Revisiting Phantasy Star 2 with a New Trick!!!

[Kalisiin]

OK, I am once again revisiting PS2.
But with a twist this time.

I am pumping up the characters HUMONGOUSLY.

See, I discovered a neat little trick, involving Save States and the Visiphone. Incidentally, I used a hack code to make the store in Paseo SELL the Visiphone right off, so I could have it from jump street, rather than waiting for Shir to steal it. I have hack codes now to make the store in Paseo sell just about any item I might want, including Star Mist and Moon Dew....and additional Nei items (LOL)

But I digress...
Back to my neat little trick...

See, I discovered that it is NOT SET...how much HP and TP the character will gain from each level...until after the battle is done. This means...you can Save State right before (or even in the middle) of a battle that will gain a character another level.
Win the battle, and see how much HP and TP they get. Save with the Visiphone.
Re-load the Save State and try again. Rinse and repeat until you have the highest possible totals for the HP and TP gains.

Sometimes, you DO have to compromise a bit...because it's rare to get both of them to max on the same battle, BUT...you use the Visiphone to SAVE...only when the current HP TP totals are more to your liking than what you previously had saved via the Visiphone.

Then you can re-load the Save State to try to improve it. Until you have decided you will get no better combo, and you move on.

I am right now done with the whole game except Noah...and am grinding up in Ikuto Castle on Dezo, just so I can grind all characters up to Level 50 to see what I can get these characters pumped up to.

I won't spoil it for you all until I have reached Level 50 on all characters, but, suffice to say one can get SIGNIFICANTLY STRONGER characters using this method...than just running thru the whole game taking whatever it will give you on a level-up.

For reference, I will post here...the stats I am accustomed to seeing for each character....and then, when I get THESE all ground up to 50...I'll post my results. Incidentally, I named many of my characters in this game after PS3 characters...My Agent is Rhys, my Hunter is Ayn, my Guardian is Sari, and my Doctor is Laya.

I never call the Biologist anything other than Gene...it just seems a really appropriate name for a Biologist, no?
This game, I was inspired by the color of the Wrecker's outfit, and named him Erik...after Erik The Red, of course!!

Anyweay, these are stats I am accustomed to seeing, at Level 50, for each character, give or take

Agent - HP 350 - 360 and TP 170-180
Hunter - HP 410 - 425 (of course the Hunter has no TP ever)
Wrecker - HP 300 - 310 and TP 150ish
Biologist - HP 300 - 310 and TP 160 - 170
Guardian - HP 290 - 305 and TP 95 - 100 (not that any of her techniques are actually worth jack shit)
Doctor - HP 275 - 290 and TP 180ish
Thief (Shir) HP 290 - 300 and TP 90 - 100

Those are the normal finish totals I have gotten in the past. This is the first time I am trying my pump-up technique...and, as I can tell you from early results...I am expecting SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS on those totals.

By the way, when I go after Mother Brain (and Dark Force, too, I might add) my usual group is Agent, Hunter, Wrecker, Doctor.

[Kalisiin]

OK, Level 50 Results (Note: Anyone not listed has not yet reached Level 50)

Agent (Rolf) - HP 467 - TP 201
Wrecker (Kain) - HP 404 - TP 194
Biologist (Hugh) - HP 386 - TP 203
Guardian (Anna) - HP 397 - TP 107
Thief (Shir) - HP 392 - TP 96
Doctor (Amy) - HP 365 - TP 224

[spookeydonkey]

this is the type of thing that can only really be done via emulator. If you tried this on genesis you'd spend months trying to get that "perfect" save. I really don't know why such a mechanic was implemented in the first place, it's kinda dumb and I remember doing what you did for a few level ups (on genesis) before finally saying screw it I'll just accept whatever I get.

[Kalisiin]

this is the type of thing that can only really be done via emulator. If you tried this on genesis you'd spend months trying to get that "perfect" save. I really don't know why such a mechanic was implemented in the first place, it's kinda dumb and I remember doing what you did for a few level ups (on genesis) before finally saying screw it I'll just accept whatever I get.

True, this really can be done best with an emulator.
But once you have the Visiphone, it can also be done on a regular Genesis...using different Save Slots. But it is a huge P.I.T.A. on a regular Genesis, and very easy on an emulator.