Female-Only Gear

[Lv 20 Bolting Bot]

How does this make sense? It's one of the reasons I play female now (along with wanting to control a big German woman).

I know there is male-only gear, too, but it seems to be only sets that pop up in your storage. Meanwhile, Madeleine sells all kinds of (good!) female-only gear. It also happens to look awesome. OK, so there are some skirts; why not at least let it be an option for males to wear them? They are really overpowered, too, if you get them as soon as the idol quest opens up.

But then there are the female-only cowls like my fav Sultry Cowl. They look awesome, but why can males not wear them? They're cowls; a guy would look awesome wearing that, too.

This struck me as kind of weird. You keep finding female-only gear, but male-only gear is pretty much non-existent. I wonder why that is.

[Huggles the Cat]

I never eally payed attention to the stats on them. Are they really that good? Also, I aggree that it seems odd to have those when there is such a lack of male restricied gear. I play females for this same reason (though it feels refreshing to play a male from time to time).

[Lv 20 Bolting Bot]

Originally posted by Mr.Huggles:

I never eally payed attention to the stats on them. Are they really that good? Also, I aggree that it seems odd to have those when there is such a lack of male restricied gear. I play females for this same reason (though it feels refreshing to play a male from time to time).

The expensive gear from Madeleine (~200K+) is insane for that point in the game. Sultry Cowl is probably the best example. It's basically impossible to replace it pre-dragon unless you go to BBI early, although it costs like 270K. Not that that's much in Hard Mode. The Sultry Pareo being another good one. I just think it's weird that females get such incredible gear at the time while males have nothing going for them.

[Huggles the Cat]

Originally posted by Aesheon:

Originally posted by Mr.Huggles:

I never eally payed attention to the stats on them. Are they really that good? Also, I aggree that it seems odd to have those when there is such a lack of male restricied gear. I play females for this same reason (though it feels refreshing to play a male from time to time).

The expensive gear from Madeleine (~200K+) is insane for that point in the game. Sultry Cowl is probably the best example. It's basically impossible to replace it pre-dragon unless you go to BBI early, although it costs like 270K. Not that that's much in Hard Mode. The Sultry Pareo being another good one. I just think it's weird that females get such incredible gear at the time while males have nothing going for them.

I know that a lot of planed content never made it into game because of time constrains. It's likely that male specific gear is part of the lost content.

[Karathrax]

Actually, a lot of Madeleine's Gold Idol exclusive gear (but not all of it) can be found in the Blighted Manse. The rest of it can be found by save-scumming the Everfall.

...Should one want to take the time doing that.

The best female-only piece of armor, once gold dragonforged, is the Delta Guard and that's not from Madeleine.

[Lv 20 Bolting Bot]

Originally posted by Karathrax:

Actually, a lot of Madeleine's Gold Idol exclusive gear (but not all of it) can be found in the Blighted Manse. The rest of it can be found by save-scumming the Everfall.

...Should one want to take the time doing that.

Yeah. I mean, it's not OP later, but considering you can get it so early with the gold idol, it easily overpowers every other available piece of equipment at the time. Even now (just before dragon), the other pieces of headgear don't reach the Sultry Cowl, which you get right after meeting the duke. That's what's a bit silly.

[Karathrax]

I believe a lot of the game's armor/weapon progression was kind of messed up because of the release of two separate versions of the game on console. If one played the first release, the very best armor you could have was the Abyssinal set, coupled with a Tattered Mantle and a Dragonsblood ring.

Now, not so much-- but you still have to kill the same (relatively) difficult boss to acquire the Abyssinal set.

[Lv 20 Bolting Bot]

Originally posted by Karathrax:

I believe a lot of the game's armor/weapon progression was kind of messed up because of the two separate versions of the game on console. If one played the first release, the very best armor you could have was the Abyssinal set, coupled with a Tattered Mantle and a Dragonsblood ring.

Now, not so much-- but you still have to kill the same (relatively) difficult boss to acquire the Abyssinal set.

True. There are some other things that don't make sense, like ferrystones while you get the eternal one for free.

[Huggles the Cat]

Originally posted by Aesheon:

Originally posted by Karathrax:

I believe a lot of the game's armor/weapon progression was kind of messed up because of the two separate versions of the game on console. If one played the first release, the very best armor you could have was the Abyssinal set, coupled with a Tattered Mantle and a Dragonsblood ring.

Now, not so much-- but you still have to kill the same (relatively) difficult boss to acquire the Abyssinal set.

True. There are some other things that don't make sense, like ferrystones while you get the eternal one for free.

The eternal ferry stone was originally a special item, exclusive to players of the original game that transfered their save file into Dark Arisen (the console version, not the pc port). This was the only way to get it and was something of a rare and prized reward that acted as a "thanks for your support" from the developer/publisher since these players were effectivly buying the game twice and through their initial support, made it possilbe for the further development of the game (since it's dlc would most likely have no happened if initial sales and reception was poor). Back then, ferry stones were a prized comodity for players that only have the original version or dark arisen but not the original version. I think it is great to have included the eternal ferry stone in the pc port, but it maybe could have been restricted in some way (either as a cheap DLC or restricted until further in the game's main story).

[Lv 20 Bolting Bot]

Originally posted by Mr.Huggles:

I think it is great to have included the eternal ferry stone in the pc port, but it maybe could have been restricted in some way (either as a cheap DLC or restricted until further in the game's main story).

I think it's great, too. I believe it would actually have been silly to restrict it and was silly when they did. As of right now, the game has a great mix of having to actually explore and at the same time not wasting your time with pointless padding in the form of walking where you've already walked. Smart placement of the stones can prevent wasting time, but not the initial walk; that's really good, something more games should do. I think that limited teleportation would detract from the game and make it a drag, but I like that I can't just fast travel to anywhere. It's a great balance as it is now, imo.

[Ͽ҈҉Ͼ]

Originally posted by Karathrax:

I believe a lot of the game's armor/weapon progression was kind of messed up because of the release of two separate versions of the game on console. If one played the first release, the very best armor you could have was the Abyssinal set, coupled with a Tattered Mantle and a Dragonsblood ring.

Now, not so much-- but you still have to kill the same (relatively) difficult boss to acquire the Abyssinal set.

Additionally, prior to BBI, you never really encountered petrification or posession often enough to start using equipment designed to make your pawn immune to it. Your most common affliction would have been curse, poison, blindness, or sleep, all of which are of little consequence compared to physical or magical defences. In many ways it was a very different game.

I would still not say that female armor is statistically better, but more the fact that it offers more options for equipment or rather meeting those requirements of complete petrification and posession immunity. For the most part it's just being able to have immunity without just using the full set of gold rarified BBI level 3 armor. Defensewise though, you lose most the physical defense looking for alternatives for debilitation protection.

The reality is that they just didn't have the time or money to spend on making a male model for things like a corset, thong, or wrap skirt thingy. Gender restricted clothing is something very common in RPG type games coming out of Japan, not because it's something inherently Japanese, but because Western developers usually don't even bother to add in anything that isn't designed for a male character. You're either stuck with a male protagonist or are stuck with a very linear equipment system where there is virtually no difference (looking at you Skyrim). Women wearing masculine garb is an accepted thing. Men wearing feminine garb is not and usually a component related to comedy or more commonly these days, shoehorning the characted into some sort of "alternative lifestyle representation" trope.

[nakaVS]

This really bugged me when you see those end game outfits as well.

[nakaVS]

Originally posted by Mr.Huggles:

Originally posted by Aesheon:

True. There are some other things that don't make sense, like ferrystones while you get the eternal one for free.

The eternal ferry stone was originally a special item, exclusive to players of the original game that transfered their save file into Dark Arisen (the console version, not the pc port). This was the only way to get it and was something of a rare and prized reward that acted as a "thanks for your support" from the developer/publisher since these players were effectivly buying the game twice and through their initial support, made it possilbe for the further development of the game (since it's dlc would most likely have no happened if initial sales and reception was poor). Back then, ferry stones were a prized comodity for players that only have the original version or dark arisen but not the original version. I think it is great to have included the eternal ferry stone in the pc port, but it maybe could have been restricted in some way (either as a cheap DLC or restricted until further in the game's main story).

This is a very valid point. My one gripe I have with the game (besides the obv weak plot production) was that the eternal stone made progression trivial once you learned how to abuse it. Not a huge gripe, bc you obv hit a point where the cost of ferrystones is trivial, but I'm sure you get where I'm coming from. This should have been a new game+ item IMO.

[Huggles the Cat]

Originally posted by nakaVS:

Originally posted by Mr.Huggles:

The eternal ferry stone was originally a special item, exclusive to players of the original game that transfered their save file into Dark Arisen (the console version, not the pc port). This was the only way to get it and was something of a rare and prized reward that acted as a "thanks for your support" from the developer/publisher since these players were effectivly buying the game twice and through their initial support, made it possilbe for the further development of the game (since it's dlc would most likely have no happened if initial sales and reception was poor). Back then, ferry stones were a prized comodity for players that only have the original version or dark arisen but not the original version. I think it is great to have included the eternal ferry stone in the pc port, but it maybe could have been restricted in some way (either as a cheap DLC or restricted until further in the game's main story).

This is a very valid point. My one gripe I have with the game (besides the obv weak plot production) was that the eternal stone made progression trivial once you learned how to abuse it. Not a huge gripe, bc you obv hit a point where the cost of ferrystones is trivial, but I'm sure you get where I'm coming from. This should have been a new game+ item IMO.

I don't fault the story for being bad. My biggest gripe is the super short deadline capcom game themselves for this that prevented their original long story, extra equipment, extra story NPC's, more involved NPC's, larger world, more zones, more towns, and finished vocations (yes, the warrior was unfinished). If there's any fault, it's rushed development.

[Karathrax]

"This is a very valid point. My one gripe I have with the game (besides the obv weak plot production) was that the eternal stone made progression trivial once you learned how to abuse it. Not a huge gripe, bc you obv hit a point where the cost of ferrystones is trivial, but I'm sure you get where I'm coming from. This should have been a new game+ item IMO."

...which is amusingly ironic, because the biggest complaint from the initial console release was OMG NO FAST TRAVEL, and the endless complaining and continual assertions from people who didn't play the game long enough to find out that fast travel actually existed led to the Eternal Ferrystone's design.

In actuality, you had to buy Ferrystones at 20k each, and you didn't have more than one Portcrystal until you hit NG+ (which was the one in the Bluemoon Tower), when they were stocked by Mountebank for 200,000 Gold.

Dark Arisen's revisions included earlier release of fast travel by making five free Portcrystals available per playthrough, and if one didn't have an Eternal Ferrystone due to upgrading from the vanilla version, well... Ferrystone prices were dropped to 2k apiece.

[nakaVS]

I feel ya Huggles. Most games don't have time to include everything. We as gamers (and most of the devs) want pure art, but companies are for profit. Tough one. Truly hard to find that perfect situation, but when it happens, great games are made. I think of Bioware pre EA as an example of this. DAO to this day for me is the last RPG that really hit every single mark. Story, graphics, combat...it was all perfect for the time it was done. You can really tell they were rushed here, especially toward the end. Still, this game is amazing in spite of that.