New Aht Urhgan Missions!(06/26/2006)

[Kaylia]

Kaylia:

It's really a problem that they are involving existing characters? I think it makes it more interesting, and given that only 30% (maybe less because of the 6th assault area) of the assault missions are available, none of the BCNMs are used, and a whole slew of zones have yet to be opened, it's way too early to say it fails in comparison to COP storywise.

I liked COP's story, and I like what I've experienced in the ToAU story, but to blast it because it uses existing characters (which is what I think you mean over models -- because COP only introduced 4 unique models) is silly. Even COP had an emphasis on using existing characters. Or did you forget all the running around in existing areas talking to existing characters?

Prishe, Ulmia, Mildaurion, Nagmodala, Seltheus had unique model. Tenzen and the other had reused model, but they still felt different imo, at least more than Naja who just use a 10 month old armor.

I've nothing against them using existing npc. It was nice to see Trion and all, but none of the new people they added so far are involving storywise. It's still too early to complain about the story, but looking at the future update, I dont expect it to be 1/5 the size of CoP.

And yes, CoP did have a lot of running around, but when we got the game, there was already a bunch of mission there (promyvion, phomunia and riverne I think). Beating them was rewarding more than anything so far in ToA for me, because you had to works your ass off.

[epigram]

Well if you create an expansion like CoP based around a story you should have the story readily accessible and have challenging side content. Things like the airship BC should of never been implemented due to the sheer difficulty of it. Now if they want to add an airship rematch or something else with some nice drops then that would be great, but you shouldnt' force the people who paid for the expansion to spend millions of gil and get defeated many times over just to get the next CS.

That is why I like ToAU so far. You can do the first set of missions at level 1, yet you can also try other challenges such as assault. If they add more limbus/dynamis-like content and add BC based HNM like ouryu and bahamut 2 you have a winner.

[Kaylia]

I think you'll want to get the 4th rank in assault anyways, whether it helps you in the missions or not. SE recognized in the census that people tend to do the same 3-4 assaults (in rank 1 and 2 only) over and over because of how many points they give.
So there's at least a chance that they might give more points for a trio-able rank4 mission to give some incentive in ranking up.

They might also add more items that can be bought with IM points from sanction guys at those higher ranks.

The good news is that you can probably immediately rank up right after downloading the update, just from the rankup points from repeating the same few assaults over and over (you don't need to win each and every assault mission).

Unlikely. Your point are probably capped the same way your friendship with the npc follow was capped.

[Tymon]

And yes, CoP did have a lot of running around, but when we got the game, there was already a bunch of mission there (promyvion, phomunia and riverne I think). Beating them was rewarding more than anything so far in ToA for me, because you had to works your ass off.

damn right. my hat's off to anyone that did promyvions pre-1st nerf, aka first month of NA release. that shit was hard.

[Coephoros]

Unlikely. Your point are probably capped the same way your friendship with the npc follow was capped.

After you get your SP badge, you can still "progress" in ranking in that the mercenary assessments change as you complete additional missions. Right now, for example, I'm sitting on "Naja will contact you shortly" (or something like that), but talking to Naja doesn't trigger a new CS. I'm guessing that, after the July update, I can talk to Naja to get a new Assault rank-up quest.

[inafume]

Prishe, Ulmia, Mildaurion, Nagmodala, Seltheus had unique model. Tenzen and the other had reused model, but they still felt different imo, at least more than Naja who just use a 10 month old armor.

I've nothing against them using existing npc. It was nice to see Trion and all, but none of the new people they added so far are involving storywise. It's still too early to complain about the story, but looking at the future update, I dont expect it to be 1/5 the size of CoP.

And yes, CoP did have a lot of running around, but when we got the game, there was already a bunch of mission there (promyvion, phomunia and riverne I think). Beating them was rewarding more than anything so far in ToA for me, because you had to works your ass off.

I said 4 because I thought about it, and Mildauron and Nag'molada were existing NPC models with unique gear (like Tenzen). My 4 were Prishe, Ulmia, Selt'heus and Desparchiare, though I'm not certain if the last one was a new model or not. And Naja is all about the mace. I'm pretty sure we've not seen every new character yet.

[Kaylia]

And yes, CoP did have a lot of running around, but when we got the game, there was already a bunch of mission there (promyvion, phomunia and riverne I think). Beating them was rewarding more than anything so far in ToA for me, because you had to works your ass off.

damn right. my hat's off to anyone that did promyvions pre-1st nerf, aka first month of NA release. that shit was hard.

*remember the horror of the 3rd floor teleport with 10 stray*


There was no RR earing too. It was a one time trip where you had to keep your whm alive at any cost. Promyvion is so easy now, can get to 3rd floor with your npc, probably 4 if you try hard.

I can understand people who "leeched" everything didn't have as much fun doing CoP, but doing all mission without faqs before everyone was something I don't regret doing.

After you get your SP badge, you can still "progress" in ranking in that the mercenary assessments change as you complete additional missions. Right now, for example, I'm sitting on "Naja will contact you shortly" (or something like that), but talking to Naja doesn't trigger a new CS. I'm guessing that, after the July update, I can talk to Naja to get a new Assault rank-up quest.

What I meant is you can probably get the point up to rank 4 but cant go beyond it. You would be capped atm at 2.9 or 3.0. You will probably need another 25 points worth of mission to go from rank 4 to rank 5.

[Illverin]

And yes, CoP did have a lot of running around, but when we got the game, there was already a bunch of mission there (promyvion, phomunia and riverne I think). Beating them was rewarding more than anything so far in ToA for me, because you had to works your ass off.

damn right. my hat's off to anyone that did promyvions pre-1st nerf, aka first month of NA release. that shit was hard.

remembers taking an entire alliance to fight off the MR's in promyvions. .../shudder.

Those were some fun fights

In CoP though they really had the first patch (the patch that came out with the expansion) revolve around the CoP story. Correct me if I am wrong but I think you could go as far as U/O before you could not go any further story wise. Now while TAU has a lot of brand new content from Assaults to Beseiged (even though it was broken at first) to all the new areas (more than what CoP offered upon initial release) they may have needed to find a balance somewhere. Now while I would have liked to have at least ONE fight that was directly related to the story of TAU, I can deal. The story is compelling so far to say the least and they really put you at a good cliffhanger with the last CS with the empress Hopefully the next installment of the story lives up to the initial CSes and the rest of TAU so far

[Kaylia]

I said 4 because I thought about it, and Mildauron and Nag'molada were existing NPC models with unique gear (like Tenzen). My 4 were Prishe, Ulmia, Selt'heus and Desparchiare, though I'm not certain if the last one was a new model or not. And Naja is all about the mace. I'm pretty sure we've not seen every new character yet.

Reused or not, they all felt like unique character with personality, background developement and motive.

Naja is hot but I consider her more like one of the important city guard or something. It's not her character who will make the plot advance or anything. Her role will probably be limited to assault only, and the first ToA mission.

Beside her, I can't think of another important npc in the story. That corsair dude maybe?

Correct me if I am wrong but I think you could go as far as U/O before you could not go any further story wise.

Up to Ouryu I think. They added sacrarium --> omega 3 months after. After Ultima BC, we got stuck 3 months waiting for next patch to gain al'taieu access, another 3 months until they added pot BC and a final 3 months before they add the final one.

[Elcura]

There isn't any important ToAU characters so far if you don't count Naja, the only ones who are important haven't been shown/modelled yet (like the Walahra man and the Empress).

I want to see more of the war between BLUs and CORs (or immortals vs the seaguls)...the BLU and COR job quests were easily the best cutscenes I've seen in ToAU (second to when you trick Trion into revealing himself).

[BRP]

I disagree with you a large amount... Naja will probably play a huge role. Maybe not as much as Prishe by a fair deal, but enough to be remembered. Don't forget Assault missions seem to have a small bit of storyline themselves to tie in with the main story. The cutscene with the Dark Rider was pretty sweet.

Have you forgotten how sweet Gesho is? That guy is sick. We even found out about a new sub-race of Yagudo, the Tengu. Trion, Gesho, and Naja have made the expansion, not to forget how cool COR and BLU storylines will be.

[Kaylia]

I disagree with you a large amount... Naja will probably play a huge role. Maybe not as much as Prishe by a fair deal, but enough to be remembered. Don't forget Assault missions seem to have a small bit of storyline themselves to tie in with the main story. The cutscene with the Dark Rider was pretty sweet.

Have you forgotten how sweet Gesho is? That guy is sick. We even found out about a new sub-race of Yagudo, the Tengu. Trion, Gesho, and Naja have made the expansion, not to forget how cool COR and BLU storylines will be.

Forgot Gesho yes. We have 2 npc now

I don't expect Naja to play a big role, because she would be the first npc to be targetable AND play a big role.


I didnt said ToA cs were uninteresting, but I still enjoyed CoP cs more, and at least, they had mission to back them up. Making you wait 1 rl day in ToA between 2 delivery mission was simply retarded.

[ircgeek]

I definitely dug CoP's story, and ToAU seems promising, but what I'd really like to see is a combo of the two, similar to what they did with Apocalypse Nigh. Perhaps something with Phoenix, or (fingers crossed) executing Tenzen.

Please?

[Kaylia]

What's wrong with Tenzen


And yes, I would like to see a crossover between both. Didnt emptiness start in far east? Would be nice to know exactly what happened there.

[Julian]

What's wrong with Tenzen


And yes, I would like to see a crossover between both. Didnt emptiness start in far east? Would be nice to know exactly what happened there.

Only problem being that we're in the Near East. (unless I read what you said wrong... I do that alot <_<)

[ircgeek]

All I remember is Tenzen came from the FAR East, they were at war with the barbarian hordes (I'm assuming they meant the non-Altana worshipping Near East, since ToAU mentions warring between the two), and that Tenzen was given the Phoenix sword to combat the Emptiness in the mainland after it had wreaked havoc in his own homeland. I'm al ittle rusty, but I think that was it.

Nonetheless, they gave you plenty of info, I think, where they could set some stuff up between those storyline points in ToAU later.

Oh, and the NPC Fellowship storyline made several references to ToAU which I'm assuming will be picked up later.

[Zalius]

I disagree with you a large amount... Naja will probably play a huge role. Maybe not as much as Prishe by a fair deal, but enough to be remembered. Don't forget Assault missions seem to have a small bit of storyline themselves to tie in with the main story. The cutscene with the Dark Rider was pretty sweet.

Have you forgotten how sweet Gesho is? That guy is sick. We even found out about a new sub-race of Yagudo, the Tengu. Trion, Gesho, and Naja have made the expansion, not to forget how cool COR and BLU storylines will be.

Forgot Gesho yes. We have 2 npc now

I don't expect Naja to play a big role, because she would be the first npc to be targetable AND play a big role.


I didnt said ToA cs were uninteresting, but I still enjoyed CoP cs more, and at least, they had mission to back them up. Making you wait 1 rl day in ToA between 2 delivery mission was simply retarded.

If you think about CoP, you cant say that shit wasnt annoying as hell. I'd rather wait one day for a CS then go through vahzl and walking through Palace/garden, the missions made me more or less hate the areas. CoP would make a great like, book or something, the story was nothing short of genuine square enix material.

I honestly believe ToA is going to be much less battle and much more actual story, because that's where CoP failed; anything to do with a monster. I'd really love to have a few intense and strategic bcnm battles that required the use of meds, 2hrs, and an enormous amount of skill then to do all the gay walking from place to place.

[Kaylia]

What's wrong with Tenzen


And yes, I would like to see a crossover between both. Didnt emptiness start in far east? Would be nice to know exactly what happened there.

Only problem being that we're in the Near East. (unless I read what you said wrong... I do that alot <_<)

Dude. The boat take 30 minutes to get there. Don't come tell me it's "Near" East cause, that seemed far


You're probably right, but I still hope it's the same. I want to see more altana related stuff.

All I remember is Tenzen came from the FAR East, they were at war with the barbarian hordes (I'm assuming they meant the non-Altana worshipping Near East, since ToAU mentions warring between the two), and that Tenzen was given the Phoenix sword to combat the Emptiness in the mainland after it had wreaked havoc in his own homeland. I'm al ittle rusty, but I think that was it.

Nonetheless, they gave you plenty of info, I think, where they could set some stuff up between those storyline points in ToAU later.

Well, the mirror having 5 small circle on it make me think they could related it once again to Altana story. I hope in the end, it will fit in the big picture because after saving the world from one of the two god, I don't expect anything less

If you think about CoP, you cant say that shit wasnt annoying as hell. I'd rather wait one day for a CS then go through vahzl and walking through Palace/garden, the missions made me more or less hate the areas. CoP would make a great like, book or something, the story was nothing short of genuine square enix material.

Palace mission wasnt the best, but that's like judging ToA with lebros supply and orichalcon survey.

Personally, I loved CoP and never miss the chance to help for any of them. I've done all of them over 20 times and got at least 40-50people from promyvion to Altaieu. Some peolpe prefer to do worthwhile thing in term of money, but I love hanging in those area, and BC still give me adrenaline rush after so long.

[Zalius]

What's wrong with Tenzen


And yes, I would like to see a crossover between both. Didnt emptiness start in far east? Would be nice to know exactly what happened there.

Only problem being that we're in the Near East. (unless I read what you said wrong... I do that alot <_<)

Dude. The boat take 30 minutes to get there. Don't come tell me it's "Near" East cause, that seemed far


You're probably right, but I still hope it's the same. I want to see more altana related stuff.

All I remember is Tenzen came from the FAR East, they were at war with the barbarian hordes (I'm assuming they meant the non-Altana worshipping Near East, since ToAU mentions warring between the two), and that Tenzen was given the Phoenix sword to combat the Emptiness in the mainland after it had wreaked havoc in his own homeland. I'm al ittle rusty, but I think that was it.

Nonetheless, they gave you plenty of info, I think, where they could set some stuff up between those storyline points in ToAU later.

Well, the mirror having 5 small circle on it make me think they could related it once again to Altana story. I hope in the end, it will fit in the big picture because after saving the world from one of the two god, I don't expect anything less



If you think about CoP, you cant say that shit wasnt annoying as hell. I'd rather wait one day for a CS then go through vahzl and walking through Palace/garden, the missions made me more or less hate the areas. CoP would make a great like, book or something, the story was nothing short of genuine square enix material.

If you think about CoP, you cant say that shit wasnt annoying as hell. I'd rather wait one day for a CS then go through vahzl and walking through Palace/garden, the missions made me more or less hate the areas. CoP would make a great like, book or something, the story was nothing short of genuine square enix material.

Palace mission wasnt the best, but that's like judging ToA with lebros supply and orichalcon survey.

Personally, I loved CoP and never miss the chance to help for any of them. I've done all of them over 20 times and got at least 40-50people from promyvion to Altaieu. Some peolpe prefer to do worthwhile thing in term of money, but I love hanging in those area, and BC still give me adrenaline rush after so long.

I refuse to read any of that until you fix my double quote.

[Kaylia]

Oops. Boss was walking behind and I posted too quick. Didnt notice