Overpowered?

That's just dirty. The only damage type I have poor resistance too and defense debuffs.

Don't make me get my mastermind out.

That's kind of the point isn't it? If you ever start thinking you're too invincible, remember that there are still enemies against which you're not.

Now I'm not saying I can't defeat them. I just can't do it at +4/x8 while I'm making a sandwich.

And that's pretty much WAI in my book.

There is no complaining here, just wondering if what is to come is going to be insane.

They've already said that by the time we have 10 Incarnate slots, a lot of the Trials will be quite easy - but that they've got something else lined up after that

Just so long as the real game gets some neat and reasonable challenges, too.

This kind of approach bugs me a little. Not the "having fun" part... Not entirely. I mean the notion that the point of the Incarnate system is to get more powerful. I know that in itself can be fun, but I keep thinking that's missing the point of getting more powerful in the broader sense. Personally, I'd like to see getting powerful have an ultimate point somewhere down the line, above and beyond giving you the ability to become even more powerful.

It's the old "raid for gear, gear to raid with" conundrum. To what end? This reminds me of the mentality from the movie Other People's Money, where Danny DeVito explained why people got caught up in the vicious cycle of making money so they could invest and make more money over and over again: "You make as much money as you can, and whoever has the most when he dies wins." It strikes me as an exercise without a purpose, a story without an end, a perpetual cycle of power creep... But for what purpose?

I don't know, maybe I just don't get it.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Because it's fun? New powers gives you new ways to use them which means the devs can devise new challenges.

I mean, it is, after all, a game.

Use them on what? That's my question. A lot of games gate content based on character power. You can't enter the zone of eternal darkness because those shadow spiders will eat you alive. But, sure enough, find the glowing sword and the Armadura Del Sol and you can now take on the spiders and explore their realm. Earning new powers for the sole reason of earning more new powers off the same content strikes me as an exercise in spinning your wheels.

I'm a fan of levelling characters up, myself, and even I'll tell you that "new powers" make up a fairly small part of a character's overall progression. Much of this progression consists of seeing new locations open up to you, meeting newer and more powerful enemies who apply more advance tactics (or, usually, just cheaper powers) and taking on more grandiose tasks. I couldn't use Greater Fire Sword against Dr. Vahzilok because I genuinely didn't need it, but now that I'm fighting the real Nemesis, I'm going to need that and more.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

u r so tough lol cn i be ur pal???

No, because you're named after a bad truck.

The MMO genre in a nutshell. If you're really dedicated, though, you find ways to use those powers to ignore playing the game, in order to get new powers.

Then, brag to your buddies how you skipped more of the game than they did, making you super duper awesome!

I really don't think so. Both trials are quite basic, and the novelty runs off fairly quickly.

I think that the Comimng Storm will spill over into the non-Incarnate part of the game, even if the main part of the storyline is focused on Trials

I definitely agree with you on the endless cycle of earning stuff to beat stuff to earn stuff.

In Final Fantasy X I spent hundreds of hours capturing every monster, made the best armors, earned the celestial weapons, re-built the sphere grid and maxed out my stats on every character. I fought enemies with millions of HP that were several magnitudes stronger than the final boss, which I could beat in 2 turns.

So what was the point? Getting so powerful that the game effectively became trivial?

I dunno. But I had fun doing it.