Game AI is insanely strong (aka. how to play easy mode)

[jseah]

Having played through the japanese deluxe version using a cheat, I decided to play this translation (bought from steam). 

Not using an infinite HP hack essentially forced me to develop new practices and I noticed that the game's AI is incredibly good.  So good in fact that I'd have to drill and practice for literally hours to match it (which I have not done and will not be doing). 

And so finishing the game (much faster this time!) was simply a matter of controlling Sana and then spamming forcefield on self -> heal and more or less just staying out of the way.  With buffs/debuffs and nukes for bosses (remembering to turn magic use to max before going in). 
Later bosses had to be supplemented by pressing F2 and Sana healing, and had to use Life Dews and Revives for final boss, but it wasn't even as hard as when I had the HP cheat.  Even final boss went down in practically no time. 

Essentially, game AI Arche is so insanely powerful that you could just sit back as Sana, keep her standing, and watch Arche solo the entire first half.  Stella may as well be an extra target and some interference.  I lost her (and sometimes Sana) in boss fights and didn't want to waste a Revive so just played on.  Arche alone is more than capable if you just keep healing her. 


Not sure if this would apply to anything harder than normal, but playing as Sana certainly feels alot easier.  But if you're doing higher difficulties than normal, you probably don't need to be doing this... right?

[dkellis]

I do admit that I'm curious if there's a reason not to keep playing as Sana and spamming Heal and Shield (and the occasional offensive spell).

I mean, there are a lot of complaints about how Arche is difficult to control in combat, which implies that it's somehow imperative to be able to control Arche for the majority of the game.

My problem is rather more universal, unfortunately; all the playable characters suffer from the same issue of being very difficult to control during jumps, and I suck at platforming.

[SilentCaay]

I always play as Arche just because I want to feel as though I'm the one kicking butt. Also, I find the spell system annoying to use manually. The AI can make better use of it since they can auto-cast and auto-target whatever they want. It also annoys me a lot more when I repeatedly get my spells cancelled from attacking enemies than when I'm playing as Arche and repeatedly getting knocked down.

[Ravenholme]

I'm with SilentCaay on this, and by the middle of the game, I was rocking so hard with Arche that being forced to play Stella really threw a spanner in the works - I found that the hardest section of the game

[jseah]

I think ppl tend to stick with Arche since you get to use her first.  It's just that Sana/Stella is so much easier to use than Arche.  No combinations, just need to use hotkeys and run away. 

Spell interruption is annoying though.  It's why I choose to control Sana and not Stella.  Sana can shield herself and then she can't be interrupted. 
Stella is basically useless in boss fights that aren't single target because of interruption (and the hard ones aren't the single target bosses); and you can't shield her because if you do that as Sana, then you can't heal = everyone dies. 

Stella is awesome at clearing irritating enemies, eg. mind-control Sirens, with the Chaser spell.  And in final boss fight, Stella can use Interceptor for massive damage (and the boss herself doesn't interrupt very much).  Other than that, I've lost Stella in half my fights and didn't even feel it. 

[Yuri Otani]

I actually play primarily as Stella. Sana does all the healing herself no need to direct it personally, and Arche is just a whirling dervish of death controlled by the AI. But the attack spells at Stella's disposal are almost never used to their full effectiveness by the AI. From the moment you get Inferno it's a room clearer for anything that doesn't fly, stuff can't get close enough to her to interrupt her because the floor is covered in fire, and while they're hopping on it taking a hundred damage every time they touch down, Arche is eviscerating them.

[AndrewYY]

I have been playing mostly as Arche. Arche's full moon is the most OP thing ever.

For all the spellcasting bosses, playing as Arche is a guarantee to stop them from casting. I beat the last boss without her summoning anything, just by spamming Arche.

Btw, from what I could tell, easy mode is not so different from harder difficulty... I'm currently playing through nightmare, and all I feel is that I do less damage and the enemies do more.

[jseah]

I didn't actually mean "Easy" difficulty when I said easy mode.  I meant that the AI playing Arche makes the game become really easy. 

The main reason why I control Sana is because the computer doesn't shield much.  And a shielded Sana healing herself and Arche (throwing the Forcefield buff when possible) is able to beat pretty much anything except enemies with Charm. 

Stella's spells are powerful, but it's very hard to get her to cast anything in the more difficult fights as enemies really like to hit her.  Shield her and Sana can't heal...

[Glenn Magus Harvey]

Definitely agree that Arche is way stronger than when I play her.  I can only remember a few moves at a time, and usually rely on the roll-slash and the downward thrust, but the AI just puts them all together like mad.

It's funny how whichever character I play as is the most useless one.

Didn't know there's a charm status effect to look forward to.  And I thought cocorats were annoying enough...

[jseah]

Definitely agree that Arche is way stronger than when I play her.  I can only remember a few moves at a time, and usually rely on the roll-slash and the downward thrust, but the AI just puts them all together like mad.

It's funny how whichever character I play as is the most useless one.

Didn't know there's a charm status effect to look forward to.  And I thought cocorats were annoying enough...

I'd say that you'll handle Sana better than the AI would.  You often need to preemptively heal. 

And yeah, the charm is horrible.  If Arche gets hit by it (and it will happen eventually), it can result in party wipe as Arche simply excels at interrupting spells as she is far more maneuverable than normal enemies.  I resorted to using Stella and killing the enemies from afar with Chaser.