|
It hardly seems fair to give you so many new Folks and such little game to use them in.
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2014 08:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 02:01 |
|
|
Glazius posted:It hardly seems fair to give you so many new Folks and such little game to use them in. The DLC, at the very least, is extra content for people who enjoy the game for its own sake - the kind of people, I think, who would actively continue to play even after completing the story (although there's no post-game, so they'd just be loading up a save file from before the final boss to play around in). I agree that it would be preferable to introduce most of the Folks earlier in the game to allow time for them to be useful - Cyhyraeth, at least, is nearly useless at this point, although I've gotten some use out of it simply because I felt it was underused. I think the question is whether having the additional options early on would trivialize the game, or portions thereof, if the difficulty isn't scaled to the optional features like quests. Obviously, there's no "Knights of the Round" or "Lionheart" equivalent Folk - although Automata comes pretty close to that idea. But the balance of bonus material is always a tricky subject, and the notion of putting it all at the end of the game where casual players can largely ignore it while more passionate players have room to experiment doesn't seem like a bad idea when I put it that way. I welcome further discussion of the topic, including games in general rather than restricting it to Folklore's solution. But for now, we have a different subject to explore. By necessity, the daytime quests were only able to focus on the human residents of Doolin and the direct effects that the goings-on of the Netherworld had on them. Most of the human concerns have already been settled through the main story, with very little backstory left to be explored because it was all directly relevant to the plot. We got Suzette's and Ingrid's pasts, and that was about all that was left. The most fascinating characters are the ones we've met in the Netherworld, who have guided and sometimes opposed us for complex and varied reasons. At night, we can explore those characters and develop a deeper understanding of the story from their perspective, giving us a deeper motivation as we trudge our way into the second half of the seemingly interminable quest marathon. Today, we'll be getting our first taste of this as we delve into Livane's past, and see the conflict behind what I think we've all agreed was an obviously correct decision to cut off knowledge of the Netherworld from living humans. Maybe there's more to it than that.  Chapter 7: Ellen Quests, Nighttime Second Part Youtube Yes, I wrote this update right after watching an episode of Folding Ideas. I make no apologies and encourage everyone to check it out, as it's pretty amazing.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2014 15:47
|
|
|
Folding Ideas, I've heard of it, but haven't watched it. What episode did you watched?
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2014 16:41
|
|
|
Mraagvpeine posted:Folding Ideas, I've heard of it, but haven't watched it. What episode did you watched? Today, the most recent one on Fight Club and the idea of toxic masculinity. I haven't seen Fight Club and know almost nothing about it, but the episode was just using examples from the movie to demonstrate and reinforce the main message, so I followed it easily enough. It's sort of a follow-up to the episode about Gamergate, which is worth watching even on its own for an idea of the usual level of insight the show provides, and a few new ways to think about the "movement" even if you're one of the people who has enough sense to know that it's not about ethics in games journalism. (That, by the way, is NOT a welcome topic for this thread.) I've seen a few random episodes in the past, but never really followed the show before. I might have to catch up and change that.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2014 17:04
|
|
|
I think that since I had taken Livane's decision as being "correct" from the beginning, I had forgotten that Ellen didn't know any better. So this quest was a neat little voyage to expand Ellen's understanding, and to remind the player that Livane had taken a massive gamble by short-circuiting the Twin Trees.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2014 17:13
|
|
|
AltaBrown posted:I think that since I had taken Livane's decision as being "correct" from the beginning, I had forgotten that Ellen didn't know any better. So this quest was a neat little voyage to expand Ellen's understanding, and to remind the player that Livane had taken a massive gamble by short-circuiting the Twin Trees. It was Ellen's ignorance on Livane's motives and naïveté that allowed the Faerie Lord to manipulate her in the first place. This does create a parallel between Ellen and Livane as Ellen's dilemma is whether to leave the tree as is thus continue what Livane started or reverse Livane's actions even though the likelihood of doing so's consequences being good are slim at best given in-game history.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2014 19:56
|
|
|
I apologize for almost every aspect of this video. I think I'd been playing for a long time at this point, because I must have been really out of it. I misunderstood both of the clues about what I was supposed to be doing and thus spent most of the quest just figuring out what I needed to do. It's the one time I think I would have benefited from a practice run, but fortunately, this is the one quest that's meant to be practically impossible to lose, because the difficulty is a little on the unfair side even when you understand what the task actually is. I'm convinced that in some of these rooms, the task is actually impossible, but if you keep moving from room to room, you should eventually find one you can complete. The reward, at least, is worth it - we get to meet Jimmy's girlfriend. I'm sure Frizzie must be devastated. Chapter 7: Ellen Quests, Nighttime Third Part Youtube Brief progress report: I have all of the main game videos done and uploaded except for the Keats grinding video, since my guest said he needed a few weeks to get set up, almost exactly two months ago. I'm holding out because the backup plan is something I really don't want to think about, but I'll probably proceed with it this week just so it's ready if I need it, and if he's not back online by early January, the LP will proceed on schedule. I've also started working on the bonus videos, but I'm not going to try to keep to a strict schedule on those. They get done when they get done. As an interesting note, there's a copyright hit on the game's ending theme by the actual group credited for it, which is a refreshing change.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2014 14:38
|
|
|
Glad to see Jimmy bounced back from the whole debacle with Keats and Frizzie at least.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2014 19:12
|
|
|
Geez Jimmy, at least ask her if she'd like to hang out with Ellen before offering her ID to be absorbed!
|
|
#
?
Nov 23, 2014 11:45
|
|
|
From Wikipedia:quote:But as a metaphor, a honeypot or a honeytrap may refer to: So, my first thought was, "Dammit, Jimmy, what kind of mess have you gotten into now?"
|
|
#
?
Nov 23, 2014 17:40
|
|
|
The end draws ever nearer - it's time for Ellen's final quest in the game. This is a pretty neat one - I like the gimmick, the reward is pretty good, and it's got more story significance than most of the other quests. This time, we're looking at the Faery Lord's past, and particularly, the changes that took place during the course of the game. He went from wanting to help humans by reminding them that the Netherworld exists to wanting to all but destroy them by removing the link entirely, and this quest explores why. With Ellen, I think we really have saved the best for last. As for Keats... we'll pick up his side of things next week. Chapter 7: Ellen Quests, Nighttime Fourth Part Youtube
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2014 14:49
|
|
|
I feel obligated to weigh-in on this revelation. First and foremost, the Faeries did genuinely believe that the loop was beneficial so Livane breaking it was treason in their minds. The problem is that as we already saw, the loop wasn't as beneficial as the Faeries believe since humans were killing each other left and right which was why Livane broke the loop in the first place. This gives some perspective for why the Faerie Lord was so appalled by Warcadia, the Undersea City, and especially the Endless Corridor since to him it seemed like humanity had lost sight of the value of life. Of course, we already know that humanity didn't see the value of life to begin with since Livane was hoping that breaking the loop would allow for humanity to in-time see life's value. Chimera-gui fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Dec 2, 2014 |
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2014 17:49
|
|
|
Chimera-gui posted:I feel obligated to weigh-in on this revelation. So it's really a damned if you do, damned more if you don't situation? poo poo. What can be done to make this whole thing workable?
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2014 03:28
|
|
|
Glazius posted:So it's really a damned if you do, damned more if you don't situation? poo poo. What can be done to make this whole thing workable? Well, the only idea I've got is to press on with the game - I'm just giving up on my guest, and since nobody else has offered to co-commentate on a grinding video, it looks like I'm stuck with... Plan B. Fortunately, we have plenty of quests left before then, and right off the bat, we'll be getting the last two Folks for Keats. The first one is pretty handy, but a bit weak, and the second one pretty much makes the first obsolete. The single in-game quest is nothing to write home about, but I like the way the DLC one lets you choose how the difficulty will be arranged. I apologize for the clumsy cut, but I missed a pop-up notification until after I'd recorded the commentary and really didn't want to have to redo it, so I took a low-effort approach. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain and focus instead on the Folks as I bump us up to a long-awaited two video per week schedule in the hope of finishing the main LP while it's still 2014.  Chapter 7: Keats Quests, Nighttime First Part Youtube
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2014 01:48
|
|
|
We've finally entered the final fourth of the marathon, and I think today's quest is a strong candidate for the best quest in the game. It's another long one, but while Tangled Corridor forced you to complete every challenge, Ancient Test gives you a choice of multiple challenges - if you find one too difficult, there's usually another one that's easier. There are some neat challenges, and even after three runs through the quest, I still haven't seen everything it has to offer. The rewards come a little late to be relevant, but as always, they're really just there because having no reward would be stupid. (The image may not show up if the lpix DNS hasn't propagated yet - I was going to post this earlier, but I missed the start of the maintenance window by ten minutes. See this post for hosts file info if you want it.) Chapter 7: Keats Quests, Nighttime Second Part Youtube
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2014 12:17
|
|
|
Will you be showing off the doors you didn't go through and possibly defeating Livane?
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2014 00:09
|
|
|
Mraagvpeine posted:Will you be showing off the doors you didn't go through and possibly defeating Livane? Yep! I'll be getting the best ending in every quest by the end of the game. The remaining doors that I don't cover along the way will be in a bonus video - I figure the DLC quests have enough material to be worth a complete video. You'll see what I mean when I get to the grinding videos.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2014 00:57
|
|
|
Only three quests remain, and each one of them is the last of something. Today, it's the final quest where we explore a character's past, namely the invisible man, Belgae. He's been around since the very beginning of the game, guiding Keats to one objective or another, but always as a subordinate to Livane. What's the real nature of the relationship between these two? Let's find out. This is another quest on the long side, but there aren't all that many objectives, and one of them is actually optional. It's pretty fun. Chapter 7: Keats Quests, Nighttime Third Part Youtube
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2014 23:29
|
|
|
Did we ever learn more about Scarecrow? I forget.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2014 05:12
|
|
|
I half expected that to end with Belgae passing on. And Scarab might not be all that useful but it certainly looks good.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2014 23:08
|
|
|
Mraagvpeine posted:Did we ever learn more about Scarecrow? I forget. There hasn't been a Scarecrow-centric quest, nor will there be. We'll learn more about him in another way. GimmickMan posted:I half expected that to end with Belgae passing on. That wouldn't work very well with his continued presence in the main game - the "finding or doing something in the game removes an element that would have been good or helpful" has only happened once that I can remember offhand, and I liked having a three-character party for a potentially difficult and underequipped FFVIII fight. GimmickMan posted:And Scarab might not be all that useful but it certainly looks good. Particularly once I've unlocked its full area of effect, it tends to be one of my favorite Slash elements for Keats. Keats gets a ton of Destroy elements and very few Slash, while Ellen has it the other way around.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2014 00:45
|
|
|
Many of these quests feel rather out of place, most especially the ones which take place in the Core. It's like Ellen/Keats made it right up to the Twin Trees then decided to can the urgency and go do oddjobs. I guess depending on whether or not Ellen and Keats stick around town and retain their travelling abilities these could be considered post-story quests. Was the final Ellen quest slightly subject to wonky translation? Bogle was with the Faery Lord in each of those flashback scenes so what exactly was he expecting to learn? Was he instead wanting Ellen to learn about the Faery Lords motives, similar to how Belgae had invited her to learn about Livane? Also the Ancient Test seems like a fun challenge and highly replayable. Shame the other final test wasn't a battle against the Faery Lord or even a Folklore. For all the things this game reuses I'm really surprised powered up versions of Folklore weren't brought in for any of the quests.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2014 23:11
|
|
|
Just because Bogle was with the Faerie Lord doesn't mean he was aware of the latter's change in mentality. In fact as I recall, the scene following the Faerie Lord's death heavily implied that he had no idea what drove his lord to try to sever the link between the living world and the Netherworld. That's also why Bogle's still following the 'escort Ellen to the Twin Trees so she can revive them' plan even after the Faerie Lord had basically stopped giving a rat's rear end about reviving the trees since he was now aware of humanity's inability to see the value of life.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2014 23:37
|
|
|
I probably won't have time to post this tomorrow morning, so here it is a bit early. The penultimate quest, and the last of the Crula arc. We've been following this story since chapter 3, and we thought it was resolved in chapter 5 only to see some of the characters return in chapter 7. Now Keats has to put the pieces together, but he can't do it without Ellen's help. Chapter 7: Keats Quests, Nighttime Fourth Part Youtube
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2014 02:03
|
|
|
I can't figure out who to feel more sorry for: Downe/Phutcampus for losing his humanity and never returning to the living world to reunite with his daughter, Crula for blaming himself over being unable to stop Downe's transformation or reunite Downe with Fiona, or Fiona herself because she basically lost her father because Amaryllis and Gladiolus are assholes. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2014 07:50
|
|
|
Sound the fanfares, please... it's time for the final quest in all of Folklore! It could possibly be said that we saved the best for last. It could also be said that I have little to no clue what's going on in this quest. The ending confuses me, the build-up confuses me, and really, aside from the final fight, this quest offers very little that we haven't seen before in terms of combat. However, it's got a focus on our Halflive friends, and since there's nothing else for them to do in this chapter and we won't be seeing them in the ending, this is our last chance to say goodbye, and that we miss them, and that maybe we've even grown to love them. Or maybe we haven't. Chapter 7: Keats Quests, Nighttime Fifth Part Youtube
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2014 02:16
|
|
|
I wonder how many people were shipping the two.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2014 04:24
|
|
|
The joke is that the Half-lives are morons who can't pull a romance plot to save their proverbial lives.  In all seriousness though, a good number of missions that deal with the Half-lives involve some kind of romance plot so this is not surprising in the least. To answer Mraagvpeine's question, I imagine the pairing has at least a few fans since it does have some elements that could be considered popular romance tropes including the princess and her knight (not in the literal sense obviously), and not being enemies themselves despite being on opposing sides.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2014 04:38
|
|
|
I"m pretty sure some of the lines in that final quest video were attributed to the wrong characters - many of Keats' and Ellen's lines in the last scene were probably meant to come from the Halflives, which would at least make the conversation comprehensible. Ellen being disappointed that the prank of which she was the victim failed just makes no sense. But be that as it may, we're done with quests forever, except for some revisits, such as the one in today's video! There's still grinding to do, and thanks to Abitha Denton, this round is a little  because she wanted to talk about a different kind of grinding. I spent the past few months asking for absolutely anybody else to give me an alternate version I could post alongside this one, although really, it's not THAT bad. I just don't want to fall on the wrong side of Youtube's content guidelines, so if you're watching directly on the Youtube site, you may need to be signed in and have an age over 18 listed on your account. I'm sorry about that, but it's really not my fault. As for the actual video, you'll see the best ending for the Ancient Test quest as well as, for real, unlocking all of Automata's Karmas. It's very impressive when built up. I hardly used anything else while running through Dungeon Trial mode. Chapter 7: Keats Grinding Youtube featuring Abitha Denton
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2014 13:55
|
|
|
I'm glad that your guest not only mentioned Monster Rancher, a franchise I loved as a kid, but also brought up Shaman King which centers around characters that can commune with spirits as the would suggest. The manga even has the main cast train in Hell quite literally near the end of the series.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2014 16:52
|
|
|
This was a really good video, you should bring that co-commentator back. You guys sounded like you had a real chemistry.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2014 17:02
|
|
|
Abitha Denton posted:This was a really good video, you should bring that co-commentator back. You guys sounded like you had a real chemistry. Only in the sense that there are a lot of explosions and most of the contents are capable of making clothes disappear. Speaking of which, when I inevitably do the LP of Akiba's Trip, I know which co-commentator to rely on.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2014 17:20
|
|
|
I'm still finding it hard to believe how much grinding you managed to stick it out through to make this game happen, Nido. I think I would have burned down my controllers in frustration play-hours ago. I love your LPs, but you really are a terrible straight man for Abitha. Just cruel.
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2014 09:22
|
|
|
ThaGhettoJew posted:I love your LPs, but you really are a terrible straight man for Abitha. Just cruel. I think I manage pretty well on Twitter. I just wasn't really expecting vagina talk in a Folklore video and really wanted to avoid it. Pointedly.
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2014 00:48
|
|
|
I usually wait until the evening to post on Tuesdays, but I'm off work this week and there are holidays coming up, so why not get a jump on my plans for today? It's the last of the grinding videos (for now), and once again, JamieTheD lends us his knowledge of all things flower-related. Also folklore, but there's a lot less of that in this chapter because most of the Folks are flowers. You may have noticed that already. To make up the difference, and because there isn't really much to see (most of it is grinding for Green Quartz, which means either fighting a whole bunch of Mandragoras or a whole bunch of Agapanthus), I threw in the correct way to beat a quest that I did ages ago and got the top prize without getting the top score. It turns out that it's really not that hard when you know the Folks well and have learned the right lessons from later in the game. So enjoy that, as well as me killing all the Mandragoras except this one. Chapter 7: Ellen Grinding Youtube
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2014 14:53
|
|
|
Just wanna clarify, because I didn't in the video, and should have, that I'm using the word "trap" in the sense of "Something that's too good to be true, and is going to cause you harm, as opposed to the highly offensive term for transgender folks. Also putting that on the vid, many apologies for not clarifying!
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2014 17:31
|
|
|
I can think of a couple folks that can't be obtained on the main game while others can only be obtained outside of the US. Are those the Folks you were talking about when you said that Jamie wasn't done yet?
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2014 18:28
|
|
|
Like I said upthread, I was quite surprised to discover that Dungeon Trial mode is still online, and there are a few Folks available from that for each character. If I can ever corner Jamie long enough to record commentary, I already have the grinding video for them finished - it will probably be a bit more hectic, since it's the introduction to the Folks both in-game and lorewise, but I'd rather put that first than start with a video where I'm already using them at their highest power. Maybe I'll swap the order and just do the Dungeon Trial video first to introduce the Folks in-game, then let Jamie talk about them. Depends on how much information he's got. Obviously, I can't show the non-American region Folks unless someone volunteers to send me a video or post one themselves, and nobody did.
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2014 21:39
|
|
|
So on a scale from "easy" to "dead before the screen transition finishes", how easy is the end boss going to be?
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 06:23
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 02:01 |
|
|
Is this LP going to end on part 100?
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 06:27
|
|