RPGM Completed The Last Sovereign [v1.0.0] [Sierra Lee]

[TheNamed]

For me the combat as a hole is difficult I need to use potions almost every fight. I have mental disabilities so it what it is. This games balance is not as easy as you all think it is. Limited resources and items makes it even harder for those of us that cant figure out the combat system. Other wise I like the game and the story but I do not enjoy the combat.

Ah. You might want to use a save editor to give your characters more stats in that case to let you power through (just add stats, not levels - sometimes level gets checked and being higher than is actually possible at that point in the game has negative effects). I'd describe the overall combat difficulty as moderate - status effects and resistances are important for both you and the enemy but you don't ever need to chain particular skill combinations from different characters together. Alternatively, there are videos and written strategies for pretty much every enemy available.

 

[Ner0nitas]

I presume you mean the Ardford summit.
Some of the votes aren't changeable. There are three where your actions and choices can lead to the votes succeeding or failing. With a guide such as

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or note taking and some analysis it's possible to get the optimum result on all three, provided you made a particular investment earlier. Without that investment, only one, though you can choose which. This is a game where your decisions matter.

If you like the story and want good results more than making your own choices full walkthroughs are available such as

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or

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. But you'll only ever get one blind play.

Personally, I suggest running with whatever you got and carrying on. You'll still get a good story.

Yeah, that one blind play is why I try to not look into these walkthroughs.
But sometimes, I wonder "Is this really all there is to it?" and then, I just peek through it, just to see in the corner of my eye "Run from the spiders."... jesus...

And I guess with the investment I have to make beforehand, you talk about one in the Migail route... the one where I thought it's for later, cause I didn't have nearly enough money.
Which means, in order to do this, I should have invested in the right things beforehand, in order to have enough money for that person.

I know that my decisions matter, but it would be nice if the game would tell me where I failed.
Cause it rarely is a case of "Where did I fail?" and more "Did I actually fail? Could the outcome have been different?".
And the gap between cause and effect is so huge that there is no room for experimenting.

Which means either:
Play this (fairly long) game over and over again, see what happens when you do this and that different.
or
Read a guide.

Still, thanks for the links!
I might not look into the general guide, but when I play this game again after beating it, I might give the 'Ardford Summit' guide a look.

 

[TheNamed]

Yeah, that one blind play is why I try to not look into these walkthroughs.
But sometimes, I wonder "Is this really all there is to it?" and then, I just peek through it, just to see in the corner of my eye "Run from the spiders."... jesus...

And I guess with the investment I have to make beforehand, you talk about one in theMigail route... the one where I thought it's for later, cause I didn't have nearly enough money.
Which means, in order to do this, I should have invested in the right things beforehand, in order to have enough money for that person.

I know that my decisions matter, but it would be nice if the game would tell me where I failed.
Cause it rarely is a case of "Where did I fail?" and more "Did I actually fail? Could the outcome have been different?".
And the gap between cause and effect is so huge that there is no room for experimenting.

Which means either:
Play this (fairly long) game over and over again, see what happens when you do this and that different.
or
Read a guide.

Still, thanks for the links!
I might not look into the general guide, but when I play this game again after beating it, I might give the 'Ardford Summit' guide a look.

It's not going to be suddenly unplayable because you missed a couple of votes at the summit. Two of the ones you likely missed (unpeople and orcs) even have some benefits of their own, even if overall generally considered inferior.

 

[Ner0nitas]

It's not going to be suddenly unplayable because you missed a couple of votes at the summit. Two of the ones you likely missed (unpeople and orcs) even have some benefits of their own, even if overall generally considered inferior.

I wouldn't call the Orc one 'failed', since after talking with my party, I decided myself for extermination.
Might be good, might be not, but there are some party members which opinion I value more.

And yeah, this is what's good about the game... that it seems to be balanced around failure.
This, and the fact that some things you do have a say in both have a good and bad side, like you said, each choice has its benefits.

 

[duncanwadams]

By the way, did anyone make an intentional "fail" run? With the worst possible outcomes and dumbest decisions?

 

[whatmi]

How difficult and 'stressful' is the game?

i know it takes eternity to finish
and i know it has mandatory failure
and force you to follow scenario before progressing
and scenario is not always clear so you walk around talking to everybody

 

[Ner0nitas]

i know it takes eternity to finish
and i know it has mandatory failure
and force you to follow scenario before progressing
and scenario is not always clear so you walk around talking to everybody

A lot happened between the point I've asked this till now, and I'm at the start of Chapter 3.
My main concern was the non-existing grinding and the fear of handling limited resources.
But so far, the game is very generous and well balanced, and non of the fear mattered in the slightest.

Anyway, thanks!
And so far, I've never had a problem with figuring out what to do, but more with the fact that there is more to do than I'm allowed to do.
Still, never lead to any gameplay-trouble so far.

 

[Ner0nitas]

By the way, did anyone make an intentional "fail" run? With the worst possible outcomes and dumbest decisions?

I've thought about something like this, cause it would show that the game is perfectly beatable, no matter what.
But then the question is, what is the worst outcome and the dumbest decision?
Cause basically, it means don't do any optional investments at all, which is the worst decision.
And if you don't wanna stop there, don't do any optional battles.
But I think at that point, the balancing crumbles... or at least, the possibility to get very far.

 

[Troqu]

I've thought about something like this, cause it would show that the game is perfectly beatable, no matter what.
But then the question is, what is the worst outcome and the dumbest decision?
Cause basically, it means don't do any optional investments at all, which is the worst decision.
And if you don't wanna stop there, don't do any optional battles.
But I think at that point, the balancing crumbles... or at least, the possibility to get very far.

You'd actually probably do better than average if you avoided every battle you could, because the game actually does a lot of checks to find out if you're far behind and gives you bonuses. You'd have to spend a ridiculous amount of time figuring out how much you can avoid to be as weak as possible without giving bonuses.

For example a mid game check vs Someone's level has a range of 18 levels. If you're at the top you get +2, if you're close to the top you get +1, the middle 13 levels give +0, and if you're below that you get +2 again. Not every check has something like this, but Sierra did a good job of tipping the scales when it's clearly needed.
Being a bit vague as to what area and what the + values mean on purpose since it's not really relevant.

 

[duncanwadams]

Cause basically, it means don't do any optional investments at all, which is the worst decision.

I meant not skipping investments, but selecting the most useless at this stage. Like investing in a shrine, city beautification, and the flower trade at the end of ch1.

Regarding examples of dumb decisions, it is probably whoring Qum, extorting money from Megail, annoying Esthera, and going after slimes in timed sections of ch 2.

 

[Ner0nitas]

You'd actually probably do better than average if you avoided every battle you could, because the game actually does a lot of checks to find out if you're far behind and gives you bonuses. You'd have to spend a ridiculous amount of time figuring out how much you can avoid to be as weak as possible without giving bonuses.

For example a mid game check vs Someone's level has a range of 18 levels. If you're at the top you get +2, if you're close to the top you get +1, the middle 13 levels give +0, and if you're below that you get +2 again. Not every check has something like this, but Sierra did a good job of tipping the scales when it's clearly needed.
Being a bit vague as to what area and what the + values mean on purpose since it's not really relevant.

Yeah, sounds actually that alot of care went into this.
So she made sure that the player just doesn't play himself into a wall.
I can imagine that the fights will be a good bit harder, but in this game, a working strategy seems to be more important.

EDIT: Kinda like 'SaGa' games, where it isn't encouraged to grind, but instead, higher tier enemies bring your party up to a standard anyway.

 

[Ner0nitas]

I meant not skipping investments, but selecting the most useless at this stage. Like investing in a shrine, city beautification, and the flower trade at the end of ch1.

Regarding examples of dumb decisions, it is probably whoring Qum, extorting money from Megail, annoying Esthera, and going after slimes in timed sections of ch 2.

Yeah, I know what you mean, but even here is the question, where does it end?
Going after the slimes in that section... it would basically mean, don't do anything else, as soon as it's available.
'Skip' time elsewhere, and as soon as you can go out, waste the rest of these days doing nothing but go to the place with the slimes.

Don't talk to NPCs which give you hidden points simply by talking to them.

Absolutely just do the necessary stuff in the routes... or wherever.
Which leads again to not making decisions at all, so no investing.
It's hard to describe, but what I mean is that even doing the optional stuff is a choice by the player, and not doing it is also a choice, when the player thinks "Let's save the little money I have.".

But ignoring that, then yeah, choosing the route of the worst decisions would be interesting.

EDIT: Basically, keep every single hidden value as low as possible.

 

[Shevian]

Okay, great game and all. But some fights are extremely unbalanced and dependent on RNG too much.

I'm looking at you Erosia, what the heck was that last stand?

 

[Lolicon Kami]

Okay, great game and all. But some fights are extremely unbalanced and dependent on RNG too much.

I'm looking at you Erosia, what the heck was that last stand?

Eh, wasn't too hard. If too hard, optimize or cheat money

Easy to bypass the anti-cheating requirements:

You must be registered to see the links

 

[Nadekai]

Eh, wasn't too hard. If too hard, optimize or cheat money

Easy to bypass the anti-cheating requirements:

You must be registered to see the links

I hate that a single-player game has anti-cheat...

Even if it's as complex as this one

 

[Lolicon Kami]

I hate that a single-player game has anti-cheat...

Even if it's as complex as this one

Why? The plot is part of the game, too much cheating literally breaks the plot (like impossible investments, for example).

And a little bit of cheating to make all battles fairly beatable without RNG isn't punished.

 

[Slub]

I meant not skipping investments, but selecting the most useless at this stage. Like investing in a shrine, city beautification, and the flower trade at the end of ch1.

Regarding examples of dumb decisions, it is probably whoring Qum, extorting money from Megail, annoying Esthera, and going after slimes in timed sections of ch 2.

Interesting read. On my first playthrough, I had to restart because I skipped too many monsters in the beginning and was too weak as a consequence. The second time, I did quests in the city and by the time Robin (?) joined, her level was too low compared to the rest. That‘s when I quit the game because it seemed like you ought to play exactly like the developer envisioned.

 

[Goi]

Levels are not super important for power, lower levels matter a bit more because skill unlocks but even then doesn’t really change things much.

Robin recruitment quest gets her ready to be a very good party member because mage so able to attack element weaknesses, doing that near the end does mean she will take longer to be one of the best but that will happen anyway because entire party gets XP

really all getting Robin last is she takes a bit longer to get to her lances which means really the second optional thing will be harder(because will be further into that before getting a lance) and a second almost unnoticeable trick of not getting her third lance in time for a boss that is weak to said thing, isn’t needed for them and requires literally XP maxing on her.

like it is possible to get through the game and get every worst outcome including Level checks(tho that is a bit higher than no enemies killed because catch up mechanics are included and have been checked for lower level) all the way to the ending.

 

[Ner0nitas]

Interesting read. On my first playthrough, I had to restart because I skipped too many monsters in the beginning and was too weak as a consequence. The second time, I did quests in the city and by the time Robin (?) joined, her level was too low compared to the rest. That‘s when I quit the game because it seemed like you ought to play exactly like the developer envisioned.

I don't remember this moment when she joined... but is the lower level even a problem?
This isn't the only time that someone joins your party while being underleveled.
But as far as I noticed, she could die just as easy as chars nearly 15 levels higher.
Aside from learning skills, levels don't mean THAT much.

If you think a stat is lacking for someone, balance it out with equipment.
If you get destroyed in a battle, change your strategy.

I'd say the dev envisioned that everyone plays how he/she wants, giving a fair bit of leeway here and there.
Some optional areas can be tricky, together with some bosses.
But I'm at a point where I couldn't care less if someone misses out on XP, cause I've beaten everything before recruiting said char.
And with how the XP distribution works, lower level char catch up fairly quickly.

 

[Lolicon Kami]

Interesting read. On my first playthrough, I had to restart because I skipped too many monsters in the beginning and was too weak as a consequence. The second time, I did quests in the city and by the time Robin (?) joined, her level was too low compared to the rest. That‘s when I quit the game because it seemed like you ought to play exactly like the developer envisioned.

Too bad it wasn't your cup of tea. You're right; this game is created in the traditionally JRPG style, so you need a walkthrough to play

Glad to see you're trying to find a game that suits your needs instead of just complaining on here, like a certain someone...