Mea Tulpa

Nope, you're wrong also. In G5, the War Trall's missile attack is d8. That's an average of 4.5 damage, versus an average of 5.5 for the Gazer kill. Take 40% off of that and you get 3.3 per attack for Gazers, versus 4.5 for Tralls. Tralls still win.

Vahnatai Shapers. And don't go there, lest ye forget that the origin of the Church of the Nine-Headed Cave Cow involved heretical Vahnatai Creationism and Vahnatai Creationism With a Twist.

That's actually incorrect. An old FAQ reported that, but more accurate data proves that Flare's base power is 34 while DarkMatter's is 38. But they are both beaten by Luminaire at 50 and even Robo's Shock at 40 (relevant if you give him all the magic tabs for Heal Beam). Actually, Tail Spin is at 40 as well. Anyway, ALL of Magus's stats are higher than Lucca's at pretty much any level...

Nope, you're wrong. They have 40% resistance to magic. Whereas Gazers have 0% resistance to physical attacks. Advantage: War Trall.

Speaking of ultimate power. In case you thought the Ultimate Power Orbs were leet... wait until you see the Ultimate Power Udders.

Originally Posted By: Deliberate Hyperintelligence Or he really is a prophet and knew that a frog with a sword would do well against Lavos. The black wind howls. More seriously, we can probably agree on the terms by reframing them. Magus is a classic Byronic hero. In fact, it's hard to imagine how he could fit the criteria better. And even more seriously, the frog with a sword is easily one of the least useful of his game's characters, competing with Marle and Lucca for the worst against Lavos prize.

Originally Posted By: 'Twerewolf dog The whole scene with Cyrus and Glenn looks a lot like malice for malice's sake. And he doesn't even reverse the spell when working with Frog, although he presumably could. Not necessarily; the game states that Lavos drained much of his power. Although they never discuss it (and really ought to have), Frog does say at another point in the game that he likes his newer form. As for the transformation scene itself, Magus doesn't even kill Glenn. Crono and company seem to have no problem killing other living, intelligent creatures. Like the Reptites for example. Oh wait -- I went into poorly constructed Chrono Cross territory there, whoops.

If you thought the Ornkskin Gauntlets were badass, wait till you see the Nine-Headed Cave Cowskin Gauntlets. You have to cut off a finger to use them, but the sacrifice is more than worth it, considering the benefits they provide -- in particular their automatic enabling of the eleventh battle proficiency -- Well-Aimed Cow.

I didn't mean to imply poor AI, though I guess the Mega Man battle does kind of imply that. We can't assume stupidity on the part of the doubles. I guess what I'm saying is just that the stunt double will have to find and exploit some kind of technique for defeating his double. In a simple head-on confrontation with no room to maneuever at all, the evil double will win.

Originally Posted By: Thuryl Working under the assumption (implied in Slarty's post as I read it) that the alter ego is evil, Rune can use his strongest spell, the holy magic Efess, putting his evil twin at an immediate disadvantage. Hmm, this is a good question. I think it could go either way with Efess -- there are plenty of examples of anti-evil spells and effects not working on evil clones because, presumably, it is not their substance which is dark or evil but their actions. Efess, IIRC, is relatively picky and doesn't work on a whole lot of enemies. I'm fairly sure there are some human or humanoid enemies in PS4 who are clearly doing evil things, but can't be touched by Efess. So I'm tentatively going to suggest that Efess won't work. Quote: arc, it seems like the only reason he stopped being actively evil was his single-minded devotion to rescuing Schala and destroying Lavos -- once his summoning ritual failed and the Mystics were defeated, he had no more reason to make war against humanity, which doesn't really make him a good person. His evil side might stand a good chance of Was Magus ever actually evil? Callous and aloof, certainly, even as a child, but I've always read it that he simply took advantage of an already warlike Ozzie-and-company to secure his own position in life and enable his plans of revenge. Okay, I guess that doesn't sound terribly good or ethical, but he was trying to defeat (essentially) the destroyer of humanity, so that has to count for something. The key scenes here are two. First, the scene in which Janus appears in 600 AD and is ambushed by Ozzie. Second, the scene in which Janus/Magus does something actively cruel or malicious. That scene doesn't exist, and I don't think that's an accident.

"The two powers strove in him. For a moment, perfectly balanced between their piercing points, he writhed, tormented. Suddenly he was aware of himself again. Frodo, neither the Voice nor the Eye: free to choose, and with one remaining instant in which to do so. He took the Ring off his finger." In fairy tales and their descendants, among whom video games can indubitably be counted, evil is always stronger in innumerable ways. The advantage that belongs to good is the humble advantage of choice, and there is always some way for good to exploit this -- often an obscure and unexpected way. Nowhere is this more clear than in video games, in which doppelgangers usually do have superior offenses and defenses and sometimes even maneuverability compared to the player. But the doppelgangers are restricted to their own algorithm of evil -- expansive though it may be, with randomization (or even, in rare latter-day appearances, AI learning). The player's character is usually weaker, but can do whatever the player likes, and this is his chance of winning. In the youtube videos I linked in the first post, the Mega Man and Link battles are perfect examples of this. Mega Man's clone takes several times less damage per hit than Mega Man does, but his movement patterns can be exploited. Link's Shadow occasionally breaks the rules of play by simply not registering a hit when he is hit. And of course, in both cases, casual body contact between the two fighters damages the player, but not the dark duplicate. Perhaps this is a more useful frame for the question. Who can most quickly exploit the closed mind of their double? And who can't? If you can't make better choices than your opponent, but you are weaker in plain terms, you will surely lose.

Round Three of the Video Game Character Stunt Double Tourney has been completed! And it only took five months! Thanks to everyone who participated. Congratulations to the 5 stunt doubles who have advanced: Magus (*i) Pikachu (Rowen) Poo (Lenar) Rune (Thuryl) Samus (Iffy) You may notice that there is now an ODD number of combatants. You may also remember that I promised a suprise for the fourth round. Well, here it is. Round four will take place in ONE segment of five battles. As in previous rounds, participants and spectators alike are encouraged to give their opinion on the battles, which will be taken into account when the ruling is issued. However, the stunt doubles won't be fighting each other. Instead, each character will fight his own worst enemy... himself. A number of video games have taken cues from the coming-of-age rituals of cultures across the world, and presented transformative quests or events that involve one character -- or occasionally, a group of characters -- coming face to face with the demons within. Some of the most , , , , and, occasionally, have involved this trope. Well, now it's our turn. In this round, all five matches will be timed... and the stunt double who takes the longest time to dispatch his or her stunt double double, will be eliminated. In the event that one or more stunt doubles is unable to overcome his or her stunt double double, all such contestants will be eliminated instead. So... who will have the hardest time overcoming the evil within? In this round, purity of character and strength of willpower may weigh as heavily as speed and strength. Judging this round will require quite a lot of imagination -- informed, as always, by the mechanics and statistics of the games. As such, thoughtful input from spectators will be particularly appreciated in this round. ROUND FOUR -- SUDDEN DEATH VERSUS THE STYGIAN ABYSS / THE LIGHT ON MT. ORDEALS / THE SHADOW / THE CLONE / you get the idea... FIGHT!!! 4.1. Magus (*i) vs. Magus 4.2. Pikachu (Rowen) vs. Pikachu 4.3. Poo (Lenar) vs. Poo 4.4. Rune (Thuryl) vs. Rune 4.5. Samus (Iffy) vs. Samus

ROUND THREE -- OFFICIAL RULING 3.1. Rune (Thuryl) vs. the Naughty Sorceress (Salmon) Legendary, game-liminal sorceror versus game-breaking sorceress. Another extremely tough call. Both characters have exceptional defenses against both magical and physical attacks. Rune's defenses are innate, so are not affected by the Naughty Sorceress's debuffing ability. Her magical draining ability is not too relevant since Rune's magical reserves are both deep, and not used by his key abilities. The Naughty Sorceress has a chance of blocking all relevant actions Rune might take. However, this chance depends on surprise, which Rune's telepathy (and possibly also the defenses of his Psy-Shield) should lessen... although not negate altogether. Seals and the Psycho-Wand are not going to be effective on the mortal forms of the Sorceress (the only ones allowed in the Tourney, as ruled at the start of the Tourney). Rune will take picayune damage from her attacks. Rune can't heal... so the Naughty Sorceress can eventually defeat him, it will just take a long time. The question is if Rune can kill her first. The Naughty Sorceress, on the other hand, can heal herself. The problem is that it is a relatively weak heal, restoring only about 5% of her total HP. Legeon, Efess, and Rune's other top-tier attacks are going to do significantly more damage than that, looking at loose conversions of HP value between the two games. Rune has a lot of uses of these attacks, but not an infinite number. It's not clear if there are limits on the Sorceress's healing ability, but I'm not going to assume any. So the Sorceress can win if she manages to block Rune's actions at the moments so she can heal up the damage from Legeon et al. without suffering too many of those attacks with not enough time to heal. If she can survive his entire arsenal of high-end spells, she can heal up and plink away at him until he dies. If she doesn't get enough actions blocked, though, the succession of magical explosions will take her down. I think that Rune can try for an advantage by launching an opening volley of Nafoi, Nawat, or Tandle to lower her HP slightly, and then going for broke with Efess and Legeon. It's still a toss-up, but in the end, I think Rune has enough charges of his best attacks to put the odds in his favor. WINNER: RUNE 3.2. Samus (Iffy) vs. Soma Cruz (Angelic) Another doozy... two characters with wide-ranging, versatile, AND powerful skill sets, as well as robust stats. Both characters have some crazy-powerful, crazy-flexible jumping moves and attacks that they can use out of those moves. I don't think missile-type attacks are going to be very effective for either character, and neither Mandragora nor Samus's bombs are going to do significant damage. It's going to be a battle of airborne maneuvering and sudden melee. Samus, however, is not as fragile as Soma Cruz's previous opponents in the Tourney, and I think she can survive Soma Cruz's attackers longer than he can survive an onslaught of screw attacks from this most famous of lady warriors. WINNER: SAMUS 3.3. Delita (Nemesis) vs. Poo (Lenar) Finally... finally... an easy match-up! Holy Explosion is a great attack, but Poo resists confusion, and Startstorm is a better attack. Poo can heal; Delita can't. Delita has no particular advantages over Poo, really... and the royalty-loathing pauper falls, at last, to the ascetic prince. WINNER: POO 3.4. BlackWarGreymon (The Ratt) vs. Pikachu (Rowen) Digimon versus Pokemon. An interesting fight. BlackWarGreymon has superior staying power while Pikachu has superior speed and maneuverability. Both have strong attacks. Pikachu's will be extremely effective if BlackWarGreymon takes flight; presumably, the digimon is smart enough not to do so. Nonetheless, Pikachu's ability to dodge and teleport away from BlackWarGreymon's attacks -- amplified even more once the pokemon lands a Thunderbolt -- is killer, here. A fairly decisive victory. WINNER: PIKACHU 3.5. Princess Peach (Nikki) vs. Magus (*i) The lovely and polite levitating princess with magical powers who is habitually kidnapped by evil overlords who want to marry her vs. the levitating evil overlord prince with magical powers whose lovely and polite princess sister with magical powers was taken by a cosmic evil who merged with her. Psych Bomb vs. Dark Bomb. Emotional vs. Emo. Pink vs. Purple. You get the idea... Magus's exceptional defense against magic attacks means that Peach, once again, has to rely on her Frying Pan if she's to win. Peach can probably break through Magus's magical barrier (the one against physical attacks) either with her magic, or some kind of trick involving a Starman; it will take her a little time, though, and that's time she doesn't have. Although Magus's magical attacks are unlikely to take her down in one shot, she IS going to have to heal frequently to survive them; and while she has plenty of healing ability, staying alive will preclude her from taking down Magus's defenses. Peach's status-inflicting powers won't help her either, thanks to the Amulet Magus received from his sister. Schala... it always comes back to her, doesn't it? Peach's only hope lies in using her powers of emotion to sway the former prince's tormented heartstrings, taking advantage of her princessly resemblance to Schala. Unfortunately for her it's a shallow resemblance: Princess Peach actually has a spine and stands up for herself; she leaves her home and tricks her caretakers when the fate of the world is at stake, while Schala remains passive and obeissant. Also, Princess Peach appears to have several wigs or hair dyes, but none are violet. WINNER: MAGUS

3rd form is also not legal in the Tourney, as mentioned several times already.

Okay, public announcement to shame me into acting: the current round will conclude TONIGHT (eastern time). Then you will be able to hear the announcement about the form of the next round, which will be even more seat-gripping than I expected it to be when I first concocted it.

Also keep in mind that the high accuracy reduction armor pieces are often worthless. Armor damage reduction is all multiplied together. When your reduction before adding heavier armor is already 50-60%, upgrading a 3% helmet to a 5% helmet will make almost no visible difference, etc.

Yes, I am still intending to. One of these days.

"Spam red elements so he never attacks" is hardly an example of dynamic and scintillating tactics. Now, you want to say "Criosphinx with no Yellow Plate" and I'm game.

I believe it's still a 25% chance to activate.

Diversity isn't really necessary. The only time boosting creation stats is useful is with cheap creations that you level up to make useful throughout the game. Really the only creation you can do this with effectively is the cryoa.

Action points work rather differently in A5. Fast on Feet won't be worth it. DT is worth it for everyone. Really, if you're asking for advice, read the threads on traits and give everyone DT and another useful trait (EW, NM, PS). Deadeye is okay for a dedicated archer but plunking points into archery abilities very quickly becomes a game of tiny, tiny returns.

Originally Posted By: Synergy when a critical threshold of toxicity and challenge has been encountered in the environment, life finally shifts in a new direction and takes another big step up. We're facing a similar, well, yes, crossroads. Sink or swim. Yes, this. The problem is that nobody listens to earnest pleas like yours above. The answers are more or less obvious; some might be up for debate, but some are so blatant. But how do you get people to listen? "Ay! what 'mong men as knowledge doth obtain! Who on the child its true name dares bestow? The few who somewhat of these things have known, Who their full hearts unguardedly reveal'd, Nor thoughts, nor feelings, from the mob conceal'd, Have died on crosses, or in flames been thrown." -- Goethe

What Thuryl said. In G4 the parameters were a little different and there was in argument to be made for singleton Serviles and Agents, but in G5, parameters for creations are so generous it's an open-and-shut case.

Petunia.

Playing as a Nephil or Slith, you should have picked up at least the first battle discipline and maybe more by then. Unless I'm drastically misremembering the requirements.