Star Odyssey - Official Thread

I'm noticing way too much lack of love for this beauty. I'm thrilled about the box art and just about everything dealing with the packaging. The manual is outstading. And the quality of that label and awesomeness of its art has met my every expectation. I am extremely fond of such artwork (akin to what we see in the Phantasy Star II intro, with the two mystery dames). Only, this time, it's the dude from Sword of Vermilion and two hot android chicks. The awesomeness is beyond awesome.

The Music: Anyone who complains about it would probably be complaining about 16-bit music in general, since it's some of the best music of the era.

And the grinding... I too am a level grinder (a meticulous one, at that). Too bad about what happened to Joe. I would've been pissed-off too if I had done so much work and gotten punished for it; but perhaps there's some more grinding to be done on his behalf, who knows? I can't opine just yet, since I haven't beaten it. But I tell you this: I love every single aspect of this game. I can't wait till the end of this semmester (July 28th) so that I can start my summer vacation. It's going to be a month after that of pure RPG goodness. I'm already stocking on them. Based on what I hear, this might be my first go, since it looks to be the shortest in my collection. Man I can't wait.

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Originally Posted by old man

lol Like Pier Solar? :p

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Ehh, no. Pier Solar used the designs Sega did, with some changes when it came to the black grid version. But the spine is still black and fits well with the other black grid games on my shelf.

Still having fun with the game, but here are some complaints:
*Why aren't there portraits (like in Beggar Prince) or simply the names of the characters (like in Legend of Wukong) before their lines in dialogue? If I approach someone and talk to him, I have no idea who says anything first or who replies until I have read the line and figured it out. It's confusing.
*A scripted scene regarding a restaurant owner and two guards happened twice to me. It shouldn't have, because of what happened in this very scene...

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Originally Posted by makinagenesis

do you play genesis games often, or is your hatred towards them totally unfounded, possibly based on your lack of skill at them? i read one of your posts on another forum about pier solar ' Everybody has been saying that the game is a piece of shit and they can't even find the ambition to press START at the title screen the first time they turn it on. It is rumored that there isn't even anything beyond the title screen. But it is a Genesis game, it is SUPPOSED to be garbage!'

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Huh? Not sure what you are talking about there, but regarding your first statement of "do you play Genesis games often?" I must not, as all Genesis games are the same. If I played more Genesis games (other systems don't count), the first part of Star Odyssey wouldn't be frustrating at all. And I praised Pier Solar for the most part. I am probably better than you at Genesis games. Maybe even Mega Drive games, too. If I said such a thing about Pier Solar I was clearly joking. That comment is far too ridiculous for anyone with a brain to take seriously. But apparently you did...


ANYWAY, I made it off of the first planet. I beat Rick in about 1 second and he was pretty much useless (so far). He has abandoned me now. My levels right now are Me 18 and Rick 10.

I think the story is fairly cool so far, but when it was explained that my parents weren't real the same ol' music just kept playing, which made me emotionally detached from the scene, like I was just talking to another NPC. Also, there is a bug (intentional?) in the game where it does not switch the music when arriving at new places. For example, go from a town to a field and the music stays the same. Fight a battle and after the battle is over, then the music changes to the field theme. Surprised nobody caught that one.

The only thing that gives me a Phantasy Star 2 vibe is the way the shops in the town look. That's it. Certainly not complaining, just an observation.

Mine arrived today and may I say the cartridge, cartridge label, manual & case insert seem to be very good quality. The case itself is terrible, no or little quality control:mad: The clear plastic piece (dirty looking btw) is 1/4 of an inch off on the back causing the seam/seal where it's attached to rest of the case to look like shit. Plus you can see that piece of plastic sticking up. The case insert is more exposed so it's likely to show wear sooner. It's a shame since it's very nicely done overall.

I'm only very early in the game so I can't really comment on that.

My box is the same way, but thankfully you can swap that out with a real Genesis box if you like. Just look for a cheap, Sega-made (not EA) sports game, buy it and swap boxes!

I have plenty of Sonic 2s kicking around so it's not a huge deal. Just annoying. You look at how great the manual is (really kudos for it), then you see case and it brings you down.

Onto the game, enjoying it so far! I've only just spoke to the scholars in Wilkins!

CMA Death Adder

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All orders are mailed out in a timely manner, in the order in which they are received. A second e-mail will be sent to you once your order has shipped.

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dated Jun 25 (11 days ago)

still no second e-mail.
should I worry?

I got my shipping e-mail! It said it would take 3-10 days though. I highly doubt it will be that quick.

You'd be surprised. Granted, Canada might slow it down, but it is not shipped the "cheap way" while in the US.

Still no sign of the game at my doorstep, I hope it comes soon, I'm excited.

I'm a few hours into the game. Still on the first planet, I have the wrestler in my party, and know where I need to go next (I got the replacement Ticket, and know where to find the Brain). Here are some thoughts:

- Tons of random encounters but they're not nearly as annoying as they could be, since once you get the strongest weapons available, many battles take less than 10 seconds (unlike Beggar Prince, where they ALWAYS drag on because of the fixed # of attacks scheme), plus you're not trying to remember where the heck you are in the middle of a complicated maze (also cf. Beggar Prince)

- The inventory space when you're on your own is painfully small, especially because equipped items still count, but adding a second person helps tremendously

- Conventional grinding in this game is definitely a big mistake -- I'm only at Level 8-9, and am able to pass most areas with little difficulty -- just fight enough to get the weapons/armor you need, and no more

- The manual has several omissions, some minor (explaining the controls, the save game management system), some major (explanation of magic system omits several details -- icons aren't explicitly labeled, and it's not clear whether you need to level up to use particular spells); some of these things may seem obvious, but when they're not detailed, it takes away some of the charm of playing a fully realized package (vs. a random ROM from the Internet)

- Similarly, in my last session I got the Brain, expected to be able to use healing magic on my return trip, discovered that I couldn't, got annihilated. Is it because I need to level up more? Is the icon that I thought was "AQUA" actually "WIND", and vice versa? And what do the numbers next to the icons mean?

- Does the RUN command ever work? Hasn't yet for me

- Graphics and music are fairly ordinary, but the UI is good and avoids my biggest pet peeve (unnecessary pauses), though the EQUIP menu is in a strange place

BTW, I think it's important to differentiate between criticism of the game as originally designed, and criticism of things that SFT can reasonably be expected to have done. A few minor cleanups aside, their intent seems to be to publish a faithful representation of what the game would have been like had it been released BITD, and that's certainly what I want as a gamer/consumer. I personally wouldn't want them to have massively rewritten the game, even if it were practical -- and without source code, I'm quite sure it's not.

All in all, I'm interested enough to keep playing, am glad I bought the game, and curious to see what happens next. The game feels fair, and the fact that my party has gotten killed 6-7 times doesn't bother me at all, actually -- the amount of grinding needed to overcome that, and buy the best weapons and armor, is really quite minimal.

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Originally Posted by goldenband

... and the fact that my party has gotten killed 6-7 times doesn't bother me at all, actually...

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Might wanna keep that to a minimum, since you lose about half your money each time your party dies.

Oh, I'm restarting from a saved game whenever it happens.

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Originally Posted by madmonkey

dated Jun 25 (11 days ago)

still no second e-mail.
should I worry?

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I ordered mine on Jun 23rd and have yet to receive a shipping confirmation either. However I don't think it's anything to worry about. Super Fighter Team is a small company but I have never had any issues with them.

Although I will say when I ordered Beggar Prince and Legend of Wukong when they were released I had them in less than a week. It is kind of odd that Star Odyssey is taking so long to ship, but i'm not worried. I know Brandon and the team are good for it.

roll on the 27th of the month when i can order mine!

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Originally Posted by Silence The Fallen

I ordered mine on Jun 23rd and have yet to receive a shipping confirmation either.

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interesting.

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Originally Posted by Silence The Fallen

Super Fighter Team is a small company but I have never had any issues with them.

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I don't mean they might run off with the munnies. but the wait is killing me, especially when I hear other kids already got their game :)
if it's not even shipped yet, that means I'll have to wait a month or more while it's in transit, shipping to my country is slow.

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Originally Posted by Silence The Fallen

I ordered mine on Jun 23rd and have yet to receive a shipping confirmation either. However I don't think it's anything to worry about. Super Fighter Team is a small company but I have never had any issues with them.

Although I will say when I ordered Beggar Prince and Legend of Wukong when they were released I had them in less than a week. It is kind of odd that Star Odyssey is taking so long to ship, but i'm not worried. I know Brandon and the team are good for it.

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I'm in the same boat guys. Ordered mine on the 24th. No worries, it'll come eventually.

Yup, I am still waiting too, and no confirmation that it's been shipped yet.

Made it much further in the game. Now I'm trying to leave Vega, but the disembodied voice of Lana keeps telling me I need to find another character first, and despite doing a house-to-house search I haven't found him yet. I'm guessing that I need to find a "bioloid" on the black market somehow, so I tried ditching all my characters in the spaceship and going around as the Onotonian in case people liked me better that way, but that didn't seem to work. I'll try again tomorrow.

The random encounter rate is quite high, maybe too high, and discourages exploration. But because there aren't any real labyrinths in the game so far, it's definitely not nearly as much of a distraction as it was in Beggar Prince -- or Sword of Vermilion, for that matter.

(Still, I'd suggest considering toning it down for the next SFT RPG release...if nothing else, it's a mood-breaker, since the atmosphere's constantly being disrupted. If your first ~20 steps after leaving a battle were "immunized" from random encounters, that'd help significantly, since it's demoralizing to take two steps and then, boom, another fight. It's not that the enemies are tough -- I'm crushing everything in my path with little difficulty -- but if anything that only underscores the idea that the high encounter rate is basically just a nuisance, and makes the game start to feel like work.)

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Originally Posted by goldenband

Made it much further in the game. Now I'm trying to leave Vega, but the disembodied voice of Lana keeps telling me I need to find another character first, and despite doing a house-to-house search I haven't found him yet. I'm guessing that I need to find a "bioloid" on the black market somehow, so I tried ditching all my characters in the spaceship and going around as the Onotonian in case people liked me better that way, but that didn't seem to work. I'll try again tomorrow.

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Ah yes, that spot. If you'd like a little help...

In the short passages under the landing pads and the main area, carefully search the walls along the sides with the big empty black space, while haviong the Brain sword equipped (tap "A" a lot). The hidden biolab door is there.

Hey, thanks for that. I think it would've taken me quite a while to figure that out, especially since there aren't any other puzzles like that earlier in the game to put your antennae up for...that sort of thing. What is this, Fatal Labyrinth? :D

i ordered mine within 12 hours of the game being released, once i heard people started receiving the game i emailed brandon and was told mine still hadn't been dispatched as 'there will be a slight delay, as there are many orders to process and my schedule to do it is limited' . a bit of a disappointment considering i ordered the same day it was released but theres nothing i can do about it except wait.

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Originally Posted by goldenband

The random encounter rate is quite high, maybe too high, and discourages exploration.

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I think it's perfect and haven't had to do much level grinding at all. I've explored everywhere;)

For me it's been much easier than I had hoped. But it may get more challenging.

My copy of the game arrived today, and was shipped out on Saturday i believe.. Took shorter than usual to get to Sweden actually. Anyway, im happy with the design of the inlay and manual, but i cant say im happy to see the return of the superglossy plastic sleeve.. I prefer the original sega style, which Pier Solar also used. Please consider this for your next release Mr Cobb. Otherwise im happy with the game, and should be interesting trying it out later when time permits!

Just released Lana and I'm preparing to meet Shogun. Looking at the levels I think The Coop said his party was at and seeing my highest is Level 25, I do have another planet to go right?

EDIT: One super easy boss fight later and I have my answer;)

Totally stuck on the second planet when you are controlling Rick, got back the "Brain" Sword and got the Passport, the Gole character and the Fogaway item (but no idea where to use it) :confused:
No idea whatsoever what to do, I must be missing something?

That's exactly where I'm at, but I haven't played in two days so that's my excuse right now. Busy busy!

If memory serves...

You have to go and talk to the restaurant owner who used to be a guard. He'll give you a code to go down to the planet's surface, and once there, make your way to a cave on the upper left side of the planet surface. There you'll find the goggles (they do something!) to keep the fog away permanently so you can find your way around much easier. There are a few caves, with one around the middle area of the planet being where you need to go to leave (there'll be a ship there) and another that's farther south on the planet that'll take you into the prison where Toby is. In the prison, you'll find a new transporter as you make your way through, and eventually reach a boss. Beat him, and you'll find Toby.

Something very strange is happening:

I decided to start this baby up. At the beginning, I was hitting very hard, but after my first death, my hitpoints went down to a mere fraction of what they were. This remained the case for a long time, even after I purchased the glow armor and feather shoes. I still hit like a sissy. Then, all of the sudden, I'm hitting my max with every attack. Did I reach a threshold or something? I'm only in the middle of level 4.

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

Something very strange is happening:

I decided to start this baby up. At the beginning, I was hitting very hard, but after my first death, my hitpoints went down to a mere fraction of what they were. This remained the case for a long time, even after I purchased the glow armor and feather shoes. I still hit like a sissy. Then, all of the sudden, I'm hitting my max with every attack. Did I reach a threshold or something? I'm only in the middle of level 4.

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Sounds more like you tinkered with the position option. If you're not in the right position, you'll do about 1/3 of your regular damage. How do you tell? If you're all the way back against the edge of the screen, you're in the wrong position for fighting enemies on that side. If on the other hand, you've got a fair bit of room between you and the edge of the screen, then you're facing the proper way. Best way to know is to hit "C" when you're on the overworld map and see which way your portrait is facing (let or right). It should be facing left for the first planet or two, because that's the only side the enemies will attack from.

Maybe I did. I guess I wont tinker with it further then, since it got fixed...

...but questions:

(Read this to know where I'm at now)...
I'm starting to feel the Redifer frustration. It's like I'm taking 2434 steps back and 2435 steps forward just to make one move. It sure doesn't feel good to be punished for hard work. I made the utter mistake of listening to that guy in Dew City about the Temuwood island and went ahead with it before going to the village thingy. Now I'm too leveled-up (lvl 10) to move as fast as I did before. Now all the enemies will use magic (a sure 15-23 hit; which I'm ok with until they start popping-up in threes). I sure hope I don't meet a poisoner. :? I shall keep at it. If I have to level up to the end then so be it. So far, I can say I'm digging this game. I really enjoy the story.

1. Is there anything stronger to purchase than the Temu armor/Iron Shoes/Gloves/handgun combo?
2. Is there anything stronger to purchase than just the "power" potion at this point in the game?

...quasi-spoiler:




3.Should I try and use the item I got in Temuwood island instead of the handgun? I find the handgun much more powerful. And also, the "item I got in Temuwood" won't let me heal.

4. ...or should I just keep grinding bit by bit (if so, up to what level)?

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

Maybe I did. I guess I wont tinker with it further then, since it got fixed...

...but questions:

(Read this to know where I'm at now)...
I'm starting to feel the Redifer frustration. It's like I'm taking 2434 steps back and 2435 steps forward just to make one move. It sure doesn't feel good to be punished for hard work. I made the utter mistake of listening to that guy in Dew City about the Temuwood island and went ahead with it before going to the village thingy. Now I'm too leveled-up (lvl 10) to move as fast as I did before. Now all the enemies will use magic (a sure 15-23 hit; which I'm ok with until they start popping-up in threes). I sure hope I don't meet a poisoner. :? I shall keep at it. If I have to level up to the end then so be it. So far, I can say I'm digging this game. I really enjoy the story.

1. Is there anything stronger to purchase than the Temu armor/Iron Shoes/Gloves/handgun combo?
2. Is there anything stronger to purchase than just the "power" potion at this point in the game?

...quasi-spoiler:




3.Should I try and use the item I got in Temuwood island instead of the handgun? I find the handgun much more powerful. And also, the "item I got in Temuwood" won't let me heal.

4. ...or should I just keep grinding bit by bit (if so, up to what level)?

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1. No
2. No
3. No. Stick with the hand gun for now. Use the Brain sword later, once you've got more levels under your belt. Then it starts getting much more useful.
4. Either start over (not fun) or grind your way up to level 15-17. By that time, you can suicide mission it to talk with Gaz on Temuwood to get Rick in your party (just be sure to put your cash in the bank before you do so). However, if you already have Rick in your party and the Brain sword, then all you need to do is talk to Dew since you have the pilot, he'll tell you about Lady **what'shername** to get a ship, talk to her, and then you should be all set to leave for the second planet.

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Originally Posted by The Coop

1. No
2. No
3. No. Stick with the hand gun for now. Use the Brain sword later, once you've got more levels under your belt. Then it starts getting much more useful.
4. Either start over (not fun) or grind your way up to level 15-17. By that time, you can suicide mission it to talk with Gaz on Temuwood to get Rick in your party (just be sure to put your cash in the bank before you do so). However, if you already have Rick in your party and the Brain sword, then all you need to do is talk to Dew since you have the pilot, he'll tell you about Lady **what'shername** to get a ship, talk to her, and then you should be all set to leave for the second planet.

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Thanks.

I gave it another go at level 11 and it worked out just fine. You nailed it with the "suicide mission" term. I guess this is the sort of game where dying is a necessary evil if one is to advance (kind of like coin-op bullet hells). I'm off to the fight club ring thingy to talk to Hogan. I'll keep yous informed.

P.S.> Guess what? I made it back to the Stephorn in Temuwood from talking to Gaz safely with only 60 HP.:) Now to talk to the Hogan dude.

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Originally Posted by The Coop

If memory serves...

You have to go and talk to the restaurant owner who used to be a guard. He'll give you a code to go down to the planet's surface, and once there, make your way to a cave on the upper left side of the planet surface. There you'll find the goggles (they do something!) to keep the fog away permanently so you can find your way around much easier. There are a few caves, with one around the middle area of the planet being where you need to go to leave (there'll be a ship there) and another that's farther south on the planet that'll take you into the prison where Toby is. In the prison, you'll find a new transporter as you make your way through, and eventually reach a boss. Beat him, and you'll find Toby.

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Nope, he does not give me a code... Just says Welcome to Mack's restaurant, etc...Talked to everyone AGAIN in those two towns. Nothing is letting me get further...

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Originally Posted by Lutz

Nope, he does not give me a code... Just says Welcome to Mack's restaurant, etc...Talked to everyone AGAIN in those two towns. Nothing is letting me get further...

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Have you taken an identity trip yet? Because if you've only taken one, you haven't taken enough. (Not every chair is the same...)

Meanwhile, I think I'm getting close to the end of the game. The "enemies go away" spell is blissful, though short-lived...just being able to walk around, and look around, without constant interruption makes such a difference in terms of atmosphere.

Having said that, I'm stuck at the boss on Aury (the "Astrodon" you reach with the aid of the Crystal). I tried everything I could think of, including doing nothing and just defending, but none of my attacks do any damage, no attack items work either, and the woman can't use her magic anymore since the Crystal is broken. I'm pairing her with the wrestler and the Tolerian (who's great!), so I'll try going back there with the protagonist, but I assume I'm doing something wrong.

I don't want a major hint, but is the problem that I've missed an item, missed a conversation, or just am adopting the wrong battle tactic? Even with enemy repellent it's still a loooooong walk to get there, so trial-and-error isn't that much fun...

Thanks goldenband! That worked

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Originally Posted by Lutz

Thanks goldenband! That worked

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No problem! And yeah, that's a slightly counterintuitive spot -- I kept thinking "I've got a damn shapeshifter in the party, why doesn't he just impersonate an officer and get the codes?"

I haz some lulz: (all in good spirit, no worries)
Lol:

In-Game Goodness:
1. Schmendrick's Disease. Love it. XD
2. The line-up at the bureau of info. Brilliant.
3. "The Princess is in another cave" persona trip. XD
4. Overall, very well written story. I love a consistent RPG. Solid, solid story.

Buggery Awesomeness:
1. The passports are interchangeable. I left Rick's passport at the bank to load-up with an extra Force item, but forgot to get it back after rescuing Toby. I had to go back to Malaba for the longeva (through customs). Guess what, I just gave Toby's passport to Rick :D. Maybe it would've worked without, though, as this could be more of a bug about not everyone needing a passport for the whole party to go through customs (which is the case, regardless).
2. When everyone dies and going back to battle with a dead member (from a city), he's litterally there on the ground. It's like you dragged him with you.
3. After rescuing Toby and going back to Malaba for the Longeva, returning to Al City and giving the drug to Rick's Wife, going back to Beatrix to see what's up with the girl and returning back to Al City to find info I went to Mack's Restaurant. Lol. Mack's wife still greets me with "He was a good man", but upon going down to the cellar, the entire scene plays-out all over again. The guards, the conversation, everything. :D. What's so cool about this bug is that it was actually the only conversation I ever missed-out on by mistake (because with every click, he would say something else). I was so glad to be able to read what M had said before dying.

Is anyone else naming your characters as stated in the manual? I am.

This is a very story-driven RPG. Very consistent plot. I'm very impressed.

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Originally Posted by goldenband

Meanwhile, I think I'm getting close to the end of the game. The "enemies go away" spell is blissful, though short-lived...just being able to walk around, and look around, without constant interruption makes such a difference in terms of atmosphere.

Having said that, I'm stuck at the boss on Aury (the "Astrodon" you reach with the aid of the Crystal). I tried everything I could think of, including doing nothing and just defending, but none of my attacks do any damage, no attack items work either, and the woman can't use her magic anymore since the Crystal is broken. I'm pairing her with the wrestler and the Tolerian (who's great!), so I'll try going back there with the protagonist, but I assume I'm doing something wrong.

I don't want a major hint, but is the problem that I've missed an item, missed a conversation, or just am adopting the wrong battle tactic? Even with enemy repellent it's still a loooooong walk to get there, so trial-and-error isn't that much fun...

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I just kept hitting it, thinking I wasn't damaging it but I was. It just wasn't showing hit points being drained. It died after 7-10 rounds

My question since I just got my ass handed to me, is Dagnal the last boss? If so I have some grinding to do;)