Re: Manamon 2: Impressions Thread
some
spoilers
There's another way out, but if you can't swim, you can't go there.
Much
bigger
spoilers
So, boss fight is done. Gives enormous amounts of exp, though, to the extent that most of my team is now in the high 50s and utterly destroying everything.
Kinda stuck at the Mordant Island stadium though. There are four switches, all of which change the floor plan. I've tried every possible combo of switches I can think of to lower the force field, and no dice.
Would also like a hint as to where the last elder in a different city is. I found the first one easily enough.
Also, what's up with the Cave of Fates? I tried going there once, but there's this weird pillar and ice puzzle I can't make head nor tail of.
Okay, the huge-ish spoilers end here. Back to relatively normal levels of spoilery goodness.
Pebbledash and its evolved form are pretty freaking amazing. Like 182 speed, untrained, at level 50, plus two moves (normal and stone) which use the speed stat instead of attack to calculate damage, plus Shields Up (takes less damage from super-effective attacks at full health). Seriously, this thing if properly set up will wreck.
So now sitting on five keys and about to get the sixth, and I know where Validation Road is. I confess that after all the rigmarole of the story and reveals and whatnot, the last three keys feel...a little bit underwhelming. There isn't nearly as much exploring and questing as before. It all feels a bit tacked on, if I'm honest. Can't win 'em all, I suppose, but still. I'm hoping that even if the big main storyline is done, there's still plenty to do afterword. I knew that I wouldn't be spending as much time on the last three keys as I did the first three, but yeah.
Let me point out, too, that I'm still very much enjoying the game. I have a fair bit of the manapedia filled up now, albeit not all with stuff I've caught. I have some issues with it, but they're generally less than the last one (with the exception of the grammar/commas/bad adjectives and other script issues; the story is better, the script itself still needs a lot of work IMO). There's a lot more to do, a lot more puzzling elements (some of that is a bit much, most is very interesting and creative) and the sound design is pretty good. One really notable exception: certain boss fights talk, and the voice is just...well, I have no other way to say it. It sounds very much like a person put through a filter, it's very obviously Aaron's voice in one of them, and doesn't sound threatening at all. Sounds like some dude in his basement messing with sound programs. lol If it were up to me, I'd just ditch that entirely, as whatever message meant to be conveyed is lost with the sound filtering, and made ridiculous in the bargain. Favourite manamon cry so far is probably Echoplasm or Skellitten (though that one didn't turn out as good a combatant as I was hoping). The second stage of the kangaroo manamon...oh man, its cry sounds so utterly infuriated! Least favourite cry so far, for me at least, is probably Flounger; that thing gets on my every nerve. Diversity is definitely up from last game, so there is solid gains almost across the board. So please don't take the gripes I put forward as a condemnation of either the dev or the game; both have done well in my estimation, and I know I'm not done yet. Frankly, I ask a lot of a game like this, so it's natural enough that it doesn't meet my every expectation.
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