Sounds like that might be the case; I think I've heard that there are better items available on future loops. Thanks, as always for the advice!

I also see that you've been playing Breath of Fire 4; such a lovely time of year for it! 💜 I've always loved how the more muted palette compared to the previous entries complements that transition from autumn to early winter.

Gotcha. Personally, I'd like to mess around with it more, myself. Was New Game + a thing when you played? I'm wondering if enemies also get tougher in subsequent loops, or if it's Chrono-Trigger-style, where you just mow everything down, because you're stupidly overpowered.

I did manage to finish it (and the void expansion, too!), and what eventually worked for me was beefing up the enhancements that regenerated health, stole health, and increased physical and arcane defense, and mostly just sticking with the whip. The whip seems like it has the best range and widest arc, and for trash mobs, that was easier than trying to dodge and counter with the hammer, because the bigger the crowd, the harder it was for me to reliably dodge. That said, the advice will be very useful for future playthroughs, and for when my lady plays it, so thanks again! Did you find any of the weapons in the expansion to be all that useful? The only one I really thought was better than the one I already had was stasis, since it seemed to be quicker, and the original weapon didn't have any super special attributes that were lacking in the new one.

Glad I switched that on, then; I can't imagine not being able to cancel attacks! I did figure out those weird blue skull things eventually, but I'm always nervous about not making it back. Any advice on builds? I've been leveling each stat evenly, but I'm starting to wonder if HP is worth it, because I'm still very squishy. I did see a lot of people like, "BRO CHECK OUT MY ARCANE BUILD," but I don't use wrath that often, and countering only works well when your opponent exclusively uses 1-hit combos; I've gotten my face shattered a few times following a counter at this point.

I also want to thank you for taking the time to help me enjoy this game more.

Thanks for the tip! Is that what it means when it says I can change the setting to "plays more like the first 2 Darksiders games" versus "more methodical combat"? I switched that, but couldn't tell what the difference was. I do like it overall, and wouldn't mind being a glass cannon that has to experiment with different techniques, but that combined with losing all my money when I die is kinda frustrating. At least dodging doesn't have a stamina bar...

Great to know; thanks! I wasn't even aware of Darksiders until Zero Punctuation reviewed it, and it wasn't until quite some time later that I even had a PS3 to play it on, so no preorder bonuses for me; I never would've known.

Also, happy anniversary!

Congrats on making it through Final Fantasy 2; that's a hell of a rough experience.

WAR/RED/BLM/WHM is a classy combination. That used to be my preferred party composition for FFI, but after trying out the Black Belt in my most recent playthrough, I can scarcely imagine a party without one.

Oh, yeah, I know they usually roll credits after low rank village. I have beaten every Monster Hunter since 3U. Village was just really short in Rise. Woulda been like 3U rolling credits after beating Lagiacrus. I also didn't know at the time that hub quests scaled down to single player like all of World's quests do so I thought I was done with single player entirely, which would've been a shame since I prefer playing solo or in a small group.

I mean I know you can do hub quests solo in pre-World games but I don't consider myself good enough to make it fun.

Glad to see the account going strong.