decided to sit my ass down and listen and pleased to say i’m having fun again
2 Likes
Sat down to play this one earlier in the month, but my PS1 broke!
(It’s not supposed to do that)
Doesn’t seem like an easy fix, so I got another one cheap but haven’t had the time to get it set up.
3 Likes
I’m out there in these frontiers still, a little past 1275 where they introduce Elanor.
I’m getting into the the chapter system a lot more. It’s nice biting off a few pieces of narrative/dungeon and calling it a day. Great fit for portable systems too. The scenery is still a real joy. When I emerged from a muted foggy woods to see color in the landscape again it brought out a smile.
More and more character threads are beginning to intertwine, although its done so rather casually. A few “oh shit, they’re here” moments, but much more often someone shows up, likely joins, and the chapter is over in some time. There’s not extra space for characterization so I’m not really getting pay off in seeing them hang out in different configurations. The game is painting at a larger time scale in broad strokes though, so I’ll wait and see what its putting together.
Character menu fiddling is getting to be a bit of a drag. Partially because I’m seeing so many new characters. Early on I kept forgetting to assign up-to-date arts to characters because I kept waiting for them to spark abilities I already collectively knew. Now its on my to do list of parameter inheritance, equipment check, durability, element check, and art assignment. Early on it felt like I was making choices with characters, but now I’m just leaning into their strengths and trying not to break them.
I like the WP/SP regeneration idea. You can run a big surplus on one bucket to always draw from, alternate between the two, etc. It’s a fun change up from managing MP restore items. Earlier on in the game I was deciding whether I should leave the current map and advance, I reflexively checked the character status menu to see if anyone was close to leveling first. But… there’s no such thing in this world! So I’m enjoying the mechanic shake ups that challenge some of my subconscious habits around the genre.
Hope you’re all Gus’ing it up too.
2 Likes