Part 9
"news."
A new mission spawned in Strange City, but we're going to do this one.
Cuff Button, I choose you!
Watch Message in a Bottle
We're starting to get some very interesting memory boxes, with more to come.
Watch Scraps of Memory
"Not only that, but some skills will take your opponents Level. Keep in mind this is never to be used against another scout."
That last sentence makes me feel that this would have been a perfect time for exposition into the politics of the whole society we've been in, but those sort of questions aren't even posed much less answered. The question I was looking for here is if there was some sort of institution that existed to enforce the rules of the Visions onto the Espers, but it's just left hanging as to if they rely on societal pressure or coersive institutions.
"The tower in the center is filled with filth, which avalances down and flows out the door. I see it! Yes, I can see it! Poison! The poison!!"
"... Please stop. ... I'm not good at reminiscing about the past. ... What? No I haven't forgotten!!"
He used to 'have' a powerful scout? What, did he own another scout like a slave?
It's worth noting that Tsubutaki isn't in the battle terminal anymore.
"... you'll find it."
He's not offering any mission here.
"It doesn't affect the battle or how the skills spawn."
So we know there's some sort of hierarchy in who gets access to what information, but, like every other reference to how the underground society operates, it's only vaguely hinted at and not expounded upon.
"Compared to the information we receive from the boxes, most problems are trivial."
"Following his path, we might get hints about the Ruins. He knows something about this world ... I have a gut feeling."
"Why are we the only ones who have to sacrifice their lives? Darn it!"
I guess he means the Strange City, but his comment is more about being fed up with having to go on missions, and they aren't restricted to Strange City, so I don't know.
"Here you can complain freely about anything. I have food and drinks prepared for you. Those who come really like to drink! I prepare such delectable meals, but no one really takes a bite. It's a bit of a downer ..."
"The competitive flame is starting to burn just thinking about it. Huhahaha."
We'll learn more about what he's talking about later.
"With no knowledge of what is happening on the surface and just sleeping."
It's a truism that those on an upper level of a hierarchical relationship justify their position of authority with arguments like this.
Back to the missions.
"be worth it."
Watch Secret Business
Watch Big Claustro Fall
What?
These nicknames are so stupid.
"Although it just repeats anything that you teach it, over and over again. Compared to those who have too much pride and are unable to do anything you tell them to, this is much easier. Do you want to try again?"
Watch Wish Obstructed
Astronaut E?
"It's easy to make it stronger. I'm making all sorts of changes. Wanna try a battle?"
"anyone can do! Gotta go!"
Okay, that's not what you said the mission was going to be.
Watch Unusual Moves
"Yes, that's what I'm going to do! Hahaha!!! This is going to be fun."
Weird that nobody else acknowledges these memory boxes.
Tetsuya has four missions for us, and we'll start with this one which relates to Sammah's previous comments.
Watch Massacre in the Dark
Well, that was odd.
Let's go talk to Sammah about what happened.
"Hahaha."
What an awful resolution.
"appropriate arsenal. This maybe a tough battle."
I mentioned that Tsubutaki was missing, and this is why. Also note the typo: "maybe" instead of "may be".
Watch To Those That Pass
I told you that everything happens offscreen.
"Right now I don't have any idea what I did, yet I still feel such guilt. I don't know what I'd do if I found out the truth."
A new mission is available at Palace, but we'll finish up the ones at Highway.
Yeah, I bought a new arsenal for this mission. I mentioned earlier that there's only one mission where I normally use a different arsenal, but I forgot about these missions that require you to use specific skills. I was thinking about another mission.
Watch Compressor
Doctor Reynolds posted:
Compressor never saw use in competitive of play. Its mirror image, Memory of Battle (damage is X where X is number of attack skills consumed), saw a tremendous amount of play however. I used an arsenal around it myself quite frequently. It was a low-aura arsenal with a large amount of 1 use skills, mostly being 0 cost. (The various Pieces of X, for example) Pretty effective.
IGotMine posted:
I think the biggest contributor to this is that single-use attack skills are way more viable than single-use defense skills. There are more of them, they generally have crueler side-effects, and they directly help you kill your opponent. Plus there is a huge tempo advantage that is a little hard to put into words - having a collection of tricky single-use defenses doesn't actually put a lot of pressure on your opponent. If you're running a Compressor-specific deck, you're constantly engaging with your opponents on a clock: how many hits can I prevent and when do I have to retreat? Once you actually manage to pump Compressor to an acceptable level, you then have to deal probably 90% of the damage to your opponent with a single attack skill. That gives them a significant opportunity to adapt to it, learn how to block it, and figure out how to attack around it.
With Memory of Battle and single-use attack skills, on the other hand, you have way more tempo control. You attack when it's advantageous, not when you have to, and you're only really forced to retreat if your defenses are broken. Also, if all goes well and you actually connect with some of your one-off attacks (any of which could catch your opponent off-guard) you should only need Memory of Battle to land once or twice to finish things off.
Probably the coolest thing about Phantom Dust - well, in my dumb opinion at least - is that it takes a lot of these metagamey CCG elements and makes them more tangible since you are responding to everything actively and in real time. Sort of a neat dynamic