[SPOILERS] Late game Serena

[it's a gabe]

Once again, spoilers ahead. You've been warned.

I get that they had to kill Veronica because they had to keep the travelling party down to 7 characters. I could get over that if she wasn't a great spellcaster, whereas Rab is so underwhelming with his minuscule pool of spells.

And then, to make up for that, they gave all of her spells and skills to Serena, who's a natural healer. For crying out loud, the goddess set only increases her magical mending! I know better than to give my primary healer offensive spells, so it bugs me that the devs don't know that. I mean, it was already a pain making Rab function as both healer and caster throughout act 2, but now they expect me to balance a healer so that she gets more magical might by losing quite a great deal of the stat that makes her good. UGH!

I am quite sour about that. Veronica's death didn't even have any emotional effect on me cuz you could tell they did it solely to keep the party down to 7. It's sudden, fleeting, and everyone moves on instantly. I get Rab's plot relevance, but I'd much rather he stayed dead instead.

Anyway... Does Serena get any better at spellcasting later, like at post-game or something? I'm *so* frustrated about this stupid decision to kill Veronica that I must at least know if I'll have to just live with it or if Serena actually makes up for it later.

[Illusion of Progress]

First of all, keep playing.

Veronica's death seems to have gotten mixed results.

As a story development, it was one of the strongest moments for me, especially with how Erik strongly reacted. Sure, he simply punches a tree to his side, facing away, with a strong "no!" but... man that was strong especially from him. He's come a long way from the simple thief he was. I don't think the death of Rab would have been as impactful, at least in that moment and how it was presented. It had potential given his ties to the hero and the royal family of Dundrasil, though.

From a gameplay perspective, it wasn't done to keep character count at eight as it's at seven. I thought it was creative though (if in a simple way) how the two sisters' character builders overlay to make a complete one of the two opposite halves in shape, and I overlooked that before it happened. As for actual gameplay, some people didn't mind because Serena, while she is the best healer in the game, might do that so well that she often has idle time and... nothing to fill that gap in with (Rab might be not as good of a healer but he can make use of such idle time; notice how Serena has high magical mending stat, Veronica had high magical might, and Rab is a slightly lesser than what either of the sisters excel at but is a more balance of both stats). At least, this is truer earlier on and without draconian quests on. With Serena being two characters in one now, she doesn't have that problem as much. There might be some armor for her that can raise her magical might stat (offhand I'm not positive but I'd wager a guess there is) but yeah you'll be giving up her new fancy cosmetic changing one (and maybe using one that's a downgrade in some other stat categories) to do so.

Lastly, keep playing.

[it's a gabe]

Originally posted by Illusion of Progress:

First of all, keep playing.

Veronica's death seems to have gotten mixed results.

As a story development, it was one of the strongest moments for me, especially with how Erik strongly reacted. Sure, he simply punches a tree to his side, facing away, with a strong "no!" but... man that was strong especially from him. He's come a long way from the simple thief he was. I don't think the death of Rab would have been as impactful, at least in that moment and how it was presented. It had potential given his ties to the hero and the royal family of Dundrasil, though.

From a gameplay perspective, it wasn't done to keep character count at eight as it's at seven. I thought it was creative though (if in a simple way) how the two sisters' character builders overlay to make a complete one of the two opposite halves in shape, and I overlooked that before it happened. As for actual gameplay, some people didn't mind because Serena, while she is the best healer in the game, might do that so well that she often has idle time and... nothing to fill that gap in with (Rab might be not as good of a healer but he can make use of such idle time; notice how Serena has high magical mending stat, Veronica had high magical might, and Rab is a slightly lesser than what either of the sisters excel at but is a more balance of both stats). At least, this is truer earlier on and without draconian quests on. With Serena being two characters in one now, she doesn't have that problem as much. There might be some armor for her that can raise her magical might stat (offhand I'm not positive but I'd wager a guess there is) but yeah you'll be giving up her new fancy cosmetic changing one (and maybe using one that's a downgrade in some other stat categories) to do so.

Lastly, keep playing.

Oh, yeah. I don't know why the hell I counted 8 and 9 in my head. Go figure I better fix that before it causes any confusion.

I'm about to go into the castle now. I've a feeling I might play all the way through post-game, too. I've been playing nothing but DQ11 for a while now (maybe just a week, but it feels much longer, which is actually good cuz I'm having a lot of fun) and I don't think I'ma stop after the credits roll.

You make a good point in regards to idle time, though. I usually end up having to keep buffs up and healing more so than casting spells, so that's rarely the case for me. But I can see that being useful against smaller enemies, for example. Guess I just gotta take advantage of the fact that we can swap equipment mid-battle without spending a turn.

I am hopeful that you're saying "keep playing" cuz this is gonna become worthwhile. Even after I tried to balance her for magical might with some heavy wand bonuses and balanced gear, she still has higher mending. Heck, I cast multiheal earlier and Erik went from low health all the way up to full even though she had a heavy wand equipped. Sigh... Oh well, Mordegon ain't gonna defeat himself. I better get to it.

[Illusion of Progress]

Definitely. Post-game may have story pacing slowed a bit since you're doing so much side-stuff but it's not really post-game. It's literally a third of the game, give or take. Even though the credits fake role before that last stretch, there is a lot of new story stuff after as well a true ending (with more credits) after that. Stopping after act 2 isn't finishing the game IMO.

Yeah, if you don't have so much "idle time" (not healing/buff) with Serena then I can see how this would seem to be a bad thing gameplay-wise, since you're tied up healing so you effecitvely just lose your mage, but I didn't have that experience. If anything, it freed up a character slot and allowed me to get more roles into a single lineup. It's been a short while since I played but I thought Serena got some sort of stats boost at that part of the game too so it somewhat should make up from not getting it from her armor. Could be wrong but at any rate, I didn't recall any difficulty using her for both roles after that part of the game. I treated her as both characters in one rather than a healer that does both and lacks magical might. Having high magical mending doesn't her magical might is low. Again, might not be as high as Veronica's but I didn't notice notice a drawback much, at least not one big enough to offset her added versatility.

If you really want to open Serena up to offensive spells only and not have the healing tie up her turns, you can try and make Rab a dedicated Healer (if he's not already) since until post-game, I've always thought that was better than using claws on him.

[Zapix]

I basically resorted to using Rab as a healer and Serena as offensive. I was never into using claws anyways, so this made sense for Rab.
Veronica was really the only character I didn't care about, but I still felt awful for Serena and the group. Her voice actress was the only one that hurt to listen to. But I agree, dumping Veronica's abilities onto Serena was jarring.
That said... You'll want to keep playing and make your way through act 3.

[Dagný]

Originally posted by unnecesaurus (ꈍ ꒳ ꈍ✿):

Anyway... Does Serena get any better at spellcasting later, like at post-game or something?

No, quite the contrary for plot reasons. The goddess set is a good one to start the post-game, it's pointless before that. During the 2nd act the way to play serena is to equip every single item/equipment to upgrade her magical might.

Acts 1 and 3 I use serena as a healer/fighter, she has new spear skills to use on act 3 (again, I use equipment to upgrade her strength).. not as good as Jade's but it's still usable so she can be deadly against single enemies with Crushed Ice. Her wind spells aren't too shabby either.