Barnacle_Ed

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About Barnacle_Ed

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  1. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    I honestly thought for a long while about making Angela a Magus for my current party, but decided the AoE status effects and sabers of Rune Master won out. I think it'd do best with a Lord or Paladin with dual shields to draw aggro off the casters. I'll have to remember the counter-deny armor the next time I play a caster-heavy playthrough on Bill And Ben...Kevin carried my current party hard in that fight without said armor
  2. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    I honestly think that Dervish, Arch Mage, Bishop party is going to out-preform my current Warrior Monk, Rune Master, Evil Shaman team overall. This group isn't bad by any means - it really excels on boss fights since they start with a decent percentage of their health knocked away by Evil Shaman's final weapon and Lunatic before you blast them with elemental spells up the wazoo - but even though the team has sabers it's pretty lacking in physical damage. Warrior Monks is also honestly a weaker healer than I expected it to be...this isn't a huge deal for this particular team however. On the other hand, Arch Mage is a plenty strong solo caster to support Dervish and Bishop smacking things to death while saber'd up.
  3. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    Congrats on the thesis defense and hopefully this party has treated you well this weekend! If I'm ranking Angela's classes for myself...I'd put Grand Divina on the bottom, if only because I feel like its identity is all over the place whereas her other 3 classes have more clear-cut roles. Magus is a boss killer and heavy nuker who doesn't need to rely on hitting weaknesses. Rune Master is a crowd clearer with LV3 elemental spells and elemental saber support for the party. Archmage is a debuffer and weakness-exploiting spell nuker. Divina is kind of a healer but also gets lv1 spells but also can do sabers eventually, but honestly I find it really rare that I personally want/need all of these things on a single character in a party. I'd rather make her a Rune Master then have a light Duran/Kevin if I want a nuker who can saber, or make her an Archmage then pair her with dark Duran or light Carlie for saber support in a magic team. It's cool that she has the option to fill many roles but I honestly would much rather have a better defined individual Angela who focuses hard on spell damage and leave the healing to someone else.
  4. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    Ah, I forgot that you're planning on a reflect armor strategy. I don't think the Rune Master makes a lot of sense in that case, for the reasons you've listed - she's fantastic as a standalone caster who fires damage spells directly on mobs after buffing the party with sabers but I agree her spells set doesn't really lend itself to a reflection strategy. Nightblade seems like it would be interesting for sure; Blow Needles can also get the Curse upgrade in addition to the silence it causes, making it seem like a very compelling option for this plan.
  5. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    No heal light sounds extremely bold...good luck! Paladin/Rune Master/Necromancer seems like a plenty safe fallback if the Grand Divina party falls apart, Rune Master is pretty great and her sabers will also benefit most of Carlie's summons. I also wonder if you could make Angela a Magus instead here - you'd only have Saint and Dark sabers, but you pick up Lunatic and Ancient and Deathspell. Not sure if they're comparable in terms of damage at end game (I still haven't made a Magus party I've been happy with yet) but Lunatic is always nice for boss fights.
  6. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    Aaaaaaaand I totally didn't see there was a 13th page to the thread now so I missed all the great replies from Nesouk and rpschamp. Good job, Ed. I'll agree that Dervish, Bishop, Archmage sounds like an outstanding party with lots going for it.
  7. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    Welcome to the game and the forum it honestly makes sense to me personally that they'd leave the game in the Collection unedited to "preserve it as it was released" but yeah Praetarius' excellent work here really improves the game a lot. Personally I consider Mind Down and Power Down necessities in any party; they really reduce the incoming damage on boss fights. Angela (for Arch Mage) or Carlie (Evil Shaman) would give the party all stat downs, moon and leaf sabers, anti magic, and solid magic damage support. I'd pick one of them and add in Lise as Vanadise if I was going to play a Dervish party without restrictions. You could, of course, add in Dark Hawk or Lise instead and avoid casting Dervish's stat down altogether, or give him the debuff reversing armor for Def Up and Speed Up...though I don't see that latter plan working out particularly well since Light Duran already has Def Up in either form. If you really want to avoid Angela and Carlie, I'd strongly suggest Paladin for the party since Def Up and Magic Shield will help a lot defensively and he has anti magic for those annoying physical-immune enemies. not having Tinkle Rain is pretty do-able in my experience tbh. I'd probably look at Ninja Master to round the party out from there - sure there's some overlap in stat downs, but you get MT elemental spells and he's a strong physical attacker who makes good use of sabers. With leaf, moon, dark, and saint sabers you have a lot of options for offensive buffs too! If you can live without Anti Magic and/or really want Tinkle Rain you could go for Vanadise instead of Paladin but I think the first class change will be really difficult with that team personally.
  8. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    It's pretty hard to go wrong with a party that has Archmage and Sage in it IMO - Lord kind of seems like the better choice to me since you already have anti magic and he is a pretty strong melee fighter, plus speed up and speed down. Dark Angela and Carlie is more fun to think about imo, but I've used both Lord and Archmage a lot alread. Necromancer and Paladin complement each other pretty well, but you only have Magic Shield and no Mind Up between the two of them...Magus might fit that party better than Rune Master since she can Mind Up herself and has Lunatic in her large arsenal of damage spells. Plus she also has dark force so she can use Magatama if you can't spare an accessory slot for Carlie. EDIT: I almost forgot to mention, good luck with the thesis! It took me a LOT of effort to finish mine (to say nothing of defending it) but it was well worth it in the end.
  9. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    Lv3 tech spam seems good to me, so I'll be sure to pick up the fill tech bar sword for him. Since the party is going to have Archmage as well for heavy damage dealing (Vanadise isn't exactly a wimp either) I feel like I'd rather go Swordsman here personally. Fast MT saber cast for him -> Mind Up from Vanadise with whitelight ring -> Archmage throwing out spell of choice to hit elemental weakness seems like it'll wipe screens with ease and there's honestly no doubt about the bossfighting potential of this party. Plus it can actually use Magatama thanks to the Dark Force of Archmage!
  10. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    So, I had my heart set on doing a Duelist + Bishop setup for my Dark Duran playthrough...but Duelist/Swordsmaster, Archmage, Vanadise seems pretty great and like something I'd rather try out honestly. Especially since I did a team with Bishop not too long ago and I just so happen to have a save with a Duran Angela Lise party already I'm kind of leaning towards Swordsmaster here just to try it out honestly. He can buff Archmage and Vanadise more quickly before throwing Energy Ball on himself then diving into the fray. I'm not gonna bother with his final weapon though...maybe I'll use the "increased critical damage" weapon. I've realized the only downside to the Evil Shaman, Warrior Monk, Rune Master party - no dark spells to proc Curse with. I had mistakenly thought that Demon Breath was able to. Clearly I should have read the manuals more carefully! Still though, this party is just murdering god beasts. Evil Shaman's final weapon might be my new favorite thing about this mod, the lovely elemental nukes at my disposal just tear everything to pieces after a quick Lunatic cast. Kevin even deals half decent damage by stacking sabers and power up too.
  11. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    IMO Bishop and Grand Divina serve two different purposes at the end of the day. Divina is a "healer who can also rapid-fire off damage spells and sabers" while Bishop is a "healer with defensive stat ups, sabers, and turns into a melee DPS machine with her final weapon" . I tend to prefer Bishop as a dedicated healer since Protect Up and Magic Shield are fantastic at keeping a party alive, and again she gets Holy Light at first class change which really helps speed leveling up early on. FWIW in my upcoming Duelist party I plan on using Bishop as the team's dedicated healer, and Hawk as a Ninja Master to cover debuffs and elemental damage. That's fair, I used Lise in basically every team I ran in the base game and got sick of her as well for a while the good news is it's much easier to build a functional party without her in this rom hack!
  12. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    Now, while I agree that Duelist is pretty self-sufficient, I still have to stick to my earlier point that it's tough to justify any Angela in a party with him over someone else. Unless, of course, you want a challenge. Grand Divina: Yeah she gets HL, TR, speed up, decent casting of all LV1 damage spells, and eventually all sabers...but honestly Bishop does nearly all of the same things better and earlier. Divina has the edge in damage spells, sure, but Bishop still has Saint Beam and you can always make up for this with your final party member. Rune Master: Again, Bishop does sabers better. I will agree that MT'ing silence or snowman is outstanding and that this class is pretty great - I'm getting some great mileage from her in my current team - but her complete lack of stat magic would probably make for a tough playthrough (or require a LOT of farming to compensate for) Magus: Magus + Duelist is definitely a ballsy all-out damage team. Whatever healer you pick for the group will certainly have their hands full I feel like this party would also struggle in the stat magic department, even with her Power Up. Arch Mage, as I said earlier, I could at least see an argument for. Aura Wave and Anti Magic means Duelist doesn't have to waste his time casting them anymore. Useful stat downs for boss fights. Strong damage spells that, as you said, all benefit really from the Duelist's sabers - especially with her final weapon. However, I must wonder if Swordmaster would be a better partner for the Arch Mage in general! I fully agree with both of these points. Lise is a strong and flexible character that, to me, is meant more as a "force multiplier" that makes a good party even better rather than necessarily hard-carrying the party by herself. She's the glue that can fill any cracks you might have in terms of stat magic or healing or Anti Magic in a team since she can spec into any of of these as needed. It's pretty tough for me to imagine a group she would seem out-of-place in. I've actually toyed with the idea of doing a Swordmaster, Arch Mage, Vanadise run eventually. Vanadise's final weapon means that her Freya summon can do elemental damage when she gets the saber buff. Arch Mage, as discussed above, makes great use of sabers for her damage spells. Though I'm not a fan of Swordmaster's final weapon, there's plenty of other options for him at end game (ignore physical immunity, HP steal, increased counter damage, and faster tech bar all come to mind). Though you have to go through Bucca Island without heals, you'll at least have Evil Gate. The only other drawbacks of this party are no way to reduce enemy HP and no Protect Down, meaning boss fights might drag on, but other than that it's super straightforward. Triple Death Hand party, easy
  13. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    Really not a fan of Grand Divina in this party. Honestly idk if having Angela in a Duelist party makes a lot of sense in the first place...maybe an argument could be made for Archmage as a debuffer but I'd honestly rather have someone that can Protect Down instead. I'd suggest replacing the Divina with Warrior Monk for Mind Up, Power Up, Speed Down, and a stronger Heal Light. Alternatively you could make Carlie a Bishop (Def Up, Magic Shield, and sabers are basically all the buffs you should need for Duelist honestly) and dark Hawk or Lise as a debuffer. This is better than the party above. Necromancer's summons have elemental properties - except for Great Demon - so the sabers from Rune Master should let Carlie put out some decent damage after she casts Black Curse. Still, no Mind Up to help the casters deal even more damage kind of sucks...you could always farm up a bunch of Sahagin's Scales for bosses since Rune Master wipes crowds with ease I guess. Or consider making Angela a Magus instead, since she can Mind Up herself and you'll still have Saint Saber. EDIT: Thinking about it a little more, Magus in this party seems really solid. She can Power Up Paladin's physical attacks, Lunatic bosses, and keep up her own MP with Poison Bubble while hurling out loads of strong damage spells. This does mean no sabers for Necromancer's summons...but really Carlie's primary use here is for Black Curse, Tinkle Rain, and applying the Curse debuff anyways! I do like double-healer parties tbh; it adds an extra safety blanket in the event that things go horribly wrong or if you're bad at this game (like me!) - I did a Lord, Arch Mage, Warrior Monk playthrough fairly recently and it was smooth sailing through basically the whole game. Sage + Arch Mage is a good combo with a lot going for it. I still have to try out Paladin in this rom hack but his final weapon looks great, especially when the ladies in this party also have strong MT spells. If I wasn't already set on my next party I'd consider trying this one.
  14. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    Nightblade is definitely the better boss fighter and double T3 spam with Aura Wave could be fun. I feel like this group is going to need the MT jutsus from Ninja Master more though since its spell support is otherwise pretty lacking. Plus, there's the potential option of giving Duelist the Fireblaze as Ninja Master hits elemental weaknesses with his final weapon to help this team pump out more damage. I've got time to think about it for sure.
  15. Character/Job Party Recommendations

    Gildervine dead in my Evil Shaman, Warrior Monk, Runemaster game. Smooth sailing so far...Bill And Ben were somewhat challenging (mostly because I'm a dummy and forgot casting on them was a bad idea) but everything else has been smooth sailing. Thought about it a while longer and I think I'd rather go dark Duran instead of light Hawk for next run. Been doing a lot of caster parties recently. So with that in mind I'm now planning Duelist, Bishop, and Ninja Master. Duran is mostly going to use anti magic and aura wave (maybe leaf saver on Carlie at times) so the overlap on sabers isn't a big deal. Bishop turns into another strong attacker at end game, plus she has magic shield and def up in addition to magic support if needed. Dark Hawk does the usual dark Hawk thing of jutsus - Ninja Master means better AoE, which this party needs, and easier counter enabling for Fireblaze on bosses. The group lacks power up but it does have sabers instead. It also lacks Lunatic so bosses may take a little longer than my current team. The play style seems super straightforwards though.