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 Spoiler policy: Don't post spoilers. Latest update: 50 - Revenge of the Big Hole  The Japanese, US and EU versions of the game all use the same cover artwork. The back of the box posted:Tragedy and Destiny Intertwine Surrounding the Legendary Sun Rune Suikoden is a series of Japanese role playing games (JRPGs) loosely based on one of the the four great classical novels of Chinese literature, Shui Hu Zhuan - known in English as Water Margin, Outlaws of the Marsh, All Men Are Brothers, and probably a bunch of other names I'm forgetting. The main features of the series are relatively (for JRPGs!) small-scale, political conflicts, generally taking place within the confines of a single country, and the building of an army. Each game sports one hundred and eight characters who will fill various functions around the hero's headquarters, or simply help out in battle. Each character represents a Star of Destiny, corresponding to one of the heroes in the original novel; the game character generally shares some trait with the character whose star they represent, but as the series has gone on, it has moved away from its point of origin. Suikoden V is the last numbered game in the series, and the last to take place in the world the previous entries built up. It is largely detached from the events in the other games, and takes place fifteen years before the first (and over a hundred years after IV) in a location that has previously been mentioned a few times, but never in any great detail. Despite the distance in both time and space, Suikoden V still contains a fair number of familiar characters, as well as a good amount of nods and references to the previous titles. In many ways, it is an attempt to return to the basics - the things that made the first two games successful, before they started experimenting with different setups in III and IV. In some aspects it is quite successful - but it falls short in others. Suikoden V is far from the perfect game, but it is widely considered better than its predecessor in just about every way, and I'll make no secret of the fact that I agree: despite the flaws, we are firmly in Good Game territory here. Like Suikoden III, the fifth entry is quite long for a JRPG. Unlike the third, it features a long, relatively peaceful prologue that sets up the main characters and conflict. Opinions differ on whether this is a good thing or not, but personally I think it adds a lot of weight once the midden starts hitting the windmill. We have a long road ahead, so let's not drag things out longer than necessary. On with it! Table of Contents 01 - Family Reunion 02 - Fifty Shades of Brown 03 - The will of Providence 04 - *nervous laughter* 05 - This'll be awkward 06 - I HATE lizards! 07 - Leopard maths 08 - A delightful show 09 - Duel at High Noon 10 - The Kanakan Swordsman 11 - A wet blanket 12 - Uncle Dolph's Cabin 13 - Final Round! Fight! 14 - The Princess orders you to clothe yourself, hussy!!! 15 - East Palace 16 - Things that go Thump in the night 17 - Rolling on the River 18 - Royal Banquet 19 - Loose Ends 20 - I never sleep well when I'm sober 21 - Another Man's Junk 22 - I was once... 23 - Even insolence should have limits! 24 - Mediocrity! 25 - The tastiest fishies in all of Falena 26 - Fugitive Runners 27 - Tactician 28 - You, my good lady, are a FASHION DIVA! 29 - A Bit Batty 30 - Detective Oboro 31 - Poor Decision Making Skills 32 - Get ready to kick some Armes keister! 33 - The Dawn of Victory 34 - The Emperor's New Clothes 35 - Tonight, Iodine in Hell! 36 - The kewlestest thing EVAR! 37 - Get ready to BURN! 38 - Beaver Lodge 39 - What's the name of this country? 40 - I'll get you there! Probably! 41 - What's the name of this... castle?! 42 - I Am Not Nearly Drunk Enough To Deal With This poo poo 43 - The bestest fisher in all o' Raftfleet 44 - Your destiny is to die alone... 45 - Condemnation 46 - I'm just a lowly commoner! 47 - I conked the Prince in the head! 48 - What are you, sightseeing? 49 - The Dawn Times 50 - Revenge of the Big Hole vilkacis fucked around with this message at May 25, 2013 around 13:53 |
| # ? Feb 19, 2013 16:35 |
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| # ? May 26, 2013 08:19 |
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Reserved.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 16:35 |
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Other Cool StuffFeyerbrandX posted:Suikoden Bad-rear end Gastromicide: yokaiy posted:
FeyerbrandX posted:
vilkacis fucked around with this message at May 15, 2013 around 04:33 |
| # ? Feb 19, 2013 16:35 |
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It appears that your Highness is about to beat me...
To killing those FILTHY GODWIN DEVILS that are RIGHT BEHIND YOU!
My poor boy, I'm afraid I've won, please be so kind to Queen me.
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01 - Family Reunion It begins! And not with not me loving up the recording, in case you were wondering. The opening does have this black border around it. You should watch it.  Can you tell which ones of these people are playable characters?  Wind of phantom! This deliciously engrish-y titled track is what you would be listening to right now if you watched the opening like I told you to instead of just looking at the screenshots. Much like IV's opening, I wasn't too keen on it at first, but grew to like it eventually.  Like most Suikoden intros, we're presented with a number of things that may or may not happen during the course of the game. This one is actually important, which is why I'm showing it off. We'll probably all have forgotten about it by the time it becomes relevant, though.  This is the Sun Rune! I think most of us suspected it would show up at some point after the Moon Rune made an appearance, but it took a while for it to happen.  Where there are True Runes, plot lasers are not far behind.  Look at this nice idyllic scenery.  gently caress this nice idyllic scenery. True Runes are dicks.  These ninjas don't look too pleasant either.  The queen appears quite unimpressed, though. "Yawn. This is like the sixth assassination attempt this week."    Bad things tend to happen to generic mooks who go up against named characters with plot lasers.  But enough about generic mooks - we have over a hundred exciting1 characters with actual names attached to them! 1) characters may not always be exciting  We have light houses!  We have something that looks an awful lot like a JRPG protagonist!  And we have a visual callback to Suikoden II! And I must say it looks a lot better this time around. (This should not be very surprising, given this is a whole generation of consoles later.)  A galaxy spins in the backgrounds while images of runes fly past. It looks like we're setting up for an epic story of... things.   oh god no leave me alone  We'll be seeing more of this bunch shortly, but first...  ...title screen! Holy hell, 2006. Can you believe it's been that long since this game came out? But anyway, let's push start.  And as if I didn't have enough Goddamn Ocean flashbacks already, we start on a boat. Be kind to me, game!    But it's never going to get as bad as the Goddamn Ocean. Let's think positive! It's the start of a glorious adventure! And it's going to be a long one. You should watch the opening cutscene. (or at least listen to the music)  Just like Lazlo before him, the protagonist of Suikoden V starts off in a different outfit than the one he's wearing on the box. He looks pretty happy with it.  And uh, speaking of outfits... ...you know what, never mind.  The big guy in black mutters something like "yeah" as the camera pans up the river to reveal a city in the distance... moments before it gets covered up by the title of the game, in case we didn't catch that on the title screen.   Traditionally, the Suikodens haven't been much for that whole multiple portraits thing...  ...but this one does it to a much greater extent. I'll be using slightly bigger portrait images this time so you'll actually be able to make them out.  Whether in the Imperial Capital or away, I'll always gladly do whatever it takes to protect the Prince!As one might expect, Lyon will be glued to our side for most of the game. Fortunately, she is quite competent, even if she currently looks a bit underpowered compared to...  ...the next guy. "Knight" is kind of an interesting character,  ...and now he even has a name! Series veterans may remember him from the second game, where he was a very optional, very plot-irrelevant recruit who just happened to have ridiculous stats and command one of the best army units in the game. If you got your detective to investigate him, some very interesting things would pop up - but keep in mind that this game takes place 15 years before the first, so we'll not get into most of the details yet.  Aw, that's so cute I might just throw up.  I think Sialeeds agrees with me. In her own way.  Heh! Sure is!And Georg is just being Georg. That's quite sufficient. ...Oh, Georg?Well, maybe not entirely sufficient. What? When we get back to Sol-Falena, you'd better watch how you talk. Be polite and use the proper forms of address, okay?Georg was going to walk into the palace being all "Yo, commander man! Break out the booze and let's celebrate my glorious return, which has more than doubled the strength of the royal army!"  You know, you are ever so right, Lyon! Georg may have forgotten, but I am the younger sister of our glorious queen.Then the commander would smack him over the head and tell him to stop being so modest.  At which point Sialeeds would roll her eyes and make off with the booze while they were busy arguing percentages.  We're like one big happy family.  You say that, but we all know that if he went around calling you "Your Royal Highness" all the time, you'd throw him in the river.  But if Her Majesty hears a Queen's Knight addressing the Prince improperly, there'll be trouble, Georg. And think of Ferid, too! After all, he's the one who recommended you to the Queen's Knights in the first place... I can't do coloured text unless I want to put it in someone's avatar, so let's just pretend I used blue letters there.  But jeez, lighten up! I thought the Queendom of Falena had more of a laid-back reputation than this! Likewise, except this time it was green. v  v Considering the fact that they let someone like YOU become a knight, I think it's laid-back enough!Can't say I care much for her fashion sense, but as long as she keeps that attitude, she can wear whatever she likes.   This sounds rather worrying, though. Look sharp now, guys. We're about to arrive.And just as she says that...  ...the faceless NPCs take notice as well. Part of the world map theme starts playing here. It's pretty good!  I can't complain too much about the water texture this time (although the sparkles are a bit weird), but check out the wall in the background. Fortunately it's usually not this noticeable.  Better already!  But isn't this kind of a pathetic welcome for the Queen's sister and the Prince? Yeah, well, what else can we expect? In Falena, male royalty aren't in line for the throne, so they aren't very important. And neither am I, apparently. "Aw, that's a bit depressing."  "You okay there?"  "I'm cool." Like Lazlo before him, the prince doesn't speak unless we tell him to, but he does emote a whole drat lot more than his predecessor. And thank gently caress for that, because I'm not sure I could take another 60+ hours of Lazlo's cold, dead, fish-like stare.  "Oh," someone muttered in the background, "not this poo poo again." And yeah, I suppose playing another game as a boy named Sue is a bit unoriginal, but so help me, unless I get some better suggestions from the thread, that's exactly what's going to happen. Envoy: Prince Sue! Lady Sialeeds! Welcome home! None of this is voiced, so it's not part of the video. Envoy: So, back from Lordlake! You must be exhausted. How was your trip?  Don't even ask... Ugh! I just want to pretend it never happened!Envoy: Pardon? I suppose that was about my reaction too, back when I first played this. Just... Never mind!In 2006. Envoy: I... I see... Ahem! In any case, Queen Arshtat is waiting. Please, if you would, make your way to the Sun Palace... ...let's get back on track.  Our party follows the instruction they've been given...  ...and we're getting closer and closer to the palace. Quite a nice looking town they've got here!  We'll be crossing that bridge more than once, but this time we're spared the trip. Instead, we cut straight to...  ...Sue's loving father. (Watch this.) (Also new music.)  Maybe a little too loving.  Sue is a bit of a fragile boy.  Or perhaps it's just that Ferid is a badass on the same level as our good buddy Georg and doesn't quite know how to control his strength.  Please do. It would be a very short game otherwise.  Ah, Sialeeds! I'm glad to see you looking well, too.Georg, Lyon, thank you for seeing the Prince home safely. We still have that problem with getting to name your character in a voice-acted game, but at least we have a proper title STAR PLAYER OF THE ZANARKAND ABES they can use instead. Yes, of course, sire! Sialeeds and Lyon are like "What the gently caress was that?"  Even Ferid is shocked by this uncharacteristic behaviour! So shocked, he even forgets to strangle his son. Eh, I dunno. I was told to "mind my manners."...but not for long.  "Seriously you guys, a little help would badjdsfdsdargh"  "Cough, wheeze!"  More than a few nobles aren't very happy with you, being a newcomer and all. All right. I'll try to watch it. Wouldn't want to get you in trouble, Your Majesty.Georg and Ferid, in case it wasn't clear enough, are the broest of bros.  Through all of this, this Sephiroth cosplayer in the background has been trying to work up the courage to interrupt our little family reunion...  ...and now he seems to have finally managed it. Hmm? Ah, yes. You're right. Your mother -- I mean, Her Majesty -- is waiting for you. You should hurry along and see her now. Sorry, now's not the time. I know what you've all seen, but there's nothing I can do about it right now. Our first priority is to see Her Majesty.No one seems to bee looking forward to that.  We can't put it off any longer, though. We've been announced and all. Twice, even.  drat impressive throne room they've got here! We'll get a closer look at the walls shortly. (music)  Don't be shy now! Come closer. Let me get a good look at you! Our party didn't seem too eager, but the queen seems quite pleased to see them.  We could be all formal and poo poo, but eh. It's our mum.  Sialeeds, thank you for all you've done. I wasn't quite so worried about the Prince, knowing that you would be with him.    Ah ha ha... And thank you, too, Georg. I'm grateful that you took on this task hardly worthy of your talents.  ...wait gently caress, that's the wrong flag. Guess I'll have to make a new one for this thread. Hold on a minute...  There we go! no one better buy :falena: either And you, Lyon. Lyon is hella nervous. You're doing a fine job as the Prince's bodyguard. Well done. I'm sure the day will soon come when you'll be promoted to a full-fledged Queen's Knight. I already consider it a great honor, one I hardly deserve, just to be allowed to be His Royal Highness' bodyguard! "Besides, we'd have to assign someone else to stand guard while he's in the bath!" "not in front of my mother Lyon" Ah ha ha... It is such a great relief to me to know that the Prince is in such good hands. Please continue to take good care of him. Yes, Your Majesty!Lyon bows low enough to hit her head on the bottom of the screen.  *thump* "ow"  But we're not just here for the pleasantries...  ...and the rest of it isn't pleasant at all, judging by the looks of our party.  It seems we're about to find out what they were all so upset about...  ...but that will have to wait for another time. And then, we may even get far enough to see gameplay. For now, we have something more important to think about : names. I could just keep going as Sue, but, you know, thread participation and all. So give me some suggestions!  Here's some early concept art you can use for inspiration. (Clickable for larger version)  "I like orange! Did you know it's both a colour and a fruit?" vilkacis fucked around with this message at Feb 21, 2013 around 12:45 |
| # ? Feb 19, 2013 16:37 |
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I'm never any good at protagonist names but what the gently caress is going on with that sleeve extension thing there? I can't even imagine how awkward that would be to wear 
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 17:05 |
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I really love this game, and I'm glad somebody is finally LP'ing it! And yeah, actually having expressions, if not a voice, was a big step up from IV. Although kind of a step down from Tactics, which had a Protagonist who talked!, but you gotta take your small victories where they come.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 17:08 |
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No I shouldn't. Cause it's a bunch of boring in-engine cutscenes over a completely generic instrumental track (and generic pictures of your 108 doing nothing of interest). It's like someone was told to come up with an opening for the game, then when they turned around to leave they were knocked out and drained of all creativity. Doesn't hold a patch to Suikoden 3's opening either.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 17:10 |
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 Excited to see how this game plays out, since I know absolutely nothing about it! But wow, silent protagonists really don't translate well to this kind of game. The prince is better than Lazlo, for sure, but I feel like this is still going to get really awkward. I'd go with his "canon" name, but Freyjadour is sort of silly sounding. Let's just shorten it and go with Frey.  Noble Prince Frey, Her Highness Sialeeds, and the Imperial Body Guard Lyon. Truly a regal bunch.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 17:17 |
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e: Actually, lets go with Frey as others have suggested.
KnoxZone fucked around with this message at Feb 19, 2013 around 19:58 |
| # ? Feb 19, 2013 17:26 |
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He looks like a Johnathan I used to know. Name him Johnny.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 17:30 |
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He also reminds me of somebody that I used to know, so name him Gotye.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 17:37 |
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yokaiy posted:I'd go with his "canon" name, but Freyjadour is sort of silly sounding. Let's just shorten it and go with Frey. I'll second this, Frey is a good name.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 17:48 |
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Captain Bravo posted:He also reminds me of somebody that I used to know, so name him Gotye. gently caress it, this gets my vote.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 17:49 |
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yokaiy posted:I'd go with his "canon" name, but Freyjadour is sort of silly sounding. Let's just shorten it and go with Frey. I'm fine with this. When I first got this game, he didn't have an "official" English name yet, even as loosely as I use that term here. I came up with Risanth for my playthrough, which is probably equally silly, but Frey is quicker.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 17:49 |
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KnoxZone posted:I am a boring goon with no sense or originality. Therefore I vote for the unique and exciting name of Lazlo. With that hair of his he should be called Snowe.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 18:03 |
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Ferid seems like the kind of douche to name his son Sue in order to toughen him up, so let's stick with that. Of course, that wussy rattail of a hairdo doesn't exactly help things either.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 18:03 |
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Name him Ferid Jr, or alternatively, Lil' Ferid. Man, Suikoden V, the only Suikoden I've ever completed. Despite the callbacks to other titles, it stands on its own pretty well. Looking forward to this LP.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 18:04 |
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Captain Bravo posted:He also reminds me of somebody that I used to know, so name him Gotye. I approve. Vote Gotye.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 18:20 |
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I really liked this game. Thanks for showing it off. Also  has it really been 7 years since this game came out? I checked the wikipedia; the japanese released was February 23, 2006, so we're on the cusp of its seven year anniversary. This game is older than my daughter, and she's in elementary school.Time is a hell of a thing,  .
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 18:28 |
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Yay another vilkacis Suikoden thread. 
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 18:28 |
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If this game remains the final proper Suikoden game, it'll be a fine note for the franchise to end on. I love this game to bits. I also like the idea of naming our hero Sue.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 18:55 |
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Hell yes Suikoden V  gently caress me it's seven years old.  Also we should call the kid Sue clearly.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 18:59 |
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I named him Frey when I played through this game myself, so there's little point in me voting to see it again. We've bucked the trend of godawful JRPG parents here, so let's name the kid after them; Fertat. Also because it's godawful. This is a really great game, by the by. Aside from a couple of niggles I consider it up with the best in the series.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 19:07 |
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Whoo, another Suikoden thread by vilkacis!  Suikoden V had it's ups and downs for me, but it was almost always pretty fun. Looking forward to seeing you play through this!yokaiy posted:I'd go with his "canon" name, but Freyjadour is sort of silly sounding. Let's just shorten it and go with Frey. Also, this is good and gets my vote. And was it just me, or did anyone else do a double take when Lyon called our protag "Prince"?
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 19:11 |
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Well hell, if the game's gonna go with it, we might as well roll with the punches. the Prince (alternatively just Prince)
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 19:31 |
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Toss in another vote for Frey.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 19:42 |
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YES. I have been desperately hoping for a Suikoden 5 LP and it is in good hands. Vilkacis actually made it fun to watch Sui 4 so I can only imagine how great a GOOD Suikoden will look with him at the helm. Also I will jump on the Frey bandwagon because I do like the canon names, generally, and it's just right for our pretty pretty prince.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 19:48 |
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Frey sounds about right. I have this game. Got it in 2007 and was enjoying the hell out of it; it had some weird load time issues (odd for a late PS2 title) but did many things right. But when i was about halfway through it, a friend gave me a 10-day trial for this World of Warcraft game I had been hearing about, and suddenly all my gmaing time was going elsewhere. I should replay it soon just to finish it.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 20:42 |
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Well, everyone's going to refer to him as "Prince" anyway, so let's go with Prince Prince.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 20:44 |
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Voting Frey so we don't have him named Sue. The Prince doesn't deserve such a girly moniker, no matter how JRPGish his clothes are!
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 20:47 |
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Frey because it's gotten to the point where seeing Gotye raises my blood pressure.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 20:51 |
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Frey, mostly because Gotye would lose its charm quickly so may as well have something proper.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 20:56 |
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Arshtat is so awesome. And one of the main reasons I pushed through the rest of the game I didn't like.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 21:32 |
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How'd they go from this: To this: The first just looks incredibly practical, presentable and downright respectable, Very Tir-ish. Did a Marketing person come by and just say 'Nope, too practical, make it more anime. REALLY overdesign that poo poo" and move on? He's pasty white, got a butt cape, detachable sleeves, that long rear end scarf, shorts/vest-unitard on tights, FLIP FLOPS, and an unholy Cowlick/ braided Rat tail hairdo. On top of that he looks a lot more androgynous. Also muscle Atrophy. What in god's name went wrong? Rigged Death Trap fucked around with this message at Feb 19, 2013 around 21:54 |
| # ? Feb 19, 2013 21:50 |
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Rigged Death Trap posted:What in god's name went wrong? Anime Protagonist Syndrome. Luckily it's not contagious.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 21:58 |
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Yay Suikoden V! I really liked this game. Probably my favorite Suikoden, although it is the second I played, the first being IV.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 22:07 |
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Is that really how you say Georg? I feel like it must be wrong because "George Prime" just sounds really silly.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 22:14 |
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Rigged Death Trap posted:How'd they go from this: I could get behind the current one... if it was his initial outfit here, and later on he transitioned to the earlier, Tir-inspired concept. Sure, it's completely impractical, overdesigned, and he looks ridiculously young and not like someone who fights too much... and that's all completely appropriate in the opening parts of the game. As suggested by this being a Queendom and Sialeed's earlier comment, our Prince here is in no way in line for the throne, so any purpose he has in court is going to be decorative. The intro video has him and Lyon dueling while Arshtat watches, suggesting that he might take part in some ceremonial battles, and for those purposes his official outfit makes perfect sense. It's complicated, flashy, would look very stylish in motion, but completely useless for real fighting. So if he started there, then went for the Practical Rebel Leader look down the road, that wouldn't be too bad at all. As is, well, I guess you do learn to ignore how your characters dress if you play enough rpgs. About the best you can say for it.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 22:16 |
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One question... Are you using a higher-than-native PCSX2 resolution for this? If so, how are you avoiding that one little transparent line through the text boxes?
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 22:18 |
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| # ? May 26, 2013 08:19 |
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Suikoden V.  I'm another one who loves this game, and can't believe it's been nearly seven years since it came out. Looking forward to this LP.Yeah, name him Frey I guess.
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| # ? Feb 19, 2013 22:29 |
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