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Strategy RPGs and me: SRPGs inf., me 0
yalborap
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, I enjoy playing strategy RPGs. They're fun, enjoyable games without the boringness of JRPGs.
However, I am TERRIBLE at them. Ball-bustingly, gasp-inducingly, TERRIBLE.
Disgaea? Short of grinding my ass off well beyond what should be the norm, I lose time and time again.
Super Robot Wars? I can only play the Original Generation games, where I lose. Constantly.
Advance Wars? I'm stuck maybe TWELVE missions into Days of Ruin.
Because of these and other failings, I come to you, PA G&T forums, with but a simple request. What the hell am I missing that is making me suck so bad? Do I just need to slow way down? Have I somehow picked the toughest games ever? Am I just not WIRED right and need to give it up? Tell me, PA, what can I do to get a core skill I am missing, that no amount of simply trying again can lend me?
However, I am TERRIBLE at them. Ball-bustingly, gasp-inducingly, TERRIBLE.
Disgaea? Short of grinding my ass off well beyond what should be the norm, I lose time and time again.
Super Robot Wars? I can only play the Original Generation games, where I lose. Constantly.
Advance Wars? I'm stuck maybe TWELVE missions into Days of Ruin.
Because of these and other failings, I come to you, PA G&T forums, with but a simple request. What the hell am I missing that is making me suck so bad? Do I just need to slow way down? Have I somehow picked the toughest games ever? Am I just not WIRED right and need to give it up? Tell me, PA, what can I do to get a core skill I am missing, that no amount of simply trying again can lend me?
yalborap on
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For instance, FFT sounds like a dream on paper... Like it would be right up my alley. But then I try to play it, and I'm just horrible at it. But I keep trying because it contains what is, in my mind, the very best character customization system ever.
First off, OG2 is just hard by nature. It's only ever easy towards the end when you have your pilots built up and your mecha upgraded and even then you can easily be shot down if you screw up or get unlucky. And going for battle masteries on new game is also not going to always succeed.
There's A LOT to take in with these games. Knowing which pilots should go ranged, which should go melee, which should go in supers, which should go in reals, which reals to use (there are far less supers), which weapons to upgrade, which skills to get, etc. are not things that come intuitively all at once.
The general advice I've seen and used for OG1 is to get support 1 on any pilot that does not have it followed by upgrading space and either air or ground terrain skill depending on which the pilot's mech normally is in/on. That gives a lot of support attacks and makes incoming attacks less painful when something like Giganscudo is taking the blows. For OG2, SP regen is your first priority. Focus or Alert is crucial when you deal with lots of enemies and you need to keep them up.
Save your upgrades for the unique mechs (basically anything not a Gespent M or Schutzwald). Steel knives and machine guns give the most bang for the buck in terms of power per money used on upgrades.
Lots of the AW missions are like puzzles. Just a matter of figuring out what direction you're supposed to head off to first.
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I basically need to get my brain to think in that strategic way to produce good results. Any suggestions/ideas on how to pull that off?
Not sure if this is any help, but my general strategy is to lure enemies over one at a time, then hit them with everything, repeat. It works in some games; not so much in others(try this in Stella Deus, and all the nearby enemies will follow).
You mean grinding like crazy isn't the norm for Disgaea? I'm talking about Disgaea 2, but some of the fights in that require crazy leveling up.
The best tip I can give struggling Disgaea players is item world. Item world Item World ITEM WORLD ITEMWORLD.
Seriosly. Not only is it a great place to get levels (mmmm... invincibility panels..) it's a great place to improve items (duh). While this may not seem like much, even adding ten levels and a couple of specialists to a weapon dramatically increases the damage you can do.
I know how you feel tho. Despite repeated attempts to be good at FFT: WOTL, I still suck ass at it. Not as bad as I suck at Monster Hunter 2 Freedom, but still a lot of suck.
I think knowing how the AI works in the context of each game is important.
For instance: Can I move within one square of a baddie's range with a tank to bait him in and then have everyone jump him?
Knowing who the enemy are likely to attack in different situations.
Knowing when to be aggressive and when to let the enemy come to you.
Contrary to popular belief, there is a lot of skill with strategy RPGs. While luck does play a factor, skill and experience overwhelmingly trump it.
If you're dying over and over in the same battle, make sure you're actually trying something different each time. Don't assume that you lost because the computer cheats. I think that's the #1 frustration new players have, that the AI is magically able to cheat and there's no possible way to win. If anything, the AI in SRPGs is often not that good, provided you know how it works. And there's no way to figure that out with a lot of good 'ole fashion practice.
Some general tips that can be applied across almost all SRPGs:
- Let the AI come to you
- Look one move ahead (where can the AI move next turn?)
- Know thy enemy (what abilities do they have, what are their strengths/weaknesses, etc.)
- When in doubt, grind! (sometimes you do just have to level your guys up)
If those things just don't appeal to you at all, and you'd rather win without them ... then SRPGs probably aren't the genre for you. That's fine, as long as you know why.- Don't add me, I'm at/near the friend limit
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Then what would you suggest as a 'starting game' that isn't too horribly difficult?
Chess.
I swear to god I'm not trolling, it really does help.
Even with that stuff, OG2 is still tough. You're just not as likely to get repeatedly shot down by most enemies. Until a new game+ though, you'll often have to wait for bosses to retreat by themselves instead of forcing a retreat. Reading one the guides to the different pilots and mecha on Gamefaqs can help too since each pilot and most machines are unique and it's a lot of info to take in.
For a not-tough SRPG, the new hotness right now would be Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced 2. The FFTA series is often regarded as too easy by veterans of the genre (it can seriously be broken when you figure out certain combinations of skills), but that's not an issue for beginners.
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Actualy Namco X Capcom is the easiest SRPG ever made. Only understanding a fifth of what was going on through my broken japanese I was able to go 6 hours into the game with out any issues. Honestly the game was a gimic but kinda awsome hitting a boss with Ken and Ryu doing a double hadouken then having Jin and Armor King do a combo attack right after.
I don't care how easy Namco x Capcom is, there's no way on earth that it's easier than Rhapsody. Seriously, in Rhapsody, enemies just don't hurt you and that was on the hardest difficulty level. The whole time I was playing, I felt like the programmer accidentally forgot to insert a damage chart into the game and so the game just assumed that all enemies should deal 1HP of damage.
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When you do actualy come under attack in the game there is a defence minigame thats kinda like simon or god of war. Serriously I don't think I ever had any charactor fall below 50% hp the whole time I played. Got bored cause the game was so cake. Though Kos-Mos and Shion were a cool team.
-five allies appear
-six enemies appear
-kill three enemies, twenty more appear
-two turns pass, every single ally you have appears
I made it as far as Chapter 20 something, and every single level has followed this pattern.
It's not difficult, but it can sure be tedious.