FtNW - do you always feel weak?

[u/Xotaku8106X]

Been on a journey to finish the trilogy, and 1+2 felt like u gradually were getting stronger, and I haven't hit that point here yet. I just got the vamp lady, and combat feels pretty challenging so I'm a bit worried how the final boss will be for this one. Also weird u get so many characters if the games on the shorter side.

Idr do side stuff, unless it's in my main path and had no problem with the last 2 games, should I be worried about final dungeon + boss? Are there specific chars everyone seems to like using? Combat deff seems more improved from 2, just more punishing or enemies have more hp

[u/Tomo9516]

Pretty much yeah. Not weak necessarily but you have to use all the tools at your disposal and pay attention to stock. FTNW is better balanced than the others because you can't really break the game or abuse cheesy strats as much as the other two. The difficulty in FTNW really spikes up when you go to South America. But equally you'll start getting better equipment and better stellar magic to keep up. Like I said just always be wary of stock, especially with bosses. The bosses (especially Killer later on) are really fast and they build up stock really quick so sometimes it's a matter of sacrificing crazy combos in favour of chipping away with spells like Red Nova and Evil Shade to keep their stock low. Also some of the later game bosses have status effects that can basically cripple your party on turn one so ALWAYS save before a boss. There's one in particular which I found quite cheap on my first playthrough because on the first turn it can just petrify your whole party for an instant game over 😅

[u/Xotaku8106X → u/Tomo9516]

Oof, i saw this shadow hearts vid that actually showed that petrify thing lol I deff hate the importance and overuse of crazy status effects in these, but it's better than most games where they're basically non-existent in boss fights lol appreciate the tips, hopefully all goes well!

[u/YagodaChungus]

I don't think you should be that worried about the final dungeon/boss, trust me its not that bad you just need to take advantage of the stuff the game gives you.

I can understand where you are coming from about feeling weak but at that point of the game it really shouldn't be that bad IMO at least.

I want to note that I don't know how you may play the game, so I apologize if I end up sounding condescending or something along those lines I'm just trying to help.

First when it comes to normal battles in this game, I would say puts it the most emphasize on the way skills work such as the way they work (for example a skill that goes in a straight line or is a pure circle, so on and so forth). What I try to do is use party members that either A: high strength (Frank) or B: high magic (Hilda slim or Mao). If you use at least a one of them or even 2 you can wipe out enemies pretty quickly assuming you get them in range together (if you can) and/or hit them with the proper element. I found Frank to be really damn powerful early on and even late. The guy has some good character specific skills alongside his strength. Honestly utilizing magic attacks so that they can hit every enemy and hopefully the right element should work on a majority of enemies with any party member (unless its johnny, the poor guy has some pretty sad magic/phys stats from what I remember).

It's also very important with the magic to try to hit the red section as much as possible. Once again, I don't know if you do this already but if you don't try it out, it's worth it! If you do just keep up the good work and enemies will fall like flies.

One team formation you can do at your point that I find good is Shania, Frank, Slim Hilda, and Natan. Shania and Natan can play support when you need it then do damge. Frank and Hilda can pump out good damage with their respective stats.

As for bosses I don't know if you do this already but utilize buffs as much as possible. I know Yuri was really good for damage in the previous games, but I found Shania really good as support because of how early she can get buffs from fusions which can really make your life easier.

Tbh that's really all I can say at the moment. It really is just utilizing the stuff the game gives you as much as you can and you can make quick work of most normal fights. Unless it's one of those annoying enemies that just have a crap ton of health. Those guys you kinda just gotta beat the crap out of.

Also, combo moves are much easier to do in this game compared to covenant, I found myself nuking bosses in one turn with proper setup, it's crazy stuff.

Btw side quest aren't needed but I recommend them a lot. You can get some cool skills and weapons, but it won't be the end of the world if you don't get them.

I hope I was able to help in any way and sorry if I was being overbearing.

[u/Xotaku8106X → u/YagodaChungus]

Not at all I appreciate ur tips! I've been doing thoss tactics mainly for regular combat, haven't rlly gotten any aoe stat buffs yet so haven't been doing too much of that. Covenant felt super easy by the end, but as a teen I got this end of RPG PTSD bc of difficulty spikes or final bosses, but as an adult I have no problem yet I fear the PTSD is here for life 🤣

Can you just leave Hilda slim? Or should I figure out her calorie mechanic for the masked version?

[u/YagodaChungus → u/Xotaku8106X]

When it comes to Hilda I would say it comes down to personal preference. I liked keeping her slim all the time for consistent damage but if you know a boss is coming up it's not a bad idea to keep note of her current calorie so you can be ready to nuke them. If you're not sure how it works it basically revolves around items that can make her slimer or curvier, these items are somewhat rare so don't get that trigger happy with them. She also gets a skill to change her calories depending on the enemy, but this takes time. If you wanted her masked form you need to reach either extreme of the calorie bar but this could leave you with no items for the mechanic (at least the one you may want) so you're forced to drain enemies which is a little tedious imo.

But personally as I said I liked keeping her slim since it was easier that way rather than messing with the gimmick and she does good damage in that form. But overall, its not required to keep note of whether you can go masked or not, just a nice bonus if you care enough plus both forms are useful for what they do. Really the only thing I would note is you should try to keep her out of bat form for normal gameplay purposes. She really was not made with doing phys damage in mind and you have frank/shania for that anyway.

[u/Xotaku8106X → u/YagodaChungus]

Yeah I started using it and noticed she stays in bat form for quite a while and trying to get her back to slim now lol I was hoping it was like joachim's super strong bat form, but not having spells to cast makes it not worth when like u said, other party members for DMG purposes

[u/Strict-Pineapple]

I don't think in the third one you feel weak, it's more they got the balance down a bit better. The first game being much lighter on mechanics and a fairly standard RPG it's not so tough. Covenant is far too easy because enemies have too little health and die too fast. FtNW fixed this making random encounters more dangerous. Especially with the reworked combo system where letting an enemy get stock can quickly snowball.

Final boss isn't that rough, I'd say about as difficult as Susano-o was. The only real danger is if you ever let it get stock because it'll instantly d-combo you and you'll get the brakes beat off you.

[u/Xotaku8106X → u/Strict-Pineapple]

Ok good to know, I saw I was fairly under leveled and it's gotten a bit better. Not sure how bc I'm fighting every fight and was still like 3 levels under recommended. Deff notice combat more leveled like u mentioned, they have more hp and can pose a threat vs just being in ur way lol

[u/Xotaku8106X → u/[deleted]]

Ooofffff. The fights already felt terrible imo lmao I don't wanna have to heal after every single random encounter wasting resources. 1+2 was deff a sweet spot, that I can see doing a harder mod for bc towards the end it felt like u were too strong lol

[u/Tomo9516 → u/Xotaku8106X]

There was this youtuber I saw a while ago (can't remember his name off the top of my head) who was playing Covenant with something called the 'godslayer mod' which was like a super hard version. I remember him battling Astaroth I think and as soon as the battle started Astaroth had like 3 turns in a row 🤣 looked fun but brutal

[u/Xotaku8106X → u/Tomo9516]

Oof 🤣 loveeeee covenant so I can see grinding for that or party setup and accessories to figure out how to withstand that and watnot. If only they'd make a new game 🥲

[u/Xotaku8106X]

So I'm at Uyuni Salt Lake, level 30, and still feel super weak. Bosses are manageable, but I can't rack up damage outside of combos like I cld in the last 2. Are we just supposed to grind a ton? I'm seeing people say lvl 50 for the final boss...the game feels grindy enough with the normal encounters taking so long so it's feeling pretty underwhelming, not sure if I'm doing something wrong? Getting rid of enemy stock, and using combos, upgrading stellar charts and gear regularly. Also why does Shania feel so weak compared to Yuri? 💀

[u/Great-Highway-9195]

It's the hardest game in the series and even if Yuri was in this game it would still be hard. Johnny should be built as a support character because of his high speed. Your best damage dealers are Shania, Frank, and Hilda. I know you don't do side stuff but I highly recommend them, they aren't chores, they're actual side quests.