#rena cooper | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

satoshi-mochida · 7 months

Text

Star Ocean: The Second Story R demo now available; latest details, trailer, and screenshots

Gematsu Source

A demo for action RPG remake Star Ocean: The Second Story R is now available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC Steam, publisher Square Enix and developer Gemdrops announced.

Get the latest details below.

(This post will be updated with screenshots later today.)

■ Story

Claude C. Kenny, a young officer in the Pangalactic Federation, is sent to investigate a mysterious dome discovered on Planet Milokeenia on the orders of Ronyx, his father and commanding officer. There he discovers an unfamiliar-looking mechanism. Hoping to demonstrate his courage, he ignores Ronyx’s objections and touches it, only to disappear in a blinding flash.

Later, Claude wakes up surrounded by lush forest and realizes he’s been transported somewhere far away.

Trying and failing to get in contact with Ronyx, Claude scouts out the area around him, only to discover a monster just as it’s about to attack a young girl.

Rushing into the fray, Claude fires away with the Phase Gun his father gave him.

Seeing Claude rescue her with this bright, lethal force, the girl—Rena Lanford—mistakes him for a figure from the myths of her homeland, a hero who bears a Sword of Light.

In order to properly thank him, Rena takes Claude to the village of Arlia, hoping against hope that he could be the one to save the entire nation…

■ Key Artwork

—Illustrated by Yukihiro Kajimoto.

[Twitter Link]

■ Remake Features: Battles

Fun, Thrilling Team-Action Battles!

The real-time action combat allows you to unleash special arts skills with a simple push of a button. Battles have become even more strategic with new elements added to the combat system.

These features allow you to stun enemies by layering attacks or to prompt an ally character not currently in your party to perform a follow-up attack. The original effects and animations have been further refined, making combat even more exhilarating.

Thrilling and Visually Explosive Battles! – Enjoy fast-paced combats and strategically defeat foes with new mechanics such as “Break” and “Assault Action” dealing massive damage and featuring protagonists from across the Star Ocean series.

Super-Flashy and Exhilarating! – Renewed battle effects. Incredibly rich effects create battles bursting with energy.

Cooperate with Allies! – Stun your enemies to stop them in their tracks and deal major damage with follow-up attacks from your allies. Fight alongside your allies to eradicate the enemy in one fell swoop.

New “Break” System to Neutralize and Break Down Foes!

Each enemy character has a Shield Value. When it hits zero, they are temporarily stunned, letting you deal more damage. Use this opportunity to hit them as hard as you can! Additionally, each character’s special arts skills are divided by the type of damage they deal, from “HP-focused” to “Balanced” and “Break-focused,” adding a tactical factor as you decide the best skill to use for the situation.

—Target a specific foe to aim for a Break!

—Breaking the lead enemy causes a Break Effect! The Break state is chained to nearby enemies on the field, putting you at an advantage.

Combo Link: Easy Controls Let You Overwhelm Foes in Style

Each character’s special arts skills can easily be launched with the L1 and R1 buttons. You can also tap L1 or R1 twice to use the Combo Link, which lets you quickly launch a preset special art combo. Simple controls enable flashy, powerful sequel attacks, lending extra speed and excitement to every battle.

—From the fancy Mirror Blade combo strike…

—…to the all-powerful Dragon Roar finisher!

Assault Action: Team Up With Allies to Go for Sequel Attacks!

Your Assault Gauge fills up as time passes during battle. When it’s maxed out, you can launch an Assault Action that calls upon your party members to execute follow-up attacks.

The special arts skills each character uses can be set up in advance; combine them with special arts from the character you’re controlling to create your own original combos!

—If an enemy attack puts you in Break mode..

—Call for help from your reserve characters!

—Use powerful special arts to turn the tables!

Star Ocean Evolved! Mind-Blowing Battles With Eye-Popping Visuals!

The combat visuals have been completely upgraded for this title. Battles have been given a facelift, and the combat is more fast-paced, giving the fights a gorgeous, refined feel. From Claude’s special arts skills like “Dragon Roar” to flashy symbology strikes like Celine’s “Southern Cross” or Rena’s “Star Flare,” the latest visual techniques make every battle more exciting than ever.

—Southern Cross

—Extinction

■ Private Actions

How You Talk with Friends Changes the Story in Many Ways

During the game, your party will split up at certain points and temporarily go their own ways, letting your protagonist have individual story events with them. These Private Actions can affect how the other characters see you, and some may even lead to major changes in the overall plot. There are also far more Private Actions than can be seen in one playthrough, helping add depth to the story each time.

—Private Actions can change how intimate characters are with you. They may even affect the ending…?

—Private Action points are marked on the map, so check them out when you visit a town!

■ Item Creation

Make Your Own All-Powerful Weapons and Armor! Traditional Item Creation Evolved!

Make your own all-powerful weapons and armor! Traditional Item Creation evolved! Item creation, a hallmark of the series, has advanced even further, letting you add special effects known as Factors to the items you make. Be it an all-mighty weapon that also heals HP or an accessory that constantly refills MP, you can create unique items no one has ever come up with before, letting you go deeper than ever with party building.

—Item Creation allows you to imbue items with special effects known as Factors, which are different from regular effects.

■ Super Specialties

Cook, Publish, or Even Conduct an Orchestra With Your Friends!

In addition to item creation, you can give Skill Points to your characters to help them learn various special skills. When characters with the right combination of skills come together, it’ll unlock a powerful Super Specialty. These include all kinds of useful skills for adventuring—for example, the Master Chef Super Specialty lets you cook dishes with powerful effects that cannot be made with regular Cooking. Similarly, the Bunny Call Super Specialty calls a Bunny into the field, which you can ride on and use to traverse the field much more quickly than with normal travel.

—Use Master Chef to create dishes with super-powerful Effects!

—With the Bunny Call Super Specialty, you can travel around the field on the back of a Bunny!

■ Minigames

From Cute (but Heated) Bunny Races to the Pulse-Pounding Arena!

You’ll unlock access to a variety of minigames as you proceed in the story. These include the Arena, where you fight tough battles while restricted by certain conditions, and Bunny Racing, where adorable bunnies race hard and potentially earn you a fortune! Win these games to earn prizes and rewards, but don’t let them distract you too much from the adventure!

—Test your skills against a wealth of foes in the Arena!

—Earn fabulous prizes in Bunny Racing!

■ World Map Fun: Fishing

Becoming a Fishing Master in Rivers, Oceans, Wells, or Even Outer Space!

Fishing spots can now be found on the world map, letting you enjoy fishing at rivers, oceans, and even wells or swimming holes. You may also find these spots in dungeons and other dangerous locales—but if you reel in the wrong creature, you could have a fight on your hands!

In addition to expanding the game’s exploration aspect, you can also exchange the fish you catch with NPCs for useful items. Some speak of uncatchable “giants” lurking somewhere out there… but travel far enough, and you might just complete your Fish Encyclopedia!

—Fishing spots exist on the world map, as well as at riversides in town.

—Use Fast Travel at any time to return to locations that you have already visited.

—Reel the Fish Collector, a new tutorial character.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R is due out for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC via Steam on November 2 worldwide. Read more about the game here.

Watch a new trailer below. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery.

System Trailer

English

youtube

Japanese

youtube

#Star Ocean: The Second Story R #Star Ocean: The Second Story #Star Ocean 2 #Star Ocean #Gemdrops #Tri Ace #Square Enix #Gematsu #Youtube

7 notes · View notes

taldigi · 9 months

Note

So in Fashion Club, you have Marinette and Felix's power's figured out, and you have a rough idea for Alina's power. But do you have any finalized ideas for Flora's powers? (I know Rena Roux and Bumblebee don't play a huge role in Fashion Club, but my favorite things in the miraculous fandom are the ideas for powers)

Hmm. I image her weapon being a tambourine for some reason... a scythe (a farmer's tool) would be a cool way to go, too. But a stiletto dagger is a good, easily readable stinger-like weapon. that, or a rapier. (cool sword go bzzz)

Bees are very into cooperation and working as a team, so she's largely a support player. Pretty useless on her own, but can ramp someone else up. (example... LB vs Chat is a 1-1. LB vs BB, is a 1-0.5. But LB vs Chat & Bumblebee is a 1-2.5)

uhh i've played around with ideas based on Bee-haviors, like Tanzsprache/Dance Language and typical bee-bilities like honeymaking and wax production.

Playing on casino/super lady luck themes.. something something extended wild.. scatters... Maybe the ability to pull special pollens from a pouch to induce things like frenzies or sleepies.

LB = Artificer / Chat = Wizard / RR = Ranger / BB = Bard

I think it would be fun if Flora had been a wishmaker before Marinette & Felix- except she never bothered to utilize her Faerie in the same way because she's just vibing.

#Anonymous

10 notes · View notes

theographos · 1 year

Text

I’m a Miraculous Ladybug fan

The thing that I love with Miraculous Ladybug, it has so much potential, but it seems that only the fans see the true colors of the show, the amount of things it could have been, the big healthy influence it could have been for the kids watching it. I like how it reminds something that most writers forgets : characters are often like human beings. You’re maybe the reason why they exist, but it doesn’t mean they have to fit the box you decided they would be in. One day, they will become too big for this box. So :

* No, Marinette is not the perfect heroine, her need to control her pairs isn’t the best solution, and she needs to lay back a little and accept spontaneity. She isn’t confident with herself either, but maybe she wants to be like her bff, loud and always able to put people in their place. Maybe, a certain relationship with a cat will learn her that sometimes being calm, wise and accepting that everyone is gray is the best to help someone. For example, when her school enemy, the one she thought was the most evil creature in this world ends up akumatized and the akuma is inside a miraculous. She can’t destroy a miraculous of course, her only choice is to talk to her and hoping she will reject the akuma...

* No, Adrien isn’t a hero who obeys. He spends all of his life obeying and accepting everything his father will throw at him, because he loves him he would never do anything to hurt him. He needs to be free from orders, destroying his “picture perfect” image and have fun. Though he would still follow Ladybug’s order, he only knows that after all. But maybe when he finally gets friends and that he learns how to fight unless letting people walk all over him, he will less obey, and be more spontaneous. It won’t work at first, the two of them will fight and separate several times. Until one day, a fox superhero called Volpina arrives. And after understanding she lied, they cooperate and balance each other almost perfectly. And he likes that, he likes being equal to someone. Maybe that Ladybug isn’t an authority figure, maybe she is a partner after all...

* No Marinette’s classmates do not have to be superheroes in order to help people and have character development. -Alya is a great journalist and has been seen as Ladybug’s “guy in the chair” while being Rena Furtive, maybe she can be her “guy in the chair” who doesn’t know her true identity, and helps her investigating Papillon’s true identity, understanding how to not jump into conclusion and will still being critical of Ladybug’s decision (after all, she can’t trust her completly, she doesn’t know who she is). She is also Marinette’s loud and confident friend. She takes shit from no one, and like her older sister, she tends to be harsh with her words. Maybe she’ll learn that attacking isn’t always about being in first line because sometimes you can do as much damage from the back. Maybe when she is stuck with a random guy from her class (who is also in love with her bestie apparently) in a zoo, after she had a harsh conversation about how his behavior with her bff will never win her heart, she sees him sad. She doesn’t want to spend hours in a cage with a crying man, and it’s also one of the first times she sees the effects of her harsh talk on someone she thought was “bad”. Maybe talking to him calmly and asking his point of view will help him calm down ?

-Nino is someone chill who wants to have fun and doesn’t really care about authority. Maybe he can be inspired by Chat Noir’s carefree attitude, but starts to question it when he learns that the girl he likes risks her life everyday in order to take down Papillon. He is scared for her, and maybe wants to protect her by making her stop what she is doing. When he discovers he is doing exactly what the adult he hates so much are doing, he stops. If Alya wants to fight, he will fight too. Running head first into danger, and at some point having to prove to Ladybug that he has what it takes to be a superhero. Maybe he could learn that protecting someone isn’t about putting them in a cage, but letting them roaming around without care isn’t the best option for them either. (And also that his type is confident girl lmao)

-Chloe is pretentious, entitled and mean. But she also craves her mother’s love and has done everything to own it. She needs to discover what she really wants. Like keeping her bestfriend by her side, or make people happy. When she discovered superheroes existed, she wanted to be one. She deserved it ! But days past and she did not have any superpower. She will show to this ridicule Ladybug her potential ! She followed the Ladyblog to know everything about her, she bought the costume and trained hard everyday. She never felt more proud of herself then when she accomplished someone by herself, without her dad’s or mom’s influence. Maybe, one day she’ll found the bee miraculous, thinking she finally earned it. But no, all she does is mistakes. First she abandons and Papillon akumatizes her. Then she tries even harder with the help of Ladybug. How weird, she is happier and has more friends when she does what she wants, and not what her mother wants...

-Sabrina is always there to help her friend. Like her father taught her, serving french citizens was a noble cause. Though she still feels sad when her friend is mean to her. One day, she even ends up akumatized because of that. She needs to understand that taking care of someone isn’t letting that person be mean to you, and it’s not the only thing she can do. After she was akumatized, her bestfriend becomes nicer. After she became friends with Marinette, but then stopped that too, she understood that her feelings matter, and that she couldn’t be able to take care of someone if she didn’t take care of herself. Of course she still doubts, she stills belittle herself and even if Chloe is changing, there are ups and downs. Then her bff becomes a superhero, and she feels left out. She finds the courage to tell it to her best friend, and for once, she is the one getting comforted and take cared of. One day, an akuma attacks the school, Chloe needs to go in order to transform herself, and the teachers aren’t there to calm the student. So she does it. Without even thinking, she manages to hide everyone in a safe place, help with the very few students who are hurt, and make sure Chloe is alone so she can transform. Maybe taking care of someone isn’t about doing everything they want, maybe she can do more, like handling crisis situations or making sure everyone matters, even herself.

Maybe this show could be about students who learn how to be their true selves in the healthiest way, and that kids are always putting themselves in any kind of danger (whether it’s fighting an obsessive father that could kill them at any seconds, choosing to confront the liar of their school, or refusing to talk about their problems to someone), and they will still do it as they grow up. And maybe confront it to an obsessive father, who keeps everything to himself, who likes when things are going his way and take things for granted, like the love of his son or the loyalty of his assistant and his bodyguard.

And from this fight, the moral would be that you don’t need superpowers to fight and/or be safe, you need a good support system and confronting yourself and how you were raised instead of thinking everything you do is the best thing.

And also, that not everything is what it seems to be. Maybe the bad guy creates henchmen to make sure the Miraculous of the Ladybug and the Chat Noir are given to people, so he can take them. But once it happens, he continues to create henchmen. Is it to take down those superheroes ? Or is it to occupy them while he is planing his real attack against them ? Is it to make sure they don’t notice how he is slowly but surely investigating on how to obtain the mysterious last thing he needs in order to make his wish ?

This is why i’m a Miraculous Ladybug fan, because what i’ve written is one of the hundred ways to create a serie around this concept and the pre established characters. And it’s ironic to see the serie becoming worse and worse with time (even if I must say, season 5 in terms of narration isn’t as horrible as other seasons) while reading fanfictions that are exceptional while keeping the same concept.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous rewrite #miraculous fandom

21 notes · View notes

so2collection · 8 months

Text

Star Ocean: Blue Sphere Mini Guide and Tips - Final Section

First half you can view by clicking here.

Leviabor Ruins (Part 2)

Private Action - Leviabor Ruins (Floor 320 / Right Side; Before clearing Leviabor Ruins) - Rena IN - Use Rena's Rebirth to revive some guy killed by a monster. He gives you an item based on the GB model you're playing on. GB/Super Gameboy 1 has the best prize. Note: I didn't do this, because the guide I used gave me the wrong requirements and I passed it. GBA gets an Orichalcum, so it wasn't really worth it anyway.

We can now unlock all floors. Talk to the man on the right and he'll automatically unlock all the floors on both elevators. Don't forget to check both. Make sure you get the Guiding fragments before looking for the Seal.

Go to Ava City (or, if you don't wanna look around, just teleport right to the Leviabor Ruins). Some of the shops are still there, but the buildings aren't… Lord Ava is nowhere to be found (and you still can't take his treasure darn it). 3rd door from the top of Ava's palace is the way back to Leviabor. If you check the inn where you can sleep at the bed for free, you'll also see that is where Lord Ava has taken refuge.

We already have the Fire seal from early game, so that's 1 down, 9 to go…

Water Seal - Start at the 103rd Floor. Defeat the enemies in the rooms going right, right, and up. A treasure appears with a Guiding Water fragment. Return to the beginning of the 103 Floor and go to the left, upper left this time. Defeat the Froggy to get a Blue keycard, then go up. There's a treasure with the Water Seal. Go back to the upper right side and we have to fight Titan. (Huh, he didn't appear for me… maybe I fought him earlier, I can't remember…)

Wind Seal (Rena is required for this floor.) - 114th Floor. Break the box (right, right, up) on the lower right to get the Guiding Wind fragment. Hit the switch ahead. Head up to fight a Titan. Two of Rena's Ray spells took him out easily. Press on until you see a broken floor switch. Use Rena's Rebirth on it. Before hitting this switch, go up and hit the lower right breakable box and reveal another switch. Hit that. Go left and defeat the two titans to get the Wind Seal. Go back using the teleporter on the right.

Earth Seal (Rena is required for this floor if you want the full set of Jeanne armor. Since I'm using Dias/Celine/Rena, it's useless. You should have someone with Push/Pull to avoid near soft-locking.) - 30th Floor. Match up the boxes to the spaces on the floor like you've done many times by now (you can just use Push, you don't need Pull) Go left and match up some more blocks in the upper and lower screens to open a door. Go left and break open the upper left box to get the Guiding Earth fragment. Return to the elevator room and go right this time. Keep going right, use Rena's Rebirth on the center to revive the block and finish the puzzle to get some Jeanne Armor (great for characters like Chisato). Go back to the room left of the boxes and down through the door the Guiding Earth opened up. Fight the Cooper and continue down. Go right and when you get to the room with two blocks, move them off of their spots on the floor to close the previous door and open the bottom one. Get the drive from the treasure chest (you'll need a lot of these, like 5 or 10 or something, you should have 1 so this should make 2).

So I soft-locked myself because I didn't have Pull :/ I had to Teleport out to the ship and go all the way back. To get Pull on Dias or Rena, they need Perseverance at 7. Safe to say, I could get it for Rena, but it just seemed easier to backtrack.

From the room where you moved the two blocks to make 4 match on the floor (lower/center), move them all OFF of the marks so you can go left instead. Grab the treasure for the Earth Seal.

Void Seal - Go to floor 227. First defeat the Carlas and hit the switch on the right. This is timed: Go left, go down, right, and down for a fight. Get the Gold Key and the Fairy Ring. (You don't know how happy I am for a Fairy Ring for Celine; I can spam her spells way more now!) Return to where you flipped the switch and go right. If you don't have hover, you'll have to fall into the pit and go back up. If you go right, there's some useless items. Go back to the elevator area. Go down and left, defeat the Carla, and hit the hidden switch in the block. Go down, hit both switches and return to the elevator again. Go left twice. Defeat the Carlas and get another Blue Key from a ? chest, then hit the switch and go down the lower right path. Go down and in the lower left corner in the Guiding Void. Go right, save, then go down for the boss. Go down and the Void Seal is in the chest. If you come back to large, open room where you got the Guiding Void, with Room Analysis FA, you can get Bunny Shoes. Just nab Ernest and come back.

Star Seal - Go to 216th Floor. Go left, down, left, left, down (use Gold Key you should have 227 Floor). Defeat all enemies in a room to get Blue Keycards. The Guiding Star is in a chest. Return to the elevator and go right and up to get the Star Seal.

Darkness Seal - Go to 115th Floor. Go left, get the treasure, then go back and hit the switch. Go right from here and hit another switch. Go back to the far left and up for the Guided Darkness fragment. Turn off the switch near the elevator and the one to the right, then go down for the Darkness Seal. Go right for a transport down.

Light Seal - Go to the 1st Floor. Go left for one of those Drives and then go back to the elevator area and go to the upper right for the Guided Light fragment. Take the teleporter down and return to the 1st floor. Go right, down, and right to find the switch puzzle room. It's confusing to explain, so I won't list the answer here. Took me about ten minutes to figure out. Go down, right, and fight the boss. Take the Light Seal and Fairy Source and go back down with the teleporter.

We're almost done… I stopped here to use the 2k SP I amassed on Celine and finally maxed out her TECH (I didn't get Lezard Techno, though, which sucked. Too many points in the opposite branch, I think.)

Bolt Seal - B12th Floor. Go down and move the block. Go right and get a Copper Key. Go left, left, up, right and open the door with the key. Go straight up and move the block. Go down and right a let the floodgates open. Swim down and get the chest you couldn't reach before for the Guided Bolt fragment. Go left and left and the fragment will open the door on the lower left of the map. Go through. The Bolt Seal is in the chest. Go to the elevator and switch floors then return to B12. Move the block thats downward near where the Seal was, then activate the water. Go grab the drive from the seal room. Finally, go and come back again, this time just let the water go first thing so it goes to B13.

Minus Seal - B13th Floor. Put all the blocks in the spaces and grab the drive from the center and all the stones in the other chests. Go down and swim to the two blue chests, one has a Platinum Key. Go back to the top side and right, you'll see the area in the screenshot, put the drives you've collected there.

This drains the water. Use the Platinum Key on the lower left door. Go to the far right and put the green block on the green glowing space, then swim back to where we started. If you go up and all the way right, there's a blue chest with the Guiding Minus fragment. Go back to the Platinum Key door and go down until you're in a submerged room with platforms. You can swim, but it doesn't lead anywhere. You can jump, but it is a major pain in the ass. I went and nabbed Precis (switched for Rena) to use Hover to get through this section. Hover to the far left for a boss fight. He went down with 2 Thunderbolts and a Thunderstorm for me. Grab the chest for the Minus Seal. Use a bomb on the back wall and you'll need Pull to move the block (you can then grab 2 stones, nothing great so dont worry if you miss this) and then return to the boss room and go through the transport.

The Final Floor! - 320th Floor -

Put all the Seals in place and face the Chimera boss that Rival sics on you. 6 Thunderbolts took him out. When Celine gets fatigued, switch to Rena to keep Dias alive. Once Chimera is dead, this opens Grand Knott (finally). Go up to enter it, save.

We'll be getting some really good armor soon, so don't waste too many resources just yet. Heal up/restock and let's tackle the lower level of Grand Knott…

Grand Knott (lower layer) Go up and Rival says she'll be waiting on the fourth floor. (The number 4 is associated with death in Japan, so we all know what she means by that…)

Make sure you've saved/healed (Grand Knott is added to the transporter) and go face the boss, El Dorado. Just use a few Thunderbolts and keep your distance. Bless on Dias helps as well. This annoying gold BlackDragonFiendWannabe will be a common enemy soon... :(

Now, to get the treasure we need someone with Room Analysis, so we may have to lose Rena for a bit and bring Ernest. To the right is a Mithril. The left room has a whip for Ernest and I think you can get through it with his Whip ability, but I grabbed Precis to see what the item was (you need both, because you need Room Analysis for the treasure). After this go grab Celine and Rena again (you'll need either Precis or Rena for some items coming up).

Go up from the entrance past the boss room and go left, up, and right to reach a room with some treasure (very useful curatives), then go left and left again (you may have to clear a room of enemies to open a door) to get back to the central area. Go right, up, and left for more treasure (a weapon for Precis.. fun). Now go right, down, right, down, up and you'll see stairs. Go to Floor 2.

Floor 2 - Ignore the panel, go up, left a bit, and up. Grab the treasure (the Mithril Dress isn't better than anything you currently should have so you can skip this step if you want) and then go back to the panel and click it. Go straight up to the 3rd Floor.

Floor 3 - Push the brick onto the circle and the top area will open. Go up, defeat the Golds (do not let them get initiative; Celine's Magic Shot is great for this) and grab the Purple Keycard. Go back to the entrance, move the block off the circle, and go right and up (left is a dead end). On the left side of blocks, break the top right block for the treasure (weapon for Ashton). There are more El Dorados in some of the blocks, so be careful.

Spell - Rena sparked Light Cross from using Ray. :)

Go down and right and down and use Rena's Rebirth on the bridge. Put the block on the space and grab the treasure (Leon weapon) from the right room.

NOTE: There's Seraphic armor in the top hall, so be sure to explore there too. You do not want to pass on this armor. If you've played SO2, you know how powerful it is. Put the Seraphic Guard and Garb on Dias, since he's our meat-shield.

Go back to the bridge and down. It's hard to tell but there's a room with a glowing panel on the upper right. Flip the switch (change the arrow). You'll arrive on the fourth floor. Remember, this is where Rival said she's waiting for us, but we need the Prism Key from the 5th Floor…

Welcome to dungeon maze Hell. Best part is, this is gonna show up in the top half of Grand Knott, too.

Spell - During a battle, using Starlight, Celine sparked Lost Mental (Mind Absorber). Using Ray, Celine sparked Southern Cross (finally~)

I wandered around for 3 hours trying to get elevators to where I needed them. Familiarize yourself with the layout before you do anything.

Fuck this room and everything it represents. What a horrible fucking place to just punish you for learning the game. These little jerks respawn constantly.

There's a series of rooms and the elevators move between the floors. Just follow this guide: Top - A, Right/Middle - B, Right/Bottom - C, Left - D <-- these are the elevators Ride D up. Ride B down. Ride A up. Ride D down. Go right and down for a green dragon enemy. He gives 99 SP per fight and can be one shot killed by Celine's Southern Cross. Go left and take the elevator to Floor 3, then save and go up.

You're truly on the 4th Floor now. Rival lays await in the room ahead. Get the Prism Key from the left side and a Robe of Ishtar for Rena on the left (and Elven Boots too, if you want them). You shouldn't need help with these puzzles, considering they put them on the back of cereal boxes and restaurant playmats… You may even consider grinding that green dragon for SP. When ready go save before going through the door.

Rival is gonna give a whopping 600 SP, so use an Extension Card at the start of the battle! For the fight itself, remember this isn't the final battle… So, don't go ham on using your best stuff yet. Besides, two blasts from Celine's Southern Cross decimated her. I even had time to prep with Anti and Bless, because I went in expecting the worst. :p In fact, using Bless, I sparked Angel Feather!! Even better!

Nice to have some easy levels/fights after that fucking slog that was Grand Knott's lower layer… Rival shows up for real and reveals we defeated a clone. She tries to kill us, but the Edifians intefere and teleport us out.

Aqua City Revisited The Edifian leaders say Rival went to the orbital elevator, Ex Trokia. It's some form of a structure that exists on the planet underwater and can communicate with space (where Rival piloted Grand Knott). The Edifians take you there.

Heal. Restock. Grind a bit in Grand Knott if you want. Make sure you save/have some Extension Cards for the boss battles ahead (make them with Art). When you're ready take the upper left door in Aqua City (the one that previously and can be changed back to Nusa Beach, if you want)

Looks straight out of Alien, huh?

Ex Trokia Trade Rena out for Precis. Floor 2 - You start on 2F. On the left, go left again for treasure. On the right, go right for treasure. Once done, go drop Precis for Rena (the best item was the Shield Earrings, put those on a mage if you need to take less damage) and come back, go back to the right and this time go up (you can jump the 2 gaps). You'll find a ladder to F1. Go down and right and blow up the lower right wall with a bomb. Toss the Mithril Helm on Dias and go back where you blew up the wall and head up.

Floor 1 - On the left, light up the 6 switches before the lights go out. Study duration and use Dias' Dash to get them all. On the right side press the blocks in this order or you'll get attacked: low right, upper left, upper right, lower left. In the center/up room, align the blocks in a cross/plus shape.

Floor 3 - Go up to Floor 3. Go left and flip the lever and go up and activate the console. Return to the beginning of the floor and go right and up for the stairs. If you hit the switches in the room, they open doors. The only item is a Mithril, so go up and right to the 6th Floor. Don't bother with the elevator path on the left; it's a dead end with no items.

Floor 6 - From the stairs go: up, up, up, left, save, and through the door. All the items are just common junk, so don't bother. There's a boss fight coming so heal up and launch the Linear Shuttle to the Metro.

Nu, one of Rival's flunkies, attacks. I used Angel Feather on Dias, then kept my distance as much/often as possible to give time to cast Southern Cross. His first form goes down in 4-5 casts. The second form will take double that. Your biggest issue for the second form is avoiding stamina fatigue and keeping everyone alive. Switch who you're controlling if you need to. Be patient and you'll win quickly. He gives 440 SP, so it's worth using an Extension Card (I forgot)…

Now we're in some kind of colony. They don't register to the teleporter… There's a tricky jump on the upper right. Save, then stand on the metal bar on the right and leap up. Go left, up, grab the ? treasure, and continue right and up. Go to the next shuttle and the next colony (Norn colony).

Go up and right. Defeat the dragon guys to open the doors again. Go up (right is nothing and the enemies do respawn). Go to the next shuttle / Metro colony. Go up for a place to heal for free. To the right of the beds is a wall to bomb. You get one of each Check (Stone ect) and some Talismans. Go back to the main area and go right.

There's a series of rooms here with blue crests on the floor. Kill the enemies WITHOUT destroying the boxes. When you put them over the crests the block in the center becomes a treasure (usually its the best weapon in the game outside Blue Sphere crafting or Cave of Trials, so they are well worth it!) I think if you mess up you can go back to your ship, but you can't go to the colonies, so you'd have to backtrack… Save carefully (I missed Precis' weapon) If you go up you'll find an elevator that takes you to the final city, Cosmo City, so there may be hope yet to complete the colony…

Of course, we have to go through a little road to the city. Go left to heal/save. Go up through the enemies to face a boss, Rival's other flunky, Diablo.

Use an Extension Card first thing in the fight. Use Celine's Southern Cross and Rena's Light Cross to take him out fairly quickly (he also doesn't have a second form and he isn't as aggressive as the other guy was).

Cosmo City Enter Cosmo City. There's a blue Froggy enemy, but he isn't hostile. All the little robots are talking about their Master away on a trip and are obscessed with cleaning. It's kinda sad :( Make sure you upgrade your main trios weapons (I guess the upgrades in the dungeon weren't as good? Or the same?) Anyway, they're pretty pricey. If you go to the Item Shop they have higher-grade food ingredients, so you could cook with those or use anything you have. Personally, I sold gold bars and all the Bunny statues and got just enough Fol for weapons, a Duel Helm for Dias, some accessories, and restocked my usual consumables.

Go back to the ship to heal for free and feel free to pick some herbs in Cosmo with Bowman if you want. Also, make sure to switch out Dias and talk to him for his ultimate weapon. (Private Action) Fun fact, he says he got it from Gamgee! Nice!

Speaking of… How do we get the Blue Spheres for the Ultimate Weapons?!

Item Creation - Alchemy / Blue Sphere Make sure skill is maxed Make sure you have the Lezard Flask This works for everyone except Dias, Chisato, and one other (I need to look this up again) who obtain through Psychometry and NOT Blue Sphere. Make Blue Sphere, have the ultimate weapon, and bring it to the man in Knott…

You need to make connections between the elements. Blue Sphere needs: Earth (4), Water (6), Fire (4), and Wind (4 Minimum, 6 Max). Connections are when the gems connect, like this: o-o-o = 2 connections o-o-o-o =3 connections

My wife and I tried for a long time… it's basically impossible. On the bright side, iron is cheap and using alchemy can be a great way to make money for late-game. The only other way to get Blue Spheres is to play the Connect feature, which isn't usable for English. :( My only idea is to load up my save in a GB and go grab that supposed free one, so let's try that…

Go to the door behind Rival's old base in Knott and find the tower with the breakable wall (remember, the wall is only breakable in Mobile version, which is lost media… So the GB version (Black and White) makes a hole you can pass through)

Thank. God. Using my emulator to change the settings worked (make sure it's set to Gameboy, Black and White) or the door won't appear. So, we have 1 free Blue Sphere. Let's take it to the man in Knott…

Okay, I can confirm there is none for Dias, Ashton, or Chisato, so don't bother. We may as well make Celine hers. So choose 'Rod' from the list. You'll get the Volcanic Mage Rod. Now, you may notice it's like the other ultimate weapons (which, btw, Dias, Ashton, and Chisato give through their Private Actions). All the stats are 0. That's not quite the case!

How do the Ultimate Weapons work?

Here is how they work: ATK = Stat Base + STR divided by 2, Stat Base + HIT = Dexterity divided by 4, Stat base + MAG = INT divided by 2

So, Celine's base INT right now in my file is 304, giving this weapon an +INT of 152, bringing the total MAG/INT to a powerful 456! You can see the stat change in the Status Menu.

In comparison, though, there are the Cave of Trials weapons. Celine's best CoT weapon is the Forbidden Maze (not sure of the ROM translation, this is from the guide) which only has an INT of 100… There is also that early dungeon weapon based on total playtime, but it seems a pain to calculate. If you wanna go grab that and give it a shot, go for it! (I mentioned it early on in the guide.)

Don't get confused by the 0 change to Dias' STR, his ATK power goes way up! :)

In conclusion, the Blue Sphere is worth it.

Skills - More Tips A character is maxed/can't learn anymore skills when the skill level reaches 350. You REALLY need to not level the opposite branch at all. I did this for Dias and he learned Awakening, but Celine had too many points in Battle and did not learn Lezard Techno or Lost Magic.

Item Creation - Psychometry From what I gather, if Dias learned Awakening, then he just needs Radio Waves (Sense Lv 1 Skill) and Religious Studies (Theology) (Int level 1 skill) also to unlock Psychometry.

I'm not going to touch on it too heavily, but the object of the game will let you use up the ultimate weapon to unlock the ultimate skill (SAVE before). I think if you succeed / luck you can keep the weapon AND learn the skill. Theology seems to be a late INT skill, and I haven't maxed Battle yet… I will update if I manage to train enough, as having another skill would be great, but not at the loss of the weapon…

Late-Game Levelling (before Cave of Trials) I want to make more Extend Cards and go fight those green dragons that give 99 SP each, since they would give 198 SP each fight and they go down in one hit of Celine's Thunderstorm…

Item Creation - Art (Extend Card) First, we need Extend Cards, so we need Art. Celine should have it near max. Buy Magical Canvas from Mile Ruins' Shop. Save. To get Extend Card, you need red paint in the center of the image (each different item requires different colors/placements). If you have trouble affording the Magical Canvas, sell any paintings or cards you don't want, food, or stones made with Alchemy.

If you don't get red paint, don't worry. Just stay nearest to the center as you can and you can still get an Extend Card. If you have another color but already have red in the center, you can hold the brush off of the canvas as well. My advice is to just keep all paint towards the center by lightly tapping opposite the direction the paint brush moves.

Once you have 15, go to Ex Trokia (3F) and fight the green dragon enemies. I know you can use Rena's Rebirth to revive monsters, too, but an easier way is to get to the 4F stairs and go back down to respawn the dragons in the rooms. Once you enter a room, wait a second and use Celine's Magic Shot FA for initiative. Get some distance in the fight, have Rena use the Extend Card, and then cast Southern Cross for easy one-hit wins.

Also, while leveling Dias, I learned the skill he needed for Pull, which is Mental at level 7 (it's a Battle Skill). Also, once he got the Level 4 Skill Combination the AI was doing 4 hit combos and taking down the dragons itself.

I am hoping to max Dias, but I don't wanna go forever training. I'm already at 40 hours playtime. Heal/stock/save, maybe try to make some more armor if you want, then let's go complete this game!

Grand Knott (upper layer) The transporters in the first area with the escalators all lead to the bottom. Bring a few bombs.

Go up the right escalator 4 times, then take the left path for a treasure. Keep going up from there.

There's a bomb wall on the right. I put the Mirage Robe on Celine for the extra evasion, since she's middle spot. Don't bother with the escalators for now (left ones are an enemy filled dead end, right leads up). Go left and then go through the door with the guard.

Here's the damn elevator puzzle again. Go up twice, take the elevator. Go right, down, down, left, down / out the door, down the escalator, left and through the door again. Go left and ride the elevator. Go right, down / out the door, up the escalator, and through the door. On the right there is a dead end with a weapon for Precis. From the entrance go left and up. If you want Sylvan armors (not useful for Dias/Cel/Rena), ride the elevator. Grab the treasure (be careful of the red dragon, we're back to OKO enemies boys… I just ran) and go back down the elevator. Go right, up, left, up, right, up, left. Solve the maze to get to the upper/right side, go up the stairs and get one of the God Rings for the CoT.

Go back down to the maze and solve to go up. Rival greets us and welcomes us to the Grand Knott Core.

Grand Knott (Core) Use Jump to grab the Philosopher's Stone from the chest, then teleport back to your ship real quick.

Private Action - OUT: Celine - Spaceship - Gain Field Action / FA Teleport by speaking with her outside the ship.

Prepare now. By the end of the dungeon, I did learn Psychometry (leveled Sense and Battle to full, then learned Knowledge until I got Theology!)

You'll need Teleport or Hover to get through easiest. The main enemy here is that red dragon, so it's not going to be a cakewalk… There's a little bit of dungeon to explore (best items are Wizard's Mesh on the far bottom right and the Oberon Knife (towards the top left, you'll need Teleport or Whip to reach it), but I'll provide the most direct path to Rival / Final Boss: Right, up, (Repair the bridge with Rena's FA Rebirth), up, left, up, up, up, right, right, right, across the gap with the poles (use Teleport or Ernest Whip), go all the way left, up, right, and you should see an opening going up. Save!!! The final boss is on the other side!!!

SAVE

I equipped Dias with the Tri-Emblem. Celine removed Star Necklace for a Resist Ring.

Final Boss Rival

She shifts between four forms. You must defeat a form in 30 seconds to kill it. If you only damage it and she shifts, the form fully heals.

The mecha goes down pretty quick between Dias' attacks and Celine's Southern Cross. The demon only takes three Southern Cross to kill. The wizard takes a long time casting, so using spells/attacks it should go down quickly. Make sure if you're controlling Dias to stay up on her, she likes to back up. Lenneth form is the worst one, mostly vunerable to physical attacks; if you can hit her. Use Angel Feather and any support items (Mental Pot on Celine, a Speed increase for Dias). After I did this Dias finally took her out fairly quickly. The normal form of Rival is cake and goes down super quick. You should see it briefly at the beginning of the fight and again at the end.

Rival, defeated, explains she is a human created by Edifice, a master computer from another world (Mother Brain?) It's goal is to never let humanity evolve too far and erase it every time it advances. Rival also explains that she wanted to defeat Edifice, but isn't able to, so she summoned the SO2 group to do so.

Rival gives her goodbyes and you go on to face Edifice. Don't worry about the fight; Dias took it out in like 3 hits.

Looks like a FNAF endoskeleton D:

Mother Brain explodes and you escape. Congrats to us all, for finally completing the main story of Blue Sphere! :)

ENDING - SPOILERS (Note: There are not multiple endings, but there is a post game.)

Okay, shitty new Tumblr only allows 30 images per post, so PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE ENDING / FINAL THOUGHTS POST. (This is ridiculous.)

#star ocean blue sphere #tips and tricks #strategy guide #SOBS #beginner's guide #star ocean series #fan translated #video game review

3 notes · View notes

miloscat · 1 year

Text

[Review] Grapple Force Rena (PC)

More grappling action!

Grapplethon 2023 continues with this little treasure of a game. Rena was Kickstarted in 2014 with a quite experimental model: a serialised episodic game playable in a browser (“a webcomic you can play”). These plans fell through but its creator Tim Ashley Jenkins pushed on and with the help of Galaxy Trail (Freedom Planet) published it in 2018 as a traditional standalone game, which works perfectly well for it.

GFR seems inspired by 16-bit action games like Treasure’s, as well as obviously grapple-action classics like Bionic Commando and Faussete Amour. It benefits greatly from being a modern release though, sporting vibrant colours, options for analogue control that add much to the grappling gameplay, and a diverse cast in both skin tone and respectful gender identity (for example, several characters are non-binary).

Rena has few verbs in practice: her grapple powers are a laser focus here. This lets the game hone and iterate those mechanics, and allows even more options for control schemes. I tried D-pad and buttons at first (I just can’t get on with analogue movement in a 2D sidescroller) but analogue aiming is so essential for getting the most out of the grapple that I switched to mouse and keyboard. Not only does the grapple let you swing and climb, but combat is frequent and your only recourse is grabbing and chucking, as in Treasure’s Mischief Makers. Lucky it’s so satisfying to do, and not much of the game overstays its welcome outside some platforming difficulty spikes at the very end.

The story is mostly pretty breezy, with a cartoony tone in a fantasy world, mysterious artefacts, likeable friends and rivals, and a moustache-twirling antagonist... until an odd swerve at around the three-quarter mark where reality breaks down, the government turns fascist, and everything goes a bit Iconoclasts-lite. This does encourage cooperation with former enemies (always a fun trope), but some plot threads get hastily dropped and the ending actually ends up rather anticlimactic. I have to wonder if the planned episodic release might have smoothed this over more or given more time to address the disappearing antagonist and their plot, the hinted moral ambiguity, or the enemy lieutenant who shows up in one cutscene and is never seen again. Oh well, I’m glad the attempt was made to shake things up and make the story more interesting even if it didn’t all pan out.

There’s occasional cracks in other parts too. Some level gimmicks work better than others. And maybe it’s all the other grapple-based games I’ve played recently but Rena’s feels a bit weak and finicky. There is depth to the game in mastering these mechanics and learning the levels, with optional time trials unlocked after finishing, so I understand that it’s not just a joyride down easy street. And honestly, for a first-time commercial game developed almost entirely by one person which changed business model and release format partway through development, it’s a remarkable achievement, so I can forgive a few rough spots.

#grapple force rena #battle studio #tim ashley jenkins #review #pc #indie

5 notes · View notes

spockvarietyhour · 2 days

Text

Next year in the Lucky 38....

#Fallout #Fallout Spoilers #Fallout TV #Fallout Amazon #spoilers #Yes Man #Twin Peaks #Dale Cooper #Hank MacLean #Black Lodge #Danny and Renae watch Fallout

39 notes · View notes

dez-the-man · 1 year

Text

Welcome to Aurora Bay, [EVELYN "EVIE" WATSON]! I couldn’t help but notice you look an awful lot like [MAYA HAWKE]. You must be the [TWENTY-SIX] year old [WAITRESS AT NEPTUNE]. Word is you’re [CREATIVE] but can also be a bit [SELF-DESTRUCTIVE] and your favorite song is [POISON BY ALICE COOPER]. I also heard you’ll be staying in [OCEAN CREST APARTMENTS]. I’m sure you’ll love it!

The Basics

Name: Evelyn Renae Watson Nickname: Evie Birthday: August 5th Zodiac: Leo Age: 26 Face Claim: Maya Hawke Hometown: Aurora Bay, California Occupation: Waitress at Neptune Gender: Cis-Female Pronouns: She/Her Sexual Orientation: Bisexual Romantic Orientation: Biromantic

Deeper Dive

Myers-Briggs: ISTP-T Positive Traits: Adaptable, Alert, Creative, Easy-Going, Independant, Uninhibited, Private, Observant, Witty Negative Traits: Abrasive, Addictive, Insecure, Rebellious, Hot-Headed, Self-Destructive, Temperamental, Withdrawn Hobbies: Graffiti art, Smoking, Poetry, Make-up, Nail art, Skateboarding, Pole dancing (strictly for exercise), Rock Collecting, Thrifting

Important Stuff

TW: Parental death, car accident, mention of abuse, drug/substance abuse

There are a great many things that Evie would much rather do than discuss her childhood or her parents. Like walk over heated, rusted nails, or swim in shark infested waters with a heavily bleeding wound, or touch the hot eye of a stove without submerging her hand in water beforehand. All of these would be considerably less painfull than drudging through old memories she tries her best to repress to this day.

Where do I even begin? I suppose the beginning would be best. Evelyn Renae Watson was born mid-July, her parents Everett and Mary-Ann Watson. Her mother was a waitress at a local diner. And her father was a well respected officer of the ABPD, who performed his duties well and was known to be a stickler to the rules. And for the most part, when at home, he was decent enough. Sure, there may have been times where he got a little loud and would yell, especially if he had been drinking.

It wasn’t until Evie was around the age of six did it change. Her and her mother had gone to visit some relatives, and Evie ended up chasing after a ball on of her cousins threw at her, running out into the road, right in the way of a speeding truck, the driver neither slowing down nor paying attention. Mary-Ann rushed out to push Evie out of the way. And while Evie made it out mostly unscathed, save for a few scrapes from being shoved onto the concrete, her mother was fatally wounded. It was quite the story for a few weeks. A mother giving her life to save her child in a heroic display. Most of the family and family friends knew it was just a freak accident and never once blamed Evie for it. One person did: her father, vehemently so.

His drinking had become more frequent, and when he drank, he liked to remind her that if it weren’t for her, her mother would still be there, how it should have been her instead and many other horrible things that should have never been said to a child or to another person. Unfortunately, it didn’t stay verbal for long… As you could imagine, this had quite a negative effect on Evie. In her self-esteem as she got older. In her ability to make genuine connections with her peers. Even her grades began to suffer once she realized that doing well in school wasn’t going to help.

At some point, though she doesn’t exactly remember specifically when, as her childhood is just a blur at this point, she found an old luggage case full of old stuff tucked away in the attic. She was bored, her father wasn’t home, and TV wasn’t allowed in the house. Inside the case, she found a bunch of… Mostly stupid stuff. A bunch of old band tees with the pictures faded or crackled. What stood out the most to her was a Walkman, as well as a couple of mix tapes filled with her favorite classical rock songs, the words ‘Mary’s tunes’ and ‘Mary’s tunes #2’ written in faded ink. These were her mother’s. It still worked after putting in some batteries she found, and she never parted with it since.

While it was difficult for her to make friends and get close to people, it wasn’t impossible. She had a few shallow friendships, and only a few she would consider close friends. The most notable was the daughter of the chief of police. Her and Darcy have known each other for what seems like forever, and didn’t really connect with one another until middle school. It was safe to say that Darcy’s dad didn’t really approve of her. She was, after all, the angry, troubled child who never applied herself (unless it was something that she found to be interesting), got in trouble smoking cigarettes in the girls’ bathroom, skipped class and occasionally got into fights.

It was through Darcy that Evie found her friend group. Together, the group got into all sorts of mischief. Sneaking out, drinking, smoking.

However, that wasn’t enough to help her cope with the pain of her trauma. So, the first time she was offered weed, she took it, and never looked back. It helped tremendously, until eventually it didn’t as well.

The night of the fire, everything changed. The consequences were great, even if the kids didn’t get in as much trouble as they really should have. A life was lost, and the guilt was heavy amongst the group. With Darcy the most.

Evie and Darcy were the only two who stayed in touch, but despite that, Evie slowly began to dabble into harder drugs. Up until she was eighteen, that was her norm. Carefully navigating her father’s temper, sneaking out to hang out with Darcy, Evie secretly getting a job so that she could move out as soon as possible. After graduation, and once she was eighteen, she worked up the nerve to finally move out. She just.. Kinda left one day when he was at work.

After that, things seemed to get better. At least, until the day Darcy just disappeared. Evie got into trouble with the law often, either late at night when she would get caught tagging a place and would lose all of her spray paint, or whenever she’d be caught with drug paraphernalia. She’s spent the last couple of years in and out of rehab.

Wanted Connections

Coming soon

#aurorabay.intro #tw: parental death #tw: car accident #tw: mentions of abuse #tw: drug abuse #tw: substance abuse #about #tw: fire

4 notes · View notes