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Update 1a: Son & Daughter (A-Side) Yes, Denam or as he is known in the local wrestling circuit, Denam “Havel” Pavel.   You voted for September 5 to be Denam’s birthday, which according to the crazy fantasy calendar is of course the sixth day of Seascale. In case you didn’t look through the votes Denam now shares a birthday with Freddie Mercury. Nice work, goons. Now, here’s what all those questions were for.  That’s right tarot cards. The game picks five cards at random and then asks the player the question that goes with each card. The answers are used to determine Denam’s stats. Each answer will add a predetermined amount of points to his base stats. The stats are: HP or health. Strength affects melee and ranged attacks. Vitality affects defense. Dexterity affects melee and ranged accuracy and attack. Agility affects accuracy. Avoidance affects the ability to avoid attacks. Intelligence affects strength of offensive magic. Mind affects offensive and defensive magic and some skills. Resistances affects the ability to resist magic. Our answer for the Magician’s question will give Denam a bonus of 4 Hp, 1 Dex, 2 Avd, & 2 Mnd. Let’s look at the rest.  5 Hp, 2 Dex, 1 Agi, 1 Avd, & 2 Mnd  1 Hp, 1 Vit, 1 Dex, 2 Agi, & 1 Int  4 Hp, 1 Dex, 2 Agi, 1 Avd, & 2 Res  1 Str, 1 Agi, 2 Int, & 1 Mnd. You can add these up if you want. I’m not going to.  And that’s it for the character creation stuff. Let’s begin the game proper.  Click here to watch video. This is the third time we’ve seen Square Enix’s name on this. I think they were worried people might not realize they had a hand in making this game.   As the word 'episode' would imply this game is part of a series. You might be asking, “How does this series’ timeline work?” and a whole lot of other questions. The answer to all of these questions is, this game takes place after all the other games but at around the same time as that other one, the one with 64 in the title (wonder what system that one is on). That is all I am going to say about the timeline. You shouldn't care about it too much, but I might throw in some interesting tidbits for time to time, if I remember too.   “…as the years go by Oh my love, my love In the quiet of the night Let our candle always burn Let us never lose the lessons we have learned” What? Were you expecting me to sing it in Japanese?   “Sure hope nothing bad is happening in flashback land while I’m away.”    Axe to the back, such a cliché death.  People are dying (in the past) and he’s having a joy ride with birds after a nice summer’s rain.   That guy has one bitchin’ horse, and an eye patch.   “I’m back from my morning horsey ride. Did I miss anything?”   Our hero’s house appears to be all basement. The ultimate goon dwelling.   Then it's time. Right, sister?  Time to end this madness. We can't beat him. You know that.  What are you saying, Catiua? You'd have us pass up a chance like this?  But this is an RPG, even at low levels three people can save the world. That is if they can exploit the game’s mechanics enough. They're the ones who've been foolish. And we stand to gain. Don't tell me you're scared! If you've lost your taste for blood, I'll do this myself. Vyce seems a little confrontational.  The gang heads outside.  Lanselot is Captain of the Dark Knights, and they are the source of Bakram power. Kill Lanselot, and you remove one of the pillars supporting them. The Bakram will falter, if only for a moment. Yet that moment will be all the encouragement the Galgastani require. They want Valeria for their own, and they will move to take it. If you didn’t pay attention during the opening video, Vyce’s plan is to get the two major powers in Valeria, that would be Bakram and Galgastan, to go to war with each other. Hopefully the war would weaken both sides to the point to where the Walister, Denam and co.’s people, could fight back the Galgastani who recently played a game genocide with the Walisters. Can you guess who won that game?   We are less than vermin in their eyes - insects to be crushed underfoot.  If you are wondering why I put all these pictures in, it is to show off all the little movements the sprites make during these scenes. It’s a nice touch and keeps the game for just being a bunch of talking heads.  “I can see their feet.” We'll flank them! Denam, go round behind. Right.  The gang moves into position to tangle with... wait a second, does that one guy have wings?   I was going to make a gif of this but VirtualDub had other plans.  Lanselot (that’s right with an “s”) and his men are standing around doing nothing, completely unaware of the presence of their would be assassins. Either our little gang is really good at this or they see us and they just don’t care.    On Denam’s turn the game decides it might be as good of time as any of some basic instruction.  This is what you see during battles. At the bottom of the screen we have the turn order going left to right (please ignore the fact everyone is green right now). Just above that on the right-hand side we have the elevation and terrain information. To the left we see Denam’s current level, Hp, Mp, and Tp. Mp and Tp are used for magic and skills, respectfully. Everyone starts each battle with zero of both, and they gain a certain amount each turn. In the upper left-hand corner, we have the actual menu. The five options are move, act, skill, condition, and end turn. They do exactly what you think they do.  Alright there’s not much to do so let’s move forward.  These are all of Denam’s currently available actions. They are melee attack, ranged attack, and item. Later on there will be actions like magic and finishing moves.  In this game you can attack using anything you have equipped on either of your two hands. Attacking with a shield is about as useful as you think.  You can actually attack obstacles like bushes to get them out of your way. Its usefulness is situational, and I’ll let you know if that situation ever comes up.  Vyce rushes forward and makes contact with the enemy and attacks.  He doesn’t do a very good job.  He does however alert Lanselot to the fact that we exist. Friends of the Resistance...and no friends of yours! Those are some harsh words.  The Resistance?  We decide to have a nice chat with the supposed targets of our revenge. It goes without saying that they are not impressed with us. Wait. Do you even know who we are? You're Lanselot, and that makes you my enemy! Lanselot is my name, true. How is that you know me? How could I forget you!? The Dark Knights laid torch to this town only a winter past! The Dark Knights...? But we come from the kingdom of New Xenobia to the east. And Lanselot of the Dark Knights has but one eye. You have two. One eye, you say? Would that he lacked my name as well. His reputation, it seems, does me no favors. Lanseolt know quite well that the other Lanselot only has one eye, if you catch my drift.  But that doesn’t come up in either of the games they’re in. By the way, Lanselot is from an earlier Ogre Battle game. No marauding knights us, but mercenaries come looking for work.   And I am Canopus, the one they name Wind Caller. Our aged companion here is - The Star Seer, Warren Omon, at your service. Star Seer is not that impressive of title. Anyone can see stars, even during the day.  He’s the polite one.  Mirdyn Walhorn, a knight of Xenobia, as it please you.  He says as he lunges forward intimidatingly. I wasn't - I...I don't know what to say. Forgive us, good knights. But perhaps this meeting might benefit us both. We have need of strength such as yours. Tell us your tale, then. We are strangers in this land, and I would hear more of it. I'm Vyce...and it would seem you are not our enemy. I am the sibyl Catiua, and this is my brother, Denam.  These guys seem cool, and we don’t want them thinking we’re jerks now do we. So I’m picking the first choice.  Already forgotten, though you did give us quite the surprise. Now, do you think we might talk somewhere out of this wretched heat? We have just the place. It's not much, but it's secret and it's safe.  Everybody walks off and follows Catiua back to the house. The house I thought they were standing next this whole time. Guess I was wrong. ____________________________________________________________ Before I end this update we must first take a trip to the rear end in a top hat universe so that we might explore the alternate possibilities.  This time Denam gets to be the jerk he always wanted to be. Do not be so quick to trust, sister. We know nothing of these men save their name, and that only on their word. You are mistrustful for one so young. Let's leave the children to play amongst themselves, Lanselot. We mean you no harm. Is the benefit of the doubt too much to ask? Where are your manners, Denam? Apologize at once!   Even rear end in a top hat Denam is moved by grandstanding oaths. A good oath. Forgive our mistrust, Lord Knight. Already forgotten, though you did give us quite the surprise.Then the rest of the scene plays out the same way as it did before. If I had pick the other option then Catiua would had apologized for Denam and called him a ninny or something. ____________________________________________________________ Next Time: We're going to have some nice mercenaries over for tea, talk politics, and maybe we will even play some cards. Helmet 10 Warehouse fucked around with this message at 02:40 on May 30, 2013 |
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