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Blueberry Pancakes posted:Don't forget that the mail is very anal about spacing, too. It’s also extremely anal about punctuation, capitalization, etc. So no shortcutting the codes with all lower case letters so you, too, can break the game with all the grace of a whale carcass rotting in the sun.
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Jul 10, 2019 06:08
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I am lost. When did we receive an RC Chopper? This feels out of order or something.
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Jul 12, 2019 03:23
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Discendo Vox posted:I am lost. When did we receive an RC Chopper? This feels out of order or something. During the Help Signal tutorial. Have you even been paying attention?
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Jul 12, 2019 03:54
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Kemix posted:It’s also extremely anal about punctuation, capitalization, etc. So no shortcutting the codes with all lower case letters so you, too, can break the game with all the grace of a whale carcass rotting in the sun. The funniest part about the anal punctuation is that, when combined with the also anal censor filter, one of the Cipher Mails straight up doesn't work because it censors part of the code.
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Jul 12, 2019 12:24
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MightyPretenders posted:During the Help Signal tutorial. Have you even been paying attention? I've been following the thread, I thought I'd read all of it. searching each page for Chopper or Help Signal is getting me nothing.
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Jul 12, 2019 18:50
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Hmm. It turns out that several different things went wrong at once with my recordings. (The chopper shouldn't be here, it should be in the next bonus update. My bad, folks!) Edit: The offending portion has been removed, you'll see it after Scenario 2 finishes up. Just pretend you didn't see anything! (For explanation, if anyone cares: I went to record all of Scenario 1 and 2's jobs in one go and got confused because the RC stuff was in Echo Ridge. Plus separate recording files, and... well, you get this. Sorry again, I'll double-check next time.) GeneralYeti fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Jul 12, 2019 |
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Jul 12, 2019 23:16
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I remembered it being a thing, and didn't even notice it was out of place...
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Jul 14, 2019 07:06
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Part 5: Wait You Mean I Have To Help People?   We're opening up Chapter 2 of the game today with Geo staring at the sky. This is the usual starting point for... a lot of the early game.   : Hey, Geo! : What? I hear you!: You've been nice to let me watch how you live, but there's 1 thing I've noticed and wanna ask about. Do you really like the sky that much?I can't imagine how boring this must be for Mega. After all, he's stuck in this dork kid's Transer and doesn't get to do anything interesting at all. Sounds like me between updates.  : ...Yeah, I like it. I like the stars twinkling at night, and the shooting stars... And I hope... Just maybe... I can see my dad.........By this point I'm torn between feeling sorry for Geo and getting a little irritated with him. Yes, loss sucks, and he's a 5th grader so he can't really be expected to cope with it all that well - but even still this seems a little much. Anime loves to exaggerate emotional states, Yeti. Subtlety is lost in this medium.   Mega, on the other hand, is still a blunt rear end in a top hat when it comes to these things.  : What happened to telling me about my dad? When are you going to "feel like it"?: Meh, who knows?Raise your hand if you're surprised that Mega is putting it off again. Does it count if I raise your hand, Yeti?  : Look, what's important now is that you're more prepared when you leave your house. You never know when an FM-ian is gonna show. One could drop from the sky onto us now!To just pick an example at totally random. I'm sure this means nothing.     ...This is also probably unrelated. I'm sure there won't be a flying FM-ian at all. Complete and utter nonsense. Too unlikely.   It was a man with wings, Geo. You stare at the sky so much, how can't you tell?  : Why? What's wrong?: I know an FM-ian with wings just like that. That may well have been... : You think that was an FM-ian?Definitely won't be flying FM-ians. (This game is less than subtle with who the next villain in the chapters is going to be, sometimes.)   He's groaning, so he's alive, but wow does that look like it hurt.     It's kinda difficult to tell who can and can't see people in this game. Right now, this tired-looking guy is talking out loud to himself.  There's probably a joke in here about flying too close to the sun. Alternatively, "It's a bird, It's a plane, no it's some dude with chronic insomnia."  gently caress you, Icarus.   : Ack! Y-You saw!?For once, staring at the sun paid off.  : R-Really?: Yeah, really...A pair of master conversationalists, right here.  : Careless?: N-Nothing. I-I thought no one came to Vista Point except at night...Wtf? Night? The game is always so inconsistent about what time things happen. I think right now it's supposed to be roughly 5 in the evening? But I could be wrong because they never say.  : A-Anyway, sorry to have disturbed you. I-I guess my experiment was a failure...Whoever he is, he really loves ellipses. If they're at the start of a text box, there's a good chance (for those reading along) that it takes a few seconds to add the dots, one at a time. . . . . . . . . . . TEXT  : ("Experiment"? That wing-thingy, right?): (Yeah. I guess he's not an FM-ian.)I told you! No flying FM-ian! Why don't you believe me!  : (That "thingy" looks awfully interesting. Let's go take a look!)    Blinky putting in some overtime. Good job, buddy.  : Y-Yes? What is it?: Um, well... I was wondering about your wing-thi...: ...!!Bit of a strong reaction to someone saying "Oh hey what's that weird thing next to you" but okay.  : It's, um... I call it my FlapPack.: ...FlapPack?: !! As soon as Geo walks up, this guy rushes over and shoves him away. Definitely, this guy is friendly and not strange in the slightest. This guy looks like Yeti in real life.  : Ah, please don't stare at it, OK? I-I don't like it when people do that. I don't like to show people my inventions...: O-Oh...Then again, it is his invention, after all. I guess he has the right to tell people to gently caress off.  : (We should let it go, Mega.): (What a bizarre guy...): (If we stay here any longer, we'll get in his way. Let's go home, OK?) And like that we have control. It's worth noting that this is the first time we've had control since beating Taurus Fire. The cutscenes in this game tend to stretch on a long while, especially in the beginning.     We also get this email. Interesting. Those of you who have played any game in this series already know what this is, but we'll check that out in a bit. First, maybe now he'll let us look at the FlapPack!  : I-It's not nice to spy on other people's inventions...Nuts.  We haven't even seen his name, but he has a Transer... Maybe we can find out that way -  drat, the devs thought of this! Oh well. It's weird he's heading home before dark, but sure, whatever. No sequence breaking Yeti. Be a good Let's Player.   Oh what now?!  : What's that?: The help signal is basically an SOS signal... It means someone around here needs help.So it's the loud, annoying signal you use when you want attention but it's not actually important, got it. Oh, so it's Twitter ranting.  : That's such a foreign concept.: Well, you're really supposed to go and help, but I don't want to get involved with others. I'm sure someone else will take care of it...I love these lines here just for how great they are. "You guys ask people for help? Weird." "Yeah but I usually ignore them because gently caress people." Man, I just empathize with this pair more and more as these updates get posted.  : We're going to go take a look! I want to see the source of this signal.: Hey! Wait a sec! How come you're the one who gets to decide this!? You pushy freeloader!!Well, I guess we've been given a quest. At the very least, despite flashing at the corner of the screen, the help signal doesn't actually make any noise.  : You wake up, read a book about space, mess with some gadgets, study, and when it gets dark, go stare at some stars up in the sky. You need some variety to spice up your life!In this case, Mega is right. Geo really isn't doing anything to help himself cope with the loss, he's just moving in circles.  : I won't let you run my life anymore!!: Stuff it! When I say go, we go!!Of course, it's filtered through Mega being an rear end in a top hat. Which, again, refreshing for this series.  : Geez! You keep this up, and my left arm's gonna be longer than my right!After getting tugged away (Seriously, how sturdy is the Transer so that it won't be ripped off? That seems like a minor hazard.) Geo gives up and we're going to help out some nerd, I guess.  Yes, I just watched the cutscene, thank you very much game. Before we take care of the help signal, let's explore a little bit. New chapter means new incidental dialogue!   : Because of the truck incident, I'm afraid to cross the street. Nngh...Breaking news, old man can't get home because he's a big coward. I had the biggest smile on my face reading this. drat I'm a jerk.   Look I'm not saying it was aliens, because you won't believe me, but it was aliens. gently caress you, History Channel.  When you get close to the source of the Help signal, it starts flashing faster and the text turns red. Which is a sign that we need to go the other way, clearly.   : Huh? What am I going to fly? That's a secret!A secret? How do you fly a secret?   It's a secret to everyone.  The truck from the first chapter is parked here, by the way; in case you want to revisit the comps from earlier. Not that I really see why you'd want to, the chips are useless and the money is equal to what's lying around here in GMD. Wouldn't say useless. Especially if you missed a data or a virus chip.  Anyway, that aside, let's head up to the Wave Roads. (The Help signal didn't disappear; it just stops having the circle around it if you're on the wrong screen, and the text blinks) Now, let's just look at this totally random area...  I wonder why Geo is standing like that?  Oh that's why. Sweeeeet. That's right, boss rematches are back! (I don't think anyone is surprised.) After beating a boss in each chapter, its EW ghost appears in set locations where you can fight the EX version. In this case, it's TaurusFire EX, which mostly just ups his HP and damage. He didn't get any new moves. Once you've killed the EX form, the SP starts wandering around in that area and becomes a random (rare) encounter. Yes, the SP is tough to fight. Yes, that's why I unlock them as soon as possible. Speaking of TaurusFire EX, though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7eGC6sar8E Eyyyyy, Yeti is actually improving his game. I spy counters! Co-commentating my BN LPs must have helped.   I ate a single hit to get the counter, which meant I got an extra card for damage. Either way, I just don't have good enough chips to pull off an S rank; TaurusFire EX (and SP) just has too much health. Gonna agree with that. We'll probably need to finish the next scenario and have a high level of play to get 30 seconds, and the next two scenarios to get him in under 10- well, I'll let Yeti explain that mechanic.  The chip here is pretty good. TaurusFire comes down a and does his fire breath attack for 100 damage burst; if you're standing on either column, it's a 1-2-3 triangle. Standing in the center is a 1-3-3 blast. And, if the square in front of you doesn't exist, the chip is wasted. Regardless, it's our first Mega chip and pretty powerful for now (as in, it one-hit kills everything in the first areas except SalamanderGs) so it goes in the folder.   : It's another perfect day!! *vrooooooom*I noticed this guy while I was in the wave road. He's friend-shaped!  Unfortunately, we can't just leave. Shame.  Fiiiiine, I'll help them.   ...How do you manage that? It's a ball. How is it in the tree. Kicked it too high? Jerk threw it in a tree? The tree has thick branches? Could be anything.   : Oh... Are you here about my help signal?Geo I think it's very clear what's wrong.   : Yeah, I'd say it's stuck. ......I want to think that this long wait is Geo thinking "Do I really need to help them?"  : Maybe the flying guy at Vista Point can...: Do you know how to get it down?: Well, um...: Please! I'll give you something in return. Please!!Geo, Geo no. You can just climb up the tree, it has branches. He can't CLIMB YETI    Oh, whatever.  Yo.  : ...Huh? You want me to help you get a ball?: If I used your invention, then maybe I can...: ......No.What a shame. Well, guess that kid just has to live without his soccer ball.  : Th-This FlapPack hasn't been publicly announced yet. So I can't let you use it. Plus...: ......Plus...?  Is there an echo in here? Is there an echo in here?  : Anyway, my answer is no.: ......: Don't look at me like that! No means no!Apparently "..." translates to a really judgmental stare. Apparently "..." translates to a really judgmental stare.  : (I guess we don't have a choice... I've gotta find something else to use. And why am I doing this for someone else?)I really, really don't know. Maybe because the alien that lives in your arm is using information about your father to blackmail you into doing whatever he wants...? I really, really don't know. Maybe because the alien that lives in your arm is using information about your father to blackmail you into doing whatever he wants...?   : I saw something flying over there just now. Was that an RC?Well, at least the game is kind enough to move an NPC around to tell us what to do next. It's a little bit nicer in that sense than the original Battle Network games, where you had to kinda run around and then stumble into the next flag. The power of the...DS?  : Um, I was just wondering what that thing was.: Oh, this is an RC chopper.: It's remote-controlled? (I can probably use this.)Anyway, we have to talk to Chase Winde. This RC chopper will definitely help us get the ball down.  : Hmm? What? You want to use this to get a ball down?: Please?: Hmm... Well..."Why don't you just go climb up and get it yourself?"  : So I guess I can give this old one to you.: Really?Oh that was easy -  Spoke too soon. Giver could fight a bunch of viruses for hours and still not have that much! Time to go get some Untraps and farm greens.  : Ha ha, just kidding. It is an old RC, so I'll let you have it for a can of juice. So how about it? There's a vending machine that sells juice just behind the card shop, alright?I feel like this guy is extorting this 5th grader, but sure, whatever.  Fine, fine.  : ...I wonder if it's broken.: Probably the work of a virus.Of course. It couldn't be a Starforce game without having us kill a virus because it ate our money.  : Let's have a look inside this machine's comp. It might work if we delete the virus. No, that wasn't a mistimed screenshot. The game just forgot to have punctuation here. Whoops! We found a fuckup! Hooray!      It's not a tough fight. Three CannonBases are easy to take out, especially since they only attack when you step into their row. This is a baby fight, man.  : Us: one, EM viruses: zero. : You think this fixed it? Hmm, guess we should pulse out and check the vending machine...  Success! Item retrieved.   : Here's the RC, just like I promised. This type needs a card to work. Use it well. It's a bit of a roundabout way to get the ball down, but sure, whatever works.    Boooo, boooo. Your puns are worse than Giver's sense of humor! Now, now, let's just give their jokes a test flight.     It's an RC chopper. You just watched us get it, Mega. (While the chopper is out, the top screen shows the controls. It's convenient, maybe?)  : Geo! Put on your Visualizer for a sec.  It's a nice little touch, but if you're wearing your Visualizer you can see the Navi helping out. Navis have been loving downgraded.  : He looks just like the guy on the Navi Card! Is that PropellerMan? : He's being projected from your Transer. He's probably here to help control the RC.: Hmm, that's neat.While it is neat, I don't think they really needed to tell us about this. The player would have figured it out themselves, and it would have been a neat little discovery moment; instead, it's just more dialogue I have to sit through until the cutscene is over.    Finally, we can control the chopper. You do so by tapping the arrow buttons to give it acceleration in that direction. And yes, it's acceleration, not velocity - this thing handles like it's covered in grease.  Eventually I managed to get this stupid thing to the ball and knock it down.    I know! Why couldn't it have been an HPMem20?! Ahahahahaha, get loving wrecked.  : We'd better hurry home. But before we can go home, there's a familiar NPC here. I guess we have to talk to him, huh?    : Very, very interesting...: It's that guy...(Aaron Boreal, for those who don't remember the first update. He worked with Geo's dad at NAZA before leaving to start his own company)  : I wonder where Tom went off to? He's taking an awfully long bathroom break. I wonder who's taking the piss break? Either way, after looking left and right Boreal finally turns around.  : If it isn't little Geo! How are you doing?: Hi, Mr. Boreal...Geo sounds like he's saying hello to the weird old uncle that he doesn't really like but has to say hello to anyway.   : You know, where red things were being broken? I was curious, so I stopped to see the truck that was involved in the whole affair.And Geo knows nothing about the handsome man that saved the day, right? No Yeti, it was a boy. Not a man. Oh no, rumors are already spreading.    Ah! The piss break guy was Mr. Insomnia all along.   : Hmm? Well, um...: Hey... It's the guy from before...Awkward.  : Um, actually...: ...What!? You performed an experiment all by yourself!?I really don't know why this is such a big deal. I mean, in the sense that he could have injured himself, yes, but it reads like Boreal is more upset that he did the experiment by himself than the fact that it was dangerous.  : Hmm, I see. You always do experiments by yourself. It seems kind of reclusive, don't you think?The game tries to hammer home here that you need to work with other people, but in this case it comes off more as an extrovert telling an introvert that they just need to go have fun at parties and stop staying home so much. That's...pretty much how this game will handle the issue. Best way to get people to be less introverted (not that there aren't advantages) is to just expose yourself to social situations and risk a bit at a time. The approach isn't wrong, but it's anime, so everything is dialed up to 11, as I've said before.  : ...Um, don't worry about me. Let's just hurry and check out the truck. "Yep... That's a truck..."  : This is my assistant, Mr. Tom Dubius. He used to work at NAZA. Just like me."Tom Dubius" : Used to?: Hmm? Oh, there was a small problem, and...Tom probably got caught stealing office pillows or something.    The game really doesn't need to say anything at all, it evokes the image of "sullen kid not wanting to answer" perfectly here.  But because this is a SF game, it needs to have words instead.  : Alright! How about this? Why don't you come down to my lab tomorrow?: Eh!? But why?: I think it'd be a good change of pace for you. So? What do you say?I guess this is a pretty neat invitation for him.  : Tomorrow's a holiday, so it's perfect! Glad we settled that! Seriously though, I don't like Boreal all that much. He comes off as super pushy about everything. I guess that's a compliment towards the game's framing. A kid like this would find Boreal super exhausting and tiresome. So if you're aligned with Geo to a degree, you can kinda feel the same.  : (I'm... I'm...): (Doesn't it sound like a ton of fun, kid? We can test how much he knows about space!)At least Mega seems like he's on board.   That's it for the day, though. Pretty quick, all things considered. Next time: A field trip that definitely won't go wrong. GeneralYeti fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Sep 19, 2021 |
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Aug 4, 2019 22:52
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I don't know if a can of juice is exactly extortion. Then again, I don't see why they can't just shake the tree and get the ball to fall down. 
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Aug 5, 2019 00:01
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I really like Mega's linequote:(Doesn't it sound like a ton of fun, kid? We can test how much he knows about space!) he's trying to tie it back to things Geo likes, it's cute
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Aug 5, 2019 01:13
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We're all reading Geo as the introvert who doesn't want to be forced to socialize, but his line about not wanting Boreal to care about him indicates the game intends a different reading. A much edgier and exaggerated reading, of course, since this is anime. Blueberry Pancakes posted:I don't know if a can of juice is exactly extortion. That never works on bigger trees. 
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Aug 5, 2019 02:00
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I actually prefer Red Joker from every perspective. I mean canonically you blow your enemies up with nuclear fire!
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Aug 5, 2019 02:11
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SSNeoman posted:I actually prefer Red Joker from every perspective. I mean canonically you blow your enemies up with nuclear fire! I prefer to trap my foes in a black hole and then cut the black hole in half. Also, while this is only slightly reflected in-game, Black Ace can fly freely, Red Joker is limited to wave roads.
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Aug 5, 2019 05:21
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Yeah, I do like the wings. The other thing is that Black Ace's folder is worse than Red Joker's in pretty much every way.
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Aug 5, 2019 18:08
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This guy needs a hug. He's so anxious and sad!
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Aug 5, 2019 18:34
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SSNeoman posted:Yeah, I do like the wings. I will concede that joker has better meteor folders and also is generally mechanically better in game because of superarmor and status guard and stuff, I just think Black Ace is subjectively cooler and kind of makes more sense story-wise. The Golux fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Aug 6, 2019 |
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Aug 6, 2019 01:41
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Hey, who wants to go replay MMBN 6? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgvvgmftNc4
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Aug 10, 2019 15:34
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Solumin posted:Hey, who wants to go replay MMBN 6? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgvvgmftNc4 but why
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Aug 10, 2019 21:02
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Solumin posted:Hey, who wants to go replay MMBN 6? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgvvgmftNc4 I like that they made a character portrait too.
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Aug 10, 2019 21:27
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Clearly, megaman dabtle network.
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Aug 11, 2019 00:34
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Solumin posted:Hey, who wants to go replay MMBN 6? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgvvgmftNc4
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Aug 11, 2019 01:11
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Fiction is never stupider than reality.
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Aug 15, 2019 06:36
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Tunicate posted:Fiction is never stupider than reality.
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Aug 15, 2019 10:36
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There was a tweet a few years back suggesting adding internet access to the country's nuclear arsenal. BN3 was ahead of its time.
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Aug 15, 2019 10:38
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Tunicate posted:Fiction is never stupider than reality. Match! 
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Aug 15, 2019 12:56
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Tunicate posted:Fiction is never stupider than reality. yet
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Aug 15, 2019 18:51
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Zereth posted:at least they aren't turning into flamethrowers somehow Feature request...
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Aug 15, 2019 20:09
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Tunicate posted:Fiction is never stupider than reality. Hey, at least this'll be the perfect defense for when someone uses a fridge to drop the global temperature to -100 
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Aug 15, 2019 22:50
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Remember to have a super soaker on hands at all times to deal with the inevitable oven flamethrowers, folks. It's dangerous to be unprepared.
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Aug 16, 2019 01:34
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It's just a matter of time before the Government starts holding back earthquakes and hurricanes.
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Aug 18, 2019 04:05
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Part 6: Discount NASA I wonder what horrible awful thing will happen now. Your gameplay?  Oh, it's just this dork.    Aaron saunters up. You can tell it's late at night because there's no music playing.  : Y-Yes...: Really into your work, huh? Good for you! By the way, you came up with a name for that flying pack you are developing, right? Um, what did you call it again?: ......It's called the FlapPack.It's like pulling teeth with this guy.    Tom absolutely refuses to say anything at all. We've all known that guy, and Tom puts him to shame. gently caress you, Tom.     Aaron please stop helping. You aren't. I do know an "Aaron". Always a busybody. Trying to make everyone else their own definition of perfect.    Again, multiple times we've been told BrotherBands are super important and you shouldn't rush into them. How long has Boreal even known Tom, anyway? "add fren plz" Maybe the company encourages this for other reasons.  : Wh-Why would you suddenly...?: Ah, don't be so shocked, please! The idea just popped into my head. We've known each other for a long time, but we never really talk outside of work, so, well...: Is... Is... Is that an order from a superior?Seriously, that's a good question. There's a reason why you shouldn't get too close to your boss at work. Outside work they might be the nicest person, but at work they're still your boss and the power disparity is still a thing.  : Ha ha ha ha! No, no, no. Please don't take it the wrong way. I just want to get to know you better.: Get to know me better...Then talk! Go drink outside work! Become Facebook friends, not this weird "you can only have six" version of it. File a complaint with HR.   : I treasure making friends with people more than any successes I may have at work.: ......: Ha ha ha. I probably spoke too frankly, huh? : (Maybe he won't betray me...) I don't mind... ...forming a BrotherBand.: Oh! Really!? Then we can form one right away! I'll warn you, my secret packs quite a punch!What could his Secret even be? "My best friend got lost in space"? Everyone knows that.    It took them a few hours to chat about their secret? I saw that entry field, there are more characters in a tweet than there are in that thing.  : (But... I still feel uneasy... What if he betrays me... Just what if? It'd be like that time all over again...)Ooh, backstory.   : You're in pain, aren't you?: !!? Wh-Who's there!? Hmm. A portrait-less text box and a flash of white. This bodes well.  What a surprise, it's an EW alien. Bull, and now bird. Do I need to take off with different puns now, Yeti?  : A-Aaaaah!! : Don't be afraid. I understand how you feel. Heh heh heh...: Wh-Who are you!? : You can't trust deeply in others. Because of this, your heart aches severely.: ...!: And the source is something in your past... Am I correct?Look at this smooth-talking gently caress. I can just imagine his voice in my head, all oily and slick. Like a salesman who really wants to sell you something he knows is bullshit. Oh look, it's Giver's bird.  : I had a horrible experience... All because I believed in someone... B-But how did you know?: Like I said, I understand you. Come, tell me about this horrible event. And unsurprisingly, Tom falls for this fake friend bullshit hook line and sinker, immediately spilling his guts to the weird bizarro bird thing that appeared out of nowhere. At least Bud had the excuse of being kinda stupid.  : Among my peers, I was named the best engineer. Within a few years, I had brought a number of major projects to success.: Did you enjoy your work?: Um, well, I guess. But...: But?Either way, the backstory is taking place in the monochrome Flashback Zone, depicted here by a pure black background. What a visual treat. Mega Man games are generally low budget with a small development window.   : Ever since I was young, I loved to study, and... as an adult, my research was my life. S-So... Well...  Things really aren't going well for slightly younger Tom, huh. : You didn't know how to befriend other people?: Y-Yes, exactly. I didn't have anyone I could call a friend.: How sad and lonely you must have been.: But one person did reach out to me. : He was my boss at the time. He said... "We can be good friends, you and me," but... that wasn't all... He asked me to form a BrotherBand with him.: You were really happy, weren't you?: Yes! Of course! I-It was my first BrotherBand ever! B-But it was all just an illusion. : the thing I was working on was leaked and it spread throughout the world. I was shocked. The prototype was exactly the same as mine.: You mean your idea was stolen?: ...Yes. And it wasn't a stranger who leaked it... : That's right, it was my boss - my Brother. You share info back and forth through a BrotherBand, and to be honest, I was tempted to take a few of his research ideas too...: He almost certainly got close to you... to steal your ideas, didn't he? You were number 1, and that's why he wanted them.Seriously, didn't he get his ideas registered at all? Isn't that a thing that you do once you have a prototype? Ahahahahahaha. Tough break, Tom. But opportunistic capitalism still exists in 22xx. A peaceful utopia? I think not.  : I was going to develop everything by myself. And I put even more distance between me and everyone else. I was never going to be duped again. Basically, Tom was very lonely and then someone took advantage of that to steal his ideas. From there, he became even more paranoid (hence his last name) and probably developed some kind of complex about trusting others.  : ......: Betrayal is the essence of society. That is why no one is to be trusted. The wisest thing is to look upon everything with distrust.: Betrayal... is the essence of society...Sure, we got more information out of this flashback sequence here, but I honestly prefer how they handled Bud more. He didn't immediately come off as a trusting idiot despite specifically noting how he can't trust anyone (seriously, who spills their life story to a bird at short notice), and more importantly it left most of the details up to the reader to interpret. I have to agree with the spilling your guts bit. It would be better if the bird had already known of Tom's past. Perhaps he listened in earlier. And that mystery could propel us going forward into the next few scenes.   Putting that aside, since I'm sure nothing important will come of it, Geo is finally awake. Mornings must suck for him, huh.  : I have to take a bus to get to Mr. Boreal's lab. *sigh* I totally don't want to go.: Hey, Geo!: What?: If you feel that way about it, why not cancel?: But...    The game is, all things considered, pretty good at handling Geo's mindset right here. Geo doesn't want to go, but Boreal already went to the trouble of inviting him and setting things up.    At least Mega is still pretty consistent about what he wants to do. He just wants to see cool stuff.  Anyway! New day, new things to explore. I hope you run into an SP boss and die.  The truck has also been moved over here, if we ever want to go back again. But, most importantly everyone in town has new dialogue. Since a lot of it isn't very relevant any of the time, I'll be showing the new NPC dialogue only if they've got something important to say.   : ...seems to be a big surfer... The store's not open 'cause he's at the beach.Like this. Hopefully the shop will be open soon. Hooray for only one piece of relevant dialogue!   Anyway, RPG obligations out of the way, let's head to AMAKEN.  *honk honk*   : So THIS is a bus!: Please don't cause a scene on the bus!: Alright, I got it! I got it! Come on, let's go!!: *sigh* I wonder sometimes...I kinda hope Mega punches out some old lady on the bus because she mentioned listening to FM radio or something. Yeti, that is a fantastic mental image.    ...Hm. I wonder how this is going to work out. loving politicians always begging for donations.  We've made it to area two! This game opens up a lot slower than the Battle Network games. You could make the argument that this reflects Geo's own growth as he slowly learns to make connections and bond with others, but personally I just think they wanted to keep the difficulty curve a little bit tighter.    Neat, we've had a look around, let's head back.  Dang.  Mega won't even let us leave without talking to Boreal. There's no escaping the cutscenes, unfortunately.   : ...Hi.: This is my research lab, the Aerospace and Modern Astronomy Knowledge Expansion Nexus. Or just "AMAKEN" to keep it short.That's a little bit over the top. You know he came up with AMAKEN first and then came up with something to make it fit.  : ...good equipment here. People hear that the general public can study here, too, so we've got a good name going for ourselves.: Wow...: Ready for a tour?Geo is thoroughly uninterested, but to his credit Aaron isn't letting it get him down. I know Geo is a recluse and all, bit I'm surprised he wouldn't know about this tidbit. Especially with what the acronym implies.   What? But the sign just said no buses were coming soon! You can't trust the buses, Yeti! They lie!  : That's 'cause today's a holiday. I asked for a few more buses than usual because there'll be more people coming today.: Ha ha. My lab is pretty popular as of late.: ...Huh?At least the game explains why there's another bus coming - it's a holiday, so Boreal asked for more buses, but they didn't update the schedule because it's for one day only.  Yep. They're here.   : Did you come here to do some studying, too?: What are you doing here...? : We're following you...: B-Bud!Ah, the traditional 'Idiot accidentally gives away the plan' joke. Hilarious.  : ...this lab is open to the public, right? So it's not odd at all that we are here!!: ......  Oh, I'm sure nothing weird will happen. At all. Nonsense.  No. ...Well, Bud's okay, but other than that, no.   : What's this, what's this!? You do have friends after all! I'm happy for you! : I'm the head of this lab. You guys came at just the right time! I'll give you guys a tour all together! Look alive now! It's more fun that way!He's really excited to show off his lab to people, I guess. Luna's probably happy with this right now too.     : ...*sigh*... Why won't everyone just leave me alone?: Heh heh. You're too popular for your own good!I'm not sure I'd call this popularity, but sure.  Then what's the point...? To make you whine about it on a dead forum of course.  Hope the owner didn't get heat stroke... It's frighteningly easy to lose your hat somewhere. Just set it down and then walk away because you don't normally wear one.  A quick glance at the wave road shows us yeah, this place is already way more complex than our home town.  It's appropriate for a place that studies space.  ...is really a modified rocket that was once actually shot up into space. Wait, they managed to retrieve a rocket? And nobody minded that they just turned it into a signal tower? Sure, I guess.   : ...top at all! That is so cool!At least someone's excited. Hey kid, wanna ride the thing? I'll push you off. It'll be fun!  ...from space? I'm confused by this flavor text since it doesn't seem to line up with the rest of them. Maybe the intern wrote this one. Yeah, uh... Yeti did you cut out a box or two...? That seems really weird.  : Hmm?: I created this special radio tower to search for your father.: To search for my dad!?: This tower is sending a signal out into space. I keep hoping Kelvin will pick it up, wherever he may be.: C-Can you find him?: It might take a while, but I'm not giving up! One day, I'm going to have some good news for you and your mother! You wait and see! It's not what Geo wanted to hear. He wanted to hear news right now and this is just empty promises. If anything, Mega is more useful than Boreal right now, because Mega was the last person to talk to him.   We actually have to have this conversation with Boreal before he'll let us move on.    : It is my duty to detect and decipher any incoming signals from space. *Beep whoo* Further down the line, we have this guy. What's your story, guy?  : If I don't take care of all the machines for the tour groups carefully, it'll be a mess! Fair enough, he's a janitor. Now, take a look at this out-of-the-way square...  Finally, a wave hole! But we'll finish off the Real World first. No, you pulse in, now, drat it.  So typical of a place like this. Oops, better not say that out loud... Don't be judgy, Geo. You have stars and moons on your blanket. Go pulse in.   : I feel like I could get lost in here!That's the last person to talk to. Anything interesting to add, Mega?  : Let's go inside!So, no.  Good. Finally. Finally. That's one of my gripes with the game; Battle Network let you get into small places just running around in the real world, while this game made them very distinctly separate. So, the interesting and fun stuff is exactly opposite of the run around and talk to people stuff.   : Hmm? Never seen you before. This is AMAKEN's wave, and I deliver data from the next town over! This whole bit is completely separate from the main part of AMAKEN's wave road. The background is entirely blue sky, and there's nothing to see...   : I'M THE MR. HERTZ IN CHAGE OF TRANSPORTING THIS LAB'S DATA FILES. AH, BUT I'M SO CURIOUS! I WONDER WHAT'S IN THESE TOP SECRET DOCS? I'M SO CURIOUS I CAN'T MOVE!! *BEEP BEEP*Mr. Hertz no those are classified, you'll get in trouble if you read them... Read them and get loving deleted. Just to make Yeti sad.  With a new overworld area comes new viruses. ZapAce are pretty simple, they just wander back and forth and then unleash a homing electric ball. They're almost identical to old viruses from Battle Network 1. Counter timing is as they pull their pincer claw things back to generate the electricity, but before it comes out. Peekaboo look like the Spooky viruses from the BN games, but they're not. After going back and forth their row for a bit, they'll stop and unleash a slow-moving projectile that confuses (reverses controls) if it damages you. Counter timing is as their hands are moving away from their face but before they shout. Just be sure to block stuff if you don't dodge it, and they're no problem. Time to increment the "BN reuse" count. Things like this don't really help as I keep saying.   >not S-ranks. BOI Their chips. I'll show them off in a little bit!  Anyway, stepping through the portal puts us over the center of AMAKEN Grd. Ground? Grid? Probably Ground.    So, her name is Chatty Ditz, and she really likes email, and her favorite cards are weird lightning bug things. Cool. We're not seeing her Message right now because she has a quest for us.  The main road splits in two immediately after the teleporter. We'll explore the north path first. (For some reason top-right parses as north in my brain. I don't know why. But I'll probably use the two interchangably)  : I'M AFRAID OF HEIGHTS, BUT... I'M IN CHARGE OF KEEPING THIS TOWER FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE COUNTING ON ME! EVEN SO, I'M STILL SCARED... *BEEP BEEP*It's okay friend, you don't have to be scared. gently caress him.  Garbage! Trash! Now you know how I feel. NOW YOU KNOW.  At least this place has the other new enemy in here. The Wibbledee hops up and down the column a few times, then turns red. The next time it lands, it unleashes a three-column wide wave that's blockable. They're usually on the edge of the screen, so block or dodge. Their counter timing is when they're red, before they land on the ground.  Their chip is WideWave1. Does someone need to go back to S-ranking school? Hey unlike you I play games where I don't NEED to S-rank things to get the reward.    There's also another vendor out here with more HPMem. I pick up one, which is all I can afford. You should have gotten the chain bubble. That's a goood card and useful on TaurusFire SP. Yeti pls.    Oh, huh. His name actually is Guy. Neat. We won't be seeing his message either, he has a quest.  : LEFT SIDE, ALL CLEAR! *BEEP BEEP!?* YOU THERE! STATE YOUR NAME AND BUSINESS HERE! HUH? YOU'RE NOT A WAVE? YOU'RE A HUMAN? HMM... I'M SUPPOSED TO REMOVE ALL UNAUTHORIZED WAVES, BUT I DON'T KNOW ABOUT HUMANS... HMM...Keep up the good work, Mr. Hertz!  At this angle, we can just barely see Boreal's Transer.   : I'll never forget the day of the accident. One day I WILL find my friend Kelvin!!His favorite cards are cannons and missiles, unsurprisingly. Maybe NAZA was also a weapon development center?   Further down the east path, it starts zig-zagging. Hey, it looks nice to me. Plus SrchEye will come in handy when we're trying to track down TaurusFireSP at the end of this chapter.    We can also talk to this old lady, but she's got a quest so no Message yet.  The path splits in two after Millie, so let's head down the north path first.  Ah, that's what I was waiting for. This is the fourth card that I found out here, so I'll go over them.     JetAttack1 is pretty powerful and grants invulnerability frames during the dash, but has a slow startup. So, difficult to time but worth it. ThndrBall1 uses the attack. Useful for the tracking purposes and paralyze, nearly impossible to deliberately counter with. GhstPulse1 sends out a wave of sound in a T shape. Think Widesword stapled onto a Longsword. This one is pretty good, plus it gets a free confuse off if it doesn't kill. WideWave1 just sends out a wave. The water element is welcome for the future rematch against Taurus, and it can hit multiple enemies if they're all on the same row. BubbleChain1 --> Thunderball1 Yeti messing up. The only thing messed up here is your personality you little goblin.   There's nothing further this way, unfortunately.   Worthless! Disgusting! I hate it!! Would you like form a BrotherBand to share our disgust for poo poo money drops.  : YES, I CAN HEAR YOU! *BEEP BEEP*: THE ANSWER TO THAT LAST ONE IS "A"!: ROGER THAT! WHAT ABOUT THE NEXT QUESTION?: ...HUH? WHAT AM I DOING? I'M SENDING MY FRIEND THE ANSWERS TO A TV QUIZ SHOW VIA THIS TWO WAY LINK.: OK, NOW HERE'S THE QUESTION!: OK, I'M LISTENING! *BEEP BEEP*Look at this Mr. Hertz being a good friend  He's loving cheating!  This is at the end of the southern path. Finally, something good! That'll be it for this update since it's starting to run a little long. We'll check out the inside of AMAKEN next time. Better get BubbleChain1 better get deez nuts you clown GeneralYeti fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Sep 19, 2021 |
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Aug 18, 2019 21:41
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The reason for AMAKEN's incredibly weird name is because the translators got kind of clever on this one. AMAKEN is the same in both languages, but in Japanese, it stands for Amachi Kenkyūjo, that is, Amachi Laboratory, as it's headed by Amachi Mamoru. Of course, Amachi is Boreal in the English version, but they likely thought it'd be less effort to make up an acronym than to redraw the AMAKEN signs.
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Aug 18, 2019 23:27
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"Oh so you do have friends" is an incredibly cold line, Boreal.
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Aug 19, 2019 00:30
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Aaron's secret is that his role in the games is diminished HARD after this one. I know it's not intentional, but I don't remember Aaron coming across so dickish when I played this game years ago.
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Aug 19, 2019 00:41
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I'm the kind of player who does sidequests as they become available. Because of that, there's one npc in this area whose normal dialogue during an upcoming event I've never seen - because completing the sidequest before the next boss is impossible (or perhaps just looks impossible).
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Aug 19, 2019 01:11
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Blueberry Pancakes posted:Aaron's secret is that his role in the games is diminished HARD after this one. I think the LP format makes everything stand out more. You see every line of dialog, can go back and pull at it and you've got commentators talking about it. Where as if you're just playing yourself and maybe talking about or thinking after the fact you just hit the highlights or general character beats. Tom dumping his whole life story to a bird he just met is ridiculous but you can just kind of push it aside when you're playing and nothing too hard about it. Boreal is pretty pushy but when you're playing you just get he's a jovial family friend trying to help his best friend's son. At least that's how it is with me and LPs
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Aug 19, 2019 03:05
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I will admit, "Betrayal is the essence of society" stuck out in my mind when I read it.
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Aug 19, 2019 03:43
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When I played this for the first time I kept misreading AMAKEN as AWAKEN even after I saw what the acronym stood for. I still do it on occasion to this day. 
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Aug 20, 2019 19:04
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Girl you must be AMAKEN, because amaken me crazy
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Aug 21, 2019 14:24
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GeneralYeti posted:Finally. Finally. That's one of my gripes with the game; Battle Network let you get into small places just running around in the real world, while this game made them very distinctly separate. So, the interesting and fun stuff is exactly opposite of the run around and talk to people stuff. I think this is why Star Force 3 had the Noise Wave Comps, they gave something a little more material then little HPMems and cards to find for digging around while you walk and talk
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Aug 24, 2019 08:40
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