Z doesn't get hard until the late post game, and even then, it's not that hard. The real challenge is the bonus dungeon stuff - runes and relics. Of course, having originally played a LOT of PAD on the phone, I feel like I had a leg-up on most.
You can make due with mono teams with dual 1.5x ATK + HP/DEF. If you grab Green Orochi or Echidna, it gets even easier. Teams with orb creators, damage boosts and a null damage = win. Team comps aren't super important until the super hard rune dungeons.
I called quits on Mario somewhere in the post game where the game really wants you to
stop using the boo bros and use the 4 and 5 attribute damage multiplier combo partners as enemy HP gets ridiculous. Problem is getting those kinds of combos is also ridiculous.
It is, and that makes the special world stuff really intense. I'm up to Special World 8-6 now, and have been using Statue Luigi almost exclusively as a leader (with either Rosalina, or an appropriate Yoshi/Winged Yoshi as support) because of the multiplier w/ 4-element combos. The 5-element combos are not viable in most circumstances (I haven't tried it out much on the Heartless dungeon levels, maybe they're good there, but I haven't had much difficulty with those) because you simply don't have enough material to work with.
The Special Worlds actually got...kind of easy in a way. Like, worlds 4-6 are some real shit, but world 7 almost felt like an extended bonus round: I think I blew through it in just a couple hours. Specifically, they all have the following breakdown in terms of courses (for simplicity, I count a three-colour + heart course and four-colour heartless as "four-elements")
World 4: 2 four-element courses, 6 five-element courses, 4 normal courses (12 total)
World 5: 3 four-element courses, 4 five-element courses, 5 normal courses (12 total)
World 6: 2 four-element courses, 8 five-element courses, 4 normal courses (14 total)
World 7: 5 four-element courses, 8 five-element courses, 3 normal courses (16 total)
Note that world 6 also had a ton of spiky shells, which have something like 100k or 150k defense. World 7 had some bob-ombs (which have a defense over 250k or 300k or so; I've never broken their defense).
Anyway, world 8 is kind of continuing the trend set in World 7, so the end is pretty near. 108 hours spent so far.
I don't know anything about the Z side, but on the Mario side, you should not be doing much, if any, grinding. You need to execute very well in getting combos out, and try to rework your team composition to have skills and elements that match your course better.
I don't know anything about the Z side, but on the Mario side, you should not be doing much, if any, grinding. You need to execute very well in getting combos out, and try to rework your team composition to have skills and elements that match your course better.
I've been playing it the same way and then once I hit a wall I just completely stopped playing. Been reading how to set up combos so I'm gonna jump back in. It's been awhile so I know I'm going to be rusty.
I never finished the normal story, and didn't bother to try mario side.
I think I should give mario a go, it seemed more streamlined than the other. Furthermore, I could never remember the name of the critters in the "main" mode.
Oh very nice. I've been holding off buying this hoping for an Eshop sale on it over the holidays but that looks like its not going to happen. If no sale happens today or tomorrow i'm going to go ahead and just get it tomorrow as a xmas gift to myself.
I've been so addicted to this game it's unbelievable. Found it for cheap in a store and bought it on a whim, unaware that I'd end up so hooked to it. On World 6 on the Mario side now, the 3D World music is -much- appreciated (albeit the NSMB music has grown on me). Loving it all.
What's the consensus here, did people like P&D Z better or is Mario the preferred one? Against my expectations, Mario turned out to be the best one BY FAR, admittedly I didn't get too far on Z, but the clichéd plot, the unengaging dialogue/characters and how freaking long it takes to get some rounds going...Mario's "straight into the action" approach works marvelously for this type of game. Not to mention the Mario side actually offers challenge. Maybe Z gets better later on?
I've been so addicted to this game it's unbelievable. Found it for cheap in a store and bought it on a whim, unaware that I'd end up so hooked to it. On World 6 on the Mario side now, the 3D World music is -much- appreciated (albeit the NSMB music has grown on me). Loving it all.
What's the consensus here, did people like P&D Z better or is Mario the preferred one? Against my expectations, Mario turned out to be the best one BY FAR, admittedly I didn't get too far on Z, but the clichéd plot, the unengaging dialogue/characters and how freaking long it takes to get some rounds going...Mario's "straight into the action" approach works marvelously for this type of game. Not to mention the Mario side actually offers challenge. Maybe Z gets better later on?
I'm on the same camp, the P&D Z part is so boring. They waste a lot of time in a generic plot nobody cares about. It probably doesn't help that I tried it after the super mario bros side, which is super streamlined. The mechanics of PDZ are maybe deeper, and the number of allies bigger, but I wsn't able to get far enough for it to get interesting.
