Glen-i

Fair warning, this one has actual new information. It's nothing huge though, but it is cool.

I play Pokémon competitively, strategies in RPG's is what I love about a good battle system. And boy, I had to think up a doozy for Therion's Chapter 3 boss. Definitely tougher than the other third chapter ones I've thought. My Ophelia is level 55 now, while the others range from 42-45.

There sure is! If you get the Merchant secondary job, you can put the passive skill endless items on him and he gets a lot better. Concoction items are still affected by Endless Items. The game helpfully keeps track of the effects of each combination you make. And it's impossible to make a "failed recipe" Using concoct gives Alfyn access to all 6 spell elements without any secondary jobs. They don't do much damage but for getting rid of Shield points, it's very handy. All of the offensive concoctions can also add status effects, which is nice. The healing combinations can really give Ophelia a run for her money. The actual abilities aren't bad either. Rehabilitate is your only non item method of getting rid of status effects. Amputation hits surprisingly hard and Last Stand is one of those "Less HP = More Power" attacks that can decimate bosses with a bit of luck. Vivify is a cheaper alternative to Revive for when you only need to bring back one character. That also restores more HP than Revive. Apothecary also has the highest HP stat of the 8 jobs. Apothecary's downsides are the relative cost of buying ingredients and the crappy coverage (Axe and Ice is all you get if you don't use Concoct) I normally agree with you that the item mixer is no fun in RPG's, but Octopath makes it pretty easy to use with lots of benefits. When you're rolling in money, it might be worth experimenting with him. For the early game, he is pretty limited though.

Oh no, I totally get it. I don't mind grinding one bit, (I have over 100 Lv100 competitively trained Pokemon on Ultra Sun to prove it) especially in this game. Something about the combination of the great battle system and the awesome lighting and sound effects make it so satisfying to play. Breaking enemies with a multi hitting attack never gets old. It's just that I've found that running everywhere and fighting everything is enough grinding for me so far.

I don't think I could ever get used to your crazy grinding! For reference sake, I've done 3 Chapter 3 stories now and 7 of my characters have only just reached Level 40.

I reached King just now. I started awfully but clawed it back in the end games. I got a Net Positive with my wins, which makes a change. 20 wins to 15 losses. So I actually helped for once! If Octolings are forced back underground, you know who to blame.

I like the roller because I suck at aiming with guns, so I tend to focus on inking turf. The Carbon Roller is great for that. It's super fast. Shame about the lack of power... Team up with a person who has a longer ranged weapon and it's a great combination!

Man, I have been proper neglecting this thread. While there is no way I'm going back through every game I've played this year, I do want to talk about one I beat a few months back... It's Another Metroid 2 Remake! (Not that one) Metroid: Samus Returns is an official remake of the Game Boy title "Metroid II: Return of Samus" It's a 2D action adventure game that was released on the 3DS last year. It's made by MercurySteam, who don't normally make Metroid games. The game follows bounty hunter Samus Aran, who recently blew up a planet, which narrows it down to most of her adventures. That planet was Zebes, which thankfully, narrows it down to 2 of her adventures. Zebes sucks that much. The Galactic Federation decides that Metroids, a creature that was found on Zebes, are pretty damn dangerous (Which is true). They find proof of Metroids on the planet SR388, so decide to send Samus to exterminate them all. I really hope they don't care about collateral damage... Can Samus kill all the Metroids? Will she inexplicably find suit upgrades that she technically already has? And will SR388 escape from the serial Planet Exploder? The game's basic structure is like most 2D Metroid games. Exploration plays a huge part and it's up to you to guide Samus around SR388 in search of Metroids to blow up, upgrades to pilfer and maybe have an exciting escape sequence at the end. Much like the original Game Boy adventure, SR388 is split up into different areas, each with a number of Metroids to find, killing all the Metroids in an area allows you to move on to the next section of the game. Unlike the original game, Samus has a few new tricks up her sleeve. Samus is able to shoot in any direction by utilising the R button. You can then use the Circle Pad to direct Samus' Arm Cannon in any direction you want, allowing for very precise aiming. I really like this feature. It's a small addition that feels just right in a game like this. There's also some abilities referred to as Aeion Abilities, which utilise an energy gauge. These abilities tend to be very useful, but are quite limited in usage, they're best saved for when they're needed. Well, except Scan Pulse which reveals a portion of the map around you. Very useful for when you get a bit lost. The last new trick is the Melee attack. This allows Samus to whack nearby enemies with her arm cannon. Successfully countering an enemy attack with this stuns the enemy, refills some of the Aeion Guage, let's you immediately aim at them with R and fire more powerful shots for a short time. I do have some misgivings with the Melee attack, I mean it's perfectly fine in theory, but about 80% of the enemies are meant to be handled like this. It does become a bit repetitive, waiting for the enemy to attack, then countering and shooting it in the face. Thankfully, this is a minor gripe and the rest of the gameplay is proper solid. Hidden items are fun to find and the planet is lots of fun to explore, not to mention the bosses in this game are pretty good. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that this game is easily the most difficult official Metroid game I've ever played. (Pretty impressive fan game AM2R is harder, but unfortunately, it's not in a good way) It's really easy to die in this game, enemies do tons of damage! I like a challenge now and again, but a big part of my Metroid experience is when you get all of Samus's sweet suit swag and become an unstoppable killing machine, it's a great feeling. But it never happens in this game. Even at the end, I was still trying to avoid fights. I had the bloody Screw Attack, why am I still worried about random enemies!? The visuals are... nice... Not the prettiest looking game, but it's got some good points. The 3D effect is amazing though! The music on the other hand is... less than average, nothing stood out that much, and it really bothered me that fanfares were just straight up nicked from the Metroid Prime games. Normally, I'd wrap up around here, but there's one thing about a difference this game has compared to the Game Boy version and the Metroid Nerd in me needs to talk about it. So that's Metroid: Samus Returns, which is a very solid game, minor grievances aside. I certainly enjoyed it, but I wouldn't say it was my favourite Metroid. It's better than the Game Boy original though, so kudos to MercurySteam.

Ahem! But sure, you go ahead and kiss up to @Rummy

Weird, I've not been having any problems at all earlier. You tried turning your Switch on and off again? I went online a moment ago, but then I saw that Moray Towers is part of the solo rotation. And I'm like... Man, that stage just ruins all my motivation... It's bad enough that I do absolutely dreadful when I'm by myself in Splatfest, but I don't much care for a stage that I have to spend 10 seconds even getting anywhere everytime I die.

Wow, the switch is doing so well, it's outselling itself!

It's cool. The World Map isn't the easiest to read. But once I realised that the roads is how it shows you what connects to what, it got a lot easier. Don't forget about the signposts you come across, they help to get your bearings.

You sure you're going the right way? Don't go into the Whistlewood, that's an optional dungeon. From North Atlasdam Flats, you need to head to Northern Flamesgrace Wilds. Have a look around.

You can't play with friends in random matches during Splatfest. If you can get three others on the same team though, you can form a group and play in the group category. If that's the case, you can join via the Friends option. EDIT: BUGGER! I accidentally put Nintendo Fan in both groups. Fixed it now.

No chance of you playing tonight?

Oh, right! The HP only shows up temporarily, unfortunately. It appears on the top of the screen under the turn order. You definitely use analyse more for the weakness reveals. Here's another tip, have you ever noticed that sometimes, an enemy's name is displayed in a Yellow or a Red font? That indicates how close it is to death. Yellow means less than half health, while red means less than a quarter. You can use this to determine when to deal a finishing blow. For items, you just press A on the item you want to use, then you press A again on the person you want to use it on.

Analyse appears under the "Scholar Skills" section. You can use items by going to the "Inventory" section. EDIT: Oh, and using grapes is perfectly normal when you don't have a healer on your team. Luckily, when you're done with Cyrus' first chapter, Ophilia is right nearby and her healing skills are tops!

It's weird, isn't it? How could you forget when tagging @Rummy is so much fun!

I've updated my previous post. It's looking like both teams might be able to get a group together tonight. Team Octo has @Sméagol, (If he decides to be in) @Nintendo Fan and @Vileplume2000 available tonight. (I'm assuming Vileplume2000 is available because he didn't mention a time) One more and you've got a group. Meanwhile, Team Squid has @Ike @Kounan and me. So I'm gonna mention the others who hasn't responded one more time. Team Octo needs @RedShell, @londragon or @Jimbob Team Squid needs @Kav or @david.dakota

First page, dude. Thanks for thinking of me though.

It shouldn't be surprising, considering it's in the Japanese version. But it's always nice to get confirmation. Plus, more Sword & Shields for me to play with is always nice. EDIT: Oh, the Collab weapon is just the Bow, never mind.

I swear I'm not biased, but this news makes me very happy!

Oh, BTW! One more thing. The week after the next. We've got a theme that requires a bit of preparation. So I need your co-operation. If you're going to take part in the 2nd August theme, I need you to send me a Private Message with a Character/Vehicle Setup. That's it, easy, huh? You see, each one of your suggestions will then get randomly distributed to someone taking part for that night. It could even be you who has to use it! Do you go for a setup that's good for you, or do you go for one that's absolutely horrid with the risk of being lumbered with it? That's up to you. So get your PM's to me as soon as you can.

Note: This doesn't include the Random Task points. After only 3 weeks, @BowserBasher is our first Player who made no bloody difference! That's remarkable, almost as remarkable as everyone getting a top 3 GP placing already. The difference between 1st and last place is not even that big. @Dcubed and @Nintendo Fan rejoin the league with pretty good performances. All 9 people who did the "How do I shot Item?" random task completed it. It must have looked strange to any onlookers who didn't know better. Next League Night: 26th July 8pm Room 1: @BowserBasher is host @Glen-i @BowserBasher @viceview51 @martinist @RedShell It's our first Player's Choice night of this week. So how could I possibly think of a Random Task this week if I don't know the courses? Don't worry, I've got something. Sign up Now!