David Hingtgen

I didn't notice until they were freeze-framed, but those Vipers are like 50% F-18 parts. Squished and morphed, but they artists were definitely using the F-18 for reference, or already had a CGI F-18 and modified the heck out of it.

I keep thinking that the V2 VF-1S visor would look much better (not so dark) if the backside was painted silver--but a bit of poking and prodding didn't reveal how it opens up. Is it glued everywhere? Any way to open it up without damage?

Never go by battroid mode for measuring valk scale. Varies too much due to transformation and anime magic. Use fighter mode.

Big revelations at end of ch 9. Ch 9 boss was long, but not hard IMHO. Only got a 3-star rating though (but I beat it the first try). My party was Light/Vanille/Fang---I think Light/Hope/Fang may have been better. As for money---I quintupled my money in ch 9. Maybe more than that. Prior to this, upgrade just with what you have. Just make sure to not use any "good" components until you've got a 2x multiplier. (wait until you have the cash to spend on good organic points to get a 3x multiplier) (and I'd suggest not using the BEST components unless you've got 3x). Ch 9----grind and farm!

Or reading the inverse of that: Since most TF planes don't need cockpits, landing gear, full-size engines, intakes, weapons, flight-capable wings nor tailplanes---it's sad that they STILL can't find room to put the robot parts anywhere but hanging out in the open.

Yeah, but only some have it consistently...

I boosted the Blaze Fire saber from lvl 1 to 16 in one shot, just because I got so sick of seeing/using Gladius. Seriously, as their final str stats aren't THAT different in the end (and likely easily made up for with accessories) I will literally go with whichever one looks cooler when transformed. Early on, Gladius has a big str advantage over Blaze Fire. But at the very end it's at best 1/6 or 1/7 more. And if Lightning is EVER a ravager, Blaze Fire may end up being the best all-round weapon at the end due to having triple the magic of Gladius. (if you have a PURELY commando Lightning all the time, apparently the "Haute Claire" path is probably the best for that---but it's way to early to know end-game party/paradigms)

Assuming the servos for battroid mode are electrically powered (or something similar) some of the size/space should also be for large engine-driven generators and the like. Even modern day aircraft are needing more and more accessories mounted around the engine to draw off power, air, etc. May need inverters too, etc. Whereas we assume a reaction engine can more or less "directly" provide power for battroid mode, energy conversion armor, with everything having been designed from the start to interface.

Here's a quick test for kibble: Try to split the robot and plane apart. I took my Jetfire apart a while ago for some tweaking. You can have about 95% of a Jetfire robot, and 95% of an SR-71, standing next to each other. You can do this with many Transformers. Try to do that with a valk.

Uh, yeah. Have you ever seen a F-14 or Su-27 or MiG-29? Their intakes/nacelles are nigh-identical to a valkyrie's. I mean yeesh, the VF-1 *is* an F-14 in nearly every aspect, excepting the thicker beavertail to fit the arms---and a VF-1's arms still allow for a belly tunnel, it's just shallower than an F-14's. This'd make a perfect set of legs/feet for a valk: http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/2258/mig29lw003web.jpg

They should be able to do the best Alto ever in that case.

IIRC the cruiser turn rates are so slow, that simple navigation is difficult, and searching for anamolies etc. Or has that been changed so that out-of-battle manuevering isn't so hampered?

HLJ now offers FedEx: http://www.hlj.com/overview/fedexems.html#info

In robot mode, inherently, in jet mode, as you say.

This thread lists the stats when maxed out for every weapon, and their effects: http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/rpg/finalfanta...&pid=928790 May be useful for future planning etc. (really, the game itself doesn't describe weapon upgrading well at all) Also, from looking around the boards, any "strike" attack from Lightning is determined by her str, not her mag (I had thought it was so, but I like confirmation). So even as a ravager, she should go for str IMHO. (of course, that requires that you are controlling her and making sure she always does strike attacks whenever possible---an AI'd Lightning will mix in lots of spells as a ravager) PS--I've seen a few places say something about the enemies scaling/level with your weapon? Do they? How so? I mean, if I boost Lightning's to 20 or something, will the enemies become much tougher---that'd really kind of screw you if the rest of the party had weak weapons.

Yeah, by far the "prettiest" FF game, if not RPG period. I spin the camera around often just to see the world they made. Anyways---anyone know if later weapons "grow" faster? I've experimented a bit, and the growth rate seems awfully steady---like 6-8 pts, level after level, for most weapons. I keep expecting to find a weapon that is "just like an early weapon at first glance, but as you level it up it becomes stronger, quicker, thus making it notably superior after a while"---but I haven't. I just keep finding more variations of "same stats as something you already have, with the same growth rate, but requires more exp to grow due to having a only slightly useful bonus effect". (I've saved and reloaded many times to "experiment" with growing newly-acquired weapons to see how they advance) 90% of my characters are still on weapons found in the first couple hours of the game (like Sazh's bright yellow guns)--it's frankly boring and disappointing, since "equipping a different weapon" has been visible on-screen since very early in FF. But if no new weapon is worth changing to, what's the point? And even if later on there are inherently better weapons---it took way too long to get to them. 20+ hours with the initial equipment? Pointless to even HAVE a half-dozen weapon options.

I wonder if late in the game, weapon stats become pointless due to the zillions of STR and MAG you permanently acquire in the crystarium, and their abilities are more important. For now though, I'm keeping my characters with a pure mag or pure str weapon. (though at the moment a balanced weapon for Lightning would be useful due to a forced party--she's a ravager a lot of the time---but I'm not going to blow thousands of exp points to upgrade a different weapon just for this part)

I think Bandai/BigWest are kind of on a "M7 resurgence" kick, and the old VF100 poster (both of them?) showed/mentioned the MAXL. They wouldn't have done that if there was NO intention of making it--though it may be low on the priority list.

560 pts according to at least one site. That's a lot of money for hour-long DLC.

...but, but, I like Jetfire. I just display him propped up against the wall so you can only see jet mode.

Despite the fact that I bet I want one more than anyone else on this board, I think the odds of a VF-11MAXL from Yamato are low. Now a 1/100 from Bandai? Decent chance.

Ok, think I've got the blade figured out. Combine this: http://ibeatsephiroth.deviantart.com/art/F...otype-131151762 And this: http://www.cosplay.com/showpost.php?p=3074...amp;postcount=8 And you should get it too. Big thing--the blade does not SLIDE back, it arcs up and over and back on a swing-arm.

In gun mode there is a short but distinct barrel on the upper section. Balisong was my first impression too, I'd base it off that more than anything. Anyways---the fire eidolon is a much simpler battle than it looks. But it is frustrating simply due to the time limit. I died twice with only needing like 5 more secs. You cannot win by exploting the "unusual" way to charge the gestalt gauge, it takes far too long, you'll simply have to "build up chain attacks" as fast as you possible can. Rav/Rav, with the occasional Rav/Med. But if at all possible, maintain Rav/Rav while using potions---EVERY second counts. You will barely make it if all goes well. The "hidden/unusual" way is . Oh yeah---I was quite close to having the "haste" ability. I think that would have made it MUCH easier. So here is my tip: if at all possible, see if you can get to have "haste" by the time (very mild spoiler) . You will actually have a couple fights (and a boss) after that segment to gain some more CP, but that's a non-spoilery way to denote when you're getting close to that eidolon battle.

Knurling isn't some evil thing to be avoided---every transforming toy ever uses knurled pins. It's how they're designed---smooth areas to allow parts to glide by, knurled areas to grab parts and hold them tight. Some pins can have multiple knurled areas and multiple smooth areas, carefully arranged to allow some parts to move and some to stay put. Somehow, the clearances on some of the parts came out wrong on the V2 hinge parts, and it ended up that the pin rotated WITH the center piece of the hinge, locked to it--the part with the ball joint. That is not how a pinned joint like that is supposed to work--the knurling is there for the express purpose of PREVENTING pin rotation so that the plastic piece moves AROUND the pin independently, not with it. So the fact that the pin does move, means something else is wrong somewhere else in that joint assembly----namely, things are so tight and applying so much force to the pin that the knurling isn't enough to prevent pin rotation. I suspect the new pins are actually like .02mm narrower EVERYWHERE, thus freeing the center piece to rotate independently of the pin, with the pin staying fixed, like it was designed to. (the new hinges do operate properly---but removing the knurling alone wouldn't do that IMHO, it'd actually make it even more prone to pin rotation) It's just a lot easier to switch pins than to re-design or re-tool the hinges. And since the hinges are (now) known to be overly tight, even a smooth pin is now enough to hold itself in place and prevent itself from rotating.

Lately, I've been saving right when I get a new weapon (the 1200pt ones mentioned above), then spending a ton of points to see how it upgrades then reloading---so far none of the new group are superior IMHO---their bonus status effects are minimal, and it'd cost a lot of points just to get them up to where the other weapons are now---and spending the same amount of points would basically double the levels of the current weapons. "Belladonna" MAY be worth it---it does surpass Vanille's standard wand stat-wise and does supplement her abilities---but only minimally---may still be better to just keep going with her current weapon and wait for the NEXT one before switching.