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Sindai posted:Even on broadband this thread is painful to load, so I'm helping. This is why my SS LPs are much more readable in the Archive. Oh, hey, that'll do it. Nice.
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Aug 29, 2016 06:53
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If there's one mechanical thread that I've noticed in the Tales games, aside from the active battle system, it's that occasionally you'll get a specific protagonist super mode that mostly exists to cancel out the villain's super.
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Aug 30, 2016 05:21
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 Didn't see that coming.So, uh, I think I know a good new business Alvin could start up which is sure to make him a buttload of money:  a laundry service.
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Aug 30, 2016 13:57
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Glazius posted:If there's one mechanical thread that I've noticed in the Tales games, aside from the active battle system, it's that occasionally you'll get a specific protagonist super mode that mostly exists to cancel out the villain's super. A tradition that started with Eternia, if I'm not mistaken. It was awesome when Nereid in the final battle tried to nuke you with its ultimate attack, and you can snap right back to cancel it out. So great.
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Aug 30, 2016 19:05
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So while I work on finishing up 27, why don't we get a new round of costumes in for when I record next? Should be within the next couple days. Junpei: Alvin, Elize, and Leia wdarkk: Ludger, Rowen, Jude McTimmy: Gaius, Muzet, and Milla Having 9 playable characters really makes it so easy to divide responsibility.
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Aug 31, 2016 04:46
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Sylphid posted:So while I work on finishing up 27, why don't we get a new round of costumes in for when I record next? Should be within the next couple days. Alrighty then. Transformation: Agria everyone with no distinction to be as confusing as possible. Otherwise, in a sensible arrangement: Gaius: Swords on his feet and left hand. He'll be the new blademaster. I think there's enough to fill every slot? Muzet: Devil wings on back as large as they can be made. Angel wings on forehead, tiny but noticeable. Schoolgirl costume and hair. Milla: Final boss Milla mode. Dhaos costume and hair. Gaius's crest and crown piece + rage glasses.
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Aug 31, 2016 21:33
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McTimmy posted:Alrighty then. Don't have Muzet's schoolgirl outfit. Have Sheena, though!
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Aug 31, 2016 23:45
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Alvin: Alvin thinks he's Gaius. Dress him as close as you can without using a model switching accessory. Elize: Elise just wants to be normal. Leia: Leia-chan wants Jude-Senpai to notice her! NOTICE ME, SENPAI!
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Sep 1, 2016 00:16
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Sylphid posted:Don't have Muzet's schoolgirl outfit. Have Sheena, though! That works.
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Sep 1, 2016 00:40
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I'm away from my console, so I may not get anything together in time.
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Sep 5, 2016 02:17
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wdarkk posted:I'm away from my console, so I may not get anything together in time. I shall keep that in mind, but I went ahead and recorded the material for Update 28 with my own costumes. You have a costume rain check.
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Sep 6, 2016 03:32
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Part XXVII: The Girl Who Decides The Final Piece  You are resolute. But I suppose you wouldn't have summoned Canaan were you weaker of will.  He's reversing time again! This is getting old fast! Time is infinite, but yours is at an end. You leave him alone! What's this? Why did the arte fade? No! So be it. I'm staying where I am! 'Cause Ludger is my-- ... Kind of a bad time, boss man.  You only get one life. Don't waste it. Ah... Bisley Bakur. There's a secret to entering Canaan and I possess it! ...correct? You presume much.But Chronos' face... Clearly he knows Bisley has figured things out. I should tell you, we acquired the final Waymarker of Canaan, the ultimate chromatus bearer, in a fractured dimension. So in this world, it still very much exists.  Bisley has a chromatus, too?!Uhhhh... Boy, this just keeps getting better. Maybe you can beat the Key of Kresnik alone, but can you handle the both of us? Bisley! What's your game? I confess, a duel such as that would be challenging.  I agree!   They teleported! So little power left, and he risks it all Bisley, when you said you knew the way into Canaan, did you mean it? Yes. I don't wanna go! Who needs the Land of Canaan?! I betcha it's dumb anyway! But you wanted to go there. You know we need to. How else are we going to eliminate the fractured dimensions if we don't? Do what you want! Go to Canaan, for all I care! Just leave Ludger and met out of it. No need to get worked up. We made a promise to go to Canaan together. But, that promise was dumb! It doesn't matter! Man... Elle's just losing it, but we have to keep her focused on what's important. Does not! It doesn't matter at all! Why won't you listen to me?!The watch falls to the ground... I... I don't need it anymore! Well... She's right about one thing, Ludger, you don't require the chromatus anymore. Outlived his usefulness? No. He has simply fulfilled his duty to my full satisfaction. Our family spent eons dreaming of this day. And now, thanks to him, it's arrived. Ludger... I want you to know that I'm proud of you.Alright, so... I was going to talk about this later, but since he feels the need to bring up "Our family", I might as well put it here. Highlight the following spoiler as you see fit. It doesn't particularly affect anything else that happens in the plot, but you may want to put the pieces together yourself. Bisley is Ludger and Julius' father. The game never comes outright and says this, but there are a number of hints in that direction, that you should have picked up on. First of all, recall Victor. Obviously, as is confirmed time and again, Victor is an alternate Ludger. Just before the fight, he yelled "I killed my father and brother for this power!". Obviously, Victor's brother was that dimension's Julius, so that leaves the identity of his father. Bisley just *very* briefly showed off his Chromatus, and mentioned the Ultimate Chromatus Bearer still existing in the Prime Dimension. Victor acquired that Waymarker by killing his father, aka that dimension's Bisley. Second, the "our family" remark just now. Now, we've seen a number of characters using one: Julius, Rideaux, Victor, Bisley (very briefly, but still), and, of course, Ludger. The power of the Chromatus runs within the Kresnik family, so Bisley must obviously be related to Ludger in some way. Now, there are no more Chromatus bearers we'll be meeting. Also, circumstantially, Bisley tends to be a particular sore spot for Julius. Since the history of the Kresnik family has been one of everyone in the family attempting to be the one to finally reach Canaan, they're constantly fighting with each other. Bisley and Julius being enemies would fit perfectly within this history. None other than Julius himself laments that things have to be this way, but he's not one to break the family tradition. This is also related to the point that Ludger and Julius are half-brothers. Neither of their mothers are alive, and this is one thing Julius has never forgiven Bisley over. We'll be hearing more about that little sub-plot next update.  But, forget all that for now. We have a choice! Playing nice with the boss will raise his affection, while wanting to go after Elle will raise her's. Still...I don't think she'll be very receptive to us. Surely Elle is important in some way to Bisley's plans, so we can probably leave her to him. L1 it is, to raise his affection. R1 will do the same, but for the shrimpy girl. Thanks to your deeds, the spirits' machinations will fail. I've readied your reward. Go to HQ to claim it. You need not worry about the girl. One of my staff will keep an eye on her. You know, she probably just needs some time alone, Ludger. *nod* Now then, how exactly do we enter Canaan? I'll explain back at HQ. No need to feel anxious. Canaan's not going anywhere. I would never let it. Well, Gaius has his priorities in order. In any case, best check out what Bisley's wonderful present is. For some unknown reason, you cannot use Fast Travel to get back to Trigleph. I tried using a ship, but apparently it's all full right now. Just as well, though, because those ships only travel to Rieze Maxia destinations. I...may have forgotten that fact. Anyway, just take the train. As soon as you do so...  The most fateful choice Go ahead. Tell me what it is you want. Don't make Ludger disappear. Please. That's one wish I cannot grant. Not without your help. You'll need to obey my orders, right down to the letter. What say you? Yes. Then we have a deal. Uh-oh...well, if Bisley's got a plan, then maybe things will turn out for the best. Moving on, you get a skit shortly after going to Trigleph, where you can increase Milla's affection with R1. However, our destination is the front of the Spirius Building.  Financial albatross  What kind of sob story did he feed you, anyway? Mr. President! Something really is wrong with Ludger! Of course. Something is always wrong with people who need that kind of money. This guy even has a terrorist in his family. That's not true! Ludger and Julius are-- If you can't do your job, then I'd be happy to accept your resignation. There's no room for bleeding hearts in the banking business, my dear. .... Nova, and the rest of us, have plenty of problems to go around. Some bigger than others. But hell, it ain't Nova's fault. It's okay. It just burns me up to hear him talk about you and Julius that way. *shakes head* .... It would seem this money is a source of unhappiness for her. Why not just pay her back? We have to wait until Elle returns, anyway. *nods* I'm so sorry.Yikes. Well, can't wait until the next chapter starts to see where this whole Elle--  Man, team's having trouble keeping their eyes on the ball these days, eh? Since we're in Trigleph anyway, why don't we head on over to the inn and start the first Character Chapter of this post-chapter business?  Rieze Maxia getaway I'm glad you dropped by. Can I play too? I saw you come in here, and I just hate being left out! You made it! Perfect timing. What're you all doing here? Are you saying we're not welcome? Only Erston is good enough to join your little club? Whatever. Okay then, everyone ready? I got a big announcement! We're all going on a trip to Rieze Maxia! What? I've always wanted to see Fennmont! Count me out. What?! Come now... Hah! No point in refusing when he gets like this. You'll break. It'll happen. Yes, but... Fennmont... What? Is Fennmont lame or something? Erston's not a big fan of crowds. Isn't that right? Why are you doing this? Tee hee! Well, what about that something-or-other Deepwood, then? The Sapstrath Deepwood? Yeah, that place! I saw it in the brochure! It's like one gigantic forest! And we don't exactly have one here in Elympios. .... The Sapstrath Deepwood... Great, it's agreed! Hey, I haven't agreed to anything. You cool with that, Ludger? *nod* Then let's get moving!Well, guess we have a little time to goof off. Incidentally, man am I getting tired of recording this chapter. I had recorded this chapter and next, and had recorded all of the alternate choices for this chapter, when I noticed I hadn't actually recorded anything, but I had already saved on my "real" playthrough just before the start of the next chapter. So, I had to take my alternate playthrough, record it "normally", then go back and record the alternates AGAIN for this chapter. So, I had to go through this chapter four times to bring this update to you. The things I do.  The Deepwood Rieze Maxia is freakin' awesome! This path runs straight through it, but it's not exactly a walk in the park. Ah, we'll be fine! But, you know, we'll let you handle the monsters. As Gaius notes, Jude's got quite the austere taste. There's a skit shortly after you arrive where, if you let Gaius nerd out about Rieze Maxia-Auj Oule politics, you'll raise his affection. I'd advise you do just that.  But where to go? Well, once you arrive in this map and pass under a large tree trunk, turn left and climb up the vines. Follow the path that twists around and into a couple more maps and you'll arrive at your destination, marked by a pink ! icon.  Big E Look at this place! Why don't we take a break to sightsee? Very well. Yes! Even you, Rollo? Hey, Erston! Heh. Well, Gaius doesn't do "fun", but Perceptive Ludger will earn some friendship points with the king. I imagine I'm not. I certainly feel different. Perhaps this is what it feels like to spend time with friends? Age differences aside, of course... Wait. Noticed them too? I did. Monsters, planning an ambush. Let's take care of them. Yes. Here they come! Like with most fights like this that happen in the middle of a character chapter, these are normal enemies that have been buffed for this fight. Even so, evidently they are not strong enough to be considered bosses, so Calamity Stance can, and has a very high chance of, instantly killing them. Let's just skip on to the resulting scene. Oh, I should comment on Gaius' costume, since this battle was a bit of a learning experience for me. To be completely accurate, his costume is Dymlos Timber's costume from Tales of Destiny 2. Most times the battle music will be Common Destiny from Tales of Destiny, whereas for this fight, and rarely, it'll be, I believe Dona Nobis Pacem from Destiny 2 (it's a little hard to tell, because the fight is so loud, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what song. I'm mostly basing this on the first few seconds of the song, before the battle truly begins). The latter song also had a cameo appearance in Tales of the Abyss, where it was part of Everlasting Fight, which was the cameo battle theme.  I don't know, but now's our chance.*fade to black* Where were you guys? Just attending to a little business, as Erston might say. Where'd Kyle go? What's up, Big E? "Big E"? We're all pretty tight now, yeah? I mean, you're pretty cool, even for an older dude. I'm not sure I like where this is going. Lighten up, Big E! Heh. Yeah, you're gonna dig this. What's that? It's a camera. You do know what a camera is, right? We all pooled our money for it.Well, considering Gaius' technical prowess... Oh, a present? .... It was Kyle's idea. Tanner helped pick it out, though. Isn't that thoughtful. Tee hee! Ha ha ha! Perfect. Be right there.  You're part of the gang now, Big E. Don't you forget that. Well, we better head back soon, shall we? Wait, wait! Can we make a quick stop at Marksburg? A new GHS model just came out. I gotta get my hands on one.Conspicuous consumption is the name of the game, I say as I have my Galaxy S6 right beside me. I mean, before 2014 the only phone I ever had was a dinky little flip phone, so forgive me for indulging a bit, okay? There's no comparison between that prehistoric piece of plastic and a smartphone. Whaddaya say, Big E? C'mon. If you must.Alright, well, let's head on over. Must say, this is a remarkably low-key chapter. And c'mon, we're going to buy a phone, so I don't predict a roller-coaster ride for the end of this chapter.  A killer development You guys sit tight on the Elympios side, okay? Oh, man... I'm dead on my feet. What say we grab a bite at the inn and head home when Kyle gets back? .... I take it your silence means "heck yeah"?*fade to black* He sure is taking his time. How long is Kyle gonna keep us waiting here? .... Don't pout. You're the one who said it was okay. Well, pretty much everyone hates when stuff like this happens, and when in doubt, blame the tall scowling guy. I take full responsibility. I'm sick of hanging around. I'll go get him. What's that about? They said something about a soldier getting killed. What's going on? Kyle? .... What's wrong? N-Nothing. I'm fine. Sorry I'm late. Let's go.  I heard they're looking for a young male. They think he's still hiding in the city somewhere. We've always had friction with folks from the other side here in Marksburg, but there's never been a murder, you know? If the killer turns out to be an Elympion, this could turn into an international incident. Yeah. A murder's bad enough, but that would take it to a whole 'nother horrible level. Someone killed a soldier? Everyone seems to be freaking out. .... .... Well, well. They ask me to come all the way to Marksburg to help with the investigation, and who do I run into? Pretty big coincidence, huh? Pretty, pretty big. Herschel... Did you need something? And look who's with him! My, but you've all gotten chummy with each other. That's none of your business. Go home. Ah, but I've only just gotten here. And seeing you lot certainly adds some credence to my working theory. Kyle, you killed that Rieze Maxian soldier, didn't you? And I will see you arrested for it. Wh-What are you talking about?!Yeah, serious. How does "Get a new phone" turn into "Kill a dude"? Then again, this guy has always had it for this bunch, it seems. You've had your fun. Stop hassling us. Hmph. Oh, and I know you raised a hand to one of my men earlier. I don't have any proof, but I certainly don't intend to let that slide.The sheriff leaves... Troublesome guy. What a creep. Let's just get the hell back to Trigleph already. Kyle... It wasn't you, was it? H-how could you even ask me that? Even Big E's not on my side now? Tanner's right. Let's blow this joint. Gaius? That guy?! The King of Rieze Maxia?! Interesting. Very interesting.Oh great. Well...wouldn't be the end of the world if the sheriff found out, right? Yeah, this'll all just blow over. Yeah. Anyway, after that chapter, you'll get a skit (but only because, I think, I'm in Marksburg). Next on the list is an event with an old friend here in Marksburg. It's on the job board, and all you need do is to bring some Ex Machina Whiskey to the bridge.  If "doing well" means "working my butt into an early grave" then yeah! I'm doin' just dandy. Hey now, quit complaining. At least you got a place to lay low and hide out for a while... Yeah, I'd be in jail now if I didn't. 'Course I'm grateful! You've done so much for me... Hey now, don't start with all that... Just keep your head down and work hard. I know, I know. It's tough breaking the cycle, but I want to, man! I wanna work hard and get outta this sorta life one day! It'll take some time, but I'm gonna put it all behind me. You'll see! You and me are the same. Yeah, I hear you... We brought something for you, Marcus. It's from Vera at Spirius Corp. You know her?As in, Vera was the one who posted this job, I believe. What?! From V-V-VERA?! I can't believe she finally replied! Replied? Vera not calling us about a fractured dimension? Something is clearly very off. Yep. Then please give Marcus the following message for me... Noooooo! Marcus, you didn't... I did. It was love at first sight. I've sent her at least one letter a day ever since... All the same: "Pleaes go out with me, my princess!" Bro, bro, bro... What'd I tell you... Yeah, yeah, I know. But what can i say? I'm a hopeless romantic. I'm a fool in love. I'm a tortured soul longing for that one connection more powerful than any cosmic force! Head over heels, and all that? Gimme some of that booze, will you? Just a swig or two! My heart is broken in several places. It's a compound fracture. It burns! I need a drink, man. I need a drink! Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna give you any booze right now. C'mon! Just one swig! You... You can have this cool hat! What the... I don't want your hat, Marcus! You gotta keep it together, bud! Well, that explains why Vera sent us to deliver booze. Is he gonna be all right? Look, you obviously need some comfort... And frankly, I don't think I'm equipped to comfort you properly. So here, have some Ex Machina. Just one swig though! Oh man, you're the best! Bros for life!While Marcus drowns his sorrows, our last major order of business for today is to finish off Jude's fourth chapter. Head to Kanbalar, just outside Castle Gaius, for this one.  Cold mystery Hey, I was just about to give you a call. The temperatures have been dropping inexplicably at the Kukhar Ice Caverns. And I'm sensing minor abnormalities in the mana there. It's a good bet Celsius is behind this. I hate to ask this, but... I'd be really grateful for your help. Well, Jude, we've had your back so far in this matter, and imagine we will in the future. Earns points with the old boy, you see. Thanks. I knew I could count on you. You really are enamored with Ludger, aren't you? I think a better way to put it is that I trust and have faith in him. Right? Huh... I could've sworn that was the perfect expression. It seems i still have much to learn about the nuances of human languages. Oh Milla, will you ever learn? Well, your progress is nice, and we've still got a lot of time to go until the end of this LP. ... Seriously, we've got a *lot* more to do for this game. If I may make a rough percentage, we're about at...I wanna say about 70% of the way through the game. Counting endings, I'd say we've got no fewer than 15 updates left in the pipe. 5 months in, and we're sniffing the end, but it's still quite a ways off, like the horizon. You can see it, but it's quite another matter to get there. But, every journey begins with the first step. Let's shove off.  Heart of Ice Once again, absolutely nothing of interest happened on the way there. Looks like there hunches were correct. Let's see what she's got for us...  I should have known it was you. What's your business here? We just want to talk. Talk? Yes. The device that hurt you... I created it. But I assure you, it was never my intention to dominate spirits. I was trying to create a world where humans and spirits could live together symbiotically. After inventing such a device? Don't make me laugh! That's why I want to make sure it never happens again! I don't think she's in a listening mood. Sometimes when faced with a difficult situation, even Ludger can waver... She left us with little choice. Defend yourselves. So yeah, because I'm using my super weapons for this fight, you can't get a really good idea of the difficulty of this fight, but I try to let Celsius have her day in court before annihilating her. Celsius, as you might expect, fights with her fists, primarily. Her most dangerous attack is a slide attack where icicles will fall where she slid. Those will freeze anyone caught in the area, and she'll be free to follow up afterward. Milla is a very good character to use here, as Celsius is weak to both Slash and Fire. She's pretty dangerous when she goes into Over Limit, but because she has no long-range attacks, just run away and dodge her as much as possible until it goes away.  But when it comes to Jude using Seraphic Hearts, a Power Combo, AND a good multiplier on a Mystic Arte...yeah, she doesn't last long. Jude's Mystic Arte is a Tales Classic: Final Fury. Oh yeah, did you notice anything funky with the battles this update? No Chromatus! Makes sense, though. Elle's gone and Ludger can't use it without her around. So does that mean we're not going to be using it again? Stay tuned...  Back off! This is no time for bravado. You can barely stand. I know you have nearly exhausted the mana in your fossil. I guess that battle last year must've taken a lot out of you. That's why I was hoping that we could just talk this through. Whoa whoa, back up here, says Ludger. Spyrites only manifest in our realm for as long as the mana in their fossils remain. Celsius won't be able to maintain her physical form for much longer. I just wanted to see it again... A place of nostalgia. Something here, in the ice caverns? There was once a small town near here, some 500 years ago. Now there's no trace of it at all. Time passes much more quickly for humans than for spirits. It's sad that it's gone, but that's just how it is. Well, as established, Jude's quite the sentimental fellow, so anything that plays on that, well... He's right. There has got to be some trace of those times still left behind. We'll help you search. But if we do find something, then you have to promise to stop giving us the cold shoulder.Well, gee, thanks for signing us up, dude. Basically, he's proposing a deal. So, what do you say? You sure about this? You probably won't find anything. That's certainly possible, but there's no harm in at least trying, don't you think? You're a strange one. Very well. You have your deal. Then can you at least point us in the direction of any other places you remember?*fade to black* I see. So in contemporary human names...those would be within the Kijara Seafalls, Fennmont, and Fort Gandala regions. We'll take you there then. When you are ready, call out my name. I will rest my physical form until I hear it. Understood. Rest in the meantime. Well, looks like we've got a lot of ground to cover. Heh, you really are nice to just about anyone, aren't you, Jude? N-No, that's not true! All right. *nod* Hey, thank you for all your help today. I really appreciate it. I suspect that I'll be needing it again before this is over.Oh I bet. But, we're headed to the Talys Highroad to get our Elite Monster, and our end-of-chapter debt payment to handle first.  And here he is, on the only branch of the Highroad, near the Fort Gandala exit. Vampiric Plant  Well, "punching bag" is a pretty appropriate descriptor for this fellow. Big guy, long reach, yadda yadda yadda. I managed a 128 hit combo on him, without the Chromatus! He just barely had any room to attack. One neat trick I did with Ludger, that ended up killing him, was charging up Hammer Toss. There's all kinds of skills that allow you to change artes for the better. Fun to play around with, but not a whole bunch of practical use. As you might imagine, for a late-game Elite Monster (actual difficulty has very little to do with it, aside from Exoplasm), Plant is worth a considerable chunk of change, so here's the last skit.  The end of the line, huh... Update 27 alternate choice compilation Update 27 victory compilation Sylphid fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Sep 13, 2016 |
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Sep 6, 2016 03:36
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The videos are private.
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Sep 6, 2016 03:59
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Mraagvpeine posted:The videos are private. Whoops. Fixed.
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Sep 6, 2016 04:21
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Huh. I had guessed that Rideaux was Julius and Ludger's father, but at that time I hadn't seen Biesley had a Chromatus.
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Sep 9, 2016 04:39
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Random related facts time: Victor: Is the title for the top agent in Spirius. Julius is a Crown Agent and Bisley is the Victor Agent. When Victor-Ludger killed Bisley he took the name-title Victor. One of the NPCs talks about it, and how the Victor Agent got in a fight 22 years ago and hasn't been seen since. Ludger's hair is originally that gray. The black part is dyed because he thinks it looks cool. When Victor-Ludger realized his parentage he dyed all his hair black.
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Sep 9, 2016 05:09
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I kind of liked the Tales of Eternia splitup that put Efreet, Sylph, and Undine in one place and Gnome, Undine, and Volt in another. Here Gnome is part of the Four, Undine is a stand-off-ish experiment gone awry, and Volt is some kind of weird robot thing? I dunno, maybe there's only so many elements you can have while giving them all a coherent place in the world.
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Sep 10, 2016 05:09
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Glazius posted:I kind of liked the Tales of Eternia splitup that put Efreet, Sylph, and Undine in one place and Gnome, Undine, and Volt in another. Here Gnome is part of the Four, Undine is a stand-off-ish experiment gone awry, and Volt is some kind of weird robot thing? I think you mean Celsius as the experiment gone awry, and that was also kinda Volt's deal in the first game. He was a spyrite that went out of control, but he was a late-game boss because he proved to the main cast an alternative to spyrix was at least possible.
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Sep 10, 2016 06:02
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Part XXVIII: The Man Who Chooses Bisley's present So this is yet another really big chapter, really the penultimate before the game kicks into the final act. This was not an altogether fun update to record, though, but you'll enjoy it, without all the tedious crap that burdens me so. This update begins, as you might expect, in the lobby of the Spirius Corporation.  Welcome back. Hold your horses. Only authorized personnel past this point. Yeah, see, they're with me. That makes them authorized. More to the point, assuring them of that fact will raise Milla and Jude's affections. Of course. We didn't come here just to sit in the lobby. Very well. If that's Vice President Kresnik's decision, I will abide by it. *gasp* Ludger's been made vice president of Spirius?! Correct. His promotion is effective immediately. Tch. You may use the CEO's office as you see fit until he returns from his departure. This way.Vera automatically brings us to the 40th floor, just outside Bisley's office. This...sounds important.  Message from the boss Ludger. If you're watching this, know that I intend to travel to the Land of Canaan to put an end to Origin's Trial. This'll be interesting. But not before I tell you the full story. You see, it was all a game: the fractured dimensions, Canaan, all of it. Just a giant game created by the Primordial Spirits Chronos, Maxwell, and Origin. That's right. And they've been playing it ever since humanity figured out spyrix two millennia ago. The three spirits disagreed over whether humans could truly control spyrix technology or not. So they devised an experiment to reveal mankind's true nature. They wanted to see for themselves if human beings were capable of resisting the temptation of ultimate power. This was before the schism, you see, back in the old days when Maxwell still trusted humans. So the chromatus was a test. Chronos granted the chromatus to the Kresnik family as means to measure how well humans can suppress their base desires. If someone reaches the Great Spirit Origin before a million divergence catalysts appear, mankind passes the test. If no one does, then mankind fails and the spirits leave. That was their pact. But here's the catch. The game was rigged right from the very start. As was passed down, "Origin will grant the wish of the first human who comes before him." No human could resist such a prize. It fostered greed amongst the people. As a result, the Kresniks were constantly at war over it. Thanks to all of their bickering, catalysts and fractured dimensions have multiplied like rats. A vast number of poeple across all the dimensions transformed into catalysts, and as a result, were destroyed. It's likely now that their number is approaching one million.Well...1,000,000 catalysts divided by 2000 (we'll just say, since that's the only number we've been given), is 500 catalysts a year. More than a catalyst a day is a tall order, but there's very likely more fractured dimensions than we can possibly guess at. Still, humanity hasn't failed...yet. The Spirius Corporation was established to put the breaks on this whole disaster. I haven't forgotten the reward I promised. You no longer have to worry about that pesky loan. Now, just leave the rest to me. I will create the world that your generation deserves. *sigh*But at this kinda awkward moment, a phone call. H-Hey, Ludger! You're not gonna believe what just happened! The bank president stopped by just now. And guess what? He said that I don't need to bug you about your loan anymore! What?! How'd you managed to pull that off? Wait, you're not blackmailing anybody, are you?And Ludger just hangs up. Probably for the best. Nova will bounce back. You've verified the reward. Bakur left for the Land of Canaan, correct? Yes. Milla is highly unamused. Choose your next words carefully. I wasn't informed. All right. If that's how you want to play it, then let me ask you this: How does he plan to make it past Chronos? The chromatus came from Chronos. Bakur wouldn't be able to use it against him. I don't know.Though, to be completely fair to Vera, I'm not sure why we're questioning Vera about this. It's clear she's a pretty low-level grunt for Bisley, and probably does not know anything of particular worth. I mean, I coulda told you Bisley was headed for Canaan. What happened to Elle? Excuse me, I'm running late for a meeting. You know... I'll bet you that the CEO is planning to use Elle to kill Chronos. *gasp* Director Rideaux!Then again...maybe she does know more than she's letting on. I believe our guests' business has concluded here.   Yeeeeow.Well...this is all pretty shady, huh? Bisley heads to Canaan to use Elle as a human weapon against Chronos, we're made VP, and we've...basically taken over Spirius until further notice. Huh. Well, we can't exactly leave things like this...can we?  Well, Ludger needs a snack to calm down. Bisley's desk has just the thing. It's fun to go on a little treasure hunt looking for all the Gaius Dumplings in the game, but...there's absolutely no point when there's Kanbalar Kitty Dispatch. Well, the game doesn't exactly give us an idea where we go next, but hey, why not walk around OUR company?  Bisley's plan On the 30th floor, we have this jackass. Maybe now that it's 1-1, he'll be a little nicer. Fat chance, but hey. Forgive me for my silly comments back there. How might I help the new vice president? Yeah, we can't let that last thing he said slide. Gotta shake him down for more info. Hmm? What I was saying before? Elle was the true Key of Kresnik. *nod* Origin's power flows through the Key. One only comes along every few generations, and the Key is the trump card in the Trial. As you can imagine, he or she is always at the center of the Kresnik's family feuds. The most recent Key was the CEO's wife, 'til she was killed.  Whoa...heavy. Well, might as well get more info about this wife. I think Ludger heard him loud and clear. Precisely. The prime dimension's true Key of Kresnik.And if that "few generations" line made it seem like Elle's status was a plothole, there ya go. Elle's from a fractured dimension, so that would explain that detail. Years ago, the CEO used his wife's power in a battle against Chronos. It cost her her life. That didn't sit well with the eldest son. He fled the nest and started his own family, or so the story goes. To make a long story short, the only way to reach Origin is to defeat Chronos. And the only thing that will defeat Chronos is the power of the void, which is wielded by the Key of Kresnik. Of course, the power needed to beat Chronos would immediately transform the Key into the divergence catalyst. And that's the rub. A phone call... This oughta be good. Ludger? drat you! Ah, you must have heard more details from Rideaux. He was only supposed to keep you occupied. I'm sorry for tricking you, but please understand. This sacrifice is necessary to make a world purely for humans. Well...at least know the WHY of what's going on. Maybe he can explain himself, and at the same time, this choice will raise his affection. Fun fact: this is the last choice that can raise Bisley's affection. Even if I don't get Bisley's special weapon this playthrough, it doesn't matter, since NPC affection levels are carried over with that one choice in the Grade Shop, same as the normal playable characters. Yes, you heard correctly. When I finally fulfill Origin's Trial, I will wish for all spirits to surrender their will. They will finally become mankind's loyal tools. What? But do not worry. Their first task will be to eliminate all fractured dimensions. Gimme that! Ludger? It's me! Elle?! I'm gonna fix it all so you don't have to do scary stuff anymore! I'll use my wish to make sure nobody ever has to disappear again! *shrug* Mr. Bakur says that only I have the power to do that. So don't come after us, okay? It's fine, really! I know I broke our promise, so... I'm sorry. Forgive me.She hangs up... Elle?!Ludger dials back, and...  Ryoooow. Nothing to do now but leave things to the CEO, I suppose. If we go charging in, he'll just use us. Just like he's going to use Elle. Shut up!Well...this ain't good. Not good... But we can't leave things like this, can we? Let's head back to the lobby and see what Jude and Milla have to say about things.  On the same floor, you can stop by this office and chat with a bunch of the staff here. They've got all sorts of neat stuff to say, like this person, confirming Victor was not using his own watch. Or that spirit energy of the Prime Dimension has been spreading wildly (which can't be good). Or that chromatus bearers who become divergence catalysts either retain their normal, human selves (like Victor did), or they take control of other people or objects (like the Nachtigal dimension from a few updates ago, or the Evil Rowen from the chapter that introduced our elderly friend). To quote,  The last just makes a "dimensions as bubbles" analogy that I don't think I'll waste your time with, in otherwise very busy update. By the way, as a reminder, the console in this room that's beeping has a control code for the underground training area. This code is not the same, and will be different depending on the individual game you're playing. But, if you didn't know that, or don't remember the code, don't worry too much about it. I'll explain why soon.  Ludger's resolve We're not going anywhere until we hear the rest of the story! Ludger. Did you find out anything?Fade to black, of course... Turning spirits into tools. So that was Bakur's plan all along.Well, you know, it makes a certain degree of sense. For a man who obviously resents the spirits as much as Bakur does, what better punishment for them would be to completely turn the tables on their game and make them end up the losers in a game they, or at least Chronos, thought they couldnt lose? And to think he'd use a little girl like Elle. Not if we can help it. Let's get to Canaan! How do we get inside? We must find Julius. He will know how. We better hurry! Believe it or not, choose wisely here. Your decision here will dramatically impact what happens immediately after this to *quite* a significant degree. There's no "wrong" choice, but L1 will increase Jude's affection and R1 will do the same for Milla. As for why, well... I went with L1 for now. Ludger? By any chance, do you feel like you've already fulfilled your duty at this point? Maybe. Jude, he's done enough. Let's go. What? Ludger doesn't need to risk his life for this world. Not anymore. But, what about Elle? The girl pleaded with him not to come. You can't-- You two don't get it, do you?  Jude... Very well. You should do whatever you think is best for Ludger. Security! Don't interfere with this. Please. A showdown against Jude Mathis?! Yes, indeed. If you choose R1, you'll fight Milla instead. I'm not entirely sure which is the harder fight (actually, Milla is the considerably harder fight, just because of the range of some her artes, especially Gnome), but those who were fortunate and dedicated enough to make it to the Xillia 1 coliseum fights should be familiar with how to fight the good doctor. Jude will focus heavily on combos. While a single combo isn't likely to bring you to your knees, he'll chain more powerful combos can you think. Be especially way when he goes into a counterattacking stance, If you are close to him when he does that, he'll automatically launch Soaring Vortex, which will break through any block and throw you into the air, which Jude can hit quite easily with Swallow Dance, or other aerial artes. You're going to want to watch out for that one.  Cyclonic Surge in particular is pretty dangerous, even moreso than Soaring Vortex, because it throws you and Jude into the air, where he can very quickly follow up with more artes, or a Surge spam.  When he's about at 50% HP (or you at 1 HP), he'll automatically throw out his Mystic Arte. Don't worry. It won't kill you, and it's not supposed to.  Why are you hesitating?! Is Elle not family to you?!  Party time is over! To finish this, just use your Chromatus Mystic Arte against him.  That...could have gone better.  How can you use the chromatus without Elle being here? Come now, it should be obvious. She's calling to you. Still thinking of staying behind? You really are stubborn, you know that? Reminds me of a certain someone. As you might expect, Milla has her own version of these events, that you'll just have to watch the *extensive* alternate choice compilation to get the lowdown on what happened in that timeline. However, we are on this one, where Ludger states the obvious about Jude's intentions. Not that he doesn't appreciate it. Took you this long to figure me out? Looks like we're done. Let's get to Canaan. Meow. Of course you can come too. Trapped A klaxon warning goes out, however...   Not a step further, Vice President Kresnik. I know it sounds cliche and all, but orders are orders. Move, Ivar. I don't have time for your games. Ergh... I'm afraid I cannot do that, Lady Milla. I never realized bossy girls were such a turn-on. So cold, so ruthless, so-- Ugh, what a creep! Need assistance? Hope you don't mind. *shakes head* Well, well, well... The royal pain has come to hold court. But my head will roll if I don't stop Ludger from leaving. And I happen to like my head. You think your corporate cronies can stop us? They dispelled my artes! How is that possible?! It's the Lance of Kresnik. A portable version, sure, but as you can see it gets the job done. This will be fun. I wonder if Lord Maxwell will moan as I suck the mana out of her. Don't speak to her like that! Trouble in paradise, boys?    You'd risk your life to save this sniveling coward? You really are a benevolent deity. He's still my handmaid. I don't recall ever dismissing him from the position. Lady Milla. Such a stubborn and proud spirit. But not for much longer. Well...ain't this a right pickle. Any ideas, Ludger?   Giving everyone the information that'll save their lives increases Gaius and Muzet's affections. Still, though, R1 would be fun... Get to that elevator. That's easier said than done. We'll need bait. You can show everyone else the way. And this is another big choice. It'll determine who accompanies you for a bit, Jude or Milla. Who volunteers should be pretty obvious, and will raise their respective affections, but on this timeline, Ludger volunteered Jude for this dangerous job. He should be fine, I think. Maybe. Leave it to me. *nod* Don't die. Not here I won't. It's clearly a diversion! Look out! Go on ahead! Don't let them get away!That was too close... Well, once you're on the bottom floor, you'll get a new skit where the choice doesn't matter, but never mind that, we're headed to the training ground where Bisley introduced Ludger to the Chromatus all that time ago.   And here we are. The terminal to Ludger's right will allow you to destroy all those little robots (and have them drop a bunch of Magical Ore where they once were) and open all the doors, so you can blow past this part in seconds. If you don't know the code or forgot it, well...hope you have some spare time on your hands, as you will have to go through...I dunno, about 10 required fights or so to get to the first pseudo-dungeon of the game.  But don't move too fast. In the final room, you can take a little detour to open two nice chests: one of them has a Thief's Cape, which is eh, but the other has a Sephira, which is an accessory that'll give you 50% more gald if at least one of your in-battle dudes is wearing it throughout the entire fight.  Ah, memories. Well, we could rush forward to the exit, but do take the time to explore a bit. You can find a Platinum Cloak, a Life Bottle, Mythril Armor, and...  Boris the Cat! Once you've finished exploring old haunts, head toward the door, and...  Showdown So, this what you do now, Ivar? Yes, this my new occupation. My new life after failing as your handmaid! Fine. Then out of respect, know that I will not hold back. What a bothersome fellow. (Maybe I'll kill him.)As you might expect, Muzet's line is the start of a bonus scene.  Both choices will raise Muzet's affection, but L1 will raise it by more. Milla seems to be both a mother figure and a sister to Muzet. Interesting. *gasp* Good point. I'm always such a bad judge of these things. You two can't stop all of us. Don't be so sure of that, Your Highness. I was a sickly child, you see. Several of my organs had to be transplanted with spyrix. A doctor named Mathis performed the surgery. He's the one who saved my life. Derrick did what?! I have since made a few improvements of my own. I now possess double the strength and acuity of a normal man. Can your body take that?! No, of course it can't. But that's fine with me, as long as it holds together long enough to crush you. Why would you destroy your body like that? That's for me to know and you to find out.   Alright, so...this is actually a pretty hard fight. While neither Ivar nor Rideaux (sorry, those implants clearly are not particularly helping) are really powerful, they're very much aided by a bunch of annoying Spirius grunts who will provide much needed distraction from the main event. My advice would be to partner up with Gaius or Milla / Jude, and go around and take out the grunts before focusing on the real bosses. The Chromatus is a very good way to do this, but be aware Rideaux and / or Ivar will probably knock you out of it prematurely. If you can take down, or at least severely wound, two of them, that's perfectly fine. Once the Spirius guys are down, the fight becomes considerably easier.  Once it becomes a 4-2 fight, it's up to you which one you want to focus on next. Rideaux is weak to the Big 4 Elements and Light, which makes it pretty easy to stagger him by this point in the game. Ivar isn't weak to as much, but he has lower HP, so you may want to focus on him next. It's really up to you. I decided to go after Ivar first, and managed to badly wound him with a Chromatus Combo. He didn't last long after that.  Rideaux just didn't have a chance on his own. Sorry duder, that's 0-3 for you.  Both Ivar and Rideaux also have Mystic Artes, that, annoyingly enough, they did not feel necessary to use in this climactic showdown. I did get Rideaux to use his Mystic Arte, but you'll have to check it out in the "Alternate choice" video for that one, since this part's dialogue is considerably different if you have Jude in tow.  Ivar, you are a man of many failures. But even if you add all those failures together, it doesn't compare to all your years of loyal service. Thank you, Ivar. I appreciate everything you did for me.  Heh. What a complete farce this is.This begins another bonus scene. This time, for Gaius. Something funny? Share it with us. Even foes can come to understand one another. Never took you for a bleeding heart. Enemies kill each other. That is simply what they do. If that's the case, then you know what happens next. You stab me and I die. Done and done. Much as I'd like this to be goodbye for us, it's worth pointing L1 out to Gaius. Haha! Don't flatter yourself too much now! Let me tell you something. I only saved you because the CEO said to do so! Must've been a real drag paying off that massive loan? But you were happy to play along. Don't let him get to you. Just the empty words of a sore loser. Let me make a little prediction for you. You'll regret leaving this place, until the day you die. Some time later...  drat twerp. He gave me the same contemptuous look as his bastard brother! Don't just stand there, you goons. Help me! My apologies, sir. I am afraid the CEO has given us entirely different orders. We were told to bring Director Rideaux before him. I figured as much. Probably thinks he can use me as the "bridge". Not gonna happen.  As you can see, we know the control codes for your spyrix organs. Wh-What?!  He's um...he's in trouble.  To Trigleph...again  I hope Jude made it out of there okay.A phone call, but who could it be from? Hopefully not Nova again... Hey, it's me. Are you all right? L1 all the way. Julius has quite the sense of timing. Sounds like you're okay. I'm in Trigleph. Jude's here.And he's gone, as quickly as he showed up... I knew he could take care of himself. *nod* Ludger, let's go meet up with Jude.Oh boy. This is sure to be a good one.  Well, at least she acts the part... Update 28 alternate choice compilation Sylphid fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Sep 23, 2016 |
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Sep 16, 2016 06:04
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Ha, that Milla choice sure worked out well. Just an additional note: Chronos spent the last 2,000 years deliberately hunting and killing Keys of Kresnik. What a prick.
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Sep 16, 2016 07:04
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Wait, if somebody gets to Origin and calls base, doesn't that stop annihilation all on its own? Why bother getting divergence catalysts at that point?
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Sep 17, 2016 01:11
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Sylphid posted:
Really? Why not? No, seriously, he's utterly terrible. I'm betting that whoever stayed behind to fight is going to be in no shape to accompany us to Caanan.
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Sep 18, 2016 23:09
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Hello everyone. I'm the guy who just spent about 3 1/2 hours to beat the Bad End fight on Hard. Thank Christ I succeeded, but uh, it was not pretty. I mean, holy poo poo is that a hard fight on Hard and above. I actually did beat the fight on the hardest difficulty way back when, but I was using carried over weapons from my first playthrough, so it wasn't *entirely* fair, but man. Man oh man is that a rough fight.
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Sep 22, 2016 09:03
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Part XXIX: The Girl Who Questions The soul bridge I'm glad to see you're okay. Yes, thanks to Julius. He saved me when I got pinned down. He took off already, but not without leaving a message with me first. "Come find me when you've steeled yourself." Steeled? Also, Julius told me how to get inside the Land of Canaan. In order to enter, you have a build yourself a soul bridge. How do we go about building a soul bridge?  *gasp* So, we have to kill either Ludger or Julius? Where is Julius? He said he left a letter for Ludger at the house.Ludger has a flashback to Rideaux's "prediction" line... Maybe he had a point, Ludger thinks. Well...at least we know why Bisley wanted Rideaux. He could potentially use himeslf or Elle, but I don't think either is in the cards as far as his plan goes. Nevertheless, Ludger runs off to his apartment.  But if you want to know what that message was, exactly, that the game wants to keep from us, well...you'll just have to tune when we go on Julius' trail for the last time, huh? I can take a guess where he's headed, personally...  Once again, Jude reminds us of what's important. After the above scene, you will also get two skits. In the first skit, you can raise Muzet's affection with R1, likewise with Gaius in the second skit. Flustered Gaius is Best Gaius. Actually, I completely forgot the actual first skit of this video: getting a certain number of chips in Poker. I actually did get this one naturally, but I cannot recall when or if I have still have the video, so this will have to do. You can raise Leia's affection with L1, but other than that, just an amusing skit. Anyway, more importantly, remember that from this point on, you are not obligated whatsoever to pay back any more debt, so we could go on and proceed with the story by examining the note Julius left on Ludger's table. Obviously, we're not going to do that, as we have a lot of work to do before that. Let's start in Leronde and the next entry in Elize's story.  Crisis in Leronde  Hey! Did you hear the big news? The Chancellor of Elympios is here in Leronde! Really now?  She's touring Rieze Maxia on a campaign to improve cross-cultural relations. I was quite surprised myself. After all, she's only just recovered from the E.S.S. Pelune incident. I sure hope she has a good time here. Just one bite of Warrick's cooking oughta do it! Well, speak of the devil... We've got an emergency! The Chancellor's group has been attacked! What?! If only Sonia had stayed at the lodge... Warrick, calm down and tell me exactly what happened. The Chancellor had planned to eat at the lodge, but then a group of Elympions burst in and grabbed her. They spirited the Chancellor away and said they'd kill her if we didn't meet their demands. Exodus is behind the attack. They're demanding freedom for members captured in the Pelune incident. Why won't they just give up already?! We have to save the Chancellor! We spotted them fleeing into the Old Vicalle Mine. We're in a race against time here.I think she'll be fine, personally, but we might as well check up on her, shall we? You do remember where the Mine is, right? Let's just hop on over...  Young guns Chancellor! Thank goodness you're safe! It's you! I somehow managed to slip away in the confusion. But my colleagues weren't so lucky. They're still being held. I understand the culprits are Elympion? I'm afraid so. Remnants of Exodus. I see. Chancellor, please allow the Rieze Maxian government to handle the rescue. May I ask... Why do you have children with you? Elize isn't THAT young anymore. And besides, we're a team. Sticking up for her will raise her affection, but hey, we're only speaking the truth. Team? Wait, don't tell me you intend to involve them in the rescue operation?! Hey, you! Don't sell Elize short! I am fully capable of helping. The young miss is a gifted spirit artes user. She is a great asset to Rieze Maxia. Elize... Well, it is not my place to second guess you. But these terrorists place little value on human life. Please be careful. We will. Don't worry.Just so the record is completely reflected here, Elize stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of the Xillia 1 cast to defeat a super-powered Gaius and Muzet in the space between worlds and, hey, she's still standing. I think we'll be fine. I mean, if I was Elize, I'd brag about that. That's the thing that kinda gets me about a lot of sequels, RPGs being a genre that's particularly guilty of this. Rarely in RPG sequels do you have reputations acknowledged that were established in the previous game. I mean, I admit, minor characters like Marcia would obviously not be aware of the specifics of what Jude et. all did in Xillia 1, but you'd think at least some word would have gotten around about what exactly they did. I will say, though, Dawn of the New World more or less got this right. And even though it's in a different genre entirely, Metal Gear Solid is a series that does this well. In the first Metal Gear Solid, Snake has the reputation of being an absolutely legendary agent who defeated two giant robots single-handedly. It's even better in the MGS3 -> Portable Ops -> Peace Walker -> Ground Zeroes / Phantom Pain side-continuity thing. Every succeeding game, Big Boss' reputation grows greater and greater, and with good reason. By Phantom Pain, Big Boss' reputation has grown so exponentially that the man can scarcely live up to that. The legend has so outgrown the man, it's out of control. Anyway, my point is, that reputation of returning characters in sequels is something I really look for, and it bugs me when it's not there. However, back to the game, Marcia's ringtone goes off... Wait, that's the ringtone that I gave to Luna. No way! Elize's pen pal is Chancellor Marcia?! Ah, King Gaius! Yes, Your Majesty. I'm safe. I'd like you to know that your Prime Minister Ilbert is about to give the terrorists what for.A while later... By the way, did you catch that massive plot hole? Gaius using a cellphone on his own? My suspension of disbelief for this chapter has been utterly destroyed. I mean, Rowen and Gaius even have a post-battle victory thing where Gaius struggles with his phone. Are you okay with this plan? Y-Yes. Leave everything to us. ....The outlaws are in the next screen, in the big opening to the left of where you start. Can't miss 'em.  No right answer  They hung up! drat it! There goes our plan B. This is not good. Not good at all... Keep it together! I'm trying, but how long can we keep this up?! If we don't figure this out, our captured comrades are as good as dead. Their...comrades? Shall we? Gaaah!One goes down... Now I feel bad, though.  Over our dead bodies! Yeah, you can guess from the video I'm on my alternate playthrough. See, the thing is, when I recorded the content for the previous update, I also recorded all the alternate choices, because I like having as few video files as possible when doing updates. Unfortunately, I forgot there was another choice I had to record for the post-Milla fight, so I needed to use a new recording to do it. However, when I started that new recording, I noticed there was a pink ! next to Leronde's icon on the world map. So, this chapter must have popped up at some point, and for whatever reason I just never noticed it. So I recorded this, thinking I might miss this one entirely if I proceeded to the next chapter. Thankfully, this is NOT the case, and I was just being paranoid. The reason I just spent a whole bunch of time talking about recording stuff is because, like usual, I have nothing constructive to say about this fight. It's a fight against a couple generic Exodus goons, which we've seen a lot of, and a robot, which we've seen hundreds of. Even if I didn't have super-powered weapons, this fight would be over in under a minute. You've lost. Do the noble thing and release your hostages. drat it... We've failed... Why would you do this? Our comrades. They're going to be executed. We couldn't just let them die. You did it for your friends? And we lost... Please make our deaths quick. I beg of you. No one's going to kill them. Right, Rowen? Rowen's the prime minister of Rieze Maxia! He won't let your friends die. I wish. It doesn't matter anyway. We'll be tried in Elympios. What? Elympions must face justice in Elympios. And Rieze Maxians in Rieze Maxia. Those are the terms of our treaty. Neither nation has any jurisdiction in the other's territory.This seems to be a silly way to do things. These guys are already IN Rieze Maxia, and they're involved with a kidnapping plot inside of Rieze Maxia. It seems wasteful for these guys to commit a crime here, get transferred back to Elympios for trial or whatever, and then face punishment there. But what do I know? And the penalty for terrorism in Elympios is execution. But, Chancellor Marcia would never allow that. She's gentle and kind. Yeah, don't worry! C-Can you promise we'll be spared if we decide to surrender? Don't you worry. I know she'll understand! You were only looking out for your buddies! Heh. I doubt she'll give a squat about that, but I don't have any fight left in me. We surrender.  Well, we might as well get the straight dope from the old man, to raise his affection. I'm sure he wouldn't lie to us. I would not bet on it. In any case, let's head back and meet with the Chancellor.A skit pops up, for your consideration, afterwards. Your next objective is to head outside the Mine to meet with Marcia. It's worth asking, at the very least.  A child's compassion Elize...was it? Are you hurt? N-No. I'm fine, Madam Chancellor. That's a relief. But, I... Uh... I wanted to know... Madam Chancellor. Dispose of the surviving terrorists. At once, ma'am. Dispose? What do you mean by dispose? A matter of Elympion justice, child. None of your concern. Oh, we're concerned! They were only trying to save their friends! .... Chancellor Marcia, the terrorists surrendered of their own accord. I would think that merits leniancy. Let's be clear. Is this an official request from the Prime Minister of Rieze Maxia? Because such a request would certainly raise serious diplomatic issues. N-No, Madam Chancellor. That was not my intent.Again, it's very strange to me Elympion law enforcement can make arrests in Rieze Maxia. Seems like that shouldn't be a thing. Laws exist for a reason. Ignore one and we risk a descent into chaos. The government of Elympios does not show leniancy to terrorists. But you're the chancellor! You can do whatever you want! It is precisely because I'm the chancellor that I must ensure justice is served. This is your cue to say something, beardo! Unfortunately, showing leniancy to terrorists often only leads to more acts of terror. History has shown this to be true. But...I made a promise to the Exodus members... A childish decision. Chancellor, we're ready. All this excitement has pushed us way behind schedule. We must be going. Why... Why wouldn't she listen to me? Aw man... We have to explain just how things are to Elize, who is still quite young at heart, but her feelings aren't wrong. Explaining that to her will raise her affection. Was I wrong? Aw, my head's all fuzzy. .... Luna... I thought we were friends.Jeez, that's quite the downer to end on. Well, we've got more Elize chapters. Surely this will turn around. Maybe...  Jeez, does EVERYONE have a chapter to go through before Chapter 15? Nah, actually not. Leia's next chapter starts in numerous different locations in Rieze Maxia and Elympios, but the content is exactly the same no matter where it starts. Just for laughs, I started it in Hamil.  Alvin! Perfect timing! You two are coming with me!  Price of doing business  Huh? Oh... You're that Rieze Maxian reporter. Something I can help you with? Actually...Fade to the black, black, blaaaaaack... You're writing an article about what I think of Rieze Maxia? Does that bother you? It's not that I mind so much as, well... What's in it for me? Huh? He wants a little something, something. Spoken like a true Elympion. Hey, people will be talking about this, right? Why should I play the ugly face of Elympion intolerance for jack squat? Pay up or I shut up. .... No sense in getting hostile here. Besides, as Leia's affection increase on R1 proves, a reporter's best sense is being diplomatic. I'm not trying to be a hardass here. It's just the way of the world. Okay, fine. If we're talking money, that might be a problem for me. But what if I came in here and cleaned? Day in and day out! Huh? I mean, I'll still have to worry about my day job, but I can come clean mornings and nights. And I have customer-service experience, too. I could stock shelves or even work the booths! I promise I'll stay out of your way, no matter what you have me do. So say yes, will you? Pretty please?! .... If it really means that much to you... Fine, go ahead and write whatever you want. Besides, I wouldn't mind hearing what Rieze Maxians think of Elympios. And don't worry about doing any cleaning or nothing. Seems like people do work for free sometimes. Well, I'm not gonna make a habit of it. It's just, this really was starting to make me look like a villain. I'll bring you a draft of the story before it goes to print. Got it. Make it a good one! Not bad, Leia, not bad. As usual, Leia likes the diplomatic stuff. Yeah! He even seemed legitimately interested in the perspective of Rieze Maxians. Kinda puts a lot of weight on your shoulders, huh? I suppose it does. All right, the finish line's in sight! Ludger, I'm staying at your place tonight. I'll work on the article all night if I have to. C'mon. That's overdoing it, even for you... I need space to concentrate. I don't even have my own desk at work! It'll be fine! You guys'll be there for moral support, right? Come on, please? Whaddaya say? Should we help her see this through? *nod* Thanks! Okay, it's coffee time. I will absolutely, positively have this story on my editor's desk first thing in the morning!And off we go... Well, I should also mention there's a minor event in front of the Spirius Corporation with Nova and some receptionist lady, informing us of stuff we already know. Namely, the required debt payment mechanic is over and done with, but continuing to pay back your loan will give you nice new bonuses at certain thresholds.  "Worth your while", indeed. In addition to the bonuses, after you've fully paid back your debt, you can make one final very special payment to Nova to get one of the bonus endings. But that is a story for many moons from now. If you haven't see it...I bet it's not like anything you are currently expecting. For the record, this is what my payment situation looks like.  And keep in mind, I've frequently mentioned forced bonus payments. If I had to make a totally rough estimate, I'd guess you actually need to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.2-3 million gald to get to this point in the game. So, obviously, that means we're going to have a lot to throw a lot of money at the Verland Bank to pay back everything, but there's going to be a lot of opportunity to make money. Don't you worry about that, but, it'll be after I record the first "real" ending of the game.  On the road to Ludger's apartment, just decided to drop in on the crazy cat lady. And yes, the cats that appear are randomized.  Leia, reporter-at-work Sorry, Ludger. Gonna need your room for a while. Don't doze off in there. Not gonna happen.The next morning...   This choice will pretty heavily affect the ending of this chapter, but only if you choose R1. If you choose R1, you shall not raise Leia's affection, and there will be another fade to black, Leia will arrive, and blithely (well, not really) thank Alvin and Ludger for their support. L1 is a bit more interesting, so let's do that. Yeah, I'm kinda curious myself. Let's go. She couldn't have gotten far.She's down by the port, for the record.  A big step  You did all this research? Yes! You certainly are tenacious. This'll do. I'll run it. What? Really? Now, tell me what you learned. Well, up until now, I'd always just written my own opinions about things I thought were interesting. But after doing all the interviews this time, I realized I had been going about this the wrong way. Our job as journalists is to present an objective and accurate perspective and let the readers come to their own conclusions. Objectivity and accuracy, those two elements are the key points here. You should keep that in mind from now on. Hardly. She still lets herself get too close to the story, and she doesn't take into account the impact she has on her readers. Nevertheless, she showed good journalistic instincts with this piece, and she isn't afraid to do the legwork. She has potential. Well, shouldn't the chief tell her that?  That...answers that. Nice work. Seems your editor finally accepted you. You heard that, huh? Thanks guys. I couldn't have done it without you. I'm not about to let up, either--and I hope you'll keep helping me chase down the stories! Ludger... And then, I am going to make sure that I'm able to convey all of that to the rest of the world! That way their lives will have meaning.Oh, and after that scene, Leia gets a unique weapon for whatever reason: a Lacrosse Stick. And an affection skit, of course.  It's really up to you what you want to use. The Stick certainly isn't bad, but eh. I kept Leia with her Mythril Rod. But, the final act for today begins in Nia Khera with the clueless Lord of Spirits. Maybe that's a bit harsh, but still. She's got a long way to go.  Nia Khera's past We've scoured the village tomes and oral histories, but unfortunately no definitive version of that story seems to have survived. Forgive me, Lady Milla. I have failed you. It's okay. Thanks for trying. If anything comes up, let me know. Did you need something? But Milla isn't all business. She is not above being flattered by virtual strangers taking an interest in her. Oh? You've taken an interest in me? What? C'mon, was that really necessary? But it's true, isn't it? I remember you reacted the same way. Never mind me! Ah, good point. I've been pursuing several different leads, but so far none of them has led to reliable information. One thing that does ring true is that the people of Nia Khera are Kresnik's descendants. Hm? According to local legend, Nia Khera was settled by Kresnik's descendants. That's why there's a shrine to Maxwell here, and why the people still practice old-fashioned spirit worship. If the fracture-dimension Aska was telling the truth about the previous Maxwell...then the schism must have split the ancestors of Kresnik in two. With some in Elympios and some in Rieze Maxia. But wouldn't such a major event have been recorded in the texts and oral histories? Good point... It would've been a major historical shift. There must be more to this story.A phone call. Hope Vera's over that whole "rebel" thing. Maybe she didn't have it in her heart to stop us. Who knows. DODA here. We've detected a new fractured dimension. The rift is near Nia Khera. We've sent you the coordinates. Please take care of it. I heard her say Nia Khera. Is it the next fractured dimension? Maybe they'll know more about Milla Kresnik in the fractured version of Nia Khera? Jude, you read my mind. Ludger, I want to accompany you on this mission. Me, too.Well, that settles it. Off we go. But first, a skit! Drawing attention to something that I'm sure has been weighing on everyone's minds for a while now. I raised Milla's affection with L1 in this scene, but really, there's no great answer here.  Always devout So it is... .... Look! Ivar's doing weird Ivar-ish stuff again. He's so weird. Scram, urchins. You must be the only chump in the world who still believes in the Four Great Spirits. Maxwell and the spirits are just a fairy tale invented by grown-ups, you dummy! Ha! You've proven your own ignorance, fools! Allow me to school you! First of all, this town wouldn't even exist without the efforts of the great spirit channeler Kresnik! Hooboy, here we go. Now he's weird and boring. Let's go. Ipso facto-- Hey! Get back here!No matter what the dimension, seems Ivar can't get any respect. Sorry to interrupt your lesson. Do you know about Kresnik, Iva-- Uh, sir? And who exactly are you? Just a bunch of mysterious stranger whom you've never seen before, but hey, we're not here to cause trouble. Ah-ha! Precisely what a troublemaker would say! We're researchers interested in spirit worship. Would you consider sharing your expertise with us? Please, spare no detail. You're researching spirit worship? Correct. In particular the human named Milla Kresnik. Hmph. How could anyone researching spirit worship not know about Milla Kresnik? But I'm willing to play along, even if you are suspicious. I'll tell you, but just this once. Thanks, Iv-- Iv-- I've--never felt so grateful.Jude's just not good at this "playing dumb" thing. He is the earnest type, but still... Good, your gratitude is noted. Now, Milla Kresnik was the first human to ever summon Lord Maxwell. She was a singing handmaid and the first chief of the Kresnik clan. A singing handmaid? Huh, how strange. How dare you! Show some respect! I'm...sorry. Milla Kresnik had a wonderful singing voice. It's said she sang with such passion that even Lord Maxwell fell under her spell. So does that mean this village was founded... By Milla Kresnik herself? Alas, no. She died young, before Nia Khera was built. The village was founded by a member of her clan. I see. You've been very helpful. Of course I have. Don't you know who I am? I am Ivar. Milla Kresnik's successor as handmaid to Lord Maxwell! Preserving and propogating the lore of Lord Maxwell is a handmaid's sworn duty! Right. Thank you. Ivar! It's back! Come quick! The Terror of the Hallowmont? That thing just won't quit! It gets worse... Apparently, two village kids were seen heading up the Hallowmont. What?! Anyway, you gotta get over there! I'll be right behind you!The man and Ivar run off... The Terror of the Hallowmont? I've never heard of such a thing. Perhaps it's our divergence catalyst. *nod* Then we're going, too.Sounds like a plan. There's really nothing to talk about on the way, except you can do a little shopping while you're here in Nia Khera, but I would advise you not buy the Rune Gauntlets at the store. That's because there's a chest on the Hallowmont with those Gauntlets in them, so it'd be a complete waste of money. I hate when games do that.  And here they are. They're in the second area, just past the first set of the vines you have to climb up to proceed, in a small side area you have to crawl to get to. Moving on to the summit...   Terror of the Hallowmont I wanna go home. Mommy! No need to cry! I will save you! Trust me. As handmaid to Lord Maxwell, it is my duty to protect you! You fools! Why would you come here? Look out! Ugh! Aren't those the Four Great Spirits? Well done. We'll take it from here, Ivar. Ready?! Oh god, not this poo poo again. Well, it IS this poo poo again. Remember Exoplasma? Same deal here, but at least it's not *as* hard as the purple apocalypse was. In addition, the "prime" one here is weak to Slash, so that's at least one vulnerability you can exploit easily.  Once again, I would advise you primarily focus attacks on the big guy, as you will catch the others in the crossfire, or your AI pals will go after them and at least keep them busy. Of course, you also have the Chromatus to do extra damage when necessary. All in all, if you beat Exoplasma, you should know how to make round 2 work for you.  Wait, hold on... Is it... Is it really you? I'm sorry. I did not mean to deceive you. It is! Lord Maxwell! Forgive my insolence, my lord! Please, allow me to serve at your side from now on! I beg of you. No.  Half of the story Well, I'm sure Milla understands R1 perfectly by this point, so let's check up on her AND raise her affection. I'm fine. I knew that was coming. Don't worry about me. No point in you getting depressed over it. Anyway, it's obvious that something soured the relationship...between Milla Kresnik and my predecessor. I just wish we could ask the previous Maxwell directly. But I suppose that's easier said than done. Humans say they never appreciate their parents until they're gone. I'm beginning to see their point. I'm not so sure that applies here.Oh Milla. We just don't know what to do with you. Still, be nice to speak with Maxy Boy again, eh? I suppose we'll just have to leave things at that... Next update is going to be...interesting. Stay tuned! Update 29 alternate scene compilation Sylphid fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Sep 23, 2016 |
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Sep 23, 2016 06:35
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I have to say, not only does the Elympios/Rieze Maxia extradition thing not make a whole lot of sense on the face of it, Marica was needlessly frigid about the whole thing in front of Elize, for whose well being she was previously so concerned about. I'm pretty sure "Elympions will be tried in Elympios" doesn't mean "Elympion terrorists can be executed on the spot by Elympion forces even if they're in Rieze Maxia," either. As far as character reputation goes, it's not entirely out of whack. I'm sure Gaius had to downplay things a little bit. It doesn't seem like "I was planning to wipe out Elympios until this rag-tag band of misfits (including a puppet of Maxwell and a thirteen year old girl with far too much power at her disposal) kicked my rear end and made me rethink my strategy" would be a story he'd want getting out to the general public. I'd think the only part of that he WOULD want getting out is that he ultimately decided it was in everyone's best interests to allow Maxwell to dispell the Schism and open up dialogue with Elympios. I doubt most of the party would really want fame anyway. Alvin wouldn't want all the attention, being Alvin. Elize never wanted anything beyond living a normal life, which Driselle Sharil provided by adopting her. Leia was probably too much of a mess at that point to really care, between Alvin trying to murder her and giving up on chasing Jude. On the other hand, everyone in Xillia 2 seems to know the name Jude Mathis, and Rowen's reputation has expanded as he moved up from "retired general" to "Prime Minister of Rieze Maxia" (taking his prior reputation into account, of course). I think by this point in the game, I'd paid off... four or five million gald? I do know that by the time I saw the endgame approaching, I went into overdrive and equipped a bunch of gald-boosting items to every active party member as I went around slaying monsters for the job board. Managed to finish paying off the loan shortly after finishing the last of the character episodes, and the alternate ending had me rolling on the floor. It's pretty fantastic. That being said, I've never seen the bad ending you mention. Looking forward to seeing what a nightmare that winds up being. Judging by how painful it was to record, it ought to be a doozy.
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Sep 23, 2016 14:10
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One of my projects today was to figure out how many times I failed the Bad End fight, and, reasonably sure in my measurement, it is nothing short of scandalous. So, let's play a little game while I'm working on Part XXX. Whosoever guesses most closely the number of times I attempted that fight (including the time I won) gets to choose the entire party's fashion line-up the next time I'm changing outfits.
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Sep 24, 2016 03:09
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17.
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Sep 24, 2016 03:44
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I see your bet and raise it 7.
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Sep 24, 2016 04:31
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You missed transcribing a couple of lines from the video after: Jude: Never mind me! and Millia: I'm...sorry. Sylphid posted:One of my projects today was to figure out how many times I failed the Bad End fight, and, reasonably sure in my measurement, it is nothing short of scandalous. So, let's play a little game while I'm working on Part XXX. Whosoever guesses most closely the number of times I attempted that fight (including the time I won) gets to choose the entire party's fashion line-up the next time I'm changing outfits. 6.
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Sep 24, 2016 04:51
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Sylphid posted:One of my projects today was to figure out how many times I failed the Bad End fight, and, reasonably sure in my measurement, it is nothing short of scandalous. So, let's play a little game while I'm working on Part XXX. Whosoever guesses most closely the number of times I attempted that fight (including the time I won) gets to choose the entire party's fashion line-up the next time I'm changing outfits. I'm going to guess... 9.
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Sep 24, 2016 22:05
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Huh. So, was that dimension's Milla killed to make the Kresnik Memorial Bridge?
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Sep 25, 2016 05:59
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I feel bad for Ivar. I always do for the fuckups who try. I'm gonna guess 27
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Sep 25, 2016 08:47
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Part XXX: The Man Who Departs Oh boy... No more getting around it. As an aside, there are two chapters of Muzet's story you can do right now. The first starts in Drellin, the other in Leronde. I recorded Chapter 2 of Muzet's story, but decided not to go on to 3, because, well... This update's story content more than deserves its own update. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten the Best Great Spirit, not by a long shot.  To the place of the final confrontation "A powerful member of our family must give his life to unfold the bridge to Canaan and pave the way for another. That I'm afraid is the final trial that we face in front of us: a sacrifice to build the soul bridge. I'm waiting at Rieze Harbor in Marksburg. Come find me when you've steeled yourself, when you know what you must do." Ryyooow Hey... If you don't mind, can you tell us the contents of his letter? *nod*A harrowing fade to black later...   "There's a secret to entering Canaan and I possess it. The life of a Kresnik, correct?" She must have concluded that you'd be the one sacrificed to build the bridge. Before we proceed further, there is something I must know. Gaius! Here's Gaius testing us again... But no matter how you cut it, there is only one option here... Which I said then, but actually, choosing R1 will completely change how the rest of this scene plays out, and interestingly, also how another scene coming up plays out. The things you'll discover recording alternate choices. Very well. Then let us go too.*knock knock*  Ouch... Bad timing. We need to celebrate your newfound freedom from crushing debt! Uh-oh... You guys look even more depressed than usual. Um, Nova... Sorry, but I'm afraid we'll be gone for a while. Oh, I see. Well, I guess we can put this party on hold, but not for too long! I mean, isn't Julius back, too? I bought tomatoes for him and everything! Ludger?   Ah drat... It's just, you have a bad sense of timing Nova. Still, though, at least it's been a truism lately, that you can't keep a good Nova down.      The final curtain just need to hold out a little longer... Ludger, you came.  What's that? What you see there is a soul bridge. Bisley just entered the Land of Canaan. Don't tell me he used Elle?! No. She's his weapon against Chronos. I'm guessing that Rideaux unfortunately got the honor. drat... Bisley never saw Rideaux and I as anything more than tools for creating the bridge. That's just the sort of man he is.  Asking why is pointless, at this time. But maybe...  Unless one of us dies, the Land of Canaan will forever remain out of reach.   *gasp* His transformation has progressed that far?! I'm a dead man no matter what. At least this way my death will mean something to someone. Use my life. Let me be your path to the Land of Canaan. This is the (potential) start to a very important series of choices. If you press L1 now, you'll proceed with the story. If you don't... Well, we'll press R1 a couple times, just for drama's sake. If you want to know what happens if you keep pressing R1... Well, you'll just have to wait until next mini-update. Yeah, totally! C'mon, we've made it through worse. We'll find a way! I'm afraid there is no time. You know everything, Rowen! There's gotta be a way! I'm sorry, Miss Elize. Don't just float there, Muzet! Use your powers to fix this!  Let me go... It's for the best. If you don't kill me now, they'll just have to sacrifice you to get there. Hey, listen to your big brother, Ludger. It's what he wants. It's not that simple! I know that! But, what else can we possibly do? It was always meant to be... From before any of this was set in motion, it was going to happen this way...  If that's the case, let me be your big brother one last time. I need to see for myself if you're strong enough to see this through. W-Wait! Stop. We have no right to intervene in their fight. Sorry about the entrance exam. This time the test is for real! Ludger vs. Julius Kresnik, the final battle You like that? I thought it went pretty well, for being on Chaos and all. Anyhow, first screenshot links to the battle video.  I've always thought of you as a child. Someone to be there for, someone to protect. However... Aaaaaaarrrghh! I accept you. You now have the power to choose for yourself! Alright, enough of that. Needed some cool action shots, ya know? Julius here is a decently typical 1-1 fight, albeit he is extremely fast, and very powerful. Ludger is not the greatest healer on his own (he only has Sanctuary, which is a Hammer skill. It's similar to Alvin's Guardian Field), and Julius can very quickly KO you. However, in this fight, you simply don't have the luxury of using a slow arte like Sanctuary. Your best bet for healing / TP restoration is items, but I elected not to use them, just to keep things interesting. Oh, and the good song playing over this fight is For the Sake of Mutual Proof Julius does have a Mystic Arte, but it's basically just Ludger's Mystic Arte, Ritual of Destruction, minus the hammer and guns part. Once you've depleted all of his HP...  Not against our family's curse. Not against Bisley!  Do you have what it takes!       Welcome back to...Trigleph... But it's not real, is it? No. Talking to Bisley (!) there will reveal his only concern is...what time it is. You can also find Rideaux, Ivar, Yurgen, and the entire playable cast (sans Muzet and Milla) just chilling around. Ivar and Rideaux are more concerned with signing autographs in front of the Spirius Corporation (you can't go inside) than causing trouble for us. It's Julius' ideal world...a world where he can live in peace with Ludger. And we have to destroy it. I think you know where to go...  My Brother Gotta move! Not so fast! Well, you need to learn to stand it. Maybe someday. *chuckle* You're impossible. Whoa, now I'm really late! I'll make pasta margherita for dinner tonight, okay? *sigh* Still trying to butter me up with tomatoes. It works, but still.   What's up? Forget something?  Oh. Heh. I sure wish I could've eaten one last pasta margherita. There's worse things than being dragged around by your brother.         Go on, Ludger. Now it's your turn to look after someone special.          Goodbye, Julius... Well, just to wrap this update up, we can have a chat with everyone else in the party. You'll notice here that there are only three stars, and there's 8 other characters in the party (it's Muzet and Leia who are outliers here, since I didn't do Muzet's latest chapter on this playthrough so far. Not a big deal, since there's always my other playthrough). We shall start with Alvin and Elize. And yes, to get all the conversations you have to have done all the character chapters up to this point in the story. The next step Ludger... Um... Look at the bright side, kid. Now you can get out there and save Elle! Alvin! At times like this you gotta keep walking forward. Nothing good will come from looking back, even if it's for a moment, am I right? I guess you have a point. Let's go and save Elle! We'll help you! Don't carry all the guilt on your shoulders. In the end, we were all accomplices in this. Yes.Next up, the Administrative Power House Duo. The critical reflection Ludger, you did very well. I cannot agree more. After all, destroying a world is burden enough. But this time it's unimaginable. Over the course of my career, I took the lives of thousands of soldiers. When you consider each soldier's potential, what I did was little different than destroying a world. I am well aware of my sins. But, at the same time, I also believe this: The destruction I wrought paved the way for new things to be born. It's the same here. It arose when you and the others destroyed the closed-off world of Rieze Maxia. Precisely why it is my responsibility to safeguard the future of this world. Same here. Ludger, this world isn't out of danger yet, but you and Julius have given it the possibility of being saved. Now we must do everything in our power to turn that possibility into reality. *nod* *nod*Now it's time for the Spirit and the Reporter to weigh in. The important path You can cry if you want to. No need to be ashamed. *shakes head* If you tell him it's okay to cry, he'll just choke back the tears even more. How do you know? Because Jude was the same way when he was a kid. Now why are you crying? Because Julius... I'm sure he gave his brother a pat on the back before departing. I know these things. I'm an elder sister, after all.And now, for the Xillia Protagonist Duo to give their two cents... The great resolve We forced you to play a painful role. I'm so sorry. I wish we could have done something. *shakes head* What did Julius say at the end? Sorry, don't think we'll answer that. From beyond the grave, this raises Julius' affection. I see. I don't blame you at all. Those words were for you alone. Nevertheless, his final wish is obvious even to me. Me, too. *nod* To think human bonds remain strong even across the gulf of death. Chronos, Origin: Know this is why I fight. Why I put my faith in humanity. The road to Canaan   Let's go. This bridge just might vanish like the old one did. Not this time. Julius is holding it up for us. Hey. *nod* You go first. After all, this bridge was built for none other than you.   Update 30 alternate scene compilation Sylphid fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Oct 2, 2016 |
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Sep 29, 2016 07:47
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Well, a deal's a deal, and now that XXX has been posted, I am ready to reveal the truth, and the winner. By my count one boring afternoon, I attempted the Bad End fight (will be coming next) ninety-eight times. I swear to god. So you all were way off, but per the conditions, Deceitful Penguin gets to choose the fashion line-up for the party for next time I record. Also, for another fun statistic, the fastest I went from an attempt to dead was 7 seconds.
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Sep 29, 2016 07:53
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Ninety-eight?! drat. I didn't realize I was being so charitable. I think my dialogue choices wound up being "there's no choice" at the apartment, "why the hell do we have to do this" when Ludger gets there and resigning himself to it before the fight instead of pleading for a way out. I wanna say it's actually a bit more dramatic if you pick the "I can't do it" option at the apartment; I wasn't aware just how much that changed the subsequent scenes. It actually took me two or three tries to beat Julius playing on Moderate difficulty, but then, I'm kinda poo poo at this game when I don't have an entire party full of badasses to cover my shortcomings.
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Sep 29, 2016 14:03
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At a certain point, when you add in enough melodrama, it stops feeling authentic and starts becoming comical. "You must murder your brother to go to the promised land!" on top of all the other melodrama is going too far. You can see the writers hands on the dagger. It's tiring at this point and it makes me stop wanting to care. And Novas appearance for comic relief/dagger twisting? Really? That... no. As for the Zestiria fight, I was only on Normal, but I found setting the AI to defend/retreat while I spammed Trinity Arrow (it hits the enemy weakness) or Crown Fire (juggles the enemy) worked very well. (Not pretending that would work well on Chaos, just saying that's how I did it.) I never did get good using the Earth Armitization stuff.
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Sep 29, 2016 16:05
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Part XXX-2: Family Matters As I've mentioned, an alternate ending to this whole part of the game involves an actual ending to the game. But like the Bad End in Dawn of the New World, it's treated as more of a glorified Game Over, even if it is an ending to the story. We'll begin at the point where, in the previous update, Ludger declared his intention to take Julius' life. Let's see what happens on this timeline...  Nothing left Now you lose your nerve? Have you forgotten all the dimensions you destroyed to get here?! Ludger... Will that...be your final decision here? Then you better go home, Ludger. You just don't have the stomach for this. Though I have to admit, that's what I love about-- Aaaaaaah! I'm sorry. But it looks like I will have to trouble you after all. Understood. Allow me.  Oh boy... No turning back now. It has to be this way. For the sake of this world, we must reach the Land of Canaan.  Ludger?!    Ludger, stop! What?! Knock it off!  Eat this! Elize! Why would you--    What have you done? drat it. This is truly your decision?  Desperate Struggle Ooooooh boy, let's talk about the Bad End fight. Aside from us turning into the bad guy (with a few shades of Victor), this fight is tough. Tough with a capital T. There are...quite a few reasons for this. 1. Obviously, we're alone in this. No one to back us up or draw the enemy's attention. All of their guns will be trained on us 100% of the time. This is an enormous problem because if one of your enemies is slighty off-screen, you could run right into them by accident and bring you from full to nothing in moments. 2. The Xillia cast LOVES their combos. Seriously, it's unrelenting. For most combos, you might as well go and make yourself a sandwich while they wrap things up. While I would not necessarily suggest this course of action, the point remains the same: your health can drop to nothing in a single devastating combo. Basically, this fight makes you empathize with all the poor enemies we've had to fight so often. Imagine if you had to play as one of the Elite Monsters I've got 100-hit combos against, and you get a rough idea. 3. Related to the above point: status effects galore. You are gonna need a TON of Syrup Bottles to get through this fight. I would say 15 minimum, just to be safe. You will almost certainly not use all of them, but you never know. Syrup Bottles prevent you from getting hit with any new status effects, but if you have any status effects and you use a Syrup Bottle, it won't clear them. You'll need a Panacea Bottle for those. Just about every attack you can get hit with may hit you with a status effect. Of these, Confusion and Stone are the worst, since there's nothing you can do about either until they go away. 4. Simply how *long* this fight takes. My successful run at this fight (after nearly 3 1/2 hours of trying and 98 attempts) lasted 11 minutes and change. No matter how you slice it, this fight is a slog. As you might guess, this is a 1-8 fight. The fight will always start with Jude, Milla, Leia, and Rowen as your starting adversaries. Once a single one of them goes down, the next cast member will tag in, and so forth. The order goes Alvin -> Elize -> Muzet -> Gaius. The thing is, this fight gets easier as you progress in it. Gaius and Muzet have glaring weaknesses between them, and I'd say as soon as Alvin shows up, you're in the deep poo poo. He gets my vote as the hardest of the 8.  Well, that's all well and good, but how do you win this thing? Well, there are a number of things to make it easier on yourself. First of all, if you have the Spirius Fangs and / or the Hallowed Doll, use them. Preferably together, like I did. Their odds of reviving you are independent of each other, and while not guaranteed, it's much better than nothing. This fight would be balls-rear end hard without at least one of them. Second of all, exploit weaknesses. Every enemy has at least one weakness: Jude (Fire), Milla (Darkness), Rowen (Fire and Wind), Leia (Gun), Alvin (Water), Elize (Slash, maybe. She usually dies so quickly I don't notice), Muzet (Light and Strike), and Gaius (Darkness). Now, obviously, starting combos is going to be the hardest part. This is where Crimson Fury (a Slash arte) comes in. Crimson Fury, as you might guess, is a Fire-attack. The important part is that it launches a target into the air. Once you've hit a target with Crimson Fury twice, you're usually high enough to avoid any counterattacks. As long as you have AC, and they don't counter, you can keep hitting them. I would also highly advise the use of Moonlight Assault. It's a Light-elemental skill you can use in the air (so adding another element to a combo that starts with Crimson Fury). Moonlight Assault also comes with the rather good chance of hitting a target with Confusion. They're in the enviable position of being able to harass your former allies while they can't do anything about it. Obviously, not something to solely rely on, but it happens more often than you think. Now, I'll go into the enemy roll call, just to give you an idea how to handle each one, if each was a 1-1 fight. Jude: because of his weakness to Fire, should be your first or second target. He can counterattack in mid-air, but it's nothing too devastating. He won't even able to counter if you mix up elements soon enough. He doesn't have much HP, so 1-2 good combos should be enough to critically wound him, if not kill him. None of Jude's attacks are particularly bad, it's just his speed is going to be your biggest worry. Milla: definitely one of the most dangerous. Her summon artes are her best asset. Sylph II will fire out three projectiles that home in on you, and the only way to avoid getting staggered by them is to use Magic Guard. Gnome II is completely impossible to see coming, and it instantly locks in on you, so you just have to eat that damage, unfortunately. Milla you'll mostly want to catch in the crossfire. Rowen: by far the easiest to kill. He doesn't have an aerial counterattack, so you can launch him into the air with Fury and he simply can't respond to that. His spells are extremely annoying, and he does have a healing arte he'll throw out occasionally when he gets low on HP. Jude or Rowen will be probably be the first to die. One more note: if you hear him yell out "Tightening Chains!" immediately Magic Guard it. You can't run away from it. Leia: annoying more than anything. Her weakness to Guns is not easy to exploit, simply because Gun Ludger is extremely slow, and this is a fight you need to constantly be highly mobile in. My advice would be to hit Leia with Moonlight Assault + Power Charge 2 (3 is not especially necessary in this fight), then get her into the air as fast as possible. Leia goes down extremely quickly if you can get a good combo on her. The long reach with her staff and sheer variety of moves she'll throw out will get old real fast. If she has a healing spell (she does have a couple normally), I didn't see it all night fighting against her. Alvin: again, my nomination for single most dangerous target. Alvin has a LOT of HP (relative for this fight, of course), and can hit you from any range, or at least pin you down with things like Squall Shot. Be mindful of when he's charged, because he'll always add more hits. Once again, focusing on Alvin alone can be tricky, so simply keep throwing stuff his way and eventually he'll break. Water is not an easy vulnerability to exploit (Arc Fire will probably be your best bet in this department), so my combo advice for Leia also goes for Alvin. Elize: piss easy to kill. Not much health and very slow. Still, you'll want to take her out quickly, just so she doesn't heal, and she can be a rather bothersome ankle-biter. Still, Elize showing up is definitely when the fight gets easier. Muzet: wide variety of attacks, but again, her lack of health or defense is her greatest weakness. Muzet on paper seems like an annoying adversary, for her ability to warp away from trouble, but the AI just doesn't do that very much, and if you hit her hard, she won't get much of a chance to. Her most dangerous attack is Elemental Hymn, where she'll fire 4 orbs of the Big 4 elements, and, just like in Xillia 1, getting hit with all four is more or less a death sentence. They do home in on you, but they're not especially accurate. Gaius: weird adversary. He's simply awkward to fight because on paper he's very slow, but his sword attacks can be *very* fast to come out, and he can cut through the distance in an instant. Two artes you should watch out for: Dragon's Maw and Incineration Wave. The first one fires out a few shards of light that act like spears, and then Gaius will rush forward to impale you and toss you away. Assuming you dodge the first part, you can easily get behind him for a combo. Incineration Wave, Gaius will stop for a moment and then fire out a huge beam of energy for a few seconds. Obviously, once he starts firing, that's when you get behind him. You can also take advantage of Divine Ascension, where he'll charge up a massive swing that will cut through a block, but it's not an attack you should be blocking. Of course, none of these fights but the last party member standing is a 1-1 fight, and when it's 1-1, the game's over for them. Simply put, a lot of this fight is going to depend on luck. Sometimes you'll get hit with a status effect at just the wrong time, and you'll die. Sometimes the enemy will just completely surround and you won't be able to break out. Sometimes you misjudge how close an enemy is when you use an item, and they'll be right on top of you, or you get blindsided by an enemy the camera didn't catch. What I've said as a guide to defeat your allies is simply everything to keep in mind when you fight. Make no mistake: this is an enormously difficult fight, and it's gonna take a while to win on Hard or above. There's just no getting around that. Oh, and two final notes: cooking and the Chromatus. If you're having a lot of trouble, you can always eat something to give you an edge. Something to increase attack or defense, or both at the same time. Obviously, Fruit Yakisoba is your best bet, since it gives you a whopping 15% increase in all attack and defense stats. The Chromatus you'll need to exploit a lot. Since Ludger took Julius' watch, your Chromatus charge can go up to level 3, but it's not worth waiting around that long, since you'll need the Chromatus to either stack on the damage or get out of trouble. When you are transformed, just spam Dark Projection (up+circle) and Azure Edge over and over. Projection will keep them running after you, preventing any clean hits, and Azure Edge has a rather large blast radius and will throw anyone caught in the blast radius away, forcing them to come back to try and hit you. Even a level 1 Chromatus can do a *ton* of damage. Of course, if you're level 2 or 3, throw in Form Destroyer if you can.  Of course, they can link with each other, and use their support skills, but remember: Linked allies take damage together. Once you've reached this stage in the fight, you've basically won it. Hell, once no more reinforcements come in, you've got that fight well in hand. There's a universe of difference between four adversaries at once and three, believe it or not. All you need to do is just not get careless, and wrap things up.  11 minutes for you, 3 1/2 hours for me...  At the end of the fondest wish You... You threw away everything for me? *sigh* So this was all in vain.  Ludger... Or maybe...  Sheesh... What a downer of an ending, when you think about it. I'm guessing by the lack of bodies around where Ludger fought, he didn't actually kill anyone on the team (I'm just guessing, since in RPGs defeating someone in battle does not necessarily mean they were killed), but something tells me they're not going to be partnering up with Ludger any time soon. Meanwhile, Julius and Ludger have bought a little more time, but it's all in vain in the first place, and Elle is done for. Bisley will get exactly what he wants, and... Well, that's even *if* Bisley succeeds. He fails, and humanity is done for. Thankfully, that's why this is a glorified game over... Sylphid fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Oct 1, 2016 |
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Oct 1, 2016 23:34
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Yeah, that's basically the second most melodramatic thing they could have done there. (The first of course being "somehow a boss fight vs Elle" but they couldn't find an rear end big enough to pull that out of.)
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Oct 1, 2016 23:49
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I love that Leia's weakness is "Gun", presumably because she ate a bullet from Alvin in the first game. 
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Oct 2, 2016 07:08
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 18:11 |
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Man, being a final boss against a JRPG party is not easy.
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Oct 3, 2016 15:22
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