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Leraika
Jun 14, 2015

Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.
I think the problem is that you're looking at an English pronunciation guide that uses English syllable structure and using the Japanese pronunciation for that one single syllable.

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morallyobjected
Nov 3, 2012

Leraika posted:

I think the problem is that you're looking at an English pronunciation guide that uses English syllable structure and using the Japanese pronunciation for that one single syllable.

well, it's not like localisers/translators don't have a history of making small errors in FF games anyway, like the whole Aeris/Aerith thing

Leraika
Jun 14, 2015

Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.

morallyobjected posted:

well, it's not like localisers/translators don't have a history of making small errors in FF games anyway, like the whole Aeris/Aerith thing

This is true.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!
Please enjoy the Highlights video. It took four attempts before Openshot decided to stop throwing crashing tantrums and encode the drat thing.



We've hit the (rough) end of the main game, so before we continue and (I assume) finally track down that remaining Maxima content, we need to clear out the last few Intervention Quests.

I think there are about eight quests we haven't seen, so I'll divvy them up between two Lil' Updates. Keep in mind that these are the intervention quests from the base game. We haven't run into any of the Maxima added quests. Unless I missed something, that means we'll need to beat the final boss first before we can see it and by extension the other EU specials.

Lil' Update 7 Highlights - World of Final Fantasy


We'll start with this bullshit Advent Children garbage.

Terra is already stationed close by. Once she's freed up, I'll tell her to rendezvous with you and help out.

Got it. But there won't be anything left to help with. One of us is gonna take that Mirage down first. Wanna make it a race, Cloud?

Hmph. Not interested.

Yay! Catchphrases!






[Villager]: Oh, you'd better believe that I've seen it! Ugh, I've never been so scared in my life! When it came here and attacked the village, I was just about ready to give up all hope!


But that's strange. I don't see a whole lot of damage. Where did the Mirage go?


[Villager]: You'll never believe it! This silver-haired swordsman came and drove it off. The way he wielded that long blade of his-- it was a sight to behold!


Did you say silver hair? Hey! Tell me where he went!

Christ, here we go. Also, I just want to point out that this is entirely out of character for Sephiroth. He showed up and drove off a monster attacking a village, then just went on his way? We're talking about a guy who burned an entire village to the ground just for being in the general vicinity of his destination. The Mt. Nibel Reactor where Jenova's body was hidden was in the opposite direction of Nibelheim, and he still took a detour to destroy the place just for shits and giggles.

Cloud. We're here to look for a Mirage. Not a swordsman. Don't get sidetracked.


[Villager]: I'm pretty sure that the Mirage retreated to the mountains. The swordsman went the opposite way.


Got it. Thanks a lot. Cloud?

Sorry, but I'm going after that guy. Take care of the Mirage.

What? Hey! You can't just leave!



He can and does. I want to point out that, according to WoFF Cloud's Who's Who entry, this condition was part of his contract with Quistis. He's fully within his right to bail on a mission in order to track down Sephiroth.

Which, by the way, STOP MAKING SEPHIROTH THE loving JOKER! Ever since Advent Children, all of Cloud's appearances have him single-mindedly focused on chasing Sephiroth, who continues to be reintroduced in asinine ways. Advent Children Cloud and Sephiroth have been turned into Batman and the Joker. I hate it, because it reduces Cloud's entire character to "Sephiroth. Must find Sephiroth. Must revenge because Aerith die." Cloud's original desire to chase after Sephiroth was due to the JENOVA cells in his body subconsciously leading him to the Reunion. After Cloud regains his original self, stopping Sephiroth is about saving the planet and stopping Meteor. That conflict began and ended with VII, but the drat Compilation brought it back and made it into being 90% of Cloud's character.

Who is this... swordsman?



(This time... I'll...)

Cloud! I didn't expect to find you here.

Terra! Oh, yeah. Quistis mentioned that you were close by. Listen, something else came up. You should go track down Lightning in case she needs your help.

"Something came up"? You left Lightning to face that Mirage all by herself?! What could possibly be so important?!

Look, there's this guy. I've been hunting him for a while. Now I'm finally right on his heels. I'm not gonna let this chance slip away!

Hunting him? Cloud, you're scaring me. Why are you after this person? Did he do something to you?

He took someone away from me. Forever.

So when you find him, what are you going to do? Will killing him bring back the woman that you lost?

That's right, despite coming to terms with Aerith's death in FFVII (it's implied she died willingly in order to ensure the summoning of Holy/the Lifestream to save the planet. If she hadn't died, the Lifestream wouldn't have been summoned and Holy would have failed to repel Meteor), Advent Children reversed that and now we're left with this.

.....

Also, yes, we're doing this "Revenge won't solve anything" crap again.

This isn't any way to honor her memory. To take your love for her and turn it into hate? Especially when it makes you abandon your friends! You have to decide. What's more important? Is it anger and revenge? All right then. One of us will stick by Lightning. I know what I care about-- her safety.

I sure as hell don't.

I didn't...



Yeah. Thanks. This one's a real handful.

That's the Mirage that Lightning "all-powerful savior and best character ever" can't beat? Generic Titan? Come on. I don't even like Lightning and that's still an insult. Yuna fought Ultima Weapon by herself.

I bumped into Cloud on my way over, but he said he was busy hunting someone...

It's okay. Just forget about him. Hey! Look out!



Cloud! You came back!

Weren't you out looking for that silver-haired swordsman?

I remembered I had something more important to do.

More important?





Oh yeah. Off-brand Titan here is definitely higher on the priority list.

Terra. I'm sorry. I get it now... I almost sacrificed others I care about. Never again. No. I won't lose anyone else I cherish. I swear.



Yeah. There's not a thing I don't cherish!

This is an Advent Children reference. I... I don't wanna talk about it anymore. Just let this end.



It sounds like he passes the-in and out of Grymoire without belonging to it. An Antichampion.

An ant Champion?!

I said the-"anti"! Instead of helping to save the world, he hurts it by creating even more the-chaos and suffering.

Right, except for that time about an hour ago where he saved a village of innocents from this very Mirage.

There are people like that out there?!

Maybe the-one day you'll meet him in an expansi-- Oops! Never the-mind.

That expansion would never come, because Sephiroth has no story role in the Maxima addition.

Anyway, he's not in Grymoire at the moment, so I wouldn't the-worry about him too much right now.



This piece of crap is the thing that stopped the mighty Lightning in her tracks, apparently. No elemental resists, but also no status weaknesses.

In terms of offence, he uses the same general attacks as Titan did. He seems to have a preference for Body Slam, which has a topple effect. He also still has Magic Counter, but hitting him with Magic is still your best course of action since his physical defence is high.

He's really not a threat. 22k is nothing in terms of HP. I'm not even sure if he can use Titan's special move, because it died before it could use it (or if it could).



It's good to have you back. Thank you.

Don't think for a second that I've given up on my search. But, now that I've got my priorities straight... I won't mess 'em up.

So. Let's go. You can practice your cherishing on the way home.



We get an Iron Muscles memento for beating the quest. Inflicting Defense Down is something you are fairly unlikely to be able to do when you first tackle this quest (those abilities are kind of rare), so I find it's easier to just transfig into it from Titan.

Lil' Update 7 Highlights - To the last I grapple with thee


On to the next. Yeah, the game is still pairing Tidus and Yuna together. Tidus doesn't seem to get many Intervention Quests with just him, or him and other characters.



Tidus, you and giant whales have kind of a history. Said history has the whale beating you more times than you beat it.

Uh... Thank you. But, we're here to fight him together. You don't have to "take him" alone.

You got it! So, is it me, or do we have somethin' here? Like we're... soul mates! Wouldn't you say?

U-ugh. This is no time for silly jokes. We need to focus on the battle that lies before us.

Ha ha! Okay, you're right, I'm sorry. I just wanna help us relax. Loosen up before the big fight. Right, let's roll out!



So hey, if I remember right, don't they call Bismarck the "shining demon"?

Huh, I've heard it called "The White" and "G**dammit somebody trigger the f***ing harpoon!", but not "shining demon".

Seems kinda weird. "Shining" doesn't sound threatening. Like, between Shining Yuna and Shady Yuna, Shady Yuna sounds bad, but SHINING Yuna sounds cool.

Tidus. Let's save the analysis for later. Right now, we need a plan in case things go wrong. Say... we fail to defeat Bismarck. Valefor and I will create a diversion so that you can--

Hey, hold up. What "say"... we maybe think some happier thoughts?

There's nothing wrong with being prepared for the worst. But, I promise you: on my honor as a summoner, I will keep you safe.

Good on you, Yuna. Only idiots don't make contingency plans. Try for success, but always plan for failure.

Come on now, Yuna. I'm glad you're lookin' out for me. I am! But, can't you at least let me pretend like I'm helping? See, there's this thing about guys.



A good summoner has to know people to help people! Right? Guys are like half the population. You don't want to be fifty percent summoner, do you?

Tidus, shut up.

Well... that's fair. So if I understand you correctly, then learning about men is... an education.

That's right! I don't wanna scare you with all our deep and complicated emotions

:roflolmao: Oh my god that's precious.

(Blitzball blitzball blitzball Yuna in a bikini blitzball Yuna in tiny boy shorts No gently caress you dad!)

so, let me just give you the broader points. Number one...



Ugh... I knew that you weren't taking this seriously!

Aha ha! But you were taking it so seriously that I couldn't help it!

...Ha ha! Okay. I'll admit, you did get me to relax.

There! That's more like it. If you don't enjoy yourself, then what's the point of goin' on a quest?



*Tidus proceeds to whistle*

That's wonderful! A sound that clear could cut through anything... Wait, that's perfect!

Huh?

If we ever get separated, you can just whistle to signal for help! Okay? And then I'll come running.

You know how to whistle, don't you, Yuna? You just put your lips together and blow. Boom, To Have and Have Not reference!

Actually, this is a X reference. Not that quote I used, I mean this scene. In FFX, Tidus teaches Yuna to whistle so that the two can always find each other. The end of the game has a shot where Yuna is standing on the pier and whistling before she makes a big speech in Luca Stadium.

Ugh... You know, you seem real set on coming to somebody's rescue before this day is over. So, now you whistle.

Okay...

*Yuna tries and fails miserably*

Uh... That's okay! I won't need it. I never ask others for help.

Why not? So you're a summoner. So what? There's no shame in asking for help when you need it!

Tidus, you've already been there for me once when it mattered the most.

Then let me be there again! It's not like anyone's keeping score.

Weren't we supposed to be Captain Ahab'ing a big-rear end whale? What happened with that?

Why is it that... you're so...



Finally. About time... wait, what the hell is that thing?

Oop! We got company!



I suppose that's just how this Mirage rolls. Make sure you have the doc's medicine at the ready just in case we get sucked in, okay?

Yes the-ma'am!



That's Bismarck? Why is it a shark?

Oh well, questions for later. We need to deal with it first. Thunder is the way to go and Water resistance if you can manage it. Bismarck can put up a solid fight.





As with Leviathan, the water weakness of my current stacks makes this a much harder fight than usual.

In terms of physical attack, Bismarck hits for about 1,000.





It's special attack is Breach Blast, which is essentially Waterga. The key to this fight is really just having strong water resistance. If you can put together a stack that nulls water, then the fight is a cakewalk since physical attacks will be Bismarck's only means of damaging you.

Other than that, just make sure to have Thunder abilities or items (Aero is a decent substitute). 60k in HP takes a long time to burn through if you are relying on basic attacks. He doesn't have any surprises, this is just a long fight.



Huh? Where did he go? Hey, Tidus! Tiduuus! No, no! He was... right here... Wait! If I whistle for him, maybe he'll come back like nothing happened...

*Yuna once again fails miserably at whistling*

I can't... I just can't do it... Tidus...



But of course Tidus comes flying out of the water.

Yuna! You all right? Hey!

...Heh. Aha ha ha! Silly! Of course I'm all right! Don't scare me like that.

Heh! Sorry 'bout that. So, you wanna head back?

Sure! Let's go!



And now we have a Bismarck memento.

:colbert: That doesn't explain why you made him a shark instead of a whale, description writers/developers.

Bismarck is supposed to be a whale summon/monster, first appearing in FFVI and only making a scattered appearance after that. It originally had Leviathan's spot, but Leviathan was added into the VI GBA release, thus making Bismarck a regular summon again.

Next up, we're going to take care of two quests that involve Mirages we heard about quite some time ago but have yet to run into. A while ago we stopped by the coliseum and ran into Ifrit and Shiva for a second time, only to be interrupted by Ramuh who explained that the three of them have a sort of important duty to attend to in the Nether Nebula. As a result of Ifrit and Shiva slacking off, a female Ifrit and a male Shiva escaped into the world by exploding some poor saps (or something to that effect. We're told that it was messy).

Lil' Update 7 Highlights - Burn baby burn
Aaaaaah!





So we're starting with the female Ifrit, as suggested by Rydia running around and screaming inside an active volcano.

Just leave me aloooone!

..... I thought so. Rydia, what are you doing?

Ah! ...Oh! Lady Yuna.

*A brief explanation later*

Ohhh. Now I understand. So you came here to train and try to conquer your fears. That's great!

How do I put this...? The others are doing so much. I don't want to keep getting in their way all the time.

Well, why don't I help you out? If that's all right.

Huh? Oh, no! Not when you are so busy, my lady.

For some reason it's really weird to me to see the summoners from older Final Fantasy titles holding Yuna in such high regard considering that she's the "youngest" in terms of her game's release. I know it's an age thing (especially for Eiko), but it just seems off.

But you're doing something important that I want to be a part of. Please, let me help out. You and I are summoners. We should stick together.

Oh, Lady Yuna... You're too kind.



Not long ago, I started sensing a powerful fire entity here. Even the other Mirages seem intent on keeping a healthy distance.

You're right. I can feel its presence. Rydia, will you be okay?



All right then. Here we go, Rydia.



Oh god, she's even more of a furry than the rest of the Ifrit line.

I... I have come here to do battle with you.

Rydia, wait! Something's not right. There's something wrong with her soul... Tell me. Who are you supposed to be?


[Ifreeta]: You mean that you don't know? Every moron has heard of Ifreeta, duh.


Ifreeta is voiced by Tania Gunadi in English and Yukari Tamura in Japanese.

Ifreeta?


[Ifreeta]: Yup. You might say that I'm the girl who puts all the heat back in ifrit. Tell me you didn't come all the way down here by accident?


So you an ifrit? Well, good. You're just what I'm looking for! Fight me-- help me beat my fear of fire! One fight, that's all I ask!




[Ifreeta]: Well, you're not gonna last too long against a scorcher like me. But, why not? You have such a lovely soul, after all. Lucky for you, I would be delighted to take it off your hands!


Lady Yuna, get ready!



So it's you. You're the ifrit that escaped from the Nebula.


[Ifreeta]: Waaait, what's the deal here? Have you two been hunting me down? *Sniff*, *sniff* *sniff* *sniff*... Mmm... Your souls.. I can't put my finger on it but... Ooh, they're making my mouth water! Aha ha!


You're kidding. Are you saying you feed on people's souls?


[Ifreeta]: There's nothing better than a soul on the coals, releasing all its flavor as it flickers out! Aha ha ha ha!


Urp! That is the grossest thing I've ever heard. Hey Reynn, tell me we're gonna teach her a good lesson!

:raise: How is that gross?

Yeah. We have to do something about her, that's for sure.


[Ifreeta]: Gimme a break. You don't think you can actually take me? Oh, that is way too good! Well, whatever. It's time to chow down!




Ifreeta is not exactly much of a threat, unless you happen to have piss poor fire resistance. She has three different elemental weaknesses to exploit and only 20k in HP. Watera can probably hit her for about 3,500-4,000 damage.

Lil' Update 7 Highlights - Crimson Cyclone






Her special is Crimson Cyclone. Even with Reynn's stack being weak to fire, it still only manages to shave off about 1/3 of their HP.



*And Ifreet vanishes*

I've never felt heat that intense before. It's like, she was trying to burn away everything but my soul...

Yes... With a Mirage that dangerous loose, no one in Grymoire would have been safe. But see? We managed to stop her from hurting anyone. And it's all because of you.

D-don't be silly. Without your help, Lady Yuna, I would have...

You really should have more confidence in yourself. You fought so well! Now. Before we come across even more trouble, shall we go?

Yes, that seems wise.



Uh, Rydia? Ugh... I guess overcoming your fear of fire will just have to be an ongoing project. Come on, last one to the exit is a rotten egg!

Wha-- Hey, wait! Lady Yuna, no fair!



We get an Ifreeta memento for this, so Litten can become one if we so choose.

Ifreeta was designed for this game, so the chances of her ever getting in on the regular FF lineup is pretty slim. I guess if there is ever a sequel to this, then maybe.



One last intervention for today. This quest is one of the better ones for grinding. It's pretty easy, pays out about 140k in experience, and can be run through in about a minute or two depending on how strong your Fire attacks are.

The encounter rate in secret slip is fairly low, even with the Lure mirajewel, but I still prefer to go there just so that I don't have to skip cutscenes (you have to wait a few seconds into the cutscene before it can be skipped, so you can't just mash). Secret slip is easier to just turn your brain off and watch a video or listen to music or something while you grind.

Lil' Update 7 Highlights - Super Sentice


Shiva!


[Shiva]: .....





[???]: Evil must perish.


Huh?





Shivarly is voiced by John Paul Karliak in English, Mamoru Miyano in Japanese.

Huh? Whatcha talking about?


[Shivalry]: Can you not see it? That Mirage with you has been corrupted... They've tainted her! The Cogna have tainted her!


Think you've got the wrong idea there, pal.


[Shivalry]: Alas, I am all too aware of the grief you feel. But I swear to you, her end will be quick and painless!




:allears: I love this guy. He's Sentai/Power Rangers as hell and it rules.



You must be the male shiva who busted out of the Nether Nebula.

Really, how can you talk about justice when the only way for you to come to this world was by hurting someone?

Pot calling the kettle black, Reynn.

There's only one villain here, and that, is you. Sorry, but we're the good guys!

It's really sad that you two believe that despite everything you've done and all the damage you've caused.


[Shivalry]: Poppycock. You simply cannot make an omelet... without breaking a few eggs.


Ugh... Don't you know the omelet thing is like a classic one-liner for villains? You need a good lesson!



This fight is a pushover if you have decent fire attacks (or fire items). Dark, Thunder, and Earth are good options as well.

Lil' Update 7 Highlights - Deep Freeze!








Shivalry's special is Deep Freeze. This is basically just the ice version of Ifreeta's battle/move set. There isn't much to say about it. He has slightly more HP, but magic such as Thundara can kock off like 3,000-4,500 damage a shot. If you have Fira then you can probably wreck him in a few turns.



I don't know what your deal is, bro, but don't worry about her. I have special l'Cie powers, and they give her all the bells and whistles.

Your Who's Who specifically mentions that there are no fal'Cie in Grymoire, so how the hell do you have l'Cie powers? What the hell even is a l'Cie in a world where fal'Cie don't exist?

Snow is somehow not a summoner (which does exist in this world), but he is a l'Cie (which is something that doesn't exist in this world).


[Shivalry]: Huh? ...Hmm. Perhaps I was wrong. She's not insidious enough to be Cogna.


I can understand Ifreeta being locked up because of the whole "soul eating" thing, but why was this dude sealed away in the Nebula? He's a little quick to judge, but he seems to have good intentions. He's at least eager to help fight the Cogna.


[Shivalry]: Hmm... Fine, I shall make it up to you. Name your foe, and I will assist you in a single battle.








Good! Then today, we can finally settle the score!

Right. Remember to exploit its weaknesses, and be ready for a long fight. Okay?

:geno:

Lil' Update 7 Highlights - "A long fight"






Big Jiggle dies 3 hits later, plus a love tap from Lann while waiting for AP to restore.




[Shiva]: Hoooaaah!


Blizzaga!



*And Big Jiggle is frozen in a pillar of ice, thus solving the problem forever*

All right!


[Shivalry]: Success! Although, our victory will be short lived if it thaws.


:argh: Forever!

Oh, that's a good point. So what do we do, just cross our fingers?

...I sense something... evil, something... fanboyish...



Son of a bitch! How do you keep sneaking into the WoFF developer's office?!


[???]: You never did finish what you started.








You know, for my first crack at it, that was pretty good.


[Shivalry]: Zounds! Not that's what I call "just desserts"!


*And then Shivalry flies off*

Hey, Sis!

I thought we've been over this already. I am not your sister.

Am I glad to see you, Sis!

What did I just finish saying?!



Would you just... I seriously must be talking to a wall.



And now we get Shivalry's memento. "Space rocks or the color yellow" is a reference to Superman and Green Lantern for those not familiar with western comics. I heavily presume that's the reference anyway, unless there is a Sentai series out there where there are characters that have the same weaknesses.

That's it for this update. Next time, we'll finally clear out the Intervention Quests (well, mostly. There's still the Maxima quests, and an Anamika quest... and also A Bridge's Woes).

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Jun 29, 2019

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
I appreciate that they wanted to vary up the core summon trio. Whether or not they totally succeeded...

Commander Keene
Dec 21, 2016

Faster than the others



Bismarck reminds me more of a beluga crossed with an ocean liner than a shark. I can't see the whole model in the screenshots, but it even looks like the tail flukes are horizontal, like a whale's.

AweStriker
Oct 6, 2014

Shivalry doesn't have nearly enough helmet lips to be a Super Sentai or Ultraman, but he also doesn't have the right eyepiece style for Kamen Rider.

Then again, neither did Decade, Diend, or Hibiki...

Yapping Eevee
Nov 12, 2011

STAND TOGETHER.
FIGHT WITH HONOR.
RESTORE BALANCE.

Eevees play for free.

Psycho Knight posted:

Huh, I've heard it called "The White" and "G**dammit somebody trigger the f***ing harpoon!", but not "shining demon".
I feel your pain, Psycho. :shepface:

Robindaybird
Aug 21, 2007

Neat. Sweet. Petite.

Yapping Eevee posted:

I feel your pain, Psycho. :shepface:

and the "I jumped too sooooooon" (I admit I was guilty of that due to playing a close range DPS and new to the fight), but god drat.

Leraika
Jun 14, 2015

Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.
My favorite name for Bismarck is "STAND ON THE loving WHALE, I KEEP SEEING HIM SHIELD, YOU IDIOTS."

Being a healer is fun.

LiefKatano
Aug 31, 2018

I swear, by my sword and capote, that I will once again prove victorious!!
I could've sworn Ifreeta (or at least a female Ifrit) appeared in another spin-off (Mobius, mainly). Which, granted, wouldn't really help her chances, but...

Shivalry, similarly, isn't the first guy related to Shiva to appear - that would be Shivar, her husband as portrayed in Revenant Wings. ...Shivalry's way cooler, though. I don't have a nickname for him but I want to use him in a stack.

fluffyDeathbringer
Nov 1, 2017

it's not what you've got, it's what you make of it
if you use Shivalry, nickname him Ice Guy

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

Leraika posted:

My favorite name for Bismarck is "STAND ON THE loving WHALE, I KEEP SEEING HIM SHIELD, YOU IDIOTS."

Being a healer is fun.

Robindaybird posted:

and the "I jumped too sooooooon" (I admit I was guilty of that due to playing a close range DPS and new to the fight), but god drat.

Yapping Eevee posted:

I feel your pain, Psycho. :shepface:

Just one of the many joys of playing with randoms. It's always someone else's job and everyone else is terrible except for the people shouting at others.

Glazius posted:

I appreciate that they wanted to vary up the core summon trio. Whether or not they totally succeeded...

I think it worked out. I'm not as big a fan of Ifreeta, but I think Shivalry worked out great.

Commander Keene posted:

Bismarck reminds me more of a beluga crossed with an ocean liner than a shark. I can't see the whole model in the screenshots, but it even looks like the tail flukes are horizontal, like a whale's.

The front reminds me of the German battleship Bismarck, with the slightly upward curving face.

The back of it looks similar to Sharqual and Mega Sharqual, since it's a transfig of them. It's sort of weird since the front half is so long and then there is a really stubby back half. Kind of reminds of a Ford Ecosport. Looks normal from front on and then you circle around and you're like "Wait, where's the other half?"

AweStriker posted:

Shivalry doesn't have nearly enough helmet lips to be a Super Sentai or Ultraman, but he also doesn't have the right eyepiece style for Kamen Rider.

Then again, neither did Decade, Diend, or Hibiki...

I like the flat mask look. As much as I like Sentai stuff, lip masks always weird me out a little.

LiefKatano posted:

I could've sworn Ifreeta (or at least a female Ifrit) appeared in another spin-off (Mobius, mainly). Which, granted, wouldn't really help her chances, but...

Sort of. There is a card called Ifrita, but I don't think it's available anymore. Mobius came out before WoFF, but only by two months. I would say WoFF was in development before Mobius. Mobius Ifrita also just looks like a regular scantily clad woman with horns and stuff. Ifreeta looks a lot more beastly.

fluffyDeathbringer posted:

if you use Shivalry, nickname him Ice Guy

Sure thing. I already plan to use Shivalry for an end game stack, so I'll nickname him.


The next Lil' Update may be tomorrow (I have it typed but I also have a late exam tomorrow).

After that is the "true end", but then we've got a bunch of Maxima and post game content. Said content might take a while though, since I'm going to have to start hardcore leveling for... reasons.

I have already mostly decided on the end game team. Biggs, Eyevan, Laguna, and Optimus are all in since they are currently the highest leveled. Dingldoink is in, although I'm hoping for a certain transfig for him. Generic Diablos is currently in, although he may be ditched. Behemonster is in and has already been renamed Macho Man. Shivalry and Babyhamut. There are some coliseum Mirages that may be slotted in last minute though.

If anyone wants to make a last minute suggestion, then they'll have to do so before next Wednesday I would say. That's when I plan to lock in the team and spend a few days power leveling for post game content.

Leraika
Jun 14, 2015

Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.
give us some Greg!!!!

mateo360
Mar 20, 2012

TOO MANY PEOPLE MERLOCK!
ONLY ONE DIJON!

AweStriker posted:

Shivalry doesn't have nearly enough helmet lips to be a Super Sentai or Ultraman, but he also doesn't have the right eyepiece style for Kamen Rider.

Then again, neither did Decade, Diend, or Hibiki...

To be fair to Hibiki, it didn't start initially as a Kamen Rider series

Kamen Rider Wiki posted:

According to producer Shigenori Takatera's assistant Chikara Kataoka (片岡 力 Kataokā Chikara), due to the toy sales of Kamen Rider Blade being lower than Toho's Chouseishin GransazerIcon-crosswiki, the successor of Blade was originally considered as a reboot of the 1972 Toei tokusatsu Henshin Ninja ArashiIcon-crosswiki under the title Henshin Ninja Arashi Prologue: Messenger of Shikigami (変身忍者嵐序章 式神使者篇 Henshin Ninja Arashi Joshō Shikigami-shisha-hen). Like Kamen Rider, Arashi is one of the heroes created by Shotaro Ishinomori. Takatera said it was the first step to "wake up" Ishinomori and Toei's classic heroes and build a Japanese version of Disney. Later he changed the title to BirdNinja Battle History: Hayate (鸟忍戦記疾風 Toribi Senki Hayate) and started to set the basic settings of this ninja vs. yokai style tokusatsu show, including disk-like animals, yokai, taiko music, demon hunters, and master & apprentice. This resulted in the style of Hibiki being completely different than most entries of the Kamen Rider Series.

However, when the basic setting was done, Bandai thought they should be kept using the title "Kamen Rider" for merchandising. Takatera's team had to adapt all their early settings to a Kamen Rider look-a-like series The Hibiki Hero (響のヒーロー Hibiki no Hīrō), which finally became Kamen Rider Hibiki.

it even came with an annotation about it:

Kataoka, Chikara. (2007) Circumstances of "Masked Rider Hibiki" - How documents and heroes are "set". Japan: Gogatsu Shobō. ISBN 9784772704625

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!


Time to finish this up. We've got a final boss to fight for the second time in the hopes that maybe the twins won't screw up (again).

Lil' Update 8 Highlights - Come with me if you want to live




*The generic Black Mage does a little mime routine to explain what happened*

A Mirage... came to the training grounds threatening to destroy us all?! Does that mean... it's time? Hey, remember that conversation we had? About what we're going in this world-- what our purpose is?



I think... maybe the reason we came to this world was so they could find us. And once our job is done, it could be our lives are supposed to end.

*The Black Mages start frantically flailing about*



*And so they all march off to take down whatever the hell has been going after them*


[???]: GOLEMS WITHOUT PURPOSE MUST... BE DESTROYED.




What the hell is that thing supposed to be?


[???]: TOOLS DO NOT HAVE A CHOICE. TOOLS THAT ARE NO LONGER USEFUL MUST BE DESTROYED.


So much for trying to talk this one out. Come on! We fight!



Oh, they're just a Mini Golem variant.

Yeah! And more than that, he's our friend!



Golem Head is not a tough fight. There's three of them, so if you have a couple of Wind items (such as Spellstones or Chimera Wings) you can knock them all out in a few turns. Or you might just have Aero spells, although wind is not especially useful so that's not very likely.

Or really any spell. Ultima hit for 5,500 and then Reynn finished them off with Waterga for 2,800 each.



But that's not true. We chose to fight! And we managed to beat him! We are nobody's tools! Am I not right?

*The Black Mages nod in agreement*

Edgar said something to me once. And now it makes sense to me. Don't you see? We don't need a purpose to live, life is the purpose!



Right. Come on! Let's go! We all have a job to do. It's up to you and me to keep Figaro's people safe!



This is basically Vivi's character arc in IX condensed into a very short scene. As I mentioned during his introduction, Vivi discovered a village of other Black Mages that had gained sentience, but he had a bit of a crisis when he found out that they only live for about a year. Despite that, Vivi decided to make the most of whatever time he had.



Super interesting. We're starting to scrape the bottom of the Mirage barrel at this point. The Mirage Manual is 79% complete, although a good chunk of that are Mirages we've already seen and I just haven't transfigged. There are blank spots left, but many of them are variants.

Lil' Update 8 Highlights - Pokin' the beehive


Next up is investigating Balamb Garden, because apparently the League of S haven't looked into that since moving in.

Is there something wrong, Quistis?

Oh, I just wish I was less busy. I hardly have any time to keep exploring the Garden...

Really? Because I see you standing around in this same spot a lot. You don't seem super busy.

Well, there's not much you can do. Still, remember when we moved SeeD here? Feels like ages ago.



It was crawling with Mirages. But, it was worth it for the technology and magic alone. The stuff here is way beyond what we had at the time. A brand-new airship engine... This gunblade... The draw tech...

That stuff was just laying around in here? Also, Squall only started using the Gunblade recently? That's a broken wrist waiting to happen.

Yeah, but, we should have been more careful. The machines went berserk after we gave them to Shinra. In retrospect, isn't it possible they were connected to the Cogna? We should have done our homework better before handing over our findings.

Yeah, that was surprisingly stupid of you guys. You just found all of this advanced technology and machinery and then tossed whatever didn't interest you off to Shinra? No idea what any of it did, so you just threw it out?

Hm? So you're saying that the Garden is tied to the Cogna somehow? Isn't that kind of a stretch?



Now that, that was a good call. God only knows what those two would have triggered or messed up if left to wander this place freely.

Just so you know, they still think it's because you don't trust them.

And for good reason. Nothing they've done so far has shown them to be particularly trustworthy, especially when it comes to potentially devastating power.

What do you want me to do? If the Garden really is some kind of Cogna haven--



Eiko? Hm? Wait, what do you mean, "our friend"? Do you know something about the Garden?

Well, it's really more of a feeling... You know Big Bridge? I think the Garden here is very much like him.

Huh? So...

Right. Maybe Balamb Garden... is just one big Mirage. Although... When I reach out to touch its mind, it doesn't respond to me in the slightest.

Maybe it wants to be left alone? It was floating way above the clouds, out of reach of everyone.

It must be sleeping-- way, way more soundly than I have ever seen with Big Bridge. Shall I try... waking it up?

What? No! Why would you try doing that?

Uh... Is that a good idea?

I don't think that it means us any harm. But, if things do get out of hand...

How about we leave it the hell alone? Stop poking at things that you don't understand. What is wrong with everyone in this world? We are currently in the middle of a massive Cogna invasion that's destroying the world specifically because a bunch of morons couldn't help but screw with powers beyond their control.

Got it. We'll deal with whatever comes up.

Ugh... I guess so.

Why thank you.

Ugh... fine. Go ahead and do it. I'm just going to write this world off now and start prepping for an evac. We'll try again with some other A-world. Hopefully one that has a better self-preservation instincts.



Eden... Eden of Balamb.



Eden is a summon from FFVIII and basically only from VIII. There is a reference to it in XIII where Eden is one of the fal'Cie, but VIII is the only game in which it is a summon. You have to draw it from Ultima Weapon or from Tiamat in the last dungeon.

Eden's design suggests that it has some kind of relation to the Gardens (probably as a biblical "Garden of Eden" reference).

It's also one of a group of summons whose animation takes forever to watch. Eden's summoning animation takes about 1:40. For comparison, Knights of the Round from VII (which everyone jokes about being super long) clocks in at roughly 1:20.

Eden...



Yeah, big surprise.

No. Eden's saying that waking it up opened some kind of pathway to... another world. Usually, it chooses to stay in a deep sleep in order to keep the path closed. That's the only way this world still stay safe.

Ladies and gentlemen, the heroes. The saying "Let sleeping dogs lie" means absolutely nothing to them.

Either way, we need to send 'em back!



I'm not the-sure myself, but if the Cogna have already taken over a world that's in close the-contact with Grymoire... I... I'd rather not the-think about it.

These are just a basic assortment of enemies that we've already encountered. Water and Thunder are your go-to attacks.



I think we're okay. The Garden should be safe from danger, as long as our friend doesn't wake up.

Got it. We'll take care not to disturb it.

Hmph.

Gotcha, we promise not to poke it a second time. Unless we forget. Or we just really really want to because we're curious if the Cogna can still get through. But other than that, never again.

Lil' Update 8 Highlights - Getting a bit too real for PK


Second to sort of last quest. We're going to listen to the League of S discuss what they plan to do once everything is over with. I'm pretty sure you can guess everyone's plans before we even get started.



Can't wait till this is over and I can get back to blitzball training!

Hmph. I've got my own business to attend to. As long as he's still out there...

Yeah, yeah. Tidus wants to play water rugby polo and Cloud is bound by the chains of Advent Children.

As for me, I know that once Bahamut is dealt with and the Cogna are gone, I've always dreamed of becoming an instructor.

No surprises there.

....!

Squall? You okay there, buddy? Don't think I've ever seen you like this. You look kinda troubled.

So you... you've all given some thought to what happens next. You've got aspirations, and you all know where you're going. But not... me.



I mean, once all the bad guys are gone for good, what's the first thing you wanna do? Like, there can't be nothing!

Well normally he would just be in a relationship with Rinoa and that would be his life, but she's not in this game, so hell if I know what his plans are.

You wanna know what I'm planning to do with my life? ...I never thought about it. I guess I have no future...

I hear ya man. Thankfully I've moved out of the mopey emo phase of that realization and into weary acceptance shrouded in self-depreciating humor.

Hey, there's nothing wrong with being undemanding!



(All I really know is... fighting. Is that what my life is? Once the Federation has been destroyed, will I no longer have a purpose?)

Squall! We've picked up a powerful Mirage. Shelke is already en route. Can you go?

Sure, I'll take care of it. Besides, it's not like I've got anything else important on the horizon...



Hold on a minute. Let's team up-- it'll improve our chances. If we attack both its--

Just stay back. I said I've got it!

Piss off, Shelke. Squall knows what he's doing.

Huh?



...Or not. Why are these powerful characters suddenly getting punked by loser Mirages? We fought these things like 10 chapters ago and even back then they were pushovers.

Would you let me finish this time? If we work togeth--

Just stop. Fighting-- it's the only thing I've got. I'm not like the rest of you. You've got bright futures. I won't let you get hurt... Leave that to losers like me.

Hm? Ugh...

Oh no, are we really about to get taught a life lesson by Shelke?

Then put your fears to rest. I'm like you. I have nothing to live for beyond this. I am ready to die in battle, whenever that moment should come.

What? But, still...



How would we know that? You're not a fighter. Don't pretend like you're some combat expert, Shelke. You're the recon team, not the strike force.

I have no dreams. As such, I've no incentive to survive this war. In fact, I have a very compelling incentive to not survive. So why don't we do this? Let's go out guns blazing. End it all here and now. Discharging all our magic at once would destroy that Mirage.

Do it. Doooo it.



(If I'm that sad, that desperate... Fine.)

Not you, Squall. I'm fine with you. I just want DoC wiped from existence.

But I don't think that. Not enough to give up on living. No way.

Hm?

No guns blazing. I do have a dream. Sorry. No dying today.

Where did this come from exactly?

You know what I dream?



Hey! That's Firion's thing from Dissidia! Don't swipe that! :argh: It's bad enough that his inclusion is reduced to some newspaper clippings and a glorified costume.

...Huh?

Think about it. Flowers make people relax. Way I see it, they help make the world more peaceful. When this is over, I was hoping you would come and plant with me. So... don't go dying on me now. If you don't have your own dream, you can find one later. All right? Life is just too precious.

Glad you're catching on. Now quit your moping, stop dragging yourself in the dirt, and work with me.

Wha...?! Shelke! Did you... play me?

Well, after your talk with Tidus, I noticed you seemed somewhat down.

Heh. You got me. Won't do it again. So, you ready? Future's waiting.



We could scatter the seeds from Balamb Garden!



Now that Squall is no longer suffering the -100% Life Lesson Debuff, this guy can be wrecked. He's nothing we haven't encountered before.





Sort of. This one casts Doom non-loving stop. Doom is an instant kill if that 30 second countdown gets to 0. It won't count down when you are in a menu (assuming you are using the Wait battle style), but it will countdown the rest of the time, which includes during animations.

In fact, the only thing he does during this fight is cast Doom and Bravery (boosts attack). Lann spends most of the fight using Esuna and Dispel while Reynn chips away. The only hit I take here is from a single Great Sandstorm attack that it decides to use.

Make sure you have something to cure Doom (or that your stacks resist it). Otherwise this will be a short fight for you.



Hm?

Filling the world with flowers once this is all over.

Cut it out. It was the only thing I could come up with.

What do you say we head back? Everyone's waiting.

The flowers thing is an obscure reference to VIII. While imprisoned in D-District after failing to assassinate Ultimecia-Edea, Seifer interrogates Squall through torture to try and find out the true purpose of SeeD (AKA Sorceress killing). There's an option for Squall to lie about it, which involves him telling Seifer that SeeD's true purpose is scatter seeds around the world to fill it with flowers.

You can also choose for Squall to say "Just let me die", which I guess is sort of being referenced here as well.

Lil' Update 8 Highlights - Serafie's a Diva


Last one. Apparently Serafie wants in on the special transfig thing just like Tama.





Huh? Oh, no no. Since we're both pixies, I thought hey, I may as well ask her about transfiguration.

Hm? Transfig? Why now?



Uh, it's more like... Really, it's just a pang. Just a smidge of micro-envy.

Just a smidge, huh?

It sounds tough. You have to go toe-to-toe with high-level Mirages... I'm not sure I'm cut out for it-- noncombatant and all that.


[Siren]: Keee!


Huh? You want to help her out?


[Siren]: Kee!


Hmm... Hee hee! How's this: maybe we three can help you out a "smidge."

Really? Dude, that's sweet! ...Uh, I did not mean to channel Lann just now. Hm? Wait a sec. "We three"?

Never mind. Now, Siren, call in a high-level Mirage.

Slow down! I'm not sure I'm ready for this.

Too late. Battle time.



Hey. Who are you talking to now?!


[Siren]: Keeaaah!


Hey! When did you get on board?!



Yeah, seems like she's figured it out. I guess that's what general competence does for a person.

She definitely knows what's the-up. But how the-come I have to work my butt off just to help Serafie? That doesn't seem right at the-all.

Well, just pretend you're helping us collect Mirages.

She doesn't need to pretend, that's what my goal in all this is.

Except I don't think this Mirage is too happy about being "collected."

I don't imagine any of them are, but that's not going to stop us from doing it anyway.



Diva Serafie isn't a major threat, but she is rather ailment happy. Particularly Sleep.



She'll try for Lullaby and then for her special attack, Silent Voice. This attack can inflict Oblivion and does Wind damage.

Lil' Update 8 Highlights - Silent Voice










That's... unsettling.





But both of our stacks resist it, so it hits as hard as a bag of feathers.



Heh heh... Heh heh heh heh... Heh heh heh heh heh!



Not so fast. The only reason you won just now is because Lann and Reynn were there to help you out.

Huh? Whuh? They can do that?

Sure can. You must have sensed them there, by your side?



Right! Now that my prismarium has gotten just a little more robust-y, I expect to do great things! Lann. Reynn.

We get a Siren and Diva Serafie memento for beating the quest, so we can now get Serafie's special transfig as well as the generic version.





Siren is similar to Bismarck in that it only makes scattered appearances through the series. Starting in VI, she only shows up in a few other games outside of that (such as VIII and XI). Her attacks focus on inflicting Silence on enemies. The winged design we see here came about in VIII. Her original appearance in VI was just as a normal looking, although scantily clad (or in the Super Famicom version, with rear end on full display), woman with a harp.



Finally, here is Bablizz's evolution. I unlocked it while trying to grind up for Shivalry.



And this dude came about while training Imp to transfig into Diablos (who, as I have confirmed, doesn't have an "S" on his wings. It's just Diablo).


We're finally done with side stuff (for the time being)! Next time we'll start the march back towards Brandelis where the twins will, I dunno, beat the bad guys up worse than the first time? Which will I guess save their parents and stop Brandelis for good?

They do have the vague plan of switching the Ultima Gate to reverse I suppose Still unclear on how they plan to do that. Can they even do that? I guess we'll find out.

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Jun 29, 2019

Commander Keene
Dec 21, 2016

Faster than the others



Seems like the twins' general competence level is endemic to Grymoire.

morallyobjected
Nov 3, 2012
really, in the end, are we so sure that Grymoire deserves to exist?

Blaze Dragon
Aug 28, 2013
LOWTAX'S SPINE FUND

morallyobjected posted:

really, in the end, are we so sure that Grymoire deserves to exist?

It has lots of cool monsters living nice lives so yes, it deserves to exist.

Can't say the same about our protagonists.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!
Update 34 Highlights - Let's try this again


Alright, this is it. Final Boss... again.

After you beat the "Vestiges of Life" quest to get Tama back, Serafie will immediately trigger a scene where she'll ask if you're ready to get the plan underway. I answer "No", which allowed us to go and complete the other Intervention Quests that were still remaining. If you say "Yes", then the Final Battle kicks off right away and you'll miss the "True End".

Of course, "Miss" doesn't mean you can't get it. If you do it this way then you'll need to complete the remaining Interventions and then fight the last boss again. I recommend just getting everything out of the way first to save yourself time.



You need the True End to get access to a bunch of post-game content, so you may as well just do it the first time.

Anyway, if you said "No" when Serafie asked you, then you have to go and chat with her in Plaza 99 whenever you are ready.



Huh? Oh! Good. Then Operation Salvation is so on. Oh, you don't have to hunt down the summoners or the League of S. I can get the word out.

Oh, and just a heads up: "A Bridge's Woes" was a DLC intervention, so you don't need to complete that one for the True End. I'm still saving it until it's no longer considered a spoiler (which may actually not be until just before the end of the LP).



Okay. It's go time, Reynn.

Right.



Please tell me I don't have to climb that again...



*Meanwhile, in wherever the hell Brandelis is hanging out*

Hey!

Hm?

*Cloud outta nowhere*



What are you doing?



*Looks like Squall, Tidus, and Lightning are here too*

Hmph. The Champions have come.



*Also meanwhile, on the Chainroad*



Hee hee ha ha ha! What trick could ever redeem these wretches now?



*Shelke and Quistis show up just as Segwardies and Pellinore vanish*

So we weren't able to stop them.

That's not our objective. We're here to free the Architect's souls. The Ultima Gate-- we'll have to leave it to the twins.

Right.

*Even more meanwhile, at the Ultima Gate*

Update 34 Highlights - Divergence


This is not what I would call speedy.

They're trying to reverse-summon all of the Cogna at once. Give them some time.

Well--

What is all of this? ...! It can't be!

Villain tip: Never leave your magic doodad unguarded under the assumption that it's useless to the heroes.



Dad! No, don't!

*And Lann proceeds to tackle Segwarides, sending them both down the stairs*



So, you have at last remembered who this used to be. But it's too late for you!

Dad, I'm sorry. I should've listened to you when I had the chance... instead of acting like a stupid little brat.







You know, all I ever wanted was to be like you. You kept the world safe from Mirages. And how they loved you for it.

*Pellinore grabs her head and starts floating to the ground during Reynn's speech*

Still, I could see how hard you worked all the time. So I stepped up. Lann and I decided we would help. Right? We'd handle Mirages so you wouldn't have to. I never thought I was hurting you by taking them away. Without your strength, the world crumbled.



I could make your life easier. I just wanted you to be happy, Mom. What a know-it-all... Some things don't change. I still haven't learned.



Alright, here we go. Time to commit some patricide and--



Excuse me? Since when has he been able to do that?



Goddammit! This is what happens when you gently caress with the timeline! Weird poo poo happens!

Ugh. So, we're doing this now. It's a father-son battle. Lann, Eyevan, and Optimus versus whatever the hell Segwarides has turned into.



Segwarides isn't particular strong in terms of pure offence. His defence is also pretty bad as Lann's stack hit him with a counter for 4400 damage. A basic Thunder also dealt 3300. I didn't have Libra to scan him at the time, but he should have around 25-30k HP. He likely has the same Light weakness and Dark resistance from the first battle.





Unfortunately, what Segwarides lacks in basic offence, he makes up for with this drat ability that he enjoys spamming mercilessly.



Disaster can cause Doom (with a 100 count timer), Oblivion (locks out abilities), Blindness, and Confusion. It's an absolute bitch and he.

Won't.

Stop.

Using.

It.

Update 34 Highlights - Segwarides keeps spamming Disaster

The son of a bitch used it five times, basically in a row, before the AI finally realized that it wasn't going to get anywhere. I healed it four times, Lann's stack got confused once, attacked Segwarides anyway for 4400 damage, he used Disaster again, then Lann's stack attacked itself and knocked it out of confusion, allowing me to Remedy a final time.

That's the only hurdle in this fight. If you have good ailment resistances to those four statuses, then this fight will be a breeze. If you don't have good resistances to those, then the fight is just going to be a frustrating back and forth of him casting Disaster and you tossing Remedies or other status heal items.



After that fight, we go straight into the mother-daughter smack down. This one proved more of a challenge for me. The twins compliment each other, so when you split them up it really tends to mess with your battle plans. You probably have one stack focused on healing/support while the other is focused on damage/spells. Lann without Reynn would normally be okay, except Segwarides directs all his energy towards blocking Lann's abilities and stopping him from taking his turn.

In contrast, my Reynn stack is more about abilities and less about healing or support.







Her attacks don't hit crazy hard (Bloody Claw only hit for 660, although it does have topple), but she has great elemental coverage. She has access to Fira, Thundaga, Blizzaga, and Quake. Presumably she also has Watera, but she didn't use it in this fight.



Granted, when I say this fight proved to be more of a challenge, that doesn't mean a lot. Chocolatte sells X-Potions in the Postscript, which you should have stocked up on before going into any end game stuff (Hi-Potions have been useless for a long time now).

She also still has her Freezing Dust attack, so be aware that she can hit with Ice damage and Slow at the same time. This is the moment where toppling becomes a major possibility since Pellinore is pretty speedy.







World of Final Fantasy Music: Unhappy Melody
Dad!

Unfortunately, Rorrick is definitely not alive. He doesn't respond in the slightest.


[Rorrick]: Thank you, son...


.....! Dad?



Oh, looks like he's able to force ghost himself for a final conversation with his son. Convenient.

It's my fault. You're gonna die... 'cause of me.




[Rorrick]: If only I'd kept you safe from all this. Instead, I left you with no one at all to turn to. This here is just the shadow of my soul. My very last hurrah... You see? There's nothing to feel bad about.


Oh. Well then I guess that makes everything okay then. Conscience clear.

Of course I feel bad about it!


[Rorrick]: Lann... My son... Ha ha...


Wh-what is it?


[Rorrick]: Lann... I'm very proud.


About what?


[Rorrick]: You've grown up, son. Look at you. When people hurt, you hurt. You fight for them. You've become someone who cares about more than your own cause.


"I'm so proud of you son. You aren't a shitbag anymore! You've acquired a basic level of empathy."

Actually, I shouldn't be ragging on that. Baby steps and all that. At least some progress was made with him.


[Rorrick]: Hang on to that, and you'll go far.




*And then Rorrick disappears while going for a hug with Lann. His body also poofs into magic light for a handy corpse cleanup*

Dad!

Okay, so that didn't really go any different than last time. I guess they got to have a reconciling conversation, but Rorrick is still dead. Maybe things are going better on Reynn's end.



Mom!

No! Stay back! It's still...



Welp, looks like Pellinore has her own super form now. Awesome.

Reynn!



HP/AP carry over from the previous fights, but at least Lann and Reynn are both back together for this one.



Pellinore's super form rocks about 5k more HP, but still maintains the same elemental weaknesses.

This is mostly the same fight as Reynn went through. Pellinore still has elemental multi-target spells. Her defence is a little better and her attack slightly higher. There is one change though.

Update 34 Highlights - Tri-Disaster








Freezing Dust is upgraded to Tri-Disaster, which is more than likely going to be super effective against you unless you've managed to get a balance of resistances to Fire/Ice/Thunder.

On the plus side, she doesn't seem to use it much. She only busted it out once in this entire fight for me, which made it easily recoverable from.

Update 34 Highlights - Everyone cries


Looks like Pellinore is a bit more durable than Segwarides, as she stands back up ready for another round.

Enouuugh!



Lann goes for the hail Mary again.

Don't! You have to stay in control of your power!



Boom! Headshot!



Lusse's force ghost then goes shooting out into the sky before landing in front of Reynn.

Mom... Mom, I'm sorry. I...

World of Final Fantasy Music: Hauyn's Melody (I'm not sure why Hauyn's theme is used here)



[Lusse]: Come on. Smile.










Reynn tries to hold it together, but breaks down crying. Lusse then slowly fades away while holding her.



And they both look to each other as a source of strength before gazing into the bright new world that--

Hold on a second. Guys? I don't think that's the heavenly "sunny new day" kind of light. I think that's the--

Update 34 Highlights - Oh, right. Brandelis.


Yeah. That kind of light. The explosion-y kind.





Sorry. We couldn't stop him!

Don't worry, we will!

Yeah!

Careful, he can transform!

Yeah, we already know that thanks to time travel nonsense. No big deal.



Oh, come on! Him too?! What the gently caress is that thing on his back?!



This fight is very similar to the first time we fought Brandelis. There are no elemental weaknesses at work and his only ailment weakness is to Slow. I don't recommend trying to inflict that on him however, as it wears off very quickly and takes forever to actually stick (I tried 4+ times during the battle and missed almost every one of them).



His little weapon wheel on his back gives him a wide variety of abilities and magic. As for HP, he seems to have about 25-30k. Not too bad all things considered. It's only a minor change compared to the first time we battled him.

On top of stuff like Abyss and Double Cut, he also has access to Flare which can hit pretty hard (2,400 or more).

Other than that, there's nothing of particular surprise. He seems to enjoy rotating through Double Cut, Abyss, and Flare. Just as a heads up, go ahead and blow whatever Champion gauge you have available on him for a quicker takedown. I don't do it during my fight because I was trying to goad different attacks out of him.

No particular reason. Just friendly advice.



All right!

We won?

Reynn, you still remember the alternate timeline (at least I assume you do). You should know better than to think that.

No... Not yet...

Fools. I have hunted the worlds of A for ages! But yours was the very first in which I made true progress.



Observe!

We're not going to enjoy this, are we?

Update 34 Highlights - Final Boss


:raise:



:stare:

Not even the Champions of this A-World can vanquish me.



:gonk:

World of Final Fantasy Music: Last World of Battle


Mmkay. We're suddenly dealing with this now. As mentioned above, Champions are disabled for this fight, so there will be no defence bypassing tomfoolery from them.



Exnine Bahamut is a pain in the rear end. Specifically for a reason that you are unlikely to notice for the first half of the battle.





He has an attack called Chaotic Impulse. It seems to be a fairly standard multi-target Dark attack. Looks pretty cool though.

Oh, and if you didn't take notice, your HP/AP still carries over from the last battle. You may want to use your first two turns to either pop a Megalixir or use X-Potions/Mega-Potions and Ethers to get back into prime shape.





He also has the third tier single target element "-ja" spells. They hurt like hell if he manages to pinpoint your weakness.





And then of course he pulls an attack straight out of Segwarides' playbook. Dark Revels can inflict Poison, Oblivion, and Confusion. He enjoys spamming this attack, so make drat sure that you have ample Remedies or Esuna coverage.



Here's the lovely thing. You will probably notice something as the battle drags on and you pile damage on him. See where his turn icon is in this screenshot compared to Reynn/Lann? Both his and Lann/Reynn's turn icons started at almost the same place when they were at the bottom of the turn bar.

That's right. Exnine Bahamut gets faster as his HP drops. It's not Auto/SOS-Haste or anything. His speed just naturally rises as his HP falls. Unlike his previous form, this one is not even slightly vulnerable to Slow. He will very quickly outpace your stacks, probably by the time his HP has dropped by a third, if not sooner.

Exnine Bahamut is a cheating bastard, is what I'm saying. I guess that's fitting considering the whole "We play by my rules now" shtick, but still a bullshit move, especially with his love of that multi-status multi-target ailment attack.

The one saving grace to Dark Revels is that it can be Reflected. If you maintain Reflect throughout the battle, then you'll be safe from a lot of his attacks.



Unfortunately, since he is technically a Bahamut, that means he also employs his own Megaflare. He starts using it at below half health. Since his speed increases as HP drops, this also means this attack is going to come faster and faster as the battle wears on.

Update 34 Highlights - Diablos Summon








Summoning an XL Mirage is a good way to dodge the damage from it, though.

Update 34 Highlights - Megaflare Cannon










Mmm, yeah. This is probably gonna hurt.



Okay, not as bad as I was expecting. I believe this attack has an automatic topple effect for regular stacks, though. Be careful of that.

He also has an attack in this phase called Chaos Pulse. It missed Lann's stack, so I'm not entirely sure what it does. From the looks of it, it's just a regular single-target Dark based attack.



For extra fun, EB will drop the charge time on Megaflare Cannon during subsequent uses. So not only does he get faster, Megaflare cannon goes from 5 turns to 3 to fire.

With all this bullshit he's pulling, you may be wondering how you're supposed to deal any meaningful damage during the second half of the battle. You're spending most of your time healing status ailments or trying to cast reflect for example. Well, Exnine Bahamut does have one critical weak point.



While charging Megaflare Cannon, Exnine Bahamut will pick up -200 weakness to every element save for one.



Which means you can really lay into him while he's charging his laser. Make sure you check on which Element he has +200 of before you make any moves though. You really don't want to accidentally heal him for 10k+.



That's your key to beating him. When he tries to pull Megaflare Cannon, take whatever opportunity you can to cast your strongest elemental magic (that he doesn't absorb, obviously). It's entirely possible to break him in half before he even gets the chance to fire Megaflare once.

Curse you, A... You and your infuriating power...



This is gonna be a two parter, so we'll call it an update here. We'll find out how all of this goes down in the next update.

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 20:23 on Jun 29, 2019

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!
Update 35 Highlights - Learning from History




Of course our victory is short lived because Brandelis still has his backpack full of Megalixirs. Oh well, we tried.

No! Is it done yet?!

Almost... Just a little more time!

Really? Is that all?

Get your rear end in gear, Hauyn!

Rraaah!



Seems as though history is repeating itself. Lann's going for the double KO again.



Huh? Reynn?

Concentrate! Focus on the cage so it only encases him!

Right!

It's really as simple as that?



It seems so.

Folly!

*Brandelis is not having any of it, though. He starts pushing through the cage wall*

Come ON!

We're not going to make it! Lady Lusse... Help us!



Dad?



Mom?



Thanks ghost mom and ghost dad! Way to make up for your lovely parenting at the eleventh hour!

Reynn. You ready?

Yeah.





Oh god, I do not want to imagine how that must feel.

Such power... It's not possible...



Update 35 Highlights - Deus Ex Machina






Well, they did something. Not sure if it's anything useful though.









Well isn't that just neat and tidy? I mean, a ton of people still died, but at least there won't be any major reconstruction projects needed for the towns.





The Ultima Gate threatens to suck up all the heroes as well, but the various summons pop in to save them.











Not quite sure how summons like Mist Dragon and Valefor are helping to keep Rydia and Yuna grounded. Valefor at least should definitely be getting sucked right up into that gate, what with those giant wings.







Uh... guys? Valefor might be immune to aerodynamics, but Brandelis doesn't seem to be.









Brandelis is freed from the cage due to it being tipped over against the stairs. He also manages to grab Hauyn during his landing.

See guys? I told you to try chucking a rock at it! Lann created a Russian Nesting Doll of cages and they all shattered at once from just tipping over. You totally could have broken Hauyn out of her cage without using the Ultima Gate.





Tama!



Hauyn goes flying, but Tama makes the save.









Shoryuken!



Update 35 Highlights - Lann and Reynn finally do something right




I'll kill you yet!

Man, you are just a giant tick. You aren't coming back from this bro. Give up, because hot drat am I sick of fighting you.



Huh?! Reynn? Lann?!





There! Use those to keep Grymoire safe!

You'll find all the other prismariums with Serafie!

World of Final Fantasy Music: Ending Melody
Huh? Wh-what are you saying?



You can't! I don't--

Everything's going to be better, Wyn. Once we go through, the portal will vanish, so these trash cans won't ever be able to meddle in your world again.

Wait, it works like that? The Ultima Gate just stops existing if you guys leave the world? Man, your family was an even bigger accident waiting to happen than I thought.

But... what about you?

Hey! Get those corners turned up.

You don't want your happiness spilling out.









And thank you for everything!







Good-bye! Take care! We'll see you around!













They brought us so much bad and good. And then they just swept it all away in the end.

I'll say. The two of them were a force of nature.

And much like a force of nature, they were highly destructive and uncontrollable.

Maybe I'll take a leaf out of their playbook and go a little crazy for a change!



They will? Didn't they get sucked into the gate where the Cogna came from?

Yes. If they stay together, we have nothing to worry about.

Oh, right. That stupid "power of family love" garbage.

Okay, it's our turn. Grymoire's gonna need some fixing up.

It's gonna be a lot of work.

Yeah. There are bodies to identify, corpses to bury, cleaning up the giant smoldering crater where a village used to be that Ultima created when it landed. Dismantling the cathedral soul sucking machines and disposing of all the creepy crystal body things.





Where the gently caress have you been this entire time?!



Well done.

What an ending. Lann and Reynn took responsibility and sacrificed themselves to correct their horrible horrible mistakes, along with the general stupidity of their entire family. Ah.

Hold on. Why do I hear music?

World of Final Fantasy Music: World Parade


Oh lord. Not the cutesy dance ending! Please!

Update 35 Highlights - Of course there's a cute dance number


Goddammit! What's even worse is they are animated in that super creepy realistic style that DLC Sephiroth was, except it's somehow even more unsettling-ly detailed and... fleshy looking.



Good work Mr. Chiba. It was a weird game, but it definitely had some neat ideas.



I liked the character interactions, although there were some missed opportunities. I also would have appreciated a few more variations in some of the pairings. Namely Tidus and Yuna. It's super weird to see some couples like Cloud and Tifa, or Squall and Rinoa, be kept apart or have very few interactions, only for Tidus and Yuna to get stapled together immediately.

If you're going to play with the Final Fantasy character pairings and mix and match, then give everyone that treatment. At the very least Yuna got interactions with the other summoners. Tidus didn't really get scenes with anyone outside Shantotto and Yuna.





Speaking of, Tidus' Blitzball gets loose and nails Shantotto in the head during these credits and that makes me happy.





There was also a shameful lack of certain characters and songs from some of the games. I mean, they hit all the major memorable songs, but the absence of stuff like Vivi's theme (despite the fact that he's in the drat game as a Champion) is a definite disappointment.



There was also the lack of particular characters from certain FF titles. I find it baffling that they made a big crossover/30th Anniversary celebration game and yet completely left out II and XII.



That being said, the characters that were in the game at least sounded good. It's nice to see them getting the typical VA's in for so many characters, especially for both English and Japanese.



Granted, it wasn't all good. There was a weird recurring issue with the dialog where voice clips would cut off. No rhyme or reason for it either. It could be during a little intervention quest, a minor story scene, or even the final confrontation with the big bad. They'd just be talking and then their line would just stop. It wasn't a lip flap thing, because it even happened to characters like Brandelis who has no lip flaps.

It also wasn't a case of the voice not being able to fit into the scene. The scene would clearly have enough length to accommodate the dialog, but it just cut anyway.



Hiroshi Harata, you've got some drat explaining to do when it comes to those minigames.



I liked the music in the game itself. As in the stuff done specifically for WoFF. None of it was really stand out, but I felt it was serviceable. That could be in part due to the fact that so many iconic FF tracks surrounded it.



Okay, we get it. It's a dance ending. It's cute and kids will love it and you're desperately hoping they will try and imitate the dance.



God that is so loving creepy looking. Especially considering the close up shots show that the fabric and hair are incredibly detailed.



Anyway, from here we get the typical character parade while the main theme song gives way to generic "we still need to fill out the rest of the credits" music.



Also, Lilikin Hauyn.

Update 35 Highlights - True Ending (of the base game)


That's the end of the game if you didn't finish the intervention quests. The following scene is the "True End" which you only see if you complete every Intervention Quest before talking to Serafie for the final battle (again, this excludes "A Bridge's Woes", since that was DLC).











So now Reynn and Lann are Mirages themselves. Or Champions. Or Mediums. They're something. Whatever they are, at the very least Hauyn now has a way to control the two idiots and stop them from screwing things up again.

After this we get a prompt to save and then we're immediately dumped back in Sylver Park.



A bunch of stuff opens up now that we've seen the True End. First of all, Hauyn is now going to be our main character. Apparently she's the Mirage Keeper now and she can also swap between Lilikin and Jiant forms.





We're told about Mastery Bonuses, although there's a good chance you've already experienced that by now. A lot of people like to stick to their favorite Mirages for a large portion of the game, so chances are at least one of them has mastered their board by now.



Next up, there are three Bonus Dungeons to complete (additional ones will open up as we beat the first three). These dungeons were in the base game, so this isn't part of the Maxima update.



...Also fishing. Super looking forward to that. Everyone knows how fun fishing minigames are in every game they show up in.



This is a bonus for Maxima. I have no idea what it is or does (I didn't look up stuff on Maxima content since I wanted to see it fresh), but I heavily assume it's another bonus dungeon.

On top of that, we get a treasure tracker, to help us find missing chests. New Rumors have also shown up on Serafie's Rumor Radar.

But the biggest change that's immediately noticeable is that--



Lann and Reynn no longer have to be in a stack. There are pros and cons to this. First of all, without Lann or Reynn, we cannot summon XL Mirages. Only Lann and Reynn can use Champion Summons, so you lose those if you remove them both. You also can't use Mirajewels if you remove them.

On the other hand, removing them greatly opens up our options for stack compositions. Although we can't use Mirajewels, Mirages will sometimes have the abilities you want naturally. You can then use Blank Spaces to fill in stat boosts or other abilities.

At the moment, removing the twins from the stacks isn't such a great idea. Post game content is tough, and they are most certainly the highest level "Mirages" that you have, so replacing them with anything else will likely lead to a big stat drop (as seen above with Dingldoink).



New Coliseum Challenges have also appeared. I went through and completed every available challenge before the final battle, but the post-game offers up a few extra tough ones. Those extra tough ones can be captured though, and I have plans for some of them.

Which means that this LP isn't done yet. On top everything else, Maxima also adds a "Secret Ending" which is obtained by basically doing everything in the game. We don't need the complete Mirage Manual or anything like that, but we do need to beat all bonus dungeons, all bonus super bosses, and the new Intervention Quests.



Which means I have grinding to do. Lots and lots and lots of grinding. Woooo...

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Jul 2, 2019

Leraika
Jun 14, 2015

Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.
:stare: I don't remember Hauyn ending up as the player character in the base game, though it's been a long-rear end time since I saw the ending.

Leraika fucked around with this message at 01:15 on Apr 19, 2019

dotchan
Feb 28, 2008

I wanna get a Super Saiyan Mohawk when I grow up! :swoon:

quote:

Oh. Well then I guess that makes everything okay then. Conscious clear.

(Italics mine.) I believe you meant "conscience" here.

morallyobjected
Nov 3, 2012

Leraika posted:

:stare: I don't remember Hauyn ending up as the player character in the base game, though it's been a long-rear end time since I saw the ending.

it wasn't. at least on PS4. you just had Reynn and Lann back

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

dotchan posted:

(Italics mine.) I believe you meant "conscience" here.

I thought I fixed that. I certainly remember fixing it. Oh well. Thanks, I'll fix it again.

Leraika posted:

:stare: I don't remember Hauyn ending up as the player character in the base game, though it's been a long-rear end time since I saw the ending.

Yeah, Hauyn is a Maxima addition as far as I'm aware. Maybe she was added in a patch, but I believe I read something about her in the Maxima description. I'll have to make sure.

I really like it. It's more fitting for her to become the focus in the post game mode.

Leraika
Jun 14, 2015

Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.

Psycho Knight posted:




Yeah, Hauyn is a Maxima addition as far as I'm aware. Maybe she was added in a patch, but I believe I read something about her in the Maxima description. I'll have to make sure.

I really like it. It's more fitting for her to become the focus in the post game mode.

Hopefully we actually find out more about her.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!
I just wanted to take a little break from recording to deliver the following message:

gently caress fishing minigames.

gently caress Japan's love of shoving in fishing minigames.

Especially gently caress locking content behind fishing minigames.

and gently caress FISHING MINIGAMES.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get started on hour 2 of trying to beat this dried up piece of dog poo poo fishing minigame...

Blaze Dragon
Aug 28, 2013
LOWTAX'S SPINE FUND

Psycho Knight posted:

I just wanted to take a little break from recording to deliver the following message:

gently caress fishing minigames.

gently caress Japan's love of shoving in fishing minigames.

Especially gently caress locking content behind fishing minigames.

and gently caress FISHING MINIGAMES.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get started on hour 2 of trying to beat this dried up piece of dog poo poo fishing minigame...

Literally the only reason I didn't complete my Platinum Trophy Persona 5 run was because of the loving fishing minigame. They're terrible and they should not exist.

Also terrible: having a voiced skit at the end of the game and the translation team skipping it for some ungodly reason. Great job there.

morallyobjected
Nov 3, 2012
the fishing minigame in FFXV was fun and I enjoyed it

Edvarius
Aug 23, 2013
Well, I only have the basic version of the game and didn't bother with the post-game stuff, so everything from here on out will be new to me. So that'll be fun to see at least.

As for the basic game though: while some of the writing was iffy and the mini-games were atrocious, for the most part the game was pretty fun. But something I think was solely lacking was the presence of Final Fantasy villains outside of the recurring joke bosses. I mean, I get that a lot of the main villains would have been hard to put in there as many of them don't fit a second banana role very well, but on the other hand these are some of the most remembered personalities from the series, and it would have been nice to see a bit of them at least. If there's ever a sequel I hope at least some of them can show up. But then while I'm wishing pointlessly about theoretical sequels I'd love to see some of the more obscure characters show up, or ones from the less popular games, like some of the Dimensions or Mystic Quest cast.

Snorb
Nov 19, 2010

Psycho Knight posted:

I just wanted to take a little break from recording to deliver the following message:

gently caress fishing minigames.

gently caress Japan's love of shoving in fishing minigames.

Especially gently caress locking content behind fishing minigames.

and gently caress FISHING MINIGAMES.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get started on hour 2 of trying to beat this dried up piece of dog poo poo fishing minigame...

I liked Breath of Fire IV's fishing game. =(

Commander Keene
Dec 21, 2016

Faster than the others



I don't remember BoF4's fishing minigame, which probably means it was less lovely than 3's (or maybe after having to suffer that, I just refused to engage in it any more than absolutely necessary), but I still have no fond memories of any video game fishing. You could remove fishing in every video game it's in and it would universally improve the game, imo.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

morallyobjected posted:

the fishing minigame in FFXV was fun and I enjoyed it

Snorb posted:

I liked Breath of Fire IV's fishing game. =(

Then more power to you both. Personally, I share Commander Keene's view on them. I cannot remember ever running into a fishing minigame and going "Oh boy! Fishing! I'm ready for several hours of this throughout my JRPG!"

At their absolute best, I find them a small pointless diversion from the main story or even sidequests. If they can be ignored, they usually are. At their worst, they are hair-rippingly frustrating or ungodly boring exercises that dangle really cool non-fishing items/things at the end to force you into them. They also usually stand in front of you and 100% completion.

Blaze Dragon posted:

Literally the only reason I didn't complete my Platinum Trophy Persona 5 run was because of the loving fishing minigame. They're terrible and they should not exist.

They are the devil's work. I don't get Japan's fascination with them, especially when it comes to JRPG's. You can get full fledged fishing games! Why do they need to be in stuff like Persona? Are Japanese high schoolers super into fishing or something?

Edvarius posted:

Well, I only have the basic version of the game and didn't bother with the post-game stuff, so everything from here on out will be new to me. So that'll be fun to see at least.

As for the basic game though: while some of the writing was iffy and the mini-games were atrocious, for the most part the game was pretty fun. But something I think was solely lacking was the presence of Final Fantasy villains outside of the recurring joke bosses. I mean, I get that a lot of the main villains would have been hard to put in there as many of them don't fit a second banana role very well, but on the other hand these are some of the most remembered personalities from the series, and it would have been nice to see a bit of them at least. If there's ever a sequel I hope at least some of them can show up. But then while I'm wishing pointlessly about theoretical sequels I'd love to see some of the more obscure characters show up, or ones from the less popular games, like some of the Dimensions or Mystic Quest cast.

First of all, get ready for like 2 updates worth of new stuff at most. A lot of the Maxima post-game stuff I played through last night involved new Mirage bosses. The dungeons are recycled from parts of the story dungeons. The intervention quests were pretty neat though, I'll give it that.

Second, I both agree and disagree with the villains thing. On the one hand, it is weird to not see any villains represented in here considering that they made up a whole lore thing for them existing (Anti-champions). One of them does show up in Maxima, but has no story role unfortunately. It's more of a cameo. On the other hand, if they had added the villains in to this game then part of me fears they would have retreaded too much old ground. The best parts of WoFF, to me, are when we see different FF characters interacting and sharing silly connections or traits that they bond over. It may be because I'm ambivalent towards FFX, but Yuna and Tidus were kind of boring in this game since they spend so much time chained together for character moments, like the devs were afraid to pair them up with others. If the villains were in here, I'm almost positive we would see basically the same plot beats from their main titles play out. Sephiroth was DLC and yet they still centered Cloud's motivations around him and had him go through the motions.

It's the same general problem I had with Dissidia. Dissidia shook up the character match ups a little, but the main conflicts still mostly boiled down to pairs like Cloud and Sephiroth, Terra and Kefka, Jecht and Tidus, Bartz and Exdeath, etc.

There's also the problem they could have run into where there were too many major villains in one story, another problem that Dissidia had. They all had their own plans, they all thought they were the mastermind, and they all thought they were too dog (except for Kuja, who the other villains basically made fun of). They'd all be stepping over each other's feet while the OC villains fought to stay relevant and in the spotlight.

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Apr 20, 2019

LiefKatano
Aug 31, 2018

I swear, by my sword and capote, that I will once again prove victorious!!
If Sephiroth showed up in the game as an actual entity and didn't interact with the Quacho Princess at all I would've been disappointed.

Sephiroth looks like Psaro the Manslayer, the main antagonist of Dragon Quest IV, who is motivated to destroy humanity because they kept on bothering an elf he loved because... she cried ruby tears.

malkav11
Aug 7, 2009
I can think of very few minigames in JRPGs (or western RPGs for that matter) that I felt added anything to their game, and the vast majority are awful detractions. I think fishing is only notable on that list because it's so mysteriously popular and so inherently boring to begin with.

morallyobjected
Nov 3, 2012

malkav11 posted:

I think fishing is only notable on that list because it's so mysteriously popular and so inherently boring to begin with.

fishing (and the ocean in general) have always been important cultural components of Japan

malkav11
Aug 7, 2009

morallyobjected posted:

fishing (and the ocean in general) have always been important cultural components of Japan

That doesn't explain why every freaking MMO has fishing minigames.

morallyobjected
Nov 3, 2012

malkav11 posted:

That doesn't explain why every freaking MMO has fishing minigames.

I dunno which MMOs have them. I was just thinking about WoFF, FFXV, most Zelda games, Okami, Everybody's Golf, Persona, etc. that are all very much Japanese games.

I assume if it's a Western game they probably just needed to give someone something to do and didn't want all the water to be dead space.

malkav11
Aug 7, 2009

morallyobjected posted:

I dunno which MMOs have them. I was just thinking about WoFF, FFXV, most Zelda games, Okami, Everybody's Golf, Persona, etc. that are all very much Japanese games.

I assume if it's a Western game they probably just needed to give someone something to do and didn't want all the water to be dead space.

Pretty much all of them, like I say. With the occasional exception, usually when there's no sensible purpose for fish.

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AweStriker
Oct 6, 2014

morallyobjected posted:

I dunno which MMOs have them.

FFXIV does at least, but then it also has a cooking profession that uses them.

And while I don't 100% know it I'm pretty sure FFXV lets you cook the fish you catch, too. New recipehs and whatnot.

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