Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
Senerio
Oct 19, 2009

Ooh! Are we messing with Adora?



HelloWinter posted:

"Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality."

..... Auuugh why do I know this. Why should I know this. :gonk:

They say it so often that it's ingrained into my head.
I intentionally mistype it because I want to disrespect that game as much as humanly possible.
Basically I want to show that game as little respect as it shows its female characters.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Admiral H. Curtiss
May 11, 2010

I think there are a bunch of people who can create trailing images. I know some who could do this as if they were just going out for a stroll.


Watch the entire update! (recommended)











Which tells me Yeager was useless.



I thought surely he'd come through in the end, but oh, how I was mistaken.
Is toying with the destinies of others how you have your fun?
Alexei! What happened to the ideals you held? What changed?!
Flynn, are you still saying things like that?!
Nothing has changed, except my methods.







You should understand this well.



Whoa, whoa. Don't tell me you're actually listenin' to this drivel.
...Why have you taken such a hurtful path? Someone of your stature could have found another way...



I promised to free this world from the Entelexeia, from the aer, and from this pitiful empire!



I don't give a drat what you're doing this for. But you're making a lot of people cry.

















Yuri! Alexei's getting away!!

Start watching here!









Hey boss, so you really want to go through with this?



None of you--NONE--thinks the empire is in the right.
The ends don't always justify the means, boss. These kids taught me that.



If you truly have no intention of changing your ways, then...



Using force will surely breed resentment and contempt. You do know that, don't you?
There's no guarantee the world you'd make would be any better than this one!





However, all the aer in the world is now in my grasp. You have no hope of victory.



What? Rita, what do you mean?
This guy still hasn't completely unlocked Zaude's controls.
Is he just buying time?!



Are you serious? And you think you can change the world? Don't make me laugh.



Very well, then this will be one more trial along my path to my rightful place as ruler.









He doesn't, but he may have enough.
Heh, he's betting the world on this. He's gotta pull out all the stops.




Start watching here!





Listen to the full conversation!

This world will be reborn! Do not interfere!
I don't remember agreeing to that.
Nobody gives a drat about whatever world you want!!
Stop this now! You're gonna destroy everything!



You're a fool to cross swords with me.
drat, he may be crazy, but he still fights like a commandant.
Ugh... you're pretty strong, commandant.
We've come this far, we won't lose!



So, the tool turns on its master?
Heh. Tools can kill ya if they aren't used properly.



You are foolish to rebel against your destiny!
I've chosen my own destiny. To fight you!



Not a single one of you could best me!
You've chosen the wrong path!
This is for the Don!
You're abusing knowledge!
There's no place in this world for you, or for Hermes.
That's it, boss. We're done.



We finish this now!



So this is it, the battle against Alexei. He hits very hard and has a pretty big variety of moves. Still, nothing that could stop us!



In fact, we're gonna open up (well, after everyone is done talking) the battle with Estelle using her Mystic Arte!

Watch the Mystic Arte if you're not watching the battle!

















Probably not the best time to actually use it, since it heals every party member in addition to dealing damage, but whatever.





As said, Alexei has a lot of attacks, including physical attacks, magic,





and even some altered variations of our own Artes, such as the Guardian Frost here.





Which, like Guardian Field, also heals the user.



Oh, and like a lot of bosses at this point, he's got a Mystic Arte.























Like Yeager's, this can kill you, and Alexei's can even hit multiple party members at once if you're not spread out over the battlefield!





Apart from that, not much to say. This is a pretty straightforward battle with no gimmicks.






I think that's enough for now.
Now the law will give you your due punishment.
You'll be stripped of your title as commandant.


The secret mission here is similar to Schwann's, in that you have to hit him after his Mystic Arte.

Secret Mission video.











Not that difficult, the time you have after the Mystic Arte to hit him is fairly short, but gets longer each time he uses his Mystic Arte so you should get it eventually.



The reward for this mission is actually pretty drat good!



He also drops a Spring of Wistom either way, for synthesis.




Achievement/Trophy:

Secret Mission 18 (360) / Secret Mission 19 (PS3)



Start watching here!





Is this the top of Zaude?



Is that the core? It's so big.











Noo!!











Grraah!






















Start watching here! (really, do this!)




























Start watching here!







That... It was on the mural...







This cannot be...
The Adephagos?! Did you use that much aer?
...No.



Wh-what do you mean?
The Adephagos was never eliminated.







You mean Zaude had been holding it back this entire time?!



Look out!



We were never more than worms writhing before an approaching storm.


Last chance to start watching!















































Yeah well, guess they didn't really say they destroyed that thing. They just went off and left this piece of crap remnant behind.

Knight armor rattling from behind.



Flynn?
















Admiral H. Curtiss fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Oct 13, 2016

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you
Well I never lied. This was the Final Battle against the main villain.

Alexei is the main villain of the game however he left a big mess behind that the party has to clean up for the last quarter. In the from of giant blasphamy against life that's going to destory the world.

Deceitful Penguin
Feb 16, 2011
Am I supposed to recognize brunette there?

Admiral H. Curtiss
May 11, 2010

I think there are a bunch of people who can create trailing images. I know some who could do this as if they were just going out for a stroll.
Yes. Sodia.

king of no pants
Mar 10, 2007

i'm watchin'
you post
The ending of this part made me mad as all hell when I first played through. Not only did we have a hand in loving things up even more, but Yuri gets stabbed (very poorly) by that irritating lackey of Flynn's. :mad:

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you

king of no pants posted:

The ending of this part made me mad as all hell when I first played through. Not only did we have a hand in loving things up even more, but Yuri gets stabbed (very poorly) by that irritating lackey of Flynn's. :mad:

How does the party make things worse. Had them managed to kill Alexei before he finished decoding Zaude things never would have gotten worse.

king of no pants
Mar 10, 2007

i'm watchin'
you post

MonsterEnvy posted:

How does the party make things worse. Had them managed to kill Alexei before he finished decoding Zaude things never would have gotten worse.

Okay not so much that the party hosed things up as they were present for the loving up of things, you are right.

Vil
Sep 10, 2011

Would it have killed Phaeroh or Duke to mention that's what Zaude did rather than being all ~super-cryptic~? At least then we could've had our heroes trying to persuade Alexei that he's loving poo poo up (even if it probably wouldn't have worked).

Also goddammit Sodia, we get that you don't like him, but with looming catastrophes there are more important things to do than shank people we don't like.

wdarkk
Oct 26, 2007

Friends: Protected
World: Saved
Crablettes: Eaten
It's kind of funny, but since I was working on getting AT3 ready for archiving, I was thinking "man Yuri, instead of stabbing him maybe you should try to talk some sense into him, he might be able to help with this problem".

Of course he probably would then betray us again after the problem was fixed.

Ilanin
May 31, 2009

Smarter than the average Blair.
I would say "but that would need somebody with actual diplomatic skills in the party", but AT3 doesn't exactly clear that bar either, so maybe not. No, Saki, turning people into cake if they will not stop fighting is not diplomacy.

Vil posted:

Also goddammit Sodia, we get that you don't like him, but with looming catastrophes there are more important things to do than shank people we don't like.

On the contrary. The end of the world may well be the only time to shank people we don't like. Can't put something off until tomorrow if tomorrow might not happen.

...not that either method or target will exactly make her popular with Flynn, which she probably ought to have considered before she started. This is where we realise it's a good thing we're not playing the alternate-universe game with Flynn as the protagonist because we'd be in for a bout of JRPG heroine histrionics around now.

wdarkk
Oct 26, 2007

Friends: Protected
World: Saved
Crablettes: Eaten

Ilanin posted:

I would say "but that would need somebody with actual diplomatic skills in the party"

Estelle?

Stabbey_the_Clown
Sep 21, 2002

Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?
Taco Defender
The Adaphagos showed up? Gee, didn't see THAT happening. (sarcasm) Thanks for breaking it, Alexi.

That was uncool, Sodia.

Classy Hydra
Oct 30, 2011

You did wrong, Jack,
rest your soul.
I've never really figured out if Alexei was supposed to parallel Yuri or Flynn here. Both, maybe? An example of what Flynn would be if he eventually gave in to Yuri's ideals? Ah whatever.

I always kinda wondered what the other members of the party would do here, if they actually saw what Sodia did. Rita at least might try murder. Raven too, if he could get a good shot in.

HiKaizer
Feb 2, 2012

Yes!
I finally understand everything there is to know about axes!
Your supreme boss unleashes the ancient unspeakable evil on the world, clearly goes insane, and so you stab Yuri because you think he's been getting in the way of Flynn? How is this a rational response? Yeeesh! I'm waiting for it to be revealed the Adephagos were possessing her or something...

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you

HiKaizer posted:

Your supreme boss unleashes the ancient unspeakable evil on the world, clearly goes insane, and so you stab Yuri because you think he's been getting in the way of Flynn? How is this a rational response? Yeeesh! I'm waiting for it to be revealed the Adephagos were possessing her or something...

The Adephagos is not sentient its just a big thing thats going to eat the world. She is just a bitch that did this out of her own free will.

Also good bye Alexei you were hammey as hell and a pretty good main villain even if you did not get to be the final boss

MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Sep 25, 2012

Raitzeno
Nov 24, 2007

What? It seemed like
a good idea at the time.

We can finally talk about the Adephagos' appearance! :D The first time through this game, I had my best friend watching from behind the couch. When this thing popped out of the sky, the controller dropped out of my hand, and i looked up at him. We both twitched a little, and then simultaneously said: "Is that a giant space penis?! ..... IT IS A GIANT SPACE PENIS!" I have no idea how we both came to that conclusion, but we both also found it uproariously funny.

Zebrin
Mar 12, 2010

Chopping trees down and making elves cry.
After the next update I will have something to say about this. for now I will just say that I wasn't expecting Sodia to do that the first time I played this game.

Wild Knight
Mar 27, 2010

Foul villain! I do not flee. I will never turn my back on you and run away!

[he says, running away]
Her stab kinda makes more sense in the PS3 version, actually -- since Flynn is with you, he doesn't get shot until after the fight with Alexei, which makes it seem more realistic that Sodia would freak out and stab Yuri right there.

Yes I am saying that the more realistic response is to be more irrational

HiKaizer posted:

How is this a rational response?

Sodia is not a very rational person

:v:

Momomo
Dec 26, 2009

Dont judge me, I design your manhole
Man, DC Douglas hammed the poo poo out of that. I couldn't take anything seriously when I was expecting him to talk about complete global saturation or something.

Senerio posted:

They say it so often that it's ingrained into my head.
I intentionally mistype it because I want to disrespect that game as much as humanly possible.
Basically I want to show that game as little respect as it shows its female characters.

In what way did that game show them less respect than this one? I'm not saying it was well written, but this is just fishing for criticism.

Admiral H. Curtiss
May 11, 2010

I think there are a bunch of people who can create trailing images. I know some who could do this as if they were just going out for a stroll.

Wild Knight posted:

Her stab kinda makes more sense in the PS3 version, actually -- since Flynn is with you, he doesn't get shot until after the fight with Alexei, which makes it seem more realistic that Sodia would freak out and stab Yuri right there.

Yes I am saying that the more realistic response is to be more irrational

Yeah, I was still planning to talk about the changes the PS3 version made here, but didn't want to ruin the flow during the update. It makes slightly more sense but is still pretty dumb of her.

Either way, this set of scenes is a logistical nightmare no matter how you look at it. I still have no idea how anyone except Alexei and maybe Yuri ended up on the rising platform.

Vil
Sep 10, 2011

Off-camera they did the "jump into the body of the JRPG protagonist map character" trick as Yuri was jumping up, and then jumped out of his body again once he'd made it. :v:

Senerio
Oct 19, 2009

Ooh! Are we messing with Adora?



Momomo posted:


In what way did that game show them less respect than this one? I'm not saying it was well written, but this is just fishing for criticism.

If nothing else, Marta's existence.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
Ah, Yuri. He who lives by the shank dies by the shank.

wdarkk
Oct 26, 2007

Friends: Protected
World: Saved
Crablettes: Eaten
Vigilante justice is cool until it happens to you.

Momomo
Dec 26, 2009

Dont judge me, I design your manhole
Wouldn't that be the exact opposite of vigilante justice?

Gaz-L
Jan 28, 2009

Admiral H. Curtiss posted:

That's pretty accurate. The battle system is amazing and kinda makes all other (US-released, anyway) Tales games look slow paced and boring.

The story, on the other hand... well you'll see.

Other than Asbel being the opposite of Yuri, in being a traditional Tales protagonist, I didn't see the story being strikingly worse than Vesperia. And I may like the overall cast in Graces more. (Not a big fan of Karol or Raven, honestly)

Totally agree about the combat system, although what I've heard about Xillia's might even improve on that. Graces is the first Tales game where I feel like I can fight as any character effectively, instead of trying to play as say, Judy and faceplanting 2 feet from the enemy and wiping.

Edit: And the shank-from-nowhere is a neat surprise, even if it's a bit of a left-field decision. You're either thinking 'time for the final boss' or if you've played one of these games before, 'here's the strategic retreat and regroup for final sidequests', then OHSHITSTABBEDANDFALLINGINTOTHESEA.

Gaz-L fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Sep 25, 2012

Momomo
Dec 26, 2009

Dont judge me, I design your manhole
I kind of agree with the comparison to Graces. Vesperia's high points are better, but its low points are worse because of what they could've been (so far at least, I don't know what's coming next). Graces on the other hand never really pretends to be anything more than typical anime. The cast in Graces is also better for mostly the same reason, Malik is better than Raven in every single way, for instance.

KDavisJr
Jul 17, 2010

A real avatar never dies, even when it's replaced!

king of no pants posted:

but Yuri gets stabbed (very poorly) by that irritating lackey of Flynn's. :mad:

The thing is, it seemed like she was in a trance: like she was being controlled. Despite her hatred for Yuri, I still think she wouldn't go that far to kill Yuri behind his back without warning, cause that would be something Yuri might do, and god forbid she do anything like Yuri!

And Flynn taking the laser shot for Yuri makes more sense in the 360 version when you can't use him (maybe that was one of the reasons he isn't playable?).

Also I thought it was apparent that Alexei was too far gone to be persuaded, and the only choice was to stop him by force. Pharoah and Duke knew that (why they didn't do it themselves is another story).

Momomo posted:

Man, DC Douglas hammed the poo poo out of that. I couldn't take anything seriously when I was expecting him to talk about complete global saturation or something.

That's what DC Douglas does: he's a great voice actor who hams the poo poo out of his roles. You listened to his work as Wesker in RE5 right? Wesker and Alexei's past and roles kinda mirror each other.

MrCinos
Dec 20, 2011
Some random fanart on Sodia from Pixiv:



Same knife I see.

She is the most despicable Tales character by me, which is a feat considering her limited appearance in the game. I hope she gets some sort of painful retribution, preferably by Flynn.

Despite finishing the game I can't remember anything plot-wise in post-Alexei content so I'm even more interested in this LP now.

Momomo
Dec 26, 2009

Dont judge me, I design your manhole
She's probably one of the worst in this game, but I don't think she could ever be as bad as say, Kratos or Regal.

GammaShade
Oct 10, 2005

CG: Boggle vacantly at these shenanigans.
Oh, cool, as luck would have it I just got to this scene last night in my blind playthrough of Vesperia. This LP is doing a good job of reminding me why I'm never going to go back and get everything in Abyss, because holy poo poo look at all these sidequests that I never had any idea about, and I've got someone helping me just with the important ones. There's got to be a million more of them in Abyss.

But Vesperia has achievements, so I guess I'm doomed eventually. :(

Anyway, this and Abyss are the only two Tales games I've ever played, but I can't believe I let the series slip by me for so long. I'm really enjoying this LP.

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you

Momomo posted:

She's probably one of the worst in this game, but I don't think she could ever be as bad as say, Kratos or Regal.

Huh I am confused you think Kratos and Regal are worse then Sodia.

Amidiri
Apr 26, 2010

MrCinos posted:

She is the most despicable Tales character by me, which is a feat considering her limited appearance in the game. I hope she gets some sort of painful retribution, preferably by Flynn.

Sodia shanked one dude, not even fatally (I assume they wouldn't kill the drat protagonist off anyway). We don't even know why yet, and this game is all about the shades of grey. This is the only offensive thing she's done other than dislike the main party. Cool off a little, jeez.

E:

Look at her face, even. She's not happy or gloating about it, she looks horrified.

Amidiri fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Sep 28, 2012

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry

Amidiri posted:

Sodia shanked one dude, not even fatally (I assume they wouldn't kill the drat protagonist off anyway). We don't even know why yet, and this game is all about the shades of grey. This is the only offensive thing she's done other than dislike the main party. Cool off a little, jeez.

E:

Look at her face, even. She's not happy or gloating about it, she looks horrified.

Yeah, but that kind of makes it worse.

I mean, if you're charging full at a guy intending to end him, at least have the decency to be prepared for the consequences.

Momomo
Dec 26, 2009

Dont judge me, I design your manhole

MonsterEnvy posted:

Huh I am confused you think Kratos and Regal are worse then Sodia.

Sodia has never said anything as pretentious as this

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you

I'm sorry I don't get it. It's a somewhat funny line but I don't get what you mean.

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you

Glazius posted:

Yeah, but that kind of makes it worse.

I mean, if you're charging full at a guy intending to end him, at least have the decency to be prepared for the consequences.

Yeah it looks like a Oh crap what did I just do face. Which does not really excuse the fact that she did it.

Momomo
Dec 26, 2009

Dont judge me, I design your manhole

MonsterEnvy posted:

I'm sorry I don't get it. It's a somewhat funny line but I don't get what you mean.

Regal is meant to be a badass and he ends up coming off as incredibly annoying and creepy. That line is just the easiest way to show how badly written he was.

As for Kratos, he essentially blurts out his biggest plot twist in like, his second line and all his other twists shortly after.

Sodia does neither of these things.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you

Momomo posted:

Regal is meant to be a badass and he ends up coming off as incredibly annoying and creepy. That line is just the easiest way to show how badly written he was.

As for Kratos, he essentially blurts out his biggest plot twist in like, his second line and all his other twists shortly after.

Sodia does neither of these things.

Odd I liked both of them.

  • Locked thread