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I know that Albino Siberian Tigers are real, that still wouldn't stop me from being shocked if one popped out of the middle of nowhere and tried to kill me.
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Jul 25, 2018 19:03
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*double post WHY* Uhh, well I guess the Yuri and Alice relationship turned around faster than even Squall and Rinoa in FF8.
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Jul 25, 2018 19:03
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Keep in mind that Yuri might not be drunk up to his eyes, but the state is equivalent. Even him would normally have the sense to shut up about his crush.
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Jul 25, 2018 20:08
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Yuri is also a pretty blunt and honest dude, unlike Squall who is a brooding edgelord.
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Jul 25, 2018 20:35
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I'm on to you, Alice Elliot.
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Jul 25, 2018 21:14
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gimme the GOD drat candy posted:it would be super weird if kawashima, who knows that dehuai is a dangerous sorcerer who almost destroyed japan with magic, did not know that magic exists I got the impression from that conversation that they're just discussing what they've heard, and they don't necessarily really believe that Dehuai can do magic. I think it's not particularly well translated, though.
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Jul 26, 2018 01:09
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Nohman posted:I think I know where everyone stands so far. I would like to claim I am True Kato, but I lack the chin for it.
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Jul 26, 2018 01:13
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ultrafilter posted:I got the impression from that conversation that they're just discussing what they've heard, and they don't necessarily really believe that Dehuai can do magic. I think it's not particularly well translated, though. Yeah, someone who the local savages think is a sorcerer is dangerous enough. Someone who is actually a sorcerer, and by the way magic works, is vastly worse.
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Jul 26, 2018 02:08
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Nohman posted:I think I know where everyone stands so far. Li Li being in the middle is the cruelest of them all
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Jul 26, 2018 03:22
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Episode XX: Fire and Water Music: Manufacture - Conveyorbelt for Killers .jpg)  Mother, did you hide on the boat to put Li Li’s soul to rest? What, you KNEW this would happen?! <shakes head> Yes… I didn’t think Li Li would give up so easily. I would give my life to save that poor girl’s soul! And you didn't warn us about a potential ghost stowaway... why, again? What was the plan if the ghost chick like stayed behind in the village instead? This is a one-way trip to Shanghai. How are you even getting back home even if you did deal with Li Li? Say, Sea Mother… What happened after Li Li opened the door that night fourteen years ago? <nods> Ah… We were interrupted. ...All those questions and THAT is the one you're going to answer? Oh, frick... Not another ghost story... Alice, you're burning through that goodwill you just built up REAL fast, here...Sea Mother backs up and takes the storytelling position. No voice acting for the conclusion of the Li Li tale, sadly... .jpg) She saw her father, back from the dead… he was in a terrible state. He returned to let Li Li take his life. He returned to give Li Li her voice back. He came back as a drowned corpse… to be killed by his own daughter? This whole thing is a real melodrama for two people having switched their voices and getting super self-conscious about it. And did she? Did she kill her father, who had finally returned? No. She came to return the dagger. Then, with her father’s drowned corpse on her back… she walked on towards the ocean, staggering under the weight… That’s the last time anyone ever saw them. We couldn’t find their bodies, either.  <shrugs and shakes head> No wonder her spirit isn’t at peace… Ya, the whole town stood around while like a 100-pound wet girl lugged a big burly drowned corpse slowly into the ocean. I'd be kinda pissed if everyone just let that happen too. I-I couldn’t do anything for her…Sea Mother collapses to her knees in a coughing fit. .jpg) <goes to Sea Mother's side> Are you all right? I’m sorry to bring up all these bad memories. Why don’t you get some rest? <stands back up> Thank you… ... Li Li... I'll save you...The trio leave Sea Mother and head back above deck. Music: DOA .jpg)  Wh-what IS this?!  Th-the wheelhouse? Has something happened there…? Probably shouldn't let the people steering the boat get ganked...Yuri and friends run up to the wheelhouse door. .jpg) Open, drat you!!Yuri kicks that sonuvabitch open. .jpg) <satisfied laugh> Yeah! Now we're talking!.jpg) Welp... None of this seems like it's going well. Especially the lightning indoors. That's generally a bad scene. Which naturally leads straight to... .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) Time to bust some ghosts. After all, busting makes me feel good. Remember that part of Ghostbusters where Dan Aykroyd gets a blowjob from a ghost? That part always sneaks up to me in the mid-film musical montage... There's an alternate timeline, perhaps the one the Shadow Hearts series is going down, in which Dan Aykroyd got a whole subplot about going to an old fort which involved courting and loving a ghost. Anyway, these flaming jerks are Ogre Flames and are just Fire elemental remixes of Evil 4, the tutorial Malice challenge monster in the Graveyard.  The Japanese name for these fire boys is "Onibi" -- spirits born from human or animal corpses that just kind of hang out in the woods. It's just the Japanese equivalent of will-o'-wisps. Some yokel saw some weird swamp gas or fireflies, didn't know what the hell it was and assumed it was a g-g-ghooooost! .jpg) .jpg) Ogre Flames only have 40 HP a piece so they're quite easy to kill. Yuri or Margarete can do the job in a single combo. If they do get the chance attack, they're much like the Fire Bats back in the Fengtian Sewers in that they all just spam Fireball in succession every turn they get. As such, the easiest way to deal with 'em is to just have Margarete immediately use Grenade to clear the lot of 'em in a single turn. .jpg) Not a problem. Unlike the completely jacked sizing scale of everything in this wheelhouse. Those bottles of liquor go up to Yuri's chest. You could stuff Alice in that urn on the right and I think the entire party could fit in the crate next to it and still have space to spare. Music: Manufacture - Conveyorbelt for Killers .jpg) <slowly stands up> Wh-what was THAT? <yawns> Some frikkin' chumps... What's up with you? You look like you saw a ghost. I-I just did... <turns to Smuggler Boss> You said you saw them in Dalian, didn’t you? Or their relatives. I-I… never imagined they actually…!!Music: DOA .jpg) Foul monsters! I’m not about to lose to the likes of you!! Oryaaaaahh!! <shakes head> Tsk, now Sea Mama’s in on the action?! Well, isn’t this fun… I swear, it's like the first time y'all have got in a fist fight with a ghost... What the ACTUAL gently caress!?.jpg) Yuri and the gang run out to go see what sort of mischief Sea Mother has gotten involved with here. At least, that's what the game wants us to do. I'm sure the old woman can hold her own against a few jobbers for a couple minutes. We're going to go back into the boat's wheelhouse. .jpg)  Er... need...?Inside, Kato has recovered from getting whomped by a ghost. Kawashima is still in some shock that ghosts and magical poo poo really does exist and wasn't just some Chinese country bumpkin superstitions. We're given two options to respond to > Yes, of course! .jpg) This results in Kato opening the "Pachimon General Store" and becoming a vendor. He's carrying a combination of the junk available in the Sea Turtle Restaurant and the underground weapon store from Dalian, in case we missed anything. What we want to buy here is a third Rosewood Bracelet. Remember, we got one back in Dalian? There's another one below deck in a semi-obscured chest right next to where Yuri started his seasickness scene with Alice. So we only need to buy one more. We're going to go ahead and slap one on all three of our party members. Just in case! Nobody likes getting paralyzed in a fight. That aside, if we talk to Kato again and chose the second option while speaking to him. > What are you saying?! .jpg) So, you in? Count me in..jpg) It turns out Kato is secretly Lottery Member Number 13. We'll be careful not to let his boss standing within earshot know he's a member of some shady lottery raffle organization on the d-low. Kawashima has enough on her mind at the moment. We'll be seeing Kato several times in the future, but this is the only opportunity to use his Lottery service. As usual, we need to win a prize if we're going to keep this sidequest going. .jpg) Whatever you do, don't tell the boss? Your secret stays between me and your chin. ...?.jpg) The top-billed reward here is Iron Clogs, a frankly worthless accessory. Equipping these halves the speed of the Judgment Wheel at the cost of tanking Agility by 15 points. For reference, Yuri and Margarete have around 25 Agility. Alice has 15. Hitting those Critical areas isn't going to offset the fact we're attacking around a quarter as fast... .jpg) With that out of the way, we probably should attend to that 80-year-old woman getting into a kung fu fight with spirits down below deck... .jpg) Again, lighting indoors seems like a bad scene. Sea Mother already got struck by lightning once this evening. Let's try to prevent an encore performance. .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) Our foe this time is a cyclops cousin of the Evil 3 that Yuri fought to sort out his Malice earlier, the puzzlingly titled White Wolflings. These guys also have fairly low overall health at only 45 HP a pop. They also only have the single attack in sliding over to their victim and punching 'em with their stubby little tentacle arm. This only does 5-10 HP of damage but does have the very annoying (but thankfully rare) potential to inflict the Random Ring anomaly.  The Japanese name for White Wolflings is White Maiden in reference to the Chinese folktale Legend of the White Snake. No idea where the hell they got "Wolfling" from here... I'm starting to suspect localizing the enemy names and general combat junk was some of the last stuff that was tackled and was kind of a rush job... .jpg) Just as with the Ogre Flames, Yuri or Margarete can likely take down a single White Wolfling in a single physical combo. Sadly, the Grenade tactic isn't effective against this mob since they are Water elemental jobbers. In any case, that's Sea Mother saved. Music: Manufacture - Conveyorbelt for Killers .jpg) <returns to her feet> You… you’re good, boy. That's not really the brand I'm going for, but sure... They must be after Master Zhuzhen, too! Please, boy… would you go and check? Sheesh, Sea Mama, you sure know how to work people. Anyway, that old geezer won’t be beaten so easily. Master Zhuzhen is in the middle of a ceremony! He’s extremely vulnerable right now…  Yeah... crud, I GUESS that's a good point... I'd be weird if these dumb spirits attacked everyone but pops....jpg) Yuri automatically returns above deck once more. Similar to the situation in Dalian, this is a VERY short area. We just need to run to the other side of the area, where we left Zhuzhen, to initiate the boss battle that will end the chapter. Buuuuuuut... .jpg) .jpg) The two trash mobs we took out defending Sea Mother and the fake smuggler duo have now become random battles on deck. Very easy random battles. Remember, Margarete can wipe out all four Ogre Flames in an instant just like she could do to the jerks back in Dalian. The White Wolflings are only marginally longer to take care of overall. Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) What I'm getting at is that less than ten minutes of grinding is enough to get both the Water and Fire elements' Soul Energy leveled up to unlock some new goodies for Yuri back in the Graveyard. I'm sure Zhuzhen can hold his own for like fifteen minutes, tops. He's a tough old timer. .jpg) Sure enough, back in the graveyard, a couple more headstones have lit up with Soul Energy. Let's go check out the Water element one first since we really ought to have hit that one back in the Fengtian Sewer. .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) Our Fusion soul challenger for today is .jpg) .jpg) Man Dragon starts off the fight by casting Illusion, a spell which raises its Physical Evasion +15%. Lizard dudes HATE getting slapped. It makes them so mad. Too bad he's got some bad news coming his way. .jpg) .jpg) The Water Elemental Fusion can strike a pose to summon a quick shower to heal 30 HP or so if the Illusion happens to yield less than impressive results. I'm glad anime sparkles and a rainbow doesn't appear when I shower. Seems like it'd get old fast. .jpg) And since Fusion monsters tend to borrow abilities from random battle enemies, Man Dragon comes packing the .jpg) .jpg) All this will not prevent a Raging Tiger from becoming very upset some rear end in a top hat lizard got its fur wet. .jpg) There is the negligence obtaining this Fusion soul back in Fengtian corrected. What a jerk, taking advantage of my PC imploding to elude capture. Lizardfolk, I tell ya... Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) Yuri realizes there will never be a Godhand 2. .jpg) Now is that a fog with seven colors at once or seven different colors of fog can be farted out of his skin? I feel like those are two very different things for this man-lizard vape rig. Anyway, Man Dragon comes with the stats:
.jpg) Man Dragon will get some action in the future. Such as right now, as we go take on the Fire element Fusion soul! Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) A new challenger appears! Meet Inferno -- a Fire elemental Goro. I'm sure there were many four-armed creatures in fiction before Mortal Kombat, but I don't care. You got four arms in a video game? You're a Goro. End of story. Don't "umm, actually..." me about their race being Shokan. You should be ashamed knowing specifics of Mortal Kombat lore. That's a dark road to go down. Repent now... .jpg) Man Dragon is the best and the worst take on this four-armed jerk. Honestly, we probably should have fought Inferno first since he's significantly stronger than Man Dragon, especially if it's exploiting his elemental weakness. .jpg) .jpg) Inferno isn't a complicated boy. He's good at punching. The dude's got four goddamn arms. It'd be a crime if he wasn't using 'em to punch poo poo. Inferno will start the match by casting Fighting Spirit to raise his Physical Attack Power by 15% and then just get to throwing haymakers for 70+ HP of damage. This guy managed to just knock Yuri the gently caress out almost instantly my first attempt here since he still had some damage from the Man Dragon fight. Turns out you just get kicked out of the Graveyard if Yuri falls here.  Try again at full health and getting luckier with not getting hit by buffed critical hits repeatedly made things go much smoother. If physical attacks aren't doing the business, Flash Flood will hit for nearly 100 HP and a couple casts of that will be more than enough to sort out Inferno. .jpg) .jpg) This message just makes me think I've picked up the moveset of the final boss of Soulcalibur in Create-a-Character mode. Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) Killer Instinct seems like just the sort of stupid game Yuri would be into were he born a century later. .jpg) Inferno will fully be replacing Raging Tiger as our "get someone strong to hit stuff good" Fusion of choice. The Fire elemental Fusion is the best physical damage output for a good portion of the game, especially with that attack buff Fighting Spirit. It's kind of strange it has access to a spell that removes several status ailments. But hey, why not? Inferno's stats are:
.jpg) Since we did slay quite a few monsters in rapid succession back on the Smuggler's Boat, our Malice did build up a decent notch. We can sort that out while we're in the area...  It's DEFINITELY not just an excuse to show Inferno going hog on some poor mook. Oraoraora! .jpg) That's all our business in the Graveyard shift for today. Let's head on back and hope Zhuzhen hasn't gotten ganked by spirits or decapitated by a ghost fish or some poo poo while we were away. Music: Manufacture - Conveyorbelt for Killers .jpg) Bah. See? He was perfectly fine! I don't know what Sea Mother was worried about. .jpg) The area flashes white several times. .jpg)  .jpg) .jpg) Yeah...? .jpg) Naw... We already did this song and dance once already. We're done here. Get on with the next scene. That's enough filler fights. .jpg) <looks around> But you didn't do anyth—.jpg) WOAH! How about a warning beforehand?! Geez! Here we go!! <performs arcane kung fu motion>.jpg) Music: Angel Heart .jpg) This is me every time I watch high-level fighting game tournament matches. Sea Mother wanders onto the scene. .jpg) So this is an old-fashioned exorcism pentagram? Ain't pentagrams for like summoning devils and such? I'm gonna be real ticked off if you mess this up and summon another demon on top of the ghost, pops! Just hush up so I can explain. ...Wait, unless the demon FIGHTS the ghost. That'd be kinda rad. There's no demons involved, kid. Just shut up and get over here..jpg) <motions to the pentagram> Now, Sea Mother, I’ll need your help. We have to keep Li Li’s power in check. <nods and takes position next to the pentagram> <turns to Yuri> Give me a shout when you’re ready, kid. Master Zhuzhen, I shall assist you! <nods> .jpg) This is the last chance to go sort out any business on the Smuggler's Boat. But I think we have everything covered here. Let's get to work! .jpg) <nods> Yes, let’s! On-tei-naa… On-tei-naa… Li Li, come before me! <begins praying> <begins concentrating energy> H-here she comes!! Really? I don't see anyth—.jpg) Yeah, OK. Checks out.Li Li appears before the group. .jpg)  How DARE you invoke that wretched chant!! DIE!!Tune in next time as we bust a ghost, perhaps multiple times, as the boat arc of Shadow Hearts draws to a close. The next LP update will be in 67 weeks as per anime boat arc tradition. See you in Autumn 2019 for the exciting conclusion!    Video: Episode 20 Highlight Reel   Man Dragon Render – Terrible posture. His back is going to hate him in a few years.  Inferno Render – Don't stare at the fire vagina...
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Jul 26, 2018 17:11
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Man Dragon just looks like a budget Xenomorph to me.
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Jul 26, 2018 18:36
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Schwartzcough posted:Man Dragon just looks like a budget Xenomorph to me. He also looks more like a kappa then the other kappas we saw.
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Jul 26, 2018 19:51
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Those clogs are useless now, but I'd imagine they could be quite nice late-game.
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Jul 26, 2018 22:56
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Ratoslov posted:Those clogs are useless now, but I'd imagine they could be quite nice late-game. Not really, because by then we'll have access to an accessory that slows the Judgment Ring without the dumb Agility penalty. What I'm saying is if want some tissues The Chin is the one to get them from.
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Jul 26, 2018 23:48
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There's a Red Dragon movie photoshop just begging to be made regarding Man Dragon but I haven't the talent for it.
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Jul 27, 2018 00:01
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The Dark Id posted:
My apologies. I would've preferred to go with "yu mo gui gwai fai di zao," but the boys in legal advised against it.
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Jul 27, 2018 00:42
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The Dark Id posted:
Curse you, Idolmaster! Claiming another innocent victim before their time!
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Jul 27, 2018 01:09
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The Dark Id posted:
Curse you, Idolmaster! Claiming another innocent victim before their time!
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Jul 27, 2018 01:09
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Honestly I like Kawashima's and Kato's perspective being included in here. You have the entire party treating what they're doing as completely normal, so it's good to attach some regular person perspective to ground the narrative.
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Jul 27, 2018 01:20
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Man Dragon is already at a disadvantage element wise, but the difference in those stat boosts really seals the deal. Inferno has a good strength boost and isn't too shabby intelligence wise. And surprising absolutely no one, the poor watery bastard is yet another low point of this game's translation. It should be "Dragon God." It's especially egregious as not only is that a hard mistake to make when phonetically speaking, "Man Dragon" is the last translation you'd think of when looking at the kana alone were that the case, but the original text outright used kanji.
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Jul 27, 2018 01:25
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Keldulas posted:Honestly I like Kawashima's and Kato's perspective being included in here. You have the entire party treating what they're doing as completely normal, so it's good to attach some regular person perspective to ground the narrative. At this point I expect Kawashima to let them off at Shanghai, take their money, tip her hat and thank them for sailing the friendly seas, then turn right the gently caress around and go back to Fengtian. Let this disaster be someone else's problem.
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Jul 27, 2018 01:33
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Keldulas posted:Honestly I like Kawashima's and Kato's perspective being included in here. You have the entire party treating what they're doing as completely normal, so it's good to attach some regular person perspective to ground the narrative. Edward did the same in Koudelka, admitting that he had no idea what was going on and was just trying to punch his way through it all while scared out of his mind.
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Jul 27, 2018 01:33
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The thought of Kato going AAAIIIIEEEE is hilarious since in 2, he’s voiced by Jamieson Price, aka Papa Nier.
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Jul 27, 2018 01:52
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The Dark Id posted:> What are you saying?! holy loving poo poo this is amazing 
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Jul 27, 2018 02:17
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I like to imagine Yuri's flashing his lotto tickets at literally everyone, waiting for a reaction. He's probably waved them for Alice two or three times already.
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Jul 27, 2018 03:09
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quote:Now is that a fog with seven colors at once or seven different colors of fog can be farted out of his skin? Alice posted:So this is an old-fashioned exorcism pentagram?
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Jul 27, 2018 09:01
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How do you join this lottery society in the first place? Wander into the wrong bar in college?
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Jul 27, 2018 13:00
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Glazius posted:How do you join this lottery society in the first place? Wander into the wrong bar in college? You gotta luck into it.
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Jul 27, 2018 13:05
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Glazius posted:How do you join this lottery society in the first place? Wander into the wrong bar in college? It's sorted entirely by chin, you just can't tell because none of the other members have had character portraits.
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Jul 27, 2018 13:22
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Glazius posted:How do you join this lottery society in the first place? Wander into the wrong bar in college?
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Jul 27, 2018 18:02
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I love Kato's portrait. Especially since now it looks like he's about to cry because he's scare of ghosts. 
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Jul 27, 2018 18:14
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Nohman posted:I love Kato's portrait. Especially since now it looks like he's about to cry because he's scare of ghosts. This made me laugh.
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Jul 27, 2018 22:07
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Nohman posted:I love Kato's portrait. Especially since now it looks like he's about to cry because he's scare of ghosts. 
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Jul 27, 2018 22:12
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:kato:
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Jul 27, 2018 22:14
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I see a duck
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Jul 28, 2018 01:36
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Kato no es pato
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Jul 28, 2018 02:33
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Episode XXI: Busting a Ghost Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) We're jumping right into it with a battle against the vengeful spirit of Li Li. She seems really shocked to see the party throwing down here. Or... that's just how she always looks. It's hard to say for certain. In either case, we're going to have to burn through 580 HP if we're gonna bust this ghost proper like. .jpg) Our first order of business is getting Yuri into the proper Fusion. There's a reason we stopped and obtained Heaven's Fiend back in Dalian and it's this battle. Li Li is the first (beatable) Dark elemental boss we've come across in Shadow Hearts. .jpg) While Heaven's Fiend isn't the physical attack powerhouse of other Fusions, its Light elemental affinity is more than enough to offset that in this case. One weird slapping and gross tail smacking combo out of it does a cool 70-80 HP of damage every turn. Not too shabby. Of course, we could tap into Heaven's Fiend's magic stock and fire off some Exorcist Arrows. But we want to conserve MP during this fight if at all possible. Not saying that there is, I don't know, a second phase or anything to the fight. But there's totally a second phase to the fight. So, we need to act accordingly. .jpg) .jpg) That said, Alice has MP for days so she's the only one we're going to splurge a bit with and cast a few spells. Especially since her physical attacks may as well be a wasted turn even if she is Light elemental. Particularly, we can use Holy Edge to give Margarete's guns the Light element. .jpg) This will turn Margarete's damage output against Li Li from less than 40 HP a combo to around 60+ damage every turn. Not a bad buff. .jpg) .jpg) Of course, Li Li isn't going to just stand here and take a beating. I mean, she will do just that. It's a turn-based RPG. She doesn't have much choice. But when her turn comes up, the ghost lady has a few nasty attacks. The biggest issue is the Dark Messenger attack she's borrowing from the Death Emperor Fusion. Li Li will vomit a nasty miasma of darkness at a single target dealing a significant chunk of damage. Margarete will get hit for around 50-60 HP while Alice or Heaven's Fiend Yuri will take it on the nose for 70-80 HP. But there is a more pressing issue with this attack beyond the high damage output... .jpg) If we're unlucky, like Alice was here, Dark Messenger can just randomly straight up cause Death status and one-shot a character. So that... ain't great. .jpg) There are zero defenses against the Death status this early in the game so we just must roll with it and burn a Talisman of Luck then immediately heal Alice since any of Li Li's other attacks will KO her again if she gets targeted.  While there is nothing to be done about instant death, Li Li's other major attack, Paralysis, can be thwarted from its ill-effects. This is the reason we equipped everyone with Rosewood Bracelets. Paralysis will still do 40-50 HP of damage but at least we won't burn a turn using a consumable we're in short supply of getting a party member back into the game. .jpg) .jpg) You may recall earlier than Alice leveled up and finally obtained an offensive ability -- Blessed Light. Since we're more likely to have Alice run dry on Sanity than Magic Points by the end of any given fight, we may as well let her splurge a little in her MP stocks and do a cast or two the Light elemental spell. Which creams Li Li's ghost for 100+ HP of damage. Gotta get a little revenge for that one-shot garbage, right? .jpg) Beyond physical attacks that are identical to Paralysis but without, you know, the paralyzing part, that's about it for busting this ghost. Li Li that is quite the death pose... Could you not? Music: Results .jpg) There's nothing more insulting than beating up a vengeful spirit and then mugging it for the contents of its wallet while it is down. b.jpg) For defeating Li Li, we also get another Judgment Ring shuffling item. This one is somewhat more useful than a few we've encountered. A halved Judgment Ring is still generous if we say the Strike areas of the grid are a lost cause. But enough of weird animal hair we found in a ghost's pocket, let's finish dealing with Li Li... Music: ENDS .jpg) Sea... Mother....jpg) Hold that thought! Lord Raiden is teleporting in to invite us all to a fighting tournament to decide the fate of the rea—oh no. Wait. It's just that goober Dehuai... False alarm. Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple .jpg) Who…?! <laughs> How nice to finally meet you, Alice Elliot. And Zhuzhen! Long time no see. Dehuai... Why don't you go step on a rake again? Grr! That was fifteen years ago, don't you dare bring up that ancient history! So you’re Dehuai! You brought poor Li Li back, didn’t you?! You were USING her! That’s right. Ah, Alice… You’re even more beautiful than I had imagined! I told you this guy was gonna be some creepy old perv. Silence, you... You... ...I have no clue who you are. Yeah? Nice. Let's keep it that way, creep. Well, well! We finally meet the real Tiny, eh? Except that you’re not nearly as cute. Sorry, I forgot to pick up a doggie snack for you back at the port. Tell you what, I'll get you a cute collar when we make it to Shanghai. Hmph. So, you’re the abominable Harmonixer, are you? Very well. I’m sure you and the old man will make a lovely snack for the Shanghai crabs. <focuses on Li Li> Li Li, I shall unleash all of your power!! Hate everything! DEVOUR them with your hate! Hee hee hee hee!!.jpg) We probably shouldn't let the evil sorcerer just go around casting spells like this. But alas, cutscene paralysis... Li Li rises back to her feet and glows with an evil aura like Tiny had back in Fengtian. .jpg) <laughs> Wait, Li Li!! I promise you, I WILL deliver you to your eternal rest!.jpg) Music: China Ogre .jpg) .jpg) ...Boy, that cutscene didn't properly convey what Dehuai was doing to Li Li, huh? The ghost of Dalian has gone from K-Mart brand Sadako to err... grimdark Ursula from The Little Mermaid? Sure, why not? In any case, here is the real boss to cap off this chapter and the reason we were conserving MP for Li Li's early incarnation. In Form 2, Li Li has upped her maximum HP to 720. .jpg) Even in her new form, Li Li remains a Dark elemental enemy. So once again, Yuri will be Harmonixerin' over to his Heaven's Fiend form to rumble. But first, he has another duty... .jpg) .jpg) We did just fight a boss battle a couple minutes ago and hadn't had a chance to top off everyone's health. Heaven's Fiend just so happens to have a full party heal in the form of Sacred Remedy. So, we'll just sort that out first thing to get everyone in full fighting form. Sacred Remedy remains one of the only full party heal spells for quite some time, so Heaven's Fiend is a useful Fusion throughout the early game. At least, until another rank replaces it... .jpg) .jpg) As before, we'll have Alice hook up Margarete with Holy Edge. She'll be doing roughly the same damage output as the previous battle and that's just fine. If I saw this thing slosh unto a boat deck, my first instinct would probably be to start dumping rounds into it too. .jpg) Alice is also free to let loose with her Blessed Light more often now that we're not caring as much about MP consumption. It's still doing upward of 80-90+ HP of damage a shot. It's nice to have Alice contribute to the offensive for a change. .jpg) .jpg) Speaking of which, Yuri can now dip into his somewhat limited MP reserves and bust out the Exorcist Arrow to pierce Scylla-Li Li for around 100 HP. So, if all goes well, that's around the ballpark of 270ish damage out of the party in a complete turn. .jpg) Of course, Li Li has a few things to say about that. Her Octomom form seems way more into using Paralysis over everything else. Again, that Rosewood Bracelet was worth the Accessory slot. .jpg) .jpg) Li Li has a new attack in her transformed state -- Hate Storm. This will strike the entire party for around 50 HP of damage. Strangely, it seems to be non-elemental since neither Yuri nor Alice takes any additional damage from it. The entire party losing nearly a third of their HP is easily countered by Sacred Remedy. Hate Storm has one benefit in that it replaces Dark Messenger and cannot one-shot any of our party out of nowhere. So at least that's nice. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) That's about all there is to say about Transformed Li Li. We came prepared to this fight with a really good counter elemental Fusion and everyone equipped with accessories to negate one of her more dangerous attacks. Plus, Alice leveled up enough to have her Light elemental offensive attack. The first time I played this game I didn't have any of that poo poo and it went quite poorly. I think I scraped by a second attempt with like Raging Tiger with the Holy Edge buff doing all the heavy lifting and getting lucky to not have anyone OHKO'd in the first round. Music: Results .jpg) The party gets a very nice chunk of experience points for finally dealing with the Ghost Troubles. Plus, Dehuai was nice enough to restock Li Li's wallet so Yuri and friends could raid it again the second round. Very thoughtful of him. b.jpg) Another one of this sort of items is our bonus reward for completing the fight. I dunno, I feel like a smaller Hit Area moving normal speed is easier to deal with than a double speed one in a normal sized Hit Area. But that might just be me. Music: ENDS .jpg) .jpg) Li Li vanishes in a blinding flash of light. .jpg) <approaches Dehuai> It’s your turn next!! Hee hee hee… Yeah... no..jpg) Dehuai peaces out back to Shanghai. As soon as he's gone, Sea Mother falls to her knees and then collapses to the floor. New Music: ALICE (Alice's Theme, only rolled out for bummer scenes.) .jpg) Sea Mother!!Alice rushes to her side. .jpg) <shakes head> It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such fine magic. Really? Musta missed that while I was, ya know, actually fighting that thing. Come to think of it, where the hell were you, pops?! Maintaining the exorcism so the ghost didn't just teleport away again. <narrows eyes> Awright... That sounds kinda plausible. I'll give you a pass... this time. Rest in peace, good Sea Mother… She... looks like she's still breathing... She's totally still breathing. I-I am not... dead... yet...Alice stands up and looks to the sea. .jpg) Spirits in the heavens! Our beloved magic user will be coming under your care. Hey, Alice. She's not actually de— Our wonderful, wonderful magic user… Missy, she hasn't kicked the buc— <prays> Please be good to her… Well... this is embarrassing... You're still alive!? We were trying to tell you! Oh, I'm so sorry! No, no... That was... nice... It's fine... I'll just... BARF! <dies> ...'kay, Alice. I think you're in the clear now. She's dead for realsies. .jpg) .jpg) Sea Mother's body fades away and finally vanishes in a flash of light. It's shockingly easy to get away with murdering a magic user in this world. .jpg) Heh heh. A fine send off. Sea Mother will be most pleased. Did anyone actually know her real name...? I err... Well, I think it was... Umm... <rubs neck> Nope! It... wasn't Sea Mother?Kawashima and Kato wander onto the deck. .jpg) …Yes. Everything’s all right now. D-did that old woman... die...? Mhm. You saw her body vanish, didn't you? That isn't how that... usually works... Don't sweat the details. Right... Let’s get this thing moving. Full speed ahead, please! <nods> R-right. <looks around> .jpg) You got trapped in an evil curse pocket dimension and were raided by malevolent spirits led by the vengeful ghost of a drowned girl who was resurrected by an evil Chinese sorcerer. A Taoist adept and a local shaman teamed up to paint the deck with exorcism runes to entrap the ghost, so a murder suspect could transform into a slug angel and beat it up. Then the evil Chinese sorcerer behind everything turned the ghost into a cecaelia, which also was defeated but exhausted the power of the local medicine woman, so she was raptured into the afterlife. It's not that complicated, I don't know what you're beside yourself about, honestly. But enough of that, there is one final scene to close out the chapter. Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple .jpg) <stomps foot and paces about> I must not underestimate that boy’s power. And now that Zhuzhen has joined the girl… Should probably look in on that woman with the boobs, while I'm at it... Time to take a step back and conjure up a plan. Hmm… A lanky man in a red outfit wanders into Dehuai's chamber, startling the sorcerer as he rambles to himself. .jpg) Ah, Wugui! So glad you could make it here from Kowloon. I did not wish to tear you away from Hong Kong, but I could not afford NOT to call you… <nods> Do not worry. Not much is going on in Hong Kong, and to tell the truth, I was growing a little bored. Indeed, we’ve already made puppets of the newly-appointed French parliamentary officials. ...The British have taken over, not the French. Whichever. Same difference... Stuffy western foreigners. <nods> Excellent. drat the foreign superpowers. They believe this country is theirs for the taking! Ha! I’ll never let it happen… As long as I’m here, they won’t lay a finger on Shanghai!! <steps forward> Master, if I may be so bold… are you experiencing difficulties with the Demon’s Gate Invocation? Yes, well… As you can see, the Spirit Machine of Kuihai Tower is complete and ready to go… But the girl… the KEY… is still running loose. An unwelcome guest blocks my way. Unwelcome… guest? Bacon again? No, I haven't seen that dick of a warlock in a while. It is... Absolute Sage Zhuzhen! Master Zhuzhen? I never imagined he still lived. What is he like a hundred years old now? We're around the same age... <rubs neck> Ergh... Sorry, master. Still, I wouldn't have guessed he lives....jpg) My Blue Dragon trap only succeeded in killing an old hag. Grr…!! Pathetic, I tell you! I don't even know who the heck that was. I almost feel bad... Bah! She was PROBABLY attempting to foil my plans... It's fine... <steps forward> Not to worry, Master Dehuai. I shall deliver the girl to you immediately… along with the old man’s head. <laughs> Hee hee. Good, good! You’ve always been my best student. Just... put it in a box or something this time. I JUST got this new carpet in. I don't want a repeat of last time's performance. Yeah, that was my bad, master... ...I really liked that old rug, too. It really brought the room together, you know? This one is fine but... it's just not the same... <turns to Wugui> A word of warning, though. Do not underestimate them. …One of them is a monster with the power of Fusion. Fusion?! The Japanese man… he can’t still be alive? <shakes head> No, this one is different. He’s still young, though there is no doubt he’s a Harmonixer. Two Yamarajas have fallen to him thus far. The name swapping ruse was no help to them at all. It was always a dangerous gambit, master. Gods…! Heh heh heh. If what you say is true, Master, this should be interesting. I, Wugui of Kowloon, shall not fail you. <nods> Then I’ll wait for the good news. Show that grinning bastard Roger Bacon what we’re capable of. Now, Wugui! Go!.jpg) And that concludes Chapter 5 of Shadow Hearts! The ghost troubles have been sorted out for real this time. Even if the only NPC with a character portrait from the town we saved dropped dead in the process. Shadow Hearts isn't very nice to its regional story arc sub-characters if you cannot tell. Yuri and pals' adventures will continue in Chapter 6: Demonic Shanghai!  That was a quite short chapter. So not a whole lot to add to the Library listings. But we'll do our due diligence. MONSTER: .jpg) That doesn't seem like the most efficient way to go about eating people. .jpg) You'd be surprised about how many jellyfish lap up drowning man piss. .jpg) OK. But why did Dehuai make her boobs way bigger? That dude is just a weird pervert. You know between the puppy thing and this, he's just acting out some weird kinks he has. Wizards, man... NPC: .jpg) Tragically, he lost his eyebrows in the bargain. **********  Video: Li Li Boss Battle The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Jul 30, 2018 |
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Jul 28, 2018 18:46
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Dehuai just cant catch a break.
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Jul 28, 2018 20:09
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Weird that they turned the chinese ghost sorta into a greek creature, or is there a yokai equivalent of the scylla?
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Jul 28, 2018 21:23
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Brainamp posted:Weird that they turned the chinese ghost sorta into a greek creature, or is there a yokai equivalent of the scylla? There's a few sea creature yokai - there's the Ayakashi, will-o'-the-wisp/kelpie-like phenomena - which is the name for an enemy later on in the game, although localised entirely differently. The Ikuchi - an eel-like thing that could trap boats. The Umibōzu, which can summon storms, tempests, capsize ships, and are generally pretty creepy.  There's also giant skeleton whales, Bake-kujira, because that's pretty rad.
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Jul 28, 2018 22:12
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