Sword! Gun! Trick! Royal!

Well, I thought I'd just share some thoughts on how Last Ranker is going. Yes, I couldn't put it down.

The battles are really interesting, but to me, there aren't enough fights against humans (other Rankers). You're free to challenge who you want, but once you beat someone up, they'll refuse any more challenges. To me... even if you don't get any reward from it, you should still be able to just fight when you want. Maybe the colosseum will let me do that later, but for now, I've just gotta look forward to the next fight.

The styles are pretty cool, too. Each one of them ticks a certain way, and it takes a little bit of getting used to it and experimentation to see how they do. Attack Style (twin swords) is... actually my least favorite of them right now. It's really straightforward, just throw out damaging skills, and always attack with Circle (your style action) since your damage output per SP spent is just that much better with it. There are skills you can set that will change how your Square and Triangle buttons work, though, and for Attack Style, I really recommend them since they won't see too much use.

Shoot Style, which is the style I main because of the amount of monster fights in the game, right now relies heavily on one skill: Charge-EB. It'll increase the damage you do with guns by 50% for the next barrage you fire, but it also works on skills. So for Ranker fights, just can just sit around and charge a bunch of times (you can charge up to five times), then let loose with whatever skill you've got. I mean, sure you could just use the skill three times, but then you've used up all the uses you have for the skill. Also this avoids counters, and I've eaten a bunch of those (bow users are infamous for these). I put Power Edge in there because it stuns enemies, which means they'll be knocked out of their skill startup.

Break Style, the style I use in Ranker fights, is... just awesome. When Rankers start guarding your attacks, it becomes obvious that just pounding away with regular attacks and even skills isn't going to cut it. If you guard break someone, you do double damage, and they can't guard or counter. This is the time to use the most damaging skill you have, and honestly, if you're not using a skill to blast them away, you might be better off just attacking in Attack Style. It's got a counter skill, which can stuff enemy attacks outright. You can use it to avoid the worst of some enemy attacks, but you might still take a hit (so it just eats multihit attacks alive). I think there are some frames in there that let you completely avoid damage instead of trading, but they're late in the animation.

Guard Style is interesting. The style action takes a while to set up, but once it's out, you're taking like, kitten damage. Moreover, each hit you guard doesn't drain your SP, unlike regular guarding (which takes 1 per hit, so multihit attacks will just eat through it), though like regular guarding, you still won't regen SP while it's up. The startup can be stuffed, and it lasts for only a set amount of time, so there's some timing involved, but against real big guys, this will probably save you tons of damage.

Really good game thus far. Maybe not for everyone, but I like it a lot. The only other complaint I have is that you can guess what weapon enemy Rankers use by looking at them, but you can't be certain until you fight them... which means you can't change your style setup.