Question on characters

[burning_card]

--Edit

I'm offline right now but i'll be going online soon. I'm wanting to practice with the extra mode so i can get a feel for the online game before i go (i don't want to go in blind to what i need to do, don't have alot of time to play so i don't want to screw around too much)



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: burning_card on 2007-03-30 17:07 ]</font>

[Weeaboolits]

It's a new disk.

[A2K]

In their words, it's a sequel and not merely an expansion. Which indicates to me it won't require the original disc.

My best (unconfirmed and speculative) guess is that it will contain a new Story Mode, but all the assets from the first title will be present on the disc so when you go online you won't have to do any odd disc swapping or installing or nonsense like that in order to play PSU missions.

No clue if Extra Mode will make a return. If it did, though, I wouldn't necessarily expect to be able to carry any offline PSU data over to offline Ambition of Illuminus. It's certainly a distinct possibility but not at all solid and definite to expect to be featured.

[burning_card]

Well i think it would be good to do. They say it's got all this offline content and such yet it's a weak package. An expansion or a sequel or what have you would be great if you could have new offline extra mode content too. (New missions and weapons, clothing, etc. Little stuff)

Thye did it with PSO ver 2 lol, why not this? I'll have my hopes.

When will it be out? I heard end of the year.

[A2K]

Definitely by then for Japan, with the US release probably 2 months or so after.

[burning_card]

cool.

Another question (i'm keeping them in the same post. )

I'm trying to figure out what character to use. It's between the four classes, i'm mainly wanting a character that can do it all, but with a main strength. I'm reluctant to use humans since they are just good at things but never great in one area.

How would you guys rate the newmans for ranged or melee, or casts with melee and magic, or then beasts with ranged and spells? Who would be the best choice to use for a single character to level? (Since i have to make a new one online i just want to mess around with an xtra mode.)

[Kimil]

Here;s my take on beasts:

They can be almost any class at all

With Gunner Classes, they do damage , period. Infact, their lol ATA is helpped by the class ATA, ennough to miss less. You'll just have to wait longer to use guns is all.

Beasts make the best WT-support style. As long as you stick to non-TP affected spells like Buffs and de-buffs ( and resta, though it is effected by TP ) ...


All that Beast can't do as well as othe races is be a nuking Force. Taht's about it really. Maybe they are a bit lack-luster at applying S.E.s too

Something on the side... I find that they don't make the best Fortefighters, CASTs do... The lol-beast ATA is hurt by a low Class ATA and the misses pile up. While CASTs get the highest Defence as that class, and their high ATA maximizes Axe damage

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Kimil on 2007-03-30 17:21 ]</font>

[burning_card]

Hmm, i may use a beast. I'm fond of the nano blast ability, and they look cool as hell (the female beasts are cute, fun to use.) As long as they aren't horrible at things, like say a newman as a hunter, then i'm cool.

Also, are the forefighter classes available offline extra? I'm not sure if they are as i haven't gotten my basic job types levels up high enough to see if the extra classes are available (or maybe i don't know how they work?0

[Allison_W]

On 2007-03-30 17:08, burning_card wrote:
cool.

Another question (i'm keeping them in the same post. )

I'm trying to figure out what character to use. It's between the four classes, i'm mainly wanting a character that can do it all, but with a main strength. I'm reluctant to use humans since they are just good at things but never great in one area.

How would you guys rate the newmans for ranged or melee, or casts with melee and magic, or then beasts with ranged and spells? Who would be the best choice to use for a single character to level? (Since i have to make a new one online i just want to mess around with an xtra mode.)

First, I'll warn you, stats are completely different online and offline. One of these differences is that racial strengths and weaknesses are far more exaggerated offline than they are online. Throughout most of this post, I'll be referring to online.

CASTs not only make the best ranged combatants, as a general thing, but they also make Exceedingly Good melee combatants--right up there with beasts, I'd be tempted to say; while they don't get the (minor) stat boosts that beasts do for being Hunters or Fortefighters, they still have far higher ATA (while beasts have viable ATA, you're still making a jump from the lowest-ATA race in the game to the highest-ATA race in the game, and there will be a difference in the number of ugly 0s you see), slightly higher Defense, lower Evasion (which many fFs consider a good thing, as evading interrupts your PAs), and only a slight loss in ATP and HP. However, they simply aren't good choices for heavy casters--CAST Fortetechers can do perfectly well if they focus on support technics and bows/cards (think of CAST Fortetechers as the heirs of the great Rosa, if you've ever played FFIV), but in attack technics, they'll lag behind other races to a significant degree.

Beasts, from what I hear, actually aren't too bad at ranged combat (if you actually go the route of a ranged class). Ranged classes get very sweet ATA boosts, and ranged weapons still depend upon ATP for damage output, so a beast Ranger or Fortegunner, for instance, is not going to be "gimped," as it were. Still, while I'm not terribly experienced with beast Rangers or the like, I'd imagine they're not quite as good as CAST gunners (going from the highest ATA race to the lowest ATA race will probably hurt you more in the rangeryness department than going from the second-highest ATP race to the highest ATP race will help). I rarely hear much about beast techers, which suggests to me that they're unremarkable--both in any advantages there are to being a beast techer, and that the disadvantages don't really approach the problems a CAST techer has.

Newmans (newmen?), from what I hear, are actually perfectly survivable as fighters, if you actually put them in the appropriate class. They also have the second-highest ATA, which helps a little if you're a Ranger or such, though the ATP loss is still a potential issue. Additionally, they actually get special bonuses as two of the hybrid classes--the Wartecher and the Guntecher.

Now. If you want to do a little of everything online, you're going to be a Wartecher. If you want techs, there are only three advanced classes that give them to you: the Fortetecher (which is ideal for techs and can be surprisingly good at ranged combat if you play your cards right, or so I hear, but simply doesn't have the melee capacity you're looking for), the Guntecher (which excels in ranged combat, but lags in melee and teching abilities despite having "techer" in the name), and the Wartecher. The Wartecher is built like a ton of bricks (consider: as much HP as a Fortefighter, with good DFP, excellent EVP, and better MST than an fF), is good enough at both melee combat and technics to fill in for a specialized frontliner or techer when you're in a group lacking a particular specialist, and still gets access to bows and cards, which are Excellent ranged weapons. Need buffs? WT's got'em. Need healing? WT's got it. Need someone to rip into a Kog Nadd? Your WT's there with their daggers (or sabers, or knuckles, or whatever they like to kill things with). Need someone to kill the nasty bots or bees? Your WT's there with Diga or Dambarta or what-have-you. Flying dragons? Bow'd. The WT will never pwn a good Fortefighter in melee, or a good Fortetecher in techs, or a good Fortegunner in shooting things, but they're competent at damn near anything you need them to do--and they're the best soloers in the game.

Also, consider humans. Their position in the center makes them the best jacks-and-jills-of-all-trades in the game, and they damn well can excel, not simply get by, in any class--believe you that. But if you're dead-set on having at least one area of sort-of specialty, any race can do well as a Wartecher: I'd suggest a CAST if you want to focus on physical damage output (with the best ATA and second-best ATP, I'd gamble them to be a match for a beast WT in melee and considerably better at range) while accepting a hit in your tech damage output, a beast if you want to focus on melee damage output while still being able to do damage all right with techs when necessary (though you will take a hit in accuracy and tech damage compared to a human or newman), and a newman WT if you want to use your techs for offense more than your melee attacks.

If you want to do a little of everything offline, I would suggest a human Hunter. Seriously, you will not beat a human for offline versatility, especially considering that you only get three class choices, and all three are specialists in something or other, which automatically gives you an edge in one area even if you are a human. I say human because due to the exaggerated racial weaknesses in offline, any of the other races will take a severe hit in some capacity; I say Hunter, because in addition to viable ATA and the second-best TP in the game, you get access to C-rank rifles and B-rank wands, which will be all the more ranged and technic access you will ever need in Extra Mode. Stick one Blaster on your palette; use this on enemies that you can't reach in melee or that are just resistant to melee attacks. Stick one half-decent wand on your palette and a couple more in your inventory--each should have Megistar and either Rafoie or Dambarta attached; use Megistar for buffing, and either Rafoie or Dambarta for damaging enemies that are resistant to melee and ranged attacks (as well as for sniping Onmagoug and Dimmagolus's wings, natch). In Extra Mode, I never had any need for Resta or Reverser, so no need to bother--just use 'mates for recovering HP and ride your status abnormalities out; offline, the SEs you can cure were never enough of a problem for me that I ever regretted not getting Reverser.

[Allison_W]

On 2007-03-30 18:07, burning_card wrote:
Hmm, i may use a beast. I'm fond of the nano blast ability, and they look cool as hell (the female beasts are cute, fun to use.) As long as they aren't horrible at things, like say a newman as a hunter, then i'm cool.

Also, are the forefighter classes available offline extra? I'm not sure if they are as i haven't gotten my basic job types levels up high enough to see if the extra classes are available (or maybe i don't know how they work?0



Actually, newmans (newmen?) make viable Hunters. In fact, they make better Hunters online than they do offline--as a general thing, they won't be as good at it as a member of another race (assuming equal player skill: player skill trumps race in PSU, period), but they don't have to suck. Beasts will make sucky Forces offline, but OK Forces online (compare to Newman Hunters).

Also, there are no advanced classes offline. There are only Hunters, Rangers, and Forces, though they get better equipment access than their online counterparts (essentially, offline, they're not "starter" classes, they're just the classes, period).

[Dragwind]

You know Allison_W, I read your whole post, and I found it to be very, very well written. I would also add in that protransers are up there in the versatility/solo department as well.

[Allison_W]

On 2007-03-30 18:22, DRAGOUSCHRIS wrote:
You know Allison_W, I read your whole post, and I found it to be very, very well written. I would also add in that protransers are up there in the versatility/solo department as well.



Thank you. :3 I tried to give him all the information needed to make a good decision; I'm glad to know I did a good job.

I do have to say about Protransers, though--while they are versatile, they're not "jacks/jills-of-all-trades" in the sense that the Wartecher is--specifically, they don't get techs, which is a big chunk out of the versatility department. In this case, I'll keep it brief: for the most part, they trade the abilities to heal, cure SEs, buff, debuff, inflict tech damage, and take damage well in exchange for the abilities to inflict better SEs, use higher-level skills/bullets, use a wider variety of striking and ranged weapon types, and use traps (better than any other class in the game, at that). So yes, versatile, but dare I say in a more concentrated and specialized area than the Wartecher--out of three basic areas of competence (melee combat, ranged combat, and technics), the WT performs well in two and passably in one, where the PT can't function at all in techs but in exchange functions better in ranged combat and enjoys different benefits in melee combat. Yes, the Protranser inflicts better SEs and such, but losing the ability to cast Resta, Reverser, and buffs, as well as a great deal of durability, is a big hit in the versatility department.

As for soloability, see: poorer stats (including massively poorer durability), loss of Resta, loss of buffs, costliness of traps, testimonies from PTs who can tell you about the ginormous owie they take in the soloability department, at least for the first several class levels.

EDIT: Whoopsie-daisy, accidentally quoted myself instead of editing myself.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Allison_W on 2007-03-30 18:45 ]</font>

[Dragwind]

I guess It pretty much comes down to the user's skills, and the mission. Imo. I feel I could solo well If I had a PT, Id just have my own strategy. (inflict SE's, knockback with grenade, deal axe damage, rinse and repeat)

I think it all really comes down to the situation at hand, but Id have to agree that Wartechers have the most versatility from my experiences.

[burning_card]

Ahh, that's sort of a bummer to hear that there aren't any sort of advanced classes offline. I suppose it's a nice treat for the online players though.

I'll take a look at the different characters. It sounds a lot like how PSO has been since day one on the DC ver 1. Certain characters had a lack of ability and such offline but became very strong characters with many different resources online. I was leaning toward a beast none the less, just so long as they make decent with each job type. I don't want to miss out on anything while i'm playing, you know?

[majan]

one thing you MUST know and MUST do befoer you come online....

check the NPC store prices

this is to save yourself in 2 ways,so that when you make a shop you know how to price things and not get laughed at by people like me who come into shops and laugh at people who price things for triple the NPC price....and for yourself,so you dont get ripped off by others or end up ripping yourself off.

thats all I advise.there is al ink on the main PSOWORLD page

[burning_card]

already been lookin into that one. Thanks for the info.