VespidV

Active Member
Dec 11, 2016
708
389
Mind anyone remind me or point me to some summary of the previous game plot ? I am at the start and Lusica mentions
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but I can't for the life of me remember who they were, and googling that name doesn't give me images or anything like that to refresh my memory
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Kaizen

Newbie
Dec 17, 2016
96
56
The game mentions that you can recruit only up to 5 people to the base, does something happen to the remaining characters if you don't recruit them ?
 

VespidV

Active Member
Dec 11, 2016
708
389
The game mentions that you can recruit only up to 5 people to the base, does something happen to the remaining characters if you don't recruit them ?
Nothing, they'll just stay where they were so just add whoever you like the most.

Excuse me, how do you show the conversation log ? None of the standard keys for that are working
F4 if you mean the text backlog, if you mean re-reading the special conversations you go to the memory space to view them.
 

Kaizen

Newbie
Dec 17, 2016
96
56
What's up with the broken machine at Yjat Marsh ? They mention Idea which seems to be a god of concealment, and one of the items you gain while trading junk is called Idea's Coffer
 

HeckBum69

Member
Oct 24, 2022
210
123
Idea is the God of Concealment, the coffer is present in Colony and ASYLUM too, but only in ASYLUM does she actually get mentioned.

I recommend you keep playing else you'll get spoilers

As for the Broken Machine, we don't know what his deal is
 

Pixeldemise

New Member
Apr 11, 2022
12
9
I'm really losing my motivation with this game, especially coming off the back of Colony which managed to do its boss fights exceptionally well in terms of balancing. I've reached , and this fight seems to be actively maliciously designed. Even with units at level 90, with the strongest gear I can get them, generic attacks from the boss are taking out half their HP before factoring in random crits. The gimmick of unveiling the boss is inconsistent at the best of times, seemingly randomly deciding to lock the unveiled down this turn, sometimes next turn, and sometimes an entirely different person. And the choice to give the boss a 5 turn move rotation, with 2 of those moves being massive AOE attacks, one of which is pre-emptive and overwrites all other pre-emptive moves, and the other slaps multiple ailments on you preventing you from having the freedom to try and modify equipment, is just icing on the cake here.

It even fakes you out on freedom of team composition, as since Dita can't be removed from the party and is 100% a physical offensive attacker, if you aren't building a team to use physical damage, you effectively have 3 party members if you want to run a magic team, and given that the two main magic attackers are both also the main healers, since Lusica can't keep up with the insane damage output of the fight, what slim chances you get to deal damage aren't going to do much since the boss also drains on several attacks.

Not to mention that, after 4 games, the dev still has yet to include any option to view the status of an enemy. This would at least be more manageable if I could glance at a screen and see what buffs/debuffs the enemy has/doesn't have, but still somehow that's not been added.

I've managed to clear through Black Souls 2's Chaos dungeon, including the Old King of Chess and Muramasa final phase, so I'm very familiar with "puzzle fights" where you need to figure out the exact gear loadout and specific pattern of actions to take each turn to counter the boss. This game does not feel like it understands puzzle fights, and has mistakenly assumed alternating between big AOE damage and piling weakening effects makes for a well designed fight.

was a very similar situation, as the fight was just purely a damage race. You'd either win in 3 turns, or lose because the 3 HP bars prevented you from moving any faster, and the stat gain after each bar break means she'll not only start one-shotting your team, but also out-speeding the shit-bombs needed to stop the AOE attacks she'd use every few turns.

Several of the other bosses were similar as well, mainly the two Scrap King variants and Shauws, where the battle boils down to "unstoppable super crit attack every few turns". Somtimes the pre-attack warning would be shown, sometimes it wouldn't, and plenty of times even if it was shown the game just zipped by so quickly you entirely miss it. At least the Lost One had 2 turns of ramping up to her charge instead of sometimes 1 turn, sometimes it's instant.

Alongside the overall drop in story quality, I feel like I've lost a lot of faith in Leaf's future works. I really try not to be overly negative towards games that I don't get, since clearly they have an audience and so it's far more likely that this type of game just doesn't click with me in the way it does for others. But here, it feels like every bad gameplay and story decision that have popped up in small amounts in previous games haven't just returned, but been increased and emphasized intentionally. Colony's excellent story was definitely lightning in a bottle, particularly in the post-game sections which really felt like it was to Bloodborne, what Hollow Knight was to Dark Souls, and yet even still it's baffling how far the overall quality plummeted since then, with Dita and how her specific character type so perfectly fit into the finale being really the only story-wise positive I have for this entry...
 

HeckBum69

Member
Oct 24, 2022
210
123
I'm sorry but your post sounds like a massive skill issue

Sure, Idea isn't an easy fight and Kludge isn't the most well received game by anyone, but it's not nearly as hard as you're describing it, also you can go past level 90...

generic attacks from the boss are taking out half their HP
How, that only happens to me if I get critted on all attacks, and even then, the healer of the game is OP, so you only need to worry about getting one-shotted.

the other slaps multiple ailments on you preventing you from having the freedom to try and modify equipment
Please elaborate because I have no clue if you're talking about changing equipment mid-fight. Which you definitely can't do...

two main magic attackers are both also the main healers
Only Kuu is a main healer, Faria is a side job. Kuu is all you need either way for a healer but you're still somehow having trouble...

Not to mention that, after 4 games, the dev still has yet to include any option to view the status of an enemy
Have you tried pressing Q on the status screen?

including the Old King of Chess and Muramasa final phase, so I'm very familiar with "puzzle fights" where you need to figure out the exact gear loadout and specific pattern of actions to take each turn to counter the boss.
Those are NOT puzzle fights, like hell no. I beat the Old King without even knowing what I was doing most of the time, the only thing I had to care about was stunning the clones, and Muramasa is just "tank the ultimate". How are those puzzle fights?

was a very similar situation, as the fight was just purely a damage race. You'd either win in 3 turns, or lose because the 3 HP bars prevented you from moving any faster, and the stat gain after each bar break means she'll not only start one-shotting your team, but also out-speeding the shit-bombs needed to stop the AOE attacks she'd use every few turns.
I literally have no clue what this entire rambling is about, what HP bars???? 3 Turns to beat Idea???? Was this about blacksouls Muramasa? If so why the sudden mention of shit-bombs, those don't exist in BS afaik
 

Pixeldemise

New Member
Apr 11, 2022
12
9
I literally have no clue what this entire rambling is about, what HP bars???? 3 Turns to beat Idea???? Was this about blacksouls Muramasa? If so why the sudden mention of shit-bombs, those don't exist in BS afaik
Reading comprehension sure is something, ain't it...
 

HeckBum69

Member
Oct 24, 2022
210
123
Reading comprehension sure is something, ain't it...
You made a new paragraph and started the phrase with "was very similar situation", if you're gonna complain about my reading comprehension I can complain about your grammar m8
 

Julsmit

New Member
Feb 7, 2023
7
1
Idea is quite a high skill check imo, but that does sound like a you problem, not every boss can be killed in less than 3 turns specially in postgame content
 

Raf-Raf

Conversation Conqueror
Dec 4, 2019
6,500
8,535
She's more of a gimmick boss with the veil shenanigans or as he called it, a puzzle fight.
Except idk wtf he's talking about gear loadout since I just brute forced everything in BlackSouls with the moonlight greatsword. Same here in Kludge with my tank / heal focused team comp.
 

Julsmit

New Member
Feb 7, 2023
7
1
keeping track of the veil is just annoying but its not a puzzle i dont know what that guy is on about
 

Raf-Raf

Conversation Conqueror
Dec 4, 2019
6,500
8,535
keeping track of the veil is just annoying but its not a puzzle i dont know what that guy is on about
You have to understand, if it doesn't die in 3 turns, it's a puzzle for 'em.
Like imagine thinking you need a whole gear loadout for f-ing Old King and Muramasa where you break the clones for Old King and just get a high enough guard rate shield to tank the whole thing for Muramasa. :KEK: :KEK: :KEK: :KEK:

My man even didn't know about the hotkey to check for status and blamed the dev.
This sh- is hilarious.
 
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HeckBum69

Member
Oct 24, 2022
210
123
Aight I feel like the conversation is getting a bit agressive towards the guy.

Apparently I did Idea with Yolnaya, YubYub and Faria back then

Just redid the fight without knowing most of what I was doing since it's been a while, ended on turn 26 with Faria doing nothing other than ATK down + SP recover from weapon skill and Yol spending half the fight immobilized since I kept forgetting taunt and didn't feel like switching the concealment to physical.

It really is just a matter of keeping track of the veil and who gets concealed but the latter is RNG (without taunt that is).
Dita is OP, has self-heal, guaranteed crits, Bind for 4 turns and Def reduction to 0, if you don't wanna go physical she can still do the job as a debuffer of sorts

Try leveling up to 120 and expermenting with gear 'cause if you're losing half hp on your characters without getting critted there's something wrong with your team composition
 

Raf-Raf

Conversation Conqueror
Dec 4, 2019
6,500
8,535
I just bruteforced it with Dita, Kuu, Lusica and Yubeil, still my favorite team comp on all challenges.
With so much healing, mana recovery and more than enough damage from the whole team, any instakill on allies can just be revived with Kuu while still having no problems for losing mana with the buffs from Lusica.

The freedom of builds is what made the sequel games so f-ing fun to play in the first place.
So it's 100% a skill issue.
 

Pixeldemise

New Member
Apr 11, 2022
12
9
You made a new paragraph and started the phrase with "was very similar situation", if you're gonna complain about my reading comprehension I can complain about your grammar m8
I suppose blame that on the forum. I hit the spoiler text, input Kyuuem No1, and it just removes the entire name when I posted it.

However regardless, I go from using vague terms to specifically "she", begin talking about multiple different bosses from this game, and reference one that requires shit bombs, something that is unique to Sequel games and not Black Souls, uses dangerous AOE attacks prevented by shit bombs meaning it's a buff based attack, and has 3 health bars. It should be plainly obvious who I'm talking about, Kuuem No1, the finale of the "core" story and what is meant to be the biggest moment worth remembering about the game.

It's like seeing a locked door and I mention kicking it down is the best option, and the idea I'm referencing Rabi flies straight over your head...

None of your points negate what I say either. Idea hits you with forget and blindness, meaning you need to make sure your DPS resists blind, ideally both, and your medic resists forget. That means you can't use equipment because you need to use ailment immunity in those slots, or sacrifice a considerable amount of damage/defense by using weaker armor/weapons that resist those ailments. Kuu can't keep up with the amount of healing required, unless you're using his AOE heal, however since that costs 40 SP and the boss attacks hit you so hard each turn, you're on a timer in terms of how long it can last.

A "puzzle fight" is a fight where the boss is not a test of raw damage, but a fight where there is some gimmick you must understand, and work around. The Old King is one, as it plants a seed inside you that is a guaranteed kill no matter what that can't be survived, but it's only planted due to the attack landing, meaning a dodge will prevent it. As you say yourself, stunning the mirror clones is the solution to the second phase, and it also is required for a few attacks in the first phase as well, and for Muramasa, you need to figure out what combination of buffs and effects enable you to survive the final phase because just blocking and stacking raw defense won't do anything. You can get lucky and happen to do the right thing, but unless you break the entire system the fight is using, the puzzle part of a puzzle boss can't be avoided

A puzzle is still a puzzle, even if you can also just blow the entire thing up to get past it. The ability to brute force something with enough stats doesn't make it no longer a puzzle boss.

In the case of Kludge, Kuuem No1 is a puzzle fight, as her AOE Errorstone attack is absurdly powerful, so the solution is to remove the buff and stop it. The fact she has 3 health bars adds to that, as you can't simply one-shot her to skip past her attacks, she will perform them, and you need to know how to prevent them. Idea is the same, as at least in theory, as she rotates through a strict attack order of powerful moves that require some solution, often being either binding, stunning, or lowering her attack to 0 with Faria.

The problem however is that a 5 attack rotation with 2 of those attacks being absurdly strong AOE, and having 2 reliable lockdowns both with 15+ turn cooldowns does not mesh together, especially when one of them can't be prevented by one of those lockdowns. You can survive one rotation, but surviving another is absurd, much less dealing enough damage to actually defeat her at the same time with how much HP she drains back from attacks. Kuuem No1 being a fight that you didn't want to drag out was supported by the story, given her insane regeneration ability, but for Idea, there's nothing to the fight beyond raw stats. I'm guessing there was the intention of making the unvieling gimmick be the solution, as it seems to prevent her from using her normal skill and instead do the SP drain, but again, that's inconsistent at best. Sometimes she doesn't do the move until the turn later, and occasionally she'll randomly target someone who didn't even do the unveiling move in the first place. I can't exactly plan a strategy around something that only sometimes works in the way it is meant to.

None of the other games had this degree of stat-gatekeeping battles, as while Reincarnations were there as an option to brute force things with raw stats, the majority of your power came from resetting and re-mixing your skill trees to better suit the fight. Here, that isn't an option for the reasons I mentioned. You can't bring a magic team, because Kuu needs to stay on healing, and Faria doesn't deal enough raw damage by herself to deal with the fight. You need gear to block those ailments, so you can't use equipment to support your team as much, and the sheer amount of health and damage the boss has means that if you don't hyper level, you'll spend too much time trying to heal up that you can't actually inflict enough damage.

This is a reoccuring issue I've seen with Kludge compared to the other games. Just naturally going from one event to the next, for most of the series it's all been perfectly fine level-wise. It was only when you reached the super bosses of the extreme late game that you needed to start grinding for levels to even fight them. Going from the Ancestor of the New World to the bosses of Raktass in Blight, going from Siblumi to the Descendants in Awake, and going from Shin to Trau in Colony, it felt very smooth and even if grinding would have made some fights easier, it wasn't ever required. Here, going from Dita/Core Remains to Kuuem felt like I was barely able to eek out victory by swapping stuff around and restrategizing, but going from Kuuem to the Mechagods felt like a sheer cliff, and going from the World Border to Idea feels like I need a rocket ship to even attempt with how suddenly and drastically the stats spike up.
 

Pixeldemise

New Member
Apr 11, 2022
12
9
You have to understand, if it doesn't die in 3 turns, it's a puzzle for 'em.
Like imagine thinking you need a whole gear loadout for f-ing Old King and Muramasa where you break the clones for Old King and just get a high enough guard rate shield to tank the whole thing for Muramasa. :KEK: :KEK: :KEK: :KEK:

My man even didn't know about the hotkey to check for status and blamed the dev.
This sh- is hilarious.
So please tell me then, where exactly am I suppose to learn about that hotkey? It's never mentioned in-game, even in the hotkey section of the help book, so I can only assume I either missed something, or it's genuinely never mentioned.

Honestly, I don't even feel insulted by this. I can't even give some kind of snide "because that would imply blahblahblah" type response either. Your comment is just so... I dunno how to put it, I just look at it and instantly know "Ah, not much point to this...". Though I would say it doesn't really paint this community in the best light to see your first response is such open mockery...

If you could tell me though, I'd appreciate it. I don't recall ever seeing it across the series, and while the Readme files have mentioned it, I never found the hotkey it is talking about.
 
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