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Latest update: Final boss and ending. (Page taking forever to load? Click here!)   Hello, and welcome to Let's Play Grandia! Grandia? What's that? Originally released in 1997 on the Sega Saturn, it received a Playstation port in 1999, which was later translated and released in the US and Europe that same year. Since 2010, it has been available on the PSN, so if you're looking to follow along, that's always an option. The closest analogue is probably Xenogears: both feature a large, developed cast of characters, amazing music, 2D sprites in a 3D world, and a second disk that lacks the same effort and attention as the first. They are both also horribly, horribly anime. That said, Grandia at its worst is still pretty drat good, and the detail and charm are well worth showing off. What sort of LP is this, anyway? Primarily screenshots, with videos of FMVs, boss fights, long cutscenes, and other things that deserve to be seen in motion but are too big to gif. Of course, there will be screenshot-only summaries of the videos, for those who choose not to watch. Screenshots? Oh great, you're going to be forcing your "witty" fanfiction dialog on us, aren't you? That... is one way of putting it. In all seriousness, for the most part the game's dialog stands just fine on its own. On the occasions where I feel the need to add to it, the addition will be set up in italics or, if it would Something that will come up more frequently, though, is when there are multiple dialog options. Such choices will be done in bold. And what's with all those Tindeck links? Can't you just link the soundtrack on Youtube? There's actually two reasons that's not a good idea. First is that a lot of the music straight-up isn't on the OST. Secondly, the OST tends to have multiple in-game songs per track, making it tricky to show the actual music used in whatever scene. (All right, skip to 2:45, then at 3:15, skip to 3:45, and loop back at 4:30) And this is the part where you tell us not to talk about things we haven't already seen, right? Not quite. Though if you want to pretend that's the rule, I won't complain. Instead of trying to get goons to stay on topic and not discuss spoilers, though, I'm just going to request that you try to keep them relevant to the update/discussion and tag things we haven't seen yet. And if your post has more text spoiler-tagged than not, maybe now's not the best time to post it? And just what should I expect out of these updates? For the beginning, a normal update, showing off the plot or dungeon or whatever, followed by a bunch of NPC chatter. NPC chatter updates, huh? Probably just an excuse to update half as often.  Nope! They're presented strictly as extras. Extras that really show off the game at its best, and are really recommended to read through, but technically extras. This game is piss-easy, right? Are you gonna be using some crazy ROM hack to show off your skill? While there is a "rebalancing" mod for this game (found here for the morbidly curious), I won't be using it. Mainly because it's not yet finished. Instead, the difficulty in this challenge will come in the form of keeping the main character in extremely weak armor, as well as not using the free full recovery present at each and every save point. What? Playing it unhacked? Are you gonna let us vote on how to gently caress you over, then? That's the idea. Before each dungeon I'll have a vote for which weapons to use (and if you haven't played this game, there's more to that than it appears). In addition, whenever magic becomes available, there'll be a vote to see who learns it, and what they learn. Should do to keep things interesting. All right, already! Where can I start reading so I know just how much to mock you? Glad you asked! Disc 1  Intro Cutscenes Four Treasures Four Treasures NPC Chatter Mechanics Sperging 1 The Baal Museum Baal Museum NPC Chatter Mechanics Sperging 2 Sult Ruins Sult Ruins NPC Chatter Parm by Night Pre-Cafe NPC Chatter Leck Mines Post-Cafe NPC Chatter Goodbye, Parm Post-Leck NPC Chatter Goodbye, Parm NPC chatter  Onboard the Steamer 1 Onboard the Steamer 2 Steamer NPC Chatter 1 Ghost Ship 1 Steamer NPC Chatter 2 Ghost Ship 2 Steamer NPC Chatter 3 Steamer NPC Chatter 4 Steamer NPC Chatter 5 Steamer NPC Chatter 6  New Parm Merrill Road Underground Passage Boss: Chang New Parm NPC Chatter 1 New Parm NPC Chatter 2 Rangle Mountains 1 Rangle Mountains 2 New Parm NPC Chatter 3 To Dom Ruins New Parm NPC Chatter 4 Inside Dom Ruins New Parm NPC Chatter 5 Dom Ruins Final New Parm NPC Chatter 6 Herb Mountains New Parm NPC Chatter 7 New Parm NPC Chatter 8 New Parm NPC Chatter 9 New Parm NPC Chatter 10 New Parm NPC Chatter 11 New Parm NPC Chatter 12  Garlyle Base 1 Garlyle Base 2 Garlyle Base 3 Military Train 1 Military Train 2 Garlyle Base/Train NPC Chatter  West Misty Forest Luc Village 1 Luc Village 2 Luc Village 3 Luc Village NPC Chatter 1 Luc Village NPC Chatter 2 Luc Village NPC Chatter 3 Luc Village NPC Chatter 4 East Misty Forest 1 East Misty Forest 2  End of the World 1 End of the World 2 End of the World 3  Valley of the Flying Dragon 1 Valley of the Flying Dragon 2 Dight Village Dight NPC Chatter 1 Dight NPC Chatter 2 Dight NPC Chatter 3 Dight NPC Chatter 4 Mount Typhoon Typhoon Tower Boss: Serpent (with bonus extras!) Taking the Spear of Heroes 1 Taking the Spear of Heroes 2 Returning the Spear of Heroes Dight NPC Chatter 5 Dight NPC Chatter 6 Dight NPC Chatter 7  Lama Mountains 1 Lama Mountains 2 Dight NPC Chatter 8 Gumbo Village 1 Gumbo NPC Chatter 1 Gumbo NPC Chatter 2 Gumbo Village 2 Gumbo NPC Chatter 3 Gumbo NPC Chatter 4 Volcano Post-Volcano 1 Post-Volcano 2 Gumbo NPC Chatter 5 Gumbo NPC Chatter 6 Gumbo NPC Chatter 7  Twin Towers 1 Twin Towers 2 Twin Towers NPC Chatter Twin Towers 3 Twin Towers 4 Twin Towers 5 Post Twin Towers NPC Chatter Dight NPC Chatter 9 Return to Dight Dight NPC Chatter 10 Mysterious Vanishing Hill 1 Dight NPC Chatter 11 Mysterious Vanishing Hill 2 Orb of Teleportation Dight NPC Chatter 12 Duel with Gadwin 2 Dight NPC Chatter 13 Sea of Mermaids Pirate Island 1 Pirate Island 2/End of Disc 1  Missed NPC Chatter Missed NPC Chatter part 2 Interim 1: Unused and Cutscene-only maps Interim 2: Unused conversations Disc 2  Virgin Forest 1 Virgin Forest 2 Virgin Forest 3 Cafu Village and Petrified Forest 1 Cafu NPC Chatter 1 Cafu NPC Chatter 2 Petrified Forest NPC Chatter 1 Petrified Forest 2 Tower of Doom Gaia Return to Cafu 1 Return to Cafu 2 Cafu NPC Chatter 3  Soldier's Graveyard 1 Soldier's Graveyard 2 South Zil Desert and Zil Padon Zil Padon NPC chatter 1 Zil Padon NPC chatter 2 Zil Padon NPC chatter 3 Castle of Dreams Savanna Wilderness Tower of Temptation 1 Tower of Temptation 2 Tower of Temptaion finale  Brinan Plateau Laine Village 1 Laine NPC Chatter 1 Laine NPC Chatter 2 Warp Space Laine NPC Chatter 3 Return to Zil Padon Zil Padon NPC Chatter 4 Zil Padon NPC Chatter 5 Zil Padon NPC Chatter 6 Zil Padon NPC Chatter 7 Cafu and Laine with Guido  Underground Ruins 1 Underground Ruins 2 Underground Ruins 3 The Grandeur 1 The Grandeur 2 The Grandeur 3 The Grandeur 4  Rainbow Spring 1 Rainbow Spring 2 Alent 1 Alent 2 Alent 3 Laine NPC Chatter 5 Zil Padon NPC Chatter 8 Zil Padon NPC Chatter 9 Luzet Mountains J Base J Base NPC Chatter 1  Field Base 1 Field Base NPC Chatter 1 Field Base 2 Attack on Zil Padon 1 Attack on Zil Padon 2 Zil Padon NPC Chatter 10 Attack on Zil Padon 3 Zil Padon NPC Chatter 11 Luzet Revisit J Base Revisit J Base NPC Chatter 2 J Base NPC Chatter 3 Farewell, Feena Zil Padon NPC Chatter 12 Field Base NPC Chatter 2 Farewell, Rapp and Liete Zil Padon NPC Chatter 13 Welcome back! Zil Padon NPC Chatter 14 (final)  Spirit Sanctuary 1 Spirit Sanctuary 2 Ancient City Mullen Gaia 1 Gaia 2 Gaia 3 Interim 3: Disc 2's unused content Final Boss Ending Bonus update: April Fool's Day Edward_Tohr fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Aug 11, 2015 |
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Apr 20, 2014 21:44
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Justin     Feena      Rapp     
Edward_Tohr fucked around with this message at 23:12 on May 18, 2015 |
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Apr 20, 2014 21:44
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While I am going to provide a screenshot summary of the cutscenes, this game has some fantastic music cues, some subtle animation, and some voices that are... less than fantastic. Or subtle. So if you would kindly click on that friendly-looking video link, we can jump right to the next update. If not, however... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CPISP-y5WY Has awesome music!(Polsy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhj-B_83eEs Has... voices.(Polsy)  We begin with a sparkling sky.  Panning down to a group of people.  And across to a city.       A city which grows rapidly.  Soon stretching out to the horizon.   And even beyond.   Off across the sea...    And beyond.  The city is almost unrecognizable, now.   And it uses strange new technology.      And at the center of it all, a bright light.  It seems to nourish the people, like the sun to a flower.     But rapid prosperity soon turns to exploitation...     And ultimately destruction.   Our first in-game cutscene slowly pans up to a man, passed out in a chair.   : Umm... I guess I must have dozed off... I had that dream again. The bastards! They're hounding me....    So, things we know about this General Baal so far: 1: Has a snazzy cape. 2: Passes out in chairs. 3: Has a recurring dream about being hounded by bastards. Or is being hounded by a bastard dream. Context could go either way. 4: Asks "Are we there yet?" every half hour.  : I keep telling you, Mullen. Where there are no soldiers around, you should call me "Father".And 5: Is apparently Mullen's father.   : but Lieutenant Leen is still here.One thing Grandia likes to do is swap out character portraits mid-text box. In Mullen's case here, he seems distracted as soon as he mentions Leen.  : Ha, ha, ha. It's just like you to answer like that.  : .... ....Leen proves herself to be the token anime JRPG Important, Special woman by ellipsis-ing. Twice.   : I'm counting on you two. Mullen... Leen. Mullen and Leen double-ellipsis in unison. No points for guessing who's gonna be shacking up with whom later on. That's right, Baal and that sweet, sweet cape.  : We have assigned an elite battallion of our Forces to this excavation. I am sure that we'll hear good news.  The PA grabs everyone's attention...  ... while  Mullen tasks Leen with  Complete with pointing to the one control panel on the bridge.   : Yes, Colonel Mullen.Leen not only actually responds, but smiles.  She is, however, less enthusiastic about Mullen's attempts to impress her via disco.  That's it, Leen! You show that button who's boss! (Apologies for the upcoming gifs, but this game is very expressive and it'd be a shame to miss the details with static screenshots)  The view-ports open, brightening up the bridge and revealing the town of Parm in the distance.  Which forms a nice backdrop for our title, don't you think?   We fade in on the Port Town of Parm.     And are given the grand tour around.     And we follow a little girl, in search of... something.  A small detail is that she slows down when passing the other kids. Wouldn't want to run into anyone.    This screenshot is mainly here to provide a dead-on circle for the inevitable aspect ratio argument.     A sound catches her attention, and she skids to a halt to check it out.       : I didn't trash it! Why won't you listen to me!! : SHUT UP! There's no treasure in all that junk!! Now you've completely trashed it! And thus, we see the first of very, very many blows to the head for poor Justin here.  And with that, the angry guy storms off and slams the door to his shed.   : That awful man, he... NEVER, EVER understands....  ... Apparently at some point, the girl's ribbon fell off and began flying around her.    : Don't worry! A punch like that? Nothin' to it! For a first-rate adventurer, comes with the territory!!  : So how'd it go? Did you find anything in the shed? : Nah. Nothin' at all. It really was all junk. Must have guessed wrong....   : Here it is - the Legendary Armor! I found it all by myself! Sue's ribbon objects to that statement.  Another tiny detail is that Puffy settles back down onto Sue's head as soon as she corrects herself.  Usually... usually the game is better about animations than that.   : Great, Sue! That's the first one!! : That leaves the Shield of Light, the Warrior's Helmet and the Spirit Sword! : Don't forget, we gotta get 'em by sundown or we'll lose. I promise I'll start cutting out some of the ellipsis-only lines from here on out. And for those wondering how the voice actor handled this, it was a "Hmm..."  : Yuck! I don't wanna marry that awful Gantz! Sue leans forward here, to make her sprite match her portrait. : You better take responsibility. : OK! I know, I know.: Come on, let's go show this to Gantz!! : Puffy, let's go, too! : Puff puff!  And with that out of the way, we can finally begin. Edward_Tohr fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Aug 5, 2015 |
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Apr 20, 2014 21:48
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Welcome back! Last time we... err... watched the intro cutscene. This time, we get to... watch more cutscenes? And do the bits of gameplay between them.  Look at that kid's face. Just look at it. That face tells you everything you need to know about Gantz right off the bat. That's not the face of a kid who just has an ace up his sleeve, that's the face of a kid who has the whole deck in his pocket and blackmail on the dealer. The kind of kid who plays against kids smaller and weaker than him and gloats when he wins. The kind of kid who tries to beat people up when he loses. Gantz is kind of a jerk, is what I'm saying here.  : The "End of the World" was found and there's no use for adventurers! You're way behind the times! : There is no "End of the World"!: Huh? You don't even know that? You, a first-rate adventurer?  : As you promised, starting tomorrow, Sue's in my gang. : No way, Gantz! We got plenty of time before sundown. : Hey, Gantz, lookie here! I do love that the game consistently refers to it as the Dirty Apron. It does the same for the other four treasures, as well. : ... Ugh! You found the Legendary Armor.: Hah hah! How about that?!Justin tries to out-smug Gantz. This goes about as well as you'd expect, given that not five minutes ago, Justin was being punched in the head by Angry Shed Guy. : Mmm. Don't get big-headed just because you found the Legendary Armor. That's all you found so far! I would make a comment about the game holding our hands during the tutorial, but it never really stops. One of the game's big flaws is that it's almost insultingly easy. Anyway, we tell Gantz to stuff it.  : 'Less you find those two, you'll never find the "Spirit Sword"!Gantz tries to show us by... giving us a hint. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, that one. But let's see what he has to say about where the other treasures are. : The Shield of Light! It's in a place where you always hear seagulls squaking. : Hmm.... Seagulls squaking...?: The Warrior's Helmet! It's in a place where you always hear the sound of running water. : The sound of running water...? Nanomachines!?  : METAL GEAR?!Yep, there's only one spot here in this port city, bisected by a canal, that you hear running water or seagulls. gently caress you, Gantz.   : Then Sue will become Gantz's bride, right? They'll live happily ever after.: Stop that, Goose! I don't wanna be Gantz's bride!: Aaaah, (yawn) mumble, mumble.... I'm getting pretty sleepy. G'night. Zzzz, zzzzz.... : Hey, Goose, you can't be going to sleep here. You're gonna catch a cold!Well, that was useless. Let's try Gantz's other minion.  Yeah, that lisp is going away now.  : You'll never be able to find 'em all before sundown. Nah hah hah....: If you don't fix that tooth soon, none of the girls will like you, Kozuru.: Ya know, adventurers just ain't popular no more. This is the age of steam ya know! Ya know what's popular now? Steam engineers and Garlyle soldiers! Nah hah hah....Somehow, Kozuru manages to be even less helpful than the narcoleptic Goose. But whatever, we don't need Gantz's help to find his treasures. He probably stashed them all under his bed.   : Gantz and the others are down at the bridge by the factory.While true, that's not at all what she asked, Justin. : Right now we're right in the middle of a duel to hunt for the Four Hidden Treasures. : Well well. I'm glad you never get tired of playing every day. But don't make trouble for anyone. Tell my Gantz he can't be playing around all the time. He needs to help out at home sometimes.Oh well. At least she seems nice.  The creepy alley in front of the  : Wasn't that Tentz who just ran away? Too bad he's Gantz's little brother. Otherwise, he's pretty cute.: You think so? I guess he is a lot better than Gantz.I'm sure that Gantz's little brother running off as soon as he sees us is nothing important, and not at all relevant to the duel. Nope. Hey, let's chase him down!  : What's up with Tentz? What do you think, Justin?Sadly, we never get to hear Justin's ruminations on the matter. But there is a kid nearby; maybe he has some idea.  : A pot, huh?: Hmm? Could that be...?I knew it! That Gantz kid is into the jenkem!  Still, we should check it out.   Hmm... nope, he didn't just chuck it off the bridge.   Well what do you know? Down here in the canal, where the rushing water sound effect is playing, we find ourselves a pot. : Say, Justin. You think this pot could be the Warrior's Helmet?: Yeah, I think you're right! This must be the Warrior's Helmet! He he he, just you wait, Gantz! Awwwwww, yeah. Let's go rub Gantz's face in it! ... Literally or figuratively, either one's good.  : He he! Look at this before you say that, Gantz!: ... Ugh! You found the Warrior's Helmet, too. The two remaining Hidden Treasures are the Shield of Light and the Spirit Sword. Find the shield first!Huh. No smug, condescending remark about how we found the pot that was clearly visible from the bridge we started on? Gantz, you're going soft, man. Anyway, let's go after that shield.       ... Dammit, Justin, I figured you of all people would be running around with a pot lid shield, hitting your friends with sticks. It's what I was doing at that age.  : Could this pot lid be the Shield of Light?: Hey! Know what? It does look like a shield. C'mon, let's pick it up. The apron, pot, and now lid! We're invincible now, motherfuckers!  : He he! I brought you the Shield of Light!: ... Ugh! You found the Shield of Light, too. I guess you got three of the Four Treasures.... But don't let it go to your head! Dammit, he's just gonna whale on us with it now that we have the armor, isn't he? : He he! The Spirit Sword? Piece a' cake! Then I win, Gantz!: But, we didn't see anything like a sword anywhere....Talking to Gantz triggers the next part of this scene.  : But, it's locked so you can't open it! Here's the catch! Where d'ya think the key is? Heh heh heh!: The key to the treasure chest.... Hmmm.... Did I see something like that?: Hey, Justin! Bet it's simple for an adventurer to open a treasure chest, right! Y'know, Gantz is really giving Justin more than a fair chance here. All the kids I knew would've waited until time was up to drop that on me. Anyway, barging into someone's house to open their treasure chest and steal their crap? Finally, some RPG elements!  Uh-oh, it's getting late.  : What, Justin? What do you mean, do I know where the key to Gantz's treasure chest is? ... Oh, now I remember. Gantz gave it to Tentz after lunch. Go find Tentz and ask him.gently caress that noise, we're adventurers! I'm sure we have something to pick the lock or pry it open, or-  Dammit, Justin. So now we need to chase down Tentz. But I guess that makes sense; can't have a duel without some sort of physical challenge, right?  Gotcha!  : What do I do? What do I do...? : Hey, what's wrong, Tentz! Why are you crying? : I can't if you don't tell me. : Waaaaaaah! Oh, NOOO! Gantz is gonna kill me! Somebuddy help me! (sniff, sniff....)And we are presented with the dialog choices again. But Thou Must be a jerk, Justin. : No way, I'll tell Gantz.: Oh NOOOO, oh NOOOO! Don't tell Gantz that I lost the key to his treasure chest!: Hmm, now I see. You lost the key to the treasure chest holding the Spirit Sword.: How, how did you know!? Sue, can you read my mind or something!? : Tee hee.... Tentz, you're so gullible. : Right, Justin?!: I guess we have no choice. Hmm. I bet he knows something else. Let's talk to him again. : ... Say, Tentz, where do you think you lost the key?: (sniff, sniff) Well, I just fell down near the river by the cafe. : OK, I bet it's there. Let's look around down by the river! It's been far too long since I've praised this game, so here's one: Justin and Sue actually get down on their hands and knees while you search the area. If you leave the fenced-in area, they stand up and start walking normally until you come back. It's a neat touch.  : I found it! : Well, what'd you know! Tentz can be so sweet!: I'll never forget this, Justin. Well... I'll definitely remember until the day after tomorrow!: Look at you. You were bawling like a baby and now you're back the the usual Tentz.: Big brother Gantz told me not to give this key to you, Justin. But you know... I'll give it to you anyway! I can't be indebted to anyone if I'm gonna be a man! But Justin, you tell him that you took it from me by force, OK? Otherwise Gantz'll beat me up! The treasure chest holding the Spirit Sword is at my house. Come along with me, Justin and Sue! And with all that said, Tentz runs off, showing the way to Gantz's house if you haven't found it yet.  : All right already! I'll find it right away!... Y'know, let's ask their mom if it's all right if we pilfer their crap. Seems like the polite thing to do.  : Tentz gave it to me! Is it OK if we open the treasure chest?: Go ahead but don't go messing up the room. It's messy enough already. : I'm so excited, Justin. Puffy must be too. ♪: Puff puff!: Here goes...!  Oh wow, a proper wooden sword, even! Not a lumpy stick, or a two-by-four or anything like that! : C'mon, let's go show Gantz the Spirit Sword. There's no time to waste!  Huh. Looks like something's going on with Gantz.   : Look at that, Sue. Greg is telling Gantz off good! Hee hee. What a chump!: We told Gantz to stop blocking the bridge. He really is stupid!  You're actually given control back for a little bit. Walking towards the bridge triggers Sue and Justin to stroll on by casually.   Of course, it doesn't go as smoothly as expected. : Surely you jest!?The quality of the translation kinda... wavers. Sometimes you get lines like this one that really hit the mark. Other times they seem like the localization didn't touch the direct translation. Still, I do mostly remember the script being silly and charming. : There's no way I'd be caught dead playing with Gantz!: That's right, Greg, sir! We just happened to be passing by. Right, Puffy?: Puff! Puff puff! : 'Course you wouldn't! There's no way that I, Gantz, would be  Greg turns around to face Gantz here when he speaks up. : Me an' Justin are havin' a DUEL! : Nothing, Sir! Gantz is just an idiot!But that would be intelligent, and we can't have that in our anime JRPG hero, now can we?  : Make a break for it, Sue!   For some reason, Justin and Sue run backwards here for a frame.    : Ahhhh, we made it! But he didn't have to get THAT mad. Right, Sue?: It's just that all the regular things you do are bad. NEXT TIME: Walking around the city, talking to people! Dinner! The one part that anyone who's played this game is waiting to see! More gifs! Edward_Tohr fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Aug 5, 2015 |
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Apr 20, 2014 21:49
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So, if you missed it in the OP, the "X.5" updates are going to be incidental NPC chatter and other nifty things that aren't directly related to the current objective. Not strictly necessary, but this is where the game really gets to show its charm. We begin by talking to this guy just north of where we start.  : No way! I'm having a duel with him!Yeah, you might wanna get used to that whole "We're not friends! I-it's not like I like him or anything! Baka..." spiel every time someone talks about Gantz in front of Justin.  : Ugh! Why is it that adults don't ever listen to what I say?Moving right along...   : Sorry, Gram. No time for that now.: I'll be back as soon as I settle things with Gantz. Hang on 'til then! : No, Gram. Not a fight! This a man-to-man DUEL!Yep, a... duel. Gantz and his three cronies on one side, and Justin, Sue, and Puffy on the other. That... that sure is a duel.   : He just got scolded.: Well... yeah... I guess I did.You... "guess"? Justin, the man punched you in the head. Twice. .... Oooooooooh. : But I did it to beat Gantz! : That's right! Stuff like that doesn't bother me!Hey, what's that I see in the corner?  It's almost hypnotic...  Anyway, outside, we find a group of kids.   : What should I do? Maybe I'll rat you out to "it"!: Justin, don't be so mean.  We spoke to this kid in the normal update, but we skipped most of the conversation.  : I'm having a duel with Gantz! We're not playing hide-and-seek.   : That's right. Pippi, you're so gentle-natured, so maybe you're not cut out to be "it". : That's right! Pippi, don't give up!   : I'm having a duel with Gantz! : That's right, Justin. Good luck! There's no way I'm gonna become Gantz's bride. Eeew!And yes, I will be changing (almost) every double exclamation point and "Eeeuw" when transcribing. You're welcome.   : I think I can win.  : Of course, I'll win easy!  I do love that Goose is omitted here. : That Gantz is no problem! : Hee hee. If you're all counting on me, I just gotta win!Well, it seems Justin is popular with the... one lady, anyway.  Aww, c'mon, Sue, you were just yelling at Justin for that!  : Ah ha ha ha! Tricked you! Tricked you!  Let's leave them, for now. We'll get back to the hide-and-seek saga later on.    : Even if he hears it over and over, Justin still forgets it. Tee hee.  ... Another trait this game "shares" with Xenogears is the "tendency" to put "random words" in "quotation marks". : Is that right? I LOVE stories with a happy ending. No can do, gramps, we're bus-  :Tell me "The Happy Adventurer"..jpg)    That... certainly was a story. Yep. : Maybe "The Prince and the Princess".    : Such a romantic story. I'd like to fall in love with a handsome prince. ♥ Y'know what else was released in 1999? That's right.  :Enough for today, Gramps. Get your rest and live a long time, OK? : Sure. We'll be back soon. Tell us a new story then, OK?Well, that certainly was so-, hang on a sec.    : Bye-bye! Of course, things get silly if you stick around and talk to him again.  : No, no, not at all! Bye-bye!    : Don't cry. It hasn't really been decided to move yet, right? : Of course that's right! Me and Justin and of course, Puffy too!: Pufft pufft pufft!Hmm. Let's see what those soldiers have to say.   : Well, it doesn't matter. Until we square things up with Gantz, we shouldn't be going to South Parm.     : Same to you! You couldn't get me to go across even if you asked!: Pufft pufft puffff! Ooo, two floors. This must be a fancy house!   : her special dish came out perfect!: That's right! If a new dish comes out well, Mom gives me extra allowance!Teaching her kid that success in life comes from the whims of others through events they have no control over? Lilly knows her stuff.       : Maybe he'll give me something, too!   Grandia really loves to change portraits while the characters are speaking.  : Ah ha ha ha. Poor dad.Let's check out the upstairs.   : What are you doin', sir?  : It sounds like a letter to a little girl.   : I ought to write her a letter too!   : Justin! If you forget you won't be forgiven!  : Francios!? Is that you!?  Fun Facttm: When I first played this game, I thought that "ulterior motive" was just a fancy way of saying "wanting money". I was not a smart child. : If so I'll never forgive you.   : There's nothing wrong with a little ulterior motive either.Let's just leave that one there, shall we?  : C'mon, with the factories, it can't be helped! Sir, aren't you enjoying the conveniences from the factories? : But if there were no factories, the Joule Foundation would go bankrupt, right?  : As long as you know that, Sir! Good luck on your Joule Foundation work! ♥  : Hee hee, so you understand, Sir. Good luck on your work. ♥    : Mom says that soldiers having nothing to do is a good thing.   : But ma'am, why are you so angry?   : Ah hahaha... That man has a problem, too.  : But it sounds interesting. Maybe I should go see him.  : Well, his place is filled with weird machines. It's a real neat place!Over by the port, we find another soldier.    : Why is the army investigating it?     : If I joined, I couldn't go adventuring when I wanted. ♪  : That's not it, big guy. ♪ My dream is to become an adventurer! And with this, we've just about finished our loop around North Parm.    : Look in these eyes! Are these lying eyes? No!  : Just think, the only ones who would do that are Justin and Gantz.Flyers, huh?   : I know, it's gotta be Gantz.: That is like Gantz. Tee hee..jpg) .jpg) : It says "Justin the Coward"! Gantz is in for it now!: That's right! Why, it doesn't even have my name or Puffy's name either! That's pretty rude!: You're totally missing the point, Sue.Phew. With that out of the way we can...  Talk to some more people!   : Awww, c'mon. I just want to look for something. Can't I come in for a little bit? : Why are you wandering around here? Did you lose something?      : But his back is covered with seagull droppings.: Eew! You're right. : Might that smell be that of the seagull droppings on your back? : Hey, I know all about 'em! : Oh, rats. Busted again! I just climbed on the handrail to try to see the New World, and SNAP!   : The view is was different from somewhere high up! .jpg) .jpg) : I'll jump on the handrail more quietly this time!.jpg) .jpg) .jpg) If we head for the bit that sticks out...     In case you haven't yet picked up the Pot Lid, you can see it shining here. Now let's see how Gantz would have reacted if we brought him both the Pot and the Lid at the same time.  : Well, when I show you these, you gotta admit that I'm first-rate, Gantz!: ... Ugh! You found the Warrior's Helmet and the Shield of Light.Hmm. But what if we try to get the other two before showing Gantz the apron?  It just won't let us pick them up at all. Disappointing. One final thing to show off is the NPCs who tell us about the treasures change their dialog after you pick it up.      See you next time! Edward_Tohr fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Aug 10, 2015 |
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Apr 20, 2014 21:49
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I'm definitely enjoying the full dialog experience after the main plot. It's charming, but there's enough NPCs in this game that it's actually a bit painful to go talk to all of them after a while, so I typically stop roughly a third of the way through the game (i.e. That Village Rem is from.). Seriously, there's probably like sixty NPCs in Parm alone and they all tend to get new dialog after each bit of plot. And this is probably one of the smaller towns. This is probably my favorite RPG after Ultima VII, simply because this seemed to escape the batshit craziness of most JRPGs that was starting around now. You know, where the angsty anime bishie protagonist is the only person who can stop the world ending monster threat organization! Instead, this is about a kid and his friends going out for adventures! Edward_Tohr posted:I would make a comment about the game holding our hands during the tutorial, but it never really stops. One of the game's big flaws is that it's almost insultingly easy. It seems that way, and it kind of is, to be honest. For the majority of the game you can kind of get by by rushing directly to the next plot point with the occasional bout of mook mass murder for the experience and gold, though it won't exactly be the most graceful run. It's real easy to figure out your next move through both talking with important NPC's and a mechanic we haven't seen yet (group meals.), so you rarely get lost. And a vast majority of the battles are easy enough that you can win them on autopilot (literally). However, if you aren't attentive and happen to be lacking an instruction manual, then you'll run into some trouble, but more on that later.
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Apr 20, 2014 23:25
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I last did this game without casting magic and aside from the color purple, the difficulty was unchanged. Very disappointed the hack is still not done. If there was a game that needed a hard mode...
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Apr 20, 2014 23:40
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I didn't know about weapon or magic skills and experience gain at all my first playthrough, and just thought you sort of got that stuff through grinding or at certain levels up. Again, no instruction manual and I never really checked the Moves tab in the menu. And if they tell you in game, I must have missed it. This made certain sections more tedious and difficult (off the top of my head, pretty much every point Justin's alone), and in one case stopped me cold, because I couldn't do enough damage or heal enough to kill off the triple fight against those girls on the airship. I actually left the game alone until about 2004, when I decided to try and beat it using Gamefaqs, and that "OH gently caress YOU CAN DO THAT" moment kicked in.
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Apr 21, 2014 00:04
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Mountain Lightning posted:I didn't know about weapon or magic skills and experience gain at all my first playthrough, and just thought you sort of got that stuff through grinding or at certain levels up. Again, no instruction manual and I never really checked the Moves tab in the menu. And if they tell you in game, I must have missed it. Pretty much the same story here, too, except I got stonewalled at the boss just before that one. I was one of the lucky bastards to have a GameShark, though, so, with a mild bit of cheating, I was able to progress just enough to get stuck where you were. As will become clear as this LP goes on, I was not a smart child.  I will be going over the stats and how to boost them, though, so hopefully anyone playing along won't meet the same fate. Scalding Coffee posted:I last did this game without casting magic and aside from the color purple, the difficulty was unchanged. Very disappointed the hack is still not done. If there was a game that needed a hard mode... I imagine it was easier to avoid grinding, at least.
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Apr 21, 2014 00:16
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They told you about those gains in the after-battle reports.
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Apr 21, 2014 00:19
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 About Mechanics, part one.As promised, here is the part where I explain what those numbers on the status screen do and how to make them go up. First, let's take a look at the basic status screen.  Here, you can see some of the basic, important stats: Hit Points, Special Points, and our three levels of Magic Points. Hit Points, if you've never played D&D, Final Fantasy, or basically any RPG ever, are your health. When these hit 0, the character is out of combat until they get revived. They can be restored by certain items, skills, and spells. Special Points are more akin to TP from the Tales series. SP are consumed to use skills. They are restored by some rare items, but most often by hitting enemies with normal attacks. Magic Points, again, are pretty much the same thing as MP in Final Fantasy, except Grandia gives you three "levels" of it. MP is used to cast spells, with the level of spell determining which pool of MP it uses. MP is usually restored by items. All of these points are restored to full when selecting the "recover" option from a save point. Now, let's go over to the Status section of the menu.  Here we can see many more numbers. Let's start with the top and work our way down. Gold is, unsurprisingly, the amount of money you can spend on items and gear. Found laying around in dungeons or dropped by monsters. Not much else to say here. The numbers in the box with Justin's portrait are a bit more interesting. STR, as usual for these types of games, affects how much damage you do to enemies. VIT, conversely, reduces damage taken. WIT is more akin to speed in other games. The higher your WIT, the more often your turn comes up. AGI is how far and fast you move around the battlefield. And finally, "level" there increases when you kill monsters. Each level causes the other four stats, as well as HP, to increase. To the right of that, in the box with our equipment, you'll notice four more stats on the bottom: ATK, DEF, ACT, and MOV. Each of these four stats is equal to one of the base stats (STR, VIT, etc.) plus whatever bonuses you get from equipment. ATK is short for, surprise, attack. It's base stat is Strength, and, as such, determines how much damage you do when you hit an enemy. DEF,or defense, is VIT-based and reduces incoming damage. ACT is usually just equal to WIT, but, in Justin's case, the Hero Badge he has equipped is adding a +2. It determines how quickly your turn comes up, and is thus pretty much the most important of the four. And finally MOV is The lower-left window has already been covered, except for EXP. You get it by killing things. When the Total EXP exceeds the "Next" value, your level goes up and the "Next" value jumps up to a higher number. None of this should be surprising. The lower-right window, though, is what this game is most well-known for. You'll see three different icons, each at level 1 with 0 exp. These icons represent swords, maces, and axes, and are the three weapon types that Justin can equip. Each time you attack an enemy or cast a spell, you gain exp for the weapon or element(s) used. Once you gain 100 EXP in a weapon or element, its level increases by one. Weaker enemies provide less and less EXP as your levels go up, to discourage grinding. So far, that sounds almost exactly like Final Fantasy 2. But if we head over to the "Moves" screen, we can start to look at the differences, as well as exactly why "goons voting on weapon use" is a challenge.  Here, we have a list of Justin's skills. We start out with one, V-Slash, but the rest are just question marks, with icons and numbers next to them. These icons represent what levels our various weapons must be at to learn these skills. For instance, once Justin hits level 6 in swords and 4 in maces, he'll learn the next technique on that list. The last one, though, has the level requirements as question marks, too. That just means that we have to hit a certain point in the plot to unlock the ability to learn it. Not that it matters; the few techniques that have this double-unlock usually hit their plot-unlock well before you have the levels to learn it. In addition, look at the window on the lower left. It shows our current weapon levels, as well as telling us which stats increase when each one levels up. All weapons grant +1 SP per level. All of them. But they also all have more unique, specialized gains. Swords, for example, increase strength by 1 and wit by 2. This means that every sword level gained makes you hit harder, and hit more often. Swords are the only weapon not to boost HP, but they make up for it by raising really the only two stats you'll need. Maces, on the other hand, increase HP by 2 and vitality by 1, making maces great if you need to boost your survivability. Axes boost HP by 1 and strength by 2. THORG AM USE AXE! THORG SMASH! Sue, meanwhile, only gets access to maces and bows. Bows, interstingly, share the same stat growths as axes, meaning we can turn Sue into a little shitwrecker without even changing her default weapon. For completeion's sake, and because they're all listed in the manual, the other weapons and their growths are: Dagger: HP+1, AGI +2. Makes you run faster! Whip: HP+1, Wit +2. Get more turns in! ... and that's all of them. Magic, once we get some, is similar, only each element gives +2 MP, randomly distributed among the three levels. Well, not quite random; Level 1 is the most licely to get a point, while 3 is the least, but you get the idea. In addition to the +2 MP, each element grants a +1 to another stat. Fire boosts Wit. Wind boosts Agility. Water boosts HP. And Earth boosts strength. While this system is pretty well-balanced and customizable, it's easy to see how a character who, for example, can't equip maces, would be limited in their options for survivng. Fortunately, that's pretty ra- What's that? Half of the characters can't use maces? ... poo poo. Well, while we're here, let's look at the rest of the menu options.  The items option allows us to see, use, and trade items. Each character has their own inventory with twelve slots, and, as you can see, this fills up very quickly. Thankfully, equipped items are not counted against this limit. The three options are use, which lets us make use of a consumable item, give which allows us to move items between party members, and discard, which tosses an item. Key items, such as the Four Treasures, cannot be discarded.  The equip menu lets us change our equipment. Change lets us equip items from the inventory...  ... while trade lets characters swap equipped items between themselves.  The magic option allows you to cast certain spells out of battle, as well as look at the skills you have already learned. Fairly pointless right now, but it'll be getting more important as the game progresses. And, with that out of the way, and with the first dungeon coming up... Which weapons should I use? Valid choices for Justin are Sword, axe, or mace, while Sue is limited to Maces or bows.
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Apr 22, 2014 22:46
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Leave Justin with the sword for now. No real reason to change it. Sue... eh, defense isn't really critical for a while. Bows
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Apr 22, 2014 23:32
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Justin should stay with the sword as befits a true adventurer. Sue can use the bow because she has a cute companion that looks like a bow 
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Apr 23, 2014 00:02
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Literally my favorite game ever. This game was ever-present in my childhood, and I replay it once every couple of years. Very happy you are showing off the NPC dialog, this game has more and better incidental dialog than most other 3-game trilogies. I just started a play-through using the hard-mode hack, and I'm a little confused. It was my understanding that the basic hard-mode hack (aka just rebalancing enemies and abilities) was finished, and it was the creator's similarly-named "total-conversion" mod that changes a whole bunch of core mechanics that was unfinished.
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Apr 23, 2014 01:01
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 Grandia ReDux, as linked and discussed already, is in my opinion a completed hack. The current patch downloads rebalance the entire game to a significant degree. ReDux Complete just adds another layer of complexity to an already pretty decent rebalance. But hey, your mileage may vary.
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Apr 23, 2014 01:22
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I really like how the abilities are so complex. The way SP works is great, it lets you use fun skills for every battle instead of hoarding them for boss fights. After all, you'll be getting tons of SP back while whacking foes with regular attacks. Even the magic looks fun. Having MP split between levels means you won't start ignoring low level spells for MP guzzling high level spells. Everything seems to serve a purpose! At least, thats how it looks. I never played it, so I have no idea if it works out in practice. Also, because of that, I'll go with what everyone else is saying and stick Justin with Swords and Sue with Bows.
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Apr 23, 2014 04:46
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I've always wanted to play this game, but not enough to actually, y'know, play it, so I'm looking forward to this.
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Apr 23, 2014 06:00
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This game is one of my favorite PS1 titles. As for weapons, Justin should use Axes. I'd also enjoy seeing you get all the eggs and have your final party learn all their magics/skills regardless of what weapons and magics get voted on. Yes, even that one. You know which one. 
Wales Grey fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Apr 23, 2014 |
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Apr 23, 2014 06:48
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Tuxedo Ted posted:I really like how the abilities are so complex. The way SP works is great, it lets you use fun skills for every battle instead of hoarding them for boss fights. After all, you'll be getting tons of SP back while whacking foes with regular attacks. Grandia has always had one of the best combat systems for JRPGs. Which is why it's a shame the base game is so easy, and why the hard-mode is actually pretty fun, making you actually consider your strategic choices.
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Apr 23, 2014 11:10
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Man, Grandia. I love this game so much. The scale of the world, the NPCs that respond to everything, the intricate dungeons; so much good stuff that most JRPGs lack. Good luck with this LP, you're going to be transcribing so much dialogue. Also, I noticed some broken [super] tags in the 1.5 post, when Sue's talking to the guy writing the letter. I vote maces for both. Batter up!
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Apr 23, 2014 12:47
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Tuxedo Ted posted:Even the magic looks fun. Having MP split between levels means you won't start ignoring low level spells for MP guzzling high level spells. Everything seems to serve a purpose! At least, thats how it looks. I never played it, so I have no idea if it works out in practice. Cake Attack posted:I've always wanted to play this game, but not enough to actually, y'know, play it, so I'm looking forward to this. Glad to hear it! Showing this game off to people who haven't played it yet is the main goal here. Wales Grey posted:I'd also enjoy seeing you get all the eggs and have your final party learn all their magics/skills regardless of what weapons and magics get voted on. Yes, even that one. You know which one. That's the plan. Inferior posted:Man, Grandia. I love this game so much. The scale of the world, the NPCs that respond to everything, the intricate dungeons; so much good stuff that most JRPGs lack. Oops. Will be fixing momentarily.
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Apr 23, 2014 16:30
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Grinnblade posted:
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Apr 23, 2014 17:26
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Scalding Coffee posted:Is Complete the version 4.0? He hasn't labelled it as such, no. The ReDux Complete demo is marked "ReDux Complete". The 3.1/3.0 files on the right hand side of the site are the completed files for the original ReDux.
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Apr 23, 2014 17:34
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About Mechanics Part Two What's an RPG without a battle system? Luckily, Grandia's is a bit more fun and involved than the usual "Wait for your turn to come up, pick something from a menu, watch the pretty animation" fare. Not that you don't wait for your turn to come up, pick your choice from a menu, and then watch the animation, mind you. There's just a little bit more to it than that.  For starters, you actually see the monsters wandering around the map before combat. Yeah, I now, nothing particularly new here, but it was pretty rare for the time.    If you run into the enemy before it sees you, you get the drop on it. If it bumps into someone who isn't Justin...    ... they get to ambush you. If they see you, but run into Justin, then neither side gets an advantage over the other. Again, nothing particularly unique, but still better than "Oops, you were walking down a five-foot hallway and got snuck up on by a forty-foot dragon. Hope you have fire immunity!" Anyway, let's see what combat actually looks like.  Well, we've got our HP up top, the PCs and enemies there in the middle, and some sort of bar with icons on the bottom right. This is known as the "Initiative Point Gauge". Each icon represents one of the combatants. Everyone starts off at the far left, and moves towards the "Com" marker at a rate determined by their "ACT" stat (Wit + whatever equipment boosts, if you recall). If this sounds like an ATB gauge where instead of each character filling a bar, you have one bar that everyone moves along... yeah. That's pretty much it. Once a character hits the "Com" point, you can input their action. Let's take a look at what we can do.  Combo is your basic attack action. The character will run up to the selected enemy and attack twice.  Critical attacks once after a bit of a delay. Typically the one hit does less than the total of the combo would. So what's the deal? The deal is that a critical will knock the enemy back on the IP gauge, delaying their turn, or even canceling their action if they're far enough along. Situational, but very handy when used properly.  Defend does exactly what it sounds like. Nothing special here, right? Not quite.  You're given two choices when you defend: Endure or Evade. Endure has you stand in place and tank the hit, reducing damage and IP knockback.  Evasion lets you select a point on the battlefield to run off to, as well as increasing your chances of dodging an attack. Typically, this is used to split the party up or bring them closer together to manage area of effect spells.   Look lets you see the basic status of an enemy. It'll show their name, current/max HP, their upcoming action (if they've selected it yet), as well as any temporary stat buffs or debuffs they have. This can be done at any time during command input by holding down the square button.  Escape attempts to run away from battle. ... Yeah, that ain't gonna happen. Next!  Tactics is far more interesting and useful.  Tactics can be set per character, or applied to the whole party at once. You can press triangle at any point during battle to set the party in "Play Fair" mode. What does that mean? Well, let's look at the various options.  Manual is the default mode. It lets you input all commands. The rest put the character under AI control. Play Fair causes the character to only use actions that don't consume resourses. Typically, this is just normal attacks, but certain items can be used to cast spells, and those are also considered here. Great if you just want to run though an area filled with weaker enemies. Power Up causes the character to buff up before fighting. Less useful, as they'll burn MP and SP, and usually buffs aren't difficult to manage on your own, but it's there. Withdraw will cause the character to only defend. Useful if you are trying to raise one character's weapon or magic levels and don't want the others to interfere. Setting the whole party to this will cause them to sit there and get beaten on until you cancel it. Or die. Meanie is the opposite of Power Up. Instead of buffing up allies, Meanie will debuff enemies. Much like Power Up, usually the player can do a better job of it, but it's still there. Go Wild has the characters focus on destroying the enemies as quickly as possible. It'll readily use the most powerful techs and spells, and even consumable items. Best used near a save point. Safety prioritizes healing allies over harming enemies. If everyone is at full HP, characters on Safety will begin buffing instead. Can be useful if you don't want to manage characters' HP yourself. Finally, Each Own lets the characters decide for themselves how to act. A pretty fun AI mode, and usually a balanced one to set the whole party to.  The party tactics options are the same, except that manual is disabled. Since having the whole party set to manual is the same as cancelling the active tactics, this makes sense. Any active tactics can be canceled, restoring the whole party to manual mode, by pressing circle while outside of the menu.  Items lets you use items.  Equipment can't be changed out during battles, but some items can be used to cast a spell.  Finally, Moves/Magic allows you to select a special move or spell.  This screen shows your current/max SP, your skills, and their costs. Each skill also has a number of stars below it; this represents the charging time, with more stars causing the skill to be executed more quickly. Stars are gained by increasing the levels of the weapons or elements used, which are shown in the box on the lower-left. All skills will use a weapon, with some also having a magical element or two.  When you choose a skill, the character's icon moves towards the "Act" marker on the IP gauge, at a speed determined both by the skill or spell you've selected, as well as how many stars it has. In addition, a character or enemy who is planning on using a skill or spell will give off sparkles, letting you know when enemies are planning something nasty.  When a skill goes off, unlike with a normal attack, time freezes during the animation. Naturaly, this can be abused with good enough timing. Most techs also have an IP knockback effect, like criticals.  Speaking of time not being frozen during normal attacks, if you are hit during one, you will take extra damage and the little counter icon will appear. The extra damage is always a decent boost, and it even stops the victim from moving on the IP gauge for a little while longer than normal.  You may be tempted to aim for a counter with a tech. After all, if you're going to get a damage bonus, why not apply it to something that deals a bunch of damage and can't be counered? The problem there is that they can be canceled. If you are hit by a critical, tech, or certain spell during the charge-up period, you can have the skill canceled, and be pushed way back on the IP gauge. Naturally, you can do this to enemies as well.    Once all the enemies are defeated (or you sucessfully escape), you are presented with the battle results screen, listing the exp, gold, and any items you may have gotten from the fight.  After which, you are given a rundown of how much weapon/element XP you earned in this battle. The "NON" shown under the elements doesn't mean that we didn't gain any XP for them, but rather that we haven't learned any magic for that element yet.  And finally, we are awarded with our exp. If you gain enough to level up, it'll also show you your new stats.
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Apr 27, 2014 04:15
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Just a heads-up, the NPC Chatter update is going on the Test Poster for now, to avoid clogging up this page any more than it already is. You can find it here. Fair warning: it's freaking huge. ---- Welcome back! Last time, we picked up some junk from around the city, and ran off to avoid being yelled at. And it's still a faster opening than Xenosaga.  Hmm... let's go exploring before we talk to that person there. There's a few things to see before we proceed.     : Oh, that's right! Her shopping list! Funny place for Mom to put it. Huh. That's pretty nifty.     : Granddad was the adventurer that Dad respected the most. He always said that before bed. Including Puffy!  : When I become a full-fledged adventurer, I'm gonna put my picture next to Dad's. : No, Sue. New Parm is over here.: Oh, right. New Parm is over here, huh? Pretty far away....I am sure this will never be relevant. Nope. Let's look upstairs.   : This one's even cooler than the statue in the museum. But I bet the curator'd say it's a fake. Someday, I'll discover the Angelou Civilization myself! I'll prove that Dad's right! : I kept some money hidden here. I'm glad Mom didn't see this. She's always saying "waste not, want not".And for our efforts we get 100 G. Not too shabby.  : But why does my money always run out so fast? : An adventurer can't be forgetting such an important thing.And we get a first-aid kit, which heals the whole party at once. Helpful!  : Right, got it. : I've got my Poison Antidote. Um, did I forget anything else?Poison Antidotes, fittingly enough, cure poison. Now, why Justin would hide that of all things in his bed...  All right, enough procrastinating. Back downstairs.  Okay, a little more procrastinating.  As we enter the kitchen, the woman walks towards us. Video: Meeting Lilly (Polsy) Skip down to "cutscene ends" to skip the transcription.  : HEY! Justin! I'm just going to pause for a moment and admire the spritework here. : OUCH! Mom! What did I do?! : How many times do I have to tell you? No dirty shoes in the kitchen!Fun fact: Justin can't equip Sue's shoes, and you don't pick any up until later. He can, however, equip Sue's dress. : Even so, you don't have to hit me with your tray! : You know the rules of the Seagull Restaurant... "Always Keep the Kitchen Clean"! Come on, I have work to do. Out you go!Lilly ushers us out of the kitchen.  : Hello, Aunt Lilly. If you keep whacking Justin's head, he's gonna get stupid. : Tee hee hee he! Don't worry, Sue. Justin's brain can't get any worse than it already is! : Mom! I'm hurt. How could you say such things about your only darling son! : Ha ha. Well, why don't you just be good, so I don't have to, hmm, Justin?: Ugh, I've been gettin' in trouble all day today!And with that, the cutscne ends. As does Lilly's voice. Well, we've talked to Lilly. Should be good to leave now, right?  Dammit. : Getting... in trouble? : Listen, Justin. I won't get mad, so tell me the truth!: Yeah you will! Even if I tell the truth, you still get mad. All the time!: Don't give me that! Have you ever really told me the truth?  ... Yeah, that first option seems like the way to go. : Mom. Getting mad gives you wrinkles. : That's none of your business! : I've been busy since morning. All day. I had a lot of things to do. So I didn't have any time to do any of the things you're worried about, Mom!: Hmmm.... If you were so busy, what were you doing?: Well, um, um, well... I forgot, it's been so long.: You forgot? It was just today! : I can smell colors...Of course, the correct choice is the last one. : I wasn't doing anything! Ask Sue! Even I can't get into mischief every day, right?: Is that right, Sue?: That's right, Aunt Lilly! Justin didn't do anything bad today. Y-y-you gotta believe me!: ... Really? : Y-yeah....Jesus, Sue looks freaking terrified here. : Well, he wasn't nearly as bad as the day before yesterday! : I just can't believe this kid. You listening? I don't know what you did, but don't get into mischief that gets other people angry! : But is it OK eating here every day?  : Both of you, come upstairs.Lilly has two different winking portraits, one for each eye. Either that or she smiles during her wink portrait and winks during her smile. Anyway, we now see one of the game's more well-known mechanics:   Dinner scenes. : Today, the curator of the museum came to have lunch here. Funny, he always brings a sack lunch. Oh, yeah, he asked me to tell you something. He wants you to go over to the museum tomorrow. He said he wants to return something that you left with him. So, a brief explanation about how dinner works.  At its most basic, you select a party member to have a conversation with, and select Justin to end the meal.  The conversations change based on where you are in the plot, as well as where you are in other, concurrent conversations. Making it very very easy to accidentally miss entire plot threads.  Thankfully, the game has a tendency to make you unable to quit a meal until you've heard a particular piece of info. For example, if we try to leave this conversation early...  Let's start with Lilly. : You two, don't eat so fast, or you'll choke.... Riveting. Let's hear what Sue has to say.  : That was a real adventure, huh!: But you know, my ancestors all had much greater adventures! Look at their pictures on the wall!: Justin, is that your Dad, the one on the end? : Right next to Dad's picture!That snipped unlocked Lilly's next conversation, but we'll save it for later, as it locks off the rest of Sue's. : But you know, Justin's Dad doesn't look much like an adventurer. Don't you think so? : That may be true, but he had incredible courage! He kept his cool in any situation!: Kept his cool in any situation? The exact opposite of you, Justin. Tee hee....: Ouch! But you know, I'm gonna become a great adventurer just like Dad. I'll show you!And with that, we've wrapped up Sue's conversation. For now.  : Was it the Spirit Stone from your Dad?: Your Dad was not the kind of man to lie. : But you know, when I first met him, he always wore it around his neck. It was really special to him.: Wow! Can you tell me about how you and Justin's Dad first met? Please!And no, we never learn his real name. Right up through the end of the game, he's just "Justin's Dad". And now, if we try to talk to Sue, she yells at us. : Quiet, Justin. I want to hear what Aunt Lilly has to say.: We first met on board a ship on a night with no moon or waves. It was a very quiet night.: Did you hear that, Justin? It was a quiet night on the sea! How romantic!: But suddenly, pirates appeared and took over your Dad's ship in the wink of an eye. : C'mon, what happened then?: The leader of the band of pirates got a look at the Spirit Stone that your Dad wore around his neck. The pirate drew a sword and said:: "Gimme that Stone!": But your Dad obstinately refused. : What happened then?: Struck by the courage of your Dad, the pirate leader decided to give up being a pirate on the spot!"Hey, man, gimme that rock." "Nope." "gently caress this, I quit. Gonna go haul coal for a living." : The pirate that attacked Dad, what was he like? Maybe a strong "Man of the Sea" type? : A beauty named "Lilly the Skull"!: I've heard that name somewhere.C'mon, Justin... : Hmm, Lilly... Lilly...I know you've been hit in the head six times already today, but you can do it... : Lilly, that's you, Mom!"Hey, man, gimme that rock." "Nope." "gently caress this, I quit. I love you, Justin's Dad-san!"  : I was pretty young then. I did a lot of things I regret.: Like that one time I hit a merchant in the head with a serving platter and broke his skull wide open! Ahh, those were the days.: Wow, Aunt Lilly, so you aren't just a beautiful lady who's good at cooking, huh? Dammit, Lilly. You're supposed to set a good example for the kids! : I never knew that you were a pirate, Aunt Lilly.: But, it makes me admire you more!: It's embarrassing, so don't go telling all the neighbors, OK? "Hey, man, wanna go to the Seagull for dinner?" "The one run by the bloodthirsty pirate queen? Yeah, lemme grab my coat." Well, there's not much to talk about after that, so let's hit the hay.  : OK, can I have seconds?: Here you go! Make sure you chew it well!I can't help but wonder if Lilly had a bad experience choking on dinner. This is twice she's brought it up in conversation and, if you look at her eating animation, she chews very thoroughly. Maybe I'm just overthinking things. : That was delicious. I'm full!: Say, Justin. We're going to see the curator tomorrow, right? Don't forget.We fade out, and back in on Justin's room.   So let's head to the museum!  : Today I didn't come to play. I came to get something back that I had left with the curator. : That's right! No one believes it, though. But I'm sure the curator'll prove that it's the real thing! : Thanks, sir! Don't worry, it's gotta be the real thing. I know it!Even the sign has more than the usual to say. : Say, Justin. What's it say there? Can you read it for me?: Hmm... It says it's the "Baal Museum".: Who's that Baal guy? Do you know, Justin?: I don't really know, but maybe he's some big shot?A full half-hour of exploration and chatting later...            Interesting... Icarians and wings? Legend of the Spirit Stone? the intro FMV posted:The curator is standing around the exhibit hall.   : Oh, you came at just the right time. Look, Justin!  : It's a new Icarian Statue! I just finished its restoration!: Wow. Is this a statue of an Icarian? I've never seen this type.: Yes, when I checked with Garlyle, it seems that it was found at the Dom Ruins on the New Continent Elencia. : The biggest ruins on the New Continent of Elencia. I'd like to go!: I bet you would. Bet you would... Yes! It's what you look for that makes you a man, Justin.  : Stories are told of floating cities and ships that travel to the stars.: Steam engines that run forever!: The Spirit Sanctuary frozen in time! : Great immortal priests who never age!: Are you two finished yet?: Sorry, Sue! We'll be through in a minute! : After all, I am a very understanding woman, right? : Yet, if we consider these utopian fantasies apart from myths, these Icarians must have been thought of as kings who possessed great power. Archeologically, that much is certain. Archeologically, these kings must have created the Spirits and the Spirit Stones in order to justify their presence.: Huh?: All dat poo poo be fake, son.: Awwww. That's not very interesting. Archeology has no romance.: Hah hah hah! Sorry about that! I like dreamy stories myself. Justin, I guess you get bored when ancient myths become research.: That's right. I can't quite get in the mood today! It might all have been true, right?: That's right, Justin! I cannot prove that it is not all true!"Well, I can't disprove that dudes with wings used the power of fairies to literally perform magic that has absolutely no scientific backing, so it's probably all true." Of course, this is a JRPG, so make of that what you will. : Oh, no! I almost forgot. It's about the so-called "Spirit Stone" left by your Dad.: So you examined it for me! I bet it was real!: Ha ha ha ha. I can't tell if it is real or fake. To begin with, the Spirit Stones only exist in myths."Well, I can't disprove that this rock is a mystical focus of ancient power that there is absolutely no scientific backing for..." : I tried to do a chemical analysis of the stone, but I couldn't. It is harder than diamond, so I gave up."I mean, it might be orichalcum or mythril or dark matter or something!" : Harder than diamond...: Until I think of another way to analyze it, I'll give it back."Really, all I did was hit it with a hammer until my arms got sore. But I'll let you know when I get some acid to drop it in."  : If you like, why don't you try analyzing it, Justin? I'll give you some hints."For example: No, it will not blend." : When you are finished looking at the statue, come to my office! I have something for you, ha, ha, ha! : Mysteries of the ancient civilization, Justin the Adventurer'll solve 'em!Let's take a look at the statue. : The legendary Icarian Statue discovered at the Dom Ruins....: Justin, I'm amazed you knew that the Dom Ruins are the largest ruins on the New Continent of Elencia.: Of course I know! An adventurer needs to know lots of things! : Elencia is awaiting me with mountains of exciting things. He he he, just look!  : Puff pufft! PUFF PUFF PUFF!! : The only thing to do is fix it. C'mon Sue, help me!: No way! It won't work! We should just be honest and apologize.: I can't do it. You saw how happy the curator looked when he restored this statue. I can't tell him. I remember what it looked like! We get a nifty iris fade to the next scene.  ... Oh dear. : You sure that's right? I think it looked a little different.: Maybe... but it's about 70% right, don't you think?Justin... Justin. No. : On a test, that's a passing grade, right!: That's not the point, Justin.Oh dear. The Curator's office is across the hall.   : I was keeping it in my pocket, so I would always be ready to give it to you and see your smiling face.: Ah hah hah ha. Mr. Curator, are you getting senile in your old age?: Hah hah hah. You're never at a loss for words. Anyway... I just heard a loud crash. Did something happen?  : Y-You figure it out. I don't know what to do! : No. Nothing at all.: Oh REALLY? Are you sure nothing happened?Saying that causesthe top option to change to "Really, really, nothing happened!" Still has the same result, though. : Actually... I broke the statue.: Hah hah hah! Justin, you ARE a joker. If you broke the statue I just finished repairing, my poor heart couldn't take it. : COOL! What is it!?: Hah hah hah! My present to you... is THIS! : The Garlyle Forces are searching the Sult Ruins again. I arranged for two people to visit. : Thank you, Mr. Curator!: Isn't this great, Justin?♥ You kept saying that you wanted to go to the Sult Ruins!: Puff puff: I'm just happy to see your faces. Show this Letter of Introduction and the army will let you visit. Whew. Now let's get out of there before he finds out about the statue.     : Maybe the curator will forgive... : Nope. No way! If we go back now, he'll take back the Letter of Introduction for sure.: You're right... I feel bad about the curator, but let's come back and apologize later.Finally, we can leave Parm and head towards our first dungeon.   ... That being a small road between Parm and the Ruins. Marna Road is a good intro to how dungeons tend to be set up in this game: Typically, if you head straight for the exit, you'll hit a few obstacles and monsters, but it'll be over before it gets interesting. If you take your time to explore, though, you'll find plenty of treasure scattered about. And that glowy rainbow thing is a save point. In addition to saving your game, they also fully heal the party and can offer certain hints. This one, in particular, mentions how running into enemies from behind will let you act first.  By heading east, instead of following the road north, we find a bag of 30 gold.  Continuing on eastward, we find another 10 gold, as well as an item on the other side of the river.  A brief treck north, then west past the road brings us to another 10 gold.  And south, then east back to where we started gets us this Herb, a single-target healing item.  With all the treasures in the southern area picked up, we cross the bridge to the northern section, and the level design throws its first curveball. The path veers off to the east to circle around a giant rock.  However, if you head straight north, then bear west around the rock, you'll skip a large detour, rewarding exploration with a shortcut. And, uh... if you haven't caught on yet, "adventure" and "exploration" are the game's central themes.  Anyway, instead of heading straight to the exit, we head north, then veer east along the north bank of the river to get this.  And a good thing we did. Instead of more gold or a weak healing item, this is actually a mace upgrade. Both Justin and Sue can make use of them, so we'll hold on to it for later.  Had we gone east immediately after crossing the river, we'd've wound up at this herb instead. Still, treasure is treasure.  And with that, we've managed to get everything here in one swoop, dodging all the enemies for now. We follow the road north...  ... Back onto the world map. Now that we have more than two destinations, it's a little more exciting, as you can freely travel to any location that you've discovered that isn't greyed out.     We get a nice swooping shot around.   Gaah!   : Hee hee! Say that after you look at this. : We are so passionate about studying, the Curator gave it to us.  And with that, he opens the gate, allowing us to explore.  At least until we hit another cutscene. (polsy) As before, skip down to "cutscene ends" to skip the transcription.   The camera slowly pans down to where these three are addressing the troops.  : Meet at the stage on level one. Call roll by regiment as soon as you arrive and stand by for orders. : 'TenSHUN! Fall in! Right face! March!    : Don't give me that, Nana! The last time they were late, I made 'em all give me 3000 squats!Saki here is apparently hoping one of her troops is secretly Zack.  : Oooh, Saki... You're such a muscle freak. I'd make 'em go without rations for 100 days. : Oh, Mio! You're too kind! If it were me, I'd give 'em 5000 lashes!  : Oooh, ho, ho, ho!So we've got a muscle freak, an anorexic, and a loving sadist. Great showing here, Garlyle.  : That would kill 'em!; If Herr Mullen were to get wind of that, he'd have your head. : No problem! I'd just swear 'em to secrecy, and Herr Mullen'd never be the wiser! Correction: Muscle freak, anorexic, and the motherfucking Joker.  Mio sighs while Nana finishes laughing. : Come on, we need to get going too, or we'll be late for the rendezvous.: Right, Mio. If we were to be late, it'd be harder to discipline the troops.And with that, the cutscene ends. Hope you like those three, because we'll be seeing a lot more of them. A whole lot more.  Starting now, even! : How could children be here!? How'd you get into the Sult Ruins? : Can I see them? Take us there.Dammit, Justin. You were told to stay out of the army's way.  : Now ANSWER! And another of the game's patented "the last option is the only way to progress" choices. If we choose to run away... : Just a second, Justin! We didn't do anything wrong. Why run? They'll suspect us.All right, Sue seems to know what's going on. Let's ask her what to do. : Um... I hate those three. They've got bad attitudes!... Dammit, Sue. Fine, let's show them the letter.   They all step forward. : Hmm?: I guess... it does look real.: See? We're not suspicious at all! So take us underground with you.: Underground... huh. All right. But first just show me that Letter of Introduction.  : Yikes! : Oh no!     : execute them!: But since you are children, we'll overlook this just once. Leave the Sult Ruins at once.: Come, let's go. Saki! Mio! There's no time to be bothering with these kids. : Anyway, Justin.... Oh well, let's go home.: No way, Sue! An adventurer can't back down now!So let's go enter the ruins! What horrors could await us inside? More NPC chatter and cutscenes  : I did.... But they are so secretive, there's got to be something there. : Oh, Justin,  Next time: Finally, a proper dungeon! Edward_Tohr fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Aug 6, 2015 |
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Apr 27, 2014 05:06
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That is a lot of NPC chatter. It's entertaining, but the sheer volume is a bit much. I think it would work better broken into two or more posts.
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Apr 27, 2014 21:43
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Are you going to show off the undocumented camera-taking-control spots?
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Apr 27, 2014 22:16
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With all the NPC dialogue in this game, I'm worried you're gonna get mad burn-out really fast.
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Apr 28, 2014 00:51
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ultrafilter posted:That is a lot of NPC chatter. It's entertaining, but the sheer volume is a bit much. I think it would work better broken into two or more posts. Yeah... Had I thought ahead, I'd've realized that next update is going to be light on it, so splitting it up would have worked out very well. Scalding Coffee posted:Are you going to show off the undocumented camera-taking-control spots? I'll definitely try. I know there's at least one that I haven't shown, but I have the video recorded so it shouldn't be hard to splice it into an update. Black Balloon posted:With all the NPC dialogue in this game, I'm worried you're gonna get mad burn-out really fast. Honestly, if I can keep the LP curse from blowing my computer long enough to get burn-out on the LP itself, it's almost a victory.
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Apr 28, 2014 04:20
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The main reason there's so much NPC chatter, besides the fact that the game updates what the NPCs say after a lot of event flags, is because there's just so many NPCs. I want to say there's twenty just chilling out up top at the Sult Ruins, and as Edward_Tohr showed off in the tester-post with all the NPC chatter the game has no problems updating them after every minor plot flag. Even skipping through the game only getting the "essential" chats done still makes the game more wordy than most of the era and even some now. Hell, the usual trick of just looking for the NPCs with portraits or voice acting doesn't work here, because pretty much everyone with a name has a portrait. Gontz has a portrait and unless I missed it I believe he only appears in the Sult Ruins and only has like ten lines, none of which are important. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. All the dialogue so far has been interesting on some level, if only as some character building or set-dressing stuff. As mentioned it gets tiresome after a while, and that's just reading it. Transcribing it down is a completely different animal and I wouldn't be opposed to the idea if Edward_Tohr cut out of it, or gave an executive summary that cliff-notes the incidental stuff or just showed the especially funny/interesting/relevant stuff.
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Apr 28, 2014 04:56
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ultrafilter posted:That is a lot of NPC chatter. It's entertaining, but the sheer volume is a bit much. I think it would work better broken into two or more posts.
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Apr 28, 2014 14:52
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Well, the good news is that the next update won't have nearly as much text, and a lot more action. Should probably officially close the poll now, too. Swords and bows it is, for the time being!
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Apr 30, 2014 18:28
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Welcome back! Today, we will be exploring the Sult Ruins.  (Polsy link) ... And immediately run into a cutscene. As usual, skip down to "cutscene ends" to skip the transcription.  : Face... forward!  : Sergeant Nana, leader of the Bloody Rose Squad reporting!: Sergeant Saki, leader of the Lightning Star Squad all men accounted for!: Sergeant Mio, leader of the Desert Moon Squad all men present! : Colonel Mullen will now address the troops before deployment. All soldiers, listen carefully! Yyyep, we can fit three portraits on-screen.   : Operation Yggdrassil is entering the final stage! Now we only have to find the last remaining piece! : However! This is our time! You, the honorable Garlyle Forces, will bring a great boon to humanity! Go! You, the elite of Garlyle, will open the door to the wisdom of the ancient Angelou Civilization!: I am counting on every one of you!  : Yes Sir!: Bloody Rose Squad, you take the east. Lightning Star Squad has the west. Desert Moon Squad, take the south. You have your assignments. We're counting on you. Good luck.  : Yes, Lieutenant. And the troops depart, leaving us with Mullen and Leen. : The time is 15:06 hours. All squads have begun operations.: Mmm... : Leen, you've also become quite an able aide-de-camp.: Huh...? : Oh... thank you, Herr Mullen.: Ha, ha...: Well... let's get to work ourselves. Let's go, Leen!: Yes, sir! And the cutscene ends with Mullen and Leen walking off. : Justin, you hear that?: Sure. Sounds like something's here. Let's go, Sue! Hey, look! A thing!     And a quick shot of our current weapon XP and stats.  Some interesting scenery in here.  And soldiers excavating.   Some of those stones will fall when you approach them.  Bats!  Nearby, we find 10 gold.  Scattered throughout the dungeons are these blue "DungeonScope Icons". When you examine one...  ... You get an overhead view of the area, helpful for navigating. If you look carefully, you can see the red bag of coins in the lower right, and another treasure in the lower left. The red square marks our current position.  So let's climb these stairs, after grabbing the 30 gold in the alcove, to get at that shiny!   An accessory! +1 defense and it reduces the power of delay effects.  Let's give it to Sue. She loses a point of defense, but she gets stunned whenever she gets hit and needs all the help she can get to avoid losing turns.  And showing here that you can fall off ledges, as long as there's no impassible terrain in the way.  And near the staircase, we find another 10 gold.  South of the stairs, we find another DungeonScope.   And just to the east, there's a small passage that gets blocked off by a boulder.  On the other side of which, we find a shiny pair of shoes.  And off to the south, we find another 30 gold.  And just to the east, we find a gap through the rubble and head north.  And we circle around to the shoes!  Shiny shoes! These also go on Sue, boosting her move by 5. Justin's shoes already give +35 move.  And across from them, there's 30 gold guarded by bats.  And Justin gains a sword level. Also, my HP is looking a bit low.  Which I am not fixing at the save point, in an attempt to make things a little more interesting.  The hint here is basically "Yo, different attacks take different amounts of time to execute and stun enemies for different amounts of time. Pick what's gonna work best for the current situation."  I've heard it's possible for these stones to fall on you, dealing damage. I wasn't able to make it happen this time.   And we enter the second part of the ruins.   To the east of the pathway, we find 10 gold.     Using those pads, we jump across a gap to grab this treasure chest.  It contains an old suit of armor, which immediately goes on Sue.  I briefly considered putting Sue's dress on Justin.  Off the path to the east, we find another item.  TNT! It's dynamite! We'll be saving this one for later.  And, in regards to the HP issue, Sue's got a solution.   Rah-Rah Cheer restores 25 HP to the whole party for 18 SP. Handy in a pinch.  And while mopping up the enemies, Sue gains a bow level.  As well as an experience level!  Justin hits level 3 in the next fight.  Hey, an axe!  Unfortunately, the path collapses on the way to it.  Dammit!  Victory!  Had you guys voted axes for Justin, I'd have to wait until now for him to actually do anything in combat. Its attack is one higher than the Wooden Sword's... and four less than the ceramic sword for sale back in town. We keep it for now.   Next fight, Sue and Justin both hit level 3 with their weapons.  The nearby DungeonScope is... less useful. The dark triangles up in the upper-right are the eventual destination, though.  And another blocked passageway.  And we find a potion!  Oh, just a phoenix down.  Oh god, so many of them!  Oh.  Down the path, we find this weird head.  Which rises to meet us.  Anyway, we grab the 30 gold from up here.  This icon here is an Action Icon. Think of it as a context-sensitive button.  In this case, it knocks the pillar over.  And the final item of the dungeon, 30 more gold.  When we reach the end, though, some text appears.  Some Garlyle soldiers checking out a statue.    The hint at that Save Point, by the way, is that you get weapon XP for using weapons and skills. Approaching the statue leads to another discussion.   : Justin! What was that? Justin, your bottom is shining!"Your bottom is shining!" was briefly considered as a thread title.   : The Spirit Stone is...!? I've never seen this before!: Wow! Is it hot!? Justin! After this, things start shaking.     : So this statue was a door. It seems like we can go further down here. : But... why did it open? Was it the light of the Spirit Stone?: That's got to be it, Sue! This Spirit Stone is related to the ancient civilization! : Hee hee, hee hee hee!  Interesting that the inside of the statue is (within artistic license) anatomically correct. And that the brain is a logarithmic spiral.    Hmm... green path or blue path?  Either way, they both lead to a button and a sealed doorway.  A doorway which leads to... this room.  Pressing the button in the middle causes the room to rotate.   These heads tilt upright as we enter.  : I'm sure great discoveries of the Angelou Civilization lie ahead! Right, Sue?!: Justin! The Spirit Stone is shining again!  Lasers!     : Welcome, he who holds the Spirit Stone. : Did you say something, Sue?: Uh-uh! I didn't say anything. After a bright flash, an orb appears. When we investigate...  (Polsy link) ... We get another voiced cutscene. As usual, skip down to "cutscene ends" to skip the transcription.  : Who... who are you!?: I am Liete of Alent. I have lived through and inherited the history of Angelou. : Aaaaah! We're gonna faaall!: Don't be scared. This is the land you live in when seen from the height of the stars.  : Gee... you're sorta putting me on the spot.: Hey! How did you know that I have a Spirit Stone!?: All power is born from the light of the Spirit Stone. Without it, the Door of Angelou does not open.Well, that saves a few steps from needing the Spirit Stone, the Garlyle Ruby, and Lilly's Sapphire, then picking up the Flute of Angelou and playing the Song of Angelou before the door will open. : But Angelou is just a mythical world.: It is no myth. The Stone that you hold is the ancient symbol of the promise between the Humans and Spirits. Look. And we cut to an FMV. A rather familiar-looking one. : A world created by an eternal promise : Between the light of the Spirits and the wings of the Icarians. : This is the world of Angelou. : The light of the Icarians and the grace of the Spirits will not wane, lest all of the stars sparkling in the sky turn to embers.  : Ever since receiving the blessing of the Spirits, the people unyoked themselves of the original restrictions, and began to walk along the path of evolution. : The light of the Icarians, and that of the Spirit Stones, are the symbols of peace in this world.  And, with a fade to black, the cutscene ends.   : Say, Justin. Doesn't that sound a lot like what's written in the myths of Angelou?: I thought so too! If so, then how are the myths related to the Angelou Civilization?!  : Please tell me! Are those myths true?! : ...: Please tell me, Liete! Are the myths of Angelou true?: ... One who desires one answer to one question... or many answers... must head for Alent. Do you desire : Umm... what should I do?: Well, then I have no more to say. The door to Alent opens only for one who desires many answers. The second option just brings us back around to this text box again. : That's right! So please tell me! or I've got LOTS of questions!: If you desire many answers, then you must leave on a long, long journey toward Alent, ever toward the east. In your long journey, you may lose your way. However, the light of the Spirit Stone is sure to lead you to the right way. As long as you have the Spirit Stone. He who has the Spirit Stone... if you desire many answers, head for Alent.: Toward the east? Alent...? Could that mean...? : Liete! Is Alent...!? Will I be able to meet you in the New World, Liete!? If I go to the New World, can I meet the real Liete and real Icarians? WAIT, Liete!: Don't forget... the light of the Spirit Stone will lead you to Alent.   : Ah... : We saw lots of things, but... it almost feels like it was all a dream.: Uh, huh... that WAS really like a dream.: Justin! That light! Did you just see a light!?: Wha-what's that!?: The Spirit Stone... it's shining!: Incredible! That's incredible, Justin! : That's right! This IS a real Spirit Stone! Liete and everything we've seen is no fairy tale! It's all REAL!: You're right, Justin! :: I'm going to discover the Angelou Civilization and surprise everyone! And then... and then... : The only one who can do it is me... the adventurer Justin!  Justin, having skipped lunch, has to chew the scenery to keep his stomach satisfied.  Anyway, time to head out. Gotta head east, after all.  Uh-oh.  : Who goes there!?: Yikes! We're busted! : Yes sir, Colonel Mullen.  : Wha-wha-what do we do!? Justiiiin!: I'll figure out something! I mean, he's a single target in a Grandia battle, so really we should have no problems...  : Know that your life is in jeopardy.: Col... Colonel Mullen, they're just children -- please nothing rash.So... drawing his sword and threatening to kill them doesn't count as rash?  : But one who makes a fool of me, even a child...: Thi-this man... He's serious, Justin. His eyes are not smiling. "Ahh, so your name is DONGS. Now, are you a boy or a girl?" We'll go over the wrong answers in the NPC chatter update. : My name is... Justin.: So you decided to answer truthfully.: That girl there has been calling out your name. NOW, be prepared before you answer. Continue your foolish obstinacy...: and that girl will die, too.: Colonel Mullen!: It's unavoidable, in the line of duty. My boy, remember that this girl's life is in your hands. : I guess I did open it, huh? : But neither the adventurers nor our men could open it until now. Now I shall ask you another question. Hmm. Two of these are correct, but Justin seemed to care more about Liete than the FMV, so... : I saw a mysterious, pretty girl! : Liete of Alent! : Liete... really exists....: Colonel Mullen, what will you do with these two? You can't be thinking of.... : Whaaaaat! Are you going to take us away?: I thought I could go home already.: My dear... sorry, but you will never see your family again.: Huh? NOOO! You mean we're trapped for life!? : NOOO! NO, NO, NO! : My, my... but even if you escape here, there is still one trap ahead. You'll never escape Sult Ruins! He, he, he. So how do you plan to escape from me? : Ooooooooh! Justin... um... (whisper, whisper)... : Here goes! It's sink or swim! Sue, let's go!    : Come back here! See you later, nerds!     (Polsy Link) The Rock Bird attacks us! Skip to "fight ends" to skip the transcription.  We start off with Sue getting the initiative. She queues up a combo...  ... while Justin starts up a critical, hoping to delay the boss's turn enough to keep it stunlocked.    Things... don't exactly go as planned.    Just a frame shy. Justin eats the boss's tech attack.   Yes, Sue's normal attack is dealing twice as much damage as the boss's special tech does on a counter. Rock bird is extremely forgiving. Also, Sue is a shitwrecker when she focuses on bows.    Justin goes in for another cancel...  ... and pays the price for his hubris.  Two combos of 30 damage each from Justin and Sue bring the Rock Bird's HP down.  Down to where he could be finished off right here. Can Sue do it?  A good start...  And she does it!  When the battle ends, the boss has a fancy explosion effect...  And drops a big bag of gold.  A big bag.   And both of them gain an XP level. Sue in particular appreciates that +3 Wit, as she can't boost it through weapons.  : Yeah... that guy named Mullen said there was a trap. Think that was it?: It doesn't matter. Anyway, let's get out of here!   : Haaaah hah hah!: Col.... Colonel Mullen!?: Those guys are amazing! They managed to even escape me!: Colonel Mullen...? Um... Shouldn't we chase them?Clearly the stress of his job has gotten to him. : Having a little information about the Angelou Civilization get out will not undermine our plans. Let him go. I respect his recklessness. What was the name of that boy?: He said it was Justin.: Justin... Quite a character he is. I had fun, for the first time in a while!: Haah, hahaha! : Hee hee. It wasn't a dream!: I did have a great adventure.: Just wait a second! Isn't it too soon to run away? Good idea.    Next time: Dinner again! Talking to more citizens of Parm! Maybe even... coffee!? Oh, yes, and voting again. Same choices as last time, those being Swords, Maces, or Axes for Justin and Swords or Bows for Sue. Edward_Tohr fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Aug 6, 2015 |
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May 3, 2014 22:58
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Once again, we'll be opening this update with something we missed from the previous. Hidden away off to the side of the entrance is this soldier and a save point.  : Hey! I read that book, too! "Eloise the Silver-Haired Adventurer" traveled to ruins around the world.: And at the end of her great adventures she found ancient treasures. So cool! : Wow, you know all about it. I love that book, too. Read it over and over. It may not be quite the treasuer of Eloise, but some great treasure must be hidden here. The army is doing such a large-scale excavation, so it's gotta be worth it!: So you think so, too! Maybe there's treasures of Angelou! I'll be the first to find it!: We still don't know if there's any treasure. Right, Puffy?: Puff Puff!The save point's hint is about checking monsters actions using the look command. Pretty straightforward. Now we get to the soldiers inside the ruins.   : Wow, I finally saw him in person.... : What could there be in such out-of-the-way ruins?: Hey! You hear, Sue? Sounds like something incredible's happening! Over by the accessory we picked up, we find another pair of soldiers. : I shouldn't have teased those cute girls when they entered the academy.: Did something happen?: I started at the same time as those sergeants, but all of the got into advanced courses. Now they outrank me.: Hmm, those three, huh?Speaking of those three...  : Just when we got duty that gets us close to Herr Mullen, she has to come spoil the mood!: Yeah, she just always next to Herr Mullen! She just GALLS me!: According to my calculations, Leen's career as an aide-de-camp is almost over.: Mio, are you plotting something? Maybe thumbtacks in Leen's boots?: Oh no, a much more cunning plan. I put something in her food that will make her hiccup incessantly.: I LOVE it! Herr Mullen is sure to look at Leen differently when he sees her squaking like a goose.: But we don't want any more failures like last time when you tried to make her sneeze incessantly.: That was YOUR fault, Nana and Saki, when you put it in Herr Mullen's food by mistake, right!? : Anyway! This is the demise of that woman, right!? Oh hohoho!The next group of soldiers is near the pair of boots.  : I just don't get it. Everything we find is just JUNK! Can this stuff be worth anything?: Just cut that out. You want to get demoted and stuck on guard duty like the guys up top? You heard the Colonel. Save everything we find. No one wants your opinion.: Uh, uh, I-I'm sorry! I went too far. The next soldiers are tucked away in a corner. : Why do elite troops like us have to be excavating in a place like this!?: Yeah, I know what you mean, but we can't be careless. After all, even Colonel Mullen said it was dangerous duty. Immediately behind those two, we find the next group. : Hey, did you hear? They say there's some strange statue in the deepest depths of the ruins.: Yeah, but I have no clue what there might be beyond that. I've heard stories of ghosts....: Ah. Perhaps... perhaps. I was wondering why the Colonel would come out here himself.: Hear that, Sue!? Mysterious GHOSTS deep in the ruins! YES, this is just so exciting!Our next pair o' troopers is on the other side of the wall from the previous ones.  : Think that newbie back there is OK? He beaned himself pretty bad.: I'm worried, but it was clearly his own fault, going alone into the depths of the ruins. Colonel Mullen told him so many times that you never know what is going to happen in the ruins. : Hee. But I'm OK with that.And now we skip way ahead to the confrontation with Mullen.  : Listen carefully! I am Alexander.: Alexander, you say... a valiant name.: But that girl called you by a different name, right, Justin?: I have no name for you to call me!: If you want to be coy, you need to think a little more.: That girl there has been calling out your name, Justin. For the second set of answers, the wrong ones all open the same way.  : Yikes!: I said to be prepared! Boy, I will give you only one chance. You get no second chance!: Justin!! You're bleeding!!: It was already open!: The door was certainly closed. That is what my soldiers reported!: I'd be honored to be the last person you ever meet, but if you don't want that, answer seriously.: I dunno anything about a door.: There is no other way in here except through that door! If you don't want to die here answer the next question seriously. : Strange lights and ancient images.: Strange lights...? Spirits...? Could be images from the early ages of the Angelou Civilization.: Hmm... I see. There still ARE people like you who have the spirit of adventure.: A strange room, but nothing else.: Nothing? I see the lie in your face.: Looks like you won't cooperate. I have no time to waste.: I will kill you and ask the girl. Sue runs up to Mullen. : He, he. The girl is smarter than you. Be thankful to that girl. If she were not here, you would be dead.: A woman and light... a woman...: Liete of Alent! The lights were Spirits!Next up... well, that Rock Bird fight could've gone a little better, don't you think?  (Polsy link)                Yeah, much better. And finally... we get to talk to more soldiers around the ruins.   : Then, get going! You ought to check into it with your own two eyes! : Yes, certainly! But no, I can't. I was told to stay here. Being here is my job. Colonel Mullen can't make a mistake. At least, I don't think so. Oh, my. I should have asked Colonel Mullen in more detail about what to do if this happens. : Well, sort of....: I understand. I didn't see anything. I didn't even see any children. Of course, I didn't hear anything. : But an understanding adult IS appealing.: Hahahah, young miss, you got me. Now, go quickly. : Seems like I'm more like a handyman than a soldier. I even see hallucinations. Now I've got to go with Gontz to go shopping for the Sergeants. Gontz can't carry it all so this time I have to go, too. Boy, they really are slave drivers.... : I just hope it's nothing that will tick off the Sergeants. Ohh... knock on wood.: You must really be scared of those three to be quacking like that.: The Sergeants' temper always lands on us subordinates. Makes every day thrilling. : No, I don't think so.... Well, forget it! Ah haha. : Not just Treasure! It's much greater!: OUCH! What was that for?! Sue!: Justin, don't say anything! If I weren't around, you'd really be hopeless!: Oh, that's right!: Tee hee hee. Nothing at all, Sir!: Huh, what? They found something greater than treasure? That can't be. Hahaha.: Of course not, right?! Hee hee hee.  : I don't have time for this. Clean, shop, take out trash, get coffee.... My schedule's just full.: So Gontz, are those women who ripped up the letter making you go on errands?: But Sue, you gotta understand. My creed is to do my utmost in any job I'm given. Deliver a dress to Sergeant Nana... go shopping for Sergeant Saki... and then for Sergeant Mio.... Hey, that commotion in the ruins, did something happen? : Of-of course not, right, Sue?: Of course not. We were just looking around. ♥: As long as it wasn't you two. But just what do you think it was?: Maybe they made a great discovery?Finally, an interesting note.  The "sundown" filter shows up on Marna Road, too.  But not in battle. See you next time! Edward_Tohr fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Aug 6, 2015 |
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May 3, 2014 22:58
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Mountain Lightning posted:The main reason there's so much NPC chatter, besides the fact that the game updates what the NPCs say after a lot of event flags, is because there's just so many NPCs. I want to say there's twenty just chilling out up top at the Sult Ruins, and as Edward_Tohr showed off in the tester-post with all the NPC chatter the game has no problems updating them after every minor plot flag. Even skipping through the game only getting the "essential" chats done still makes the game more wordy than most of the era and even some now. Hell, the usual trick of just looking for the NPCs with portraits or voice acting doesn't work here, because pretty much everyone with a name has a portrait. Gontz has a portrait and unless I missed it I believe he only appears in the Sult Ruins and only has like ten lines, none of which are important. At least it's not Golden Sun. To give an idea of how fast all of this goes by, even with chatting to the NPCs several times and getting lost like an idiot, I was able to get from the start all the way to the end of the next dungeon in about three hours. Sure, I had Edward sitting next to me guiding me, but it still doesn't take that long. Then I wiped on the next boss, proving you shouldn't play RPGs when sleep-deprived and a bit drunk.
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May 4, 2014 17:38
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Hmm. Guess burying polls between two different walls of text isn't a good way to get them noticed. Anyway, Weapon Choice Poll again. Same choices, Swords, Maces or Axes for Justin and Bows or Maces for Sue. Hopefully we can get onto page 2 before the next update... EDIT: Oh yeah, their current stats.    
Edward_Tohr fucked around with this message at 19:28 on May 8, 2014 |
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May 8, 2014 19:14
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Swords for Justin and bows for Sue.
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May 8, 2014 23:22
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Spears for Justin and Bows for Sue. I've never played this game before but I have a number of friends who talk highly about it. Even from this opening bit, it's obvious that a lot of effort and care was put into this, especially with how expressive the portraits are. The combat seems really neat too. I'm excited to see how the game opens up as we continue.
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May 9, 2014 07:32
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Maces / Bows.
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May 9, 2014 13:42
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ChorpSaway posted:Spears for Justin and Bows for Sue. Glad to hear it! ... Though, unfortunately, spears aren't a weapon type in this game. Normally I'd let it slide with a pithy joke about how they go well with swords, axes and bows, but Justin's sitting at a three-way tie for weapons right now, with "spear" being one of the contenders.
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May 10, 2014 16:47
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