with "you'll h".Gameplay
It’s hard, but it’s also very fresh, fun, and rewarding because of its difficulty. If you can handle the design – which was made specifically for the hardcore – you’ll h
Jab2565, I have to say you've completely mischaracterized the basis for the score the reviewer gave it. Maybe you h'd.
Last edited by Matthew Gallant; 04-23-2008 at 02:52 AM.
I'm curious, what's a "Rondo"?
Also, what happened to review?
I wanted to read it, but I h
Thanks Matt.
That review is quality; pure class. IGN's writers are making groundbreaking strides in their re-imagining of the language structure of the English language. I'm sure Webster is rolling in his grave with utmost glee.
*******MILD SPOILERS********
The game is brutally, horribly difficult...for me, at least. I am on, what, the third mission, and I'm stuck. You get five people, of whom one is gimped and injured, one is a weak caster, and one is the under-leveled main character you have to preserve to avoid insta-loss. You face 20+ enemies in a castle level, including they guy you have to kill, who is much stronger than all but one of your guys. He comes with another buddy who is almost as strong as he is, and a horde of scouts, warriors, knights, and really annoying archers.
You, meanwhile, have one ranged combat person, the weak mage, no archers at all, and only two really solid melee fighters with the durability to duke it out. The combat system is fluid and interesting, but very offense-biased. You can't really hunker down and defend very well, and the paucity of healing potions and spells at this level means damage is a real problem.
There are two NPCs you can "rescue," and one of them, I think, will heal adjacent characters if you get to her (at least, I think that's what she's doing with her spell), but to get to her you have to take a route that triggers the advance of the level boss and his cronies, resulting, usually, in a death dance for you outside the NPC's cell.
I'm sure there's a way to do this--I've gotten through to only having to deal with the boss and a few henchmen several times before dying--but it is utterly unforgiving.
Jeremy Parish from 1up also said in a blog post that the game was too difficult, so that's when I knew it must really be so. He loves Etrian Odyssey and tons of other hardcore RPGs.
I freely admit to not being an ace at SRPGs, though I like them a lot. I can, generally, make my way through them if not with an optimal path perhaps. I'm this close to giving up on Rondo though...it's hard in a frustrating and not at all inspiring way.
I may put it aside until a decent walkthrough shows up on GameFAQs or something.
Last edited by TheWombat; 04-23-2008 at 04:57 PM.
People don't understand how hard the IGN editors have to work to make sure their reviews are firmly in the IGN genre. When you do understand that, you'll h
Thanks for the dissection Matt, that made my morning!
He also prefers Izuna and Pokemans Mystery Dungeon to Shiren because of Shiren's difficulty. I don't think EO is that hard, it's just a grind. Shiren is hard.
Matt, I was about to defend his use of the word classic, but then I read the rest of the review. And now I realize that he should not be defended at all. Let's throw rocks at him.
Here's my take.
I beat the game without much difficulty. I liked it. I am blazing through the second playthrough.
The first level is one that you are expected to flee until the second playthrough, but you can actually beat it, with luck and about an hour and a half.
Here are some tips:
Teach Margus the Z.O.C. skill so that you can take advantage of choke points.
Line characters up behind Margus at choke points and use the spaces that take 2 movement points to cross to your advantage.
Mages can't cast and move in the same turn, so when facing mages and you are out of their range but close, they will move, if you are in their range, they will cast, so keep that in mind.
An enemy needs at least 2 more movement than a character to chase it down and attack it. This is because they have to catch up to you and then move through you.
Work those errands and get those items. But don't promote every single character that you can, only the ones you need, as well as Margus and Kay. You keep items when you transition to the second playthrough, and saving some promotion items can mean promoting characters early, which is fun.
Promoting characters doesn't change stats, it just unlocks skills. Usually good skills, sometimes shit skills.
Keep an eye out for stages where you can reach the enemy in the first round. Use those rounds to level your characters by selecting quit and retry before you end the first round. This allows you to attempt truly stupid but fast levelling tactics without fear of losing Serdic and getting a game over. I got 18 levels for a character, from 22 to 40, just by teaching him 1 point of Talan Raioh and blasting the shit out of the enemies that rush the gate towards the end of the game.
ME RONDO YOU GIVE ME SWORD
Oh, and Marie regenerates 10% of her mana per turn, so she can heal nearly endlessly.
Another use for her is to teach her the martyr skill. It allows her to give hp and mp to another character. That means you can use her as a mana battery for a mage with great range, like Igraine. (Abyss spell has a range of 8. You can kill enemies at such a distance that they don't even bother to move, because they can't close the distance to you before you finish them, but it's mana intensive.) Marie and a mage are an awesome team.
Don't be shy about changing up your teams. I usually use a team geared for mobility and range, where everyone but Serdic and Marie have the sprint skill. This allows all of my guys to attack all of the nearby enemies in the same turn. But sometimes, I turtle behind Margus and pick off enemies slowly with an archer and a mage.
The main thing to remember is that the enemies are in little squads, and the death of a certain enemy, a hit on an enemy, a number of turns elapsing, or a character of yours crossing a certain point on the map can set them off. So use the knowledge to your advantage and don't set off any stationary squads until you have the rushers under control, and then only one squad or even enemy at a time.
The sad thing is, I can't even tell if Flowers is joking or not.
On the bright side, this game has kicked off my new favorite Qt3 meme, although I'm sure some people will h
Flowers, how is the buying items mechanic? I've read posts on other boards about how you have a random chance of buying items and could lose how many funds you were going to spend.
So when I bought Crisis Core, I picked this up for half price ($15) thanks to Toys 'R Us' sale this week.
I haven't opened it yet, an I have the receipt. My question is, is it worth $15? Or should I return it?
Why are you so upset over $15? It also costs time and money to go return it. If I were you, I'd try the game. Fans of games like Atlus's should know well enough to ignore most IGN and Gamespot reviews, especially in this case.
Flowers' advice seems sound, but it doesn't help me for the level I'm on--I'm beyond the fleeing level, which was easy (you just, um, run).
The one I'm on now, the "break in and rescue the princess" thing, doesn't give me the healer, and the layout is a loop so you will always get hit from both sides as the bad guys tend to move relatively fast. And I've had zero chance to do any errands, or switch classes, yet. It's like the third battle and my highest level character is 5....
Who said anything about being upset? I'm just wondering if it's worth it.
Anyway, thanks for the answer!
Regarding items,
You send a character on the errand to buy or sell items, they will have a number of items they can buy, and a number of items they can sell on each errand. There's a face icon by each character, so pick the person with the happiest face and then the most items.
I only sell bullion, large bullion, and tiny bullion, and you can sell multiples of the same item and it only counts as one. I always use Rukia, and I always got extremely good results.
When it comes to item buying, you select the kind of item you want, amulets, rings, etc., and then the amount you are willing to spend on the item. I've sent Rukia to market to buy one $3600 ring and also to buy three $200 rings. The expensive ones are better, but you can get 3 rings that pump defense by eight for a total of about $600, or one ring that raises defense by 14 for a higher amount (probably less than I paid.)
Sometimes, when you buy, your character will come back with extra items. Rukia seems to almost always come back with extra items, and she's shit on quests and shit in combat, so I usually use her to shop.
To Wombat, who is on the Reunion level;
Send one guy to the right to engage the single enemy on the right side of the starting room. Assist with magic.
Send Kay and Serdic to engage the guys on the left by drawing them down. Slowly work your way to the room with the archers.
At the same time, slowly work your way towards the prison hallway with the mage and Margus or Sasha or both. Sasha has better movement, so you might want to use her.
When you have cleared the little area at the beginning of the prison hallway, the part that points down, move your characters close to the corner of the straightaway and stop. Don't go above the line where the doors are, or you will trigger Jaglat to come towards you.
With the other party, clear the archers, rest and draw out the viking helmet assholes in the hallway north of the archer room. This will probably trigger Jaglat to start coming after you.
Take that as your cue to invade the shit out of the prison hallway. Open the doors for Marie and Ansom and make sure to talk to them, or they just sit there.
Serdic and Kay and maybe Sasha should run like the dickens to the prison hallway as Margus moves towards the choke point that connects the starting room to the prison section.
Try and fight them there, but don't be shy about withdrawing. The way movement is handled, the enemies will put themselves in single file if you let them after the choke point, so you can inflict serious pain on them. If you aren't strong enough to win without losing a guy, take out Jaglat and be done. The next fight is also pretty tricky, so you will need everyone.
Don't worry if characters that you have turned yellow die, they won't be hurt when you start the next round. That means don't risk yourself to save Ansom in this round. Just talk to him, let him get himself swatted, and use him in the next round.
Cliff's Notes Version:
Send some guys to the left, so that the boss takes the long way to the jail cells.
Thanks for the tips. I've tried that, but I think my problem may well be that I got a bad start to the game in general, so I'm going to restart from the beginning.
WTH? Some SRPG ninny hacked into Flowers account!
-Tom
I got this game as a gift, and was having a horrible time with it until I started trying to get the enemy to come to me. It doesn't work on all the levels, but it's often a decent strategy; force them to come to you, or start nailing them with arrows and magic if they don't.
I think the first few levels may be the hardest, because you just don't have that much to work with.
Wombat, don't restart, just level your characters by starting the battle, killing a few enemies fast, and then selecting "quit" and then retry with same party. Save every couple of passes by selecting reform party and then saving, so you don't lose your progress if Serdic gets surrounded.
So Flowers how long did it take you to beat the game? It does not sound like it was very long.
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