Lurker > MalcolmMasher

In Gen I, critical hit rate ran off your Speed stat. So Pokemon like Persian, Tauros, Dugtrio,... were used a lot purely because their high Speed stat allowed them to crit often. Scyther wasn't used a lot (because Bug/Flying isn't/wasn't a good type), but if it was used, that was the strategy to go for as well: Agility+Slash.

IIRC in Gen 1 it was something like Crit Rate = Base Speed / 512, except for moves like Slash, which got Base Speed / 64 and were thus guaranteed for many Pokemon.

Gen 2 and 3 gave high crit moves a base 25% crit rate. Apparently that was reduced to 12.5% starting in Gen 4. So, high crit moves are weaker in Soul Silver than they were in original GSC, let alone RBY.
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Bulbapedia says that if you have a Lv42 Houndour in Gen 4, it should know Fire Fang already! :P
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Ark's savage mode massively increases its damage dealt and its damage taken. If you're not breaking savage, physical units will actually deal more damage to Ark than they will to Doomgaze! So, giving Ramza some holy offense for this fight isn't crazy. But, if you have Awakenings (and nowadays you probably do), then it is less clear. I suppose there's always Wrath/Entrust.
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EDIT: Had to fix the spoiler tags. Is there any HTML-like way to do them?

I think you're looking for My Settings -> Advanced Settings -> Message Posting Form. Has Classic and What You See Is What You Get options available.
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Yes to both.
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If the goal is to give him something less pedestrian, I think I have to reject Zubat. >_> Farfetch'd makes sense, though.

Johto's gyms don't share any types with Kanto's, which is clearly deliberate, and early GSC gyms favor Fire > Water > Grass instead of Grass > Water > Fire, which I also think is deliberate but will admit is not as clear cut. But, if my assumptions are right, GameFreak had limited options. Steel and Ice would yield the desired results typewise, at least on paper, but at least in GSC neither had the breadth to be a solid early game gym.

Edit: Although, upon reflection, reversing the type usefulness probably is coincidence. All the types that are weak against Water or Grass showed up in Gen 1, so Fire being the most useful type overall in Gen 2 gyms is a foregone conclusion, and after that it's not weird at all that it's also the most useful type early on.
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Should they have given Faulkner a Delibird instead? :P
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If your Dunsparce has Serene Grace (doubles the rate at which special effects kick in) then you should use it as a wacky gimmick Pokmon with things like 60% flinch from Headbutt and 20% all-stats-up on AncientPower. If it has Run Away, then sadly, it is just a generic Normal type.

I fondly recall training up a Rock Slide wielding DOOMSPARCE for use in 2v2s against my cousins (with Trick Room support). There are better ways to win, but Dunsparce is a mighty fine way to make people say "What generation is that even from? I don't recognize it, like, at all."
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Pro tip: For hundreds of years, Christians believed that charging interest on money you lent to other people (or, at least, other Christians) was "usury", which was sinful in the eyes of God! Jews, however, had no religious prohibition against charging interest on money lent to Christians. Therefore, in predominantly Christian societies, moneylenders and bankers were commonly Jewish.
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I think I am inclined to agree that if the House never formally notifies the Senate that they have impeached the President, then the President has not actually been impeached. With that being, said, although Nixon was never impeached, any discussion of impeached presidents is incomplete without him.
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Rhea's definitely sketchy. But is she more sketchy than the Flame Emperor, whose introduction to the story is "you useless damn bandits didn't even kill anyone, go die now kthx?"
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In relative terms, the loaf of bread stolen by Jean Valjean was probably more costly than this LGBT flag.

If I recall correctly, most of Valjean's sentence is for repeated escape attempts, not for the initial theft. So, he was a repeat offender being punished harshly. Just like this guy!
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Selphie also forgot about the orphanage, even though Trabia doesn't use GFs. I want to say there's some missable text explaining that she junctioned a GF at one point before coming to Balamb, so it's addressed, but it still feels rather contrived.
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If I recall correctly, enemy Peg Knights are treated as an Advanced class, even though it's an Intermediate class for the player.
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I legitimately don't understand why Joe Biden wants to be president. All politicians want power to some extent, but Biden manages to come across like he's running because he has nothing better to do. He acts less like he wants to be President and more that he just thinks he should be.

I think that Joe Biden is running primarily because he, like many other Americans, does not wish to see another four years of President Trump.

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When people say "deep state" I tend to mentally substitute "those parts of the United States government with more loyalty to the United States than to the current executive." Which is, admittedly, rather a mouthful. I can see why they'd abbreviate.
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The government exists to serve the people, not for the benefit of the people at the top. If it ceases to serve the people, it should be replaced. You've every right to castigate your representatives for their failures, and to share your grievances with your fellow voters. I do not think that empowering government officials to shut down such discussions would be a good idea. Indeed, I think it's a god-awful one.

(Although, I will admit, the idea of a world in which simple elected officials cannot be criticized, but people running for office (whether currently holding office or not) can be, does hold a hint of amusement. Politicians pretending to be focused on their job and not their campaign for as long as possible, because once they drop the ruse and announce candidacy, the gloves come off.)
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Charm increases the accuracy and damage of your Gambits (and penalizes the same against you). I want to say it's something weaksauce, like, every 5 Charm is +/- 5 hit and 1 damage? You should definitely feel bad about getting a level up that's only Charm. But birthday teatime only costs you tea, and hey, free stats is free stats.
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I feel like "it's legal to kill people as long as you believe you're justified in doing so" would set an alarming precedent.
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you blocking corrik or corrik blocking you would lead to the same effect - neither of you seeing each other's posts (you have to Ignore in order to Block)

I believe the difference is: if Corrik blocks Jakyl25, then Corrik stops being able to see the Politics Containment Topics (since Jakyl25 typically creates them.)
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Whether or not he gets removed, I will be glad to see that at least some of our politicians are capable of looking at Trump's behavior and saying "This man is not fit to hold office."
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I hate passing on a Lucky Draw, but Awakenings are such a huge power surge that I can't see a half-price guaranteed offensive USB as competition for a full-price dice roll on a festival banner with a couple of Awakenings and maybe Chains.

I am still leaning towards a draw on the AOSB banner, though. They're not... they aren't... well, okay, really it's just a "I don't want to skip ALL the luckies" thing.
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Gilgamesh BSB2, "Gilgamesh Scorching Time". I may never use it, but that's still just fine.
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I nearly did a spit take when I did Seteth and Flayn's A support and had that f***ing massive bomb dropped on me - far bigger than anything in the actual plot - that apparently just had no meaning to the story.

Once you know the secret, it's fun to see how much Flayn struggles to keep it. Offhand, Claude and Lindhart both attempt to pry into Flayn's history in their supports with her.
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out of curiosity, what is so good about the stray cat? it didn't seem any better than the other Rage moves that I tried out. it would randomly Cat Scratch for higher damage at times, but this seemed random and unreliable. I guess it's good just for the raw damage?

If I recall correctly, Cat Scratch inflicts quadruple the damage of Gau's punch. So, yeah, raw damage.

there were these jellyfish enemies who counter your attacks by casting Gigavolt, which literally oneshots any of your party members.

So, now that you've fought those jellyfish, they'll start showing up on the Veldt...

(But, although you can get back to the Veldt basically the next time you're allowed onto the world map, it's quite a long walk, and Gau's the only one who really benefits.)
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My favorite early Rage is Templar. It automatically grants the Safe status, and its random action is Fire 2. (Or I guess that'd be automatic Protect and random Fira, since you're playing FF6a. I think the monster's still called Templar though.)
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Rizopas has a few brutal moves that you can't hope to outheal, so the fight is a straight up damage race. Pummel or AuraBolt and Bushido 1 from Cyan should reliably win it, especially with Earrings (AuraBolt) or Atlas Armlet (other stuff) to boost damage.

If you need an extra edge, equip a Barrier Ring (grants Shell at low HP; I think one was on the Phantom Train?) and jump off the falls with that character already in critical, then heal them up against generic Piranhas before the boss appears.

Edit: SwdTech 3 actually does cut the enemy's HP in half (and then inflicts Seizure, which slowly drains HP), when it works. However, it is negated by immunity to instant death, so it won't work against most bosses.
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although I do wonder if there was a way to get the treasure? maybe by possessing him with the ghost?

No clever trick can get you Siegfried's treasure, alas. My understanding is that it's not even a real treasure chest, just a chest-shaped obstacle.
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Noel Awakening and Josef USB from the Black Chocobo Ice banner combined with some of my existing ice tech (Sora Awakening, Snow Chain, Elarra USB) to finally get me a Syldra clear. Woo! Now to clear it... probably six more times (for a Lv99 Syldra and a Madeen with one Mag+20), after which I think I'll be out of patience.
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Female mages tend to unlock Gremory easily (should be less trouble than Mortal Savant!) Males can train Lance & Riding alongside either magic skill and go for Holy Knight or Dark Knight.

Edit: There are at least some goods worth having in story chests - a Move+1 ring in one of the early chapters, IIRC, and I think several of the A-rank "___ of Zoltan" weapons are in chests.
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Ultros announces his single-target Tentacle attacks before using them, so if you've played the game enough to know that e.g. "Y...you frighten me!" means "Banon's about to get whupped", then you can use Defend to reduce his damage. Still a painful trick to pull on a new player, mind.

Also, yeah, back row and a shield would help.
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You are twisting what was said to get to where you are, bud. He literally did NOT say what you said he said.

Reposting:
Ted Lieu: The reason, again, that you did not indict Donald Trump is because of the O.L.C. opinion stating that you cannot indict a sitting President. Correct?
Mueller: That is correct."

It is clear, Corrik, that these words somehow mean different things to the two of us. I believe there is nothing further to be gained from this discussion.
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Corrik7 posted...

That isn't what you said.

You said, he said if it were any other person than the president he would have. That was NOT said. That was you making up what you wanted to be said.

Lieu did not say "the reason that you could not have indicted". He said, "the reason that you "did not indict". And Mueller told Lieu that Lieu was correct; that the reason Mueller did not indict Trump was that he was forbidden to do so. By saying this, Mueller also expressed that if he were permitted to indict Trump, he would have done so.

And that clearly wasn't something that Mueller wanted to express, since he later revisited that remark long enough to clarify that his official position of "since we could not indict the President regardless, we chose not to decide whether or not we should" remained inviolate.

So, I'm not sure how to take your objections, Corrik. I can see two ways.

First, that you think that we should pretend Mueller's statement to Lieu never happened because of Mueller's subsequent, contradictory reaffirmation of his official position. In which case, I disagree. I do think it's important to mention that Mueller felt the need to walk back his statement, but I believe that I have been consistently doing so.

Or, that you think that what Mueller communicated in his conversation with Lieu is the same thing that Mueller has communicated the rest of the time on this topic. In which case, further discussion is probably pointless, if only we don't appear to speak the same dialect of English - although I must say, if what Mueller said then was the same thing that he's always said, then why'd he bother to clarify his remarks?

Also I think most countries understand that Trump is the issue, and the next reasonable President will want to restore alliances.

While I hope this is true, let's not forget that Trump's election is a reminder to our foreign allies and diplomatic partners that America is not reliable.
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Corrik7 posted...

"yeah, we would have indicted anyone else, but him we can't."

Show me where you quoted that from the Mueller Report.

That part's not from the Mueller Report, it's from Mueller's testimony to Congress.

Ted Lieu: The reason, again, that you did not indict Donald Trump is because of the O.L.C. opinion stating that you cannot indict a sitting President. Correct?
Mueller: That is correct."

Edit: Before anyone jumps in and says "but Mueller later clarified that's not what he meant", I am well aware; see post #152.
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Corrik7 posted...

That was never said.

Corrik. I am quoting from the Mueller Report. Page 214.
Edit: I should clarify, that's Page 214 on my .pdf viewer. Mueller would call it Page 2 of Volume 2.

Here's the web page: https://www.justice.gov/sco
Or a link to the report itself: https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf
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"Third, we considered whether to evaluate the conduct we investigated under the Justice Manual standards governing prosecution and declination decisions, but we determined not to apply an approach that could potentially result in a judgment that the President committed crimes. [...] The ordinary means for an individual to respond to an accusation is through a speedy and public trial, with all the procedural protections that surround a criminal case. An individual who believes he was wrongly accused can use that process to seek to clear his name. In contrast, a prosecutor's judgment that crimes were committed, but that no charges will be brought, affords no such adversarial opportunity for public name-clearing before an impartial adjudicator."

Mueller can't charge the President. Since he can't charge the President, he won't accuse the President. Since he won't accuse the President, he had to walk back his sincere but impolitic statement that "yeah, we would have indicted anyone else, but him we can't."

Edit: By the way - I am wholly in favor of impeachment. Yes, the Republican Senate will refuse to follow through. I acknowledge that. Let the Democrats stand for America and the rule of law, while the Republicans stand for greed and the rule of power, and in time the arc of the moral universe will bend toward justice.
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I expect the best example you'll get is Watergate.
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I'm just making the point that Mitch McConnell considers making his political adversaries look bad to a legitimate - nay, desirable - use of the Senate's time.
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Right. Because McConnell cares about scoring political points, not passing legislation.
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Is it just me, or was Mirage Dungeon Akkad positively anemic compared to Baku? Except for the "whole party takes 90% of current health in damage", admittedly.
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Keep in mind that tampering with registration data to selectively prevent people from voting has the same effect as directly tampering with votes.

Yup, although that would be easier to detect, because it produces frustrated would-be voters. Still, I think this provides a sound argument for why people should be allowed to register to vote on Election Day, and I "look forward" to politicians disregarding it because it could also give their rivals more votes.
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By voter data, do they mean registration data or actual votes?

"The Committee has seen no evidence that any votes were changed or that any voting machines were manipulated". There's a largely redacted footnote.

https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=6214170-Senate-Intel-Report-On-Election-Interference
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In short, there's evidence that Jefferson fathered illegitimate children on one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. So while other slaveowning presidents certainly had the opportunity to rape their slaves, Jefferson stands out from the crowd.
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Yep. Or, rather, Spellblade will increase the damage of your Two-Handed physicals just fine. (Spellblade and Two-Handed also combo perfectly well with Ranger's final skill, X-Fight; that party is destined to smash faces. Although I guess you can't have all three on the same character in a Four Job Fiesta.)
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If you want a bonus healing RM, wouldn't you want one of the "increase healing" RMs, not "increase MND when equipping a ____"?
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Got an Ark clear. My holy chain bearer is Ramza, so I tried a physical team, and after that didn't work out I brought mixed physical/magic (Orlandu's doublecast USB, Arc's chase USB, Ramza with CSB, Onion mUSB, Rosa USB2). I also snagged a Rosa SSB with Magic Blink, from the Acolyte Archives that I've been ignoring forever, to deal with Ark's Savage Doomsday.

Hopefully a Lv99 Ark will make a difference against Lakshmi, and then... ugh... then I have to go back to Syldra and hope the Madeens I've accumulated will make a difference.
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I managed to get a Famfrit sub-30 Auto Battle team set up!

On Speed 5, it's about 50% to finish before 30 seconds. Just ran the same team, same auto-battle settings, same everything except for Speed 1, and got 21 seconds. Now, I'll grant that the Speed 1 run may have been luckier with dual casts, but that doesn't explain a ten second difference. Good grief.
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Yeah, 6* Storm Assault is what you're looking for: five hits of wind damage, drains HP. You'll need to spend five Thief Motes on Zidane in order to unlock access to 6* Thief Abilities before he can use it. If you don't have rubies and crystals to spare, there's also the 5* Dash and Slash, which does four hits of wind damage and deals increased damage if a dagger is equipped.

Thief also has equivalent Fire abilities (6* Fire Assault and 5* Heat Bite), the 5* Soul Burn which deals fire damage and hits harder at low HP, and some once-respectable Non-Elementals (6* Mug Bloodlust, robs Atk/Def, and 5* Thief's Revenge, 5-hit drain). If you want to use Zidane off-element, those are your options.

Steal Power and Steal Defense can be useful, but they do not deal damage and so are wasted turns under an Awakening.

Also, if you haven't dived Zidane, it's something to think about: while many characters get omni-quickcast under Trance, Zidane gets instant Thief.
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Diving Agrias is what got me past Deathgaze. However, it seems like my holy tech is better than yours: Ramza chain, Orlandu USB, Marche USB, Agrias BSB (more imperil), and Larsa with Affliction Break and USB. So your tipping point might not be the same as mine.

If you need a source of quickcast, maybe try spamming Dedia with Elarra? Or Bard's 5* Attack Song, although I'd expect Dedia to work better 'cause it'll get her the bonus SB for hitting weakness.
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Pretty sure each of Ixion's phases starts with a sequence that includes Savage Aerospark somewhere; certain that he can use it at random, although it's one of those "can't randomly pick this action for the next 2 turns" moves. 'Course, sometimes the next 2 turns end up being Defense Form and Evasion Form.
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