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Would have been better as a movie, really. It was about the right length, even.
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Sep 25, 2016 14:36
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Part XV: Pillar Man.jpg) Lot of running around this collection of tents they call a village up in this chapter. Fine... Back to Hydor’s sorry excuse for a house we go.  New Music: The World of Snow .jpg) Setsuna is back up... sort of... They’ve not really been able to decide if Setsuna is barely conscious and ready to keel over or if she’s just kind of winded and could use a good night’s rest. .jpg)  As your guard, your life is more important to us than anything else... Even our own lives... *disapproving grunt* Ehh... You would be wise to stay lying down... While the monsters are gone, I shall go and gather some medicinal herbs. I hope you’ve got a license for that, pal. Falls under religious practices. Completely on the level. Ah. Smart. *walks toward the exit* I shall return before long..jpg)  ...... Thanks. *shakes head and leaves* Kir... Thank you. This is all thanks to you..jpg) Just a minute ago you were ready to burst into tears! *stunned* What!? No I wasn’t! You’re the one who was getting all worked up, old man! *raises arm to protest*Music: Deadly Gamble .jpg)  ! What was that!? Wasn’t that Hydor’s voice!? It was. I’d recognize that “AUGGHH” anywhere!A random villager bursts into the tent... .jpg)  They attacked Chief Hydor! I think he managed to get away into the forest... but... What!? You mean monsters showed up again already!? They were lying in wait just outside the village? I think they were waiting there to ambush anyone who came out! ! To ambush them!? But nothing like that has ever happened before! Hey kid, you ever done a speedrun before? What? No... Why? No reason...The villager is done delivering his lines so he wordlessly exits the scene... .jpg) It’s like something’s starting to change... and if it is... Then it might mean that you’re no longer safe even inside the village... Rotten timing to come here the day the whole hiding in tents plan fell apart. Little bit. *navel gazing* Just because our life spans are short, we live hidden away like part of the forest...Music: The Warmth of Life .jpg) Is staying alive really all that’s important? If we live our whole lives in fear, mightn’t we just as well already be dead? Kir... I left this village for the outside world because I wanted to change things here. I thought that what I needed to do was find another way for us to live longer... But I was wrong. Even if I do find a way, it won’t change anything... First, you need to change yourself. *nods* Yeah... Exactly, Endir... If I want this village to change, first of all, I need to change... The important thing is that you follow your own heart, Kir... Yeah, you’re right. Meeting all of you helped me make up my mind. So thank you... I know what I need to do now. First of all, I need to change myself. ...... Endir! Everyone! There’s something I need to ask of you! You want a mask, right? What? No. Hey, you’re the one who wants to change yourself. Step one: sweet mask. This whole owl boy hair and thick glasses thing you got going on? Lame. It’s lame. You look lame, kid. Now, you slip on a badass mask over that whole nerd kid face and that’ll be a start. No... I’m good. And I need my glasses. That’s the beauty of a good mask – built in glasses. Vision impairment is no joke. Yeah I... Maybe some other time, Endir... What I really need is... There’s somewhere I want you to take me... Where do you want to go? Gonna be honest, I don’t think there’s many good maskologists in these parts. To the place where my true power lies sleeping! The Spritnite Pillar! I’m gonna get back my magical energy! ! But you can’t... If you do that, your life span’ll be shortened! I don’t care. I’ve realized something... What’s important isn’t how long my life is... It’s how I use it! I want to use my life the way I want... I want to use it to help all you! ...With sick magic spells? Heck yeah! *sagely nod* You’re learning, kid. You’ve sure taken a 180 from the gremlin business in a hurry. Hey! I was wrong about that and apologized. I’ve only got a bit of speciesism bias, not racism. Give me some credit. ...... Please, Endir! *nods* All right. Let’s turn you into a goddamn wizard. drat straight! Thank you, everyone... There’s a path behind this house that leads to the Spritnite Pillar. All right! Let’s do this! Say ...Didn’t Hydor get attacked? We ain’t got time to be worryin’ about that now. ...... *turns to Setsuna* You rest here, Setsuna. Don’t worry, we’ll be back in no time at all.The party shuffles out to go cheerfully help Kir halve his lifespan. But... Music: The World of Snow .jpg) What is it? I’m in a hurry. Either that kid is going to turn into a rad wizard or he’s going to die in a spectacularly over the top way. Either way, I’m not missing out on that show. Sorry... I know you’re in a hurry... but I wanted to make sure I said this to you. (Oh boy... I don’t like where this is heading...).jpg) But you weren’t there, Endir. I called your name... Endir... But you didn’t come. I felt so sad, so lonely... and then I opened my eyes. So now... even at a time like this... as long as you’re here, I feel safe. I feel like you’re protecting us all, Endir... So please... Please see my journey through to its end... Please stay with me... until the final moment... *nods* Yeah... I’ll do that... I’m gonna... go now... We’ll talk about how I’ll make sure you die at the end and how you’re kinda into that later... *slowly backs out the door*.jpg) .jpg) As Kir said earlier, there’s a path behind Hydor’s house that leads towards this Spritnite pillar. .jpg) It actually briefly pops us back out in the world map with the only path being a small stretch leading to said Spritnite Pillar. I guess it’s supposed to represent it was a bit of a hike. Ehh... New Music: Faith .jpg) Wasn’t the real Sephiroth frozen in this thing at the Northern Cave? Alright, let’s get this thing underway. .jpg) It’s been a long time since I last came here... So this is the Spritnite Pillar? Yes, that’s right. Looks more like... I dunno... an orb but stretched... Is there a word for that? I think it’s still a spheroid, just a prolate one. I dunno what any of those words mean. Point is that ain’t no pillar... Everyone born here has their magical energy extracted by channeling it into this spritnite... I guess you could say this thing is like a crystallized mass of all that energy. What I’m going to do now is get back my magical energy that was sealed away... *turns to Endir and Nidr* I want you to make sure that no monsters come near me. Not a problem, kid. Wait... nobody told me this was an escort mission. This just got decidedly less cool.Kir approaches the Spritnite Pillar... .jpg) You even need to ask?.jpg) .jpg) .jpg) This is... Augh! This is my... big moment... so don’t... get in the way... all right...? Heh... hehehe... Aughhhhhh... Alright. Got it. Just don’t explode, kid. What?! Well, you’re getting pumped with magic energy from a spritnite the size of a barn. You’ve gotta be worried it could like overload you and cause you to explode or something, right? WELL I AM NOW! Oh... Well, don’t worry! Full body explosions are really rare. O...Okay... It might just blow off both your arms if it goes wrong. You can survive that. Sometimes... !? !.jpg) .jpg) Looks like some monsters wanna rumble. Weird that the magical energy isn’t constantly drawing them here. Or maybe has been and the only reason the not-elf village is under constant attack is that they settled directly in the path of the magic beacon like a bunch of idiots. Nah... An elf-esque race would never gently caress up that badly by adhering to unwavering traditions... .jpg) We’re given the chance to shuffle our party consisting of three characters from a pool of three characters... I sort of get the feeling a really lovely, unpowered version of Kir was meant to join and be playable before this segment, but it got cut since... who’d want to use a mage who cannot cast magic? Music: No Turning Back .jpg) In any case, there’s not actually any danger to Kir being disturbed from his magic power siphoning and exploding. All the monsters showing up are only interested in rumbling with Endir and the active party gang. This is actually just more of a multi-fight gauntlet, starting with a pair of Roly-Polies... .jpg) Then we’ve got a trio of upgraded killer penguins... .jpg) After that, a solitary angry eyebrowed penguin joins forces with another pair of squirrels with large snowballs. Oh, collusion. .jpg) Following that, they just combine the first wave of Roly-Poly and the first wave of the palette swapped Pengy whose proper name I’ve clearly forgotten and don’t care enough to look up. Easily dealt with... .jpg) For the final wave, we actually encounter a brand new enemy type. One that is not a cutesy mascot critter nor a palette swap of something we’ve already seen at that. Instead... okay, it looks like someone's furry OC from Deviantart. But ehh... At least it’s new. .jpg) .jpg) Meet the Versa. They are... actually kind of jerks. To start off, they can use a Powder Cloud to potentially inflict our party with Confusion. Confusion works a bit strangely in this game. It doesn’t make characters uncontrollable jerks that strike their own party members like in many RPGs. Instead, it makes it so friendly fire is turned on and AOE attacks will also strike our own party. So if Endir was to perform a Cyclone, he’d hit both the Vera but also give Nidr another scar and lop Aeterna’s arm off in the process. .jpg) On top of that, they’ve also got some fairly hard hitting Ice magic spells that can do between 70-100 HP of damage on one or two of our party members. .jpg) Finally, they can also just slap the poo poo out of one of our allies, causing a Momentum Lock like the Wolf Baron could. Indeed, knowing the party will be spamming Momentum buffed attacks and locking that poo poo down seems to be a common trait among Intelligent class enemies. The pricks. .jpg) .jpg) Still, there’s two of ‘em and three of us. Vera will be a common enemy in coming areas, so there isn’t a significant amount of strategy to dealing with ‘em beyond what works with most cannon fodder. Music: The World of Snow .jpg) It’s coming back... My magical energy is coming back! I’ll be fine now, everyone! You go back to the village! I’ll follow after the rest of you later! Will you be alright alone? I mean I could stick around and fight monsters for days. I’ll be fine now... Thanks to all of you. You don’t need to worry about me... Please go back to the village. All right. Be careful, kid! C’mon, Endir, let’s go..jpg) .jpg) And that’s it for the Spritnite Pillar business. Tune in next time when the village definitely won’t be under attack in our absence while powering up a monster drawing beacon. The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Sep 26, 2016 |
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Sep 25, 2016 21:26
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Fuckin gremlins messing with magic beacons and poo poo. Get what's coming to them.
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Sep 25, 2016 21:39
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The Dark Id posted:
Kid got dangerously close to going full on Seymour Guado there, and we REALLY don't want that 
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Sep 25, 2016 22:06
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I was fully expecting to find out that the "spritnite veins" that so far only exist in this village were just the places they dumped their power, which is why they glow, and the one Kir wanted us to find was the one that belonged to him.The Dark Id posted:your life is more important to use than anything else Looks like 3 is said by Setsuna. Wasn't sure if that one and 4 were on purpose or not.
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Sep 26, 2016 01:42
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quote:ffs will they make up their minds about the whole intelligent monster thing? and isn't it a little late to be questioning the existence of intelligent monsters?
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Sep 26, 2016 02:22
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I don't know whether or not he meant it, but the Deadly Gamble music is swapped out for something more FFX-y, and therefore something much easier to listen to. So... where's our resident Aztec God of Fitness?
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Sep 26, 2016 04:00
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Are the monsters mutating as time goes by? So they weren't smart before, but now they are? Humans better watch out, it's not going to take much for the monsters to be smarter than the average human.
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Sep 26, 2016 05:31
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bman in 2288 posted:I don't know whether or not he meant it, but the Deadly Gamble music is swapped out for something more FFX-y, and therefore something much easier to listen to. Whammu would massively improve this game. ANYTHING would. I've just caught up and this game just looks miserable. You know what made Chrono Trigger so good, besides everything about Frog? It had a sense of adventure and color to it. poo poo went down. Your heroes are mostly fighting for a future they'd have never seen in their natural lives but still they can't bear to let the world end in a thousand years. It's great and it's got some real energy. This just feels like a slog.
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Sep 26, 2016 05:53
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so if that one guy was giving monsters unwanted refugees (refugees from where?), why was the airship stuffed with penguins? the (drunk) pilot had refused to show up for work so long that the lord admitted he had never expected to see him again. so the airship was grounded long term, and for some reason the lord decided to smuggle in trash mobs and a werewolf so they could hang out in it. did that dude just really like penguins or what?
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Sep 26, 2016 05:56
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Serious Frolicking posted:so if that one guy was giving monsters unwanted refugees (refugees from where?), why was the airship stuffed with penguins? the (drunk) pilot had refused to show up for work so long that the lord admitted he had never expected to see him again. so the airship was grounded long term, and for some reason the lord decided to smuggle in trash mobs and a werewolf so they could hang out in it. Look, I know I'm behind on the payment, but I'm sorting it out. I have it, it's just taking some time to process. How about I let your guys crash here until it's ready and we call it even?
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Sep 26, 2016 06:13
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Night10194 posted:Whammu would massively improve this game. There was also a sense of whimsy and was present throughout the entire game, even the most dramatic parts. By hour two of Chrono Trigger you were fighting a dragon-shaped tank and teaming up with frog swordsmen who speak faux-shakesperian. Most of the enemies that have faces on them are smiling or making silly faces. One of the game's major enemies rides a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Meanwhile, I am Setsuna is still throwing the same enemies at us as it did in the prologue of the game, and the most entertaining character is TDI's rendition of the main character.
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Sep 26, 2016 06:46
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i think that if all the chrono trigger references were gone i would be much less inclined to poo poo on this game. it would still be a bland as gently caress, uninspired game with bizarre design decisions, but at least it wouldn't constantly remind you of a much better game you could be playing instead.
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Sep 26, 2016 06:49
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MachuPikacchu posted:There was also a sense of whimsy and was present throughout the entire game, even the most dramatic parts. By hour two of Chrono Trigger you were fighting a dragon-shaped tank and teaming up with frog swordsmen who speak faux-shakesperian. Most of the enemies that have faces on them are smiling or making silly faces. One of the game's major enemies rides a Tyrannosaurus Rex. I've been getting a similar reaction from Dragon Quest 7, since it came out on the 3DS and I remember my friend being obsessed with the game back in college (obligatory "drat I'm old"). It's a hell of a lot slower than Crono Trigger (first combat is about 2 hours in, class changes at ~20, and at 40-50 hours you have another 40 to go) but there's a Hell of a lot of enemy variety, and the "an apocalypse for every island" vignette format lets them play fast and loose with the tone of the game; one moment you may have a tragic story of a priest turned into a monster being beaten to death by his congregation, and the next you're repeatedly trekking back to a village (named Nottagen) because each crisis you save them from causes a new one. Anyway, since every crisis is a world-ending one it has a lot of climax moments and manages to make them feel appropriately climactic. Even little things, like "there were always random encounters around, but once a monster army invades undead soldiers show up quite a bit more often"; I love spotting stuff like that.
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Sep 26, 2016 07:43
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I actually like the whole Gremlin village plotline :shurg: Maybe because I haven't played enough JRPGs to see how incredibly cliche it all is?
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Sep 26, 2016 08:19
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MachuPikacchu posted:Meanwhile, I am Setsuna is still throwing the same enemies at us as it did in the prologue of the game, and the most entertaining character is TDI's rendition of the main character. To be fair, the enemy designs themselves are fairly quirky and cute. Toothed penguins, for example. The impression I got was that the art team didn't know how to make models that would be attractive from a top down angle. Edit: But yeah, the thing Chrono Trigger had was fun. You didn't care how boring the combat was because everything you were doing was fun, and involved fun characters. This game copies the battle system (which no one cares about), but has zero sense of fun. And the writing certainly isn't good enough to get us to care about the drama. Clarste fucked around with this message at 08:23 on Sep 26, 2016 |
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Sep 26, 2016 08:19
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I found the CT combat system really fun, actually. The positioning mechanics, double/triple techs, and the fantastic animations all kept it it fresh for me even on replays on these years later. But you're right about this game. As much as I like the snow and dreary piano score, they are very dull already, and it feels like we're only like 15% through the game. It's one thing to commit to a theme, but it has a nasty effect of making everything look and feel the same. When treking though the forest areas, TDI could reuse screenshots from the prologue and I'd hardly notice. As far as I can tell, the biggest difference this isolated ramshackle elf village and Tenderville or whatever it was called is the time of day. The visual tone of every location is the same because everywhere is covered in snow and scored by sad music, so any intended impact from going between struggling rural communities to thriving castle towns is lost because everywhere looks lovely. Even in Nier, a setting where the same dread followed you no matter where you went, knew how to change up locales visually through climate, architecture, and color. A game can get away with cliche laden plots and characterization if they know how to dress up a setting. Chrono Trigger has one of the most varied and dynamic settings and environments in the whole genre, and that makes it even more baffling that a team that supposedly loved CT came up with this game. The further we get in this game the more I start to wonder just how long ago the devs actually played Chrono Trigger and if they somehow played it on a black and white TV.
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Sep 26, 2016 09:07
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So how do people pronounce Nidr? As Nid with the r being silent, or like knitter?
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Sep 26, 2016 12:11
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Nadir.
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Sep 26, 2016 12:37
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Also, if you're trying to write a more poignant story about a sacrificial journey, making all the monsters cutesy penguins and walruses isn't a good plan.
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Sep 26, 2016 12:47
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HR12345 posted:So how do people pronounce Nidr? As Nid with the r being silent, or like knitter? It's pronounced Ender, like the protagonist's name. They're homophones. The reason for this is that Ndir is secretly Endir's father, he used to be of the Masked Tribe, but needed to go into hiding, and took the Dr. McNinja approach of taking his mask off forever. Sadly this is too much of a plot twist for I Am Setsuna's developers so it has about a 1.2% chance of being an actual thing.
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Sep 26, 2016 14:02
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HR12345 posted:So how do people pronounce Nidr? As Nid with the r being silent, or like knitter? Nidr, as in "that stupid gently caress that I just accidentally healed instead of Endir because come the gently caress on with these names".
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Sep 26, 2016 14:14
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Xander77 posted:I actually like the whole Gremlin village plotline :shurg: With better execution it wouldn't be terrible. I can see how it's trying to build up the themes of self sacrifice, but the characters are so bland it has no impact. Hell, Kir could have at least dropped a line about how he was willing to do this to save his village and protect his friends; instead we got something about 'living', which still wouldn't be terrible if the lead up made sense and had impact. (The chief is gone! Acknowledge the village is hosed without him, all the tools to make this scene work are right there!) Fuckers are sacrificing teenage girls every ten years to hold off dubiously intelligent penguins. There's no sense of urgency or danger, just a sense that most people in this world have to be made of paper for any of this to work.
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Sep 26, 2016 14:26
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Maybe they're like invasive species and the cute little penguins eat up all the... snow cones or whatever it is they farm in this wasteland.
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Sep 26, 2016 15:00
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Twisted Potatoes.
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Sep 26, 2016 15:02
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what's more, since stats are mostly based on weapons rather than levels any npc could be as strong as the party if they sold a dozen onions to buy a sword made out of time and fairy farts.
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Sep 26, 2016 15:52
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HR12345 posted:So how do people pronounce Nidr? As Nid with the r being silent, or like knitter? I assumed it was related to, or a bastardization of, this Old Norse word, in which case it's pronounced like "nith" or "neath" with a very subtle r sound on the end.
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Sep 26, 2016 19:07
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I only just now found this thread and am still catching up, so this is coming extremely late, butThe Dark Id posted:And that counted as a Momentum Kill to finish off this first boss. Yep, we’re done already. Assume there were a couple Cyclones and a few standard attacks thrown in before the beast was slain. It’s not like a tutorial fight is ever particularly flashy. Metal Gear Rising has a very flashy tutorial boss 
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Sep 26, 2016 21:08
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I know it's supposed to be a throw back to old JRPGs, but it feels a little too much like ticks on a check list going "You're trying to do thing, but now you have to do this to proceed. Oh wait there's a barrier to that too, here's where to go now. Oh dang you can't go there yet, now you need to go here next." Even Lufia or, god forbid, 7th Saga didn't jerk you around this much. It feels like we've accomplished pretty much nothing substantial so far.
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Sep 27, 2016 01:33
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HenryEx posted:I only just now found this thread and am still catching up, so this is coming extremely late, but I don't think even Rules of Nature could make toothed penguins interesting. Does the game ever decide how smart the monsters are supposed to be? The party starts worrying that the wildlife isn't being fooled by hiding in tents anymore, but shrugs off the wolfman making a deal with the jackass lord.
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Sep 27, 2016 02:19
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Just... gonna leave the kid to walk alone through territory you needed three people to blaze? Sure, why not.
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Sep 28, 2016 12:08
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Part XVI: Pyro.jpg) Hopefully Kir won’t be ganked while we march back to Hiddbury to wrap up this chapter. Now I realize this little world map bit is so we can use a Tent before the inevitable chapter boss battle. I hate this game’s lack of goddamn auto heal areas. Oh well... Let’s see what’s shaking in town since we left. Music: Deadly Gamble (I am really sick of this song already.) .jpg) Oh hey, Hydor managed to save himself from that off-screen monster attack. Good for him considering the party seemed not to care in the slightest. .jpg) We evacuated all the villagers! Where? I thought monsters were lying in wait outside the village now. I... Look, don’t worry yourself on our affairs... More importantly... Where is Kir!? He’s at the Spritnite Pillar... getting back his magical energy... I see... So he has made up his mind... I’m pretty sure he won’t explode. He seemed good... Ah. That is a reli—wait, what? *thumbs up*Setsuna runs out of Hydor’s house. Forget about her ailment, she’s fine now... .jpg) Hey! I told you to stay lyin’ down! I’m fine now! Let me help, too! ! Watch out!.jpg) A whole gaggle of monsters has come to rumble. The image of a pair of squirrels rolling a large snowball and standing atop it in defiance is kinda hilarious to me. Doubly so with grown adults treating it as a real threat. .jpg) Oh geez... Look at ‘em all. We might have to use Blowbeat TWICE! Hey, that’s a lotta MP. Suddenly the entire squadron of cutesy artic critters and mysterious woodland fox women are immolated in a sea of writhing hellfire. As god intended. .jpg) Ha! RIP..jpg) Yo, I think the little dude turned into a pyromancer. Really, Endir? What tipped you off on that one? Oh, miss “I’m a magic user but only in cutscenes” isn’t impressed. Way to be a team player. ...... Kir!Kir runs over... .jpg) *nods* Hydor gave me some herbs and they fixed me right up. *vacant nod* I feel... pretty good actually... Oh... I see... So you don’t need me to... Huh... Hmm? Well, I mean I just went to the trouble of getting my powers back to hea—you know what? It’s fine... This is all fine... Yep... Just fine. *hundred yard stare* It's all fine...The party’s reunion is interrupted by... .jpg) ...Holy poo poo, WHAT?! Who let a goddamn mech stroll into the village? You people really need to hire some town guards or something. This is ridiculous. .jpg) I want to see the results of the choice I made... *nods and peaces the gently caress out* I take it we can leave the magic to you, then? Yeah, you can take a nap if you want, old man. You’re not gonna get a look in either way... Hah! Same smart-rear end as always... You sure you’re ready for this? *shakes head* I’m not sure you understand... All I’ve done is return to my true self. I’ve got back my true power... Yeah, that’s cool and all. But you’re still like twelve years old and that thing is 30 feet tall. That’s a rough initiation for anyone. I got this, alright?! Uh-huh. Well, try not to be the overconfident guy that gets stomped on three seconds into his first battle. You don’t wanna become a meme or something. That’s a fate worse than death. ...Noted..jpg) Alright, Kir has joined the party officially for realsies this time around. .jpg) Though... Despite Kir’s build up as this being his big debut and having unlocked his true power... he is absolutely objectively the very worst character we could bring into this battle. Even Setsuna, who has sat out the last chapter and a half while not leveling or upgrading for the last three hours, is still a better choice than Kir’s factory stock basic rear end for this, an actual somewhat challenging boss battle. Music: Relentless Advance .jpg) But ehh... You know what? Let’s give the kid a chance. Time to take on the chapter boss: The Timeslave. I think they just call that a salaryman in the Japanese translation. Timeslave has a very healthy 2329 HP. I’d like to say there is some mild enemy scaling with our characters levels to account for all the weird HP totals for bosses but nope... They’re completely static. It’s like they keep drawing numbers out of a hat for the bosses’ max health. .jpg) Offensively, the giant golem is no slouch. It can just shoot laser beams out of its face. No fancy attack title. It’s just a laser beam. Deal with it and its 80-100 HP of damage. .jpg) If that’s not enough, it also has a missile punch which does... well... roughly the same amount of damage actually. The point is, this big boy hits hard considering two attacks are enough to ace Kir and three to take out Endir or Nidr. But they’re only single target strikes, so it’s manageable enough. .jpg) .jpg) On the other hand, we could just lock this colossus down with Blowbeat or Nidr’s Blunt Blow to cause paralysis and give us breathing room to go on the offensive instead of having Endir waste MP healing everyone up every few turns. What? Of course a three story stone golem can get paralyzed. Why wouldn’t it? .jpg) We may as well talk about our new party member, Kir. Remember that sweet fireball he did to roast all those monsters alive? Yeah... Turns out that is literally the only skill he earned from restoring his original innate power. Turns out you still need to train in magic (or slot the appropriate magic stone in your blinged out necklace) to perform anything beyond a Level 1 mage, you dumbass. .jpg) .jpg) Fire does an OK amount of damage, in about the 200 HP range with Momentum buff backing it up. It’s just that is all Kir can bring to the table here. Like Setsuna, Kir’s physical attacks are absolutely trash. .jpg) Though, I’m going to let you in on a big thing about this game in general: All the magic oriented characters are actually garbage liabilities. There’s barely any situation where a party of heavy physical hitters is less effective than having a mage or two on board. Especially since Endir’s Aura covers healing for a generous portion of the game. .jpg) .jpg) Locking down Timeslave with Paralysis and beating on it with Endir and Nidr’s physicals while Kir shoots the occasional fireball is well and good. But eventually Timeslave will fall under 33% health and that whole strategy actually becomes kinda essential. .jpg) I don’t think Rampage buffs any of Timeslave’s stats. But... remember the whole “Timeslave” name? Well, he starts living up to that a bit by beginning to cast Stop on our party. Unlike a few status effects in this game, Stop does here exactly what it does in any other RPG. That character can no longer perform actions for about three turns worth of time. I got pretty lucky here, because during this battle Timeslave decided to cast Stop on Kir which... yeah, not a big loss on the war effort, if we’re being honest. Later on, he cast Stop on Nidr which, while it was a heavier blow it was still manageable. If Endir gets locked down, then things can start going sideways since he’s kind of our healer AND he’s the only method available to undo Stop with Momentum Aura. .jpg) .jpg) On top of stopping one of our characters dead in their tracks at a time, Timeslave has also learned to rocket punch TWO of our party members at a time. Which is why we really don’t want our healer coming in here and getting locked out when the boss is dealing 100~ HP in damage to two characters at a time. And why we definitely want to paralyze this jerk again ASAP before he gets too carried away. .jpg) There is also one last lingering thread to this battle. When Timeslave is down to just a single blow left, it is a REALLY good idea to top off everyone’s health before delivering the final strike. Especially, Kir’s if he’s in the battle. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) That’s because Timeslave is one of those real sore loser bosses that self-destructs when they’re defeated and it deals a whopping 150-175 HP of damage to the entire party. My first wipe in this game was this loving attack going off with zero notice. I was kinda cheesed as that’s some real bullshit to pull without warning with a boss that doesn’t even have a real AOE attack otherwise. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) In any case, that’s the Timeslave battle. Let’s stuff those three magic shells into our pockets and celebrate... and perhaps discuss what in the flying hell that monstrous stone golem thing was all about? Spoilers: We will not. Music: Moment of Respite .jpg) We defeated it... .......jpg) gently caress YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAH MOTHERFUCKEEEEEEER! IN YOUR loving FAAAAAAAAACE! WOOOOOOOOOOO! ...... *ahem* I mean....jpg) I’ve got a bad feeling about this... Ha ha! Looks like you know what I’m gonna say! I’ll cut to the chase, then... I’m not fist bumping you. I don’t do fist bumps. It’s not my thing... Err... No... Not that... I’m going to come with you! I want to see it through to the end... Setsuna’s journey... ...... Yeah, you should really be asking her then? I mean, obviously I’m the coolest and strongest guy here, but I’m not in charge of the party, despite the fact everyone follows behind me for some reason... And I want to live my own life... the way I want... You could say I want... A Full Life. *groans* Please keep the 4th Wall in check... *turns to Endir* Please look after Kir... Yeah... again... Not my decision. *turns to Setsuna and shrugs* *frowns* It’s fine... I’m used to it... Hydor...The three kids from earlier run up... .jpg)  *sweats* You’re leaving...? *sweats* You’re weavin’...? It’s not like I’m gonna forget all of you! I’ll come back soon... and I’ll bring back souvenirs! And then pass away by the time you’re old enough to drink... But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it!.jpg) Yo, hold that thought. Someone else wants to say goodbye to Kir... Music: Farewell .jpg) Just kinda open season on monsters and ghosts strolling into your town today, huh? *sighs and pulls out flask* It is a troubling time...Kir runs up to the phantom... .jpg) ! Tor? Your brother? The one who left the village and was never seen again? You did not just honestly phrase that question in that manner? I’m going to pretend I failed to hear that... *shakes head* He’s not alive anymore, I know that... ...... Tor... You thought of me in your final moment, right? You wanted me to know... You wanted to tell me of your death... So your magical energy... your spirit... came back here like this... I knew it was you all along. Ever since I first saw you... I... I found your bloodstain. You... always did follow those “Try Jumping” messages, even when you *knew* it wasn’t a good idea... Sorry to keep you waiting, Tor... *steps towards Tor* I’ve finally made up my mind....jpg) .jpg) Listen....jpg) .jpg) And thus in a somber farewell, Kir loving ROASTS THE poo poo out of the ghost of his brother Tor. That’s pretty hardcore, kiddo. But I'm pretty into the ghostbusting methodology. .jpg) Ha! RIP. *punches in the arm*.jpg) That’s exactly what I was about to say... Setsuna, are we taking this little dude? I feel like responsibility has been thrusted upon me unfairly and also I don’t want to take the blame if he sets anyone on fire by mistake. I’m glad to have you with us, Kir. *nod* If we head across the Twallusk Mountain, we should arrive near the Last Lands. All right. Let’s go, Kir..jpg) And so the youngens wave goodbye Kir as Chapter 5 draws to a close. So... I guess we taught a child how to set things on fire in this town... I’m not sure if that’s an improvement or not from the previous city... Oh well! Let’s mosey...    Video: Timeslave Boss Battle The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Sep 29, 2016 |
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Sep 28, 2016 19:51
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It's a bummer that the physical characters in this game outclass the magic-oriented ones so much. In Chrono Trigger, even Marle, who was easy to bench in favor of Frog, had exclusive access to the Haste spell.
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Sep 28, 2016 20:07
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The Dark Id posted:
Might have the wrong portrait for this. Unless the magic retrieval thing turned him into a Pokemon.
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Sep 28, 2016 20:07
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Solitair posted:It's a bummer that the physical characters in this game outclass the magic-oriented ones so much. In Chrono Trigger, even Marle, who was easy to bench in favor of Frog, had exclusive access to the Haste spell. And most of the better double techs required a spellcaster or two.
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Sep 28, 2016 20:42
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Is the game going to deal with the fact that this town is basically screwed once the party leaves? They evacuated the villagers, but that's hardly a permanent solution. Heck, I can easily think of a solution, awaken everyone's power and then reseal them once Setsuna completes her journey. I think that's too practical and not enough dramatic enough for this game though.
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Sep 28, 2016 20:51
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Did Kir literally just halve his lifespan in order to cure Setsuna for no reason?
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Sep 28, 2016 20:51
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So it sounds like this game decided to go more in favor of Final Fantasy attack mages, which is to say mostly garbage with the exception of like 4 bosses and using area of effect spell to take out trash mobs in random encounters. I'm guessing they're also a pain in the rear end to level since they die from suicide bomb bosses like the rear end in a top hat you just fought that does near Kir's maximum health just so he won't get any boss experience.
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Sep 28, 2016 20:59
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I love enemies that self-destruct at the end of a fight with no foreshadowing thereof. It's amazing game design and games should always go out of their way to gently caress players to force them to repay large sections of the game for no fair reason. I also think that the executives of Konami love their video game consumers and that Mad Max: Fury Road was a movie for losers.
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Sep 28, 2016 22:05
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Alright, did Kir's Fire give any new DT's? Also, I noticed you said that "pure casters" are bad here. Aeterna seems like a magic knight-y character, is that true? Are the other party members we get bad? Do Kir's DT's make him slightly better?
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Sep 28, 2016 23:03
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