|
Surtur, the Fire Giant of Fire Giants, running Jotunheim, which is supposedly home of the 'Vanir' who Freya is one of, but who are clearly giants. Frost giants. Weirdness after weirdness. Even if you accept some bits, it leads to more questions. How the gently caress did they convince him to come to a place he likely hates and lead a people he likely has issue with? How do they keep him from melting the place? How do they keep him from freezing to death?
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2014 15:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 20:29 |
|
|
Wasn't Surtr imprisoned in Jotunheim at the start of the world or something? I seem to recall from what little Norse mythology I do remember reading that the whole reason Odin and the Aesir run Asgard to start with was because they had a war with the giants and kicked their asses, Surtr included.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2014 16:01
|
|
|
Derek Barona posted:Wasn't Surtr imprisoned in Jotunheim at the start of the world or something? I seem to recall from what little Norse mythology I do remember reading that the whole reason Odin and the Aesir run Asgard to start with was because they had a war with the giants and kicked their asses, Surtr included. Well, no, that's not how it went. Also this game doesn't know what the gently caress it's doing when it comes to Norse mythology, so it's best to just ignore all that stuff altogether. At least that's what I do.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2014 16:09
|
|
|
Maybe its got something to do with the whole 'Ragnarok is a cycle' thing? Odin has both eyes here, for instance. Maybe the 'canon' version of the Norse Gods is several Ragnaroks down the line, and Odin exchanging one eye for wisdom ends up leading to the cycle ending?
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2014 16:54
|
|
|
vilkacis posted:Because I only have so many votes and someone has to vote for Grey and Kashell This just shows you have good taste. Well, not about Grey. Bloodly posted:How the gently caress did they convince him to come to a place he likely hates and lead a people he likely has issue with? How do they keep him from melting the place? How do they keep him from freezing to death? The answer is always Freya's hat.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2014 16:57
|
|
|
Kay Kessler posted:
Isn't he dead, though? Like, Odin had a new kid THAT DAY to murder Hodr. Vali, you had one job.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2014 17:20
|
|
Hodur is the blind god(hence the eyes) that Loki tricked into killing Baldur.
|
On the other hand, Loki killing Baldur doesn't seem to have occurred.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2014 17:23
|
|
|
Wait, since all out sent-up einherjar are gods now, shouldn't their PWSes be "divine assault" as well, now? Or do you only get to call it that if you create the technique while you're a god?Wonderslug posted:This just shows you have good taste. I invoke the power of the glacial pace. 
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2014 18:52
|
|
|
chiasaur11 posted:Isn't he dead, though? 
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2014 19:05
|
|
|
vilkacis posted:Wait, since all out sent-up einherjar are gods now, shouldn't their PWSes be "divine assault" as well, now? Or do you only get to call it that if you create the technique while you're a god? They are not gods. They've been awarded the rank, but they're not actual gods.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2014 02:17
|
|
|
vilkacis posted:Wait, since all out sent-up einherjar are gods now, shouldn't their PWSes be "divine assault" as well, now? Or do you only get to call it that if you create the technique while you're a god? Bloodly posted:They are not gods. They've been awarded the rank, but they're not actual gods. quote:
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2014 03:15
|
|
: Congratulations, mortal. You now rank among the gods of Valhalla!
: What, really? I'm... I'm a god now!?
|
So many choices, I went for the overkill option of Arngrim and Lawfer. We got the best weapons for those classes and we're drat well gonna use 'em right! but I guess it woulda been fun to hamper our team for the final stretch but I doubt that'd play out in the poll anyway So I guess I made something like a fan work for the LP. The other day I voiced the incantations of the spells and Great Magic. They're fun as hell to say, although some took a few dozen takes to get right without tripping over some of the weirder quotes or channeling too much of The Slumbering Smug. Not the best, but it was something to 
Zeikier fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Jun 4, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2014 04:29
|
|
|
Welll....you wouldnt sound out of place of a early PS1 game.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2014 04:38
|
|
|
Probably not the best choice for that mission, Freya. He'll find some way to drown in it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2014 04:44
|
|
|
It is kind of nice to have everybody back that you sent up, rather than them being gone forever.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2014 08:35
|
|
|
AfroSquirrel posted:Probably not the best choice for that mission, Freya. He'll find some way to drown in it. You guys  By the way Apples, you fight Bloodbane on this path, right? Because if you do, please record it. That voice needs to be heard.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2014 10:27
|
|
|
vilkacis posted:By the way Apples, you fight Bloodbane on this path, right? Because if you do, please record it. That voice needs to be heard. As a result of googling up the answer to that question (yes, you do fight that on this path, for the record), I happened to come across a guide for this ending path. That guide pretty much recommended that in order to beat the spoilered boss (as well as the final boss), you just transmute a fuckton of Ice Crystals (from Shisen-To katanas) and spam them.  That's got to be the most rear end-backwards VP strategy I've actually ever heard of. How do these people write strategy guides?
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2014 11:18
|
|
|
"Those who can, do; those who can't, teach"? It is a pretty weird strategy - I never would have thought of it myself. But then again I found the usual "hit it really hard with your weapons and space lasers" one worked adequately.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2014 11:51
|
|
|
vilkacis posted:You guys You fight the spoilered on both.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2014 15:16
|
|
|
Alright, I think that'll do it. Let's give a hand to Arngrim, Lawfer and Gandar on their promotion to Vanir-slayers in our final charge. Honourable mentions to Yumei, Lucian and Aelia, who all put up a good fight. I'll be away for a week starting Friday, but I'll try to get the final dungeon up tomorrow and the last bits of this route if I get free time and internet access next week.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2014 15:17
|
|
|
 Arngrim and Gandar both tied for the highest number of votes in their category, at 63 votes each. Yumei was just a bit short of Gandar, at 53. Meanwhile, Lawfer took second place with 40 votes. Lucian and Aelia had 29 and 28 votes, respectively. Everyone got some votes though! Now let's get some experience going. We'll slap both our Bracelets of Zoe on.   DME, rise!  I'd say this is as good as we're going to get.  OST: To the Last Drop of My Blood Jotunheim has some decent music. The dungeon itself, I'm not entirely fond of, but it could be worse.  Since we're up in Asgard, we can shop anywhere, instead of only at save points.  We'll head up first. There's a copy of Mental Reaction here, which lets Sorcerers consume DME to restore CT. However, using it means not using Wait Reaction, so I'll pass.  Further up and we'll find our gimmick, ice platforms which soon disappear after we land on them, and reform a while after they melt. I was never good at platforming puzzles, so they took me embarrassingly more time than I'd have liked.  Vanir are the main enemy here, with three different kinds of Vanir. This gold-coloured one always appears by himself, so I've never seen him do anything special, as a concentrated effort brings him down easily.  The end of this optional part are three flame holders, and an empty one on the bottom with plenty of ice platforms in the way. We'll take the Red Flame from the top left.  Then place it into the empty one.  We'll then take the blue flame from the bottom right, and add it to the red flame.  The... Daisy (?) Fire is what we'll need for the optional boss up ahead. Now we can head back to the entrance.  Oh here's a shot of Dinosaur Stream I guess.  Next up are the blue Vanir, who are usually paired with a Wise Sorcerer. They're both weak to Poison.  As such they're easy to one-shot.  ...Gandar, are you wearing short shorts? Is it just because they're comfy and easy to wear?  I don't get a good shot of it, but further on icicles start falling from the ceiling, which damage us and knock us away slightly if they hit us.  The Scarlet Edge skills lets a Warrior add a chance to Faint with their attacks. Not a bad skill, but useless for boss fights. This area annoys me because you have to jump up the platforms, and right at the final jump two icicles come down and knock you all the way to the bottom and start all over.  There's this one chest that looks quite low to the ground but you can't get there by jumping - you have to platform higher, then fall to it. Actually, none of the treasures in the final dungeon are irreplaceably good, so you could just ignore most of them and shoot to the final boss.  Coming up in this area is our optional boss.  Meet Bloodbane. You can fight him only if you have the Daisy Fire from earlier.  OST: Systematic Enemy  Fear me. Worship me. I am Bloodbane. Your sins lay heavy upon you, defiler of souls. By the holy laws you shall be obliterated!Bloodbane is normally a tough boss. With 200,000 health, he's not exactly a pushover, and he enjoys dealing heavy bouts of Fire damage to your party. Even back row characters aren't safe. Stun Checks are very helpful here - Bloodbane doesn't Faint, but they cut down Fire damage by 50%. And you can't exactly beat him by attrition; Bloodbane knows Heal and will cast it every ten turns. When he gets low on health, he'll start spamming Gravity Blessing.  So we'll subscribe to the Barbarossa method.    Right buddy. Let's see how far we can get.    Yeah I don't think that'll be enough...  Hold on. Bloodbane, meet Lawfer.  Bloodbane, meet the Dinosaur. That's 90k damage right there.  Urrrgaaaaaah! Thou are mere insects; how could you possibly have.... rrrrrrggahh!And that's how we kill Bloodbane in three turns (with some luck from Guts).  Arngrim and Lawfer get two levels out of it too, which is nice.  Our prize is the Levantine (or Lævateinn).  With 2200 attack power and boosting in damage as the user's health drops, I think it's time to retire Lenneth from bows.  Now back to our job.  The grey Vanir are slightly tougher, as they have more health and will block reliably, so hit them with Wait Reaction or an unblockable skill first.  Apparently Wise Sorcerers know Invoke Feather.  It's been a while since I've had Lenneth with a sword, so I have to get used to her timings again.  More platforming! You can use crystals to give yourself some added height to land the jumps.  At the end of a hallway are the Fires of Purgatory. We then have a time limit to run back the way we came for a few screens before they burn out (if they do, we just come back and do it again). There are two fights along the way, and trying to jump to avoid them results in us getting an icicle surprise from above and wasting time. So we'll just fight them (they don't eat up any time).  When we get to the third screen running back, a doorway that wasn't there before appears.  We're almost at the end.  Jumping across an ice bridge (man, I am so bad at platforming) jumps us right into this guy.  The Mithril Golem has 100,000 health.  I Fainted him on the first round and eviscerated him on the second, so I can't give you much more than that.  Good experience.  And we're at the final Save Point! Party check.   I didn't use Lawfer seriously from the moment I got him but then the Dinosaur came and he torpedoed into usefulness again.  Arngrim, because Arngrim.  And Gandar. I guess he's done his job well enough.     ... We will not wait for Lord Odin's divine attention. The power to enforce his will is mine. Now, as is fit for a king... Draw your sword. Draw and die!! What?! Ignorant woman.  Can you not see that I now walk the path of justice?! Your Lord Odin is nothing but a master of trickery and deceit. Surt is voiced by Scottie Ray.  OST: Jesting Truth You've gotta admit, he knows how to make an entrance. Meet the final boss, Surt. He comes with two Vanir, and like Bloodbane, he loves to throw lots of Fire at your party.  His physical attacks aren't too bad.  Flare Storm will hurt without Fire protection.  We might as well take out the Vanir first.  ...It's taken up to the final boss but I finally have an enemy casting a Great Magic on me.  Surt will cast Ifrit Caress every three turns.  It does hurt, but not that much more than Flare Storm.  Right, Barb strategy again.  Surt also knows regular Fire spells, which aren't too bad. If you come in with lots of Fire protection you'll do fine.   He also casts Might Reinforce, but it should be too little too late.       ...Oh.  Curses!  Just a formality.  And then we're done.  It can't be! *cough* Evil.. you mean to say evil prospers? I do not accept this.. I do NOT ACCEPT THIS!  Next time: End?
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2014 15:15
|
|
|
quote:Can you not see that I now walk the path of justice?! Your Lord Odin is nothing but a master of trickery and deceit. I have no issues with the line trying to alert you that something ain't right, except you've got little evidence to go on by the game itself. And even A ending isn't very much about this matter. It's like this plot thread is dropped outright or doesn't exist.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2014 15:25
|
|
|
One thing to note about the final dungeon is that it's basically the only dungeon with respawning enemies. I guess the developers didn't want to take your last chance at power-leveling away even though it's completely unnecessary and actually more of a nuisance really, what with the purgatory flame.Bloodly posted:I have no issues with the line trying to alert you that something ain't right, except you've got little evidence to go on by the game itself. And even A ending isn't very much about this matter. It's like this plot thread is dropped outright or doesn't exist. The game doesn't do much with it, but I wouldn't call it a dropped plot thread, but we get to that when we get to that.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2014 15:42
|
|
|
Bloodbane should get a cape and cowl and gallavant around rooftops fighting criminals.: I am Vengeance! I am the Night! I am Bloodbane! Rigged Death Trap fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Jun 5, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2014 15:54
|
|
|
Too bad his flunkies are in the way; this would make excellent avatar fodder. Well, it'd probably be nigh-impossible to get it under the size limit anyway.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2014 15:57
|
|
|
Bloodly posted:I have no issues with the line trying to alert you that something ain't right, except you've got little evidence to go on by the game itself. And even A ending isn't very much about this matter. It's like this plot thread is dropped outright or doesn't exist. That really doesn't alert you to anything. How many evil guys have said something like that in the movies?
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2014 22:14
|
|
|
At the same time, speaking as someone who never played the game, what have we actually seen the Vanir do that's actually been a threat or wrong or set them up as the bad guy, besides Odin said so? Surt kinda came outta nowhere here.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2014 22:37
|
|
|
The biggest sign that something's wrong is that you're working for Odin. Odin. He's a power-mad insane cross-dressing sorcerer who is known primarily for being a complete rear end in a top hat even by the standards of the Norse. Of course he's up to something lovely, he's fuckin' Odin.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2014 23:00
|
|
|
Ratoslov posted:The biggest sign that something's wrong is that you're working for Odin. Odin. He's a power-mad insane cross-dressing sorcerer who is known primarily for being a complete rear end in a top hat even by the standards of the Norse. Of course he's up to something lovely, he's fuckin' Odin. He's leader of the dick patrol, yes. He's also more or less working for the Greater Good. Like, he's going to gently caress you and everything you love over six ways to Sunday, but he's doing it to win Ragnarok and set up paradise. Not like he's going to live through it either. So, being his employee doesn't mean you're on the wrong side. It just means you're on the side run by a total dick. Equally important, if you work against him he's still going to gently caress you over, but as a goal instead of a side effect.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2014 23:33
|
|
|
chiasaur11 posted:He's leader of the dick patrol, yes. Yeah, the thing about Odin is that he'll happily sacrifice everything he has if he can make Ragnarok just that much less devastating. He didn't hesitate to pluck out one eye or impale himself upside down on his own spear to gain the knowledge he needed, and I suppose he expects that kind of sacrifice from everyone serving him, too. And since he's that much of a chessmaster, you could be working for him without even knowing it, even if you think you're his enemy.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2014 23:45
|
|
|
I don't know much about the 'power-mad cross-dressing sorcerer' stuff but from what I recall Odin's whole thing that he gave up one eye to gain knowledge of past, present, and future. What he saw was goddamn Ragnarok, so everything he's done since then has been in service of some very, very long term goals. So if he has to wipe out a nation or whatever, that's... unfortunate and all but he only gives a poo poo to the extent that it might prevent all life from being wiped out one thousand years from now. e: looks like everyone else covered it for me
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2014 23:53
|
|
|
I think I recall the story of Ragnarok ending with only three things alive, one tree, and one man and women. Humans, because that is important.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2014 23:56
|
|
|
DLord posted:I think I recall the story of Ragnarok ending with only three things alive, one tree, and one man and women. Humans, because that is important. Versions I saw left a handful of gods standing too. Two of Odin's kids, two of his grandkids. Also, Hoder and Balder came back from Hel hale and hearty. So, bit of a silver lining with that last bit.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2014 00:09
|
|
|
DLord posted:I think I recall the story of Ragnarok ending with only three things alive, one tree, and one man and women. Humans, because that is important. That's mythology. This is VP, where the only thing important about Ragnarok is that the Vanir are wiped off the loving map along with anyone who sided with them. The one minor problem about Surt's lines and the B Ending is that technically speaking, people playing for the first time who got this ending just by playing normally had no reason to suspect there was anything to it other than just the villain talking poo poo about your boss because that's what he's supposed to do. You're good, he's evil, and that's that. Even if someone starts to have doubts, it's a bit too late now for this playthrough to do anything about it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2014 00:18
|
|
|
To be honest, I think the game pretty much expects you to get this ending first, considering how ridiculously bscure the requirement for the other one are.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2014 00:33
|
|
|
DLord posted:I think I recall the story of Ragnarok ending with only three things alive, one tree, and one man and women. Humans, because that is important. Norse mythology has some issues; we don't really know what the "authentic" myths were, just what was recorded. There's the potential that the "two survivors and a tree" thing was added on by Christian missionaries as a way to tie Norse religious beliefs into Christianity. "Yeah, sure, all that happened, and then our god stepped in and took over from there!" Kind of like how Easter used to be a pagan fertility festival.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2014 01:28
|
|
|
Depends on the version as well, some versions have some or more of the gods survive. A lot of myths get conflated with stories that were told later as well, and even Wagner's Ring Cycle influences a lot of modern perceptions about Norse mythology.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2014 02:25
|
|
|
Aside from a few paragraphs carved in rocks from around the year 800 all we know about this poo poo comes from a couple books of poetry from the 1200s, a good century after most of Scandinavia was Christianized and 2 centuries after said books' native Iceland Christianized.
dis astranagant fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Jun 6, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2014 02:27
|
|
|
It isn't even necessary that Surt is evil. I mean, how many JRPG villains have destroyed the world and thought they were the good guy the entire time?
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2014 04:17
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 20:29 |
|
|
I looked for some VP sprites to see if I could find a spritesheet of Surt - mind you making a gif from that would be argh, but it's a pretty awesome intro so it might be worth it. Alas, no, and the Wayback Machine isn't helping.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2014 04:23
|
|
