2015-01-20, 02:49 PM
I've only finished my Leonia run (had a team "grind"-ed to death, packing almost all LVL30s (Lyonesse, Dogal, Kiloph) including monsters, yet still had difficulties with Bulnoil) and started my New Almekia at Hard with Grand Battle patch and immediately broke my alliance with Caerleon. I was expecting to be overwhelmed with pressure from Caerleon (and Norgard/Esgares), but seriously, New Almekia is just plain broken; IMO the most difficult country to use is still Esgares followed by Iscalio.
Anyway, enough narration. Here's my feedback on the 'Grand Battle' patch:
- For people saying that the hit/crit rates are skewed when they have applied the patch (or maybe due to Hard mode?); I haven't felt it, I crit as much as the AI and their hit rates still follow the mechanics similar to the human player.
- The magically appearing Lv1 Salamanders/Fafnirs/Bahamuts are scary to behold, but in practice they are not much imbalanced and can actually be an AI liability. Being Lv1 means that, except for their class-up bonuses in ATK and DEF, their STR/INT/AGI are still underdeveloped yet they still cost 110-120 RP. They have hit/evasion rates almost similar to that of a low leveled dragon, and thus are not that difficult to kill (and they give great EXP to boot).
- The Lv1 Lucifers/Liliths remains intimidating, but not as much as one would expect. Due to their class ups, these tend to be much more aggressive in going to the front lines. Since their HP and AGI are not yet developed, they are actually easier to kill than expected.
- However, the BIGGEST gameplay impact of are the nonstop Stat Ups that are applied to the enemies. I feel wretched seeing the White Wolf packing such high STR values making his ATK around 380, and his INT and AGI around 130-ish, with 9 Rune Area and 450 Rune Power... at LV22. And I'm not even mentioning the others yet. When I got Millet after I've defeated Esgares, she can cast two Meteor Dooms at LV20 and had so much godly stats (much better than any of my LV30 knights) that I refused to use her since it feels too much of a cheat.
As much as I've said that I'm liking the difficulty patch, I think this indiscriminate stat up needs to be replaced. I don't mind fighting LV30 enemy knights in a death match, but when my LV30 Champions have only 25% hit rate against a LV20+ Gereint/Bagdemagus due to their steroids-induced high AGI (they hit back much harder too), and then the enemy Coel heals 270+ HP at LV22 (due to high INT), the game's balance feels too much tampered for comfort.
Seriously, I'd much prefer the AI getting global +250 EXP each turn from the get-go than this. I'd prefer fighting a proper Lv25 Brangien than a Lv15 one which hits and evades like a Lv25.
TL;DR opinions on Grand Battle patch:
- Random monster class-UPs are fine.
- AI having more Mana per turn is actually a great idea
- Enemy knights having random +HP/+MP/+STR/INT/AGI/+RP/+RA per turn feels too much tampering of balance. Please consider changing to +EXP each turn, even including monsters.
Once again, thanks for all your hard work.
Anyway, enough narration. Here's my feedback on the 'Grand Battle' patch:
- For people saying that the hit/crit rates are skewed when they have applied the patch (or maybe due to Hard mode?); I haven't felt it, I crit as much as the AI and their hit rates still follow the mechanics similar to the human player.
- The magically appearing Lv1 Salamanders/Fafnirs/Bahamuts are scary to behold, but in practice they are not much imbalanced and can actually be an AI liability. Being Lv1 means that, except for their class-up bonuses in ATK and DEF, their STR/INT/AGI are still underdeveloped yet they still cost 110-120 RP. They have hit/evasion rates almost similar to that of a low leveled dragon, and thus are not that difficult to kill (and they give great EXP to boot).
- The Lv1 Lucifers/Liliths remains intimidating, but not as much as one would expect. Due to their class ups, these tend to be much more aggressive in going to the front lines. Since their HP and AGI are not yet developed, they are actually easier to kill than expected.
- However, the BIGGEST gameplay impact of are the nonstop Stat Ups that are applied to the enemies. I feel wretched seeing the White Wolf packing such high STR values making his ATK around 380, and his INT and AGI around 130-ish, with 9 Rune Area and 450 Rune Power... at LV22. And I'm not even mentioning the others yet. When I got Millet after I've defeated Esgares, she can cast two Meteor Dooms at LV20 and had so much godly stats (much better than any of my LV30 knights) that I refused to use her since it feels too much of a cheat.
As much as I've said that I'm liking the difficulty patch, I think this indiscriminate stat up needs to be replaced. I don't mind fighting LV30 enemy knights in a death match, but when my LV30 Champions have only 25% hit rate against a LV20+ Gereint/Bagdemagus due to their steroids-induced high AGI (they hit back much harder too), and then the enemy Coel heals 270+ HP at LV22 (due to high INT), the game's balance feels too much tampered for comfort.
Seriously, I'd much prefer the AI getting global +250 EXP each turn from the get-go than this. I'd prefer fighting a proper Lv25 Brangien than a Lv15 one which hits and evades like a Lv25.
TL;DR opinions on Grand Battle patch:
- Random monster class-UPs are fine.
- AI having more Mana per turn is actually a great idea
- Enemy knights having random +HP/+MP/+STR/INT/AGI/+RP/+RA per turn feels too much tampering of balance. Please consider changing to +EXP each turn, even including monsters.
Once again, thanks for all your hard work.