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wateyad
Nov 17, 2007

The power of the Outsider is

...dat ass
:yosbutt:
Welcome to another Pretzel Brigade LP, this time as voted for by you. If this is your first time joining us, I'm wateyad, I'll be playing the game and I'll be joined by my much more talkative friend, forums moperator Pork Lift. This is a basically unedited blind VLP, yes of this kind of game, that's just what we do for some reason.

Once upon a time there was a video game director named Hironobu Sakaguchi. After a string of flops he found himself considering leaving the game industry and going back to university. He decided to pin his fate on the success of his next project, an Ultima inspired RPG named Final Fantasy for how it could have been his final game.

Final Fantasy, however, did extremely well and led Sakaguchi, along with Square, the studio where he was employed to rise to prominence in the industry.

Years later, Sakaguchi was allowed to do pretty much whatever he wanted at Square and decided that the next step for the now expansive Final Fantasy series was a fully CGI Hollywood movie, made in house at a brand new, state of the art 3D animation studio Square opened in Hawaii. While a highly impressive technical achievement, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within baffled critics and audiences alike and was a massive flop at the box office, nearly bankrupting Square and jeopardising their upcoming merger with media giant Enix.

Sakaguchi was of course by this point far too high up in the company and far too symbolically important of a personage to Square to be fired so he was instead "kicked upstairs," "promoted" into a mostly symbolic position where he would no longer work directly on products or have any major decision making power.

Still wanting to work on games, Sakaguchi would eventually leave the merged Square-Enix to found a small studio named Mistwalker. At about this time Microsoft were looking to secure exclusives for their upcoming Xbox 360 console that would shore up what had been weaknesses in the library of the original Xbox. Spying an opportunity to do just that with some big name recognition, they hired the fledgling Mistwalker to work on three big first party JRPGs for the system. The second was Lost Odyssey and third was supposed to be a game called Cry On that got cancelled but we're not here to talk about either of those.




Blue Dragon is a sort of an early HD era version of Final Fantasy V dressed in Dragon Quest clothing provided by Dragon Quest character and monster designer Akira Toriyama. It has an Uematsu soundtrack though notably the main boss theme, Eternity has lyrics written by Sakaguchi and performed by Ian Gillan, of Deep Purple fame. Oh yeah and Mistwalker are a tiny studio that can't handle AAA development on their own so the bulk of development was handled by Artoon. If you haven't heard of Artoon then there's a reason for that.

Usually, I'd put something about the story here but at the time of writing this we've played the game for nearly six hours and I'm still not entirely sure that it has one?




This is Fushira. He seems important.




This is Shu. He won't give up.




This is Kluke. Her parents are dead. She lectures Shu and Jiro for breaking the rules in an early cutscene so I guess she's the responsible one?




This is Jiro, I've vaguely gotten the impression that he has a thing for Kluke but that might just be reading into things. He might be supposed to be the smart one but he's so just kind of there that I can't even be sure of that much about his character.

wateyad fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Jul 18, 2017

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wateyad
Nov 17, 2007

The power of the Outsider is

...dat ass
:yosbutt:
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Episode 1: Land Shark
Episode 2: Let's Play Blue Cow
Episode 3: How to Game
- Part 1: Monster Fight
- Part 2: Getting Classy
Episode 4: Sheeple
Episode 5: Green Grunt
Episode 6: Eternity
Episode 7: Drill
Episode 8: This Robot Makes No Sense
Episode 9: Hospital Ruins 1F
Episode 10: We Don't Like Ghosts
Episode 11: Interfering in a Tiny War
Episode 12: The Medicine
Episode 13: A Convenient Coincidence
Episode 14: Exploring
Episode 15: Insect King
Episode 16: Cutlass Fish
Episode 17: Secrets of the Poo Crabs
Episode 18: Big Snake
Episode 19: Back and Forth
Episode 20: Do What the Tree Says
Episode 21: Maybe We Should Have Tried Stealing?
Episode 22: Suddenly Characters!
Episode 23
- Part 1: Devee Pilgrimage
- Part 2: This Video is BEARly Content
Episode 24: Dungeonforest
Episode 25: We're (Not) Back
Episode 26: I Eat Mine with Chips
Episode 27: Snakeface
Episode 28: Lots of Reading
Episode 29: An LP in Crisis!?
Episode 30: Misfortune Mural
Episode 31: Catbats! (Batcats?)
Episode 32: Quite A Powerful Attack But Not Really Powerful Just Like A Bit
Episode 33: Jenova PAINT
Episode 34: Camping
Episode 35: Escort Mission
Episode 36: Eyeshadow
Episode 37: Oh, It's Nothing
Episode 38: Ministerial Matters
Episode 39: Cubes
Episode 40: It's Already Full
Episode 41: Sidequesting In A Crisis
Episode 42: Harpoons
Episode 43: Alarm
Episode 44: Silence
Episode 45: Turbulence
Episode 46: Bombs
Episode 47: Guns
Episode 48: Food

wateyad fucked around with this message at 13:01 on Nov 2, 2017

wateyad
Nov 17, 2007

The power of the Outsider is

...dat ass
:yosbutt:
FANSTUFF

SystemLogoff posted:

So I made a dumb thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVSp53xBumg
If you don't care about spheres, skip to 12

SWALLOW THE COW ARCANA, wait...

Something else I noticed editing that video:



The shadows in this game like to break for one frame a lot.

McDragon posted:

also here is Fushira and his persona



also where do the poo snakes get their shoes


Elkyrie posted:

So I heard the plead for catbat... batcat art and I just couldn't ignore such a heartfelt request. You'll have to imagine the squeaky noise yourselves, though.



Captain Fargle posted:

I did a thing. Turns out I'm bad at making silly doodles imitate Ken Sugimori but there you go.



It's name is Nyabat. I like to imagine it would evolve into Vampurr.

SystemLogoff posted:

I'm just catching up with the videos, so here's my bcat.



It's not as cute as the others here, but :3:

wateyad fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Sep 20, 2017

Rangpur
Dec 31, 2008

How the gently caress did you end up with a YouTube content warning on a Blue Dragon LP?

wateyad
Nov 17, 2007

The power of the Outsider is

...dat ass
:yosbutt:

Rangpur posted:

How the gently caress did you end up with a YouTube content warning on a Blue Dragon LP?

Sorry I forgot to make the video not private. Fixed now.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
That first episode seemed quite fun, actually. Just make sure you don't burn yourselves out. If you don't have any fun and lose the joy of LPing we will certainly prefer it if you quit it and did something else at some point.

Kibayasu
Mar 28, 2010

Me: "Is Land Shark really the best name to use for an enemy?"

Game: Poo Snake

Me: "No, no it wasn't."

Pork Lift
Oct 9, 2007

Winner of the 2012
:dong: Highway Traffic :dong:
Prediction Razzies

Poo Snake

NikkolasKing
Apr 3, 2010



So pumped for this. Honestly, I'd say SO4 actually had a better story and cast than this game but this game is a lot more fun to play and is very easy to make fun of so I think things will go well. This game is certainly a bit less...serious than SO4 so that helps.

Just need to be able to tolerate Peak Anime.

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
That was a great place to end episode 1. I really like Shu as a character because his belligerence is amazing. Also, be sure to check his commands compared to everyone elses.

Admiral H. Curtiss
May 11, 2010

I think there are a bunch of people who can create trailing images. I know some who could do this as if they were just going out for a stroll.
I played through this entire game like ten eight years ago according to my achievement timestamps and I remember *absolutely nothing* about it. Well, except for Eternity. It just didn't stand out to me at all.

Admiral H. Curtiss fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Jul 17, 2017

Ghosts n Gopniks
Nov 2, 2004

Imagine how much more sad and lonely we would be if not for the hard work of lowtax. Here's $12.95 to his aid.
Prepare for the most earworm music you will ever endure. If you wonder where the story is just keep on playing, it's not the best paced but it does deliver very well and really gets going when things go, watched a friend stream it over the last two months and I'm happy I did.

Mega64
May 23, 2008

I took the octopath less travelered,

And it made one-eighth the difference.
This looks...Playable.

Ometeotl
Feb 13, 2012



It's MISSEL! Or SISSLE!
I confused myself...



wateyad posted:

Welcome to another Pretzel Brigade LP, this time as voted for by you.

He said it!

ChaosArgate
Oct 10, 2012

Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?

Eternity is the only good thing about this game. Everything else is just kind of there.

Pork Lift
Oct 9, 2007

Winner of the 2012
:dong: Highway Traffic :dong:
Prediction Razzies

Ometeotl posted:

He said it!

It's not real until he says it 3 times, preferably into a mirror, but we're getting there

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!

Admiral H. Curtiss posted:

I played through this entire game like ten eight years ago according to my achievement timestamps and I remember *absolutely nothing* about it. Well, except for Eternity. It just didn't stand out to me at all.

Seeing this thread made me realise that I definitely remember some weird parts of it that are miles apart from each other and don't seem like they'd be super-memorable moments otherwise. They're, uh, very few and far apart though and are not at all related to the main plot for the most part.

...Some of them might not even be from this game, though. Somehow there are like 3 games in this "series" and they just sorta blur together.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
I love this game and wish I'd beaten it before my 360 hard drive died. I got hung up searching for a few secrets and stopped playing shortly into what I think was the final area. I restarted with my new hard drive, but haven't made it all that far yet.

Scalding Coffee
Jun 26, 2006

You're already dead

Kibayasu posted:

Me: "Is Land Shark really the best name to use for an enemy?"

Game: Poo Snake

Me: "No, no it wasn't."
Is this going to become one of those peak anime games?

Fedule
Mar 27, 2010


No one left uncured.
I got you.
I'm 99% sure I played the demo for this when it came out and like seemingly everyone else here I can't remember a single goddamn thing about it except for a single piece of music, which I'm pretty sure isn't even the same single piece of music everyone else remembers. It wasn't even very memorable or even good but for some reason it just stuck. I don't think I even finished the demo.

I guess I'm here for this.

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


Blue Dragon is almost completely forgettable, but it does at least justify its existence by having the greatest boss theme in the history of video games.

Momomo
Dec 26, 2009

Dont judge me, I design your manhole
I know nothing about this game other than the Greatest Boss Theme ever, but I am very excited for Final Fantasy with Goku in it.

goatface
Dec 5, 2007

I had a video of that when I was about 6.

I remember it being shit.


Grimey Drawer
Giant land shark robot being the opening fight and unable to kill a bunch of punk kids is different.

I'm not sure why the rest of the people seemed so scared of it tbh

wateyad
Nov 17, 2007

The power of the Outsider is

...dat ass
:yosbutt:

Ometeotl posted:

He said it!



You realise I put this in a video at some point?

Momomo
Dec 26, 2009

Dont judge me, I design your manhole
To be honest that was a pretty good intro, other than our main characters feeling kind of bland. They got to the point faster than like, any modern JRPG I can think of.

Geostomp
Oct 22, 2008

Unite: MASH!!
~They've got the bad guys on the run!~
This game was generic as hell, but still fun. The boss theme alone makes it worth it.

ChaosArgate
Oct 10, 2012

Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?

I guess if anyone wants to play along for some reason, it's on sale?

https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/887108962239225857

mastersord
Feb 15, 2001

Gold Card Putty Fan Club
Member Since 2017!
Soiled Meat
Did you know that there are 2 sequel games on the Nintendo DS? Blue Dragon Plus which was released in 2008 and Blue Dragon Awakened Shadow which was released in 2009. I'm hoping to find a bit more about these games as they looked interesting at the time. I wonder why I never played them..

Rody One Half
Feb 18, 2011

of course the first real enemy in this toriyama game is a poop

I don't know that this game is full lp fuel but things have a good pace so far

Flac
Sep 6, 2010

supposedly it frees you from anxiety and nihilism
"this looks like final fantasy but with goku in it" chrono trigger is the first final fantasy with a playable goku

Sam Faust
Feb 20, 2015

How long before the characters get their stands?

Polsy
Mar 23, 2007

goatface posted:

Giant land shark robot being the opening fight and unable to kill a bunch of punk kids is different.

I'm not sure why the rest of the people seemed so scared of it tbh

It's more realistic if you install the difficulty mod and start a fresh game on Impossible difficulty, then Shu gets immediately obliterated for 200+ damage.

FractalSandwich
Apr 25, 2010
I'm really digging this out-of-the-box RPG Maker UI.

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
I think that they were trying to avoid the HDTV problem of on Standard Def TVs most HD games have unreadably tiny text, so they made their's enormous to compensate.

Erd
Jun 6, 2011
Yeah, commendable on the designers part really. It's funny thinking back to the time when this game came out, before LCD TVs were any good and when a plasma display would cost AU$3-5k. Compare to another Xbox 360 near launch title, Dead Rising, where the text was tiny.

Anyway I hope you end up liking the game (or doing something else you like if it isn't for you). Your best stuff comes from stuff you either love or loathe, not middle of the road mediocrity.

NikkolasKing
Apr 3, 2010



Polsy posted:

It's more realistic if you install the difficulty mod and start a fresh game on Impossible difficulty, then Shu gets immediately obliterated for 200+ damage.

I wish I still had my old 360 and my old save For this LP, I started up a new game playing on Hard Mode instead of Impossible because you need NG+ for Impossible.

Still, Hard Mode is kinda fun. Also kinda frustrating. I got frustrated after a bullshit death and quit but now this thread has been made, I need to start it up again


At all the talk of Blue Dragon's quality, it is pretty generic but it's generic for the olden times. I was happy to see a JRPG on the last console generation that played like my preferred type of JRPG.

AtomikKrab
Jul 17, 2010

Keep on GOP rolling rolling rolling rolling.

This is exactly the type of game I would have loved when I was young and had no sense of... good.

Qtotonibudinibudet
Nov 7, 2011



Omich poluyobok, skazhi ty narkoman? ya prosto tozhe gde to tam zhivu, mogli by vmeste uyobyvat' narkotiki
There is no wateyad, and Pork Lift is his prophet. I hate myself and want to anime.

Sibilant Crisp
Jul 4, 2014

I played through this awhile ago. It was very bad, I still remember "I won't give up!" being said at least a million times all the way to the end of the game. I remember not seeing the ending coming, but I couldn't beat the last boss and gave up.

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BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
On the other hand I enjoyed it enough to have played it through a couple of times, and am planning another one at some point soon (not playing along, just for fun at my own pace), so I guess it really is divisive.

Also, @porklift and wateyad: How are you enjoying being able to tell what everything is? The chests are big, bold and beautiful, and the minimap and environments are readable! Although I will admit the world map is a little hard to read due to how "messy" it looks.

BioEnchanted fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Jul 18, 2017

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