::Out-of-Character Forum::

[Rummy J]

What an interesting turn of events.  

[Eretequis]

Nylocke is very thick headed it seems.  

[Rednal]

I suddenly imagine a BM going "You... shall not... PASS!" at the front door. XD  

[Eretequis]

lol.  

[Yamiko Enoki]

*hugs on a Rummy* Time for me to write a Ozzie >o< *vanish*  

[Arena Emperor]

Seems as good a time as any for Red to explain the mechanics of NPC battles...if you guys haven't read the FAQ and figured it out already.

In short, the way we battle NPC characters is on a reactionary basis...he makes a move and you guys' posts are made in reaction to it...treating everything that is said in the NPC's posts as fact (as in, without debate, this is what happened story-wise) that you will react to in your next turn. This may mean that the NPC says in his post he hit or knocked your character around, or that your attack hit him or missed with...this is usually done fairly, with regards to levels of the characters compared to that of the NPC.

To balance out the fact that the NPC (kind of like a DM) gets to say what hits and what doesn't, you can never die in an NPC fight unless it's stated ahead of time that certain actions in-fight could lead to death. Even then, you usually get warned you're doing something dangerous.

In the case of the Tower, if you choose to attack him for some reason, you still won't be killed this time. So you have a little bit of a safety net to test things out.

...

Red will answer any other questions you have!
-back to typing-

 

[Rednal]

Ask away! I'll try to answer as quickly as I can. XD; May take a few minutes, though.  

[Eretequis]

So that ??? person is the tower?  

[Arena Emperor]

Posted! And no, ??? person is a shadow wraith...just a dying shadow...and it was just devoured by the guy that's blocking your path. XD

 

[Rummy J]

So, in reaction to an NPC, if I intend to strike, would I post as my character attempting to strike it and the result is posted in the NPC's response? How much can be done in a single turn? Is there a post order? Can I react to another person's response for a team attack? Could I spend a turn guarding myself or another person?

I'm sure I have more, but I think I should let you answer these first.  

[Arena Emperor]

Yes, you post your attempt to strike and the NPC's response will tell you if it landed. You are allowed to respond to any attacks made upon you in your turn AND make an attack of your own, assuming you didn't get KO'd or status effected. The post order is [NPC Enemy] -> [Everybody else ONE TIME] - > [NPC Enemy]. So you get one post before you wait for the NPC. Also, if people not the NPC take too long to post, the NPC will skip them and post again...though they will usually try not to knock out those who didn't post unless they don't post for a couple turns.

You are allowed to use your turn to try and guard yourself and/or someone else, but only the NPC's post will tell you if you were successful or not. Lots of powerful NPCs can use Piercing techniques as well, which render guards useless, so you'll want to be careful about using that as a be-all/end-all to stay alive. You'll want to fight some, too.

And if you want to combo with someone else to attack at the same time, you may. There IS a system for Fusion Raids between you and someone else, but I wouldn't worry about that for your first fight or two. Try getting used to the basics first.

 

[Eretequis]

Should I treat the attack on Nylocke as a battle situation or should I treat it as a sort of cutscene since we're given an in game option?  

[Rednal]

Generally speaking, one action per round. o wo

I define an 'Action' as Normal Attack / Item Use / Any Skill that would require a cost, basically. ^^  

[Yamiko Enoki]

Snakes seem to be a sort of theme in this guild.  

[Arena Emperor]

Just treat it like a cutscene for now. He was mostly just rebuffing you from entering the Tower.
What you want to do now is respond to him, make your choice, RP it out. You are welcome to keep attacking if you want...but it's probably not a good idea.

His next post will reveal how he responds to your answers.

(Also, as you may or may not have noticed, we have levels called 'Tiers' which tell you how powerful your character is in comparison with certain NPCs and other characters. Tiers are a general ranking of how tough one guy is compared to others. It is not impossible for someone a Tier below another to win a fight against them if they fight perfectly, but beating someone more than one Tier above you on your own is really hard (emphasizing teamwork as a must). More than two Tiers is basically impossible without a big team...and Hetero, as you will see, is currently ranked on the God Tier...making him about as impossible an enemy to beat alone as you will meet.)