UPN The Game II: The Regamening!

[Doppleganger]

After 3 hours, I have defeated the DQ Tower.

Spoiler: show

Team 1: Stlbk, Blastoise, Hanatori
Team A: Loki, Marion Ette, ABL
Team Laser: Arnold, Muyo, Copythe
Team fgsfds: Kuno, Daisy

Stlbk and Kuno are the two best DPS characters, but Loki/Marion/ABL are the best at dungeon crawling. Loki is physically defensive, Marion is overall bulky and ABL is a glass cannon. Songs are roided out Dances and are at their most powerful against regular enemies, because the song counter refreshes when battle ends.

I'm sorry but I hated this dungeon! The bosses were easier than the regular monsters, and the worst monster in the entire dungeon (DQ Ref) was the most common! I couldn't understand the unlock pattern because it seemed completely random. Sometimes killing certain things rolled the time over, other times going up and down stairs did it.

I think the top level is potentially confusing because the game gives no indication that the mechanisms only need 2 and 1 gears. The only reason I knew this was scouting, then going around the clockwise route and discovering that there were only two gears. Had I not scouted, I would have gone down to the lower levels searching for hidden gears and got pummeled for another 2 hours.

When I divided the parties, I did it strategically anticipating that Arnold would be ideal for FB, while I would sent my best dungeon killing small lineup into PASBL. So far that's worked but this area is just so punishing. It's mentally taxing because the monsters give no rewards except EXP and I'm at the max level.

Also I'm not sure how I understand what this tower is supposed to represent? Like the ref's queue?

Spoiler: show

Is ABL Stlbk/Kuno's illegitimate daughter in this universe? She's younger than the others and has Light/Fire attribute, and her two highest attributes (ATK/MDEF) are also Stlbk and Kuno's two highest attributes.

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by Lady Kuno

It needs a specific number, you did too many.

I found it. I see now why there was a specific number to trigger.

This item is amazing and possibly the best one in the game. A single attack is what holds back Stlbk, and while Marion is a great tank, she can be reconfigured to be extremely offensive, and far more dangerous even without Stlbk's exclusive equipment.

I had Marion 2HKO all of Ethan's Pokemon after two boosts, doing at minimum 10,000 damage per attack and regaining 60% of her HP in the process. That's completely insane! I don't even need to use the cheongsam anymore.

[Lady Kuno]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

I'm sorry but I hated this dungeon! The bosses were easier than the regular monsters, and the worst monster in the entire dungeon (DQ Ref) was the most common! I couldn't understand the unlock pattern because it seemed completely random. Sometimes killing certain things rolled the time over, other times going up and down stairs did it.

I think the top level is potentially confusing because the game gives no indication that the mechanisms only need 2 and 1 gears. The only reason I knew this was scouting, then going around the clockwise route and discovering that there were only two gears. Had I not scouted, I would have gone down to the lower levels searching for hidden gears and got pummeled for another 2 hours.

When I divided the parties, I did it strategically anticipating that Arnold would be ideal for FB, while I would sent my best dungeon killing small lineup into PASBL. So far that's worked but this area is just so punishing. It's mentally taxing because the monsters give no rewards except EXP and I'm at the max level.

Also I'm not sure how I understand what this tower is supposed to represent? Like the ref's queue?

I might adjust difficulty there. The bosses were easier? Really? I might make the regular guys easier and beef the bosses up a tad, then.

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Spoiler: show

Is ABL Stlbk/Kuno's illegitimate daughter in this universe? She's younger than the others and has Light/Fire attribute, and her two highest attributes (ATK/MDEF) are also Stlbk and Kuno's two highest attributes.

Why would you make me read this with my own two eyes?

Spoiler: show

Every attribute is associated with an element. A character that is Fire and Light is going to have an attack buff (Fire) and a magic def buff (Light), as well as both of those penalties (-HP and -Luck). The same applies to bad guys, like the one who went into "Ice" mode you talked about earlier got a massive Magic Attack boost because that's Ice's.. thing.

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

I found it. I see now why there was a specific number to trigger.

This item is amazing and possibly the best one in the game. A single attack is what holds back Stlbk, and while Marion is a great tank, she can be reconfigured to be extremely offensive, and far more dangerous even without Stlbk's exclusive equipment.

I had Marion 2HKO all of Ethan's Pokemon after two boosts, doing at minimum 10,000 damage per attack and regaining 60% of her HP in the process. That's completely insane! I don't even need to use the cheongsam anymore.

Yeah that's one item where.. I was kinda worried about it. I might either make it a tad weaker or at least increase the rarity on it. I might also buff her bloody fists a bit too (or maybe I did and I forgot since it's been a bit). The damage "nerf" on them only reduces the bonus damage when she's not at full. Her being at full health will still do the same extra damage. Once this update fixes the Fizzy Zone you'll probably like Marion's special equip. Then again I have no idea.

Regarding an actual update, in two weeks I'm off for a week and about 1/3rd of the Cloud Garden is done. My biggest issue is actually finding names of old FBers that aren't in the UPN game anywhere else. D:

[Median Dia]

Ah, it appears Dopple didn't figure out the trick to navigating DQ Tower on your own terms. Guess it's to be expected that someone'd miss it seeing as the only (very vague) clue is the clock warp system, but still...

Spoiler: show

Every non-boss enemy has an attack corresponding to a timeframe (Morning Sun, Midnight Oil, Daily Grind, Good Night, and, uh, Void Slice for some reason), and the map changes to said time whenever one of them is used. Once you're aware of this, the hardest parts are actually getting them to use the dang attacks in the first place and getting away from the DQ Ref before it pops Good Night on you and throwing the whole process off. Those guys really don't like people quitting their matches, apparently~

That said, I wouldn't exactly say that the mobs were harder than most of the bosses, personally. When it comes down to actually killing them once they've outlived their purpose, the mobs usually failed to last more than two rounds tops, while the only boss that got as low as 5 rounds for me was the first one (poor guy hurt themselves a little too much off my Susano-o, it turns out).

That said, I was max level and packing the full party going through it, so I'd imagine that there'd me a different narrative if I were to try it as soon as possible.

[Lady Kuno]

Apparently there's a Marion skill I added but... never actually gave her. Oops.

Re: her weapons:

Spoiler: show

Gonna nerf Multi a tad, boosting Bloody Fists. They can now add one of her blood effects. Also it's a tad stronger.

[Doppleganger]

I didn't even read the attacks. I was too focused on damage control.

Spoiler: show

Marion: 143 Speed
ABL: 134 Speed

The DQ Ref is hasted and has an increased chance to crit with two attacks. This means there's a % chance it will OHKO ABL from full health, and it's fast enough to outspeed her meaning Marion can't OHKO it before ABL and Loki get shots at it. All the other monsters and bosses are slower than ABL and/or do not have as pressuring attacks. It also does 30-50% to Loki and 60-70% to Marion on double crit, HP which requires items because Loki can't regenerate.

Because the DQ Ref is so common and is difficult to run from (essentially giving it a free turn), running into it always pain. You're essentially obligated to risk losing ABL or another 900 HP character or try running and risk losing two characters.

I consider this more damaging than the bosses because having to use Pr0ns and healing items are a real cost, unlike cooldowns or skill uses in battle. Since the monsters give nothing valuable but EXP, needing such items is long term attrition. Running out of money was the main reason I had to go to Chapter 2 and why I have to sell every item I get (and another reason why I did the rune bosses multiple times).

Being forced to resurrect a dead character is almost always a bad thing, as it is essentially a wasted turn and probably the epitome of pressure. I never had to deal with this against any of the DQ bosses who were slow and vulnerable to all status effects. The very first boss for example was a spider with eight attacks, but after being burned twice and slowed it did no damage to Loki.

The boss battles are "longer" by turns but they're not pressuring at all. Absolute Sin/Absolute Virtue, who are fat but not that dangerous. But the Pixie Queen can still punish lackadaisical play with well-timed elemental punches during her low HP script, meaning I can't just turn over the battle to autopilot mash Z or I get wiped.

[Lady Kuno]

I lowered its speed down to match everyone elses (and buffed the speed of the bosses, minus the final one). I think that's a fair balance.

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by Lady Kuno

Apparently there's a Marion skill I added but... never actually gave her. Oops.

Re: her weapons:

Spoiler: show

Gonna nerf Multi a tad, boosting Bloody Fists. They can now add one of her blood effects. Also it's a tad stronger.

Bloody Fists is bugged in my version to not add HP to the attack. It's essentially a double attack. Lowering the multi attack to 6 from 7 makes a big difference from what I've seen, a lot of Ethan's cards and the DQ vets fall to 7 but not 6 attacks (with 203-205 Attack).

Aside from that though, I think (where I am) it's "balanced" by making Marion wear subpar gear in order to abuse its effects.

Spoiler: show

These look superficially similar, but the right is waaaaay bulkier. With Regen 2 and Be Our Guest, Marion recovers 192 HP per turn in battle and 92 HP per step without it, and takes 90% from elemental attacks. This is an amazing way to conserve resources since I don't have to worry about her or Loki's HP at all.

The loss of passive regen and out of battle regen means damage accumulates from battle to battle, necessitating landing attacks. Left is far less defensive despite the higher overall stats.

Also, I'm only borrowing the Black Belt for now, without it Marion's stats drop precipitously.

[Lady Kuno]

Also I forgot how stupid forging is and it's impossible for me to update any of the recipes if you already have them learned.. and some of the placeholder recipes are really easy/dumb. D:

The nerf to Multi-fists is gonna be some fire weakness, as well as reduced acc/crit rate. Kinda like that crazy bat in Earthbound with super high damage but never hits. Although this won't be THAT bad. It'll still be more of a gamble.

The way Bloody Fists works now is it takes a % of your current HP and adds it to your attack so the damage boost will be more noticeable.


Also, wait wait wait

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Marion recovers 92 HP per step without it

Step regen shouldn't be a thing. I don't know what's doing that but that shouldn't be possible.

[Doppleganger]

So I'm stuck in the Fizzyzone, is this what Kuno was hinting at? The Earth Zone has a metre for measuring Earthquakes, and the golemns use that, but it doesn't trigger anything when they use the move. There's no way for me to progress whether the Earthquakes happen on B1 or B2 of the Earth Zone.

Also, I have obtained items in some of the zones, but not others, such as the Windy Zone. Is there a fragmented soul and item in each of the zones?

[Doppleganger]

Now I can't progress.

I have destroyed the Wind Crystal, and I'm waiting on Dave to fish up the Water Crystal. That still hasn't happened and PASBL is apparently at peace, because I get no new dialogues. The quest log says return to Talon, but Team 1 is stuck, and I can't get back onto Emina Isle.

This is an elaboration on what I said earlier when I say I'm confused. Miror's dialogue is updated to reflect what happens in Fizzytopia but none of the other characters are. Like the thirsty guy in the bottom layer of Pasbell keeps asking for water and taking all my fresh water. I'm thirsty too.

[Lady Kuno]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

So I'm stuck in the Fizzyzone, is this what Kuno was hinting at? The Earth Zone has a metre for measuring Earthquakes, and the golemns use that, but it doesn't trigger anything when they use the move. There's no way for me to progress whether the Earthquakes happen on B1 or B2 of the Earth Zone.

Also, I have obtained items in some of the zones, but not others, such as the Windy Zone. Is there a fragmented soul and item in each of the zones?

Earth Zone isn't working right. It's also not part of the story.

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Now I can't progress.

I have destroyed the Wind Crystal, and I'm waiting on Dave to fish up the Water Crystal. That still hasn't happened and PASBL is apparently at peace, because I get no new dialogues. The quest log says return to Talon, but Team 1 is stuck, and I can't get back onto Emina Isle.

This is an elaboration on what I said earlier when I say I'm confused. Miror's dialogue is updated to reflect what happens in Fizzytopia but none of the other characters are. Like the thirsty guy in the bottom layer of Pasbell keeps asking for water and taking all my fresh water. I'm thirsty too.

Spoiler: show

Did you find Tess in the rain earlier?

Also he'll always ask for water. Nothing else will happen lol.

[Doppleganger]

Here's exactly the order I did things:

Spoiler: show

Team 1 → defend UPN
Team A → travel to Pasbell, speak to Miror, don't take a side
Team Laser → travel to Fizzytopia, talk to Arc_Angel, Tess cutscene triggers
Team A → talk to Miror

Originally Posted by Miror

Thank you for your help. Let me know when you have solved our little problem.

What problem?

Team A → do quests (Rangeet, Razor Raven, Brandan, Cloneblazer12), talk to Miror

Originally Posted by Miror

It seems whatever you did helped change some hearts and minds.

However, DaveTheFishGuy still needs time to fish up the Water Crystal.

Team famlitdabsquad → destroy Thunder Crystal
Team A → talk to Dave, conquer DQ Tower, talk to Dave
Team Laser → clear Fizzyzone except for Earth Zone, talk to Arc_Angel, destroy Wind Crystal
Team A → talk to Miror

Originally Posted by Miror

Excellent work! All of us here in Pasbell are in your debt!

Dave still says he needs time to fish up the water crystal.

[Lady Kuno]

I know what happened, Im just not sure why. I asked a question about a cutscene before you replied, let me know if you saw that.

[Doppleganger]

Yes, I saw it. In order for Unity to appear I had to have met Tess.

I figured out the problem. The Wind Crystal spawns immediately after giving the Wisp Stone to Arc_Angel. You see the Wind Crystal before you see any awake people. I immediately attacked it, then talked to Arc_Angel, which forwarded her and Miror's dialogue to their end loop scripts. So Miror's script which triggers Dave fishing up the Water Crystal never happens.

[Lady Kuno]

You nailed it. The Wind Crystal spawned too soon. Killing it put things out of wack. It should work now.

I'll have to upload an emergency fix because both you and Daisy, the only two people (I think) playing right now, are both stuck in different spots. It'll have a bunch of fixes and some parts of Cloud Garden. I hope you don't mind staying in those areas a tad. I'll upload it this weekend.

For you, I'll have a special spot to talk to that'll set your flags right. There's no way to "fix" your situation through normal gameplay (patching what caused your issue won't rollback your stuff, etc).

[Doppleganger]

That won't be necessary. I went back to Monday's save to trace what happened, so I am on track again. I didn't lose much, just the half the exploration of the unfinished Fizzyzone and a Remnant of Wind.

[Doppleganger]

Sooo sleepy but here's some bug stuff I noticed.

Spoiler: show

Concept's attack doesn't have a name
Game crashed using Walkie Talkie in Arc_Angel's house after destroying Wind Crystal
Chalis is in two places at once during Chapter 5
Chapter 5 Emina Island is in two places, if you parked it at the Debate Wastes before going to Independence Isle
Hanatori learns WTIDA twice, from rotomotorz and Connor
Coolfarm music doesn't play Chapter 5
Music stops vs monsters in Fizzyzone, Ephemeral Labyrinth

[Lady Kuno]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Sooo sleepy but here's some bug stuff I noticed.

Spoiler: show

Concept's attack doesn't have a name
Game crashed using Walkie Talkie in Arc_Angel's house after destroying Wind Crystal
Chalis is in two places at once during Chapter 5
Chapter 5 Emina Island is in two places, if you parked it at the Debate Wastes before going to Independence Isle
Hanatori learns WTIDA twice, from rotomotorz and Connor
Coolfarm music doesn't play Chapter 5
Music stops vs monsters in Fizzyzone, Ephemeral Labyrinth

Music stuff was found and fixed. Same with Hanas move.

Spoiler: show

Is Chalis in two places outside of WF?
No idea what causes that crash. What did it say?
Im at work but the no attack name is an easy fix.
Not sure what you mean with Emina.

[Doppleganger]

When the crash happened the text for "Fizzytopia" appeared instead of RPG Tower.

When you exit UPN HQ after entering Chapter 5, Emina Isle is right next to it (even if you left Emina Isle at the Debate Wastes and rowed back to the continent). When going into Emina Isle and going back to the surface, you exit the Emina Isle at the Debate Wastes, before going back in (automatically) and exiting again at UPN HQ.

To clear the duplicates you have to row back to the debate wastes, then fly Emina Isle back to UPN HQ.

Chalis is both outside and in her house.

[Lady Kuno]

Home now so I can do some stuff instead of replying to some stuff on my phone.

Spoiler: show

Concept's attack doesn't have a name - Fixed this (was surprisingly difficult lol) called Lockdown.
Game crashed using Walkie Talkie in Arc_Angel's house after destroying Wind Crystal - Was this when the game was bugged for you? Not sure what caused this or what fixed this for you.
Chalis is in two places at once during Chapter 5 - In WF and home? That's normal.
Chapter 5 Emina Island is in two places, if you parked it at the Debate Wastes before going to Independence Isle - I had to look into this and it assumed it was at the HQ so it didn't do the normal checks apparently and ignored it if it was in Wastes. It's fixed now.
Hanatori learns WTIDA twice, from rotomotorz and Connor - Yeah this got spotted right after I released the game. Oops.
Coolfarm music doesn't play Chapter 5 - WF Farm should play the overworld music (like regular farm)
Music stops vs monsters in Fizzyzone, Ephemeral Labyrint - Already fixed.

[Doppleganger]

Some other stuff.

Spoiler: show

Kin spells Gyarados incorrectly
The names for Loki's knees don't match the items when trying to switch, I think it's the Mob's Knees that is different.
Monsters like the Burning Aura Demon from the paid information are different from the actual monster

I think the Corpse Dragon is bugged, or at least I can't find it.

Spoiler: show

I killed 75 Landfalls using Arnold, and I was able to keep count because I was watching his dance counter. I went from 857 to 932 dances and I never saw a single rune for the Corpse Dragon.

Arnold is in critical health. So are the other three friends in the inactive party, and of all possible characters only Marion and BBB aren't critical.

This isn't the first time I tried to hunt a hypothetical Landfall boss. Ever since seeing the stonehenge, I had a feeling there would be a boss around that area. But it's never appeared.

I do have a theory. There may be a hidden area of the Vile Woods that I haven't found. I think this because when I was hunting Caterpie, Caterpie's rune would not appear in on that forest map but Kuno said "it moves around but only appears in forests". This forest is the same area where Murder is found.

If Caterpie wasn't spawning on this map, it must have been in the "Hidden Woods" that I hadn't found. Similarly killing that many monsters should have spawned a rune for the Corpse Dragon somewhere.

Does this hidden map exist? I'm sick of going to this area. It was a waking nightmare to have to hunt a rare monster like that only for there to be no payoff for it.

[Lady Kuno]

Daisy has been very thorough with typos and that was already fixed. I also fixed the knees thing (I realized that one on my own after I uploaded the game, I changed a few names of the knees but forgot to make him say the new names for them).

Corpse Dragon:

Spoiler: show

It is random after kills AND low health. It is in the circle with the stone pillars.

[Doppleganger]

I had a streak of 43 in the Arena, Charminions stopped talking and I could move around. It was during a battle with Kamen in the enemy party. I had to talk to Charminions to continue battling.

Spoiler: show

I got the streak to 100 but I didn't see any kind of additional bonus?

[Lady Kuno]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

I had a streak of 43 in the Arena, Charminions stopped talking and I could move around. It was during a battle with Kamen in the enemy party. I had to talk to Charminions to continue battling.

Spoiler: show

I got the streak to 100 but I didn't see any kind of additional bonus?

I've not been able to replicate that bug, so I added a way to talk to him to "fix" it. There are no streak bonuses (well at least yet).