High Tension Wire (Day 168)

We are closing in on the finale of Seiken Densetsu 3 after having just acquired our final class promotions. Although each character's ultimate class requires you to find specific items with random drop rates, we didn't have to spend too much time farming to get the ones we needed. The class promotion becomes available at level 38 and none of our characters were above 40 by the time we had everyone promoted. We're currently navigating the labyrinthine passageways of Dragon's Hole. After we fought a boss and subsequently got lost, we decided to call it a night, but we may well finish it tonight.

Even though I've acknowledged already that SD3 is flawed, I do like it a lot and have already had some thoughts about what character composition I'd try if I were to play it again. We've logged about 16 hours in the game and we're almost done so I'd guess the game's not too much longer than 20 hours. It wouldn't be entirely unreasonable to play it over again--perhaps over a short break. One notable flaw of our current team composition is the lack of consistent area healing or damage. We have Techs that hit everything on screen but you have to land quite a few attacks to charge up your meter first. We don't have anything on demand. As for area healing, we only have access to Poto Oils which we can only carry 9 of at any given time. They're good, but something tells me Carlie's healing would be a lot better.

We've decided that if we did play it again we'd definitely have Lise and Carlie in the party. Lise would play the role of a melee support who provided buffs whereas Carlie would obviously be the healer--although we'd make her a Necromancer for her strong Black Curse spell, an invaluable debuff against bosses. If we were to fill out the remaining slot with the other character we haven't used, we'd have to go with Angela. However, that would mean we wouldn't have a melee hard-hitter in the team. It might make more sense to go with Duran instead, but with a different class this time. There'd be no need to go Lord because Carlie already has area healing, so Swordsmaster is a pretty attractive option, since he has access to most of the elemental saber spells.

It's cool to think about, but there's a good chance we're not going to start replaying it right away. After playing SoM and SD3 back to back I know that I'm a bit burned out on the format. I'd like to play something in a slightly different genre or maybe another action RPG that doesn't involve pausing combat in any way. I took a look at Hammerwatch earlier today and man does it look fun. The graphics are primitive, of course, but I think they're well presented and charming. It looks like a blast. If I ever find myself with a few extra dollars I think I'll probably pick it up--and try to convince my friend to do so as well.

I did some investigation into the viability of online multiplayer with PS1 emulation, and it didn't look great. It's possible, but apparently it can be quite buggy and unreliable. Desync is evidently a huge problem. I was looking forward to playing something like Tales of Destiny or Legend of Mana co-op, but it looks like it might not necessarily be feasible unless I was in the same room with someone--and I'm not super partial to leaving the house these days.