I didn’t play VIII, though I started a version of it on mobile device. It wasn’t as good as the PS2 version from what I had seen.
I have Hendrik in my party now and am I guess going to put my crew back together. We just found skinny Rab at the top of a mountain at Angri-La.
I have never been a big fan of JRPG games that break up the team for long stretches. I’m hoping to have the majority of my team back together again soon enough.
The main thing I don’t like about having the team together is I’m less motivated to level up. I want all the team members to get the XP and if they aren’t with me, I assume they are not.
I now have Rab, Sylvando, Hendrik, and a totally amnesia-stricken Erick and I have gone and leveled myself(and anyone with me) up to level 40(from level 38) and the whole time, I’m just hoping that Jade and the others(I mainly use Jade) will also come at a bit higher level than I left them?
I do love my JRPG games, but have always disliked losing and re-gathering my team.
I had my first party wipe out(“game over”). I was re-recruiting Jade and without me being aware of it, I had to fight her with the HP and MP I had at the time…and then immediately fight Booga with the HP and MP I had left after her fight.
I handled Jade fine, but was left drained for Booga. This is one of those situations where just knowing that I was up against two back-to-back boss fights would have helped.
I went out and crafted anti-beguiling accessories for my team. Booga and Jade beguiled us like crazy and Booga drains your MP, which was already scarce becuase I went all-in on Jade. Had no idea another fight was coming.
Oh, I loaded up my save(lost half my on-hand cash) and went back in.
I did NOT have to re-fight Jade. It just skipped to Booga and we wiped him out way easier.
Does it always skip the completed bosses if it backs-to-backs them?
@Mahaloth, I wish I knew the answer to your question. It’s been a few years since my last playthrough, so I don’t know if the game always treats you so fairly.
Unrelated question: how are you doing on the mini medals count? My first playthrough, I hardly got any, but my second “cheat” playthrough I made sure to get them all. Just curious.
And thanks again for your thoughts on the game.
I’d say I have about 30. I get 'em when I see 'em, but don’t go nuts scouring and I have used no guide for that type of thing. I’m probably due to turn in at the Academy for another prize fairly soon.
I filled the first side of the mini-medal prize chart, but barely started side 2.
Beyond fairly, I legit was stunned. I was all geared up and mentally prepared to fight both. I destroyed Booga so easily because I was so over-ready for him.
I got Jade, but see…she came back at level 39 while my main hero is 42 and the rest of the rejoined crew is 41 or 42. I know that isn’t a huge difference, but we are continuing to move forward and I still don’t have every teammate back on the team.
We are regaining Erik’s memories(I assume, the quest seems like that is the topic). I presume after that it is time to pick up the sisters.
And finally we would have a full team.
I just defeated Jasper in the Fortress of Fear and am going into the final battles of the main story. I am aware it continues after the credits, but this is the end of Act 2 and I am heading on in when I get a chance to fight Mordegon, etc.
Jasper was a piece of cake, we barely lifted a finger to wipe him out.
I’m level 59 and my team is in the same level area as I am.
Went back in and defeated Mordegon and his tail, etc.
Have just loaded up the “post game” or “Act 3” and am going to continue on for now.
Awesome.
I know I said this before, but in my opinion the game was pretty easy up until this point (much easier than Dragon Quest VIII). Only now do I think the game actually gets hard.
Yes, I am planning to stop and grind out levels as soon as the game re-opens back up and I can find a spot to do so. I’m hoping some overworld enemies strengthen and give more XP so I can level up some. I’m at level 59, so 40 more levels to 99.
I went back in time and thankfully, my team rejoined almost immediately this time. I hope they stay with me the entire game at this point.
They are, however, at the level they were at back when the tree was destroyed at the end of Act 2. I went ahead and googled to see that they do indeed get their levels back in a bit. I defeated Jasper and Mordegon very easily this time since my Luminary was level 59 and he single-handedly used Sword Dance to wipe out both of them.
Yes, I have Veronica back on the team. I wonder what level she will be at when everyone gets their levels back? I’m hoping for level 60 or so.
I’m in the post-game, have my entire team, and we are all at our proper levels. I was able to use Electrolite(sp?) to level up the team quite a bit. I am now at level 73 or so and I’ve decided to just grind out quite a few levels to see how high I can get at this point. I went fro 59-73 in about 2 or so hours, maybe 3.
I don’t mind the grinding a bit. Not sure if I want to keep going up to level 99 right now. I do, however, see that the amount of XP required stays the same at this point instead of continually increasing.
I just realized something helpful and leveled up to 90-something for just about everyone. I had an item called pip pop. It pepped up everyone active. I had 9 of them, no idea how I even earned them. My inventory is so large at this point, it’s a big chaotic.
Anyway, I used one pip pop to pep us. Used Halelujah to double the experience. Then used another to pep again and used Electro Light. I killed the Metal King Slime and his two cohorts and earned 900,000 XP in one battle.
Did almost this(slightly less) two more times and now we are all around level 90-93 or so.
Neat. I actually have a couple more pip pops, so I might do it again to get up to level 99 or so. Or not, I don’t really care. Battle EXP is coming as well.
This may be crazy, but I have nearly run out of useful skills to level up Luminary. I only did Greatswords as my weapon, so “Swords” is mostly empty. I did all of Swordmastery, Greatswords, and nearly all of his special Luminary section.
I suppose no more skill board expansions are coming for him, so I’m just going to master swords as well.
My whole team is around level 95-99 now. I am actually using more of a guide in the post-game, which isn’t really a post-game. It is clearly more of an “Act 3” type thing.
Anyway, I am using a guide not for what to do in each situation, but more to help me figure out where to go and what order to do things in. It’s kind of “choose your own adventure” at this point.
I’m ready, in theory, to fight the final boss. I just want to do all the other questing for now.
My playtime at this point is 62 hours, by the way. Less than I would have guessed, but that’s where I am at.
Also, I found enemies that I can steal mini-medals from. I only found 52 or so because of my “no guides” rule. I can now steal a bunch and try to fill out my mini-medal chart.
I just got 110 mini-medals. I don’t need most of the rewards it offered at this point, but I was determined to get it.