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Geostomp posted:Why is it that everyone who gets that Manuscript goes straight to the “reviving the dead through slaughter of innocents” sections? Aren’t there some other bits of forbidden magic in that book that’d require fewer atrocities be less likely to result in an unholy abomination attacking? Well, both the people who've had it got it right after the emotional pillar of their life died, so they might have skipped ahead to the 'revive the dead' section.
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Oct 24, 2018 15:32
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The rest of the mysteries of the druids in the document are too dumb to do; putting rubber hoses on electric fences and other such nonsense
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Oct 24, 2018 19:42
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Also, if I remember Koudelka correctly, after Roger Bacon successfully used the stuff in the document to make himself immortal, he destroyed those parts of the document to prevent anyone else from doing the same, because he's kind of a dick like that. So there's a nonzero chance that if there was any other stuff in there that wasn't dangerous, he may have already edited it out just for shits and giggles.
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Oct 24, 2018 19:55
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W.T. Fits posted:Also, if I remember Koudelka correctly, after Roger Bacon successfully used the stuff in the document to make himself immortal, he destroyed those parts of the document to prevent anyone else from doing the same, because he's kind of a dick like that. So there's a nonzero chance that if there was any other stuff in there that wasn't dangerous, he may have already edited it out just for shits and giggles. Pope really shouldn't have stiffed him.
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Oct 24, 2018 19:59
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DD/YYYY/MM There! Now no one gets to be happy!
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Oct 24, 2018 23:04
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that rhyme scheme will never scan, try D-Y-D-Y-M-Y-M-Y
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Oct 24, 2018 23:20
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Night10194 posted:Pope really shouldn't have stiffed him. really half the supernatural evils/curses in fiction arises because some dick decided not to give the obviously magical person their due respect (the evil fairy getting snubbed for the baby's christening so she curses the baby, the Pied Piper took all the kids because the mayor won't pay him for rat extermination, etc. etc) You think someone would realize you don't piss off the magic guy.
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Oct 25, 2018 00:04
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W.T. Fits posted:Also, if I remember Koudelka correctly, after Roger Bacon successfully used the stuff in the document to make himself immortal, he destroyed those parts of the document to prevent anyone else from doing the same, because he's kind of a dick like that. So there's a nonzero chance that if there was any other stuff in there that wasn't dangerous, he may have already edited it out just for shits and giggles. Well, in Koudelka at least, he did look an awful lot like a mummy after all those years. Reckon that's a good enough reason to get rid of that knowledge: he (apparently) didn't know how to fix that whole "immortality without youth" thing, figured he never would fix it, and bam, missing pages in the Manuscript. Or he just edited it all out for shits and giggles. I don't even know anymore, man.  Too much time in Wales got to him, I guess...
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Oct 25, 2018 02:07
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I'm betting Bacon cursed this dude's mom in the first place and probably slipped a few books on black magic on a coffee table when the guy was getting really desperate to figure out why his mom is dying. What's the current in-game date, by the way? Since at the very least the Emigre document was Bacon, is this something he's had on boil before Yuri and pals or is it more of a fun way to pass the time over the six month time skip? Edit: Nevermind, just checked the intro, which is 1913, so this started at least 3 years before we came into it. The Dark Id posted:that Joshua gave us will unlock one the doors on the second floor Zagglezig fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Oct 25, 2018 |
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Oct 25, 2018 02:24
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Skylight posted:Well, in Koudelka at least, he did look an awful lot like a mummy after all those years. Reckon that's a good enough reason to get rid of that knowledge: he (apparently) didn't know how to fix that whole "immortality without youth" thing, figured he never would fix it, and bam, missing pages in the Manuscript. Seems to have worked in his favour in the end, is all I'm saying.
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Oct 25, 2018 15:20
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Episode LI: Hope This is Not Chris's Blood Music: Ripper Ripper .jpg) Welcome back to this truncated, made for TV budget retelling of Koudelka's Nemeton Monastery backstory. We could go straight to the door in the center of the first floor and end this little arc right now. Buuuuut... .jpg) Larmgelg are Water elemental enemies that go down extremely quickly and cough up a couple of Soul Energy in the Water category a pop. So that's four Water Soul Energy for every random battle in here which lasts a good 30 seconds tops if we're on the ball laying waste to the enemy (with an additional four Fire Soul Energy from the Banshee for whenever we get the relevant Fire Gravestone at a later date.) So we'll do a brief of grinding here to get the last of our Fusions to Level 2. .jpg) I also finally remembered to use all those stat boosting Seals we'd been accumulating. Alice now has a whopping 13 SP! What a paradigm shift! Now Halley has the inglorious ranking of least sane individual in the party. Shameful. .jpg) This very brief bit of grinding (nine minutes and twenty seconds if the timer on this video is to be believed) was enough to push Halley to Level 30 which unlocked Air Shot -- a Wind-based ESP ability. That might also prove to be quite useful in the near future so happy bonus! .jpg) .jpg) Now that we've finally managed to raise Water to Level 2 Soul Energy, let's take a brief pit stop at the Graveyard to cash those chips in and claim our reward. .jpg) Yep... That's exactly what we're looking for! .jpg) Music: NDE - Near Death Experience .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) I think we know how this song and dance goes at this point. The Level 2 Water Fusion is slightly more obnoxious than most by virtue of casting an Evasion spell that seemed to make every first strike in Ifrit's combo miss. That's the most damaging hit, you dick! He also healed himself mid-battle. Twice! That's just rude, no two ways about it... Plus there's the whole being the opposite element and doing more damage than some off-brand ice Lizardman ought to do to a hulking hellfire boy. .jpg) .jpg) And there we have it! All of our  Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) Me every time I need to grind in an RPG, even if it's only for less than ten minutes. .jpg) This just looks like off-brand K-Mart sold copy of a Xenomorph. This is some B-Tier mutant that would get instantly, gorily gibbed in some hyper-violent '80s anime OVA. Its derivative looks aside, Dragner (it's supposed to be Dragoner, which is still dumb but less typo looking dumb) comes with the following stats:
Kind of underwhelming for being the last one to the party. But hey, gotta collect 'em all. .jpg) .jpg) While we're here, that brief bit of grinding did raise our Malice quite a bit since Alice was present in the party the whole time. It's been quite some time since I've mentioned clearing Malice. But there's a minor reason for doing it now. Music: NDE - Near Death Experience .jpg) .jpg) The Evil <Number Goes Here> series of enemies for clearing Malice were left behind in Asia. The European half of the game replaces them with Gust <German Number Here> instead. Gust being a mistranslation of Geist -- you know the German word for spirit. That'd make a bit more sense with it being a ghost and coupled with a German number and all. .jpg) This here was Geist Vier since our Malice had built up to critical levels since we hadn't cleared it since Rouen. But, the Graveyard monsters still all scale to Yuri's current level even with Alice being the one cursed now. So it's no big deal to readily kick this thing's rear end and be good to go for a while. Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) .jpg) We receive a meager reward and no extra dialogue despite the change in the curse parameters. Oh well, back to the real world we go. Hopefully, Chris hasn't been tossed into the orphan sacrifice cauldron yet or whatever is going on in that back room. Music: Ripper Ripper .jpg) Back to the task at hand. The hint for the final lock was the painting of Mary, Jack's dead mother, born 3 July, 54. It's the seventh month, Yuri. July comes seventh in the line of months. Stop being a dumbass! That said, before we head inside we're going to do a brief bit of prep work equipping Zodiac Bracelets (prevents Paralysis and Petrification) or the Crucifix (prevents all status ailments) on the entire party. It might make life far easier. The door unlocks and the party shuffles into the back room. .jpg)  So you’ve come after all. <stomps foot> Where is Chris? <holds out arm to stop Halley>  Let's maybe not gank this fancy pirate guy until we learn where your friend is being held... Chris? Ah yes, the girl? As an essential resource for my upcoming experiment, she is, of course, being well taken care of. <looks around> What the hell are you up to?! ...We're not going to find any other orphans here, are we? There's never more than one survivor tops in the sketchy underground labs of these kinda joints... Do you really wish to know? All right, then, I’ll tell you. I shall become a master of life and death, transplanting the soul of the dead into a living vessel. Never again shall we feel the pain of losing those dear to us: they shall glow with ever-lasting life! Are you with me? Can you see the beauty of it? The brilliance? <groans> No you're not! It's gonna go horribly wrong and you're gonna get killed instantly. You know nothing! No, I do actually! You're like the fifth guy I've seen who's done something like this. The details are different but the result is the same. The thing you create is gonna turn out wrong or you can't control it and it'll instantly turn around and impale you or rip you in half or set you on fire or just plain eat you. I don't know what half-rate fools you've encountered. I've done my research! It is flawless. You evil science nerds never talk to each other! It's just "let's do a crazy experiment to resurrect the dead or summon a demon lord or make some ultimate bio-weapon!" And then whoops! Got your head lopped off or transformed into a fleshy teethed anus... A what now...? Hmph. Believe what you will....jpg) Jack knocks over one of the screens to reveal a massive cauldron. .jpg) Chris shuffles from behind the left-hand screen in a daze. .jpg) Chris! ...... <turns to cauldron> Look upon this great spiritual vessel! A holy womb for the soup of life! Even as we speak, a life has nearly blossomed within it! <turns to Chris> Chris… Use your life to reawaken my dear mother!Chris shuffles towards the stairs leading to the top of the cauldron. .jpg) <shakes with anger> Stop! <walks to the edge of the cauldron> ...... <shakes head shrugs> Hahahah!! That’s hardly enough to break my hypnotism! I kinda feel like we should maybe do something. I kinda wish Margarete had come here instead of me...Music: ENDS .jpg) Stop! I told you, that won't break the hyp—.jpg) <powers up> Stoooop!! NANI?!.jpg) Jack falls to his knees. Chris loses her footing and is knocked unconscious as she crashes on the floor below. Thankfully, she doesn't fall on her neck but comes VERY close to doing so. .jpg) Calm down! You’ll destroy everything! Collapsing the entire mansion ain't gonna help this situation! <long sustained shonen anime protagonist yell> Also don't shoot an energy beam at this jerk. Your friend is RIGHT behind him! <falls to his knee>.jpg)  Calm down… Don’t give in to your anger… M-mom?!  Excuse me—AHHHH FRICK! My head! Your power… is not for your own use…Halley powers down and chills the gently caress out. Music: Castle of Silence .jpg) <stands back up> Mom?! Ouch-ouch-ouch!! I haven’t felt this pain in a long time. Seraphic Radiance was bad, but at least it didn't scream into my brain loud enough for other people to hear it. <stands up> I had admittedly nearly forgotten that whole thing with the voice in your head.  Same! Mother…! Mother!! She was almost resurrected!! <punches the ground repeatedly and shakes with anger> Mother!! Mother!! Mo--the---r!!Jack stands up and rushes Halley. .jpg) drat you!!.jpg) Music: NDE - Near Death Experience .jpg) It's time for Jack to let 'er rip! Christ, if this dude wasn't enough of a Majima/Kiryu hybrid now he's fighting with a knife. It's especially weird because this game predates Yakuza 1 by four years... .jpg) Design oddities aside, Jack is a surprisingly sturdy fellow for just being an angry one-eyed mama's boy with a combat knife. Margarete is more magical than this guy and her power is gun and a robust support network. That aside, Jack is a Water elemental foe sporting 2500 HP. .jpg) .jpg) Yuri's Ifrit schlock works particularly well here what with him being the opposite element of Jack. Also in general, normal humans don't stand up to hell demons punching the living poo poo out of them. .jpg) Halley is lacking any Fire elemental damage output. But his Strong Earth does a good 175-200 HP of damage a turn and that ain't bad. It might not be entirely advisable to blow a ton of Halley's MP during this battle for reasons that might become apparent in the near future. Halley's biggest flaw in battles is that any prolonged battle will just completely decimate his MP reserves by the end. Meanwhile, Alice will just stick Cure duties and she has more than enough MP for that not to be an issue since she's responsible with her mana consumption. .jpg) Jack only has two attacks. One of 'em is a knife attack that causes Paralysis. That'd be a real bummer if we didn't prepare for it beforehand. Even with the status effect added, it still does a good 100-130 HP of damage. But that's nothing Alice cannot quickly patch up. .jpg) <literally Goro Majima's insane laugh>.jpg) The real attack to worry about with Jack is Slash, which hits a single party member for 250-300 HP of Water elemental damage. That can take out even Yuri in two turns. I'm not quite sure how Jack managed to pull off one of the single most damaging attacks in the game thus far with just a knife and being angry about his mom. But Alice needs to heal that up immediately afterward. .jpg) Once Jack drops to critical health levels, he'll start using Thera Seeds to restore a bit of health. Halley or Yuri can more than negate that restored HP in a single turn. The real thing to do here when Jack starts healing himself is to make sure we do the same with our party's HP and Halley's MP before we finish off Dr. Jack. It's like there might be immediately a much more difficult follow-up fight after Jack or something... .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) RIP Jack. Thanks for loads of EXP and Cash. It's not going to make up for the, what was it...? Four years of kidnapping and sacrificing all the orphans in London...? But it's a start. Music: ENDS .jpg) Yuri, how do you not know what order months of the year come in but somehow do know what an Oedipal complex is...? I dunno. You pick up some weird terms on the road... He's not even using it right. I don't think this nutbar wants to bang his mom. N-no! I totally did! I had almost succeeded! D-drat... Gross. ...Yeah. We need to get out of this place..jpg) The orphan sacrifice cauldron starts bubbling and smoking. Everyone is shocked. .jpg) Wh-what the heck is that?! <shakes> EXACTLY what I said was gonna happen earlier....jpg) Tune in next time for— .jpg) ...Aww CHRIST! Someone underbaked the orphans and mother mix!    Video: Episode 51 Highlight Reel  Video: Jack Boss Battle   Chris Portrait - I cannot see a character with a do-rag in an RPG and not think of Serge from Chrono Cross.  Jack Portait - Do you think he lost the eye before or after the evil science and mass orphan murder heel turn? The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 17:04 on Oct 28, 2018 |
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Oct 25, 2018 19:00
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Cripes, what's with Émigré resurrections creating weird bug-people?
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Oct 26, 2018 00:18
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I can't see this portrait as anything but Jack sticking his front teeth out to make a HURRR face. Verant posted:Cripes, what's with Émigré resurrections creating weird bug-people? It was written by Franz Kafka.
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Oct 26, 2018 00:28
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For a moment, I thought maybe Jack was the last bit needed to get the pot going, but then he started talking, so he didn't die, so that can't be it. I guess naked bug person is just how the Emigre ressurrection's recipe works out. If he had the eye patch as a doctor, I hope he wasn't doing surgeries. Depth perception feels like an important ability you'd want in a surgeon. It might fit if he got it from a particularly feisty orphan or the angry parent of some not-actually-an-orphan-as-it-turns-out and then had to learn hypnosis/hire a kidnapping aid to avoid that again. The Dark Id posted:It's been quite some time since I've mentioned clearly Malice.
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Oct 26, 2018 00:28
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Verant posted:Cripes, what's with Émigré resurrections creating weird bug-people? What else would you expect from the mad land of Wales?
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Oct 26, 2018 00:38
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Night10194 posted:What else would you expect from the mad land of Wales? sheep
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Oct 26, 2018 00:45
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Mycroft Holmes posted:sheep A sheep-person would be a nice change of pace for one of these games, I think. ... Actually, let's just end that entire line of inquiry there...
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Oct 26, 2018 01:04
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Really Pants posted:I can't see this portrait as anything but Jack sticking his front teeth out to make a HURRR face. Well now I can't, either. Also dang, I totally remembered this segment being a lot...bigger. I could have sworn this part involved some kind of big fancy Inadvisable Science Lab, not an oversized stewpot and a couple of room dividers shoved in a spare closet. Wonderslug fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Oct 26, 2018 |
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Oct 26, 2018 01:10
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Not as bad as the mother-monster from House of the Dead Overkill, but still pretty fugly.
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Oct 26, 2018 01:30
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Came in for child murder and was not disappointed, 10/10.
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Oct 26, 2018 01:34
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i shudder to think what the populace of wales would do to a humanoid sheep monster
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Oct 26, 2018 01:45
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IMJack posted:Not as bad as the mother-monster from House of the Dead Overkill, but still pretty fugly. Now that’s a great game!
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Oct 26, 2018 01:49
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gimme the GOD drat candy posted:i shudder to think what the populace of wales would do to a humanoid sheep monster a wiser goon... posted:A sheep-person would be a nice change of pace for one of these games, I think.
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Oct 26, 2018 03:15
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Huh. Jack not transforming into a random monster like pretty much every human antagonist we've encountered honestly feels pretty novel. Who was the last human boss who did that again? Wugui?Verant posted:Cripes, what's with Émigré resurrections creating weird bug-people? Roger Bacon probably changed the spelling in the bit about resurrecting people from "person you can hug" to "person as a bug", and no one's caught on to that. 
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Oct 26, 2018 03:26
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Wugui kept his form for a while, but some of those fights were optional. He did eventually turn into a goop didn't he?
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Oct 26, 2018 03:35
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Req.Martyr posted:Wugui kept his form for a while, but some of those fights were optional. He did eventually turn into a goop didn't he? Yeah but then Bacon brought him back as a zombie because... wait why did he even do that anyway?
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Oct 26, 2018 03:59
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StandardVC10 posted:Yeah but then Bacon brought him back as a zombie because... wait why did he even do that anyway? You think he'd miss an opportunity to ham it up?
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Oct 26, 2018 04:01
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Verant posted:Cripes, what's with Émigré resurrections creating weird bug-people? The Formor were almost as big into etomology as they were tampering with the forces of creation. It’s unfortunate that the two were accidentally mixed in the Manuscript.
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Oct 26, 2018 04:21
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StandardVC10 posted:Yeah but then Bacon brought him back as a zombie because... wait why did he even do that anyway? Because he's Roger Bacon.
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Oct 26, 2018 04:55
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Geostomp posted:The Formor were almost as big into etomology as they were tampering with the forces of creation. It’s unfortunate that the two were accidentally mixed in the Manuscript. So you're saying this whole mess is because of an organizing error? Sheesh. Always include a proper table of contents with your tomes of eldritch lore, folks...
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Oct 26, 2018 05:16
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StandardVC10 posted:Yeah but then Bacon brought him back as a zombie because... wait why did he even do that anyway?
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Oct 26, 2018 06:06
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StandardVC10 posted:Yeah but then Bacon brought him back as a zombie because... wait why did he even do that anyway? Combat data.
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Oct 26, 2018 09:34
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Let's get COMBAT DATA
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Oct 26, 2018 15:03
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I would respect evil scientists and wizards more if they admitted combat data is total bullshit and they got into the job just to watch abominations against God fight because it's rad.
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Oct 26, 2018 16:18
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if you saw the manuscript, many questions would be answered. one of these LPs had a picture of the thing I'm sure e: plus there's only one reason why people who hear about it want it and I bet it also has one of those dealies where an evil voice goes "oi. do some evil". McDragon fucked around with this message at 18:34 on Oct 26, 2018 |
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Oct 26, 2018 18:32
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Night10194 posted:I would respect evil scientists and wizards more if they admitted combat data is total bullshit and they got into the job just to watch abominations against God fight because it's rad.
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Oct 26, 2018 23:07
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Night10194 posted:I would respect evil scientists and wizards more if they admitted combat data is total bullshit and they got into the job just to watch abominations against God fight because it's rad. Just once I want to see someone respond to one of these guys spewing the “They never appreciated my genius!!!” rants by outlining exactly why they were terrible researchers even aside from the crazy/horrific choice of research subject matter.
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Oct 27, 2018 04:19
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I think it's a pretty neat way to show the power change in this from Koudelka, by having your team fight something presumably as strong as the final boss in Koudelka roughly 2/3(?) of the way through the game. Not so soon that it makes the previous game seem trivial, but with enough time left that it makes it clear anything from here will be an escalation of stakes from what you saw before
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Oct 27, 2018 13:28
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CountryMatters posted:I think it's a pretty neat way to show the power change in this from Koudelka, by having your team fight something presumably as strong as the final boss in Koudelka roughly 2/3(?) of the way through the game. Not so soon that it makes the previous game seem trivial, but with enough time left that it makes it clear anything from here will be an escalation of stakes from what you saw before I think that while the other party members are about on par with Koudelka and company in terms of strength, what really tips the scale here is Yuri and his Harmonixer powers. So having Yuri kick the rear end of something that took James calling in an assist from God really sells how big of a deal he is. Also, something interesting I noticed is how Halley uses his abilities. He curls in on himself, then uses his anger or thoughts about his mom to channel his powers into explosive force. Compare that to how Koudelka simply holds up a hand and focuses a bit before casting a spell. It's a pretty neat way of showing how completely in control Koudelka is of her abilities, and how Halley's just this untrained kid with no proper clue how to use his power.
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Oct 27, 2018 14:16
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| # ? May 24, 2024 18:09 |
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Episode LII: Mammon Music: Demon's Gig .jpg) .jpg) Welp. This is happening now. Meet Jack's mother, .jpg) ...This monstrosity. Which Mammon holds more than a passing resemblance to here if you took it out of the innocent soul sacrifice oven a wee bit too early and half-assed on the quality of the ingredients when making it. So that's a neat touch. Not sure about the name though. Wikipedia on Mammon posted:
.jpg) Not sure how the personification of wealth figures in here... Regardless, canonically in Koudelka the party just straight up got their asses kicked by the previous incarnation of this thing. It took a literal act of God to destroy giant bug deity Elaine. But by that same token, the cast of Koudelka was comparatively ridiculously weak to the cast of Shadow Hearts. Yuri alone could probably one-shot that entire party no problem and solo that game's final boss. As such, this cheap knock-off only results in a somewhat annoying boss battle and not due to its power level. For reference, Mammon only has 3500 HP. Elaine had 22,800 HP. The force modifier of Wales coming into play when creating sins against God is not a factor to be trifled with... .jpg) .jpg) Yuri is going to stay the course with Fusing with Ifrit buffing himself and getting his punchman combo on. Since Mammon is an Earth elemental, we can boost Yuri's damage output even more than usual by having Halley hook his fists up with Wind Edge. This results in Yuri doing around the ballpark of 400 HP of damage every turn until Ignition runs out. That ain't too bad! .jpg) Alice is on her usual healing duties. But she also has a secondary task for this fight of topping off Halley's MP if necessary and nobody is bleeding out at the moment. There's a good reason as to why that will be necessary. .jpg) Gah! I hate you! I hate you!.jpg) .jpg) During our brief grind prior to this fight, Halley learned Air Shot -- his Wind elemental ESP attack. Earth elemental Mammon here HATES getting wind blasted in the face. Air Shot does between 330-350 HP of damage per cast which ain't nothing to sneeze at here. The downside is that it also costs 60 MP per cast. Which means at maximum MP, which he most assuredly will NOT have at the beginning of this fight, especially after dumping a little bit to buff Yuri, means we'll only get 5-6 casts before Halley runs dry. .jpg) Mammon isn't sporting all that many abilities. But that's the usual trend for mid-tier Shadow Hearts bosses at this point. Primarily, Mammon will attack by repeatedly stabbing a single target with her claws for around 60-80 HP of damage. This attack animation is actually copied verbatim from Elaine's physical attack in Koudelka. Koudelka was a game that kinda looked like rear end in a lot of spots for a game released LATE in the PlayStation 1's lifecycle, but it did have some decent battle animations going for it. .jpg) Jack's Mom also has a Petrification version of its physical attack. This would have been a really pressing issue... if we hadn't sorted that out beforehand by equipping defense. This boss rush definitely didn't go so hot the first time I played this game without any guide. .jpg) .jpg) The only other attack to Mammon's name is Shockwave, which hits the entire party for around 110ish HP of damage and 120-30ish for Halley since he's weak to Earth damage. Like I said at the start, this boss is annoying, not due to its damage output. .jpg) .jpg) Once Mammon falls to around 33% total HP, it starts casting Howling. What does Howling do, you ask? .jpg) It's a healing spell! Quite a potent one on its first cast, healing 540 HP. On subsequent casts, it only heals 360 HP. The problem is when it gets low enough on health it just spams Howling every single turn. Which turns the end of this fight into a damage race slog since it is negating the damage output of one of Yuri or Halley's turns. It doesn't help it tends to start spamming healing right around the time Halley is probably running low on MP and Ifrit's ignition is running dry or SP levels are getting dangerously low. Any time spent topping all those factors off means it negates another turn of damage Yuri or Halley did and it gets downright annoying as hell by the end. I don't mind a boss that heals once or twice. When it turns its entire life into undoing the damage you did up to that point? That's not a great scene... .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) But, you can go watch the highlight video if you want to pinpoint the exact moment I started getting aggravated with this fight. We'll skip to the part where the resurrected mother created from the souls of hundreds of dead orphans gets put down for good. Piss off, God. We don't need your help with this one! .jpg) All in a day's work!. Sure, we didn't rescue 99% of the missing orphans and they're all extremely dead. But on the other hand, we never met any of 'em and the crazy Majima-Kiryu hybrid doctor didn't get his way either. Music: ENDS .jpg) I'm so sorry... Mommy... <reaches out to cauldron>.jpg) BARF! <dies>Halley runs up to Chris. .jpg) <shakes head and waves a dismissal> Hmph... Gimme a break.Later, back at the London Rats hideout... Music: Babysitter is Old Nurse .jpg)  Are we going to have to find a place for those other orphans you found in that creepy joint? Yeah... naw... That's not gonna... be a problem... <coughs> ...O-oh. But can it be true? Can the person behind that voice really be Halley’s mother? <turns to Margarete> Holey moley. When Halley’s anger got the best of him and he nearly lost it… That voice came and calmed you, keeping you from going Berserk… I was about ready to shove a handful of Pure Leaves down his throat before the voice jumped in. <turns back to Halley> Hey, was that really your mother? <nods> Yeah, I’m positive… <looks at the ceiling> That voice has troubled me for years. I hear it in my head, telling me to do this-and-that. Go beat up a demon in a cave here. Go climb a tower and punch a wizard in the gonads there. Roundhouse kick the occasional cat. All sorts of junk... But of course, it’s saved me dozens of times, as well. Ya know... Come to think of it, that voice being someone's mom kinda explains all the times it reminded to brush my teeth and wash behind my ears or not to eat sketchy food... Halley. You said that your mother abandoned you, right? Perhaps your mother wants to tell us something. Maybe that’s why she’s sending her voice to us. ……Halley turns and looks at the wall for a bit. .jpg) A monster?! <turns and looks at Yuri> Whatcha looking at me for?! At least I look normal most of the time. I don't see you giving the side eye to the literal vampire guy. Hey, don't be mean. Think nothing of it. It seems my kind has grown into its own genre of monster genre fiction over the years. It's all terribly inaccurate but I'm flattered none the less. <turns to Halley> Nobody here thinks you’re a monster. You just have different abilities than most people. My mom used to say we were both human. But… those guys didn’t think so. Video: Click Here to Hear Halley's Voice Acted Flashback! (Warning: Halley does not have a good voice actor.) Music: Castle of Silence .jpg) My mother told me that too. That she and I are people just like anyone else. It's just that, when we were born, God gave us some powers that are a little different. But that's not the way those guys saw it....jpg) The Friar Knights of the Inquisition decided from the start that my mother was a witch! And they locked her up in a mental hospital. All my mother did was to use her special powers to help people who were possessed by ghosts. Or to heal people who were hurt..jpg) She didn't fight back at all! Because they threatened to kill me if she did... They weren't my mother's enemies at all. It was all because of me… all because of meee!Halley powers up again. Alice and Zhuzhen fall to their knees. .jpg) Kiddo, the voice in my head ain't a two-way radio. I can't phone up your mom again to make you chill the hell out. You're gonna have to do it yourself.Halley calms down and collapses to his knees. Zhuzhen and Alice quickly recover. Music: Babysitter is Old Nurse .jpg) And it’s the same power your mother had. Kinda... I guess... She took a REALLY long time to cast her magic... <picks himself up> I’m sorry… I can’t control my power very well… I'm not allowed in that bar down the road. I went in once to use their bathroom and... it got out of hand... That's too much info, kid. …So your mother was taken away by the Friar Knights of the Inquisition? <nods> Yes.Alice walks to the window and shakes her head. .jpg) Hey, what’s an inquisition? It's something nobody expects. ...OK? <sigh> I'll take this one... The Inquisition was a religious tribunal formed to stamp out heresy in 11th century Europe. They burned witches and warlocks in God’s name, but many innocents were slaughtered as well. Many were killed for political purposes as well. They were beaten, tortured and burned alive. It was terrible. Started by people who derived their authority form their religion. Those guys took your mother away?! It was so unexpected... <walks up to Halley> Halley, I promise you I’ll save your mother! ... ...... ...What? Wh-what does that even MEAN? Alice, is that some saying that's flying over my head? <baffled look> Not that I'm aware of... I don't think that's a saying. I've never heard it in all my years. Did that power-up give you a minor stroke, sonny boy? I uhh... We're just gonna ignore that and move on, OK? Y-Yeah... If I can hear her voice, she must still be alive. I mean at least I don't THINK she's a ghost that's been haunting me. That's not usually how ghosts work. Usually... And you must want to talk to her in person, right? Do you know where your mother is now? <nods> I know where the mental hospital is. The security is tight, though. I’ve already tried breaking in… We don’t know where Cardinal Simon is right now. It seems like we know where we have to go next!! What did you try to sneak in there last time? Yeah. But I got caught and kicked out. <pulls out gun> Ahh... there are ways other than stealth.  ...Oh. OK. <nods> All right, then, let’s start getting ready right away!.jpg) Our party remains the same as our adventure in the orphanage. We're now given the chance to talk to the remaining bench warmer party members before we take off and ditch them for the next leg of the adventure. .jpg) All three of them. Yep... We rescued everyone somehow. If you only count the children that were abducted today. That we know about... Then yes, that is correct. Mission accomplished!.jpg) By the way... did you happen to like find that magic book? Nah. That's probably something we shouldn't leave lying around... Probably. ...Did you even look for the book? Nope. Do you think maybe we SHOULD look for it and, I don't know, toss it into a lit fireplace? Meh... I got this whole mental hospital thing with the new kid and the voice in my head... Maybe some other time? ....jpg) Oh, poor Zhuzhen. He was such a mainstay of the party for so long and now it's just kind of pfft... naw, dawg. .jpg) That said, I really enjoy the option of adding him to the party when talking to him. The Big Man appears! .jpg) In any event, Yuri is never leaving the party again by design, Halley is mandatory and we still need a healer in this next chapter of the game. So we'll be sticking with our current formation going forward. .jpg) The benchwarmers vanish from the London Rats hideout as soon as we leave. But we can return to the hotel near the entrance to this segment of London and find Meiyuan's creepy rear end. Please stop trolling for young boys, dude. You're like in your 50s. Stay away from Halley. .jpg) .jpg) Before we end this chapter and our time in London, there are a couple of things we can do now that Jack has been slain and his evil orphanage shut down. Let's talk to the London Rats before we depart. There's a very small window (and it's right here and now) where we can speak to Joshua here for something special. .jpg) At least not the usual ones. Oh yeah, Halley. If you're not using that slingshot, could we borrow it? This slingshot? Sure, don't need it. <Halley hands over his default equipment slingshot>What are you going to use it for? Haha... it's still a secret. Just relax and wait.We already got an upgrade to Halley's weapon before we even acquired Halley. But now that we've handed over his old gear, we may gain a hefty upgrade once we're done with the business at the mental hospital. .jpg) I don't remember a thing about what happened. But I'm so glad to be back at this house. You got hypnotized and almost jumped into a giant magic bowl so the guy running the orphanage could resurrect his dead mother and possibly have sex with her. ... That last part is just speculation. ... ...I'm just going to go back to not remembering what happened. That's a solid plan..jpg) Same. Turns out it's your leader's mom. That's a nonsense statement, mister. That's my life! I dreamed about a mouse this morning, and a real mouse appeared right before my eyes! It's a strange power! Joshua doesn't believe me, though!Aww... what a cute little devil summoner. We'll have to check up on this latter, assuming she doesn't tear open a rift to the hell dimension and get all the orphans eaten after we leave. .jpg) Music: Vitamin Metropolis .jpg) .jpg) We could leave town now and close out this chapter. But there is one last item of interest before we depart London. It's back at the Orphanage. .jpg) Particularly, back in Jack's laboratory. We automatically left there and couldn't loot the place following the events that unfolded. But if we return now and look behind a screen in the room, we'll find a shiny new pistol for Margarete. .jpg) Once again, I have no idea what this gun is meant to be. It might just be a video game frankenpistol. It does offer 55 Physical and 47 Special Attack. I doubt it'll get a lot of use overall. But here it is for completion's sake. .jpg) With that sorted out, so ends our time slumming it in London and Chapter 17. Tune in next time as we go searching for Halley's definitely not protagonist from the previous game mother and undoubtedly get a respectful view of the mentally ill in Chapter 18: Sealed Mansion.  London had its fair share of nasty critters after all. Let's take a closer look. Monster: .jpg) Wait... you can just take a trip from hell to get in on some heinous crimes? Do you like have to put in vacation notice with Satan or...? .jpg) It's very chilly to have your skin flayed from your body. Especially, in this climate! .jpg) So a low-level spirit is equivalent to a dude with a gun if you want relative power levels with the spirit realm. .jpg) Note: Also made from liquefied orphan bio-mass. .jpg) That's putting a lot of pressure on a reskinned low-level ghost armor. NPC: .jpg) I don't think any multiple personalities ever came up and while the guy was overly fond of his mother, I don't actually think he wanted to gently caress her. Also, that's a real dick move to refer to orphan children like animals.  Video: Mammon Boss Battle  Video: Halley's Flashback (You should watch this! It actually has voice acting. Bad voice acting.) The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Nov 3, 2018 |
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Oct 27, 2018 17:40
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