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  Let's Play Demon King Chronicle! Demon King Chronicle is a freeware RPG first released in Japanese on August 19, 2007. An English version was translated and released on April 19, 2013, six years later, on Playism. (The "pay what you want" is for a separate art pack; the game itself is still free. You do need a playism account, though, which is kind of annoying, but...) Despite being an RPG, Demon King Chronicle shares a number of aspects with Ai To Yuuki To Kashi Wa Mochi, (Love, Courage, and Leaf-Wrapped Rice Cake; it has an iPhone version in English), Ai To Yuuki To Kashi Wa Mochi Kai (Love, Courage, and Leaf-Wrapped Rice Cake: Unexpected Meeting; no English translation that I'm aware of) and Irisu Syndrome (has an English fan translation patch), puzzle games that share some of the same staff. In all four cases, the plot is revealed only incrementally, not all aspects of the world are ever fully answered, and things sometimes get deeply, deeply surreal. (Between the way the story ties to the game and the gameplay and atmosphere of its unlockable Metsu mode, Irisu Syndrome is probably my favorite puzzle game of all time. If you haven't played it and you like puzzle games at all, stop reading this, play it until you at least get the first ending, and then come back. The thread will wait, I promise.) (Just don't look up anything else about it first. It's best played when it's still a bit of a surprise. And keep an eye on the game directory, txt files pop up every so often and they're important! ...okay, enough advertising for an entirely different game. I'm advertising this one right now.) Useful Files: If you don't have your non-unicode language set to Japanese (something often called "Japanese locale") while initially extracting and/or playing this game, then you may eventually run into an error message that looks like this:  If you run into that problem and you're running Windows Vista/7/8, download the Crash Fix file from this location and extract the contents into your graphics directory. This should fix the problem. Thanks again to SSNeoman, who brought up the problem, Tallgeese, who provided the first fix, and HenryEx, who expanded on it. Also there is a localization fix, fixing a number of oversights or errors from the translation process that range from the minor to the very, very large. I highly recommend it. In a related note, HenryEx also worked on a fancy debug mode for the game, with a number of useful features. I made good use of it myself during this LP! Link is here. What's the gameplay like? In a word, "difficult." Demon King Chronicle is essentially a survival horror game in RPG form. Healing springs are free and appear all over, and you do have healing items you can refill at those springs, but the number is strictly capped and healing magic doesn't exist in-game. While you encounter enemies on the map, and therefore can avoid them, you have to--they're often much too difficult to fight in groups, and fighting the majority of enemies will wear you down before you get anywhere at all. You can level up, but it doesn't help very much; very nearly all of your strength comes from items. Items are a massively important part of the game's systems, and you nearly always win a fight based on what options your items give you. It's very possible to complete the game, and if you understand and play ball, it's also very fun. But Demon King Chronicle is best imagined as trudging through an incredibly pretty desolate wasteland where everything wants you dead and is very good at it. This wasteland is, for some reason, thinly interspersed with people who are incredibly interested in stories. Stories? The heroine of this story, Camil, is given one single instruction: there is a book, the Demon King Chronicle, that was left unfinished due to the death of its author. Each of its three chapters had a different hero and told a different tale. Her job is to finish the story. Everyone on the island where the story takes place has been touched by The Demon King Chronicle somehow, and each of them has their story, and their own relationship with stories, that impacts their place in things. Of course, not all stories necessarily take place in the same sort of world. When stories leak into one another, things sometimes get very strange. Okay, weird, got it. You said "pretty"? Oh yes. Demon King Chronicle is mostly a sprite-based game. None of the sprites are too fancy, but they all look good. And the character portraits and big events are drawn in a watercolor style, as shown above. I like it quite a bit! The soundtrack is eclectic, having a lot of different contributors, some of it coming from free resources. But it's all pretty good music, and some of it is very atmospheric. All of the game's files are available in the game directory; they aren't encoded or encrypted or changed in format in any way. I'll be providing tindeck links and larger versions of images, but if you want the images and/or music for yourself, downloading the game is probably the quickest way... But be aware that some of the files can be pretty big spoilers, because they're not unlocked by gameplay progress or anything. story_kumo_03 and story_nana_04 are really best experienced in context. If you're still interested, then here's the thread rules! 1) No story spoilers. Mechanics talk on things we haven't seen yet is fine, but tag anything with story significance--locations we haven't seen yet, particularly significant items or skills, boss names, that sort of thing. 2) Updates will be posted about every other day. In the event that I'll miss an update due to death of backlog, I'll let you all know. This game is sometimes very difficult and life can get busy. 3) In the update posts, normal text like this is me. Italics represent in-game text. Unless I'm emphasizing something. It's an effect thing, but it should be obvious in context. 4) Let me know if I'm not explaining something clearly enough and I'll be happy to clarify. 5) If you want to talk about any of the puzzle games mentioned above in the thread, feel free; just put anything vaguely spoilery in a spoiler tag and preface it with the game name. Like this: "(Irisu Syndrome) there's a secret code on Uuji's jacket." (Please include the parentheses even if you're quoting something that tags another game's spoiler.) The same applies to Rondo of Swords, the last game I LPed. It's my thread, I like the games, I'll be happy to talk about them. 6) After a certain point, .txt files will periodically be created in the game directory. They'll appear at the bottom of each post. The Annihilation Record and Battle Record aren't too important, but try not to miss the Glossary--it's the closest you get to a real explanation for a lot of things later on. Updates (spoilers denote which areas and story segments occur in which updates--spoilers are minor but present) Main Game: Chapter 01: "Please, give this story an ending." (The Nest, Randolf 1) Chapter 02: "Just like always, she carried her favorite book..." (The Demon King's Castle, Nana 1) Chapter 03: "(I'm still the only one who can read his expressions though)" (The Hamlet, Randolf 2, Nana 2) Chapter 04: "Yeah, about that memo..." (The "Mountain," The Coward, Mole 1, Hiku Kumo 1&2, Randolf 3) Chapter 05: "Finally, the boy stopped moving." (The Snow Field, Aaron Aaron 1, Nana 3] Chapter 06: "The incident appeared 21 years ago after the large epidemic..." (The Dragon Mountain, Aaron Aaron 2) Chapter 07: "Yeah. Do your best." (The Sands of Remembrance 1, Nana 4, Mole 2, Aaron Aaron 3) Chapter 08: "How about I become the hero! Right here. Right now." (The Demon King's Castle 2, Hiku Kumo 3&4) Chapter 09: "...and proceeds to unreasonably and mercilessly slaughter them." (Sands of Remembrance 2, Death Rat House, Nana 5, Aaron Aaron 4) Chapter 10: "Only now can I... Truly understand Harold's feelings." (The Tower) Chapter 11: "A once in a lifetime chance that we took, blessed by the Goddess of Luck." (Item Collection, The Seashore, Hiku Kumo 5&6) Chapter 12: "It's a beautiful story. However, reality doesn't work that way." (The Mirage, Hiku Kumo 7&8) Chapter 13: "Because we live in such a world, we continue to write stories." (The Leviathan Depths, Aaron Aaron 5) Chapter i: "It is there because I decided so." (Missed content) Chapter 14: "There is no Healing Magic. No Star Fall Magic. No Holy Sword that Cuts the Dark." (The Disease) Chapter 15: "Will you just get out? Please?" (The Imagination Part 1, Yellow and Blue 1&2&3) Chapter 16: "You can use me as a model if you like." (The Imagination Part 2, Ares and Harold 4&5&6&7) Final Chapter: "If you take on the mantle of the Demon King..." (The Three Heroes and The Demon King, Ares and Harold 8, Epilogue) Post-game: Chapter 18: "Stories never really end... even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on." (The Expensive Stone, the Great Rat, Fantasy, Cave Chronicle 1) Chapter 19: "Anyone can be strong if they pick up a weapon, but you can't become mentally strong just by obtaining a thing." (Cave Chronicle 2) Chapter 20: "Fairytales don’t tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist." (Cave Chronicle 3) Chapter 21: "...Fairytales tell children that dragons can be killed." (Versus The Hero) Appendix 1: "It will find its way into someone's heart, and that will give rise to a new story." (Reverse Order challenge, Final Battle Secrets) Appendix 2: "That's deep stuff." "I haven't put that much thought into it." (Compiled thread posts) Annihilation count votes: Normal game: 26 (Cake Attack), 35 (Feldherren), 43 (Like Clockwork), 47 (Valkama), 50 (Pladdicus), 53 (Raitzeno), 56 (EagerSleeper), 57 (Last Transmission), 58, (HenryEx), 60 (Tallgeese), 75 (legoman727), 80 (GilliamYaeger), 90 (Pancakius), 97 (Kgummy), 113 (heavy neutrino), 240 (booksnake) Postgame: 76 (HenryEx), 98 (EagerSleeper), 100 (Pladdicus), 120 (Tallgeese), 128 (Last Transmission), 130 (Like Clockwork), 150 (Cake Attack), 177 (Valkama), 189 (Raitzeno), 200 (legoman727), 215 (Kgummy), 225 (Feldherren), 250 (Pancakius), 255 (GilliamYaeger), 287 (heavy neutrino), 320 (booksnake) Einander fucked around with this message at 01:05 on Nov 12, 2014 |
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Notepad documents, current up to the last update. Annihilation Record: Chapters 01-04: Annihilation count:8 [2014/03/15 23:20] Defeated at Cave Chronicle. [2014/03/15 23:05] Defeated at unknown area by Anonymous Coward. [2014/03/15 22:14] Defeated at The Snow Fields by Mutt. [2014/03/15 22:12] Defeated at The Snow Fields by Mutt. [2014/03/15 22:04] Defeated at The Snow Fields by Mutt. [2014/03/15 13:51] Defeated at The Hamlet by Monkey. [2014/03/15 10:48] Defeated at Demon King's Castle by Ferocious Rat. [2014/03/14 12:04] Defeated at unknown area by Rat. Chapter 05: Annihilation count:13 [2014/03/16 12:27] Defeated at The Snow Fields by Abominable Snow Monkey. [2014/03/16 11:31] Defeated at The Snow Fields by Abominable Snow Monkey. [2014/03/16 11:27] Defeated at The Snow Fields by Abominable Snow Monkey. [2014/03/16 10:53] Defeated at The Snow Fields by Abominable Snow Monkey. [2014/03/16 10:27] Defeated at The Snow Fields by Mutt. Chapter 06: Annihilation count:13 No new entries. Chapter 07: Annihilation count:26 [2014/03/20 21:01] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. [2014/03/20 20:59] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. [2014/03/20 20:57] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. [2014/03/20 20:42] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. [2014/03/20 20:39] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. [2014/03/20 20:37] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. [2014/03/20 20:36] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. [2014/03/20 20:33] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. [2014/03/20 20:20] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. [2014/03/20 20:15] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. [2014/03/20 20:05] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. [2014/03/20 20:01] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. [2014/03/20 19:52] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. Chapter 08: Annihilation count:27 [2014/03/23 00:16]Defeated at Demon King's Castle. Chapter 09: Annihilation count:29 [2014/03/28 19:54] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. [2014/03/28 19:39] Defeated at Sands of Remembrance by Scorpion. Chapter 10: Annihilation count: 29 No new entries. Chapter 11: Annihilation count: 29 No new entries. Chapter 12: Annihilation count: 29 No new entries. Chapter 13: Annihilation count: 29 No new entries. Chapter 14: Annihilation count: 29 No new entries. Chapter 15: Annihilation count: 29 No new entries. Chapter 16: Annihilation count:30 [2014/04/13 13:40]Defeated at unknown area. Final Chapter (final Main Game count): Annihilation count: 30 No new entries. Chapter 18: Annihilation count: 30 No new entries. Chapter 19 and 20: Annihilation count: [2014/09/29 ??:??]Defeated at Cave Chronicle by Orc. [2014/04/29 15:18]Defeated at Cave Chronicle. [2014/04/29 15:16]Defeated at Cave Chronicle. [2014/04/27 17:42] Defeated at Cave Chronicle by Orc. [2014/04/27 17:08]Defeated at Cave Chronicle. [2014/04/27 14:48] Defeated at Cave Chronicle by Daisy. [2014/04/27 12:22] Defeated at The Imagination by Catharsis. Chapter 21: Annihilation count: No new entries. Battle Record: 2014/04/30/ 19:00:08 Demon King Chronicle ■Battle results Playtime:23:29:22 Save count:225 Steps taken:113057 Battle count:1390 Max damage:632 Max damage taken:605 1005 Items:52 Types 143 Items Turns to defeat Last Boss：53(Best Record53) Turns to defeat Hidden Boss：40(Best Record40) ■Treasure Chests The Nest: 8/8 Demon King's Castle: 26/26 The Hamlet: 31/31 The Snow Fields: 20/20 The Dragon Mountain: 6/6 Sands of Remembrance: 26/26 The Tower: 11/11 The Seashore: 12/12 The Mirage: 10/10 Leviathan Depths: 5/5 The Disease: 20/20 The Imagination: 32/32 Cave Chronicle: 46/46 Unmapped area: 10/10 ■Camil(46) HP:243 SP:85 Attack:330 Defense:95 Range:64 Critical:44 Skill:132 Agility:77 ・Dagger(3) ・Mask of Determination(3) ・Aegis(3) ・Zara Mantle (3) ・Holy Sword that Cuts the Dark(3) ■Randolf(46) HP:205 SP:101 Attack:357 Defense:200 Range:8 Critical:14 Skill:181 Agility:80 ・Long Sword(3) ・Cordelia(3) ・Delusion Cocoon(3) ・Varnished Bird Wing(3) ・Black Ladybug(3) ■(42) HP:200 SP:80 Attack:202 Defense:152 Range:15 Critical:26 Skill:75 Agility:81 ・Rat Slayer(2) ・Three-Legged Frog(3) ・Helm(3) ・Footfalls of Hope(3) ・Parts(3) ■Top 10 defeats Rat(301) Green Mud Man(178) Conflict(160) Toothy Piranha(157) Mermaid(143) Deformity(98) Abominable Snow Monkey(97) Monkey(90) Wake-Eater(89) Merman(84) Glossary: Chapters 1-4: ■Demon King Chronicle A story with no ending. Written by Harold Diester. 3 Chapters in total. ■The Island The setting for this story. It's not the official name, and hiding the name like this is a habit of the Island residents. ■The Continent The birthplace of the Island residents. It's not the official name, and hiding the name like this is a habit of the Island residents. ■Laylaria The second daughter of a good family. He sister Lululala did perfect in everything she tried. She did a variety of things under the name "The Coward." Most of the island residents had already started to guess the truth. The trap set by Aaron just brought the truth out in the open. Chapter 06: ■White Dragon A beast born so that Randolf could fulfill the dream of his father. He uses attacks like "Poison Gas," and other attacks which cause the poison status. Chapter 07: ■Flowers Due to historical reasons, they are not often found on the continent. These rare flowers miraculously bloom on the island. ■Mole For a time he was the right hand man to Zelphie, and was counted among the true heroes. There was also a time when he trained Aeritz as his disciple. (This name is a nickname he got on the Island.) Mole has continued his search for a way to save Zelphie from his madness. After much contemplation and searching he realized the only solution was to kill him. Mole challenged Zelphie, but was instead defeated, and lost one of his eyes. Even though he has lost some of his passion, he still swears to defeat Zelphie, and constantly practices his techniques on the wall of a cave. Chapter 08: ■Natives People who migrated some time ago from the continent. This way of addressing them is not politically correct as their culture is just as advanced. They are known as people who love peace and stories. Chapter 10: ■Nana Eluonto She came to this island to overcome the curse of her grandfather. She always cried after getting scolded by her father, and Grandpa Zell comforted her. After her father died of illness, she thought of Grandpa Zell as her father. As long as she holds these memories in her heart, her trial will not come to an end. She's using a fake name, as it would cause problems if her lineage were revealed. ■Two-Headed Demon The barrier in Nana's heart that she wishes to overcome. It takes the image of her grandfather, Zelphie Eluonto. The left head is the strict but nice grandfather she trusted and respected from her childhood, while the right head is the grandfather that descended into a demon-like madness as a result of a strange sickness. The left head is the one that still holds power over Nana's heart. Chapter 13: Glossary: ■Hiku Kumo His parents were good people. Being good people made them many enemies, and they died as a result. In despair he wandered aimlessly looking for a place to die, when he was approached by a strange person. Without really knowing what happened, Hiku Kumo was dragged along against his will. Just like that, he became a member of the Criminal Action Plan Committee（Total Membership: 2） A lot of things happened, and for Hiku Kumo who had always lived so seriously, The free-spirited Aeritz was exactly what he needed in his life. ■Aaron Aaron His dream was to be a writer, but his talent never bloomed. Now he is researching the "Demon King Chronicles" on the island. He's hoping his research will pay off, and he'll strike it rich on the continent. ■Flodnar Born in a village on the Plateau. Tall mountains surround his town. For the visitors to the mountain, the blizzard from the intensely cold mountain often steals the warmth from their bodies and the sight from their eyes, and many have died this way. An imaginary monster called the White Dragon was born from the fear the villagers held for the ferocious blizzards, and the story was passed from parent to child over the generations. The story of the White Dragon planted fear of the snowy mountain in the hearts of the villagers. It began to be used as a way of teaching that stepping onto the snowy mountain meant throwing away your life. However, hearing that story as a child, Flodnar instead grew more interested in the dragon. As Flodnar grew to the age where he no longer believed in dragons, he left the village on an adventure and ventured across the continent. ---- One day, Flodnar found a child on the side of the road, and took it in as his own. For a long time the boy had no name, but after a certain event he named him Randolf. ---- Randolf had a weak body as a child, so Flodnar often told he stories of a certain hero. It was the story of one young man defeating a monster lurking high in the mountains. It was a dramatization of the story from his own village. (In the original the dragon ruthlessly killed people, it had no discretion at all.) After telling the story, Flodnar always said "Become strong enough that you can defeat a dragon." ---- When Randolf was 8, he came down with a very terrible cold. With proper nourishment, it could have easily been overcome. However, the continent had fallen on hard times, and someone like Flodnar could barely afford any food. Flodnar crossed to the island, and found proper food and nourishment for Randolf. Soon after, Randolf made a quick recovery. ---- They lived on the island for some time, but one day Flodnar suddenly disappeared. After that, Randolf no longer had anyone to depend on. Slowly dying of starvation, his consciousness became hazy. A rat ran right near him but it took all of Randolf's strength juts to follow it with his eyes. At that moment, the sword leaning against the wall fell and struck the rat. Taking that rat in hand and gorging on its meat, Randolf decided he would survive on the island no matter what. That sword was left to him by Flodnar. ■Geyser Gazer Hiku Kumo has lost many people close to him just because they were good people. This monster takes on the form of the enemy from the second chapter of the "Demon King Chronicles" combined with the "Weak-willed Goodness" ideal that he wants to overcome. Chapter 14: ■Aeritz Aeritz was a thief who specialized in robbing from the rich. He spent his days filling the pocks of the less fortunate and of course his own as well. He wasn't really a hero or a villain. He walked a very fine line in that respect. ---- While in port, he heard rumors regarding a certain book. The rumored book floated here from the southern part of the continent, and was written by an unknown writer named Harold Diester. However he only completed three chapters so the book is still incomplete. Even still, this mysterious book called the "Demon King Chronicles" was published in small numbers. There were many people who enjoyed theorizing about the work over various questions such as "Who wrote this story and for what purpose?" "What kind of ending was planned?" Aeritz was very curious about the book, however it carried a high price tag so getting his hands on it was not easy. So he reached the only possible conclusion. "Well that's it. I might as well try to get my hands on the original that swept in with the tide." He found out that a particular old man, one of the most famous people on the continent was the current owner. Chapter 16: ■Ritzea The character created by Harold Diester which was modeled after Aeritz. ■Randolf The character created by Harold Diester which was modeled after Flodnar. Chapter 17: ■Harold Diester He carried a blue Will Stone on his back. Harold died before finishing the "Demon King Chronicles." but his memories and stored in the blue Will Stone. He cannot rest in peace until the story reaches its conclusion. Chapter 20: ■Will Stones Strange parasites that live on people's backs. They can store the host's memories, and transfer these memories to their next host. ■Randolf A certain old man beat his mother to death after she gave birth to him, and ordered a servant to get rid of the baby. (The reason he didn't take care of the baby himself is because he was afraid of it.) The child was taken in by a man named Flodnar. He was a poor and homeless man, but since he found the child, he had no choice but to raise it. Some years later, Flodnar read the "Demon King Chronicle" and named him after the fictitious dragon slayer. He hoped he could raise him to be healthy and strong. ------------------------- After Flodnar died, Randolf lived on the island for 8 years. In order to live up to the expectations of the parent that raised him, he went to slay the imaginary beast, the White Dragon. By the way, what kind of creatures are dragons? I am pretty sure they spit something from their mouth at least. Chapter 21: ■Zelphie Eluonto Though approaching 60 years old, the infamous Hero managed to slice the book being stolen by the thief clean in two with a speed that human eyes could not follow. In awe of such an amazing technique, the thief fell right where he stood. Even with such amazing power, he could tell that he was about to fall into a normal "Preachy Grandpa" mode, so Aeritz cuts him short with the following claim. "This may be the extent of my ability now, but in 19 years I'll be the one the people call Hero, Mr. Great Hero." (*This was 20 years before Zelphie Eluonto became known as a Hero to the people. This is a very famous episode, and spread through the continent as a proverb about the importance of keeping your word.) Zelphie was pleased to hear such a claim and promised to meet him again in 19 years. With that he let the thief go. The thief took one half of the sliced book ad quickly ran away. Watching from the corner, Zelphie's grand daughter picked up the other half of the book. Though it was only half as thick as the part the thief had held, the 3 year old girl became very interested in it. ---- Only 3 years after the two promised to meet again, the Hero was beset by a strange illness and lost his sanity. There was no one that could stop the murderous rampage of the Hero who controlled most of the continent. Einander fucked around with this message at 01:28 on May 2, 2014 |
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Mar 17, 2014 08:23
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Chapter 01: "Please, give this story an ending." (The Nest, Randolf 1)       A figure moves through the light, and...   Welcome to The Nest!   Currently, all Camil has are the (non-equippable) clothes on her back; her inventory is empty. The first step is to talk to the only person we can find.   It looks like we have a new arrival. My name is Laylaria. It's wonderful to meet you. There should be one vacant room. I'll show you the way.  There was someone staying here until a little while ago... Unfortunately, The Coward took care of him... So, now we have a vacant room. Please, make yourself at home.Let's!  Oh wait oh god what's happening   Welcome to the battle system! Demon King Chronicle has on-map encounters, with enemies getting placed on the battlefield based on where you encounter them. Each time you run into an enemy, the screen goes blue, and there's about a five second period where additional enemies can join in. You can't change areas during this time, and there's no way to prevent a fight once you've encountered an enemy.  Enemy placement matters because attacks and skill have areas of effect, and therefore multiple enemies placed closely together can be hit at once. Non-targeted enemies take about half damage. Despite that, you normally don't want to engage multiple enemies without a very good reason--damage adds up quickly and you're rarely given much room for error. (Notably, your party's placement is irrelevant once combat actually starts, so that's one less thing to worry about.)  Thankfully, the Demon Flies are very weak; one attack from Camil takes out two of them, since they just have 2 HP.  This is the motivation for taking on multiple enemies at once: bonus experience. That's the smaller number in parentheses, and it's not included in the left number shown. It's percentage-based, so it can be a pretty significant boost if you often fight multiple enemies. The Millet item that was dropped is a good opportunity to show off one of DKC's more unconventional aspects:   You can equip anything in your inventory to your three All-Purpose slots, and every item has its own stat boosts. The Millet is a healing snd cooking item, but it also provides a small HP boost. Attack is physical damage done, Range is the AOE of your normal attack (represented as an angle, with 360 being a full circle), Skill is your ability to use Magic, HP is HP, SP is MP, Defense reduces damage taken, Critical is critical rate for normal attacks, Agility affects turn order.  Finally, notice the yellow part of the HP bar. A portion of lost HP and SP regenerates at the end of each battle, but it takes a little time--if you're continually getting into fights one after another, you won't have time to finish healing. With that explained, there's two objects to inspect in the room:    The desk is a save point.  The bookshelf is filled with more and more information as you progress through the game.  There's not too many areas to explore in The Nest right now; most of the other occupants have their doors closed.    I'm busy right now.The little slips of paper next to the doors are nameplates. Laylaria's room is to the left of the Mole's room, but it's locked.  So are all three of these rooms. From the left, they belong to Hiku Kumo, Nana Eluonto, and Randolf. We'll meet all three later, naturally.  Even if you don't understand most things at first, if you take it a little at a time, they should quickly become second nature.  The spring here heals you and has an additional benefit later, once you have Empty Bottles to use.  The shop isn't accessable yet.   Neither is the treasure chest down the stairs, and there doesn't seem to be anything else down there. Time to leave The Nest, then.  The world map! It, as well as the underground area, both share the music of whatever area you enter them from. So, for instance, The Nest music is still playing right now.  These rats make up all the enemies in this first area. They're fairly tough (by our pathetic standards; they have about 10 HP and we do 2-4) and they often come in groups.   If you've played Ocarina of Time, then you've got the rough idea: once we get Magic Beans from treasures spread through the world, we can access some areas like this.   We can take one rat. Two is dicey. Three is a death sentence.  ...as a two-rat encounter aptly displays, thanks to a poorly-timed critical and bad luck with damage rolls. Let's not go that way, shall we? Not yet, anyway.   Well, that's direct. Let's try the right exit, then; there's nothing on the left.    It's Randolf, the second of our new housemates! (Nestmates?) You get a Glass Fragment every time you find one of them out wandering the world, and that's the unimportant part.  Which says something, because Glass Fragments are pretty important! Empty Bottles aren't anywhere near as rare as they in Zelda, but they're still precious. And right now, +1 attack is a pretty big boon all on its own. To the right is The Seashore. We don't want to go there yet. Demon King Chronicle tends to let you wander, but there's still a fairly clear progression, and that's about a level 20 area.  Finding Randolf also opened the shop and bottle exchange for business!   Hey there, nice to meet you. I'll teach you some "Magic" at no charge. You can use it in battle by choosing the "Skill" command. Fire Wave is incredibly useful! Large AOE, and by our current standards the damage is pretty massive.   Aaron Aaron doesn't want us poking around in the back rooms, apparently, and everything in the shop is above our 0 gold price range. Let's move on. As you find the other residents throughout the world, their rooms also open. Each time you find them, you'll be allowed to see a little more of their backstories.    x month x day Looks like he can't sleep tonight. Just like always, I start reading the story of the White Dragon to him. Normally he's such an apathetic kid, but when he hears this story, his eyes light up. When the Hero defeats the dragon, he is usually already fast asleep. It's been exactly 4 years since I took him in. His body is still a little on the weak side. I want to raise him to be strong.  Unfortunately, after that, Randolf will step in and block you from reading any more. He doesn't say anything in particular, though: just "......" There's also another book over to the side.  Looks to be the remains of an old book. And there's a recipe over here;  The kitchen is one of the things you can buy from the store, but it's 100 gold--out of our price range. The bookshelf has updated:   So, let's go kill some rats.  Normal attack. They just about kill us in return.  Fire Wave. Skills have a much lower damage reduction for multiple targets, about 75% instead of 50%.  The Rat Meat is a +3 HP bonus; not bad.  That said, Fire Wave does have two downsides at the moment. First, we only have the SP to use it once. Second, we can't usually use it immediately. A lot of skills in this game have a "must be below this much HP" restriction, with stronger ones typically having stricter requirements. Past several more rats, and...   It's worth noting that most enemies move a little faster and get a little more aggressive when you're already engaged with one. That means that you're basically required to kill all three rats here at once. Have Fire Wave ready. The reward is worth it, though!  Empty Bottles have no All-Purpose stat boosts, but they're used at the Spring to hold potions. You can have as many potions as you have Empty Bottles.    You might think that there's basically no reason to ever use Stamina Restores, but Healing Magic is essentially non-existent in this world and Energy Restores only heal 25% HP. (And even if you did have healing spells, you may've noticed the complete lack of a "skill" option in the menu.) That said, the stat boosts of the Energy Restore, particularly the massive SP boost, mean that it's best to take one along this early. Being able to use Fire Wave more often is a lifesaver, and you can simply unequip and use it when you need to top off your SP.   The door we passed earlier leads to the first dungeon, the Demon King's Castle. Camil leveled up again on the way, gaining the same stats as her first level (+2 HP/SP/Attack). We'll start the first dungeon next time! Einander fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Mar 18, 2014 |
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Mar 17, 2014 08:26
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Iris Syndrome was weird as hell and very cool, hoping this game goes down the same road.
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Mar 17, 2014 08:34
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Well this looks like an interesting little game. Being able to equip anything is pretty neat.
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Mar 17, 2014 18:30
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I've never heard of this game but it seems pretty neat. Definitely following this.
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Mar 17, 2014 18:43
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Oh, interesting. So your health potions are strictly limited by the bottles you can fill and what you can cook up on-site?
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Mar 18, 2014 01:26
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Chapter 02: "Just like always, she carried her favorite book..." (The Demon King's Castle, Nana 1)  Just inside the Demon King's Castle is this chest. 2/3 of the way to a new Empty Bottle!  The enemies here in this early part are just the same rats as outside. If you manage to kill one rat in two turns, you can heal back all the damage they do.  Why hello there. That's... quite a mask.  You can hold X to see your status menu in battle, by the way. This is the left exit from the previous room. There's nothing there besides this chest, which contains... 5 gold. Underwhelming! You'll also notice the raised exit to the left. The Demon King's Castle has two entrances; it'll be a while before we can access the second one and talk to Mr. Mask up there.  A couple screens onward. They do force you to fight at points; Camil's fight start radius is about the height of this hallway, for reference. In other miscellaneous numbers, the time it takes to heal from battles is about 1 HP+1 SP per second. The exact amount of regeneration is difficult to pin down, since it's percentage-based until a certain cap. The SP cap is easy to identify, at least--3 SP. It's not very much.  This is not really a game where you should be fighting everything; two rats is still a "should probably use Fire Wave" threshold at this point, let alone three. When the game lets you go around like this, go around. By the time three rats is easy, three rats won't be worth it.  But if you go up one more room, you'll find the first non-Nest save point and spring. This means the three-rat group below is pretty good for grinding, if you're so inclined; enemies respawn once you go off-screen.  The obvious fake wall can be examined to clear it, leading to a short passage...  ...that brings you back to the Nest. This lower room is where you can access all of your shortcuts.  They're very helpful about it, too. (Oddly enough, you can cancel out of the dialogue and walk up to the actual hole, but this doesn't do anything. You have to pick "Proceed." Programming!) Back in the Castle's save room, up leads to a boss. Let's not; we haven't explored the rest of this place.  The way to the right of the save room has the first new enemies of the area. The Frogs have 15 HP (one Fire Wave, one hit) for a minimal reward (3 EXP instead of 2!) and hit fairly hard. Every non-boss enemy in the game has a drop; just as the rats drop Rat Meat, the Frogs drop Frog Meat, which gives 2 HP and 2 SP. Notably, they're also the first enemy with different movement patterns: most Frogs are aggressive, and if you're in their line of sight, they'll chase you. Not these ones, though.  While the Frogs are not that rewarding to fight, there are two more obvious fake walls with treasure chests above them. But since they'll still respawn after you exit, you'd better make you can fight Frogs several times in a row before you try to go for it.  The left and right ones both have 5 gold. Wait a moment. Aren't there three hallways here?  There's a non-obvious fake wall here between them. It contains the first Magic Bean. We could use it on the area to the right of the Nest's entrance, but it's best to save it for now. Plus, they give 4 HP and 3 SP when equipped. That is a lot for this point.   Fighting a Frog on the way out also shows another one of the game systems: all items level up when used. Generally speaking, it's about a 20% of original bonus per level, and if it's less than 1 it rounds up--so the Glass Fragment at level 1 now gives 2 Attack, and it'll give 3 and 4 at levels 2 and 3. An item can level up a maximum of three times, and it's based on number of fights, not fight experience. That said, there are exceptions. The exceptions tend to be very, very good.  The Ferocious Rats don't look any different, but they have about 20 HP, do 3-6 damage per attack, and will wreck your poo poo if you are unlucky.  As shown.  Can't say the experience is worth it, but it's very good for this point. Their drop is the Rat Whiskers, which gives +5 HP and +2 Critical; I wouldn't have equipped it even if I got it here. Red enemies are usually the strongest enemies in an area, but unlike black or blue enemy types, most do not respawn until you leave the area and return. It's worth it to kill this enemy once, since the healing spring is in the same area. (You will eventually notice that nearly every single area after the Castle either has its healing spring at the end or forces you to cross another zone boundary before you can access a healing spring. The red enemies respawning selectively is a reward for courage, not an exploitable advantage.)   Enemies don't drop gold, so selling items and opening treasure chests are the only ways to get gold. Selling every bit of Rat Meat I've found so far gives me just enough to buy the first armor in the shop, the Fine Pajamas. Generally speaking, though, you don't have the money to buy many things from the shop. There's another cash sink available, and it's expensive. There's also one interesting wrinkle with Weapons and Armors:  I did say everything can be equipped in the All-Purpose slots... But you can't level up Weapons and Armors if they're in the All-Purpose slots. You need to have them in their proper slot first, at which point the levels will carry over to All-Purpose use. As a result, a lot of weapons and armors have very good equip stats and abilities in the All-Purpose areas. The bookshelf has updated!  This is basically untrue. There's generally two or three ways to go, but one of them is "doable but hard" and any others are "head into wall, repeat." The Seashore spends half of the game being the most obvious example of this. 2 Defense seems to reduce incoming damage by 1, at least for now. It's helpful. It's also worth noting that since the leveled-up Glass Fragment lets Camil always kill a rat in two hits, any single rat is basically free HP/SP regen at this point. To the lower-right of the hallway with the three fake walls is another fake wall, with...  There's a treasure chest past that. Now, we could fight them all one at a time and head back to heal after every two or so, but it's really not worth it--drawing two of them would probably merit a reset and they're pretty densely packed. Plus, the treasure sucks. We'll be coming back for that later.  The lower exit near there is much more sane. And, hey, another person!  Traps! They do 10 damage if they hit you or an enemy. Each of the little knives returns and fires again, so if one hits something, that trap won't fire again until you reenter the room.  As a rat helpfully displayed after walking into one, killing itself. Camil levels up again off of a rat; still +2 HP/SP/Attack.   Single rats may be easy pickings by now, but three rats will still gently caress you up, even with the radius of attack thing. In return, though, we get a chest with 10 gold and...  This'll be disappointing when it gets opened, won't it? There's a few more rooms but only one route past the chests.  Ooh, a chest!  ...come on, that's just mean. Basically every item sells for a number that ends in 5 or 10, and everything costs a multiple of 10. So that chest was empty. Despite the discolored textures, the four discolored spots up there aren't fake walls.  The gap in the pattern is, though.   This room would be really drat scary if it wasn't for the traps and the frogs each neutering the threat of the other. There's just enough to kill three frogs, and neither a 15 HP frog or two 5 HP Frogs is really all that scary.  First red chest! While the lower attack radius is unfortunate, more attack is always appreciated. And if you look at its All-Purpose stats...  The All-Purpose equip version of the Karate Chopstick has the first equip ability of the game. "Extra Attack+1" activates about 25% of the time. It's still amazing, though, and anything with Extra Attack+ is worth using until you get a better version. Plus, if we find one more Glass Fragment and max the Glass Fragments and Karate Chopstick, we'll be able to open both rusted chests!   Or, rather, if we just pick up the Glass Fragment in the other fake wall room in the save area. It's opposite the obvious fake wall, and it also has a path pointing to it. As you've probably noticed, the Demon King's Castle plays a lot with the "fake wall" concept. It's a nice theme, but it does mean the oblivious miss out on a hell of a lot. There's still one path we haven't taken yet, but "path" is a little generous.  This room is down, to the right, and up from the save point. The two chests each have 10 gold.   This is supposed to be the Demon King's Castle....yes? At least we got another Glass Fragment out of it.  For all that I waited to fight the boss, there's no real need to do that. The Giant Frog goes down in one hit and two Fire Waves, and he doesn't do much more than a normal Frog.  Finding Nana opened up her room, just like Randolf earlier. Everyone holds a story close to their heart. People on this island are no exception. They are searching for an end to their story.  And just like Randolf, she has a chapter of the Demon King Chronicle. She doesn't have a diary, but she does have these papers on the long desk. (The storytime music tracks are the most important music to listen to, by the way... Though Nana's variation is the least interesting one.)     She was always surrounded by smiling faces, and was blessed with a peaceful life. However, that happiness didn't last forever. Her beloved grandfather, was beset by a terrible illness. The girl spent every day surrounded by dark and sad memories. For that poor girl, there were only two things she looked forward to. First, her younger brother who would soon be born. Her only other small joy in life was playing with a neighborhood boy, who she had become good friends with. One day, the girl snuck outside once again, and went to meet the boy. Just like always, she carried her favorite book, the "Demon King Chronicle." The bookshelf has two more updates:   Additionally, selling all of the Rat and Frog Meat I've accumulated brings me just above 90 gold.  Buying the slightly dirty mirror puts it in your room.  It'll probably give us art or some--  whoa Clearly I've just never bought the right kind of mirror.   The glowing circles here are an achievements system. You light up circles by fulfilling goals, and each gives you a Memory point. You can't see what the requirements are before you succeed, though.   Memory points can be spent in the rooms beyond the first to get new stat boosts or skills. We can't buy any yet, though, thanks to the gold costs involved. Each time you use a crystal, the gold cost increases for all the others. Notably, Fire Wave is the only freebie you get--all other Magic needs to be acquired through His Memory. It's also the game's main money sink, since Aaron Aaron operates the only shop.  Bookshelf update just says what I've told you already. Laylaria has something new to say:  This used to be such a peaceful island. By the way, I saw Nana Eluonto in her room just a moment ago.Laylaria will tell you each time someone has a new story segment available... But not the first time, for some reason? Aaron Aaron also has new dialogue.  I count myself lucky just to be standing in the land where the "Demon King Chronicle" was written.With all of that done, it's time to move past the Giant Frog's room.   The Demon King's Castle is a long tutorial. The Hamlet is where the game takes the gloves off. That's for next time. Einander fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Mar 19, 2014 |
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Mar 19, 2014 02:10
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I can understand the first area being a bit of a tutorial, but isn't that a bit misleading? The Demon King's castle is much less dangerous than the peaceful little hamlet. The game story does look somewhat interesting at least, though does Camil ever break the silent protagonist syndrome?
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Mar 19, 2014 02:41
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Keldulas posted:The game story does look somewhat interesting at least, though does Camil ever break the silent protagonist syndrome? I don't think she's supposed to, since she's an audience surrogate. Also man this game looks like it can be hella mean. Speaking of, can you level up the empty bottles? If so, do they restore more if you fill them up afterwards? And do you have to level up each one individually? Seraphic Neoman fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Mar 19, 2014 |
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Mar 19, 2014 03:02
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Wait. Why did you have 92 gold? did you pick up another one of these "empty" chests without telling? If you find 3 more, they are actually worth something. I am kind of interested in this game. The mechanics seem quite creative. But I wonder if there is a way to break it.
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Mar 19, 2014 21:08
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SSNeoman posted:I don't think she's supposed to, since she's an audience surrogate. You can level up the empty bottles! But I don't know if that does anything. I'll probably try it at some point, but I don't expect it to affect the contents. That said, items level up by category. If I kill a rat, level up Rat Meat to level 3, then get a second Rat Meat later, Camil can equip the second one at level 3 proficiency immediately. It's not the item leveling up as such, but rather Camil's proficiency with using it. This doesn't matter too much, though, since you generally aren't equipping the same item multiple times. Even the (temporarily almighty) Salad doesn't quite merit two copies when you only have three slots. Air is lava! posted:Wait. Why did you have 92 gold? did you pick up another one of these "empty" chests without telling? Maybe I did! But I'm pretty sure I accounted for all the treasure chests I picked up onscreen. Perhaps my sheer indignation at the 1 gold chest summoned a second piece to mollify me, or some kind of gold-based god decided that the single piece looked lonely and needed a helpmeet. Maybe bosses drop single pieces of gold. If the game can be broken, I've yet to find the way to do it... But I'll be keeping an eye for ways, of course.
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Mar 20, 2014 01:40
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I have to admit the game's world seems really odd. You have the ruins of a trapped castle, a destroyed village, and the only residents of the land live in a cave.
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Mar 20, 2014 01:46
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Dr Pepper posted:I have to admit the game's world seems really odd. Well, sure. The rest of the island has rats.
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Mar 20, 2014 13:16
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Game looks hella anime (jesus that watercolor filter), but i like the kind of lucid dream-like go with the flow atmospheres, where you don't do things for a reason or as a means to an end, but to experience them. Seems from your description that this might be a contender. And luckily, i got a playism account, too, which i got for One Way Heroics. Hooray, zero entrance barrier.
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Mar 20, 2014 14:58
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When you get a proficiency bonus, does that apply to all examples of the item, or just the one you have equipped?
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Mar 20, 2014 21:48
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Glazius posted:When you get a proficiency bonus, does that apply to all examples of the item, or just the one you have equipped? All of them, it's not the item that improves, it's your handling thereof. Gave this game a try and just reached the Hamlet, holy poo poo WHAT IS THIS MUSIC?
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Mar 20, 2014 21:50
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Chapter 03: "(I'm still the only one who can read his expressions though)" (The Hamlet, Randolf 2, Nana 2)  Welcome back! I'd recommend most of the music in general, but The Hamlet's music is both very different and very atmospheric. Give it a try if you don't usually click the links. The Hamlet's first treasure chest bodes well for the area. The conspicuously empty barrel also has 15 gold.  To the right of that house is this one. The barrel, when inspected, says "cannot be moved from this side," but there's an entrance from the right edge of the screen. And if the Castle's red chest is any indication, that chest has something very good! Getting there will be our first priority. First, though, I head back and fill up the Empty Bottle. I pick up another Energy Restore; Camil almost has enough SP to use four Fire Waves in one fight with an Energy Restore equipped, so if all else fails there's the option to go nuclear, and Energy Restores do heal some HP.   The red frogs are actually Turtles. As you might expect, they're ridiculously tough, requiring two attacks and two Fire Waves to take down. In return, they do about 4-6 damage. They give 14 experience, though, so it's a bit more worth it than the Ferocious Rats.  The squirrel-like things are Monkeys. They hit twice, doing about 1-3 damage per hit; this makes a high defense very important against them. One Fire Wave, one or two attacks. Their AI becomes aggressive when you're engaged in a fight with something else, and they're generally in groups on the map. Their drop is the Monkey Tail, which gives +2 Attack and +3 Critical. It's a straight upgrade to the Glass Fragment, freeing those up for their real use.   Finally, the black frogs are other, smaller turtles. One Fire Wave, two attacks. Their drop is Turtle Blood, which gives 7 HP and 1 Defense. That helps a lot with the monkeys, especially when leveled up--and since it increases your HP so much, you get easier access to Fire Wave. I replace my Glass Fragment with it, then realize I still need to level it up to get those chests. By the time I don't, the Turtle Blood will be outdone by other, newer items. Oh well.  I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again: you don't really try to clear random enemies in this game. Of the enemies in the Castle, I fought maybe a fourth of them, and most of them were enemies I had no choice but to fight. Items are your main source of strength, and enemies do provide drops and item level-ups, but enemies are generally strong enough that you won't make any actual progress if you try to fight everything. There's an exit to the north.  Heading to the right and then straight up through two ruined houses leads to 10 Gold. It also nearly guarantees you have to fight a big Turtle, since they also have aggressive AI.  It pays off, though. A house at the upper right corner has 5 gold. Then I get a little too clever with enemy AI and end up fighting both a Monkey and a big Turtle at the same time. I use the Energy Restore but still end up low on both HP and SP by the end.  Glass Fragment #5. It's probably time to go back and exchange three for a Bottle, but I want to keep some Fragments available to open chests. Time to head back and heal.  To give you a better idea of the fight range: if Camil walks at the very top of the or bottom area between the house and the wall here, and the enemy is at the opposite wall, then you won't fight. If you're any closer at all, it's a fight. If you play this game, you will live and die by your control of that range. On the way back, I survive a two-monkey fight with 1 HP. They have four attacks between them, so random variance could have Game Over'd me right then and there. You do not have a lot of room for error if you do stupid things in this game--it's generally fair, but it has high expectations of you. The Glass Fragment leveled up again, so between that and the level just now, Camil can generally kill a Monkey or Turtle in three attacks. If she takes two rounds of attacks from either type, it's probably within the heal-it-off yellow HP range. And since that doesn't require you to use SP, it's a net benefit! The increase in strength just takes big Turtles down to "one attack and two Fire Waves," though, so we're not some invincible shitkicker now. Enemy groups will still ruin us. Back to where we were. There's a right and an upward exit, but right should lead us closer to that red chest.  Remember what I said about multiple enemies? I slip past on the bottom and only fight one.   There's a big Turtle patrolling this central area, so going for either treasure chest nearly guarantees that you have to fight it. You can lure it sufficiently far away if you're very careful, but succeeding just isn't very likely when you have to loop all the way back around. On the plus side, 6 Glass Fragments!  One room south. If I've counted correctly, there should be an exit in the lower left that'll lead to the treasure chest we want.  This should be it! And there's a set of stairs up there to explore as well--it's probably not another shortcut back, considering how close this is to the Castle's shortcut, but you never know.   The Scaly Sequin Coat is good armor; I'll level up the Fine Pajamas first, though, since those have a good set of All-Purpose boosts. Unfortunately, the coat's All-Purpose slot version is nearly useless. Sure, about +18 attack and +15 critical (when fully leveled) are good, but "1.5x damage taken" is unjustifiable. (The first time I played this game, I didn't buy the Fine Pajamas until much later. My first run through The Hamlet was basically a terrified dash for this chest--2-3 defense makes a pretty big difference in how much damage enemies do when one common type does multiple hits.) You can shove the barrel blocking the southern door out of the way (so hard it flies into a wall and vanishes), opening a shortcut back to the very start.   I also open the rusted chest in the Nest's shortcut basement, finding a Stamina Up. +8 HP when equipped, but more importantly, it gives +3 max HP when used. And it also gives the Exhilaration status. I have no idea what that does, though, since it goes away as soon as you use a Spring.  The Bookshelf is kind of bad about giving timely tips. Back to The Hamlet!  The stairs from earlier just lead to this chest.  Back up the stairs. If you wind around the room, you can access this house from the bottom-right.  The Salad is a ridiculously good equippable for this point in the game. HP, SP and Defense are THE three stats Camil wants most right now. Off to the right exit.  You can fight enemies through walls, by the way, as strange as that may seem. This has no effect on combat whatsoever.  Upwards and onwards. In the pot room, the right unbroken pot has 5 gold and the left one has 10. All of the others are empty. (I checked.)  Right of the pot room is another save point, and Randolf's there as well. Why don't the Monkeys attack him? They're basically right at his heels. I hope we're not killing his pets or something... (Yeah, enemies just ignoring NPCs is an annoying pattern. It'll get particularly ridiculous in a moment.)   For reference, since you might forget before this comes up: the story takes place on The Island, and everyone here was originally a resident of The Continent... except Camil, it seems. Another Glass Fragment for the pile.  At the bottom right, you can wind your way around to this treasure chest. It's only +5 HP, though--no Salad, that's for sure. (Demon King Chronicle: Vegetarian Propaganda?)  The top right exit leads to this area. It's hard to show this in screenshots, but... Do you see that red squirrel-shaped sprite? That's another type of monkey. Normal monkeys go aggressive when you get into fights. Red monkeys race around the area at about 3x normal move speed during the pre-fight period, and they're much stronger as well. Usual red enemy rules apply, though. They stay defeated until you leave.  At six fragments again. I should head back and make another Empty Bottle... I won't, though.  The blue monkeys (which are the red map monkeys, because that's not confusing at all) also hit twice, but they do 4-5 damage a pop. Never, ever fight two at once.  Take the top exit and you get here. Let's go in the house!  Never mind! Stepping inside the house means you hear a squeak about once every half-second. Every time you hear a squeak, another one of those rats spawns, up to about 10 rats. The rats in that house are incredibly fast in battle and on the map and do a lot of damage. The first time I played this game, I was convinced that if I did this JUST RIGHT, I could get to the stairs at the upper right. I was right! ...except that you need to move down to actually use the stairs, which lets a rat catch you every single time. And then, well. [2013/07/29 23:59] Defeated at The Hamlet by Killer Rat. [2013/07/29 23:57] Defeated at The Hamlet by Killer Rat. [2013/07/29 23:56] Defeated at The Hamlet by Killer Rat. [2013/07/29 23:54] Defeated at The Hamlet by Killer Rat. [2013/07/29 21:08] Defeated at The Hamlet by Killer Rat. Death Rat House is going to stay there for a while, so it can be nice and therapeutic when I burn it to the ground and murder all of its furry little inhabitants.  Except Mask Guy. He may live. Apparently the death rats are totally cool with him. TEACH US YOUR SECRETS, STRANGE MASK MAN  Remember what I said about enemies attacking through walls? If you go for those barrel treasures without despawning Death Rat House, you'll die. Don't. The one at the top has 10 Gold. There's no way through the barrels to get to the lower one, though. Off through the left exit. There's a Monkey and a red/blue (purple?) Monkey there, so lure one and then kill the other.  It contains The Hamlet's main save point. (The one before was just a mercy for the poor fools who don't know about Death Rat House.) There's also a staircase back to The Nest.  Most shortcut tunnels connect multiple areas like this, so the shortcut system is a lot more robust than you might initially suspect. Laylaria mentions that Randolf is in his room; that replaces the mention of Nana from last time, but the rest of the conversation is the same.  The Mole's room has this just outside. You get Glass Fragments here every so often as you progress through the game.  He's also dug a little further in. What. I'm busy right now. If you want something I dug up... just take it, alright?Already did! Back in Randolf's room. You can read the first two parts as much as you like, but trying to read the third will result in him coming in and blocking you again. (It's the same way the first time, just with the second and third parts instead.) So let's read part 2!  x month x day He used to be such a careless boy, but now he's grown quite fearless. I wonder what changed him... Maybe his new interest in sword fighting? It's rare to see a thief swinging a sword around. The kid's still shy and afraid of strangers, so he always hides behind me when someone visits. x month x day I parted ways with Aeritz. Though he was scared at first, even my kid warmed up to Aeritz. He even looked a little sad when he left. (I'm still the only one who can read his expressions though) By the way, I received a book from Aeritz. He said it should be right up my alley. At least I'll have a new story to read to the kid. I'll read it to him later. P.S. I just wrote about a book, but upon inspection it's actually not even a full book. There's only three chapters to it. I think he just pawned some of his crap off on me... ("careless" at the top probably meant "apathetic," by the way. Translation is a little sketchy sometimes and I'm doing exact transcriptions.)   Where is your character portrait, seriously?  Died to a red monkey and two normal monkeys right after coming out of the shortcut. This time, I decide to head back to His Memory to pick up a boost first.  Of the first three crystals, the options are +4 HP, +6 SP, or +3% Critical rate. I go with +Critical, since that boost should matter most in the long run. This also unlocks the next area of His Memory.  The crystals here take 100 gold. All crystals take one Memory point, though, so you should generally reserve the points for later rooms instead of clearing out earlier ones. On the left is an Agility Up for Camil and two red crystals that increase the max limit on HP regeneration and SP regeneration after battles. Those two are incredibly useful and should be your priority, ESPECIALLY the SP one. The right crystals are currently unusable.  This is just south of the shortcut. The other chest has 5 Gold. There's also a pot with 5 gold in a house to the bottom-right. The exit's through the south.  The next area.  The house has another Salad. Two Salads makes you pretty invincible against single enemies at this point, especially with the Scaly Sequin Coat. (The outfit descriptions are only going to get weirder from here.) The other one has 10 gold. It's a dead end from there.  On the way out, I also get the drop from the big Turtle.  Sporadic Guard is one of the better abilities. It works a lot like the Extra Attack+1 from the Karate Chopstick--there's a chance of reduced damage, a full 50%, every time you're hit. It's incredibly useful. It's the same as the defend command, so the two can't work together. More importantly, levelling up Camil and her items has brought her up to 26 attack with one Glass Fragment, and the Glass Fragments give 3 apiece. That's enough to open up the rusted chests so far!   ...well, that's a little underwhelming. Back in the Castle, there was also a room of Ferocious Rats that I didn't bother with before. It's fairly easy now, since Camil kills them in three hits and they only do 3 damage. (I still fight them one-on-one. Good habits.)  The Energy UP gives +2 max SP when used and +6 max SP when equipped. I don't use it yet.  Sporadic Guard in action. It activates pretty often, about 25%, and damage rounds down. Even so, you only have three slots; you don't keep a Sporadic Guard item on as often as you'd think.  Back to the Castle shortcut. Two screens north into the Hamlet gets you here.  Between all of the big Turtles and this chest requirement, it's best not to come here too early. The chest is just another Glass Fragment.   You can go down the hole with the vines. Nana's visible here, but we can't get to her at the moment. If you didn't use the Magic Bean on the first available spot, this is a better choice. It takes a little time to grow, but the reward is very, very good. The chest is a Glass Fragment.  A very ill-tempered person normally, he is renowned as a soldier who has a strict sense of duty. He was originally taken in and owes his current position to Zelphie, who does not discriminate soldiers by their upbringing or ancestry. He is well trusted by his men. If you head back to the area with the four-way crossroads, there's an exit to the right.  The hole leads to another little room with 10 gold in a chest.  The Demon King's Castle makes for a pretty great PSA: "There are hidden walls and holes, these are the way they are hidden, this is how to open them." There's never really a dirty trick with this game's hidden chests. There's a Glass Fragment in a chest, and:  One of Zelphie's right hand men, he is well known for his leadership and skill and commanding men into battle. He originally met Zelphie as an enemy general on opposing sides of the battlefield, but was recruited by Zelphie afterwards. The south exit connects to the area just above the pot room and the pre-Death Rat House save point. The Fine Pajamas reach max level around this point, so I swap them for the Scaly Sequin Coat and replace the Energy Restore witxh them. +4 Defense, +6 Crit, +8 Agility! Pretty good. 16 Defense is way more than you need at this point; even red Monkeys only do about 1-2 damage per hit now. 5 Empty Bottles in total now. I go with 5 Stamina Restores and 2 Energy Restores; I don't have an Energy Restore equipped any longer, so they're a much worse deal. The right side of the house where we planted the Magic Bean is accessable from the left exit of the Hamlet's shortcut.  That Scorpion thing is a boss, and it will murder you. It will still murder you in about two or three dungeons, but you'll have a fighting chance then. The armor behind it is very good caster gear.  +1 Glass Fragment. If you talk to her again: It really is quiet here... I wonder where all the people went.Back in The Nest:  I wonder how many years it's been since I've seen flowers like this.Camellia flowers are indeed about that shade, so that's probably what she means. And then she mentions that Nana's in her room. The bookshelf's updated again:  And we have another achievement:  I sell items to get the 100 gold for HP Regeneration Up, but the increase in cost with each crystal purchased means I can't get SP Regeneration Up yet. Nana has more dialogue, and Nana's Story 2 is available now.  Don't you think it'd be great if it really worked like that? When the girl waved, the boy responded with a smile. The girl took out the "Demon King Chronicle." It was the tale of an adventurer climbing to the top of a very tall tower.  They really loved this story, and always read it together. Many monsters stood in the way of the adventurer, but he pressed on, paying no heed to danger. And when he finally reached the top, the adventurer prayed to the spirit of a beautiful woman, telling her his greatest desire. ..... Well then, what should we play today? The girl remembered her grandfather. Her strict but kind grandfather who she loves so dearly. Even now, her grandfather was battling with his illness. That's when both of them decided they would climb the tower. They would both become the hero Sera, and tell their wish to the spirit at the top of the tower. The two of them headed to the tower standing over the girl's house.  Finally, the northern exit just above The Hamlet's shortcut area leads to a tunnel.   This is The Snow Fields, the third dungeon. We'll get to that next time! Einander fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Mar 21, 2014 |
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Mar 21, 2014 01:24
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So basically a broken down house in an abandoned village is filled with rats that will pour out endlessly and murder you. I'm beginning to think this game world is post apocalyptic.
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Mar 21, 2014 02:03
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Something tells me those kids never made it up that tower 
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Mar 21, 2014 02:07
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SSNeoman posted:Something tells me those kids never made it up that tower  I got a lucky and quick Turtle Shell in this area, and was then invincible for the rest of it. Once you're walking around with 15+ def, only red enemies can even hurt you anymore. That said, i'm curious how you handle the next area. After strolling through the Hamlet and fighting packs of 6-7 enemies without losing even 1 HP, the very first enemy i encountered in the mountains drat near killed me. I'm getting absolutely destroyed. Also, good to see i wasn't crazy in thinking strapping salads to your arms and legs before going into battle works way too well in this game. As for the Exhilaration status: i was curious about that and spent a couple hours trying to research stuff about this game. It's drat near impossible to find anything. Apparently, it gives you +20% STR and -5% physical DEF? It seems that there's 5 'buffs' of which you can only ever have one at a time: Exhilaration, Jubilation, Euphoria, Versatility and Omniscience.
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Mar 21, 2014 15:36
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This game looks weird and trippy in all the right ways. I'm a bit lost when it comes to the narrative of the story, though, and I'm not sure if that's my fault, the game's fault, or a deliberate decision at this point. I'm sure things will become more clear soon!
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Mar 21, 2014 16:10
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HenryEx posted:They'll wish they hadn't... Good info on those five buffs, thanks. I think they're only really applied by the stat boost items, so they're pretty fleeting things. The Snow Fields area is doable if you avoid fights and use Fire Wave liberally when they do pop up. There's a good armor hidden there (just before the midway save point), and if you get a Bushy Tail drop from a snow monkey, the +HP can help you use Fire Wave earlier and more often. The Mountain should be done after the Snow Field. Similarly, only fight the things you have to, but remember that you can kill especially weak enemies for regen boosts. Good luck! The Snow Field and Mountain are basically dedication checks and serve to emphasize the "avoid fights" nature of the game, so I hope you can make it through.
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Mar 21, 2014 19:59
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Hey maybe I can sneak round some enemies in the part past this du- [2014/03/21 19:44] Defeated at The Seashore by Toothy Piranha. [2014/03/21 19:43] Defeated at The Seashore by Spiny Eel.  Ok. You made yourself clear, game.
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Mar 22, 2014 03:55
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Hmm. Is that scaled coat ever worth putting on? I'd think it'd only be useful early in the game when you're not taking much damage and the attack boost is significant.
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Mar 22, 2014 05:14
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Ein, you LP great games and I'm glad you got me into this. I'm having one issue though- is there a way to change the music volume? It's either "off" or "really, really loud" for me.
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Mar 22, 2014 15:38
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I haven't had volume problems myself... Odd. I'm not aware of any way to change the game volume itself, save messing with the stereo mixer, but the audio files are available. Are they the same as the ones I'm putting up with the updates, volume-wise? Also, people playing the game!  Chapter 04: "Yeah, about that memo..." (The "Mountain," The Coward, Mole 1, Hiku Kumo 1&2, Randolf 3) Welcome back! Last time, we reached The Snow Fields, the third dungeon... Though the singular "dungeon" may not be appropriate here.  Apparently there's two dungeons?  It's Randolf! But we have no time for Randolf! There is a mountain with a great view waiting for us!  There's quite a bit of walking to do first, though--probably about 10 screens of height.  A save desk! This mountain is looking promising already.  So excited, guys  ...wait, that's it? At least we can talk to Mr. Mask here.   ......So if it isn't snow, what is it? A giant mountain of ashes? The site of the largest cocaine drug bust in history? Is Camil is actually very selectively colorblind? Another Glass Fragment for the pile. Between that and Randolf earlier, we're at eight bottles already. Talking to him again:  Who decided on that setting? ......It should probably be mentioned that in Japanese, "setting" is often used in the context of "bullshit character backstory made up by overimaginative children." Much like the talk of this mountain. I am incredibly disappointed. We talk to Randolf on the way back. He just ellipseses at us and we get another Glass Shard. Oh well, it's an Empty Bottle.   Randolf's headed out somewhere, it seems! He walks right through us without so much as a hello.  This is no doubt the work of The Coward. Please be careful, Camil.No, I haven't skipped some explanation of The Coward. Maybe The Coward is just an ex she's on really bad terms with? People keep locking their doors now because they get into really awful screaming matches and no one wants to get involved.  The mountain where the White Dragon lives." Hawaii is a chain of islands, man. (Though I guess the islands do have volcanoes?) And you're going to be pretty disappointed by that "mountain." On the plus side, we can finally read the last entry of Randolf's diary! There's no one to protect his precious privacy now! x Month x Day Randolf had his 10th birthday. (by the way, I'm treating the kid's birthday as the day I found him.) If you compare him to before, he's gotten a lot tougher. I'm very proud of him. I'm still reading that book to him. The one I got from Aeritz before he left. It's a story about a hero who defeats a dragon. It's similar to the Story of the White Dragon, but Randolf still seems to enjoy it. I want him to grow up to be strong. Strong enough to defeat a dragon! x Month x Day It has been 18 years since I left the village. I guess I'm starting to feel homesick. Returning to the village and living with Randolf in peace doesn't sound too bad. I've been thinking like that lately. I'm sure everyone from the village would accept Randolf with open arms. ..... This is the last entry in the diary.   According to Randolf's mystery diary guy, this should be the last chapter of the Demon King Chronicle--he said there were three parts. The white thing is a slime, I guess? It moves around occasionally and can't really be interacted with. Kumo just ellipseses at us, too. On the plus side, it looks like Kumo has plenty of story to give us over the course of the game. (No real music this time, just a wind sfx.)  As I sat with my head down, I heard a voice above me. I lefted my face, and locked gazes with Aeritz. "Not enough sleep? Geez, you really don't have a care in the world." He smacked me on the shoulder heartily. Ouch. The natural ease he possesses... It reminds me of the difference between people. Even though we were about to kill a person. "I'm counting on you, Kumo. The whole world rests on your actions." Aeritz returned back to his usual spot, beside the rocky shore.  Bathed in the cold moonlight, I hid myself in the bushes. Aaron Aaron's also got something new to say. Oh boy does he ever.   There is a name for this person. We have been calling them "The Coward." However... Alright, let me be frank. The true identity of "The Coward" is one of our residents. All the information gathered from the crime scenes point to this fact. Camil, you're the newest person here. So there's no way you are "The Coward." I feel like I can trust you, so what I tell you now stays between us, okay? I've been laying out plans to catch the culprit in a trap. "There's 100 gold hidden in the jar." That's what I told to Laylaria. At the same time, I told Hiku Kumo "There's 200 gold hidden in the dresser." Just like that, I've told all the residents where I've been hiding my gold. I've been giving out this information with great care while being as subtle as possible. Take a look at this please. I dropped a memo pad like this on purpose, and let the culprit pick it up.  Other notes: (*Very embarrassing information about my private hobby is written in the XXX part.) What do you think? If it is a nice person who picks it up, they will probably think about it for a second... And probably experience some awkward and unpleasant thoughts, before pretending like they didn't see it right? On the other hand, if The Coward picks it up, how will they react? Heh, I'm looking forward to this. ...... I hate to repeat myself, but... I really do trust you. You are the only one who knows about this. I doubt I need to worry about you telling anyone else anyway. "Because you're a silent protagonist."  If you're curious, no, there is no gold in the jar or the dresser. There is no way to accidentally spring this "trap" on yourself, funny as that would be.  The Mole's left another Glass Fragment outside in a treasure chest.  Want to hear a story? > Nod There used to be a man I was greatly indebted to. I challenged him to a fight. And, I was defeated. These scars are a constant reminder. Do you understand my history now? >> Nod I see. >> Shake head I see. > Shake head I see. Despite his words about a break, he's still chipping away at that wall, same as ever.  Oh, bookshelf, you are a source of endless disappointment. I save, and...   Wait, isn't chapter 1 supposed to be "Tower"? That's the chapter 1 of Nana's Demon King Chronicle... We're finishing the story all wrong! Mr. Dieter is going to be so mad at us. On the way up, I decide to show off why this area's such a bear.  No more enemies, see? Just this dog.  Now there are, though! These Abominable Snow Monkeys  (no, seriously) are ambush attackers. They'll appear when and only when you get into a fight with someone else, and they have the same rapid movement aggression AI as the red monkeys from The Hamlet. And there's basically no way to know where they'll pop up--it's consistent, but they're invisible until a fight starts. And the Mutts are aggressive and slightly faster than you. (This is mitigated somewhat by their tendency to, at random intervals, walk in another, unrelated direction. Thankfully. Most aggressive AI works that way.)  The Abominable Snow Monkeys also go away at the end of fights, thankfully. I was killing the tough enemies of the last area and staying within healing HP range. Not so much now--I ended this fight with 7 HP, and that was just two enemies. I switch out the Fine Pajamas in my All-Purpose slot for an Energy Restore again; having two more Fire Waves, and stronger Fire Waves at that, available makes a pretty big difference. The Abominable Snow Monkey drops a Bushy Tail, which gives +12 HP. The Mutt can drop an Apple, which gives +5 HP and +2 Attack, but didn't this time. There's also blue Mutts on the map, who are less aggressive but also much stronger. They take about three Fire Waves to go down, which is currently a record. Anyway, let's go console Randolf about the incredibly disappointing mountain.   Dude, you are literally next to the entrance to the only other screen. But sure, I can come along. Whatever.  Wait what  Welcome to the next dungeon after The Snow Fields! No music here, just the sound of wind.  Randolf has joined up as a special guest star. For comparison to Camil:   He also comes with Lightning, an 8 SP spell that can be used even at full HP. Notably, it is strictly single-target: even if enemies are right next to each other, it's only going to hit the one you aimed it at. For now, though, this is entirely too early for us to challenge The Dragon Mountain--we haven't even cleared The Snow Fields yet! The enemies here will hand these two their asses even moreso than The Snow Fields.  Unfortunately, Randolf's not willing to come along if we're headed out of his dungeon. He'll rejoin when we return, though, and he won't try to clear the dungeon on his own. (He clearly understands who the real main character is here.)  So instead we take the right exit, to the "mountain with a crappy view." It has a crappy view because there is no mountain.   As previously established, getting into fights here at this point is incredibly risky. The red dogs make this more complicated, because they follow Fast Aggressive AI all the time. I get into one fight, but manage to keep it to one black Mutt and one Abominable Snow Monkey. (That name is too silly not to say at every opportunity. This update, at least!) It still takes two Fire Waves to finish.  Well, that was stressful! And that was just screen one. The south path leads past another Magic Bean planting spot and then exits to the right.  (The slightly spikier, darker Mutts have the blue dog map sprites. The green ones have the red dog map sprites.) If you look back at the old battle screenshots, you will notice the lack of a "run" command.  Let's try that again, shall we?   This time I take the north path. This raised exit has a mandatory fight...  ...and then exits onto an area with a Glass Shard. I exit, fight the Mutt blocking the way again, and then run my rear end all the way back and rebalance my Bottles. Fire Wave is incredibly important again, so it's 2 Stamina/6 Energy, counting the one Camil has equipped.  Two Mutt, one Monkey. I was at full HP on the first screen and died just before the turn where I'd win. This is with Sporadic Guard firing about a fourth of the time, mind. One Mutt, one red Mutt, one Abominable Snow Monkey. Same screen. The Snow Fields is both a lesson on what the game expects and check on your commitment. It hammers in three points: 1) learn to manage your resources. At this point, Fire Wave is basically your only effective means of offense; normal attacks are for finishing blows, not a mainstay. How many potions of each type do you need? When is healing to full a bad thing? Is there some equipment that could make this easier? 2) learn where you need to go and be efficient. Wandering blindly will get you into too many fights. You're going to die figuring out the best route to take--go in expecting that and don't get frustrated when it happens. 3) learn how to move around enemies. Before, excessive fighting would bog you down. Here it will get you killed. Levels are not the priority. Both times, I screwed up. The Mutt at the right exit WILL catch you if you're not very careful; you simply can't lure him away from the door under your time constraints, thanks to all of the other aggressive enemies. So if you engage him, immediately run to the upper-right corner to time out the engagement counter, and then book it for the exit the moment the fight is over. I screw up and get in a one Mutt three Abominable Snow Monkey fight and have to book it for the exit again. Progress is going to be a bit slow here, I'm afraid. I go back and visit The Nest. I sell some things. The Bushy Tails in particular are very profitable--60 gold a piece. That gives me enough to buy the 30 gold Notepad and still have 200 left over for the other Regeneration Up ability.  The Notepad outputs three text files to your game directory. I'll post the contents of all three at the end of each update. Most are what they sound like.  That second crystal in the second area opens up the third.  The crystals here are all abilities: Flame Fang (a more powerful version of Flame Wave), Shout (increases all stats for a few turns--very effective!), Slap on the Back (cures "some status ailments"--for various reasons, this is a bad choice), Light Axe and Waterboy Resolve. The last two aren't purchasable yet. Edit: Courtesy of HenryEx: HenryEx posted:Slap on the back (great name for a spell) apparently cures: Poison, Staggered, Sleep, Denial and Betrayal. It also buffs you with Fighting Spirit for 4 or more turns, which gives you 5% more Strength and Crit, and doubles your max SP. I don't buy anything. I don't need them yet... And I'm also out of Memory Points and completely out of money, so that plays a part in it too. I coincidentally notice that Aaron Aaron isn't in his shop, and check the right area...  ...then Laylaria sees us and books it.  I have a very important announcement! Everyone! Please gather!!!...oh you dick.  (I very highly recommend the next track.)    Such an unfortunate turn of events... I saw what you did. No use trying to hide it. I saw you pilfer gold from Aaron! You were the one destroying everyone's treasured stories too... weren't you!? I really hate to do this... but we will have to punish you for this. First of all, You must return the gold to Aaron. Even if it was only 200 gold, that doesn't affect the weight of the crime.Hey, 200 gold is a lot to me right now! ...I'm not exactly helping my case, am I. Now! Hurry up!  Aaron... It really was an unfortunate turn of events. Thank you to everyone for- Laylaria. It showed the hiding place for my gold. And other embarrassing things which I can't talk about here. Do you remember that memo? Of course I do. And just as you expected, the culprit fell for the trap completely. I expected nothing less from your genius plan, Aaron. ...What? This really is unfortunate, Laylaria. "You're the only person I trust, so you're the only person I can tell this to." I told that to everyone here. That's right, I said the same thing to everyone. However, I made sure I changed the details each time I told it to a new person. Each time I told the story I changed just one single detail. Whether it was the "who," "where" or "how much." You think you can lecture me over 200 measley gold!?Laylaria runs to the upper-left, and... This next song plays through to the end of the sequence, even through battles.    You can see the others through the smokescreen filter, but all of them just cough. (Except Kumo, who ellipses instead.) You'll also notice the new door to the upper-left.  There's four Demon Flies in the way, but they're the same as they were in Camil's room, way back in update 1. Even if they hit you, it'll do 0 damage.     The Anonymous Coward hits for about 2 damage and uses High Heel kick for about 9. The difficulty of the fight depends on the balance between the two... Especially since normal attacks are basically useless here. It initially seems like an extremely difficult fight, especially at this point... And then you realize that High Heel Kick takes SP, and once she runs out, those turns become empty turns. It takes one reset and four full bars of SP, but she goes down.   The Ruined Story is a pretty good caster item at this point--it's the only non-Energy Restore source of Skill that's available. Still, you've usually got bigger priorities. Afterward, you're returned to the main area with no further fanfare.  It'll be a while before we can break down Laylaria's door. Kumo's in the area where we fought The Anonymous Coward.  That Glass Fragment brings us up to 9 bottles! If you talk to him again: Inside this hole... There must be many stories laid to rest. It certainly is depressing just thinking about it.I'll let this next sequence speak for itself first:       Holes like this are HP tests. If you have enough, you survive and can reap the rewards. If not, well, inachevés. Kumo's back in his room now, so he has new dialogue.  He was kind of a gentle giant, but Aeritz said he was interesting if you learned to read his expressions. Aeritz promised he would take me to meet him some day. ...but that has nothing to do with you, huh? Forgive me.I'm guessing Flodnar is Randolf's foster parent. We know it's someone who knows Aeritz and it's probably not Kumo. Plus, Flodnar, Randolf. I'm guessing Flodnar wasn't a very creative guy. And, naturally, there's another story update.  From what I can tell, he is a reprehensible villain. He not only steals without remorse, but uses violence as his first resort. Where did I go wrong...? I am now an accomplice to his diabolical crimes. ...... The target of tonight's plan... We are supposed to remove a specific old man from this world. According to Aeritz, the old man will be visiting this area tonight. I admit that I too wish for this old man's death. However, right now... I pray that he does not appear. I want this plan to end in failure. Being part of this plan terrifies me. With such an important position, I feel like I'm being crushed by the responsibility. Very soon... At this rate, if nothing happens... If the day breaks... "He's finally here, so get ready." At the sound of Aeritz's voice, I snapped back to reality. In the distance... I spotted an old man, outlined in the pale moonlight. --It was Zelphie Eluonto. If "Zelphie" doesn't look familiar, check the last update's books again. Additionally, remember: Nana's last name is Eluonto. This is a good time to stop. Next time, the rest of The Snow Fields! Oh boy. But with the advent of the Annihilation Record, now is a good time to post a challenge. How many times do you think I'll be wiped out by the end of the game? And while we're at it, how many times before I finish the post-game content? (Or give it a really good try, anyway. It's hard.) Feel free to post one vote for both or each, but bold them so I can keep track. To be maximally fair, I will not reset from this point forward unless I could just as easily walk back to the last save point, even if I know I'm obviously about to die; it won't count in the Annihilation Record otherwise and I may mess up the count. The second post will have the current Annihilation Record for the last update posted, along with the Glossary and Battle Record files, and you'll be allowed to vote on the count or revise old votes until update 8 is posted. Votes will be recorded in the second post, so please tell me if your vote isn't counted there--that means I missed it. First prize for each category gets a $10 equivalent gift certificate from the SA store. Third prize for each gets a $5 equivalent. Second prize for each gets nothing! (In future, I'll probably just post screenshots for the first two--I forgot to take them this time around.) Annihilation Record: 2014/03/15/ 23:12:26 Demon King Chronicle Annihilation count:8 [2014/03/15 23:20] Defeated at Cave Chronicle. [2014/03/15 23:05] Defeated at unknown area by Anonymous Coward. [2014/03/15 22:14] Defeated at The Snow Fields by Mutt. [2014/03/15 22:12] Defeated at The Snow Fields by Mutt. [2014/03/15 22:04] Defeated at The Snow Fields by Mutt. [2014/03/15 13:51] Defeated at The Hamlet by Monkey. [2014/03/15 10:48] Defeated at Demon King's Castle by Ferocious Rat. [2014/03/14 12:04] Defeated at unknown area by Rat. Battle Record: 2014/03/15/ 23:12:14 Demon King Chronicle ■Battle results Playtime:02:44:06 Save count:45 Steps taken:15194 Battle count:141 Max damage:19 Max damage taken:11 Items:9 Types 16 Items ■Treasure Chests The Nest: 2/8 Demon King's Castle: 13/26 The Hamlet: 24/31 The Snow Fields: 1/20 Unmapped area: 2/10 ■Camil(7) HP:33 SP:42 Attack:27 Defense:14 Range:32 Critical:8 Skill:23 Agility:36 ・Karate Chopstick(3) ・Scaly Sequin Coat (1) ・Energy Restore(3) ・Salad(2) ・Turtle Shell(2) ■Top 10 defeats Rat(49) Monkey(42) Turtle(19) Turtle(14) Ferocious Rat(11) Frog(8) Monkey(7) Mutt(6) Demon Fly(4) Demon Fly(4) Glossary: ■Demon King Chronicle A story with no ending. Written by Harold Diester. 3 Chapters in total. ■The Island The setting for this story. It's not the official name, and hiding the name like this is a habit of the Island residents. ■The Continent The birthplace of the Island residents. It's not the official name, and hiding the name like this is a habit of the Island residents. (Unlocked by defeating The Anonymous Coward) ■Laylaria The second daughter of a good family. He sister Lululala did perfect in everything she tried. She did a variety of things under the name "The Coward." Most of the island residents had already started to guess the truth. The trap set by Aaron just brought the truth out in the open. Einander fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Mar 25, 2014 |
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Mar 22, 2014 20:22
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Well things started to go really dark really fast now. For my guesses: 57 deaths for the normal game. And 128 for the Postgame.
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Mar 22, 2014 20:53
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I don't quite understand how that trap worked.
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Mar 22, 2014 20:58
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50 For normal game, 100 for post
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Mar 22, 2014 21:00
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Air is lava! posted:I don't quite understand how that trap worked. Aaron told everyone that he was setting up a trap for The Coward. However, he told each person they were the only ones who he had informed of this fact. He then told each person different details of the trap. That way, when The Coward worked around the trap they had been told about, he'd know who it was by what details they knew.
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Mar 22, 2014 21:03
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The Coward surprised me the first time, and i hadn't saved in ages. Coward! I'm wondering if there's some outcome where you don't have to depopulate your home base. Slap on the back (great name for a spell) apparently cures: Poison, Staggered, Sleep, Denial and 'Betrayal'. It also buffs you with Fighting Spirit for 4 or more turns, which gives you 5% more Strength and Crit, and doubles your max SP. Denial and Betrayal seem similar and force the affected to ignore commands and attack allies. The difference is that Denial also lowers damage by 30%, while with Betrayal you'll suffer the full damage and it can't be resisted. Shout only works on the user and has a <70% HP restriction. It buffs you with +60% Strength, +10% Crit, +50% Agility and +50% Skill. Oh by the way, the Flame spells attack over 180°. Pretty good.
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Mar 22, 2014 22:16
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I actually recommend hoofing it into the mountain. Why? Because there are a whole bunch of items you can get up ahead, including a new weapon for Camil. You can also use this opportunity to train up Randolf so he doesn't die when an enemy looks at him. Just make sure to use Randolf's spells to take down enemies. It's a slow process, but it beats the hell out of monkey dodging. This makes the snow field much more bearable, but eh. Up to you. The major downside is that the mountain is hell for your eyes. gently caress that goddamn filter. EDIT: If you are gonna do this, 1) Give Randolph as much SP as possible. Skill is secondary. 2) Camil is backup with her Fire Wave. Once she gets the weapon, boost her attack instead. 3) You will likely want more Energy Restores than Stamina Restores. 4) Fight enemies one at a time. (Enemy tactics follow. No story spoilers) The moose dudes are relatively chill but will go after you if you aggro an enemy. Those orb things do aggro you and attract the moose dudes. They are very hard to see, but generally hang around dead-ends and exits. 5) If you see a charging red dude, make sure your SP is in order an go all out with spells in battle. MAKE SURE TO USE THE ENVIRONMENT TO KEEP THEM SEPARATE FROM OTHER ENEMIES. 6) Make sure to shuffle after every fight so Randolph can get his SP back. His Lightning spell is your lifeline. Seraphic Neoman fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Mar 22, 2014 |
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Mar 22, 2014 22:50
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HenryEx posted:The Coward surprised me the first time, and i hadn't saved in ages. Coward! I'm fairly sure that there's nothing actually stopping you from just walking to your room and saving. In theory, you could keep Laylaria around longer by just not triggering the confrontation scene, but the confrontation is one of the flags to trigger an important event later on, so I'm pretty sure it's unavoidable. I've never actually used Slap on the back for Reasons, so I actually didn't know about that buff. Interesting! I'll edit that into the last post in a moment along with the specifics on Shout. Do you mind if I ask after your sources? Like you said earlier, English sources on the game are basically non-existent, and I haven't searched too deeply into the Japanese ones. (Also, thanks for mentioning One Way Heroics. It's fun!)
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Mar 22, 2014 22:54
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Man, really getting an OFF vibe here with The Coward, something about this whole game is unsettling and I can't quite put my finger on it.
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Mar 23, 2014 01:31
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Realized I'd been intensely dumb earlier while preparing another post. The track that plays during The Coward sequence, from the smoke bomb to the end of the battle, is this song: Edited into the post, so consider rereading that bit now that you have the right backing music.
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Mar 23, 2014 10:28
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I think what makes it feel like OFF is that somehow tearing up peoples' stories is hurting them.
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Mar 23, 2014 14:50
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This game seems pretty interesting so far. I thought it was going to go the usual way stories in RPGs seem to go for a minute there. The old "the culprit blames you and everyone believes them" thing. Glad to see the guy just shot her down straight away.
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Mar 23, 2014 16:24
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What would be the best way to get Irisu Syndrome? (No  ) I can only find years old forums posts and I don't know how accurate the information is.
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Mar 23, 2014 16:29
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 14:36 |
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This game is so confusing. 75 deaths for main game, 200 for post-game
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Mar 23, 2014 17:19
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