Labyrinth of Refrain: 04
Aug. 20th, 2019 01:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dinoblobI've progressed quite a bit story-wise since the last liveblog update, its going to be a little difficult for me to keep track of everything but I'll try my best.
I was really intimidated by the witch statues in Astrom and both Sevran and Geist REALLY LIKE TO HAVE THEIR LEGS BLOWN OFF FOR SOME REASON. Really, just normal gnome soldiers will crit them and then I feel like I have to completely backtrack from the dungeon and pray the next time I make a route for the main story boss that nothing happens on the way.
Pecorino wasn't as difficult as I was expecting since I was able to make it through the entire battle the first time without wiping. I wasn't entirely sure if she was going to do something like revive the gnome battalion in front of her but I did try to focus them first and I was relieved when I saw that they did have low health and I could focus on Pecorino for the last half of the battle.
Moving onto Melm was was interesting. The unmap-able areas are probably one of the most anxiety-inducing things this game has introduced, not only because of the low-visibility, but that it's where the Dark Larvae fairy creatures reside specifically. It's one thing to have extremely evasive enemies, but that they have a move specifically named Beheading String makes me feel totally responsible for moving my brigade into an area where the risk of a perma-death is higher, and its usually for loot.
One night I had the unfortunate mistake of miscalculating the walking path for the adult trolls in a room, and I was barely able to win and escape a battle afterwards losing more than half my collected mana by that point. With Melm being specifically filled with creatures weak to blunt damage I was also having a hard time finding a brigade formation that would be easy to maneuver between offensive and defensive.
I forgot where I read it, but someone online was complaining about bells being bad weapons, but having both my theatrical star and two shinobushis equipped with them has saved the party so many times. That said, I wish that the whole vanguard/rearguard mismatch with weapons wasn't so punishing, because that's the only thing that was really messing me up with regards to having a valid formation to get offense/defense bonuses. I haven't yet unlocked a soul pact with 3 slots, so I also feel limited to how I could group my brigade. If I could have Matilda with Mikhail and Lyssa it would be great since both Lances and Lamps can be used Van/Rear. Lena is squishy as heck so I honestly just want to keep her in the back with a bell and I don't like having to spend both a Reinforcement point and a turn just to switch weapons. Same goes for Ryuken and Argon, though if I can predict the type of enemy we run into (like the dark areas in Melm) I could at least switch things around in the menu before entering battle.
I found the Antechamber that goes to Verdant Phenom last night but haven't checked it out yet. It seems like I can avoid battling the Troll King, so if I can do that for now I will. I'm guessing that the key that Rosina kept talking about was the Great Sage Key since those have been one of the chests I haven't been able to open. I also haven't gotten the Gnomish Key yet but there is specifically one part of Astrom I haven't gone to, and that's the pacifist village that told me to go around. Since I was able to get the Gnome's Blood key item without having to enter that area, I honestly have no reason to go through there unless maybe they have a hidden key, but I'd honestly feel like a jerk about doing that.
My Karma was raised when I pulled the spear out of Campanula though, so I'm not sure exactly how I've changed my story route so far (also I guess for fighting the titan version of Pecorino and getting the Peco Pact).
I was really excited to unlock the new facet Gothic Coppelia, and honestly feel pretty protective of the puppet soldier I made LOL.
I've only been leveling them up as a support unit, so maybe their hammer could be really helpful for going back to Melm and fighting the trolls but for now I'm just waiting for the right pact to show up so I can have a real power-punching brigade. Turns out that having a theatrical star in a support slot does not proc the healing bell at the end of a turn and battle so that was kind of a disappointing discovery as well, but I guess eventually I'll be able to put a star into two covens and it Will work like that.
That's all I can think of for now.
I was really intimidated by the witch statues in Astrom and both Sevran and Geist REALLY LIKE TO HAVE THEIR LEGS BLOWN OFF FOR SOME REASON. Really, just normal gnome soldiers will crit them and then I feel like I have to completely backtrack from the dungeon and pray the next time I make a route for the main story boss that nothing happens on the way.
Pecorino wasn't as difficult as I was expecting since I was able to make it through the entire battle the first time without wiping. I wasn't entirely sure if she was going to do something like revive the gnome battalion in front of her but I did try to focus them first and I was relieved when I saw that they did have low health and I could focus on Pecorino for the last half of the battle.
Moving onto Melm was was interesting. The unmap-able areas are probably one of the most anxiety-inducing things this game has introduced, not only because of the low-visibility, but that it's where the Dark Larvae fairy creatures reside specifically. It's one thing to have extremely evasive enemies, but that they have a move specifically named Beheading String makes me feel totally responsible for moving my brigade into an area where the risk of a perma-death is higher, and its usually for loot.
One night I had the unfortunate mistake of miscalculating the walking path for the adult trolls in a room, and I was barely able to win and escape a battle afterwards losing more than half my collected mana by that point. With Melm being specifically filled with creatures weak to blunt damage I was also having a hard time finding a brigade formation that would be easy to maneuver between offensive and defensive.
I forgot where I read it, but someone online was complaining about bells being bad weapons, but having both my theatrical star and two shinobushis equipped with them has saved the party so many times. That said, I wish that the whole vanguard/rearguard mismatch with weapons wasn't so punishing, because that's the only thing that was really messing me up with regards to having a valid formation to get offense/defense bonuses. I haven't yet unlocked a soul pact with 3 slots, so I also feel limited to how I could group my brigade. If I could have Matilda with Mikhail and Lyssa it would be great since both Lances and Lamps can be used Van/Rear. Lena is squishy as heck so I honestly just want to keep her in the back with a bell and I don't like having to spend both a Reinforcement point and a turn just to switch weapons. Same goes for Ryuken and Argon, though if I can predict the type of enemy we run into (like the dark areas in Melm) I could at least switch things around in the menu before entering battle.
I found the Antechamber that goes to Verdant Phenom last night but haven't checked it out yet. It seems like I can avoid battling the Troll King, so if I can do that for now I will. I'm guessing that the key that Rosina kept talking about was the Great Sage Key since those have been one of the chests I haven't been able to open. I also haven't gotten the Gnomish Key yet but there is specifically one part of Astrom I haven't gone to, and that's the pacifist village that told me to go around. Since I was able to get the Gnome's Blood key item without having to enter that area, I honestly have no reason to go through there unless maybe they have a hidden key, but I'd honestly feel like a jerk about doing that.
My Karma was raised when I pulled the spear out of Campanula though, so I'm not sure exactly how I've changed my story route so far (also I guess for fighting the titan version of Pecorino and getting the Peco Pact).
I was really excited to unlock the new facet Gothic Coppelia, and honestly feel pretty protective of the puppet soldier I made LOL.
I've only been leveling them up as a support unit, so maybe their hammer could be really helpful for going back to Melm and fighting the trolls but for now I'm just waiting for the right pact to show up so I can have a real power-punching brigade. Turns out that having a theatrical star in a support slot does not proc the healing bell at the end of a turn and battle so that was kind of a disappointing discovery as well, but I guess eventually I'll be able to put a star into two covens and it Will work like that.
That's all I can think of for now.
