A look back at: Shin Megami Tensei II

I may occasionally suffer from RPG fatigue every now and then, but apparently that does not stop me from doing some more grinding of another game in a franchise. And so I've done it, beaten the second Shin Megami Tensei game which is actually the fourth installment overall. Did it almost everywhere, working two particular jobs but still finding private times to play this game silently, getting more involved in the many things it offers, including its nice story, bass-driven music, and characters.

Oh yeah, there's quality of life everywhere. Characters that are named, even if they are after the Hebrew alphabet for some reason! Branching paths! Recruiting demons! Okay, all this isn't new and quality of life but when you think about it, the stuff that's more of the same is okay in my eyes, even if I have to deal with things like being annoyed with back-to-back squads of enemies, how debilitating status effects can be (goes both ways still), or the extreme annoyance of having demons run away or attack you and you really want them in your party but you can't cause they're pricks who take your stuff or so. No, the real quality of life improvements include things such as a better functioning automap, the addition of front and back rows, demons inheriting skills from fusion, heck, even an indicator for random battles even if it is still somewhat primitive. Impressive for an SNES RPG for that matter, although it won't beat out many favorites of mine. Still, quality of life makes for an impressive sequel.

Impressive, yet I still give it the same grade as Shin Megami Tensei I and Digital Devil Story II. Hah! It does boil down to the obvious difficulty at this point of course, there are always the issues of getting hit with debilitating statuses, having your party members kill themselves with Charm or the usages of Hana and Mudo to ruin my days. And of course final bosses love this. The big game breaker in this game is one I never thought I'd use so darn often, and that's buffing spells! Screw the attacking spells, magic attacks actually sucks against all later bosses, but with buffing of defenses, shielding spells, attacking spells, and the occasional prayer spell which causes divine intervention damage, these things (minus the divine intervention one) turn my main character into a physical powerhouse. A common strategy in many other games, even for speedrunners, but it's one that works out so well! At least, when you're not losing your hero often. Which did happen a lot. The plot of this game did save my frustration from taking over at least, all of the paths DO have you killing the angels and even the true god YHVH. Yeah, they're all back, along with Satan and Lucifer. Choices you make change things around, the Law path has you initially siding with YHVH but Satan sides with you to defeat him. Chaos has you with Lucifer doing that same thing but also killing the denizens of Eden and making things worthwhile for humans and demons. And then of course, the neutral path, the one I took, got the most fun factor.

All things considered, I gotta take a small break from this Megami Tensei stuff. At least for now. I'll return to it some time.

A look back at: Shin Megami Tensei

My birthday tends to often be a day in which I want to deadline my completion of certain things. Okay, today isn't my birthday, but I wanted to finally get through with Shin Megami Tensei before then. And so I did, today, and amusingly enough while on the clock as well. This game honestly should not have taken over a month, but I get extremely busy with other things, plus my return to Freelancer has me playing that a whole lot. Budgeting time ends up being a big hurdle in what I do nowadays, huh.

Anyways, it's a good thing I played Digital Devil Story 2, because this game is actually just that except on the SNES. Annoyingly, the guide I followed for this game was awful, it had barely any recommendations for what demons to recruit, so I just picked the ones that had the best HP values. Making matters worse, well there's a ton of things, but fusing demons didn't get me anywhere truly substantial. And like the other games, you want to keep your human characters healthy as much as possible, meaning grinding to give them better stats and also just plain keeping them out of trouble, since your heroine has the important spells and your hero has the computer.

I felt a lot of annoyance with this game's encounter rate, so much more than Digital Devil Story 2. Almost every step was an encounter, and you get back-to-back encounters very, very frequently. I ended up overloaded on both makka and magnetite as a result, so those weren't really worrisome (though those last few shops have the best equipment in the hundreds of thousands of makka, my god). Figuring out which branching path, law, chaos, or neutral, was tough at first, but I eventually settled for neutral since it seems to cover the most baggage, plus it kills everyone! How fun. But of course, all that damn grinding, it takes a toll on me. And heck, the alignment screws up how I would even recruit some demons. There were ones I absolutely wanted, but the way my alignment leaned prevented me from doing so. And even then, the demons get super stingy and want all sorts of stuff. And others, of course, they'll just leave. Bastards.

And with it comes my traditional RPG fatigue. I really wanted to get it over with at that point, so I used the PAR codes to remove encounters from the last stretch. This helped me explore things without fuss, though there's still the tough bosses. And honestly, should mention that there are bosses that are either immune or have innate reflection of certain skills, so its makes you feel awful for hitting yourself with a mass shock spell effect. This game had a good stride early on, setting the examples for the hero, the law hero, the chaos hero, and the heroine, and to me, it just sort of falls flat once Tokyo gets nuked. Oh, you couldn't avoid that, but you get a cool dream sequence, then have to work your way back through. And things happen, and your alignment makes things go one way or the other. Sometimes you even get locked in at your alignment until you can progress further. This game really does tell you how hard it gets.

A look back at: Pokemon Emerald Seaglass

Yes, that's right. It's another one of those ROM hacks that doesn't change the setting from either Hoenn or Kanto. In this case Hoenn, but you get the idea. This hack despite not providing a new setting ended up with a niche following on Reddit, basically giving players a chance to experience Emerald as if it were done Gen-2 style. Not in a Gen-2 engine, the engine is still Gen-3, but with Gen-2 sprites. That is its main selling point by far.

But sprites aren't gonna impress me as much as gameplay. So we gotta focus on what was changed in that regard and see what really shone. This game's got a Shiny Charm out of the box? Okay! Though I didn't get shinies, the thought is nice. What about that Gamecube being used as a cheating device or to change up playthroughs? This offers a ton of replayability. Is that a DexNav? One that totally works superbly? Yes! Now we're talking. Catching mons is a pain in most games, but this always makes it easier. There's even following Pokemon and you can set whichever to follow you. Plus your notebook has level caps if you want more challenge. Of course, I would NOT be satisfied if battling your opponents resulted in some sameiness, and it delivered. Mons from Gen-1 to Gen-3 are always available, along with newer evolutions and the Applin and Tinkatink lines for good measure. Maps remain the same, with minor changes here and there regarding some of the newer content, you got a wishing well for example for getting random mons. And the Pokedex is extremely helpful for picking and choosing some of my team members due to showing all the abilities, moves, locations, and evolution methods. There's even Alolan and Galarian forms available.

And the best part is how you can play it any style you want. Nuzlocke, type expert, casual, anything will work. It's what Emerald probably should have been all along. They even keep things that were joyous to begin with, like contests and the Battle Frontier. I have once again made a walkthrough, but this isn't as detailed. Emerald Seaglass has TONS of documentation and I don't need to go over what has already been covered.

What is the best ship for Freelancer?

You know I'm really running out of ideas for new blog posts, especially when you have ten different things on your mind with regards to your own work schedule, your game schedule (cause I want to try every new Doom release ASAP these days and get secret descriptions done soonafter), having to budget time to playing the latest Pokemon ROM hack that I wanted to try as well as going through the Shin Megami Tensei saga of games (oh yeah, I'm on the title game this time, by the way). It got to the point where I ended up doing two things. One is to actually play these games during downtimes at work or when no one else is looking. And the other is to revisit Freelancer, a PC game that more or less is now abandonware at this point and I unfortunately have to do the abandonware download (but relax, I still have the CD-ROM of the game itself, it's just that my current machine doesn't have a disk drive anymore). So I did, and I'm currently rolling through the campaign as per usual and it got me thinking, what really is the best ship to use in the games?

Sure enough, you're gonna see the Eagle, Sabre, and Titan compete for the top spot, something that people on GameFAQs or other boards probably did some things on. But we will expand this to other ships and during the course of the actual game, so here we go.

You start off with the Starflier, of course this ship will NOT be the absolute best at anything other than turning speed and small frame, of which it's undeniably the best. But it gets blown up super quickly otherwise. Obviously, you want something better by the time Mission 1 is over. So here are your choices:

Rhino (Liberty Freighter)
Patriot (Liberty Light Fighter)
Startracker (Civilian Light Fighter)
Defender (Liberty Heavy Fighter)
Bloodhound (Pirate Heavy Fighter)

So you have five ships available, the first three on Manhattan (with the Rhino also on Pittsburgh), the Defender on the Missouri, and the Bloodhound on Rochester. The Dagger can be seen on Buffalo Base if you are friendly with Outcasts and Rogues, but you need to complete Mission 2 to have a chance to purchase it, so we're skipping it for now.

The first three ships on the planet, well, they won't be the winners here. The Rhino is the closest due to all the guns, but being a freighter, it's a huge target and its turning speed is of course gonna be what you would expect for a freighter. Nevertheless, it somehow is the best ship for the Liberty portion of the Freelancer speedrun, oddly enough. Still, you'll die quickly in that thing, so it loses in a normal playthrough. The Startracker and Patriot seem like logical steps up from the Starflier, the Patriot basically being a sleeker-framed ship with similar turning speed, while the Startracker is slightly more armored. But neither of them compensate well enough for the tougher missions ahead, so they're also out. That leaves the Defender and the Bloodhound, and you want to know the consensus?

Winner: Defender

Yes, the Defender is just better. The advantage both ships have over the planetside ships is a forward-firing turret, but the Defender is better to obtain without too much trouble and has more guns overall. The Bloodhound is a wide target from the sides, as you probably already gathered from fighting Rogues, so it's just really only better than the ships on Manhattan. With that said, we'll hold on to the Defender, and after Mission 2 finishes, you can access Liberty's other sectors and two more ships are now available:

Dagger (Borderworld Light Fighter)
Mule (Pirate Freighter)

I already said the Dagger was on Buffalo, a Rogue's base, but the Mule is also on a Rogues base, Alcatraz in California. If you like playing as a pseudo-tank that doesn't move well but has good turrets, the Mule is the next step up from the Rhino. But how would they hold against the current best ship?

Winner: Defender

Nope, the Defender still wins. It can get you through the Liberty portion without too much fuss, while the Mule is difficult to handle aside from having the guns. The Dagger is a light fighter meaning it doesn't have the best of weaponry compared to heavy fighters, although it too has a nice forward-firing turret, making the Dagger have five guns pointing forward; the Defender still outshines it. Plus being friendly with the Rogues is a problem.

So the Defender is capable of dealing with the Liberty portion of Freelancer's campaign rather well, up until after Mission 4 where you are now in Bretonia and the ship's class 4 gun/shield status gets outshined soon enough. The entire Sirius sector completely opens up once you land on Leeds, but the only ships you can buy are in Bretonia proper (and Liberty I guess, but you're hostile with them right now). So here's what you can buy:

Clydesdale (Bretonia Freighter)
Cavalier (Bretonia Light Fighter)
Crusader (Bretonia Heavy Fighter)
Piranha (Bounty Hunter Light Fighter)
Legionnaire (Corsair Light Fighter)

The Bretonia planets have the Cavalier, Clydesdale, and Piranha, with the Piranha also being available on Sheffield Station and the Cavalier on Battleship Hood. Speaking of battleships, the Bretonia battleships are where the Crusader can be nabbed, and the Legionnaire is on the Junker base Trafalgar. Once again, the planetside ships are not gonna be winners. The Clydesdale is just a step up for freighters, nothing too spectacular. The Piranha loses to the Cavalier as far as gun/shield class goes, as it only goes up to 4 while the Cavalier goes up to 5. Incidentally the Legionnaire also has a gun/shield class of 5 as does the Crusader. The Legionnaire of course fairs better than the Cavalier armor-wise, but it's got a strange frame (as does the Piranha) overall. Bulky for a light fighter though.

Winner: Crusader

But of course, the heavy fighter is generally the choice here. Although the Crusader doesn't have a forward-firing turret, it's certainly important for this portion of the campaign, so you got that going for you. However, after mission 5, it's important to note that ships OUTSIDE of Bretonia are now available.

Drone (Kusari Freighter)
Dromedary (Borderworld Freighter)
Drake (Kusari Light Fighter)

As I said, the entire Sirius sector is open once you reach Bretonia for the first time, therefore going back to Mactan (assuming you are friendly enough with Outcasts and Hackers) for the Dromedary and going up to the Kusari planets for the Drake and Drone (which is actually only available on Junyo and New Tokyo) is actually an option to pick. But can they beat the Crusader?

Winner: Crusader

Mission 6 segues into Mission 7 and it can be a bit difficult to balance things out. Mission 6 of course has the race mission, so something with better turning speed is ideal, but you can manage it in a Crusader. Heck, the advanced walkthrough says you can do it in a Dromedary for that matter, but that's a story for another time. The reason the Crusader wins overall is because of how important firepower can be for Mission 7, since the combat has you battling several non-fighter craft Rheinland sends out, including a fleet in Tau-29. Though it was closer than it should be, honestly you can totally have fun in the racing part of Mission 6 in a Drake, and win super easily due to its perfect turning speed, it's not too necessary. The race is actually not that difficult overall. But now we reach Kusari proper, and these ships will more or less outclass the Crusader by this point.

Hawk (Civilian Light Fighter)
Barracuda (Bounty Hunter Heavy Fighter)
Dragon (Kusari Heavy Fighter)
Wolfhound (Pirate Heavy Fighter)

The Dragon is on Kusari battleships, and the Hawk and Barracuda are on the Kusari Planets (though New Tokyo has a Drone instead of a Hawk, the Hawk could also be purchased on Kyoto and the Barracuda can also be purchased on Planet Curacao). It's really odd that the Wolfhound could not be acquired until you reach Kusari proper, as it is on two pirate bases in previous locations: Montezuma in Cortez and Arranmore in Dublin; of course, you need some rephacking to get that and if I'm being frank the Wolfhound is honestly not too worth it. Better than the Mule, and got the firepower and armor, but it's a HUGE target for a heavy fighter. The Hawk is also not worth it considering the Barracuda is on the same planets usually.

Winner: Barracuda

The Dragon is almost at the Barracuda's level apart from cargo space and turning speed. Both unfortunately don't have forward-firing turrets (the Wolfhound has them though). But I remembered Starman Omega's ships FAQ about subgroups and noticed that the Dragon really suffers from having its parts blow off and extra damage from missiles, and this was more than enough to convince me that the Dragon, although cool, is an awful ship in missile dogfights. The Barracuda it is, and it will be serviceable until you get to the Osiris. But will it beat the cheap Anubis for the remainder of the singleplayer campaign?

Winner: Anubis (Order Very Heavy Fighter)

The key to the last few missions is that you'll eventually be dealing with some static (or really large) targets, so having all the firepower needed is important. The Barracuda and Anubis have six guns, one turret, and a torpedo slot (plus mines), and while the Barracuda has better maneuverability, the Anubis has the forward-firing turret for extra firepower. Therefore, even though it's more of a target, the Anubis will serve you good enough to beat the single-player campaign's last legs.

And that leads to the post-game, where we will do things interestingly. The idea is that I will go up a gun/shield class from the Anubis, whose highest class is 6, and go from there. Class 7 ships:

Banshee (Rheinland Light Fighter)
Humpback (Rheinland Freighter)
Stiletto (Borderworld Heavy Fighter)

Winner: Stiletto

None of these ships are really worth it since two more ships are available in Rheinland (Stiletto on Bruchsal, Banshee and Humpback on Rheinland planets, plus Holstein), but we'll go with the Heavy Fighter here due to it being the most logical step up from the Anubis. It even has the forward-firing turret! The Humpback has the worst maneuverability of all the freighters and isn't even better than the Dromedary in terms of cargo space, while the Banshee is okay, but only has four guns and no torpedoes or turrets. Now for the Class 8 ships:

Valkyrie (Rheinland Heavy Fighter)
Falcon (Civilian Heavy Fighter)

Winner: Falcon

I would prefer getting the Falcon after the Anubis instead of the Stiletto or Valkyrie after the single-player campaign to bridge into the better ships later on. The Valkyrie is cooler, but not only do you not get a cloaking Valkyrie, it is slightly weaker and turns slower than the Falcon. It's also only available on Battleship Westfalen, the only Rheinland battleship to land on, while the Falcon is sold on a whopping FIVE planets (New Berlin, Stuttgart, Baden Baden, Hamburg, and Kurile). It's like they were gonna lay it out to you there. Unfortunately neither the Valkyrie or Falcon have forward-firing turrets. Now to the Class 9 ships:

Centurion (Corsair Heavy Fighter)
Hammerhead (Bounty Hunter Very Heavy Fighter)

Winner: This is honestly a toss up.

The biggest problem is, do you want to keep using that Falcon until you get one of the better VHFs now? Or do you want the extra bridge ship? Because both of these two ships are expensive, yet you can save some extra credits to get one of the better VHFs. Nevertheless, both are decent steps up. The Centurion has decent forward firepower and armor but not-so-good maneuverability overall, plus you gotta be friendly with the Corsairs since it's on their Cadiz base. The Hammerhead despite being classified as a VHF is weaker in armor than the Centurion, with similar firepower, better maneuverability, and better availability on a corporate base (Freistadt). It's honestly a toss-up because you could, but you can do better. Not to mention both ships once again don't have a forward-firing turret. Now for the three best VHFs, the moment you have been waiting for.

Eagle (Civilian Very Heavy Fighter)
Titan (Corsair Very Heavy Fighter)
Sabre (Borderworld Very Heavy Fighter)

Winner: Toss-up between Eagle and Sabre
My personal pick: Sabre

First of all, the Titan loses out due to lacking manueverability, a forward-firing turret, and its cost being slightly higher than the Sabre and Eagle and needing to land on Leon base or Planet Crete to get. Sure it's got the best armor overall, but firepower is what a Very Heavy Fighter wants. That leaves the Eagle, the better ship for maneuverability, and the Sabre, the better one for firepower. The Eagle loses in my opinion due to lacking the forward-firing turret that the Sabre actually has. But many people do swear by it, it's probably the most popular of the VHFs cause of the nice balance overall. Also helps that it is available at any easy-enough location, you just need the Zoners to not be hostile and get it at Freeport 9. For the Sabre, you got to have the Hessians (at Vogtland) or the Outcasts (at Malta) friendly enough for getting it, nothing a bribe on a neutral base won't fix though. Again, my preference is the Sabre. You probably like the Eagle or are rogue enough to say the Titan trumps all. But to recap.

Missions 1-4: Defender
Missions 5-7: Crusader
Missions 6-10: Barracuda
Missions 11-13: Anubis
Best Class 7 ship: Stiletto
Best Class 8 ship: Falcon
Best Class 9 ship: Centurion or Hammerhead (toss up)
Best Class 10 ship: Eagle or Sabre (toss up)