I only knew because I did the exact same thing. Although mine was more like "oh cool I finally got ICE so I can make those FROST weapons/shields/whatevers". Waitatick . . why isn't it . . oh . . . I need to use these FOREST codes I've had since the very beginning of the game.
Yeah, I've just sort of been ignoring the actual element and animal codes, as they're obvious from the color and/or icon. The only codes I've paid attention to are the concept ones like Wisdom and Freedom, since they're harder to recognize at first glance.
Which makes me wonder why the fuck the recipes don't just show you the fucking icons, but hey.
Well the fact that there are FRST, FATE, FRDM and FAME codes, and three of them are gray, is yet another indication that they came up with some great ideas but didn't have the time or understanding to properly refine them. Or that noone on the development team actually stopped to play the game after it was done and realize all the little things wrong with it that add up very quickly.
Hmm... a new peeve: flipping through pages like mad, trying to assemble all of the codes I need for my new weapon metalize (often depositing others on random pages in the process), only to discover that I apparently do not have the correct base for the recipe.
Well, that was ten minutes well-spent... >_<
Also: I want to hit on the psychic lady (of the four choices she's my favorite; Lena's too obvious and neither the elf nor princess are my style), but the game won't let me yet.
IceBurnerIt's cold and there are penguins.Registered Userregular
edited March 2009
My two cents here: I feel this game has a decent amount of good ideas but a lot of poor execution.
It looks very, very nice for a DS game, but that's it. The controls aren't responsive enough, and the interface leaves much to be desired. The primary draw of the game rapidly becomes cumbersome without getting any deeper than when you got your feet wet.
Battle is often wonky, and can't even compare with 2D Zelda in terms of being a smooth experience. On the other hand, it's so easy that if you bite the dust you can restart the room with no penalty other than your shame. Air-juggling monsters until they're knocked out of the Solar System and explode can be pretty fun, but doesn't make up for anything else.
Puzzle design is merely OK. Some of it is fairly enjoyable, some of it made me roll my eyes in annoyance. Metroid, Okami, Zelda, and even Valkyrie Profile 1/2 all outclass this.
Having to search for invisible exploration spots in nearly every room is absolutely retarded. It's so laborious and unrewarding it drags the whole game down. Worse, it feels blatantly crammed in just to sell guides or inflate "length". There is a free guide online, but doesn't the necessity for such a thing indicate a serious flaw?
That said, I've had fun, but I don't want to bother finishing it. I was pretty excited to get my hands on this, even cleared my queue for it, but I won't be converting my rental into a purchase.
Searching for hotspots on the map isn't terribly important; at best you might get a weak metalize (although apparently the Herbs I just picked up are useful), and the only other benefit is a slight goose to your book's value.
I'm in Chapter 8 now, having survived the Epic Cutscene between 5 and 6 and points after. I've encountered one recipe (Aegis shield) that annoyingly doesn't convert my item even when I've got the exact ingredients on the only shield base in the game, but since I don't really use shields it's not a huge issue; I just hope it doesn't happen again.
My collection of codes is progressing nicely, although I haven't answered any of my "New World" questions yet. When it becomes apparent that the game is winding down I'll probably cannibalize items/weapons I'm not using to feed them, but right now my priority is fufilling each as many character aspirations as possible. I actually have Duran's page worth about 9000+ (which is one reason why I'm not really sweating the hotspot thing), and also have about a dozen other people near or even over the 5000-point mark.
I would gladly kill an arbitrary number of hobos for a search function that would tell me, say, where all my Silver codes are in the book.
Searching for hotspots on the map isn't terribly important; at best you might get a weak metalize (although apparently the Herbs I just picked up are useful), and the only other benefit is a slight goose to your book's value.
I'm in Chapter 8 now, having survived the Epic Cutscene between 5 and 6 and points after. I've encountered one recipe (Aegis shield) that annoyingly doesn't convert my item even when I've got the exact ingredients on the only shield base in the game, but since I don't really use shields it's not a huge issue; I just hope it doesn't happen again.
My collection of codes is progressing nicely, although I haven't answered any of my "New World" questions yet. When it becomes apparent that the game is winding down I'll probably cannibalize items/weapons I'm not using to feed them, but right now my priority is fufilling each as many character aspirations as possible. I actually have Duran's page worth about 9000+ (which is one reason why I'm not really sweating the hotspot thing), and also have about a dozen other people near or even over the 5000-point mark.
I would gladly kill an arbitrary number of hobos for a search function that would tell me, say, where all my Silver codes are in the book.
FYI, the Aegis recipe is mistranslated. There's an IRONx1 missing. The other recipe error I've discovered is Gim's aspiration. it's Silverx3, not Silverx2 as written on his description page.
FYI, the Aegis recipe is mistranslated. There's an IRONx1 missing. The other recipe error I've discovered is Gim's aspiration. it's Silverx3, not Silverx2 as written on his description page.
Fun. >_<
Although I got Gim's aspiration on my own, since I had a large sliver code laying around not doing anything at the moment. I only bother meeting the exact requirements when space demands it or if I need larger numbers for other recipes.
Plus, I guessed at the final ingredient for him and most of the others I've completed.
I really like the Book of Prophecy idea. A lot. In practice, hunting for codes is tedious, and the MP use + near zero explanation of what the effects of things are is a frustrating combination. Why make a wonderful mechanic like this and then penalize people from experimenting?
Also, it feels weird to meet someone, book them, and then do something like remove "HOPE" from their fundamental make-up. I'm sure I'll get used to it. I hope the town guards don't mind that I loaded them up with "ILL" to make some room in my goddamned four-slot swap area.
Also, it feels weird to meet someone, book them, and then do something like remove "HOPE" from their fundamental make-up. I'm sure I'll get used to it. I hope the town guards don't mind that I loaded them up with "ILL" to make some room in my goddamned four-slot swap area.
This game does give new meaning to "farming monsters," doesn't it? I've never looked forward to encountering new enemies as eagerly.
It also helps that all of the guards share the same page and are basically non-aggressive monsters. That's what they get for not having names. :P
I could really do without all the sliding block puzzles, which I am terrible at. Especially when it's hard enough just getting the tablet in the first place.
The worst ones are the blades where all of the pieces look identical but in fact are subtly different.
Beat the main narrative last night (final boss sequence was stupidly easy thanks to my Mad Dagger Skillz... and some BBQ meat).
There's some post-ending stuff to do, which I expected since there's a sub-chapter missing from my "Characters" chapter. I hope I can get some more single-unit Codes, since all of my cool recipes seem to demand, like 1x IRON and there's no room for anything but the exact ingredients.
Overall, I felt that the plot sort of fell apart somewhere. It was really just sort of... there, like in the background but not really affecting me. There's like no character development; even when I fulfill someone's aspirations and/or remove the code that was holding them back I see very little change (Lena sat up in bed after I cured her, but that was about it). All of the work to get Nanai to fall in love with me amounted to roughly nothing; I was genuinely (emotionally) upset at the Major Twist in the middle, but the resolution was so flat it made me wonder why I bothered.
It's not a bad game, but it is deeply, deeply flawed. Pretty much exactly the way I felt about Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire on the Wii -- I want to see if the developers can learn from their mistakes and put out an amazing sequel.
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Which makes me wonder why the fuck the recipes don't just show you the fucking icons, but hey.
Well, that was ten minutes well-spent... >_<
Also: I want to hit on the psychic lady (of the four choices she's my favorite; Lena's too obvious and neither the elf nor princess are my style), but the game won't let me yet.
It looks very, very nice for a DS game, but that's it. The controls aren't responsive enough, and the interface leaves much to be desired. The primary draw of the game rapidly becomes cumbersome without getting any deeper than when you got your feet wet.
Battle is often wonky, and can't even compare with 2D Zelda in terms of being a smooth experience. On the other hand, it's so easy that if you bite the dust you can restart the room with no penalty other than your shame. Air-juggling monsters until they're knocked out of the Solar System and explode can be pretty fun, but doesn't make up for anything else.
Puzzle design is merely OK. Some of it is fairly enjoyable, some of it made me roll my eyes in annoyance. Metroid, Okami, Zelda, and even Valkyrie Profile 1/2 all outclass this.
Having to search for invisible exploration spots in nearly every room is absolutely retarded. It's so laborious and unrewarding it drags the whole game down. Worse, it feels blatantly crammed in just to sell guides or inflate "length". There is a free guide online, but doesn't the necessity for such a thing indicate a serious flaw?
That said, I've had fun, but I don't want to bother finishing it. I was pretty excited to get my hands on this, even cleared my queue for it, but I won't be converting my rental into a purchase.
PSN: theIceBurner, IceBurnerEU, IceBurner-JP | X-Link Kai: TheIceBurner
Dragon's Dogma: 192 Warrior Linty | 80 Strider Alicia | 32 Mage Terra
I'm in Chapter 8 now, having survived the Epic Cutscene between 5 and 6 and points after. I've encountered one recipe (Aegis shield) that annoyingly doesn't convert my item even when I've got the exact ingredients on the only shield base in the game, but since I don't really use shields it's not a huge issue; I just hope it doesn't happen again.
My collection of codes is progressing nicely, although I haven't answered any of my "New World" questions yet. When it becomes apparent that the game is winding down I'll probably cannibalize items/weapons I'm not using to feed them, but right now my priority is fufilling each as many character aspirations as possible. I actually have Duran's page worth about 9000+ (which is one reason why I'm not really sweating the hotspot thing), and also have about a dozen other people near or even over the 5000-point mark.
I would gladly kill an arbitrary number of hobos for a search function that would tell me, say, where all my Silver codes are in the book.
FYI, the Aegis recipe is mistranslated. There's an IRONx1 missing. The other recipe error I've discovered is Gim's aspiration. it's Silverx3, not Silverx2 as written on his description page.
Fun. >_<
Although I got Gim's aspiration on my own, since I had a large sliver code laying around not doing anything at the moment. I only bother meeting the exact requirements when space demands it or if I need larger numbers for other recipes.
Plus, I guessed at the final ingredient for him and most of the others I've completed.
On a separate note, fuck these ice floors.
Also, it feels weird to meet someone, book them, and then do something like remove "HOPE" from their fundamental make-up. I'm sure I'll get used to it. I hope the town guards don't mind that I loaded them up with "ILL" to make some room in my goddamned four-slot swap area.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
This game does give new meaning to "farming monsters," doesn't it? I've never looked forward to encountering new enemies as eagerly.
It also helps that all of the guards share the same page and are basically non-aggressive monsters. That's what they get for not having names. :P
And double-screw the 5x5 ones.
Beat the main narrative last night (final boss sequence was stupidly easy thanks to my Mad Dagger Skillz... and some BBQ meat).
There's some post-ending stuff to do, which I expected since there's a sub-chapter missing from my "Characters" chapter. I hope I can get some more single-unit Codes, since all of my cool recipes seem to demand, like 1x IRON and there's no room for anything but the exact ingredients.
Overall, I felt that the plot sort of fell apart somewhere. It was really just sort of... there, like in the background but not really affecting me. There's like no character development; even when I fulfill someone's aspirations and/or remove the code that was holding them back I see very little change (Lena sat up in bed after I cured her, but that was about it). All of the work to get Nanai to fall in love with me amounted to roughly nothing; I was genuinely (emotionally) upset at the Major Twist in the middle, but the resolution was so flat it made me wonder why I bothered.
It's not a bad game, but it is deeply, deeply flawed. Pretty much exactly the way I felt about Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire on the Wii -- I want to see if the developers can learn from their mistakes and put out an amazing sequel.