This game is pretty cool. I love Matsuno's writing, and it shines through here, though the scale on which the story works is different than what I'm used to.

The combat system is pretty neat, but I sometimes get the feeling that I don't always have the proper type of weapon for getting through a fight. I'm through about 10-12% of the map right now. I just beat the golem boss, who was very hard for me to kill for some reason. At some points I could do damage to him but at others I couldn't - most of my weapons were more or less totally ineffective.

I'm fighting a dragon right now, and have a very similar problem, only the dragon hits a lot harder and faster than the golem did. Totally whooping my ass, here, and I only have one weapon that reliably does damage to it - the Soul Kiss.

I have a confession to make.

I never played Vagrant Story. It's one of the few Matsuno games that I just completely missed.

I recommend looking into it, it is pretty great.

Tough, and the combat isn't immediately intuitive, but it is pretty great.

I'm glad you went back to this gem of a game!

May I add this was probably one of THE hardest games I've personally ever played.

What's the best way to beat up this damn dragon? Should I just reflect the ENORMOUSLY HUGE amounts of damage it does, or what? What weapons work best? NONE OF MINE, THAT"S WHAT

You will be facing the same problem throughout the whole games. That's why it's so tough, you constantly have to improve your weapons and make them strong against certain elements (Human, undead , dragon, spirits ....etc) I played and finished almost 7 years ago but the agony is still in my heart :P

So I should set aside certain weapons to be specialized against each type of enemy?

If I do that, should I be mindful of the Piercing/Edged/Blunt split?

I played it such a long time ago Khuutra, but I do know that the armor and weapons you have equipped level up as you fight certain enemies. For exaple you have a specific sword you use against humans. It will gradually get stronger vs humans but grow weak against undead.

scattered throughout the game are dummies that you can train on! It's the perfect way to gain strength against certain elemnts as some of the dummies ar human , undead dragon , etc..

Strangley I remember the dragon fight took me a couple days and I finally defeated after maybe a 2 hour battle of dragging it out and constantly curing myself. then again most of all my battles were like that.

I honestly forget how that blunt,edged stuff works

That's a game not many people have gotten to play :o very fun gem for the ps