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  • Locked thread
Leal
Oct 2, 2009

quote:

"I don't want to care any more~"

Latyss never cares :qq:

Also that sequence :stare:

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thenightsshadow
May 12, 2013
It was the Warp Spell that made me go, "I don't really care how dumb the game is, I'm finishing this game." I like that brand of humor.

:science: time. While I can't divulge yet who Latyss' human father is, he had connections to Flare, though not in an obvious way. This will be more apparent as time goes on, so I'll come back to this point later.

ultrafilter
Aug 23, 2007

It's okay if you have any questions.


vilkacis posted:

Well I thought this was kind of funny at least :colbert:

It was the funniest part of the update.

Cycloneman
Feb 1, 2009
ASK ME ABOUT
SISTER FUCKING
"I am born with such a face! Gotta problem with that?!" is a great line, I don't care what anyone says. :colbert:

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


ultrafilter posted:

It was the funniest part of the update.

Yeah, I agree. Man they really ran that joke into the ground.
And woo, Ryle got Afro Samurai's sword! :toot:

Polsy
Mar 23, 2007

In the Japanese version you also get 'Transfont' (Warp is 'transplace') which lets you switch to a more serifed font (for 0 MP). What you don't get is the Mail Dragon, but considering you just got Warp so you can go back to Lavas at will it's not a big deal.

The whole sequence is equally as tedious to play though, ugh.

Testekill
Nov 1, 2012

I demand to be taken seriously

:aronrex:

What is it with bad comedy and running jokes that wasn't funny the first time and just gets worse? Because that was like something out of Master of Disguise or some poo poo like that.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

ultrafilter posted:

It was the funniest part of the update.
Yes, it was. The fact that Ryle learns a new skill by getting hit over the head a bunch is funny, and I probably should have commented on that. But the whole sequence was already scratching at my personal limit for slapstick, and I got poisoned by how far the falling rocks bit was dragged along afterwards. I'm serious here, that annoyed me really hard. It was like a poor mans punchline. Can't come up with an actual joke? Just drop a rock on Ryle's head!

Polsy posted:

The whole sequence is equally as tedious to play though, ugh.
This is another reason why I was a bit negative while writing the update. Like, I appreciate the idea Flare had. Wanting to shuffle the actors around, instead of having them fixed for the whole dungeon like before, is a good intention and allows for variety. But the execution was just tedious to play. I think that's partly due to the limits of the old RPG maker, but I'm sure that it could have been designed more conveniently.

Taciturn Tactician
Jan 27, 2011

The secret to good health is a balanced diet and unstable healing radiation
Lipstick Apathy

Tin Tim posted:

This is another reason why I was a bit negative while writing the update. Like, I appreciate the idea Flare had. Wanting to shuffle the actors around, instead of having them fixed for the whole dungeon like before, is a good intention and allows for variety. But the execution was just tedious to play. I think that's partly due to the limits of the old RPG maker, but I'm sure that it could have been designed more conveniently.
There's no way. I used a slightly more up-to-date version of RPG maker than him when I messed around with it as a teenager, but just from how it worked there's no way he couldn't have put a party member swap in the dungeon. There's even one at the end! Even if he couldn't have automatically swapped your party members, which really seems like something you could do even in RPGMaker, he could have made it less of a pain in the rear end to swap them.

Smoking Crow
Feb 14, 2012

*laughs at u*

Is it just me or do the smilies next to the Normal status in battle look like :downs:?

Also,


That's some legit awesome copyright infringement :allears:

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

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

Clapping Larry

Tin Tim posted:

Yes, it was. The fact that Ryle learns a new skill by getting hit over the head a bunch is funny, and I probably should have commented on that. But the whole sequence was already scratching at my personal limit for slapstick, and I got poisoned by how far the falling rocks bit was dragged along afterwards. I'm serious here, that annoyed me really hard. It was like a poor mans punchline. Can't come up with an actual joke? Just drop a rock on Ryle's head!

I dunno, if it happens enough it turns into a running gag, which while not hilarious can at least be amusing. It's like, "what's going to drop rocks on him this time?"

I appreciate wanting to break up the party and give everybody a chance to shine. Are we stable on the party-composition front, or are there a few more romances waiting to be walked into?

Captain Bravo
Feb 16, 2011

An Emergency Shitpost
has been deployed...

...but experts warn it is
just a drop in the ocean.
Well, he said that Lucitta is a super-secret character in the first update. Although I don't know how the game treats optional characters, or if we're going to get more than just her.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Captain Bravo posted:

Well, he said that Lucitta is a super-secret character in the first update. Although I don't know how the game treats optional characters, or if we're going to get more than just her.
Yeah, Lucitta will get unlocked through something, and I'll probably do it soonish. Or at least lay the foundation for it. Aside from that, there is one girl left that we haven't met. I'm honestly curious about how the thread will receive her.

Also

"I don't want to care any more~"

I forgot to say this last time, but this is really my favorite line of the game so far. I would love to have it as an emote, just as a joke for people itt. :v:

Taciturn Tactician
Jan 27, 2011

The secret to good health is a balanced diet and unstable healing radiation
Lipstick Apathy

Tin Tim posted:

Yeah, Lucitta will get unlocked through something, and I'll probably do it soonish. Or at least lay the foundation for it. Aside from that, there is one girl left that we haven't met. I'm honestly curious about how the thread will receive her.

Also

"I don't want to care any more~"

I forgot to say this last time, but this is really my favorite line of the game so far. I would love to have it as an emote, just as a joke for people itt. :v:

:negative: I wasted so much time on this stupid thing

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Taciturn Tactician posted:



:negative: I wasted so much time on this stupid thing
:swoon:

Haha, you're awesome! This is exactly what I had in my mind, and I'll smack it right on to the first page. drat, I'm really glad that you made this. :)

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

What’s up, Plot?


Whatever will we find past this point?


:eyepop:

"A dragon!! 2 Green Dragons!"

"How come dragons in the elven mine?"

"To me, it's not a good place to live..."

"The dragons fought along side with us in the past. I don't think they would attack us..."

"That's it! Fina might be able to talk to them so we can avoid the fight..."


The hint tells you that bringing Fina will lead to an event for her, and it's actually a pretty major one that you shouldn't miss. Though, you still can continue without her and gain attraction points for other girls. Would be dumb to do it, but it's an option.

The Mail Dragon has increased his fee to 500, for whatever reason..

In hindsight, I should have brought Fina and Orubia, but you'll understand that way later in this update.



"Green Dragon!!"

"For they are the strongest beings in this world, what an impact!"

That's not true at all :ssh:

"What's you plan? Going forward?"

You can still change your choice at this point, but I've already stated that it's a dumb idea.

"I can't waste any more time, and the dragons would never attack humans all of sudden."



"I am Ryle Laster. What are you 2 dragons doing in elven mine?"

"...We will tell you if you can defeat us!"

"W...What?"


BAM! Dragon-time

"Why? Humans and dragons worked together to fight evils in the past!!"

"The sword you're wielding...is a dragon bane "Torahdo"! We can't let you harm us with that sword!"

"I didn't get this weapon to fight against your kind!!"

Sounds legit :ironicat:

"We will leave right away after we get the El Metal! Please believe us!"

"...No room for compromise. Once we saw the one who is a threat to our kind, we have to defeat him no matter what!"



"I am the daughter of your old ally, Flare Delstar!"

"The offspring of Flare Delstar!?"

"Take a look at this sword. It's the Rune Disaster-! I have the Dragon Gene too!"

"........"

"We don't have to fight each other! In case of Ryle, he just got that weapon around here."

"We want only the El Metal! And nothing else!"

"........"

"I am sure you don't want your friend get hurt, right? ME too. I don't want either the humans or the dragons getting hurt.."

"Let's end this! Please?"


And you thought Fina would allow you to avoid a fight, right? :v:

"!! But why!? There's no reason to!!"

"....This fight is a trial for us to clear. Fina...you will find the answer someday."

"Please stop it!! I don't understand what you're talking about!!"

"Like we said, this is a trial! One of us must die!!"

"So you won't back off no matter what?"

"If the rest of humans in this world were as righteous as you, we wouldn't be here right now..."

"!! You are...!!"

"Let's decide who's gonna live! Enguard!!"


Fighting these dragons isn't too hard, since their basic attack is kinda weak. However, they can also spit poison clouds, throw big boulders, and have a gently caress-ton of HP. So it's no cakewalk either.


Since Ryle got those sweet dragon-killer skills, now would be a good time to use em.


:black101:

This is one of my favorite attacks in the whole game, and it's pretty effective against just about anything. Also, Dragons and Tigers are eternal enemies in Asian mythology, jfyi.


Since the the dragons have so much health, poison can wither you away, if left untreated.


One down...

"Even with this sword, the dragons are never to underestimated! Very though!"

"Unlike the elves, we never looked down on the other races out of false pride! We admit that you people are indeed powerful! That's why we were doing our best to win!!"

"Then why are we having a pointless fight?! I'm sure you don't want to do this either!"

"Desire is the cause of all the conflicts. We witnessed many examples throughout 500 years."

"How come you're trying to repeat the same history? You lived those long years for what!?"

"It's too late! Because we are the puppet of our own fate..."

"I would never buy it!! If there's such thing called fate, I will change it!! And so should you!!"

"It's too late for us. If we had noticed that just a bit sooner..."

"...Then I will fight you!"

"Ryle Dono!"

"Ryle! What are you saying!?"

"We can't avoid this fight...Then we shall win it!!"

"We can't lose here, even which means fighting dragons!!"

"Because it's our fate!?"

"There must be a way to solve this! I'll never give up!!"

"..Let's go for it!!"


More of the same...


The fight drops two Love potions, and Hayami levels and learns another Ninja attack. She pretty much has all the mundane elements at her disposal now.



"...Strong..."

"Why...why you have to do this!?"

"I remember you called yourselves the "puppet of fate"?..Has that something to do with this?"

"That's right. We....are the puppets of humans..."

"..What!? To be able to command the dragons...Oh no!!"

"They must have took one of your friends as hostages. Am I right?"

Sherlock Ryle, solving cases out of thin air. :psyduck:

"..Correct. Our offsprings are taken and imprisoned somewhere we do not know."

"How could this be happening!"

"We dragons developed strong protection thru ages...but our little ones...are totally vulnerable. That human brainwashed our little ones with Marionette Song..."

Hey, wait a minute...

"The Marionette Song!? Xaktor used it to control ninjas!"

"If you encounter that person, be careful...It's not human at all..."

That person :argh:

"What!?"

"Its...name...is...."

"I know who. But I didn't expect it's not a human."

"You..know...?"

"We're under a mission which relates to this, and we need El Metal. So we can continue the plan."

"...I see..."

"I'll take care of this."

"Then please finish us!"

"...."

"What are you talking about!? Finish you!?"

"...I'll do it."

"...You really gonna do it?"

"Ryle? The dragons are our allies! How could you kill them!?"

"..If we leave them like this, soon the culprit will send the hitman to get rid of these 2...So I should send them instead..."

"That's nonsense! If these guys come, we'll fight and protect the dragons!"

"Then you're risking baby dragons' lives."

"But there must be other way around!"

"Fina..You should know that by now. There's no other way...Everyone, please turn around.."

"...."

"Why can't I think of any good plan..at the time like this!?"




:smith:

"..."

"Oh!!"

"..I swear...I don't want to go thru this again. EVER!"

"Sessha won't let them get away with this!!"

"I won't forgive this!! Never!!"

"Let's get the El Metal."

"Maybe their bodies are too heavy to carry, but is there anything we can do?"

"At least...I want to give them a funeral ceremony..."

"I will take care of that later. Let's go..."

Ryle is lying, the bodies will stay here and rot in peace :ssh:


drat you, That Person! :qq:





"Let's get out of here..."

Yeah, we're done here....or are we?


:aaa:

"What the !?"






DUN DUN DUN

:suspense:

"M...Mahzok!?"

"How is your mother? Daughter of Sacred Dragoon, Lady Fina Delstar?"

"You know...me!?"

"Although these dragons belong to low class, you are quite a warrior to be able to kill 2! And I really admire your swordsmanship.."

"So you are the one behind all this!"


Gotta say, he seems really chill for being a demon and all. :respek:

"Then what's your business here!?"

"I think you already know, I presume?"

"To monitor us...In case the dragons failed, you'll execute them right?"

"Correct..but not entirely. Regardless the result, these dragons are to be exterminated since they are useless trash."

"!?"

"Useless...TRASH!?"

"Disregarding any value of life...this is the way of Mahzoks..."

"Don't think we will let you go like this after all the insults!!"

"Kekeke..fine with me! That anger and hatred! Shall be the source of my power!!"

"Aaarg! I won't let him get away from this! You are so dead Mr-!!"



"What's this vibration?"

"Huh? My Rune Disaster?"



"The Rune Disaster..It transformed!?"






:magical:


This is actually the event that the earlier choice was referring to. Kinda late, but whatever. I never tried it, but I think you can miss this transformation entirely. It's mainly cosmetic, but Fina just gets better across the board with this event.

"It's..? This power..."

"When the Rune Disaster transformed, a wave of energy flowed into my body....then this must be!!...It's the power of "High Valkyrie"! Mom acquired this when she was fighting the Mahzok at Meldia."

This icon hasn't been used so far, and includes her shoulder pads. Neat!

"High...Valkyrie!?"

"My Rune Disaster gave me this power!"

"I'll take revenge for Green Dragons! You stupid Mahzok!!"


:toot:



"Once I kill the descendant of Sacred Dragoon, I shall be promoted into highest rank in a zip! How wonderful-!!"

"You almost destroyed the precious bond between humans and dragons. You shall pay for this!!"

"So what if that happens? Survival of the fittest! That IS the law of nature! Don't you agree?"

"And I'll smash hard on that arrogant face of yours!!"

"You shall pay the price for making me angry for real!"

"What a bashful lady! Oh my~ *shrug* Please understand you can't use the power to the fullest now. I mean you just acquired it!"

"Cut the crap and let's fight! Remember, Fina is not the only person you have to deal with! I'll make you regret ever coming here!!"

"Mahzok...return to the darkness!!"

"It's for those dragons' revenge!!"


The fight with Raymah is reasonably tough, but mostly because he has a double gently caress-ton of health. In general, most of the major boss fights take a long time because they have all the HP. That's why I said that I should have picked Orubia instead of Hayami. Two Holy aligned attackers would have made this fight much shorter! Raymah has a weak default attack, but can cast sleep on your group, stun a single member, and will spew clouds of darkness everywhere. You gotta be on the ball to not get overwhelmed by this in the long run.


Fina does the most damage here, and the other two fall behind by a good bit. Like, their damage is still respectable, but due to Raymah's high health it doesn't add up to much.


If anything, this fight is a war of attrition.


When he starts to cast healing, you know that you're like halfway there. But it still takes many rounds to finish him, which makes this fight pretty tedious.

After what seems like ages to me...

:owned:



"Now! Ready to die!!"

"...Hmm, I am afraid I can't do that. See you next time~"




:argh:

"Kahkahkah!! It was my pleasure meeting you! Until next time, good bye!"

"drat! He got away!"

"That's...Mahzok..."

"Mahzoks are still alive...They should have been gone...20 years ago."

"Let's go back to Lavas! We don't have any business here."

Hayami Att 23 >>> 25

Fina Att 19 >>> 21

"(Why are the Mahzoks after us? Not only that, taking baby dragons hostages and even brainwashing...Wait..has this something to do with our mission? That means they are related to our Factoria?"

Nah, it's probably all just one big coincidence! :irony:

Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Aug 29, 2013

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


Fina Delstar has the will of the dragons coursing through her! Fina Delstar acquired the Dragoon job class!

Smoking Crow
Feb 14, 2012

*laughs at u*

drat, that dragon fight had the worst translation so far. That's the worst of it right? Right? :ohdear:

SC Bracer
Aug 7, 2012

DEMAGLIO!
This game has the best psychotic expressions.

Polsy
Mar 23, 2007

Tin Tim posted:

This is actually the event that the earlier choice was referring to. Kinda late, but whatever. I never tried it, but I think you can miss this transformation entirely.

Turns out it just happens unavoidably a little later on. But yeah, there's no reason not to get it here.

dijon du jour
Mar 27, 2013

I'm shy
God dammit. At least once every update I stop and wonder who the hell this "Sessha" character is people are referring to. Then I remember. :negative:

Also, is the game always going to be so obvious as to who you should take into an event to trigger a special cutscene? Because right now it just seems to be outright telling you.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

SSNeoman posted:

Fina Delstar has the will of the dragons coursing through her! Fina Delstar acquired the Dragoon job class!

:japan: Job get :japan:

I actually wish that the classes had any relevance at all

Ascetic Crow posted:

drat, that dragon fight had the worst translation so far. That's the worst of it right? Right? :ohdear:
Haha, noooooo!

Polsy posted:

Turns out it just happens unavoidably a little later on. But yeah, there's no reason not to get it here.
Huh, that's kinda lame. I thought this would be a unique content thing for Fina.

dijon du jour posted:

Also, is the game always going to be so obvious as to who you should take into an event to trigger a special cutscene? Because right now it just seems to be outright telling you.
The game will be holding your hand for the important scenes at least, small scenes don't get hints. The game also becomes more open in that regard soon. I'll be able to switch my party on the fly, and that's the point where a lot of unique content gets included for everyone. I'll do my best to hunt for it though.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

The Best Boat




You didn't forget why we were getting the El Metal, right? :)


Of course you can! Cue a transition with some clanking in the background...



"Oh Hayami...It's you!"

"It was getting dark and you didn't come home, so Sessha came here just in case...and there you are."

"Oh, this late already...Time sure passes by fast when I am into something."

"Did you make all these just in 1 day?"

"I just replaced the half of outer plates, only 20% done."

"2...20% already!?"

"So why are you here? Just look around?"

"Actually..I brought this..."

"It's!?"

"It's "Oni Giri", rice balls. Used rice and vinegar, it's a very simple food easy to carry around."

"Hayami...did you make these?"

"Yes. Sessha am not good at cooking, but used to make these very often."


The right choice should be really obvious..

"I am very hungry, let me try it..."

"Uh..."

"What...what's wrong?"

"My hands are dirty...I can't pick it up~"

"Oh well, I'll eat later."

"Is it alright if sessha put it in your mouth?"

"Huh?"

"Please open your mouth."

"(That would be quite embarrassing...I mean if somebody see us~)"

"What's wrong? Your tummy kind of hurt?"

"No, uh, not at all..."


:3:

"Mm!? (Mouthful)"

"How's taste?"

"Mm Mmmm!?"

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Wammm...."

"Warm? You like it to be warm?"

"But the rice balls supposed to be cold."

"(Gulp!) Hooah! I meant I need some water!"

"Oh! Water."

"Guick~!(Quick)"

"Ahh! Ryle Dono! Hang in there!"

A transition tells us that Hayami grabbed some water...



"Whew! It was too sudden, that big rice ball almost choke me to suffocate~"

"Sessha am so sorry..don't know how to make up for it...~"

"Then the continuation from the elven mine, your punishment~part 2!"

noooooooo

"Ehh? You mean the resting on my lap?"

"Oh! Sessha forgot to do the laundry! Better go back!"

"Don't you run away from me!! (Laundry eh?)"

"Eeek! Please forgive sessha! Please have mercy~!"





Thank you for ruining what would otherwise have been a cute little scene.. :argh:

"Ryle Dono...Sometimes you ask for sessha to do something too embarrassing!"

I just want to remind you, that Hayami was introduced as being kinda loose and fond of Porn. Now she acts all weird about being creeped on by Ryle. Women just can't make up their mind, am I right? :mrapig:

"It's not that bad! After you get married, your future husband gonna love it!"

"M, m, m,.....married?"



"Uh, mm, well! Excuse sessha, gotta go!"



"What..is wrong with her?"

:shrug:

Att 25 >>> 28

Well, another transition signals the passage of time..how much? You decide!


:stare:

Holy poo poo, look at that boat! It has a chimney, paddle wheels, and is all around awesome. How the hell did he make that!?

"With...this I can...sail...ocean...."


:woop:

"I...can't go on...too tired. Gotta...go home...rest..."



:munch:

























































Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


This game has a problem in that it makes Ryle sympathetic. If Ryle was an rear end in a top hat all the abuse he would be funny because it seems justified. Otherwise it just seems the girls are being assholes to him for no reason.
I mean yeah, the game tries to make him appear like spazzy perv, but those times are few and far between. And even when he is one, it's usually stupid poo poo like holding hands or resting on a girl's lap which he :spergin: out of proportion.

The problem with pervy protagonists is that they are the player character. Which means the player has to either put up with his poo poo and silently seethe as he progresses through the game, or feel bad for him as the rest of the party torments him for trivial reasons. Ar Tonelico's Auto is a good example of the former and Ryle is a decent example of the latter.

Picayune
Feb 26, 2007

cannot be unseen
Taco Defender


I love it when games misattribute a line like this. :allears:

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

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

Clapping Larry
Are we sure there's no dwarf blood in the protagonist's family tree? His mechanical skills are a little too mad.

Testekill
Nov 1, 2012

I demand to be taken seriously

:aronrex:

Glazius posted:

Are we sure there's no dwarf blood in the protagonist's family tree? His mechanical skills are a little too mad.

As we all know, technology is just another word for magic.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

SSNeoman posted:

This game has a problem in that it makes Ryle sympathetic.
This game has many problems. :v:

But yeah, you're right. I mean, this game has some issues with consistent characterization but Ryle wasn't affected that badly. Except for his random perv moments that just come out of the blue. Earlier he was careful of really touching girls and easily embarrassed, and right before his perv moment he's worried about being seen while Hayami feeds him. But then it's suddenly okay to cop a feel or whatever. My issue is basically that these perv moments are purely written with "comedic" intent. Not because it's part of Ryle's character or because it has any kind of sense, nope, it's because Flare thought it would be funny. Like, if you want to go out on a limb, you could say that his character is "evolving" in a way. In the sense that being around the girls so much, cured him of his cootie-fear or whatever. But I seriously doubt that the writing is that "deep".

And you're double-right on that last part. I'm okay with Ryle as my player character, his character doesn't bother or annoy me. But during these perv moments, I mash the spacebar with force. :f5h:

Leal
Oct 2, 2009

quote:

"Whew! It was too sudden, that big rice ball almost choke me to suffocate~"

Oh come on :eng99:

Raiad
Feb 1, 2005

Without the law, there wouldn't be lawyers.


Everyone kept saying that Ryle fixed the ship by himself. Nobody even thought to give thanks to poor Manuel :(

thenightsshadow
May 12, 2013

Picayune posted:



I love it when games misattribute a line like this. :allears:

Actually, notice who's talking and who the line says is talking. That was my first notice of mispellings/grammar mistakes in the entire game, so I decided to start a new game and actually look for them. Kinda soured me for my first few runs.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Raiad posted:

Everyone kept saying that Ryle fixed the ship by himself. Nobody even thought to give thanks to poor Manuel :(
It's a hard knock life :qq:

Picayune posted:



I love it when games misattribute a line like this. :allears:

thenightsshadow posted:

Actually, notice who's talking and who the line says is talking. That was my first notice of mispellings/grammar mistakes in the entire game, so I decided to start a new game and actually look for them. Kinda soured me for my first few runs.
Haha, that one totally went past me! I guess my eyes just block out some stuff after a while. Though, I like to think that my brain is just developing a defense mechanism.

Just as a heads up, I did not find the time to record the next update so far. The Summer is still in full effect on my end, and I'm outside as much as I can be. It'll probably still happen this week, but you never know. :)

Oh, also here is a question for the people who know things about this game.

I was sure that you could return Preshes' ring to her. But no matter what I tried, nothing happened. Am I remembering this wrong, or is there some obscure set of conditions you have to fulfill?

E:vvvv
Thanks, vilkacis. Maybe that's what I was remembering.

Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Aug 6, 2013

vilkacis
Feb 16, 2011

Nothing that I can find by looking at the Lavas maps. You'll be able to bring her souvenirs later in the game, though, so maybe that's what you're remembering?

(It's also possible she shows up in some other location at some point with a different script.)

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Hey folks. I have some kinda sorta bad news. A couple of days ago, my HDD started failing. It's still going, but my machine works pretty bad and I can't record with FRAPS right now. It lags something fierce! I don't know how fast I can grab a new one, but it'll be a few weeks in all likelihood. I made a backup of all my stuff, so nothing will be lost if worst comes to worst. I'm going to see if I can record with my editing Laptop, which I assume. But there will probably be a short hiatus till I get everything else set up.

Venetir
May 19, 2009

Tin Tim posted:

Hey folks. I have some kinda sorta bad news. A couple of days ago, my HDD started failing. It's still going, but my machine works pretty bad and I can't record with FRAPS right now. It lags something fierce! I don't know how fast I can grab a new one, but it'll be a few weeks in all likelihood. I made a backup of all my stuff, so nothing will be lost if worst comes to worst. I'm going to see if I can record with my editing Laptop, which I assume. But there will probably be a short hiatus till I get everything else set up.

Good luck! I for one am anticipating your return. Let us know if we can help!

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Yo Momma



"The ship is ready, I better hurry to join with them!"

Suddenly, an arrow zips through the window...


:raise:

"What the!? Why would someone shoot an arrow in my house!?"

"It's....a letter tied on the arrow."



"Hayami...Next time aim somewhere else~"

Since the girls are waiting at Lailai, I have a bit of time with Ryle alone. I use that and go to town on the Victory Point hunt. Since we're about to embark on a longer journey, I want to finish this sidequest. It's a bit ahead of the curve, but whatever. Thanks to vilkacis, I only had to grind a few minutes, instead of the whole god-drat day.


There we are. Everyone say thanks to vilkacis! :hfive:

"I am expecting the same quality like last time."

"In that case...I'll give you THIS!"


:toot:

"This one looks special."

"Good observation! The sword has an hidden attribute!"

"Hidden attribute!? What is it?"

"That's...please refer to the item window~ *wink*"

"........."

"Impressed by my killer pose?"

"I lost myself for seconds thanks to your incomprehensible stupidity~"

"What the-! How dare you *frown*"


Yeah, okay. Let's just look at the sword...


It's pretty powerful, but not as good in the other areas. Also, it's not a dragon killer, so what's the point? Well, it reduces the number of fights you need to do before you gain VPs. Not actually sure by how much, but I think it's like one fight less. Not that great, honestly. And since vilkacis is cool, I'm also never going to use it! Again, give him/her all the hugs and kisses. Cause otherwise I would have lost my will to LP while grinding.

"So what's next?"

"Hey! What's that attitude of yours! I'm gonna give you my most valuable collection you know!"

"Ok, I apologize. So please tell me what it is~"

"I see an ancient castle emerged from west of Southern Cray City."


:toot:

"Where the hell is the ITEM!!"

"Humph! I just told you the location where the rest of my collections are hidden!"

"And I naturally assume that the place is full of "watch dogs"?.."

"BINGO-!"

"How in the world can a huge castle simply appear by some points!?"

"Don't forget you ARE in the game."

"That's not what I'm talking about!"

Welp, the second to last item isn't an item at all. It's an optional dungeon! And you can bet that we're going to raid it for all the treasures real soon.



"(Why being polite all of sudden? It just gives me a shiver~)"

"Awe- The time has come!!"

"It was a long journey...After countless fights..."

"So it's the last one, wanna trade?"

"Don't even think about pulling some final jokes or that sort."

"Man you just don't get it do ya! The magnificent world of comedy!"

"Ok~ I don't!"

"The last one is not an item."

"I knew it! Not again~"

"A girl is waiting for you somewhere!"


:confuoot:

"What the...! Where's this girl?"

"Do you remember the "opening"?.."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just take my word for it. However, you can meet her only at the last stage!"

"So what is it?"

"My point is...you have to find out by yourself, the last treasure."

"Then what are these points for!?"

"Otherwise, there's no way you can meet her! You just earned the possibility!"

Yay!...or don't? Well, this is the end of the VP quest line, so definitely Yay! Remember the opening to the game? The demon girl told us that we could find her in the world, and you need to complete this quest to have her appear. However, it will take quite a while before we can meet her, so don't worry too much about it for now.

With that behind us, let's get back on the plot-track..


"Yo! You are all here!"

"So you finally got up."

"We were about to try Hayami's "Suijun" on you, too bad."

That's a water attack, jfyi.

"S, Sessha would have never allow that to happen!!"

"By the way, how did the ship go?"

"Oh yeah, about that..there's one problem."

"Problem? The ship can't hold all of us?"

"Hard for me to say this..."

"Come on, spit it out."

"Can it be?"

"Thanks to the El Metal coating, the propulsion improved to perfect. But the material is light, so..."

"Eek~ You mean?"

"In case of big wave, it will rock very hard."


:ohdear:

"This is really BAD! Even the big ship could not prevent Lady Fina's horrible sea sick!"

"Is it really that BAD? Fina's sea sick...~"

"I told you it's not a regular sea sickness!"

"It's the "Hyper! SEA SICK"!! Got that!?"

"I don't care wether it's "super" or "hyper", I just want some solutions!"

"I think there's no other option. Sylph! I am sorry about asking this, could you use the wind to make the ship more stable?"

"Whaaat~ Do you have any idea how far from here to Cellen?"

"But I don't want the ship to get wrecked by Fina's sea sick in case out of control."

"Whew~ I got it. Sometimes you're too demanding."

"Thank you very much! I love you Sylph!!"

"You better get that fixed. I can't be doing this every time!!"

"Mine is herditary condition, so can't be cured~"

"You try to kill me or what~"

"Hey! You guys can chat later! There's another issue to take care of!"

"Another problem?"

"We can't have the meeting on the ship because Fina can't last any second."

"That's right."

"Once we start our long trip, we need a new gathering place other than inns...out there."

"Since we can't use Lavas any more, better find a new place. I was thinking of Volcana as one of possible spots."

"But that means twice the distance from my house to the capital of Factoria...I will die for sure~"

"I'll die before she does!!!"

"But, there's no other good spots..."

"How about Dear Fina's home?"

"M....My house?"

"Your house is located at the halfway from here to Cellen right?"

"I see. Not only that, less workload for Sylph as well..."

"But, my house is not big enough to host all of you~"

"As long as we can gather there, then no problem. We can rest on the ship if need to."

"Mmmm~ Can't guarantee you, but I'll try my best convincing my mom."

"Yoshi, then let's go!!"


This is kinda pointless, but thanks anyway.


Ah, now things get more interesting...


:woop:

Now I can finally change my party at will! For the mere cost of 6Mp, I can bring up the change menu pretty much anywhere I want to. This also means that I can hold votes on my own terms, instead of being restricted by the game.


And I also can have a full party now.

Let's talk about this for a moment. From now on, I'll be flying somewhat blind when it comes to the romantic and optional scenes. They were pretty much restricted by which girls were available at the given time, but now that doesn't apply anymore. So it's likely that I miss a scene, just because I don't know which girl may trigger it. Not too much of a problem to me, but I just wanted to bring it up. Also, we're rapidly moving towards the point where the attraction scores of the girls will have a tiny bit of meaning. See, there is a point in the game where some scenes will only feature whatever girl has the highest score. It's mostly romantic stuff, but it may matter to you readers. I'm not sure when it'll happen, but you may want to keep that in mind for future votes. I'll start to include the current standings after the next one or two updates.

Okay, let's get out on the high seas!

If you have Fina in your active party, she will periodically lose Hp/Mp. It goes really slow though. If you leave her in the nether realm of the party menu, she's totally fine. So I like to think that she's sitting in a ship cabin filled with tears and vomit. :v:

Navigating the new area can be a bit annoying at first. You're still mostly walled-in, but there is a bit of space between landmarks and you can get lost at first. Also, the map will repeat when you just sail in the same direction, which doesn't help with mapping the place in your head. But if you sail around for a bit, you'll find out that there is only a small amount of places that you can actually reach.


This is the next big barrier, roughly to the south from where we started. To the north-east, is Fina's house and Cellen is just a bit past that.

While sailing around, you may also meet a new enemy.

:stare:

The Kraken has a ton of Hp, but isn't really dangerous otherwise. He can cast a strong water spell, but is mostly a nuisance.

After sailing a bit, we reach Fina's house.

But let's not go there quite yet. Remember how a random NPC mentioned the Island of the Slimes? Probably not.


But here it is, just east from Fina's house.

As you may expect, you'll randomly encounter different Slimes here.

These Slimes have water powers, and are a decent upgrade from the green ones we saw before.


Red Slimes are dicks. :argh:

They have decent Hp, can spew fire everywhere, and will heal all damage at the beginning of each turn for free. So you need to kill them in a single turn, and I admit that I had the first dead party member while fighting these fuckers.


And this is the big Whoop, a Queen.

She has high Hp, strong ice spells, can cast some status effects, and heals 95Hp at the beginning of each round. If she also decides to use her action to heal, that turns into 200Hp. Yeah, she is quite tough. But I brought my maximum-murder party, which contains Caris, Hayami and Fina. Since all of them have fire skills, she didn't last too long.

And for beating her...

...you get nothing special.

As far as I know, there is nothing more to the island. I used X-ray vision and walked all over the place, but found nothing else.

Well, let's finally visit Fina's house.

There's also more stuff in the area for later.


This is actually a neat house.


Kinda weird that Fina doesn't have a reaction here. But it would probably be :smith:


Good thing that we are legal intruders. :)



"Welcome back Fina. Everyone nice to meet you and thank you for taking care of my daughter. Let me introduce myself: My name is Flare Delstar, I'm Fina's mother."

"So she is THE..Flare Delstar."

"She was expecting us."

"I only heard from the stories, it's first time to see her in person!"

"Hm~ not as I expected. She's just a regular OLD lady."

Haha, that's loving rude! :haw:

"!! *petrified for 0.1 seconds*"

"Lady Caris!"

"Uh, Um~ The dinner is ready. You all must be tired from a long trip in the ocean."

"(She knows we came here by ships!?)"

"Stop that mom!! Not that human radar trick!"

"Oh come on, I was able to prepare the meals on time you know."

"But if you suddenly show that kind of "super" human ability, they might be too shocked to have any appetite!"

"Oh really? Then we'll eat without you."

"Arrrrrrg-! Why you always treat me like that!"

"You said you don't have any appetite, no?"

"I didn't say I won't. But they will!"

"What are they arguing about?"

"Ryle, you better stop them~ Things like this never stop unless there's 3rd person to intervene..."

"You do it!"

"How could you ask such a fragile lady, moi, to stop the fight among the world's strongest family!?"

"And I don't want getting hit by their Victory Buster!"

"So you are fragile ONLY during these times huh?"

"You'll be alright. Since you were able to survive from the rock showers back in elven mine."

"Then what about you being the heir of Shisho? I bet you're much tougher than them!"


I like how Fina's outfit makes it look like Ryle has cat-ears. :v:

"Hey! Cut it out! You gonna make a hole to their ceiling~"

"We might make them really angry! Please stop it!"

"Oh!"

"Oh she's right!"


Saved by the transition..



"So we want to use here as our temporary headquarter until the case is finished."

"Of course it's up to you ma'am."

"(Too gentle as usual)"

"Since this location is right between Lavas and Cellen."

"Sessha too begging for your permission."

"....."

"Mom, Mahzoks are also involved into this case. Since I already became the High Valkyrie, I can't just ignore the current situation."

"..I'll help you. You can use here anytime you want...under one condition."

"There's a...condition?"

"You have to pursue the mission without me."

"But mom! Why not?"

"Why didn't the prince sent his army, instead a group of gals like you? I bet he does not want the public to know about this. Correct?"

"Mm~"

"Once people notice me getting involved, the mission is no longer a secret! My public influence is that big."

"(She's right. She forsees every possible outcomes...)"

"Then you gonna just sit there and do nothing about this!?"

"I think that's the best decision."

"Ryle!?"

"We now have our new place. It would be too much to ask her for further help. And like Lady Flare said, we have to keep this mission as secret as possible."

"Mm! I agree. That's the reason why Dear Ryle was picked to do the job."

"By the way...why do you girls try to go with him? It's very dangerous you know?"

"Of course we know the risk, but we just can't let him face the danger alone."

"Not only that, he always try to sneak out on us."

"Because he's born with total recklessness you know."

"Whew..~ Sessha can't deny that either."

"I know~"

"Hey hey! You guys-! What'S that all about? As if I'm a macho idiot!!"


:master:

"...~"

"What kind of leader are you~"



"Ack~ *tripped*"

As usual, Ryle can't catch a break :(


Yeeeeees. Your time has come, That Person! :argh:

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that."

"..."

"But once you know the name, you can't pull out from the mission. You better take it seriously."

"How about those who are not in the mission get out of the house now?"

"And then go back to Lavas."

"Why?"

"Depend on the situation, things might get hairy..?"

"Come on. Don't scare her like that. So anyone who won't come with us, go ahead step out of house now."

Ugh, stop beating this dead horse and get on with it! Nobody will suddenly go away, so just say it for fucks sake! It honestly annoys me, how long this super-secret plot point gets stretched out. Also, please imagine a round of "..." from everyone present here.

"Everyone...You all sure about this!?"

"I am here because I already know the name of the person."

"I can't just ignore all these because it deals with not just the Kingdom of Factoria."


I seriously have no idea what the last part of that sentence should tell us. :shrug:

"Since I am already in, I can't just be selfish."

"You go girl!"

"Everyone was thinking about the same thing."

"Well then, Ryle. You can tell us the name of that person."


:suspense:


...who?

Oh yeah, the Queen that appeared after we beat Xaktor and who only had one insignificant line of dialog. Did I even show her? Probably not. Surprise, I guess? It's pretty awkward how a little and easily missable character, suddenly becomes the focus of the story. I mean, it explains why Ryle was so overly secretive, but it's still kinda dumb. Well, here we are, so let's roll along with it. :sigh:

"Ehh?"

"The queen!?"

"...!!"

"Th, That means the prince ordered us to investigate his own mother!?"

"...That's a tough one to deal with, indeed."

"Just like I thought. There's no way for him to ask the guards to go after Her Highness."

"Correct, the queen promoted Xaktor as the High Chancellor. She is the real mastermind."

"Waitta sec! It might be the exact opposite! What if Xaktor brainwashed her?"

"If that's the case, there are certain contradictions."

"Contradictions?"

"First one would be the queen visiting the town of Cellen."

"How is that strange?"

"It wouldn't matter where she went, the fact that she traveled somewhere far away, that is the problem. What if her brainwashed subjects awakes while she's gone? That would jeopardize everything."

"I can see that. Even we were able to free the ninjas from the Marionette Song."

"Xaktor didn't have to worry since he could trust her 100% without brainwashing."

"Not only that if the queen is the true boss, Xaktor would never be able to control her."

"Second thing is she didn't return to the castle, when the prince officially took over Factoria. All royal members must participate in the important events especially when a new leader is announced."

"She should have returned when the king was too ill to keep the throne, but she remained at Cellen."

"I think she didn't come back on purpose, so the public will blame on the king not inviting her."

"Also because she knew that she wouldn't have to be bothered with all the complaints from the public."

"And the next is that she returned to the castle without any notice right after we defeated Xaktor."

"Maybe it was just a coincidence."

"She even missed the prince's crowning ceremony for her own good, but now returned so quick...When Xaktor got overthrown. Don't you think the timing is too good to be true?"

"I think she never expected Xaktor would be defeated by someone. Which was her miscalculation. Because of that, the queen had to come back no matter what."

"She lost Xaktor as well as all the means to regain Factoria, her plan must got hindered in great deal."

"That's right. Her army of 1000 men was destroyed by mere 6 people."

"All the facts so far are enough to rule out the queen as the real mastermind, and here's the extra tip!"

"It's about those Green Dragons we fought back in that elven mine.."


Oh yeah, that was also a thing...

"Not human?"

"And there's a saying left by that Mahzok Raymah. "I was just following my orders...to control the dragons"..."

"Then it must be!!"

"!!"

"To be able to order around that Mahzok Raymah, the queen must be a Mahzok as well."

Say whaaaaaaaat? :aaaaa:

"Just hold on for sec! Why did the Mahzok have to monitor around our Factoria?"

"We are going to find out at Cellen!"

"Ah, right."

"You're still willing to continue the mission, despite the fact that we're dealing with the Mahzoks?"

"Once I found out the Mahzoks are behind all the troubles, I can't just let them ruin our Factoria!"

"Young man, you must not take the Mahzoks lightly."

"Mom it's not that. Ryle is..."


#Secretprince4lyfe

"Isn't it better to tell her now?"

"Lady Flare is not in this mission. And I prefer not to tell her."

"Ryle..."

"Anyway, I won't let the Mahzoks run free like this!"

"I don't think they'll let us pass that easily."

"No they wouldn't."

"Since we gonna fight them, we better come out the plans to deal with them...."

"You girls..."

"Lady Flare, you too began fighting the Mahzoks at the age of 17! It's our turn now."

"...."

"That's right!"



Oh boy! That sure were a lot of words to say that the Queen is a demon. I said it many times before, but this game just milks its plot points way too hard. I mean, maybe it just appears to me that way because I have to type all this stuff out? Dunno, but this game sure is wordy.

Anyway, we now have our next goal clear before us - reach Cellen and investigate the hell out of it. But, we don't need to do that straight away. There are a few other things we can do first, like that optional dungeon.

!Vote!

Please choose three girls that will follow Ryle into the Ancient Castle, to battle the monsters inside and grab all the riches. You really are free to choose, as everyone has a good range of attacks and some form of healing skill. Voting ends when the posts stop coming, I guess.

Note

I still haven't gotten a new drive. Recording on my laptop also didn't work out, cause the game runs at a tiny resolution. So I bit the bullet and recorded on my old drive, while praying that it wouldn't get worse. I still had some lag issues, but it worked out okay. Though I have to say that I'm legit afraid that recording could actually brick my drive. And I really don't want that to happen before I have a new one! Dunno, maybe I'm too paranoid? I'm no educated PC-wizard after all. Anyway, I just want to say that the service in here will stay irregular for a bit longer.

Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Aug 19, 2013

Taciturn Tactician
Jan 27, 2011

The secret to good health is a balanced diet and unstable healing radiation
Lipstick Apathy
Bring the elf, Burnfist, and healer chick. Lavas cats only, newcomers :frogout:

Also I'd be happier if Fina wasn't in the game any more and hopefully not having her in the party will cut down on her dialogue.

As far as that plot point, I guess it's kind of interesting but man that was a lot of talking about nothing to get out a very small amount of new information.

Lord_Ventnor
Mar 30, 2010

The Worldwide Deadly Gangster Communist President
Glad to see that your technical difficulties aren't so difficult anymore.

At any rate, I'm voting Caris, Latyss, and Hayami on the team. No particular reasons on my part.

Hellioning
Jun 27, 2008

I only care about Burnfist.

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ultrafilter
Aug 23, 2007

It's okay if you have any questions.


Caris, Orubia and Fina.

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