silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
Been busy and haven't had much time to devote video games, but finally managed to complete everyone's final chapters of the individual stories.
Temenos
The head of the church was corrupt and the true villain! No points. The head did it because her entire clan was murdered by the church for being heretics, and she entered the church as a sleeper agent! Okay, partial credit.
The detective solves one case, but new mysteries reveal themselves. His work is never done!
Casti
The villain wants to free all people from the pain of being alive. A noble but misguided cause! He wants to do this by killing literally all people. Chew the scenery why don't ya.
Fortunately Casti shows up with all the friends she made along the way, and saves the day! Ends on a fairly positive note, given the loss she's experienced thus far. The Malaya reveal was tough.
Partitio
You may be a merchant, Partitio, but I suspect you have some socialist sympathies. Why else would you oppose Mr. Roque, the avatar of fascist late-stage capitalism made manifest? Roque ends up being a bit of a caricature, but still finds salvation through Partitio to boot? We're firmly on the idealism side of the sliding scale from realism to idealism.
Ochette
Once again the friends we made along the way coming through for Ochette, and the greedy humans see reason in light of Ochette's selflessness. Sentimentality aside I actually love Ochette's characterization. She absolutely sells empathy for all things (the only time she gets genuinely angry is at the hunter that spitefully smashed Glacis's eggs because he was too weak to take down Glacis, and she STILL saves his life), and really does want to be friends with everyone and doesn't understand why everyone else has such trouble with the concept.
Agnea
I started with the darkest stories and ended with the lighter ones, with Agnea's being the lightest of all. La'mani is back for a comical revenge, but thwarted by the the friends Agnea made along the way, including Doclinea's bodyguard. Her final battle combat against Dolcinea is just a metaphor for Agnea and Dolcinea's dance battle. When things seem darkest for Agnea, the cheers of all her loved ones give her the push she needs to complete her final dance and move the heart of Dolcinea, who becomes her fan and stops her plan to tear down the children's rec center. It's sentimental schlock, but it's well executed schlock and I am here for it. The music sells it, 100%.
Also let me just say that the music in this game is fantastic, and I especially loved Agena's songs (which makes sense since her story is about the power of music to move hearts).
The storytelling difference between Throne
Whose final boss is an immortal madman who seeded generations of children to raise one capable of finally killing him and letting him obtain the sweet release of death
and Agnea
Who kills literally no person or beast and makes friends with all her antagonists through the power of her dance
is stark.
I still have a few side dungeons, the paired stories, and the post game to do, but this game gets two thumbs up from me. Improves upon everything I can think of from Octopath 1. Instead of Octopath Strangers, the cast really are fellow travelers this time.
Travel banter after Ochette's final chapter
Ochette tells Casti she knows how much Casti pays attention to her, and how much she loves her like a mom for it.
Also, I obtained Ochette's 2nd EX skill, and discovered what I expect is a bug:
Spend 3 BP, select her second EX skill, then on the monster select screen, activate her Latent Power, then cancel her Latent Power. This brings you back to her main menu. From here go to Beast Lore, then Provoke. You can select 6 monsters to summon at once, including ones that require max BP and can only be summoned once per fights.
This lets you attack six times with (for example) Tera or Glacis, though it's at 1 BP strength, not max. Still, it's usually enough to destroy everything on screen, so much so that it definitely feels like an exploit.
My current Ochette stable:
Scourge of the Sea (destroys 6 Shields on random enemy) 3 BP monster (open sea at night after defeating it in whirlpool)
Battle-Worn Shark (aoe dagger + party heal hp/sp/bp) 3 BP monster (open sea during day after defeating it in cove)
Devourer of Dreams (aoe dark + 2 stacks party avoid physical and reflect magic) 3 BP monster (after defeating it in Montwise Forsaken Graveyard)
Light Guardian Mk. II (aoe light + aoe axe) Forbidden Shrine
Devil Deer (aoe sword + delay enemy turn) House Wellows Manor
Woodland Birdking II (aoe spear + party ATK/SPD up) near Timberain
Along with Tera and Glacis gives pretty good coverage for breaking shields. Ochette can handle the bow vulnerable enemies.
That second EX skill on Ochette is probably the single best way to break enemies in the game. I used it a lot on the final boss to unload 6x hit all with stuff.
The scene that starts Journey for Dawn is adorable.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
+3
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
So I fought the boss in the dungeon near Sai for a side quest, and I was having trouble because the boss would randomly evade my attacks and I couldn't break him before his auto-KO.
After 80 hours of playing this game, did you know if you press the "-" key on the Switch Joy-con while in combat, it brings up a list of every active status effect, positive and negative, and explains in detail what they do?
The answer was:
apparently there's a buff called Tiger and Wolf, which, while active, lets you dodge any attacks from characters that spent BP or used their Latent Power. That'd certainly do it! Goddammit that's annoying.
I'm slowly clearing all the side dungeons and side quests that I had left to do. I mostly just need a list of where to get the quests, since some NPCs pop up after your initial visit to the towns.
I also looked up (post individual character stories):
Where all the NPCs with Battle-tested weapons appear. Most of them have a quest related, so I would have found them eventually, I hope.
I might need to find a good levelling spot. Most of my Travelers are level 30-31 with the exception of Casti as my lead. Osvald's chapter 4 at level 36 was the lowest recommended level I had available and the boss probably shouldn't have been as rough as it was. Might be time to try out those Octopuff pots.
silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
So I put together a decent setup for Hikari for Challenge duals that's able to do ~80k damage on turn 1, which is enough to one-shot even the toughest enemies. So I gave farming Battle-Tested equipment a shot yesterday while I was laying in bed with a back spasm. I got about 50 duals in 90 minutes, with zero equipment to show for my trouble.
Yeah, I think I'm done with this. I'm going to shoot for the credits, and maybe investigate the post-game for super bosses and what have you. I think I've done absolutely everything else there is to do in game.
So I put together a decent setup for Hikari for Challenge duals that's able to do ~80k damage on turn 1, which is enough to one-shot even the toughest enemies. So I gave farming Battle-Tested equipment a shot yesterday while I was laying in bed with a back spasm. I got about 50 duals in 90 minutes, with zero equipment to show for my trouble.
Yeah, I think I'm done with this. I'm going to shoot for the credits, and maybe investigate the post-game for super bosses and what have you. I think I've done absolutely everything else there is to do in game.
The drop rate to farm battle-tested gear is abysmal. There's one instance of each that you can buy/steal, and that's plenty for me. (And like, there's 2-3 other full sets of really good weapons around anyways, like the Lost Tribe stuff that has conveniently big minuses for Blessing in Disguise and such)
Is there a steal guide? Stuff I should absolutely be grabbing from enemies? It feels like the only things I'm getting are apothecary items and plums.
I don't think so? I don't think anything unique or missable can be stolen in combat. Equipment is stolen (entreated, etc.) from NPCs, rewarded from side quests, found in chests, or drops from enemies after combat.
A few boss encounters have slightly more valuable items, but typically it's a gently above-curve weapon or armor, and never something you couldn't obtain through other means.
My favorite musical instrument is the air-raid siren.
Is there a steal guide? Stuff I should absolutely be grabbing from enemies? It feels like the only things I'm getting are apothecary items and plums.
I don't think so? I don't think anything unique or missable can be stolen in combat. Equipment is stolen (entreated, etc.) from NPCs, rewarded from side quests, found in chests, or drops from enemies after combat.
The main things worth stealing are the items for some of the additional job licenses.
Is there a steal guide? Stuff I should absolutely be grabbing from enemies? It feels like the only things I'm getting are apothecary items and plums.
I don't think so? I don't think anything unique or missable can be stolen in combat. Equipment is stolen (entreated, etc.) from NPCs, rewarded from side quests, found in chests, or drops from enemies after combat.
The main things worth stealing are the items for some of the additional job licenses.
Even that's not 100% necessary because those items can still just drop but it does speed up the Scholar requests, yeah.
Game crashed after phase 1 the first time, so that was annoying. Was not nearly as bad as Galdera. Very achievable, though I think my main group was definitely overleveled.
Ending scene was cute and the end end confirmed Agnea was the real main character all along.
Story obviously an upgrade over the first, gameplay marginally better in a ton of ways around the edges, music not quite the highs of the first one. I do think the extra jobs were overall a little disappointing compared to the first one.
If I replayed it I think I would try to make magic attack a focus because this was a very physical focused party. It's not clear to me that getting three Thief licenses and just Aebor's Reckoning everything all the time isn't the play.
Main crew: Throne (Armsmaster), Castii (Scholar, but really just concocting all the time), Agnea (Thief), Hikari (Hunter)
enlightenedbum on
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
Game crashed after phase 1 the first time, so that was annoying. Was not nearly as bad as Galdera. Very achievable, though I think my main group was definitely overleveled.
Ending scene was cute and the end end confirmed Agnea was the real main character all along.
Story obviously an upgrade over the first, gameplay marginally better in a ton of ways around the edges, music not quite the highs of the first one. I do think the extra jobs were overall a little disappointing compared to the first one.
If I replayed it I think I would try to make magic attack a focus because this was a very physical focused party. It's not clear to me that getting three Thief licenses and just Aebor's Reckoning everything all the time isn't the play.
Main crew: Throne (Armsmaster), Castii (Scholar, but really just concocting all the time), Agnea (Thief), Hikari (Hunter)
I've heard that the Merchant hits some truly ridiculous numbers with
the hidden Hired Help, Assassins.
But, as ever, the rule is "any working solution is good enough."
My favorite musical instrument is the air-raid siren.
Once again deciding if I care enough to actually kill
Galdera.
I tried for like solid hour yesterday and gave up. Danger Level 45 my ass; entire team was 60-61 and kept getting obliterated. I figured out what needed to be done but obviously haven't munchkined enough to actually accomplish it.
Once again deciding if I care enough to actually kill
Galdera.
I tried for like solid hour yesterday and gave up. Danger Level 45 my ass; entire team was 60-61 and kept getting obliterated. I figured out what needed to be done but obviously haven't munchkined enough to actually accomplish it.
he is secret super boss for a reason.
League of Legends: Sorakanmyworld
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
Once again deciding if I care enough to actually kill
Galdera.
I tried for like solid hour yesterday and gave up. Danger Level 45 my ass; entire team was 60-61 and kept getting obliterated. I figured out what needed to be done but obviously haven't munchkined enough to actually accomplish it.
he is secret super boss for a reason.
He's kinda not, though? He's presented as a regular-ass side quest.
hey all, i went way past all the chat to join on page 90ish to ask, how much would you say this game is close to the gameplay of OT1? I bought OT1 and never got that far because i wanted to explore around but kept running into areas that were too high, felt navigating the map was very clunky and combat was frustrating when i ran into an enemy that i didn't have a specific break move for. I think i probably played for 10-15 hours before i gave up. I like the "idea" of Octopath Traveler so how well does 2 improve over 1?
hey all, i went way past all the chat to join on page 90ish to ask, how much would you say this game is close to the gameplay of OT1? I bought OT1 and never got that far because i wanted to explore around but kept running into areas that were too high, felt navigating the map was very clunky and combat was frustrating when i ran into an enemy that i didn't have a specific break move for. I think i probably played for 10-15 hours before i gave up. I like the "idea" of Octopath Traveler so how well does 2 improve over 1?
It's mechanically better in most every way, but if you didn't like the core gameplay of the first, it's still similar enough you'd be frustrated with this one.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
hey all, i went way past all the chat to join on page 90ish to ask, how much would you say this game is close to the gameplay of OT1? I bought OT1 and never got that far because i wanted to explore around but kept running into areas that were too high, felt navigating the map was very clunky and combat was frustrating when i ran into an enemy that i didn't have a specific break move for. I think i probably played for 10-15 hours before i gave up. I like the "idea" of Octopath Traveler so how well does 2 improve over 1?
That sounds similar to my boat. I bounced off OT1 hard, and I think that was largely because I started on Primrose and then went to Tressa, so every regular battle was just a pain in the ass and my coverage was fuckawful, combined with RNG just occasionally going "Fuck you. Enemy ambushed you and acts first, so enjoy them getting 7 turns in a row and wiping your party from full HP before you can move."
In OT2 though, I started with Throne, and on my way to pick up a mage for coverage, stumbled immediately into a free subclass that gets a free strong AoE of any weapon type available at the start of every fight, which smoothed out things A FUCKING LOT, though I still did run into the above issue multiple times. Which is also basically the only time I've had issues with bosses too; when they go last on one turn and then first on the next so they just get multiple turns in a row. I imagine it'd be similarly miserable to my original experience had I started with Agnea/Partitio, or Temenos/Osvald since the resource crunch at the start is rough, but that job (which multiple characters start out near) helps a lot to making characters not useless, and both of the warrior classes can pick up very broad coverage pretty easily.
I, however, am still not a fan of the open world aesthetic, and continue to find all the path action stuff to be godawful skinner box nonsense, made worse by so many cutscenes broken up by it going "Gee, we can't continue until you PRESS X ON THIS CHARACTER." I'd like to explore some of these dungeons that are a little above my level, but I'm overleveled for the story stuff as it is because the encounter rate is fucking suffocating without the "fewer encounters" passive equipped, so I'm stuck pushing my way through that to prevent it from being more of a cakewalk than it already is. Which is to say it's dragging a shitload for me in the middle, and the subclasses don't add anywhere near enough to make me feel like characters are actually getting better/stronger, or meaningfully improving, so I dunno about the lategame either.
+1
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
Beat the game, saw the epilogue. The final boss fight was executed really cleverly.
Absolutely fantastic experience. Had the heart the first one was missing in spades. Loved it from beginning to end. The travel banter and paired stories were so much better than the first one; they really felt like characters with rapport and fondness for each other.
Based on the fullness of the stained glass windows, it looks like I missed only 1 side quest in 1 zone:
Which is to kill the secret boss.
Not sure if I'll give it a go. I've been neglecting my watchlist backlog for two months and want to start catching up.
i pulled the trigger. this game is kind of dark so far.
It's runs the tonal spectrum pretty far in this game between character stories, some go from straight Disney princess all the way to "they actually put this in?"
i pulled the trigger. this game is kind of dark so far.
It's runs the tonal spectrum pretty far in this game between character stories, some go from straight Disney princess all the way to "they actually put this in?"
Yeah, the tonal.gap between Agnes and Throne is massive.
i pulled the trigger. this game is kind of dark so far.
It's runs the tonal spectrum pretty far in this game between character stories, some go from straight Disney princess all the way to "they actually put this in?"
Yeah, the tonal.gap between Agnes and Throne is massive.
Which isn't that much different from the first game.
I started with Throne, picked up Inquisitor guy and osvald the escaped prisoner. Cleric guy was maybe the least violent and that involved straight up murdering a bunch of clergy. I'm going clockwise down the map so maybe things will start shifting.
I started with Throne, picked up Inquisitor guy and osvald the escaped prisoner. Cleric guy was maybe the least violent and that involved straight up murdering a bunch of clergy. I'm going clockwise down the map so maybe things will start shifting.
Yeah you started on Grimdark Continent.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
That's the order I did things too, but I couldn't take most of the dark ones seriously, especially the ones with cackling lunatics. Agnea and Partitio were both excrutiatingly banal on the other hand. I've probably enjoyed Temenos the most, but he's up there with Partitio for the characters I flat out dislike having in the party at all.
I've gotten to the final chapters of everybody, and was putting off them to go around the map cleaning up all the optional areas... and mostly going "Gee, this boss seems like it might've had some mechanics if I was here at a proper level and couldn't take off 95%+ of its HP the first time I broke it." Only three bosses have given me any trouble really, and two were ones that spammed the BP lockdown status, though I was also hauling around an awful team with very light buffing/debuffing capabilities at the time (fought them back to back). Still didn't need to retry though, just dip into my massive pile of items. Even the rotting dragon thing got rolled rather easily. Now I'm overleveled for the story chapters though. Maybe I'll try to make magic work again, but god, it's so fucking bad and requires so much more hand-holding to even almost get it to work when Ochette or Hikari can casually do like 35k+ in a hit with a third the setup. Up to possibly four times if I really bother to go all in on setting them up.
I've also been surprised by the iffy localization/descriptions on a bunch of skills. Like the one support skill that "Lets you act first at the start of combat." You'd think that it lets you... take the first turn at the start of combat, but that's not really what it does at all. It creates an extra round of combat that only characters with that turn can act in. Meaning that having a single character equipped with it gives the entire party an extra BP, burns off a turn from buffs/debuffs that are active at the start (ie Temenos/Throne's passives), gives you an extra free turn to try to escape, etc. On top of other more 'normal' shenanigans you could pull (eg Casti latent into massive full party buffs/debuffs). Or Throne's Ex. It doesn't give an evasion buff like it says. It applies a stack of super blindness to enemies for one physical attack which works no matter who it targets, or if it does an AoE.
There are also many other translation errors like a fire skill Hikari can learn that only hits one time despite the description saying 3 times, and the Warrior job's sword attack that says it "removes enemy buffs" actually removes your buffs.
Posts
Temenos
The detective solves one case, but new mysteries reveal themselves. His work is never done!
Casti
Fortunately Casti shows up with all the friends she made along the way, and saves the day! Ends on a fairly positive note, given the loss she's experienced thus far. The Malaya reveal was tough.
Partitio
Ochette
Agnea
Also let me just say that the music in this game is fantastic, and I especially loved Agena's songs (which makes sense since her story is about the power of music to move hearts).
The storytelling difference between Throne
I still have a few side dungeons, the paired stories, and the post game to do, but this game gets two thumbs up from me. Improves upon everything I can think of from Octopath 1. Instead of Octopath Strangers, the cast really are fellow travelers this time.
Travel banter after Ochette's final chapter
Also, I obtained Ochette's 2nd EX skill, and discovered what I expect is a bug:
This lets you attack six times with (for example) Tera or Glacis, though it's at 1 BP strength, not max. Still, it's usually enough to destroy everything on screen, so much so that it definitely feels like an exploit.
My current Ochette stable:
Battle-Worn Shark (aoe dagger + party heal hp/sp/bp) 3 BP monster (open sea during day after defeating it in cove)
Devourer of Dreams (aoe dark + 2 stacks party avoid physical and reflect magic) 3 BP monster (after defeating it in Montwise Forsaken Graveyard)
Light Guardian Mk. II (aoe light + aoe axe) Forbidden Shrine
Devil Deer (aoe sword + delay enemy turn) House Wellows Manor
Woodland Birdking II (aoe spear + party ATK/SPD up) near Timberain
Along with Tera and Glacis gives pretty good coverage for breaking shields. Ochette can handle the bow vulnerable enemies.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
Also Osvald, dude. “Thinking time!”? Really?! The Warden was right to muzzle you.
Twitch: akThera
Steam: Thera
After 80 hours of playing this game, did you know if you press the "-" key on the Switch Joy-con while in combat, it brings up a list of every active status effect, positive and negative, and explains in detail what they do?
The answer was:
I'm slowly clearing all the side dungeons and side quests that I had left to do. I mostly just need a list of where to get the quests, since some NPCs pop up after your initial visit to the towns.
I also looked up (post individual character stories):
Yeah, I think I'm done with this. I'm going to shoot for the credits, and maybe investigate the post-game for super bosses and what have you. I think I've done absolutely everything else there is to do in game.
The drop rate to farm battle-tested gear is abysmal. There's one instance of each that you can buy/steal, and that's plenty for me. (And like, there's 2-3 other full sets of really good weapons around anyways, like the Lost Tribe stuff that has conveniently big minuses for Blessing in Disguise and such)
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
Now it's stuck at night and I can't Allure anymore!
Womp Womp.
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
I don't think so? I don't think anything unique or missable can be stolen in combat. Equipment is stolen (entreated, etc.) from NPCs, rewarded from side quests, found in chests, or drops from enemies after combat.
The main things worth stealing are the items for some of the additional job licenses.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
Even that's not 100% necessary because those items can still just drop but it does speed up the Scholar requests, yeah.
Ending scene was cute and the end end confirmed Agnea was the real main character all along.
Story obviously an upgrade over the first, gameplay marginally better in a ton of ways around the edges, music not quite the highs of the first one. I do think the extra jobs were overall a little disappointing compared to the first one.
If I replayed it I think I would try to make magic attack a focus because this was a very physical focused party. It's not clear to me that getting three Thief licenses and just Aebor's Reckoning everything all the time isn't the play.
Main crew: Throne (Armsmaster), Castii (Scholar, but really just concocting all the time), Agnea (Thief), Hikari (Hunter)
I've heard that the Merchant hits some truly ridiculous numbers with
Probably some other sidequests I didn't get then too.
I tried for like solid hour yesterday and gave up. Danger Level 45 my ass; entire team was 60-61 and kept getting obliterated. I figured out what needed to be done but obviously haven't munchkined enough to actually accomplish it.
he is secret super boss for a reason.
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
He's kinda not, though? He's presented as a regular-ass side quest.
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
*scrutinize*
Yup, it's a town full of aristocrats
Blizzard: Pailryder#1101
GoG: https://www.gog.com/u/pailryder
It's mechanically better in most every way, but if you didn't like the core gameplay of the first, it's still similar enough you'd be frustrated with this one.
That sounds similar to my boat. I bounced off OT1 hard, and I think that was largely because I started on Primrose and then went to Tressa, so every regular battle was just a pain in the ass and my coverage was fuckawful, combined with RNG just occasionally going "Fuck you. Enemy ambushed you and acts first, so enjoy them getting 7 turns in a row and wiping your party from full HP before you can move."
In OT2 though, I started with Throne, and on my way to pick up a mage for coverage, stumbled immediately into a free subclass that gets a free strong AoE of any weapon type available at the start of every fight, which smoothed out things A FUCKING LOT, though I still did run into the above issue multiple times. Which is also basically the only time I've had issues with bosses too; when they go last on one turn and then first on the next so they just get multiple turns in a row. I imagine it'd be similarly miserable to my original experience had I started with Agnea/Partitio, or Temenos/Osvald since the resource crunch at the start is rough, but that job (which multiple characters start out near) helps a lot to making characters not useless, and both of the warrior classes can pick up very broad coverage pretty easily.
I, however, am still not a fan of the open world aesthetic, and continue to find all the path action stuff to be godawful skinner box nonsense, made worse by so many cutscenes broken up by it going "Gee, we can't continue until you PRESS X ON THIS CHARACTER." I'd like to explore some of these dungeons that are a little above my level, but I'm overleveled for the story stuff as it is because the encounter rate is fucking suffocating without the "fewer encounters" passive equipped, so I'm stuck pushing my way through that to prevent it from being more of a cakewalk than it already is. Which is to say it's dragging a shitload for me in the middle, and the subclasses don't add anywhere near enough to make me feel like characters are actually getting better/stronger, or meaningfully improving, so I dunno about the lategame either.
Absolutely fantastic experience. Had the heart the first one was missing in spades. Loved it from beginning to end. The travel banter and paired stories were so much better than the first one; they really felt like characters with rapport and fondness for each other.
Based on the fullness of the stained glass windows, it looks like I missed only 1 side quest in 1 zone:
Not sure if I'll give it a go. I've been neglecting my watchlist backlog for two months and want to start catching up.
Blizzard: Pailryder#1101
GoG: https://www.gog.com/u/pailryder
It's runs the tonal spectrum pretty far in this game between character stories, some go from straight Disney princess all the way to "they actually put this in?"
Yeah, the tonal.gap between Agnes and Throne is massive.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
Which isn't that much different from the first game.
Blizzard: Pailryder#1101
GoG: https://www.gog.com/u/pailryder
Yeah you started on Grimdark Continent.
I've gotten to the final chapters of everybody, and was putting off them to go around the map cleaning up all the optional areas... and mostly going "Gee, this boss seems like it might've had some mechanics if I was here at a proper level and couldn't take off 95%+ of its HP the first time I broke it." Only three bosses have given me any trouble really, and two were ones that spammed the BP lockdown status, though I was also hauling around an awful team with very light buffing/debuffing capabilities at the time (fought them back to back). Still didn't need to retry though, just dip into my massive pile of items. Even the rotting dragon thing got rolled rather easily. Now I'm overleveled for the story chapters though. Maybe I'll try to make magic work again, but god, it's so fucking bad and requires so much more hand-holding to even almost get it to work when Ochette or Hikari can casually do like 35k+ in a hit with a third the setup. Up to possibly four times if I really bother to go all in on setting them up.
I've also been surprised by the iffy localization/descriptions on a bunch of skills. Like the one support skill that "Lets you act first at the start of combat." You'd think that it lets you... take the first turn at the start of combat, but that's not really what it does at all. It creates an extra round of combat that only characters with that turn can act in. Meaning that having a single character equipped with it gives the entire party an extra BP, burns off a turn from buffs/debuffs that are active at the start (ie Temenos/Throne's passives), gives you an extra free turn to try to escape, etc. On top of other more 'normal' shenanigans you could pull (eg Casti latent into massive full party buffs/debuffs). Or Throne's Ex. It doesn't give an evasion buff like it says. It applies a stack of super blindness to enemies for one physical attack which works no matter who it targets, or if it does an AoE.