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Hopefully by the time I clear everything, someone on Gamefaqs will have made a guide for the English version for when I play it the second time. ^_^.
Just got to Chapter Four. The story's really picking up now. Too bad a certain *somebody* had to leave my party. Now that I know who's leaving (I guess I cheated...), swift party rearrangements were made. This new party is actually more effective than the last one, actually.
I just hit chapter 3, Zeromus. Going into the ruins to get the stone dais.
KOYASU FTW.
In Chapter Five...guys, if you get stuck, just remember it's all worth it for Chapter Five. The difficulty tones down then, and the story really starts to pick up. There are some really tough bosses though.
Super-spoilers, read at your own risk!
(SPOILER)
Ull and Aesir Defender was very tough. That probably took over half and hour.
Hrist and Arngrim was also very tough. I must've tried at least ten times to beat them.
That wierd...tree...thing... in the Forest of Spirits was pretty easy. Just kill all the jewels as fast as you can, then wail on his transparent behind.
The run to Bifrost was irritating. But Bifrost was so pretty! tri-Ace wins just for making such an awesome dungeon. The group of Aesir and the Kraken model-swap 'Dimension Beast' were easy. Rufus' Spinning Thorn ftw! I got over a 100 hit combo! Heimnell was moderately easy. His attacks hurt, but he's really shor-ranged, and with a wide battlefield,that means *dash dash away* *run into corner* *lure him in* *dash away* *heal* *go behind him* *combo* *repeat*
(SPOILER)I'm still trying to defeat Odin on top of Yggdrasil.
Also...
watch out for using story party members! That is, not the normal Einherjar. If you don't mind some spoilers, read on for a list of the party members that leave.
(SPOILER)
Leone and Arngrim leave at the end of Chapter Three.
Dylan and Lezard (;_; ) leave at the end of Chapter Four.
I hear if you power level them to insane abounts that you get really overpowered equipment or something, but it just doesn't seem worth it to me.
So now my party is Alicia, level 39, Fraudir, level 38, Rufus, level 37, and Aegis, level 38.
(SPOILER)Nice disguise, Leone. The purple seems so inviting and not a valkyrie.
*is poor*
You poor thing, don't you get some sort of discount for working at a game store? The creator Tria demands that you obtain this game somehow!
I'm now on the final boss. The first form anyway. MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.
(SPOILER)The final boss is Lezard himself. He travelled back in time, and screwed with the sequence of events, causing a distortion. He's stolen the Gugnir, and Odin's soul, and become as powerful as a god. Hell, he's so freaking powerful he's created his own world! Lenneth comes back from the future to try and stop him. I must tell you, having Brahms, Hrist, Lenneth, and later Silmeria (after an encounter with Homunculi) all in your party is one sweet feeling. But the valkyries leave the party after you fight Lezard the first time. The final dungeon is amazingly beautiful, especially the final area. It's also a great place for exp, with the 'Experience Pig Law', I can make around half a million Exp a battle.
Anyway, Lezard plans on fusing himself with Lenneth so he can 'become a creator with her' (yes, we all know Lezard is cuckoo, but that's why we all love him so much. :love: ), and you have to fight him with the crystal with Lenneth inside it in the center of the room. Lezard surrounds himself with the pages from his book (which may or may not be the Philosopher's Stone, considering it's almost endless supply of pages...), and you have to attack him until he's stunned. Then you have to attack the crystal with Lenneth in it to free her. But I can't even perform an adequate combo before he revitalizes himself and the shield goes over the crystal again!
Apparently, Alicia is willing to have her serve as a vessel to create this nifty 'ultimate valkyrie' that is all the valkyries combined to make this whole new being! Unfortunately..I can't get past this one battle to see what happens next! >_>;
So I've just been leveling up and getting all the skills I was probably supposed to learn over the course of the game (maybe explaining why it was so damn difficult...), and they help alot.
(SPOILER)I also attempted the Seraphic Gate. I can't beat Dirna Hamilton (announcer chick from SO3). It isn't like her attacks are particularly damaging, it's just that she has a huge amount of HP. The battle will take too long. But I do want to explore the Seraphic Gate after I beat the game!
I also want to go back to Surt's Lava Caves and get that 'HP Recovery +200%' sealstone. I should have enough Magic Crystals from my level grinding to get it now.
I beat the main story today. I forgot about Might Reinforce...<_>;
I am now inside the Seraphic Gate. It's treasure time!
The game really perked up difficulty in Chapter 2. Whew, I'm in the Woods of Chapter 3 and that Griffon keeps beating the crap out of my team. (SPOILER)Alicia, Rufus, Richelle are all Lv. 9, (SPOILER)Leone is Lv. 10. But, this game is so freaking awesome. I don't care about difficulty. That's makes it all the better.
PLEASE, for the love of Odin, don't forget to learn skills! I went through the game until near the end ((SPOILER)Freya) without learning next to any skills, and it was a pain. At least learn First Aid and Survival (Guts) ASAP.
Edit: Also, everyone should watch this amazing combo video. I should totally try that out sometime.
Is Guts still as horribly cheap and necessary as it was in the original?
I just beat the Griffon, myself. I had to levelgrind up to ~10 to finish it.
It isn't as cheap, but instead of Guts/Auto-Item, there's this other cheesy invincibility skill combination.
(SPOILER)Always use the Lifeforce Blessing Sealstone. This doubles all HP recovery for your party. You can restore it at the Surts Lava Caves for 2,000 Magic Crystals (it's worth it to restore anyway, as it's extremely useful). Then, give everyone the skills First Aid and Survival. Also, equip them with Drainwings (adds the 'Drain' effect to the equipped character's attacks), Metabolizers and/or Ring of Healings (you recover half the amount of damage you take from a single attack as HP, which is doubled by the Sealstone, so...and yes, these do stack!), and maybe Regenerate Health (Regen-like status). You can probably see how effective this combo is just by looking at it. But yes, it makes you as invincible as you can get.
But still, I wouldn't say the skill itself is necessary, as if you fight strategically/are leveled up enough to have enough HP to survive the boss' attacks, you should do fine. But I won't lie, it gets rid of alot of stress.
But in other news, holy god.
In the middle of chapter 3 myself, and I hope I'm doing alright...all my characters are between levels 11-15, and my party is pretty much the first four main characters...however reading this thread is making me feel like I'm doing about a million things wrong...o wells....still one of the prettiest games I've ever seen. It makes me wish I had the means to play the first one. :cry:
Your levels aren't as important as your equipment and learning skills consistently. And definitely using the Sealstones to your advantages. I cannot overemphasize the importance of the Lifeforce Blessing Sealstone, spend time getting that (Rufus' Killer Thorn and the Lightning Bolt attack spell are great for grinding out crystals). I was around level 21 for everyone by the end of Chapter Three, but it is the longest chapter in the game (finished it in around 20 hours).
(SPOILER)I kinda got burned out awhile ago, but I did make it pretty far in the Seraphic Gate.
I beat Gabriel Celeste (yay, 27 minute battle....sluggin it out), 'Woden' (Odin), 'Obsessed Ex' ('Rejected Stalker' Lezard), and a few of the infamous 'dog characters'. Dog Rufus is a punk and casts Heal. It's kinda unfair that they give Hrist and Brahms superpowerful weapons (unless you were dumb and powerleveled to get retarded equipment that makes the game not a challenge, which is a shame), and you have to hunt down really rare powerful enemies that drop really rare equipment for the other main characters and Einherjar. And since mages lose thier usefulness (a shame compared to VP1), Gabriel and Ethereal Queen's staves don't help much (even though they are powerful).
Anyway, maybe someday I'll fight Freya (800,000 HP!!, but apparently once you recruit her she's more than powerful enough to take on Ethereal Queen/Serious Dirna Hamilton alone with the right setups), but now I think I'll sink into SO3 (now that I have it back) a few more times before Final Fantasy XII comes out.
Well, it's been fun. Good job tri-Ace, as usual. Oh, and when you guys beat the game, wait for the credits to finish. Then immediately start a new game without doing a hard reset (you'll see a crystal in the lower left corner of the title screen) to start a harder difficulty file (where the stats of enemies are increased slightly, even more for Leaders, but you can do it up to 50 times!!). If you hold down L1 while entering a battle in this new game, you can listen to the battle theme from the first Valkyrie Profile (but it's just the same sound clip, so it doesn't sound so great). Hold down L2 to hear random music from the game, and some tunes from Star Ocean 3 and even Incarnation of Devil from Star Ocean: Blue Sphere. The Seraphic Gate is also available from the start of this new game, though it seems you can only access the 'Sound Test' at first.