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The Flying Twybil posted:I went looking for answers of some regard, and the only thing I can find that offer some explanation is that Gonzo was derived from former employees of Gainax. Even with my limited knowledge and understanding of this stuff, I know the name for its typical infamy. Given Gonzo already has a reputation for "experimentation", as you put it, I figure that's not a surprise (and I suppose most people probably already knew this anyways). I talked a little bit about Gonzo in the first Anime update. They have put out good things in the past, but they've also put out garbage in roughly equal measure. The studio is also notorious for the financial problems they've been having ever since the company was formed. There's also been talk about shady business practices and iffy bookkeeping. Even still, they have managed to survive for a long time. I guess the thought process from Spike was that they didn't particularly care how good or bad the anime adaption was, as long as it marketed the fact that the remake would be coming out in a few months. Gonzo was probably cheap, so they threw it off to them. If Gonzo produced crap, then whatever, but if they somehow found their magic and managed to crank out another Full Metal Panic or Seven Samurai, then that's an unexpected win for SC. Personally, my only theory for this (outside of Spike Chunsoft being Spike Chunsoft) is that Spike let Gonzo go insane in the hopes that the anime would come to the attention of more people through little clips or screenshots being posted online. Not so much that SC wanted people to see the anime, more that they just wanted the name to be out there. Kind of a "any publicity is good publicity" mindset. But anyway, there's little point in trying to rationalize the thinking going on here. We've already seen from the game that Spike Chunsoft was drunk or half asleep or something during the production of Conception (Plus or Original). I already have a sheet full of questions that I would want to ask the guy in charge if ever given the opportunity. Trying to include Gonzo in that is just foolhardy. I will say that, according to production credits, just about every episode after 1 and 2 seemed to have a different director, scripter, and storyboarder. This is probably standard practice for anime (I haven't watched much in ages, so I don't know if this is how it normally is), but it probably explains a bit about the patchwork nature of the show. Ibblebibble posted:FWIW Studio Trigger is also derived from former Gainax crew and I don't think they've stooped to Gonzo's level so it's all relative Yeah, we can't crucify Gainax by painting them as the "root of all evil". Plenty of former Gainax employees have gone on to do their own thing that hasn't been batshit insane like Gonzo. I think I saw Studio Trigger mentioned somewhere in the credits for this show, actually. Although there is no mention of them in online production credits. If they were involved, I'd say it was probably only for the opening animation. They've done anime openings for other stuff too. I doubt they had any significant hand in the actual show. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In Update news, I'll probably be working on the next update at some point today (there's certainly not much else for me to do). I haven't decided what I'm going to do for the Final Side Event thing or the dungeon. Part of me wants to include part 1 of the side event thing in with the dungeon update (since it sure as hell won't fill an update by itself), but that screws up the order/titling. I might look into doing some generic events for other Maidens as a way to fill dungeon time. If anyone wants to throw their two cents in then I'm open to it. Not sure how many Maidens I could fit into an update as far as generic events go, but I could always fall back on Focus Poll order. Or I could show off generic events for the Bottom 7 Maidens instead. Or we could just blitz the dungeon and go straight into the Final Side Events. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 13:21 on Mar 30, 2020 |
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Mar 30, 2020 13:11
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Mar 30, 2020 20:33
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Update XVII: Once I ran to you; Now I'll run from you Song Title Reference: Tainted Love - By: Gloria Jones (I prefer the Marilyn Manson cover, personally) Okay, so I’m fine now. I’m completely okay. I took a… we’ll call it “minor” issue with the last batch of anime episodes. The Arie thing? I’ve moved past that. Maybe there is some minor detail buried in a generic event or her ending or single line of dialogue that was changed in translation that depicts her exactly like how the anime did. I don't buy it, but I’m willing to concede the possibility. Even if it were true, it wouldn't change the fact that the anime characters are grossly warped versions of who they are in the game, but whatever. Besides, characters are always open to personal interpretation, however wrong those interpretations might be. The Femiruna thing? …Well, I haven’t moved on from that yet. No interpretation can make that half of Episode 6 less of a trash fire. But at the very least I will cease to talk about it in the hopes that it will fade from everyone’s memory and eventually from reality itself, like some kind of Persona 5 metaverse thing. Does that mean I’ve regained the will to continue with the rest of the anime?  …We’ll see what happens. Let’s just leave it at that. We’re going to Sagittarius this time, in order to cap off the Autumn Labyrinth.  There’s not much to say about the design here. It looks like Sue, with the black and white squares similar to what she has on her coat. There doesn’t appear to be any reference at all to animals or anything like that, though. Mahiru’s dungeon really set the bar high (for this game anyway), and it’s disappointingly clear that we’ll never come close to that for any of these other dungeons.  It’s also becoming clear that there won’t be any cool or powerful weapons in the rest of these dungeons. Poisonne+ is outdated.  Extremely outdated (everything listed below Poisonne+ is more powerful, and there are 3 or 4 weapons listed after “Mighty Claws”). I think we’re not going to be seeing much in the way of new weapons or armor until we reach Ophiuchus. Starting to get the feeling that all the good poo poo is locked away in a separate loot table over in that dungeon.  That said, I do manage to get my hands on two incredibly small upgrades to existing weapons, courtesy of the Item Shrines. Raitzeno gets a slightly stronger version of Calamity.  And the magic casters get a new wand, which is possibly a “joke” weapon. Hard to tell.  It is slightly stronger than the Planet Rod series of weapons, but the trade off is a big loss of DEF and also Light element attack. That’s not really worth it in my opinion.  Nothing else happens in the dungeon, other than me getting attacked by trap monsters 50% of the time I tried opening a treasure chest. Let’s just hit the boss.  A centaur… probably should have expected that. Oh well, he’s Fire element, so it shouldn’t be that bad. Itsuki is still rocking the Water Element sword after all. Mana tells us that it has a variety of attacks and that we should watch out for its rear legs. Neither of those things will be true or relevant.  Tentatores has a Crater (Earth) and a Crater (Fire) with it, as is standard for a boss. In terms of personal stats, Tentatores has a scary amount of ATK and decent speed. It does have a magic attack, but I wouldn’t bank on it using said attack since its MAT is so low.  I immediately move to set up a Chain Drive, but Tentatores is fast enough to beat out Team A(wful) and Team C for first turn. Team A(wful) eats a ton of damage, but manages to hold on.  Team C gets the Chain Drive, which gives me a quick moment to fully heal Team A(wful).  Team C gets their next turn and heads off to take out Crater F. I have Itsuki take a swing at Tentatores since he has elemental advantage in this fight. 7k isn’t bad, although it’s only a dent in the boss’ HP.   Team A(wful) gets the hell out of the danger zone and goes off to take out Crater E. Team B swaps in to hit for max damage with Arrow Fusillade.  Tentatores responds in a bad way. Raitzeno and Twybil go down, but Neoman and Polsy are still standing. However, Tentatores is going to be stuck to Team B for the rest of the fight. Despite the fact that Itsuki is standing directly behind him, Tentatores will make no effort to take a swing or kick him or whatever it is that Mana was trying to warn us about. Because Tentatores appears to only have single target attacks, the rest of this fight devolves into healing Team B while everyone else takes pot-shots. Fights like these aren’t hard, but they can easily go south very quickly if the boss is even a little faster than you. All the good healing spells and items have a fairly hefty delay time, while the boss mostly sticks to quick recovery standard attacks. Granted, at this stage of the game, your item stocks should be maxed out and you can easily afford to just dowse everyone in potions until the stars align in your favour.  At the very least it’s nice to know that the bosses are starting to catch up in terms of threat level. That fight wasn’t quite the floor cleaning that the past two were.  Although the huge amounts of EXP we get from them continues to slow down the narrowing of the gap. We also get 3 Faith Fruit from this fight. I forgot to use them on Itsuki, so I’ll try and remember to do that next time. Pretty sure it will boost his MDF.  Only two more bosses remain. Regular bosses, I mean. There’s still the 13th Phantom to worry about. At some point before then I need to try and clear out the remainder of the quests. I’m not aiming for a 100% Completion run, but it would be nice to know if there are any special quests or bonus bosses to fight. The pain in the rear end will be that some of the remaining quests require me to get my hands on multiple of particular weapons or accessories. So whether or not I can complete them is left up to the whims of the RNG. The best that the game gives you is a general location of which Labyrinth they can be found in.  The shop is also getting dangerously close to parity now. Another dungeon or two and he’ll finally be selling stuff that we’ve had equipped since Labyrinth 7.  So, what do I have to fill the rest of the update with this time? …There are some generic events for the other Star Maidens. I guess we could take a look at some of those. Thankfully this should be one of the last times that I need to fill out a dungeon update. There’s main story content to get back to after the next dungeon is cleared. Then we’re on our way to the end game. For now, let’s see some generic events. In particular, I want to do some of the generics where the Star Maidens get a little jealous. Several of them have events like that, although not everyone. ~Star God Academy Field~   I definitely wouldn’t say I “enjoy” going in there. I just have to. You may say that, but you always look so excited. Really? Although, I guess that’s something I can’t really tell. Don’t sulk like that, Femiruna. I am not. I was merely wondering… Your duty or me. Which one is more important?Seems like a really weird thing to get jealous of. Also, that’s not much of a choice. One is sort of tied to the other. Obviously both of those are important. Huh…? …Why is that so surprising? You always push me aside to tend to it…Because you and everyone else in this world will die if he doesn’t. Is that part slipping your mind? Do you really think that way about me? No, that is not true… I already knew. But I wanted to ask you anyway. I apologize for asking such a strange question.Ah, it was one of those trick questions. “I believe in you and trust you with all my heart… but I want to make sure, you know?” I want to be your number one… You are currently trailing 1st Place by… 18 votes, I think. …Would you settle for being number one in the bonus “Alternate Timeline” update where I show off your ending? Because I think that’s a more realistic goal at this point. It pains me to see that you have other things on your mind… Femiruna… I care not if it is a lie. Please just tell me that I am most important to you.Non-binding commitment? Now that, we can do. Unfortunately the event ends there, so Itsuki doesn’t even give her that. Harsh. ~Star God Academy Field~  Yesterday? Hmm… I think I dropped by the Day Care at one point… Were you at the tavern?Yesterday? No. Today? Definitely. I don’t really remember. Why? I was out shopping in town yesterday. Gonna have to be a bit more specific than that, Arie. There’s like 12 beautiful women besides you that Itsuki spends time with, you know. Really? I only saw you from afar, but you were arm-in-arm and looked to be very close. Then you two went into the tavern together. Listen, if Itsuki had wandered into the tavern with some strange beautiful woman, I’m sure Farun would have had that information spread throughout the Star Maidens long before sundown. Farun seems like a bit of a gossiper, if that event with Reone was anything to go by. You were definitely mistaken, Arie. I wasn’t mistaken. I truly believe that was you. You believe it, or you know it? It sounds like you didn’t actually see me. You sure? To be fair, Itsuki looks pretty generic. Well, other than his outfit… maybe? Is it only the academy students that wear blazers and pants? Do regular village people dress like at all, or do they all wear insane fantasy clothing like Narcisstes and the shopkeep? Or… maybe… You must have mistook someone else for me. I would have remembered walking arm-in-arm with some beautiful woman just yesterday. No, I’m sure it was you… Just imagining you walking with some other woman makes my heart hurt… It seems I wasn’t looking too carefully. I’m sorry… It’s all right. I’m just glad that you believe in me enough to admit when you are wrong. Just imagining you walking with another woman makes me… Please, Itsuki. Please come talk to me more, even if it’s only from time to time. Please don’t go to anyone else… I understand, Arie. I’ll try and stop by more often.I should point out that none of these “jealous” events will stand in the way of Itsuki pulling off a harem ending. Arie being jealous of other women monopolizing Itsuki’s time? Eh, she’ll be fine with it when it’s a woman she’s friends with… and there are 12 of them. Femiruna wanting to be number 1? She’ll be happy to settle for “13-way tie for number one”. Harem endings are stupid. ~Star God Academy Hallway~  Unlike Arie, Ruka has a specific person in mind as the target of her jealousy. Yeah, that’s right. So… how are you two? …What do you mean? I’m not sure what you’re getting at. I-I’m asking if you like her. Well, yeah. I like her. She’s family. Right, you did say you were cousins as well. I see… Family… If you’re cousins, that means you’re related by blood in some way. Ruka knows what’s up. Did you just say “relief”? Why would that be relieving? I-I was just talking to myself. You don’t need to worry about it.You can just tell that in Ruka’s mind, she’s fist-pumping right now. Okay. Well, what’s with the sudden interest in Mahiru? Uhh… O-Oh, I mean… Um… Mahiru is a God’s Gift so I can’t read her mind. That’s why I was curious about her. Th-That’s really all there is to it. I’m a God’s Gift too. Aren’t you also interested in me? Th-That’s why I was asking… Jerk. You’re mumbling again. Did you just say “jerk”? I’m going home.*And Ruka books it* What just happened…?~Star God Academy Hallway~  I… wait, did we promise to meet there yesterday? No, but… I wanted you stop by.He’s not a mind reader, Mirei. Also, you guys have communication devices or something. Shoot a text, gurl. Whenever you don’t, an inexplicable emotion overtakes me. It pains my heart and I become unable to focus on my research. Well, I can promise to stop by as much as possible. …Really? Yeah. It can’t be every day, though. I have a lot on my plate. That’s more than enough. Thank you, Itsuki. I’ve never done so before.…Are we forgetting about the “cut off a piece of your skin” thing from way back? Although I guess Mirei wouldn’t consider that a strange request. But I’ve calmed down now that I’ve spoken with you. Come to my lab later. See you then.~Star God Academy Field~  Hn… Is something on your mind, Tarua? You look so cool, Itsuki. The best answer is sometimes blatantly obvious. So long as you like me, that’s all I need. Wh-What? What’s that supposed to mean? It means exactly what it sounds like. As long as you like me, then that’s all I need. Why are you getting mad? Anyway, you’re super good looking, so don’t let your guard down. Girls are always chasing after you.You’d be… wait, no, there was that one time in Mahiru’s route where a girl literally chased after him. I guess she is right. I don’t know about that. It is! I know it is! You’ll get jumped on when you walk around town! Well, if that does happen, then I guess I’ll be relying on you to save me. You can count on me! I’ll protect you, Itsuki. You’re a bit late on the “bedroom eyes” look, Tarua. Then again, you’re the most childlike character here, so that’s a good thing. I can’t protect you if you don’t. It’s a promise!Lillith/Lillie, Farun, Yuzuha, and Collette don’t really have a “jealousy” generic event. So let’s just wrap things up with Mahiru, Sue, and Reone.  Mahiru’s is a different kind of jealousy, though. Namely it’s Itsuki that’s a little worried about competition. ~Star God Academy Classroom~ I don’t see her anywhere. I wonder where she went?Yup, that’s all there was to that scene. I told you, Mahiru’s events have a lot of these pointless scenes of Itsuki standing around in an empty room, speaking one line, then leaving for a different location where Mahiru actually is. ~Star God Academy Field~ Oh, there she is. …Wait, is that Narcisstes with her?*The screen fades to black for a moment so that Mahiru’s model can be loaded in*  Oh, you came at the right time. Take a look at this. …You mean the grass you’re holding? Is something wrong with it? Oh poo poo, was Mahiru scoring some weed off of Narc? I went to gather them in the forest for my extracurriculars.Never mind. What am I thinking? Mahiru’s the school idol. She’s too much of a square. You were doing extracurricular stuff? Then where is everyone else? I only see Narcisstes. Oh. So you just went with Narcisstes by yourself? That’s right. … … What? For Mr. Narcisstes and me. Well, yeah. You told me it was an extracurricular thing. But you just suspected it was a date, didn’t you?She’s got you there. You trailed off into silence, you know drat well that you were thinking about that possibility. No! Although, you’re getting really defensive about it, so that’s making me suspicious… It just so happened that everyone else was busy! Besides, there’s no point in deepening my bond with Mr. Narcisstes.Not really sure what that has to do anything. Just because there’s “no point” doesn’t mean that you don’t want to. Don’t get so worked up. I was just messing around with you. Anyway, what kind of herbs did you get? Well, um… We’re good. I’ve got a warehouse full of potions and stuff for that. Also most of the Star Children have full heal spells. You picked these up for me? It’s not good if you get hurt, so you should at least be prepared. Thanks, Mahiru. Sorry for doubting you. You’re welcome… ~Star God Academy Classroom~  Oh, did you need me for something? No, I just wanted to talk with you. Don’t make me say that every time. It’s embarrassing… It feels like I’m the only one who wants to talk. Not like you to get embarrassed so easily. No heroine can resist the corruption of the male protagonist. Unless there’s an evil route/bad end. Whew… Whatever. While we’re at it, you can ask me anything. It’s kind of hard to think of something when you put me on the spot like this… Don’t you have at least one thing you want to ask that you normally can’t? I won’t let you go until you ask me something today.…Is that a temporary tattoo? Because we noticed that it disappeared when you put your swimsuit on so I was kind of wondering— Well… let me see… …We are not asking her Option 3. …Is there anyone you like? There is a younger man that I’m interested in. Dense is being generous, I think. Haha… Do you know who that is? So it’s someone I know, right? Is it Narcisstes? …Although I’m pretty sure he must be older than you. Well… He’s so dense he sometimes irritates me… I’ll definitely ask similar questions from you later. Maybe I should ask about your first love and dating history while I’m at it.Pretty sure Itsuki’s dating history is a clean slate. Am I really supposed to tell you stuff like that? I may get jealous. I’ll be asking you all night when the time comes, so be prepared for that.I kind of feel like that line should have read “I’ll only ask you about your relationships with the Star Maidens.” Maybe that’s just me. ~Star God Academy Field~  Itsuki, hello. Um… I have a question. Is this about animals?…Itsuki, think clearly about what you just said. Sue asked “quiet, happy, or sexy”. No, not animals… I’m talking about human girls… I want to know your preference. What type of girl do you like? This choice may as well be “Are you going for a Sue ending or not?” I think quiet and gentle girls are best. …Really? I’m quiet and gentle. Yeah. I like someone I don’t have to constantly be talking with.Personal opinion? Not a fan of overly quiet people. I’m far from being a chatterbox, but at the same time sitting there in awkward silence all the time would be weird. A conversation needs to be able to happen without petering out every couple of words. Haha… That’s great. If you like quiet girls, then I’m the right fit. You don’t have to be the right “fit”, Sue. You’re cute the way you are. Just be yourself. Of course. If you try and change yourself to fit someone else’s ideal, then you won’t be you anymore. …Thanks. That makes me so happy. You’re the coolest you’ve ever been.I dunno. Didn’t you see that time he defeated a bunch of impurities with a single swing? Weren’t you there for that? It was when Femiruna nearly got herself killed. That moment was pretty badass.  And with that valuable life lesson, we’ll call it quits. Next time: We’ll be going through the Maidens’ unique side events. Sue, Ruka, Mirei, Lillith/Lillie, and Femiruna all have their final CGs during those. So they’ll be the focus of that update. Sue even gets a Yukata! Which she didn’t wear during the Autumn Festival event for some unspecified reason. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 23:59 on Mar 30, 2020 |
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Mar 30, 2020 22:57
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Psycho Knight posted:I talked a little bit about Gonzo in the first Anime update. They have put out good things in the past, but they've also put out garbage in roughly equal measure. The studio is also notorious for the financial problems they've been having ever since the company was formed. There's also been talk about shady business practices and iffy bookkeeping. You know, I could believe that they just handed it to Gonzo with a rather apathetic attitude. The fact that they got Conception's name was out there was enough, and the end product wasn't really that important. I mean, sure they have a chance of making it a hit or else it'll be a flop, something Gonzo's already kind of known for. It's like a really odd safety net that fans could look at and say "oh, it's bad because it was Gonzo," and regardless they got their publicity. Though, perhaps something that convoluted would be giving SC a bit too much credit. I'm just speculating anyhow, and as you said, it's not a path worth going down. Psycho Knight posted:Yeah, we can't crucify Gainax by painting them as the "root of all evil". Plenty of former Gainax employees have gone on to do their own thing that hasn't been batshit insane like Gonzo. I'm not pointing fingers at Gainax specifically, though I suppose in hindsight it does read that way. At the end of the day, whoever did the writing and directing of that atrocious episode is the only one responsible. I'm sure at least a decent bit of the people working under both studios are simply just making what they're told to because they get paid for it, not because it's material they wanted to make. Studio Trigger sounds like just that- it was a job for money and to earn some experience in the field at the time. They've since moved on in a different direction, while I suppose Gonzo kept with it more. As an aside, I knew western animation had a habit of changing writers between episodes, but I didn't know they had done that for this. I should've guessed that given that they most likely didn't have writers with no work scheduled for the next two months that could be put on this non-stop, because I've got a feeling that's a highly unusual occurrence in the media world. They probably just grabbed whoever they could for the week or so. --- Er, anyways. Some comments relevant to the most recent update. This update was okay, though it is kind of...generic, I guess. I'm assuming these only show up at a later bond level given how most of them ended. At least its some form of interaction involving other characters, even if it's rather minor and 2 out of what, 7 events? We've already trod this ground before, but this game really is lacking that in comparison to its sequel. Hm. Yeah, that's about all I can add, aside from stating these dungeon designs aren't cropping up to be that visually interesting. BlazeEmblem posted:Do whatever keeps you away from this anime as long as possible. And yeah, this. At this point, the longer we push that away, the better. The Flying Twybil fucked around with this message at 05:41 on Mar 31, 2020 |
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Mar 31, 2020 05:29
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The Flying Twybil posted:This update was okay, though it is kind of...generic, I guess. I'm assuming these only show up at a later bond level given how most of them ended. At least its some form of interaction involving other characters, even if it's rather minor and 2 out of what, 7 events? We've already trod this ground before, but this game really is lacking that in comparison to its sequel. I did say that these were generic events. These are the events that play when you don't have any more main events to see (either because they are locked or because you've seen all of them). The "jealous" ones do only seem to crop up after you've reached BL5. For each Bond Level you unlock, it appears as though 1 or 2 new generic events also unlock. Some of them are seasonal as well, so it does help make it feel as though different things are happening (you aren't seeing the same generic event 75% of the time). Inter-Maiden interactions are something this game does extremely poorly. With the exception of Mirei (who seems to crop up in multiple routes for some reason), the only other interactions we really get are between Yuzuha/Reone, Lillie/Alfie, and Arie/Ruka. The Arie/Ruka event is actually the only one that comes to mind right now where we really get any suggestion that the Maidens are becoming friends with each other through shared interests. "Ruka and Arie" involves Arie telling Itsuki about how Ruka is a very upstanding person that often helps with the church classes for the children. Arie says that the two of them are good friends and that Ruka sometimes goes shopping with her or helps with the cleaning. This is one of the few hints that we ever get as to the Star Maidens bonding with each other. We're also told that Mirei and Reone are friends, but we don't really get any idea of how long of a history they have with each other or why the two of them are even friends in the first place (they're coworkers, but they don't seem to have any shared interests or hobbies). Conception II was by no means perfect when it came to this, but at least in that game we regularly saw characters like Fuuko/Narika, Feene/Serina, or Chloe/Ellie hanging out together or interacting with each other without Wake's presence. It made them feel a little more like fully fleshed out characters that had their own daily routines. Conception Plus implies that the Star Maidens have their own lives to live, but we aren't really shown that. We know Collette spends her days running a bakery, Reone is a doctor, Arie works with the church, and Ruka helps at the orphanage. But outside of that, we never hear about them hanging out with each other or having friends (outside of the other Star Maidens) or doing things other than their profession. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Apr 1, 2020 |
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Apr 1, 2020 18:30
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Psycho Knight posted:The "jealous" ones do only seem to crop up after you've reached BL5. For each Bond Level you unlock, it appears as though 1 or 2 new generic events also unlock. Some of them are seasonal as well, so it does help make it feel as though different things are happening (you aren't seeing the same generic event 75% of the time). Oh, I did wonder about that, it seemed like you'd be seeing the same ones a whole lot but yeah that would improve it. I was going to poke around for what Reone's lines were in Japanese but finding someone's recording of a generic event triggered after a specific point in the game is pretty hopeless. Sometimes I think I should've bought the PSP game 6 months ago and tried to keep up (I'm partly surprised they haven't scrubbed it from the PSN store actually, I did wonder since they removed the original website), then I could have got all the words I wanted, but alas.
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Apr 1, 2020 21:25
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Polsy posted:Sometimes I think I should've bought the PSP game 6 months ago and tried to keep up (I'm partly surprised they haven't scrubbed it from the PSN store actually, I did wonder since they removed the original website), then I could have got all the words I wanted, but alas. You've done more than enough contributing to this LP. Do not fork out hard-earned cash for this, especially since I'm fairly certain it's $20-$25 on the Japanese PSN. Not to mention the tedious gameplay you would have had to invest in order to unlock everything (my LP save file is already sitting at 40 hours and we're only just now approaching end game). I mean, I'm supportive of Spike Chunsoft because they are one of only a handful of studios that will put out localized niche titles like this, but my support only goes so far. I think I only gave a heads up to people thinking about CII when it was on sale on Steam for $5.
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Apr 1, 2020 21:55
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Special Events V: Final Side Events (Part 1) - Leo, Cancer, and Libra I know I said that main story content is coming after the next dungeon, but we have one last thing to get through before we get the ball rolling on the end game.  At the very bottom of each Maiden’s event list (except Alfie’s), there is a single special event that I’m pretty sure will only unlock once you have maxed the bond gauge (or at the very least cleared out all the main events in their character route). These events also only happen during certain times of the year that differ based on which Star Maiden it is. Arie’s “Star Birthday Vows” can only be triggered in the winter months, for example. Meanwhile, Tarua’s and Ruka’s only trigger during the summer. These events are different for each Maiden (they don’t have a unifying theme like the Autumn Festival, or Starmas).  The other thing is that quite a few of the Star Maidens have their third CG tucked away in these events. Femiruna, Ruka, Mirei, Lillith/Lillie, and Sue all have a CG here. Because there are so many, we’re going to skip detailed accounts of Arie and Farun. We’ll focus just on the Maidens that have a CG and everyone else will just get a summary. ~Star God Academy Field~ There you are, Femiruna. I was wondering if you wanted to go flower viewing with me.All of these events still revolve around the Japan Events (Starmas, Flower Viewing, Beach, and Autumn Festival). Yes! I even obtained this. Aw, she’s studying up on the flowers. Except we’re not going to a mountain. …Although, I guess Sakura trees can be mountainous plants. Correct. It lists many different types of plants and their fruit. I want to see the actual plants I read about in this book. Hmm… It’s pretty detailed. There’s a bunch of sketchy plants in here as well. Off we go, Itsuki.*Femiruna heads out* Hey, Femiruna! Wait up! Hurry, hurry!~Flower-Viewing Spot~  Femiruna? Aren’t we here to view the flowers? You don’t need to take notes on them. Although, I guess as long as your having fun with it.Don’t be a killjoy, Itsuki. At least she’s not getting drunk, like Reone. Let Femiruna study the flowers. Look at these wild strawberries. Commoners love eating these, no?Do rich people not eat them? What, you stick only to grapes or something? I think you’re being a little biased. They look so green and bitter… Maybe I should try one.Green? Yeah, they’re— Wait a second… Femiruna, strawberries are supposed to be red. Hold on— *chomp* That’s probably not the good kind of reaction. Femiruna?! Are you okay?*The screen flashes black for a split second as Femiruna drops like a rock* Femiruna! …No good. She’s out cold. What the hell did she eat? Does the encyclopedia have anything about this…? Mm… Femiruna? Oh, thank god. She’s breathing… Just, hang on a minute. I’m going to look in the encyclopedia and see if I can find what you just ate.*After some quick referencing* Here it is! …An “Honesty Fruit”? What does that mean?It means that I think we’re about to have an entertaining scene.  You’re awake? Are you feeling okay? Darling~ Please be by my side… Uhh… My heart beats so fast when I am near you. You’re acting a little strange, Femiruna…I was kind of expecting something a bit different. Doesn’t really feel much like “honesty”, more like drunkenness. Darling… Do you dislike me? I love you so much, but you always go and see the other girls… Man, remember when Femiruna’s route seemed like it was going to focus on her feelings of alienation and the barrier that her family named posed to her forming friendships/relationships with others? Good times. …What is going on right now? Waaah… Darling… I love you so much… I’m not going to abandon you, Femiruna. I will do anything for you, Darling… Whoa! H-Hey, Femiruna! If you request… I will endure any shameful act you wish to do with me… I’m not going to ask you to do anything like that! *sniff*… Am I not good enough? Will you not be satisfied with me?If this really is an “Honesty Fruit”, then holy crap does Femiruna have some underlying issues that haven’t been addressed in her route. I love you so much… It pains me… That fruit must really be messing with her. What am I supposed to do? You already know what you must do… Darling, you are so coy… Wait, what are you saying? Darling… do you not like me? No! Of course I like you! Then… prove it to me with your actions. What are you getting at…? Prove your feelings for me… with a kiss.That’s all? Shouldn’t be a big deal. Come on, Itsuki. You’ve gotten one from basically every Maiden so far at some point or another. I… Uh… Well… Okay then. Hurry. Simply waiting is vexing me. Darling, hold me by my shoulders… R-Right… Mm… Your hands are so warm. Here I go… … …Femiruna? Zzz… Zzz… …She fell asleep. That much seems fairly obvious, Itsuki. *A little time goes by as we wait for Femiruna to awake from her drug trip*  When did I fall asleep? O-Oh, you know… a while ago. You were really tired out. Why are you acting so strange? I’m not acting strange. What are you talking about? Did you do something to me while I slept? No! Of course I didn’t. Are you sure? I promise. I didn’t do anything to you. Hmm… Well, all right then. I saw so many plants that were in the encyclopedia, so it was a fulfilling day. Sure. But, um… if you find any more, just promise me you won’t eat them before reading about them. Okay? Hm…? I suppose I will keep that advice in mind for now.Based on past actions, you probably won’t. Reckless self-assurance seems to be a thing with you. …Well, I guess she is the Leo Maiden.  Great. More work for me. It’s called “Wardrobe Malfunctions” and there’s a CG, of course I’m going to have to call up TCG for this. ~Star God Academy Classroom~  I don’t think that will do much in this heat. You’re just going to get hot again a few minutes later.This is why I prefer winter over summer. It’s way easier to get warm and stay warm than it is to get cool and stay cool. Oh, so you were here. I know, how about we go to the beach? You probably have nothing better to do anyway.She’s got you there, Itsuki. I mean, you do have better things you could be doing, but we’re specifically dragging our feet on those matters. It’s weird to have you inviting me to do something like that. There’s no meaning behind it. You happened to be here, so you ended up being invited. That’s all. I wish you’d stop doing that. This event happens after the end of your character route, so we all know (Itsuki included) that you’ve got the hots for him. I-It really is just by happenstance. Well, I’m still happy that you invited me. R-Really now… Then I’ll go home first to get ready. Let’s meet up at the beach.It’s beach time! Again! ~Beach~  How can you take even longer than a girl to get ready? Sorry… I kind of stopped to get lunch.Listen, I know this is the game and the protagonist can basically do nothing wrong enough to ruin his chances with these women. But for god’s sake, how does a dude this dense manage to have multiple women chasing him? “I know you invited me to the beach and were waiting on me, but I felt like swinging by Subway and grabbing a footlong. I figured you’d be cool with that.” …Whatever. I’m forming a team with you.Oh, sweet. Dead or Alive: Extreme Beach Volleyball crossover. I mean, they may as well. If there’s one thing that Dead or Alive has really latched on to over the years, it’s crossovers and DLC (DOA6 has over $700 of it). I’m sure they’d jump at the opportunity if Spike was down for it. We’re playing beach volleyball? Where did this come from? I still can’t seem to feel that our bond has deepened at all. That’s why I’m doing this.He helped you reconcile with that little orphan girl! How is beach volleyball supposed to be more effective than that?!  If our bond is significantly deeper, we may get pretty far. Luckily, you seem to be okay at sports.He is? Since when? I think this is the first we’ve ever heard of Itsuki and sports. Unless I’ve forgotten something. Well, I guess that makes sense. All right, then let’s try and go all the way. We’ll win the whole tournament. That might be a bit much to accomplish, but I guess we should still try. If we can win, we may get a confidence boost during the Classmating ritual. Just because we’re playing around doesn’t mean you should not take it seriously. P-Please… don’t say “playing with balls”…That was legitimately funny. At least to me. I’m sure if Mana was around, she would have ruined that moment though. Why not? Because. Just stop it. I’m going to turn in the application. The game will start in 30 minutes, so go warm up.*A fade to black as Itsuki does some warm-ups*  *I mean… a fade to black as they play a full game. Apparently* Next are the semi-finals. Looks like our chemistry isn’t all that bad.Semis? Never mind, I guess that fade to black covered half the tournament. Yeah. We’re doing pretty well for beginners. Come on, we need to switch courts for the next match. Our opponents are here. They’ve been playing games too, so we’re equally tired. Anyway, let’s do this! It’s coming! Hah! … Guh… They reversed it. Itsuki, I need you to receive.How slow is that ball traveling that Ruka can direct on the fly like this? Okay! I’ll set it up for you!*Ruka runs off screen to the left* You got it! Hah! Ruka! Wait! You’re heading for the pole! Dammit!*Itsuki tries to stop her, but…* Ahh! You can find the unedited here. It’s not that bad, but I’ve TCG’d for less, so I’ll continue to play it safe. Huh? N-No way… Ahhhhhh!*Later*  I hate this… No way… Sorry, Ruka… I should have stopped you sooner. This is my fault. Y-Yeah… It is your fault…I really don’t see how this is his fault. You’re the one that ran chest first into a post. Although, I guess the smart move here is to just accept blame in the hopes that it’ll make her feel better. Such is the way of the tsundere. What do I do now… I exposed myself in public… It’s all your fault. I’ll do anything to make it up to you.Actually, now that I think about it, is the implication supposed to be that Itsuki pushed her away from the post before she ran into it, which resulted in her top coming off? He says that he won’t make it in time, but it’s not made clear what happened. …Why am I spending so much time analyzing this lazy writing? R-Really…? Anything? Yes. O-Okay then… Luckily, there were only girls around, so I’ll be okay…That’s convenient. In exchange, you better do anything I say… Forever… For life, okay? Wait, for life? I thought you just meant this one time… *sigh* Okay, okay. I promise.That’s a big commitment you just made, Itsuki. Then again, you also Granvania married Arie and told Sue you’d never leave her, so I guess in for a penny, in for a pound. Then I forgive you. *sigh*… Whatever… Let’s just go swimming. I’ll go with you. Of course. Just make sure I don’t use up all my strength and drown.You kid, but that did almost happen to Femiruna. *After some swimming*  It’s too bad about the volleyball match. We came really close. Th-Then we can just try it again next year. If that doesn’t happen, then there’s the year after too… … B-Because I’m tired from swimming! Just let me rest my head here for a little… Hey… If you want to try again next year, you have to invite me. I’ll keep going with you for as long as you’re in this world. Yeah. We’ll definitely do this again. H-Hmph. You shouldn’t make such promises so easily. There could be some dumb girl that may take you seriously.He’s bad for that and also that other thing has already happened. Anyway… Your shoulder makes a surprisingly good pillow. Stay still for a while… Don’t worry, I will. Just go ahead and get some rest. Hmph… You don’t need to tell me twice…That’s all for Ruka. Next up is Mirei, who I thought for sure had already gotten 3 CGs. Guess I was thinking of someone else.  ~Star God Academy Classroom~  I was pulling all-nighters on my research… *yawn*… That sounds like something you’d do. I was going to ask if you wanted to go look at the flowers, but I guess you need some sleep instead, huh? No, no, let’s go… It’s your invitation after all. *yawn*… I’m going to drink some coffee before we go… Maybe about three cups…I’m pretty sure I’ve still got that energy drink you mixed up that Femiruna gave to Itsuki in place of awesome jewel encrusted armour. You can have that. Are you sure you’re going to be okay?~Flower-Viewing Spot~ I guess so, because the scene just switches right over to this without Mirei responding.  It’s a nice day out. Perfect for flower viewing. Yes. I feel very at ease right now… Very… ease… Mirei…? O-Oh. I’m not asleep. You invited me, so sleeping would be rude to you. I wouldn’t blame you for falling asleep, you know. The sun is warm and the breeze is nice. Why not enjoy a nap? Really…? Then, if you don’t mind… Wh-Why are you getting in so close? I’m particular about the way I sleep to maintain my brain’s health. I must have something soft and consoling, otherwise, I won’t fall asleep. So… lend me your chest, Ituski. O-Okay… Excuse me… Aww…  Also, that’s not his chest. That’s his shoulder. Hm… This is quite comfortable… This may even be better than the special bed I developed…What kind of bed is it? Water bed? God, remember water beds? I’m sure they still exist, but when was the last time you saw one? It’s been decades since I have. I may need your chest to sleep soundly every night… Didn’t think I would hear you say something like that. Heheheh… It was a joke. But this really… is… calming… It’s so… warm… and reassuring… Zzz… Zzz… There she goes. She must have been exhausted. Zzz… Zzz… You know what the correct choice is. Head patting is always the correct answer (in anime). *Itsuki proceeds to deliver the almighty “patting of head”* Itsuki… Oh, sorry. I wasn’t trying to wake you. I haven’t been patted on the head in 20 years…It’s pretty demeaning, isn’t it? Sorry. I’ll knock it off. I just thought— N-No… Continue… O-Oh. Okay. Zzz… Zzz… Back to sleep again. I’m glad she’s feeling so comfortable.*After a nice nap in the sun* Mirei? …Hey, Mirei? H-Hm…? It seems… I slept for quite a while… That’s okay. I liked seeing your cute sleeping face. … I got to see a new side of you. It was cute. ...It’s the first time in my life someone has called me cute…What about that previous God’s Gift that totally had a crush on you? Did he really never say anything like that? Wimp. …It doesn’t feel half bad… I was able to sleep well because of you. You have my thanks. Heheheh. I will need your help once more, when the time comes. See you later.That was sweet. Now, who else was there with a CG? Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Apr 2, 2020 |
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Apr 2, 2020 01:35
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Special Events V: Final Side Events (Part 2) - Gemini, Sagittarius + Summaries Right… Lillie. And I do mean Lillie. Lillith will start us off, but this is a Lillie centric event. I guess it’s only fair. All the other CGs (and most of the main character events) are focused on Lillith. ~Star God Academy Classroom~  Oh, Itsuki. May I ask you something? Is there a reason you’re asking me so politely like that? W-Well… I was nervous for some reason… Well, I didn’t make any plans. I was kind of hoping to go with you, actually. Th-That… makes me so happy to hear you say that… Sure. But, well, I’d like to give you something you like… What would you prefer? Something cute? Hahaha… That would be lovely. It would be nice to see something with cat patterns on it… But I would like anything you chose for me.I’ve got some claw weapons for the Star Children that look like cat paws. That would be pretty sweet, right? I could dig a pair of those out for you. Got it. I’ll come up with something. I’ll meet you over at the Great Star Tree, okay? Yes, I will be waiting for you there. Goodbye for now.~Great Star Tree~ She’s running a bit late. I hope she gets here before everyone starts going home… …Hey. Lillie? You came instead? Lillith was trying to look for a present for you… But she was out of time and got frantic and ran. She slipped… And now, here I am.You two really need to wear a helmet or something.  Oh, thanks. I wonder what it is… Socks. …Why would you tell me that in advance? She went everywhere, but ended up choosing some dumb socks. Hmph. Oh, right. Here. Yeah yeah. Some hat with cat patterns, I see. It’s super cheap. Hmph.Itsuki, money is no longer a problem. Normally I am terribly defensive about our cash, but at this stage of every RPG, just go crazy. Except with Arie, who dislikes flashy/expensive things. Or Femiruna, who would probably just find it adorable that you were trying to impress her with cash. Also I guess Reone, who might be insulted at you flaunting wealth. You know what, keep the purse strings tight. That’s it for the gift exchange then. I’m going home. Are you in a bad mood, Lillie? Shut up. So what if I am? It’s cold, and I wanna go home. Why am I walking around at night anyway? …You think we left you out, don’t you? … …Look, I don’t have a problem with you or anything. You made a promise with Lillith, so just make sure she enjoys it. You should only think about her. I want you to do that.I foresee that this will be an ongoing issue in an Itsuki/Lillith/Lillie relationship. From what the game has shown us, it seems like Lillith is at the helm most of the time. That kind of thing is gonna breed resentment eventually. I don’t even care if there isn’t a present for me. I don’t care about that! But… I just… I don’t really know why… Dammit. I should have just smacked my head somewhere… At what point did I say that I only had a gift for Lillith? You didn’t give me a chance to give it. Here. …A hat? It’s the same design as Lillith’s, but I picked one with a different color. Th-Then hurry up and hand it over already! Okay, I don’t like Lillie, but I’ll admit that this is still a sweet CG. I’m glad you’re so eager to put it on, but why are you pulling it down like that? Sh-Shut up! I don’t want to show you my face! Get away! Don’t look! D-Dammit… I really thought you forgot about me… …Sorry, Itsuki. Don’t think anything of it. I was just going off on you without thinking.See, this is a good start. If only you would break yourself of that bad habit for good. I’d like your character a lot more if you didn’t freak the gently caress out at Itsuki all the time and act like a brat. I threw the present Lillith chose for you… Sorry, Lillith…And that’s exactly the poo poo I was talking about. You seem a lot more honest with your feelings when you’re wearing that hat. Shut up, shut up! I said don’t look at my face! I can’t look at it, even if I wanted to, because you’re keeping that hat pulled over it. I don’t wanna look at your face… If I looked at your face right now, I’d get this strange feeling… What do you mean? I-It’s embarrassing… I’m not confident I can look you in the eye… Just… gimme some time…*After a fade to black*  I-It’s embarrassing. I’ll wear it some other day… Tch… I got so happy from this cheap hat… I don’t believe it. I want to give you something back, but I don’t have anything right now. Is there anything I can do for you? What, you mean like lewd stuff? The hell’re you talking about…?He’s been spending too much time with Mana. Ignore it. What’s the matter? You’re always joking about that stuff with me. Shut up! You caught me off guard! Thanks for coming out here, Lillie. You’re extra cute today. S-Stop it! I’ll kill you! If you say any more… Argh! Dammit! I’m calling quits on this! Anyway, just forget about what I did today. I’m going home. I’ll pass on the hat to Lillith for you. See ya. Oh, hold on a second. Merry Christmas! …What’s that? It’s something we say on Sora. It’s an expression of celebration. … …I’m not saying it back, jerk! Kekeke! I’ll wait for you in the usual spot. See ya.…Not sure what she means by that. What’s the usual spot? Lillith’s fortune telling place? So yeah, I admit that that event gives me a little bit of understanding for people that love Lillith/Lillie. Lillie was somewhat tolerable during that scene. I still don’t see why she’s popular enough to come in the Top 5 in a popularity poll, but I at least see a little of what people might like about her. I still hate Lillie overall, though.  Sue is the last one of our final CG Star Maidens. Let’s see where she’s going to take us. ~Star God Academy Field~  Yeah. I wanted to know if you would go to the festival with me. … …Uh… Sue? What’s wrong? *And then Sue walks off screen* Sue…?*A fade to black as we wait for Sue to come back from wherever the hell she wandered off to* There you are. Where did you go? I was saying sorry to everyone. Oh, right. Her animals. Are you sure you’ll be okay leaving them behind? That’s why I said sorry… They all forgave me. Everyone is staying home today. So… will you go to the festival with me?Sue’s ending has to involve Itsuki staying in Granvania, right? Like, there’s no way the game would just have her ditch her animals to go to Sora and pretend like that’s a happy ending… right? Of course. You seem way more into this compared to the actual Autumn Festival event. Weird. Although I guess now she knows how fun it can be. The Autumn Festival event will always take precedence over this one, so you can’t see this event without already having done the Autumn Festival. ~Festival Venue~ Itsuki… thanks for waiting. This is my attempt at wearing a yukata… I hope it doesn’t look weird.In case you’re wondering, yes, they did actually model a yukata for her in the 3D graphics. We’ll get a better look once the CG disappears. Don’t worry. I think it looks great. I’m glad… I’m happy I went through the trouble to wear it. I’m not good at wearing these types of things. Yeah, you were taking a long time. I wasn’t sure you were going to come back. Yeah… Sorry I made you wait. But I’m happy you said it looks good on me. Let’s go, Itsuki. The festival looks like fun. Right. Let’s get to it.*Fun times at the festival later*  The colour is different, but that could just be the lighting in the CG. I like the designs on her shoulder/chest. Sort of looks like the end of an arrow. I also like how she has a blue and white colour scheme. I also like that it doesn’t involve sexy cat cosplay for no reason. Hey, since we’re here, do you want to get something to eat? …No, it’s okay. …Okay, then what about games? …No, it’s okay.You’re suddenly being a real bummer about this, Sue. Then… do you want to just walk around? You can do that and also eat/play. I feel the same. …That’s great. It makes me happy that we’re on the same page. Let’s go, Sue. …Yeah. Can we hold hands? Sure.*After some fun at the festival… where they walked around for a while* Hey, Sue? Are you really having fun just walking around? …Are you not? No, it’s not that. I am having fun. I’m just wondering. I don’t need to eat since I’m already full. And I’m already having fun. I don’t even need to talk. Just being with you makes me happy. Do you want to stick closer together and be all lovey-dovey? Itsuki… what do you want to do right now? Well… I’m glad I managed to get the “correct” answer on my first try of this event. …I may have forgotten to save before triggering this and would have had to spend 5-10 minutes getting this to trigger again from my previous save (this event isn’t repeatable). I just wanna be with you, Sue. …Are you really happy just being together? Like me? That’s what it feels like. I’m happy just being with you. All your words make me so happy…*Another fade to black* Thanks for today. It was a ton of fun. Same here. Thanks for going with me. I have to hurry back to my animals. What was that? No, it’s nothing… I know it can’t be helped. It was fun walking around with you. Let’s do this again sometime. Walking with you makes me happy… Bye. See you later.And that’s all for the Star Maidens with CGs. Now, let’s quickly run through all of the others.  Arie’s event is “Star Birthday Vows”. She asks Itsuki if he’s going to the Star Conception Festival and he asks her the same thing. Arie says she has to chaperone the children from the church, but she quickly says that she’ll ask the priest to chaperone in her place so that she can go with him.  At the Great Star Tree, Itsuki says he didn’t bring along a decoration for the tree and Arie tells him about how it’s very important to do because it deepens bonds and all that. It’s cool though, because Arie brought along a decoration for Itsuki. The two go about hanging their decorations as Arie asks if Itsuki has made a wish. Itsuki asks if he has to (Itsuki is being sort of an rear end in a top hat in this event). Arie says that wishes made during the Star Conception Festival will always come true (I doubt that. That would require Star God to not be a dick). Itsuki then decides that he’ll wish to always be together with Arie. Arie gets embarrassed, and she also says that she’s ashamed of what she wished for after hearing Itsuki’s wish.  Itsuki says he can grant that wish right away, and pulls her in. Arie is happy and reminisces about how much time has passed since Itsuki came to the world, and how she’s changed. Itsuki says that she’s become a lot more honest with herself. Arie then gets a case of “bedroom eyes” as she talks about Itsuki making her this way, then she gives thanks for him getting to know her and that they were able to meet.  Farun’s event is “Faraway Fireworks”. Farun asks Itsuki about going to the Autumn Festival and he says yes, but the two agree to meet up there later since Itsuki is busy and Farun has class. At the festival, Itsuki has arrived late. Farun runs up and says that she had been looking everywhere for him, then gets a little down when she mentions wandering around the festival venue alone (Itsuki notices she had been crying as well). Farun asks to go somewhere where the two of them can be alone, because she has something to tell him.  In the forest, Farun talks about how she’s traveled so much and has always been an outsider looking on as everyone else had fun together, like at the festival. She says that she was fine with it and believed that loneliness was her friend. But now she’s starting to feel a pain in her heart when she’s alone. She mentions crying when she couldn’t find Itsuki at the festival earlier.  The fireworks start and Farun figures that Itsuki will want to go see them, but he tells her that he’s fine where he is because Farun is with him. Farun starts to talk about how she thinks the reason she’s feeling strange is because she’s with Itsuki, but she bails on it when a firework goes off. They watch the fireworks and go back to the festival where Farun thanks Itsuki for being with her and starts getting back to her usual personality. She tells him that the weird mode she was in was just for that one night and to forget about it. The event wraps up shortly after.  Mahiru’s event is titled “New Summer Memory”. It starts with Itsuki finding Mahiru carrying a big-rear end plate of curry. Mahiru says that Star Maidens do a lot of physical work, so she needs to eat to regain her energy (what loving “work” do they do? First we’re hearing about this). Itsuki asks if Mahiru wants to go to the beach, but she isn’t down for it because she hasn’t started her diet for the year and can’t fit into her swimsuit. Itsuki tries to reassure her by saying that her body looks great during Classmating (further muddling the waters of “Do they strip for Classmating or not?”). Mahiru eventually caves and just says she’ll wear last year’s swimsuit instead. They go to the beach.  Itsuki once again loses a swimming contest, although I’m a bit more forgiving of this because I think there’s some mention of Mahiru having been on the swim team or something. Itsuki concedes to suffering a “penalty game”, but also talks about how he’s gotten a lot stronger from fighting impurities. Mahiru mentions that he also looks tougher and even has abs now.  Mahiru tickles Itsuki, so he tickles her back. Mahiru tells him to go ahead and try because her “abs are actually rock solid. They won’t budge!” Mahiru then immediately breaks into laughter and taps out on the tickling. I think she eventually smacks him to get him to stop, which is followed by a fade to black that might just be a time skip. It’s hard to tell. Moving on to the penalty game, Mahiru buries Itsuki in the sand and then starts shaping a “sand body” for him (only his head is poking out). She starts talking about how wide his chest is and how long his arms are and how big his biceps are, which prompts Itsuki to ask why she’s going into such crazy detail. Mahiru tells him that she’s creating her “masterpiece”. Then she starts on the lower half and just asks Itsuki “How big is your thing here?” Itsuki asks what she means, since he can’t turn his head to see what she’s talking about (she’s talking about your dick, bro. What else?). Mahiru then just says screw it and declares that “It should normally be about this big. Haha, it’s cute.” They’re cousins, by the way. Mahiru snaps a picture of her work before Itsuki frees himself from his sandy prison and wrecks it in the process. The two then go for a swim. In the water, they float in the water and talk about swimming back in Sora. The event ends with them promising to go on a beach vacation next year, once they’ve returned to Sora.  Yuzuha’s event is “Season of Awakenings”. It starts with them quickly agreeing to go flower viewing. At the flower viewing spot, Yuzuha talks about the weather being nice enough to fall asleep standing up. Yuzuha asks Itsuki for a favour. She wants to sleep on his lap. I want to remind everyone that sleeping shortens Yuzuha’s lifespan. This event is treating “sleep” in a lighthearted manner, which would normally be fine, but that detail about Yuzuha makes it seem a bit tonally inconsistent.  They go somewhere quiet and Yuzuha has a nap on Itsuki’s lap. Yuzuha asks Itsuki to lower his head so she can brush of all the flower petals that fell on him while she was sleeping.  It’s just an excuse for Yuzuha to go in for a kiss, though. She says it’s thanks for the “lap pillow” and the event wraps up shortly after with Itsuki saying that he’ll be glad to do it again for her. It’s a very short event.  Reone’s event is “Festival Sickness”. She asks if he has any plans for the Star Conception Festival, and if not, she wants to know if he’ll go with her. Itsuki takes it a step further by asking if she wants to get dinner on top of that, which Reone finds pretty bold of him. Reone mentions that even though it’s winter, she feels really hot. She then asks to go to a café before the Great Star Tree because she needs something cold to drink.  Itsuki is concerned that she might have caught a cold, but Reone brushes it off. At the Great Star Tree, Itsuki says that her face is getting redder and goes to check her temperature. She’s definitely running a fever, but Reone insists on staying with him instead of going home. Reone says she’ll leave immediately if it continues to get worse and Itsuki relents, letting her stay. Itsuki asks about exchanging gifts, but Reone says she didn’t bring one for him since she never thought he would invite her in the first place. Itsuki gives her the gift he brought for her anyway, which she feels guilty about, but still accepts. Itsuki got her a pair of mugs, which he says she can use however she wants (he suggests that she place one next to her brother’s picture). Instead, Reone asks Itsuki to put his name on one of the mugs. She says that she knows it’s cheesy, but she wants this to be her gift to him. Itsuki says that that isn’t what he intended them for, but Reone says that it’s okay. She accepts that her brother isn’t here anymore and states that “These should be used by the living.” She plans to kiss the mug before giving hers to Itsuki, but is concerned about infecting him.  Note: While this is romantic, DO NOT DO THIS. Seriously, we’ve got that whole pandemic thing going on right now, so this is extra appropriate advice at time of writing. Reone gives him a kiss for that comment, although she forces herself to kiss his cheek out of caution. Itsuki mentions that he wished for Reone’s cold to go away, but Reone asks if she can keep what she wished for a secret. She mentions that, if it’s granted, Itsuki will be the first one to know what it was anyway. Reone then asks to be carried back home, since the cold has pushed her to her limit.  In Collette’s event (“Give Me Memories”), Itsuki mentions that the Autumn Festival is going on, then Collette runs into him in a hurry. She says she has to meet someone at the shopping center. Itsuki says he was going to invite her to the festival, which Collette gets excited about. She says she’ll finish her work quickly so that she can go. At the festival, Collette manages to make it, although she’s late. Itsuki pretends to have just arrived in order to not make her feel guilty, which it’s suggested she picks up on but is thankful for.  They have fun at the festival and once everything starts closing down, Collette notes that all the couples are walking arm in arm. She asks to do the same, which Itsuki agrees to. Collette is happy, but then quickly starts getting embarrassed by it.  Collette is a bit bummed that things didn’t go her way during the day, but she’s happy that she managed to make a memory with Itsuki that will last. She then asks him to keep making memories with her.  Tarua’s is a summer event called “Embarrassing Swimsuits”. Tarua wants to go somewhere with Itsuki because she has some free time. Itsuki suggests the beach, but Tarua isn’t totally down for that. Why?  Itsuki tells her that she has to wear one if they go to the beach, since she can’t just go naked. Tarua complains that swimsuits are so thin and she feels weird about them now, whereas she was totally fine before even when she was swimming naked. Itsuki starts to call the trip off, but Tarua insists on going. At the beach, Tarua is embarrassed and won’t move (which Itsuki says is weird for her), so Itsuki says he will stay there with her instead of going to swim by himself.  Tarua goes fishing for a compliment on her swimsuit. Once Itsuki tells her she looks cute in it, she’s back to her usual self and wants to go swimming right away. Then she states that they will swim until the sun goes down and tears off across the beach. And that’s all! No more events, I promise. Next update, we’re going to clear the 11th Star Labyrinth and then get back to the main story content where bad stuff will certainly happen because the Ophiuchus Labyrinth has been sitting on the world map for months now. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Apr 2, 2020 |
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Apr 2, 2020 01:37
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I see Mana has been hanging out with Mana too much, too. >:|
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Apr 2, 2020 02:33
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Psycho Knight posted:
In Japanese this is literally 'the usual fortune-telling room' but the intent is probably 'I'll be waiting there, as usual'. Not sure why they kept the 'usual' and left out 'fortune-telling room', because the reverse would have been fine. I also checked on Mahiru's event too (one person did actually capture all the maiden events, but only for Lillith, Mahiru, Yuzuha and Ruka) because I wondered if they mentioned the classmating in the original (they do) and it was the same until it takes a bit of a swerve at the end when they're out at sea, where instead of being an empty shot of the sky that they talk over it's  and her saying 'If it's out here, nobody will know, so let's just stay like this for a while' and then they both go on to 'I never imagined I'd be with you like this'. Which is all fair for a final event, I'll give them that.
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Apr 2, 2020 15:38
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Note: The deadline for the ending/final Star Maiden vote is being set as April 9th. I've also turned off visibility of the results for the time being (because I only just now found out that I can do that). If you haven't cast your vote yet, then you have until end of day April 9th to do it. With the way things are going, I'm eyeing April 16th/17th as the end of the LP (as far as story content is concerned. There will be some wrap up updates after that). I'm only going to do a detailed run through of the endings of whichever Star Maidens break 4 or 5 votes. There are a bunch of Maidens with 1 vote at the moment, so if any of them pick up some more support, their ending will be included in a bonus update. Everyone else's will be a summary. So vote for who you like best, not who think will get the most votes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Raitzeno posted:I see Mana has been hanging out with Mana too much, too. >:| Nobody should be hanging out with Mana. I think that's why Shang is rarely ever seen with her. Even he can't tolerate her presence for very long. Thank god they didn't retool game Mana to be like anime Mana. Anime Mana started off as a little worse than game Mana, but then in those last three episodes she got exponentially worse. Polsy posted:In Japanese this is literally 'the usual fortune-telling room' but the intent is probably 'I'll be waiting there, as usual'. Not sure why they kept the 'usual' and left out 'fortune-telling room', because the reverse would have been fine. That is a weird change for Lillie, although it's nothing major. I think it's just one of those things that gets dropped in translation because it doesn't sound overly important at first. The Mahiru thing definitely sounds more suggestive, which makes it sort of surprising that they cut it. That kind of suggestiveness seems like something they would leave in. It's not like it really contradicts the new personality they've been crafting for her. Maybe they just wanted the event to end on a heartwarming note instead of a suggestive one? Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Apr 3, 2020 |
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Apr 2, 2020 16:52
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Update XVIII: And what matters ain’t the “who’s baddest” but the ones who stop you fallin’ from your ladder Song Title Reference: Short Change Hero – By: The Heavy We’re back to story content! Hurray! It’s only been… two months! That’s not too bad, right?  Okay, so it’s pretty bad. Hey, it’s not my fault that this game has lovely pacing and encourages you to do one labyrinth from each season which results in all the story content being emptied out after 4 dungeons. Anyway, the point is that we’re resuming our march towards the end of this game. Because there’s a lot of story to get to, we’re just going to have a quick look at the labyrinth and then curb-stomp the boss. That will be it for our time in the Aquarius dungeon.  Which looks like what you would expect it to look like: Collette. At least it’s fairly colourful and bright. There are a handful of things of note that happen in here.  First of all, this is an issue that has been happening repeatedly which I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned. The game will randomly freeze from time to time whenever loading needs to happen (moving from room to room/floor to floor, entering a battle, leaving a battle, or even opening the menu). The freezing lasts for about 30-40 seconds. Once the game finally feels like loading up again, the framerate proceeds to fluctuate like crazy. Every three or four seconds it will drop to about 10-15 FPS for a bit. This requires relaunching the game in order to fix it. But here’s the thing: My OBS recording isn’t affected by this. Everything looks totally normal in the video I recorded. The framerate issue only manifests within live gameplay. It’s not the result of any programs or things running in the background either. This freezing/framerate drop issue has happened during grinding sessions as well, where I don’t have OBS running (and the game isn’t even set to fullscreen). This loving game.  In terms of equipment, we pick up one Supreme Armor. It’s a slight improvement, so I toss it to Blaze because he had the lowest overall DEF.  We also snag a new weapon from the Item Shrine. It’s a lance that looks like someone glued a handle onto a gift shop model of the Tokyo Skytree. Unlike the other “joke” weapons, this one is just outright better than our current weapons. We lose the Dark attack element, but ATK gets boosted by 45 and LUC shoots up by 310. I’m willing to make this trade off, because I expect the Ophiuchus Labyrinth to be filled with Dark/Light enemies and there is no enemy in Aquarius or Pisces which can possibly pose even a slight threat to us at this point. I’d rather have the increase in LUC for stuff like Sealed Rooms and Critical Hits. And I guess whatever other random poo poo that LUC impacts in this game.  That’s a weird design. Not sure what it has to do with Aquarius other than being slightly aquatic looking. Mana tells us that its regular attacks are weak, but to “watch out for its powerful magic!”  …It does not have powerful magic. In fact, all of its stats are pathetic. Now, normally this boss would be a decent challenge... if this was the third or fourth one that we fought. It has a good selection of spells and would normally be dangerous because it possesses a second tier spell (Absolute Zero). It also has healing and status recovery. All the makings of a “Okay, the gloves are off now” boss are there. It’s just too bad that we happened to tackle this near the end of the game instead of the beginning. I think they may have originally intended the labyrinths to be run in a linear order, but later in development just decided to give the player free choice. All of the bosses feel out of order in terms of difficulty and there’s been no attempt to scale them with player progress outside of [If cleared labyrinths = X, then boss level = Y].  Whatever. It comes with Water and Wind Craters. I almost managed to pull off a sweep before the boss managed to get a single turn, but Itsuki couldn’t quite manage to seal the deal.  Apostatae uses its one and only turn to heal itself (at least boss Heal spells have been coded to scale with level. Too bad that they are still capped at 9999). It dies two turns later. We get some Life Fruit to bump Itsuki’s HP by a negligible amount and also 4,000 EXP that we don’t need. Then we go and seal the labyrinth. Then, story time! The following story event will trigger once you have cleared your fourth unique seasonal Star Labyrinth. What I mean is that you have to beat the boss of at least one Star Labyrinth in Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. So you can get this as soon as your fourth labyrinth, or as late as your tenth. ~Stardust Lab. Entrance~ *The screen shows Itsuki and Mana freaking out as everything shakes and the roaring happens. Then the screen goes black temporarily and comes back to reveal…*  I-Is… is this…? Oh, hey Narc. You got here awful quickly.  Oh, Nar, you’re here too. Well, if it’s here, then let’s take care of it right away. Itsuki, wait. We need to talk first. What do you mean, talk? What do we have to talk about? Not here. Yeah, I guess it is sort of chained shut right now. We need to prepare at the castle. …Fine. Let’s go back then.~Palace Throne Room~  Hey, I’m not complaining. I’m cool with Mana not being in any more scenes. Also, hey Shang! Haven’t seen you in ages.  What we are about to speak of must remain here.…This won’t be a fun discussion, will it? More secrets, huh? What do I need to know about this time? Itsuki, as you know… Yeah, you said that. So why aren’t we opening the door to the Ophiuchus Labyrinth? If I beat the 13th Phantom, then your world will be fine and Mahiru and me can finally go back to ours. Itsuki, the 13th Phantom… It’s unlike any of the Impurity Gods you’ve faced.That sounds a lot less ominous than you think it does. The other Impurity Gods have been… underwhelming as of late. You should have seen the one we just beat. …Please stop dragging this out. Just tell me what you’re hiding. According to the ancient texts… the 13th Phantom cannot be defeated. …What?Is that new information? I was under the assumption that we were going to seal it again and things would be cool for another 1,200 years or whatever. But the texts do say how it can be sealed. I’m sorry, but defeating it and sealing it are the same thing to me. I want to get Mahiru back home. So just let me go enshrine the offering and… Wait. Now that I think about it, where is the Star Offering for this labyrinth?Is Alfie not able to make one of those? …Who am I kidding, this story wasn’t rewritten to account for her. She barely exists as a character as it is.  How do we make that? The Grand Star Offering refers to the God’s Gift who bears all 12 Star Brands.Ohhhhhh…  This is about to turn in to Persona 3, isn’t it? That, Itsuki… is you. …W-Wait… what are… What do you mean? Do I have to make it, or… Story time! A few thousand years ago… Are you kidding me? The 12 Star Maidens from thousands of years ago just happen to look exactly like the current batch? Also, there are only 8 Star Maidens in that CG plus 2 ghost hands near the bottom.  The 13th Phantom and 12 Star Maidens are said to be bound like light and shadow. Since it’s conception, the 13th Phantom sought destruction of this world. Thus, it wreaked havoc everywhere it went. Spooky. Also a little goofy. But 2,400 years ago… The Great Mage built the Ophiuchus Labyrinth to seal away the 13th Phantom. During that sealing process…  But ever since it was sealed by the Grand Star Offering… the 13th Phantom began absorbing Impurities from the people of this world.Okay, so Star God wasn’t responsible for the “sex makes monsters” thing. Maybe? The 13th Phantom was created by Universal Law, so does that mean the universe just popped it out, or did Star God create it himself? I’m just going to assume the latter, because Star God is an rear end in a top hat. It has been gathering its strength to break the seal and one day revive itself. In other words, the 13th Phantom is responsible for producing these Impurities. Simply put… If the 13th Phantom vanishes, the Impurities will vanish as well. When that happens, Granvania will forever be at peace… But that was not possible back then. That is why the Great Mage built the Stardust Labyrinths. The Impurities were sealed within them to be absorbed by the Star Offerings. The Great Mage attempted to stop the 13th Phantom.  The 13th Phantom has been absorbing Impurities for over 1,200 years. And with the Star Chaos occurring once every 1,200 years… This means the cycle of the 13th Phantom’s absorption will soon end… and it will devour the Grand Star Offering of God’s Gift. The Star Chaos will force God’s Gift himself to become an offering. So… then what happens when God’s Gift becomes the offering? … Then… The Impurities will vanish along with the 13th Phantom. That is why… the next Grand Star Offering must be made to create the next seal.Do we really want to save this god forsaken planet? …I’m referring to Granvania. This means Mahiru’s power is needed for the sealing ceremony… Mahiru’s true mission is to create the Grand Star Offering.So basically, a God’s Gift needs to create the Grand Star Offering using a God’s Gift as the material. I guess this is why Star God nabbed two people from Earth this time instead of one. I promise you… With the 13th Phantom sealed, I will personally ensure Mahiru returns to Sora. …So the only way to save the world is by sacrificing myself? There’s no other way…? Take as much time as you need to decide.It’s not much of a decision. Itsuki (and Mahiru) can’t go back to Sora unless this is done and if he doesn’t do it, then he dies in this world. All roads lead to death. In the meantime… You can defeat the other Impurity Gods to delay the revival of the 13th Phantom.Already done. Mostly. There’s still that pesky Pisces Impurity God hanging around, but it’ll be dealt with soon enough.  Until then, keep this information to yourself. Swear to the Star God…*The screen turns white here for a second for some reason* …Fine. Whatever… Tell me the moment you’ve decided.~Inn: Itsuki’s Room~ You don’t look too happy… What did you all talk about? *The scene fades out there. When it fades back in, it’s dark in Itsuki’s room* …It’s morning… I barely slept… Oh, you’re awake? …Hey, Mahiru. You look pretty excited… Whatever. More importantly, we’re ending this today.Oh come on, Mahiru. Now is not the time for this crap. What are you talking about? What else but the rumor hunt?~Granvania Shopping Center~ What do we even have left to investigate? I thought we followed up on everything.*Mahiru wanders across the screen slightly* Hey, where are you going? The academy is that way. I think this is another grammar/translation fuckup. It should be “We’re not going to the academy field.” We’ll see in a little bit that Narc isn’t at the field or the academy. Why? We’ll be getting to the bottom of that underground room. Why is the academy exposing students to danger? We’ll get him to tell us.That’s a ballsy move, Mahiru. Just going to call him out face to face like that? We can’t just go home and leave things as they are. Mirei told us not to get involved. She’s investigating it for us. We can’t keep sitting on our hands. Doubtful. Mirei doesn’t seem to have much allegiance to the country. She just cares about research. You can’t be serious.~Palace Laboratory~  We wanted to ask you something. You could have done so in class.That would have been the smarter move, honestly. Going straight into the lion’s den isn’t the option I would have gone for. Also, this is why I mentioned that I think there’s a grammar fuckup. We most certainly did not go to the academy field. That would have been fine with us, but maybe not for you. What is that supposed to mean? This is about the underground room. We found the hidden door in the headmaster’s room. So… you two went in there again?You’re busted, Narc. Just give it up. How did you get past Mirei’s Star Energy? Because of awesome God’s Gif— I see… So, she’s on your side now…What the gently caress, Mahiru?! Way to loving sell out Mirei like that after she helped you! Jesus, what the hell is wrong with you? All you had to say was “I guess our God’s Gift powers are stronger than anything you can come up with.” He sure as hell doesn’t know if that’s true or not. I doubt the true extent of God’s Gift energy is understood, let alone a God’s Gift with all 12 Star Signs (which hasn’t happened for 1,200 years). Why is that Star Energy Circle underneath the academy? I can’t answer that.Please stop stalling on this, Narc. I don’t want another loving “Mahiru hunts rumors” event after this. Is it another national secret? Even though you made the headmaster’s room off-limits? Was it you who opened the hidden door, Itsuki? Who else could? Oh, of course. Of course Shang is behind it. Man… I really wanted him to be cool. I haven’t even opened it myself.I call bullshit on this by the way. The rumor that led us to this in the first place was about how Narc would enter his office and disappear. The sliding wall door had one seal and the door behind it had another. Are you telling me that Narc would open up the wall door (which he presumably seals) and then just stand in between it and the other door? I do not know what lies beyond. I only watched over it at the king’s command. I don’t believe that at all.Same.  Oh, hey Mirei. Mahiru totally ratted you out by the way. Mirei? Mirei, why did you unseal it? Because you wouldn’t tell me the whole truth. I haven’t hidden anything from you regarding this. No, he’s lying… Mirei, do you seriously believe him? I’ve known him for many years. I can tell just by looking at him.Here’s an idea. Let’s bring Ruka in to confirm that. She can supposedly tell when people are lying. I’m sure she can keep a secret. And if she can’t then I don’t particularly care anyway. He isn’t lying about this. Besides, Mahiru, I told you not to get involved. That didn’t solve anything. But there’s been progress. I haven’t been twiddling my thumbs.Mahiru is kind of terrible at investigation. By the way, yes, Itsuki is still part of this scene. Well, insofar as him being present in the room anyway. ~Underneath Star God Academy~  And there was a Star Energy Circle here until recently. It was stealing the Star Energy from the students day after day. Impossible… Those are forbidden. That’s why I’m trying to find out what’s been going on. By getting to the bottom of this evil and finding evidence. So what did you find out? I used Star Search Energy that reacts to the Star Fragment and followed it. And today, I reached a conclusion. It isn’t mere coincidence you chose today to conduct this, Mahiru. This, too, is the will of the Star God.Star God doesn’t will poo poo. Don’t go making it sound as though he does stuff. Mirei, enough with the prologue. Tell us what you have discovered. The other day, the Star Search Energy discovered a large Star Fragment. Oh, please tell me this isn’t going where I think it’s going. The Stardust Labyrinths? I learned of it just this morning. It seems the Star Fragments are functioning as the 13th Star Offering.Oh, okay. For a second there I thought we were going to find out that Shang has been feeding the 13th Phantom. This is something that can be easily proven by going into the labyrinths. I’ll leave the Star Fragments to you, Itsuki. Get to the bottom of this. So then, Narcisstes isn’t the culprit here? Dun-dun-duuuu—Nah, we figured out this part in the last scene. Your Majesty! So the day has finally come. The hidden door was made to only respond to my Star Brand. Well, that’s what you get for NOT USING A GODDAMN DEADBOLT!  Mirei, did you destroy the Star Energy circle? Yes, of course. The only ones who can create or destroy such artifacts are my people. Your Majesty, I would ask for an explanation… But the Impurities in the labyrinths are consuming the Star Offerings, right? It wasn’t a problem in ancient times. However, just 100 years ago… The power of the Impurities within the labyrinths began gradually increasing.You havin’ fun back there, Itsuki? Don’t worry, you’ll get a line at some point in this scene, I’m sure. 20 years passed… It became difficult to seal the Impurities with the 12 Star Offerings alone. Looking at it now, it was all due to the Star Chaos. But Your Majesty, there is no record of this anywhere. That truth had been discovered by the palace mage at the time… Ah! I was afraid our people would fall into confusion if they heard of this. So I searched for a way to avoid this danger with your grandfather, Mirei. That crystallized power… is what became the Star Fragments. We needed massive amounts of Star Energy for the Star Fragments to function. This academy was founded to collect that Star Energy. So you built this place just to steal energy from students?Hey! There’s Itsuki! Welcome back to the story. Mirei, your grandfather was a great man. Compared to the Star Offerings, the Star Fragments’ power is extremely weak. However, as he expected, the Star Fragments are still working well to this day. It’s thanks to his efforts that we haven’t been overrun by Impurities.Mirei and her family play a weirdly important role in the story. Given the general absence of all the other Maidens, I’m wondering if her background was originally part of an NPC and SC just decided to combine it with Mirei at some point during development. It’s weird to me that out of the 12 Star Maidens, only Mahiru and Mirei seem to have any connection to the main plot. I am forever grateful to him. There was no other way. The country would have fallen into ruin otherwise.See, I want to tell Shang to gently caress off with that because I’m angry at him for being the “villain” of the story since I wanted him to be cool. On the other hand… he’s right. As despicable as what he did was, it was a necessary evil. Now, there is an argument to be made for him handling this in a better way. I think looking to the citizens to donate Star Energy would have been a more ethical arrangement. Their lives would be on the line after all. What do you mean there was no other way? Wha?! Wh-What are you saying? Are you crazy?! Star Fragments take 15 years to make and 15 years to be expended. That 15-year period is about to end. The Star Fragments’ power is gone. We need new Star Fragments.Why? What would that accomplish at this point? The Star Fragments aren’t going to stop the 13th Phantom. Mirei, you aren’t seriously considering this, are you? The students’ Star Energy will not wane that easily. The effect isn’t immediate. Mirei, this is a command. Create the Star Energy circle. Mirei, this is an order from your king. If you do not obey, it is treason.Pretty sure the treason ship already set sail with Shang at the wheel. He was betraying the trust of the citizens by secretly draining their life force without consent. I don’t know what to do. Itsuki, what do you think? What should I do? I think it’s obvious. Itsuki, tell me… I don’t know what everyone else thinks about this. But as far as what I think… Shangri-La? You’re wrong. I won’t stand for this. Narcisstes, call the guards. Those who disobey the king are guilty of treason. Mirei! Therefore… I keep gaining greater respect for Mirei. I probably would be rethinking my vote right now… but I may have kind of cast it already. Mirei, what are you saying? There is no other way. Only your people can create the Star Energy circles. You won’t force her to do it, Shangri-La. I won’t let you. Huh…? If you do this, then consider my mission over. If you do that, you’ll never be able to return home. Itsuki finally starts to become cool. Wake would be proud of a response like that. Itsuki, do you intend to bargain with me? I’m not bargaining. There’s only two options here. If you give up on restoring the circle, then I’ll keep carrying out my mission. When I complete it, the circle won’t even be needed anymore. There is no guarantee of what you say.You really don’t have a choice, Shang. There’s jack poo poo you can use as leverage against Itsuki. You can’t exactly lay your hands on the Star Maidens, since they are critical to saving the world. It’s up to you. If you want me to do my best, then you have to back off. If you force Mirei to restore the circle, then Granvania will be destroyed.Unfortunately, the Itsuki dialogue you’re seeing now is from my mind. Official Itsuki stops being a badass right after that “Granvania will come to ruin” moment. Official Itsuki basically begs and pleads for Shang not to do go through with this. I took some liberties to make LP Itsuki less of a candy-rear end. … … …Fine. However, I will set a time limit.  Our deal will be null and void.Shang is really misunderstanding the situation here. Setting a time limit is pointless. Either Itsuki seals the 13th Phantom or the world is destroyed. There is no third option anymore. There’s been no indication that the Star Fragments are capable of stopping its revival at this late of a stage. The Ophiuchus Labyrinth has already spawned. Buying yourself another year or two won’t change anything. Fine. Then I’ll just finish my mission before that happens. Narcisstes, guards will not be necessary. Mirei, return to your duty. …Understood. Oh, and… It seems you have been investigating the Seven Academy Wonders. I’ll tell you about one of them now. I truly am 120 years old.Wait, really?  Oh screw you, Conception. The Star Maidens don’t age for 120 years, which is understandable since they need to be around to maintain their Star Offering until it runs out of gas. But what possible reason could there be for Star God to slow down aging for God’s Gifts? They go home when their job is done, which takes a few years at most. I mean, I assumed Shang had some kind of age thing going on, but I thought it was some secret magic/medical deal (like he was using the Star Fragments or something). Also, any guesses as to Shang’s age now that we know this? He’s been here for 100 years, which at 1/3rd rate means he’s aged 33 years. If he was Itsuki’s age when he had his turn as God’s Gift, then that means he’s about 49 or 50. That looks about right, although personally I think he looks a bit closer to mid 50’s than early 50’s/late 40's. I will take my leave now.*And Shang wanders out of frame* Itsuki, Mahiru. This goes without saying, but this… Is a national secret. Yeah, yeah. We know. But if the Star Energy Circle is restored, we can’t just keep quiet. Don’t misunderstand. Narcisstes, don’t treat them like children. They know all of that. I shall take my leave back to my research. See you later.*And then Mirei leaves* She went back to normal so fast! Mirei is a mystery herself… Narcisstes. I want to ask for a favor. What is it? ~Star God Academy Hallway~  Yeah, but why are you? You followed us here, didn’t you? So you knew, huh.The safe bet is to just assume that you are always lurking somewhere within our vicinity, unfortunately.  I’m sorry, Itsuki. I was told to watch over you. That’s just part of my job. Yeah, I know. It sounds like the king is aware of everything you’ve been up to till now. Is that okay? You haven’t done anything weird, right? No, Mahiru. I haven’t. Grr… Sh-Shut up! Not another word!But I want closure on that! Let me beat the crap out of that dude! Just a little bit! What are you two talking about? Nothing. Never mind. You don’t need to worry about that. Are you two sharing a secret now…? How lewd. I hate you so much. The anime has only reinforced that hatred. Jealousy is unbecoming of you, Mahiru. But don’t you already have a relationship like that with someone else, Mana? What are you on about now? Listening to what you’ve said, I think I have a theory… What are you getting at? What the great detective Mahiru thinks is… …Did we not already figure that out? I could have sworn that we figured that out. Well? Am I right? Yes, I owe my life to Shangri-La. As such, I’ll do whatever I can for him. Listen, I’m going to head to the classroom. Are you going to come along? What are you going there for? I need to tell everyone something. I want them all to listen.~Star God Academy Classroom~  Each Star Maiden should now proceed with their preparations.”Except for Alfie.”  Could I have everyone’s attention? …I want to seal the 13th Phantom as soon as possible. For the children… for you… for everyone....Narc actually slides out of frame after this ellipses, as if he can sense that Itsuki has a big spotlight moment coming. So please, help me. I need powerful Star Children in order to make this work. Not as cool as you think it is, game. You’ve got to work harder than this to make the “All choices are the same” moment deliver a good punch. You have not worked hard enough. Let’s make great Star Children! What are you talking about, Itsuki? We were going to help anyway. It’ll make sense in a bit, trust me. Incidentally, you may want to start checking out some dating sites. Just saying. Itsuki, you’re acting weird… Mahiru, what’s with Itsuki? ~Inn: Itsuki’s Room~ I’m so tired… What do you mean by that? To be honest, I couldn’t sense if you felt any duty to your mission. Especially since the Ophiuchus Labyrinth appeared. Well… I wasn’t really fully aware of what my duty was until now. …Mana? Would you sacrifice your own life for someone else? Like the king? Wait, you died? Is that how you got “tamed”? I see. …Would you be sad if I died? Don’t say things like that! How can you die when you’ve defeated so many Impurity Gods already? Please, Conception, stop. I beg you. For the love of all that is holy, do not try and emotionally connect the audience with Mana. It’s not going to work. It’s far too late to redeem her as a character. Actually, you know what?! How dare you say that, even if it’s a stupid joke! You’re such a dumbass! Right. Sorry. Itsuki, are you worried? I’d personally choose death, but that’s just me. I promise I’ll return you to Sora, Itsuki. …Thanks, Mana. …Are you crying? Of course not. I’m the hero, remember? I’m going to save the world. I’ll protect everyone… and I’ll go back home. Itsuki, you’ve really matured. I’m not so sure about that. It’s just that no-one else has given up yet, so neither should I. In that case, I’ll need to return soon. Or do you need some more comforting? I’ll be fine. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Yes… Good night, Itsuki.~???~ *The screen is currently black* Itsuki… Itsuki, wake up! Once you’re ready, head to the Ophiuchus Labyrinth. Got it.The game gives us a chance to save and go through the menu at this point. Saving is a good idea, but fiddling with your Star Child teams and items isn’t important. We’re not hitting any point of no return. ~Granvania Shopping Center~ Oh right, Itsuki.  Before you head to the labyrinth, how about you talk to them? They’re still in the classroom. I’ll go on ahead to the labyrinth. We’re finally free! For a moment, anyway. At this point, our task is to go to the academy and say our Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 13:58 on Apr 19, 2020 |
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Apr 3, 2020 15:23
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Game Itsuki is such a lovely protagonist, especially compared to Wake. Even Official Wake was so much better. (And Anime Itsuki is even shittier, for different reasons.) Shang had absolutely no leg to stand on there. That's not the place to beg the King to listen. That's the place to tell the King he's hosed up, turned into a tyrant, and lost the war anyway, now shut up and get out of my way so I can clean up your goddamned stupid mess.
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Apr 3, 2020 18:43
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Holy poo poo the story actually got cool for a second with actual stakes and tension!
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Apr 3, 2020 19:23
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SSNeoman posted:Holy poo poo the story actually got cool for a second with actual stakes and tension! I know! And it only took the entire game for it to happen!
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Apr 3, 2020 20:35
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SSNeoman posted:Holy poo poo the story actually got cool for a second with actual stakes and tension! BlazeEmblem posted:I know! And it only took the entire game for it to happen! This game doesn’t even attempt pacing. It’s one of my biggest complaints with it. The character routes are the same way. Raitzeno posted:Game Itsuki is such a lovely protagonist, especially compared to Wake. Even Official Wake was so much better. (And Anime Itsuki is even shittier, for different reasons.) That’s what I hated about that scene. Shang needs Itsuki, full stop. It should be obvious to everyone that he has no way to threaten or coerce Itsuki, because whatever Itsuki has to lose (Mahiru’s life + whomever he ends up in love with if anyone), Shang has more (the entire planet that he left his own world to live in and protect). He's also talking to someone that's marked for death no matter what. Shang should be the one on his knees begging Itsuki in that scene, not the other way around. Once Itsuki fires back at him with "Yeah, and the world you love will be destroyed", Shang should realize that his kingly authority won't cut it anymore and there is no longer any respect for his royal status in play. Itsuki is the Messiah in this world and you recently learned that the Anti-Christ is probably less than a year away from arriving. This is the point where you need to start groveling.
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Apr 3, 2020 22:09
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Psycho Knight posted:Note: The Final Maiden/Character Ending vote has a deadline of April 9th now. Lucky you mentioned that again, I nearly forgot to vote Psycho Knight posted:
She literally says "we're heading to the palace", which they are, I have no idea how they managed that one. Psycho Knight posted:
He's supposed to be saying the game's subtitle here (Please bear my child!) but they replaced that with "Maidens of the Twelve Stars" for the English release, which wouldn't exactly work. SSNeoman posted:Holy poo poo the story actually got cool for a second with actual stakes and tension! Thirded. I was starting to wonder if they were actually going to tie up the loose end about the mystery underground room.
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Apr 4, 2020 01:26
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Polsy posted:Lucky you mentioned that again, I nearly forgot to vote I felt it was the curteous thing to do. I didn't want to stealth it on people a few days before doing it. There have been 56 votes so far, so I figured most people have already voted, but I know some people that post here said they were waiting. I wish I had found out about the "Hide Results" thing earlier though. I'm thinking Alfie and Arie benefitted from a bandwagon effect based on the lopsided numbers. Or maybe they really are the most popular, who knows. Polsy posted:She literally says "we're heading to the palace", which they are, I have no idea how they managed that one. If she specifically says "palace" in the original, then this is especially bad in my eyes. "Academy/School" (Gakkō) is nothing like "Palace" (Kyūden). Even if you were translating without the context of the scene, how do you gently caress that up? This isn't a case of mispelling either, they are totally different words. The "Palace" and "School" are mentioned constantly in this game, so how did it get mistranslated here? If I forget to do it when the game ends, please, someone remind me to check the credits for the people responsible for localizing this game. Polsy posted:He's supposed to be saying the game's subtitle here (Please bear my child!) but they replaced that with "Maidens of the Twelve Stars" for the English release, which wouldn't exactly work. This might be a case of Spike learning from past fumbles (partially ATLUS'). There was a similar title drop in the harem ending of CII where Wake asks the Anyway, it was apparently fairly heartwarming/nice from what I read online about it. But the subtitle was changed in English to "Children of the Seven Stars". So when they tried for the title drop in the English version, they had Wake say something along the lines of "Don’t worry, and just have my children." It makes him come off as a bit of a jackass, since it sounds like he's telling them to just be quiet and pump out babies. It also doesn’t match the English subtitle very well, so it’s not clear that the game was trying to do a title drop in the first place. So this might be a case of SC just avoiding it altogether by going the safe route of "Let’s make Star Children" in order to avoid unfortunate translation messing up the delivery. Regardless of any of that, based on what we've seen so far in terms of localization, they made the correct call in changing that line. My complaint is directed at the moment itself, which is entirely unearned. Big crescendo/spotlight/badass moments like that, which try to involve the UI, need a proper build up. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Apr 4, 2020 |
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Apr 4, 2020 02:40
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Psycho Knight posted:I felt it was the courteous thing to do. I didn't want to stealth it on people a few days before doing it. There have been 56 votes so far, so I figured most people have already voted, but I know some people that post here said they were waiting. I needed the reminder actually. The stuff that happened kinda made me forget a lot of things, so I had entirely forgotten about the voting. That is, in spite of how long I spent thinking about it anyways. I'd be inclined to say there was a bandwagon, but then again, Arie was the LP's original top pick and Alfie was the one after that, so I'm not sure. I didn't vote for either of them though, I'll say that, at least. Edit: Psycho Knight posted:My complaint is directed at the moment itself, which is entirely unearned. Big crescendo/spotlight/badass moments like that, which try to involve the UI, need a proper build up. I know they were trying to go for the "they said the title" thing, but I think the better moment would've been telling Shang to stuff it. He got close to it when he started to become cool there, for just a second, but no. Missed opportunity, really. The Flying Twybil fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Apr 4, 2020 |
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Apr 4, 2020 05:41
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Psycho Knight posted:If she specifically says "palace" in the original, then this is especially bad in my eyes. "Academy/School" (Gakkō) is nothing like "Palace" (Kyūden). Even if you were translating without the context of the scene, how do you gently caress that up? This isn't a case of mispelling either, they are totally different words. The "Palace" and "School" are mentioned constantly in this game, so how did it get mistranslated here? Oh, that opens up a possibility if you just think in terms of pronunciation - I was being a little generous with my 'literally', in fact she said 宮廷 (royal court - kyūtei) and the academy field is written as 校庭 - koutei. If you weren't paying attention and/or had academy field on the brain from some previous scene I guess that could happen.
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Apr 4, 2020 10:45
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Polsy posted:Oh, that opens up a possibility if you just think in terms of pronunciation - I was being a little generous with my 'literally', in fact she said 宮廷 (royal court - kyūtei) and the academy field is written as 校庭 - koutei. If you weren't paying attention and/or had academy field on the brain from some previous scene I guess that could happen. Okay, that's slightly more understandable. It's still terrible that a mistake like that was made in the first place from a professional localization company, but at least I can see a thread of logic as to how it happened. The characters are still different and the phonetics only match up in one way, but yeah, I can see a tiny hint of "Oh, that's what happened." The Flying Twybil posted:I needed the reminder actually. The stuff that happened kinda made me forget a lot of things, so I had entirely forgotten about the voting. That is, in spite of how long I spent thinking about it anyways. And that's why I'm not entirely sure. Arie and Alfie have been the two most popular characters since the beginning of the LP. True, we haven't had a vote in a long time, but I doubt the rankings would change all that much. At best I could see Yuzuha moving up into Top 6 and maybe Ruka dropping out. But there is a psychological effect to seeing the results before you are able to vote, so I'd say there was at least some bandwagon impact. The only thing I dislike about using Strawpoll for this kind of thing is that I can't choose how many votes to give to people. The only options for making a poll are "1 vote per person" or "Allow multiple votes". Originally I had wanted to give people up to 3 choices, which I think would have spread things out a bit more. That's why I ended up changing course and going with the "I'll show detailed endings for 3 or 4 Maidens in a bonus update" thing. The Flying Twybil posted:I know they were trying to go for the "they said the title" thing, but I think the better moment would've been telling Shang to stuff it. It's what Wake would have done. Official Wake tells Ruby to stuff it when she's trying to play moron about the hidden entrance to the Pandora Labyrinth. I'm fairly certain he doesn't stand there and beg Ruby to start talking. I miss Wake. LP and Official versions.
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Apr 4, 2020 14:40
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Update XIX: Prince oh Prince, are you really sincere? That you one day aren't gonna disappear Song Title Reference: My Oh My – By: Aqua We’re back for a new update, although it’s not going to be especially long. The reason I separated this one into its own thing instead of just having it be “Update XVIII (Part 2)” is because of the break in story. There’s a little bit more main story coming up, but it’s buffered by some (partially story mandated) Maiden events.  Each Maiden has one of these events, except for Alfie (of course). These events do show up in the Database, but they are listed under “Main” instead of “Star Maiden” (like the Tri-Mating events were). I think you are required to see five of them before the game will let you proceed with the story. After I had used up all five Bonding Hearts for the day, the story kicked back in automatically. I’m not sure if there are any conditions for this, like the Star Maiden having to be at Bond Level 3 or something (that is the maximum level at the point which this story segment is happening). However, in order to see all of them, you will need to reload a save twice. You can only see five of them before the story automatically progresses and once that finishes, the Maiden events you didn’t view won’t be available. It’s not a big deal. Just make sure you make a save during that small break we just got.  Anyway, we’ll get detailed versions of the Top 5 Maidens (since Alfie is left out of this). The events aren't super long, but I don’t have room for all 12 of them in detail plus the story stuff that comes after. Besides, these events are all pretty similar. They just involve Itsuki trying to reassure the Maidens who are worried he won’t come back while trying not to blurt out that he’s totally going to die. We’ll do summaries for the other Maidens. ~Star God Academy Classroom~  I wanted to check in with you before the ceremony. I thought you might be nervous about it. Were you doing your prayers again? Yes. The labyrinth to be released is supposedly more dangerous than the others.I’m not afraid of danger! …I’m afraid of how many floors that thing is going to have. That’s why I was praying for your safety. He’s always watching… from his recliner, where the remote fell on the floor a few thousand years ago and he’s like “gently caress it. That’s too far away.” Thanks, Arie. Maybe don’t use that phrase around Lillith, yeah? Also, that’s apparently a quote from James Russell Lowell. The full version is “Fortune is the rod of the weak, and the staff of the brave.” I’m not going to eng101 smiley that because it’s something I had to look up on Google. My concentration is British literature. I don’t know a drat thing about American poets. Personally, given what's about to happen in this game, I would have gone with: ”When the stars threw down their spears and water’d heaven with their tears: Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”  Blake, motherfuckers! What does that mean…?It means Star God is an rear end in a top hat. It’s a saying from my world.Oh, you were referring to Itsuki’s thing. How did Itsuki even come to learn of that quote? It’s not a “saying from my world”. Japanese teenagers don’t wander around quoting 19th century American poets. Hell, way back at the very start of the game Itsuki even says that he’s kind of crap at English. Polsy, if you’re reading (and you can somehow track down this event from the PSP version), does Itsuki quote this as well, or is it something different? It means I feel relieved having such strong allies by my side.That does not sound right. I’m glad to know you feel that way. But the 13th Phantom cannot be so easily defeated. Yeah. That’s right. There’s just one tiny detail missing from that which you might not be stoked to learn of at the last second. Um… I know it’s not proper for me to say this… But… I just have a bad feeling about it all. I feel as if I will never see you again… Oh, I’m sorry… What am I even saying… HA! Also, just look at Arie right now. Even she doesn’t really believe in what she just said. *Itsuki moves in for a comforting hug or something* Arie, I’ll be okay. Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to seal the 13th Phantom. Yes… I believe in you, Itsuki. I have to get going now. There’s some stuff I have to do to get ready. ~Star God Academy Classroom~ Femiruna? Hey, are you sleeping? Oh, you are awake. No, I don’t need anything in particular. I just wanted to check on you. You don’t seem nervous at all, though. Nervous? About the Unraveling Ceremony. Ohoho… Did you think I would be nervous? Oh. If that’s the case, then I’ll leave you to it. I didn’t mean to interrupt. H-Hold on. I mean, when she’s busy, no. I think it’s the courteous thing to do. Well… I guess so. Besides, I am worried for you as well. Even though you are fighting alongside the Star Children we created…Do I have a Star Child with Femiruna as the mom? …Right. Polsy. I wonder if there are any Maidens that aren’t represented in the current teams? I don’t think Yuzuha, Tarua, Collette, or Ruka have any kids on the team. Can’t recall Mahiru having any either. The Ophiuchus Labyrinth is far more dangerous than the other labyrinths. And… the 13th Phantom cannot be so easily defeated. The only way to do so is to seal it with Mahiru. Speaking of things that Femiruna’s route kind of glossed over. I’m disappointed that her route didn’t involve more of her feelings of powerlessness. They could have done something where going to the academy and being a Star Maiden made her feel like she was gaining more control over her life, but then those feelings come into conflict when she has that moment against the impurity where she realizes that she can’t do a thing against them. Maybe that could have dampened her newfound empowerment and caused her to fall back into resignation about-- Nevermind, I’m thinking of a nonexistent “better written” version of this game again. Don’t feel that way. Without you, I wouldn’t have the Star Children to help me. I couldn’t have gotten this far without them. If anything happened to you, I… Femiruna…? It’s not like you to be this way. No… I must get back to my mediation.  Oh, okay.And the event stops there. ~Star God Academy Classroom~  Is everything okay, Ruka? Are you worried about the ceremony? I-I’m fine… Why would I be nervous about the Unraveling Ceremony? Well, what else would you be mumbling about? Shut up! So? Do you guys only get one chance at it or something? Anyone would be nervous! So you are nervous then. What do you want? You shouldn’t have time to talk to me right now. Already done. Trust me. I was worried about you. I wanted to check in. This is part of my preparation. What? You were worried… about me? Wh-What are you plotting? Nothing. Th-Then why would you worry about me? Besides… You should just worry about yourself. What if you died… That won’t happen. If you die, I’ll never forgive you! Ruka… I-I’m not saying this because I’m worried about you or anything… Th-That’s right! If you died, then the world would end!About time someone laid it out like that.  O-Of course you won’t…”Can tell when you’re lying” my rear end. Otherwise, I’ll purposely make a mistake during the ceremony to have it fail…And then everyone will die anyway? You do remember that part, right? It’s okay, Ruka. I’ll be fine. Hmph… ~Star God Academy Classroom~ Oh, Itsuki. Are ya here to see me?  So, what’s the occasion? The Unraveling Ceremony is about to happen. I wanted to make sure you were doing okay. What?! Ya think I’d be nervous about a li’l ceremony? C’mon, Itsuki. Are ya serious?  Ya think this would make me nervous? I’d hate to think that you’re lookin’ down on me. Well? Is that it? Well, if you’re feeling totally fine, then I guess I’ll go and let you prepare. Hold it! Just relax since you’re here. Yeah, that’s the right move! C’mon, sit on the chair over there! …There are no chairs.There are benches right there in the background Itsuki. Don’t be a pedantic rear end in a top hat.  You’re definitely nervous. No way! I swear to Star God I ain’t! Ugh, ask me one more time and we’re through! Okay, okay. You’re not nervous. Ya should be worrying ‘bout yourself. The next labyrinth’s really dangerous, right? I’ll be okay. I have a lot of experience dealing with the labyrinths. Not to mention I’ve got really strong Star Children with me. If you’re done here, get goin’! It’s almost time for the ceremony, right? Hey, you’re the one that stopped me. Anyway… Farun, it’s going to be okay. ~Star God Academy Classroom~  I was just worried about you. The ceremony is about to happen and I heard that you’re going to be leading the others. Yes. But there will be no problems. I thank you for your concern. Never mind me, Itsuki. How are you doing? The Impurity energy that comes from the Ophiuchus Labyrinth… I’ll be okay, Mirei. I’ve already spent a lot of time in the labyrinths, battling all kinds of Impurities. Do you think I’m not good enough to pull it off? I’m not saying that… But the Ophiuchus Labyrinth Impurity God is more powerful than anything else. That’s the key phrase there, “relatively speaking”. Unless this thing is 10 times the strength of the past Impurity Gods, then I’m not worried. I’ll be okay. I have the Star Children we made together with me. I see… I cannot bear witness to the sealing of the 13th Phantom. Narcisstes wasn’t even told of the method.  Come on, you guys. Really? Couldn’t you have just made up some story about why they can’t be there to see the sealing? Of course the Star Maidens are going to be nervous when you tell them “No, you can’t see the 13th Phantom being sealed. Nobody is allowed to see what happens except for Itsuki. But don’t worry! He’s totally not going to die as a result of it.” Something about this is strange… Itsuki, how will you go about this sealing ceremony? Oh, they said that Mahiru and I have to do it together. Lying through your teeth. Tell me once you find out more details. But do keep it a secret from Narcisstes. Of course. You don’t sound too sure. Are you really going to be okay? I’m sure. Sorry if I’m making you worry about me. I’ll be fine. It’s funny. I came here to cheer you up, but you’re the one making me feel better. …Thanks, Mirei. For everything. There’s not much time until the ceremony. I need to get ready.You get the idea of these events. They all involve Itsuki checking on the Star Maiden to see if she’s nervous, them claiming to not be, and then admitting that they secretly are. So let’s just summarize the rest of them in order to hit the highlights of each one. Mahiru is concerned about being able to go home after the 13th Phantom is sealed. She heard about the seal and that the 13th Phantom can’t be defeated normally, so it’s got her worried. She mentions that her role is simple and that she’s just supposed to cast a spell when Narc gives the signal.  She asks what Itsuki will be doing during the ceremony, but he spaces out and looks bummed. Mahiru just thinks he was daydreaming and asks him not to make her worry so much about him. She then asks him what the first thing is he plans to do when they get home. Itsuki laughs it off by saying he can’t think of anything off the top of his head. Mahiru agrees and says that it’s their homework to figure out what they want to do. Mahiru then asks Itsuki to stop by and check on the other Star Maidens, in case they are nervous as well. Yuzuha is concerned about whether or not she’ll be able to do the ceremony right. Itsuki tries to reassure her and she says that the other Star Maidens told her the same thing, but she’s worried about making a mistake and causing the entrance to not open. Itsuki tells her that he’ll give her a good luck charm to help her feel less nervous. He starts by asking her to draw a portrait of him, which she does. Afterward, she asks Itsuki what the charm he mentioned is and he asks her if she still feels nervous. When Yuzuha says no, Itsuki points out that the portrait was the charm.  He tells her to just concentrate on something she likes, and her worried will fade away. Reone opens by asking if Itsuki is feeling well, since it looks like he has an upset tummy or something. Itsuki wants to check on her in case she was feeling nervous, but Reone points out that if he goes to them looking like he does, then the other Maidens will definitely tense up.  Reone starts teasing him a bit, but also tells him to confide in her if something is on his mind. Then Reone says she’s going to release the tension that’s on his mind, which causes Itsuki to back away a bit because Reone has those bedroom eyes going on. The two go off screen and Itsuki is grunting or something, but it turns out that she was just giving him a massage. She then tells him to go massage the other Star Maidens on her behalf. She also tells him that she’ll pick up where they left off after he seals the 13th Phantom.  Sue is more worried about the animals she’s leaving behind as opposed to the ceremony itself. She’s anxious to get this over with so she can get back to them. Sue then says that she’ll wait for Itsuki to return after he goes to seal the Phantom. She believes in him and that he’ll come back safe.  Then she gets a little more doubtful as she asks Itsuki to promise her that he’ll come back. She says that she knows he won’t lie, but she’s still uncertain about everything. She isn’t sure why she feels so worried though. Then Itsuki promises her that he’ll totally come back alive. Collette’s event opens with her giving Itsuki some bread that she baked.  That’s not what cornbread is! You don’t bake normal bread and then just stuff it full of regular corn. You’re supposed to grind it into a powder that can be used to bake the bread. Listen, I’m fairly neutral on corn. I don’t love it, but I also don’t dislike it. But that? That looks gross to bite into. Not so much the little pieces scattered around, more the giant mass of corn in the center. Collette says it’s important to bake right now more than ever, because it helps her concentrate. Itsuki thinks she doesn’t seem nervous at all, but Collette says that’s not entirely true. She thinks having a bit of tension can be a good thing. Then she says that that tension is probably not as bad as when he was kissing his first love. Itsuki asks her not to make up stories about him and Collette takes that to mean that he hasn’t had a first love yet. Then Collette gets shocked because she thinks Itsuki being here to see her means that she’s his first love. Itsuki tells her that maybe she shouldn’t be this carefree right now and Collette reveals that she’s actually pretty nervous and is just trying to keep it together. It ends with Collette telling him to be careful in the labyrinth.   Lillith starts the event with Itsuki finding her doing her fortune telling. She’s checking fortunes to see if the Unraveling Ceremony will turn out okay and says that it will go just fine. She then decides to tell Itsuki’s fortune, which results in a big enough shock that Lillie is brought out.  Lillie gets upset because Lillith was apparently very shocked. She asks what the fortune was, but I guess Lillith must have written it down because Itsuki doesn’t respond. He asks Lillie what the fortune said, but she tells him that she can’t say. Instead, she says that only she’s allowed to cause him pain. Itsuki doesn’t know what that means. Lillie just responds by saying that he has to come back alive, no matter what happens in the labyrinth. The event wraps up with Lillie saying that she doesn’t hate Itsuki, so he better not die out there.  Tarua asserts that she’s totally not nervous about the ceremony, but then changes her tune immediately after. She’s very worried about whether she can do it correctly or not. Tarua wonders how everyone else can learn it so fast and mentions that she’s terrible at spells. She also asks why there can’t be ceremonies that involve running. Tarua wishes she wasn’t a Star Maiden so that she could go into the labyrinths with Itsuki because she feels she’s much better at that stuff than being stuck in a classroom and learning spells. Itsuki tells her that he doesn’t want her in danger like that and that he’d rather she do her best as a Star Maiden. Tarua is still worried, so she wants him to pinky promise that he’ll come back okay. She says Mahiru taught her how to make pinky promises and that doing it makes everyone keep their promises. The two make a pinky promise, which is how the event wraps up.  All right, enough of that. Let’s get this sucker opened up. I’ve got quests to farm for. ~Star God Academy Field~ Itsuki, it’s time. Let’s head to the Ophiuchus Labyrinth! Nothing else to do, so let’s head for Ophiuchus. As I’ve mentioned before, there is no “point of no return” here. ~Ophiuchus Labyrinth Entrance~ Itsuki, you’re here. The screen is gently rumbling at the moment, by the way. We will now begin the Unraveling Ceremony for the Ophiuchus Labyrinth. This sequence is the same one that plays when the Maidens open the Stardust Labyrinths.   And the chains are off! Also, the Maidens apparently dropped like flies as soon as the door was opened. H-Hey! What’s wrong?! Don’t worry. They’re merely exhausted from the ceremony. They just need rest. Mana, please take them to the castle. Itsuki, listen up! Go! For the love of god, go now! If we get deep enough then she won’t be able to track us down. Itsuki, before you head into the labyrinth, let me give you this. Sweet pocket watch. Doesn’t look like it tells time all that well though. It’s a magical tool called Grim Gate. It was created from Mirei’s research. Inside is a pressurized “dimensional distortion.” Using this will instantly bring the object back to its owner.Okay… what help does that give us exactly? If you encounter the 13th Phantom in the Ophiuchus Labyrinth… Use this to call Mahiru and the rest of us to you.That is not what you just said!  Itsuki, the entrance is already open, but… As I said before, you should only go when you are prepared to. There’s something I want to ask you first. Does Mahiru know about the Grand Star Offering? The truth about it, I mean. We have no intention of letting her know until the ceremony is done. He’s got a point. And you think that I won’t tell her about it myself? Itsuki, you wouldn’t. No, you can’t tell her. Even if you wanted to. What do you mean? I placed a Star Energy taboo on you so that you will not go back on your word. Okay, so I guess that was the white light that flashed during that scene in the Palace between Itsuki, Narc, and Shang. …Wait a second. What good will that do, Narc? You loving dumbass, if Itsuki told Mahiru about this at the wrong moment, then he would pass out and you’d all be up poo poo creek! Not to mention, what kind of deterrent even is that? So he passes out for a while. Big deal. He still would have told whomever he was trying to tell. It’s a mild inconvenience at best. I loving hate this world and how unbelievably stupid and arrogant and lovely everyone in it is. However, you haven’t told anyone so far, Itsuki. You are trustworthy.Go gently caress yourself, Narc. I can’t believe you! To hell with you! What if I just decide not go into that Labyrinth, huh? Do you have some backup plan for that too? We are prepared to do absolutely anything to defend our world. Mahiru is dear to you, if she not? Or would you say that her life is more important than yours?I hope you and your world dies. At the very least, please tell me that Narcisstes and Shang get some form of comeuppance by the end of all this. You bastard… I’m not going to go back on my word about stopping the 13th Phantom, that much is true. I said I would get Mahiru back home, and I intend to do that. I knew you would say that. You truly are the Itsuki we need. The lifespan of the Grand Star Offering is linked to the will of God’s Gift. THEN STOP loving ANTAGONIZING HIM! How are you this loving stupid, Narc? How is Shang this loving stupid? If the lifespan of the offering is tied to the God’s Gift willingness to become it, then you should be devoting all your efforts to making God’s Gift feel attachment to this world! Instead you’re blackmailing him, threatening him, lying to him, and abusing innocent people. This is probably how this shithole of a world ended up with the 13th Phantom in the first place. Goddammit… this game. I like CII’s ending better. At least in CII all the world’s problems didn’t just get magically fixed forever because of Wake. There was still that warning at the end that if people didn’t change their ways then this would all happen again and Star God might not be as willing to come to the rescue a second time. This game looks like it’s just going to end with everyone on this stupid planet being free forever to continue being douchebags. Just remember the promise that Shangri-La made. If I defeat the 13th Phantom, then Mahiru gets to go back home. Immediately. All right. I promise you. If you don’t keep it, then I’ll find a way to use the 13th Phantom to come after you. Don’t forget that I have to keep it sealed for 1,200 years in order to finish it. Mirei will signal everyone when you enter the Ophiuchus Labyrinth. During that time, we will make sure everything is prepared. Narcisstes… Yes? I’m going to do this. I’m going to save everyone I care about. *Mana enters as Narc leaves* What’s up with Nar? He seemed to be in a rush. Anyway, the Star Maidens have been escorted to the castle by our soldiers. Itsuki, it’s finally time to go into the Ophiuchus Labyrinth!~Ophiuchus Labyrinth~  At least the hallways look a little different than the other Labyrinths. It’s a labyrinth that was created 2,400 years ago. It’s such an eerie place… The Impurity Energy is strong. I’m getting goose bumps. Come on. The 13th Phantom must be in the deepest part. Tread carefully. Which we will be doing immediately. I still have to go kill the Pisces boss. ~Palace Laboratory~  Have you recovered already, Mirei? Don’t underestimate me. Who do you think I am? …Are you hiding something from us?Of course he is. Why would you assume that? …Mirei, what do you think of this passage: Oh, you dirty fucker. What’s that? It was written in the last part of the ancient texts. Well, it can be taken quite literally. Itsuki’s and our hearts are one. Does that not mean the 13th Phantom can be sealed? … When the 13th Phantom is sealed… How odd for you to become so sentimental all of a sudden. Oh, really? I never thought of myself as being cold or distant. Heh… Please continue following Itsuki’s tracks. All right. I’ll excuse myself then.*Mirei takes her leave* ”When Star Maiden and God’s Gift souls merge, the phantom will forever vanish.” Ugh. So, here’s what I interpreted from that. I could be wrong, but it sounds like Narc was hiding that passage because it’s meaning is that Mahiru and Itsuki are both going to be sacrificed. It says “When Star Maiden and God’s Gift souls merge”. Mahiru is the only Star Maiden that can create the Grand Star Offering, because she’s also a God’s Gift. So when their “souls merge” and “the phantom will forever vanish”, it sounds like they are referring to the Grand Star Offering. But if they merge, then wouldn’t that result in Mahiru becoming part of the Offering as well? It’s also possible that all of the Star Maidens will be converted into the offering with only Mahiru remaining (thus letting Shang and Narc keep their “promise”). Whatever the case, that little passage doesn’t sound good.  Anyway, at this point we’re free to back out of Ophiuchus and return to whatever the hell we still have left to do. Despite what Shang said, there is no time limit. As proof, keep in mind that this story segment triggered after I cleared the Leo labyrinth, which was the fourth dungeon that we got to see (I was switching seasonal labyrinths after each one, as Mana herself suggested at the beginning of the game). Since these events happened, we’ve cleared 7 more Star Labyrinths and I think I’ve skipped through about 3 or 4 years worth of in-game time in order to line up specific side events. So what’s left?  Well, in terms of stuff I can do, there are a bunch of the generic version bosses that I haven’t found yet. There’s also a stupid amount of quests that I haven’t even unlocked, but I think that’s because some of the currently available quests can only be completed by going to Ophiuchus, which I have yet to do. Oh, and I should quickly mention that Ophiuchus is (mercifully) only 5 floors. That’s a major relief for me. You know what’s not a relief? Episodes 7-9 of the anime. Yeah, I’ve resigned myself to going back to it. I don’t like ditching something halfway through after saying that I would do it. If I managed to suffer through the stupid minigames in World of Final Fantasy for the sake of a 10 second optional scene or a stupid gem that just changes the character’s appearance, then I can put up with this. That said, I will not be going into as great a detail on these episodes. I can’t bring myself to fill another 47,000 character update with that garbage. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Apr 5, 2020 |
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Apr 5, 2020 19:17
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Psycho Knight posted:You know what’s not a relief? Episodes 7-9 of the anime. Yeah, I’ve resigned myself to going back to it. I don’t like ditching something halfway through after saying that I would do it. If I managed to suffer through the stupid minigames in World of Final Fantasy for the sake of a 10 second optional scene or a stupid gem that just changes the character’s appearance, then I can put up with this. That said, I will not be going into as great a detail on these episodes. I can’t bring myself to fill another 47,000 character update with that garbage. If it's any relief, I believe I remember the reviews saying that the rest of it wasn't nearly as bad as that one. As regards to the length, we've already seen how absolutely garbage it is, so nobody's asking for it in great detail. Just noting the general plot and any events that particularly stand out is really all we need to see at this point. Also in regards to the cornbread conversation: there is actually a food like that, with corn inside like some sort of miniature pie. I just can't remember what it's called though. I've had it, and I personally thought it was awful. That being said, it is most definitely not cornbread.
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Apr 5, 2020 20:28
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gently caress granvania and everyone in it.
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Apr 5, 2020 20:30
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quote:We're approaching Reborn levels of writing here. No for real dude gently caress this dramabomb. Seraphic Neoman fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Apr 5, 2020 |
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Apr 5, 2020 21:42
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Psycho Knight posted:You know what’s not a relief? Episodes 7-9 of the anime. Yeah, I’ve resigned myself to going back to it. I don’t like ditching something halfway through after saying that I would do it. If I managed to suffer through the stupid minigames in World of Final Fantasy for the sake of a 10 second optional scene or a stupid gem that just changes the character’s appearance, then I can put up with this. That said, I will not be going into as great a detail on these episodes. I can’t bring myself to fill another 47,000 character update with that garbage.  You're actually going to continue it? Well, good luck, I guess.
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Apr 5, 2020 21:45
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SSNeoman posted:We're approaching Reborn levels of writing here. Oh god, it’s true. That overly edgy stuff where the writer thinks that the good guys being unrepentant assholes is "mature". Drakenel posted:gently caress granvania and everyone in it. Like, after seeing Narc and Shang say poo poo like "we'll do whatever is necessary to save our own, no matter how despicable or underhanded or selfish", how can we believe that Star God wants to help this world? What does he see in this world that makes him think it's worth saving? The Flying Twybil posted:Also in regards to the cornbread conversation: there is actually a food like that, with corn inside like some sort of miniature pie. I just can't remember what it's called though. I've had it, and I personally thought it was awful. That being said, it is most definitely not cornbread. It exists? Really? That just sounds disgusting to me. Unless you're eating it fresh out of the oven when it's still hot, then you'd be biting into a big cold mass of corn. It’s like a corn sandwich. BlazeEmblem posted:
I've made worse decisions in life. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Apr 5, 2020 |
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Apr 5, 2020 21:56
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Psycho Knight posted:
I did not like my chances of finding a thing which requires a) someone to actually finish the game and b) happen to record the correct one of a limited-run event. But, I got lucky here. This is even more surprising because it's only three in the PSP game, matching the maximum 3 events per week. Anyway - he says their (he says "Star God's and Airi's" rather than just "Star God's") protection is like giving a metal rod to a demon - ie, making him even stronger - not so much poetry as a common idiom. Of course, this also makes the followup line make more sense. And yeah the ongoing 'we really need you to do this thing, which you could simply choose not to do, so we're going to use the most poorly-considered and antagonistic options to try to enforce it' is bizarre.
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Apr 5, 2020 22:06
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Polsy posted:I did not like my chances of finding a thing which requires a) someone to actually finish the game and b) happen to record the correct one of a limited-run event. But, I got lucky here. This is even more surprising because it's only three in the PSP game, matching the maximum 3 events per week. Ah, I see. So then somebody on the localization team was just a big fan of James Lowell. I can see why they would try and change that line, since it's not likely to be an idiom that Western audiences would understand, but I'm not sure that digging up 19th century poets is much of an alternative. It’s especially bad since they only use half of the quote, which completely changes the meaning of it. "Fortune is the rod of the weak" makes it sound like you shouldn't rely on luck or good fortune to get you through a situation, as if it were a crutch. That you're weak for doing so. But the full quote is more like "luck/fortune helps the weak a little, but it helps the brave a lot". I think. Again, not my wheelhouse. Either way, it doesn't match up very well with what it's replacing. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Apr 5, 2020 |
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Apr 5, 2020 22:56
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Psycho Knight posted:Oh god, it’s true. That overly edgy stuff where the writer thinks that the good guys being unrepentant assholes is "mature". Yep, this is really reaching towards the edgy fangame quality of writing now, which is unfortunate as the story finally tried to get interesting and was also written by a professional team. As in, they got paid wages and weren't sitting in a darkened basement with edgy music blasting in their ears. The Slightly Off Topic Discussion of Corn: And yes, I went looking for it and found what I was thinking of by the most obvious name possible: corn nuggets. They're obviously not an entire baked loaf of bread, and they are typically made with real cornbread, but they're rather similar. In fact, I'd probably assume if you tried to use wheat, you'd end up with a soggy mess unless you toasted those things real dark- corn has a tendency to be fluid. Colette's thing would probably fall apart as soon as you bite into it. Anyways, they're basically cornbread balls filled with corn and they're far less appetizing than they might sound in my experience. I'll take corn on the cob, off the cob, but like that, they just manage to be like some sort of slimy corn sandwich. Maybe it's just too much corn in one place for me, or perhaps I've never had "good ones", I don't know. I'll claim to actually know what I'm talking about for once as I've eaten a lot of southern U.S. food in my life. In short, I don't like those things,. Psycho Knight posted:Ah, I see. So then somebody on the localization team was just a big fan of James Lowell. Given at how misplaced and improperly used it is, I'd just say they went looking for idioms somewhere, thought that sounded nice, and tried using it. Either that, or they half remembered it from some English class. Couldn't they have just used "fortune favors the bold"? That's common enough in media, even as a translated Latin phrase. The Flying Twybil fucked around with this message at 23:39 on Apr 5, 2020 |
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Apr 5, 2020 23:34
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It's like we're finding more and more reasons why Itsuki has no business staying in this world if everyone plays Calvinball with how they run things.
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Apr 5, 2020 23:57
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None of these people deserve to be saved. Take (some of) the Maidens and bail this turdball of a planet.
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Apr 6, 2020 02:58
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Special Update IV: If nothing else, I’m a glutton for punishment – Conception: The Anime (Episodes 7-9) Yeah, we’re back again for another installment of this stupid show. I seriously considered just abandoning this little project. Unfortunately, in the end, the part of my brain responsible for all of my poor judgement won out. So… here we go, I guess. If you somehow erased the memory of the previous Special Update from your mind, then first of all let me congratulate you on pulling that off. Hopefully you’ve mastered the process of doing so, because I’m about to give everyone a bit of a refresher. On top of mangling the characterizations of Arie and Femiruna, the last 3 episodes included possibly the most tone deaf, poorly thought out, downright disgusting scene that this series could come up with. Yes, I realize that we’re only halfway through the series. No, I still don’t think I’m tempting fate by saying that. Itsuki was partially responsible for Femiruna getting a concussion and then he loving kidnapped her from her own home and locked her up in a  This loving show… Anyway, possibly due to the fact that I’m 99% confident that this series can’t go any lower than trying to make Stockholm Syndrome look cute and romantic and funny, I’m pushing forward with the other episodes. We’ve hit bottom, so it can only go up from here, right? However, despite my recommitment to this, I want to point out that I will not be going into as much detail on these next 6 episodes as I did for the past 6. Part of the reason why is because I don’t think the anime deserves that much effort anymore. Not after what it just pulled. Which isn’t to say that it ever really deserved the effort to begin with, but… Well, let me put it this way: I was willing to go in depth at first because I thought it would be at least sort of interesting to see the differences between the source material and the adaption. The show quickly proved itself to be boring and strangely tame (compared to all its posturing and bluster through characters like Mana), so the only thing I could really do to make things entertaining was to focus on changes from the game and talk about whether I felt they were good (everything to do with Star Children) or bad (terrible character adaptions). But even that isn’t entertaining anymore (assuming any of you found it entertaining in the first place that is). It’s like we were walking down a city street, looking at store signs and noticing little things happening around us. Not exciting, but it was at least something to do while we were going for a stroll. Then episode 5/6 happened and we realize that we’ve entered “the bad part of town”, so our walk subtly changes to a jog and we stop making eye contact with everything, like we’re trying to pretend that we just now realized that we’re late for a meeting and need to hurry and that it’s totally not because we desperately want to remove ourselves from the area as quickly as possible without drawing too much attention for fear that we might get stabbed or robbed.  …Anyway, episode 7. It opens with Mana writing fanfiction, because that’s going to be a thing from now on I guess (this one is a murder mystery or something). At least this scene is limited by the 60 second timer that signals the writers lost interest and want to move on. The same thing that happens with every scene in this show.  This episode is the “School Festival”. God only knows what we’re in for with that, but Mana is rambling something about shared horror leading to eroticism or something (she’s planning on a Mansion of Horror for the festival). I guess that’s technically true, at least as far as media is concerned (i.e. “Glad to be alive sex”. Don’t go to TVTropes by the way. At least wait until the update is done). We might not know what we’re in for in terms of the school festival, but you know what is immediately clear about this episode?  This is really all I need to post. Yes, it’s Tarua’s turn for a focus episode. I should mention that that screenshot above is from Itsuki’s perspective looking down from atop the academy roof. Tarua proceeds to crash into him and knock him over. No, there is no scene in between these two. Tarua literally runs straight up the side of the school. I would find that a little funny/cute, if I hadn’t been made extremely jaded by this series. Anyway, Tarua delivers a letter to Itsuki from Collette.  I miss you little buggers. I wish the rest of this series was focused entirely on your exploits.Alfie shows up as well, continuing her fight for relevance in an adaption that she was created especially for. Her Japanese Idol thing seems to be taken a step further in this, as she’s apparently putting on a concert for the school festival. The Star Children are helping to promote it, because they are good boys and girls.  Sue is doing a petting zoo. At this point I’m getting concerned because the anime is shoving a bunch of cute scenes/imagery in my face and that leads me to believe that something horrible is just around the corner.  After momentarily forgetting about Collette’s whole subplot, we’re back to figuring out how she’s going to save her bakery from the horrors of capitalism and free market. They seem to completely skip over that whole “former apprentice of Collette’s grandfather stealing the recipe book” thing from the game. Instead, Collette just gets right to the secret recipe part. Anime Collette refers to it as “Happy Bread” though (it’s “Ultimate Breadwinner” in the game), which honestly makes me even more suspect that the secret recipe is just bread laced with hallucinogenic drugs. Oh, and in case you’re curious, Collette doesn’t say anything about her grandfather having Alzheimer’s or severe memory degradation or whatever it is in the game that’s causing him to forget who she is or even who he is. She just says that he’s very old and can’t remember the recipe.  The Alfie scene from earlier and a Lillith/Lillie scene from earlier plays again around this time. They just change the background. From the comments these kids are making, it seems like Lillith/Lillie are planning on doing a comedy routine for the school festival? A comedy routine that involves Lillith saying “You’ve got to be kidding!” and then hitting herself on the head to bring out Lillie, who poses… It’s a pointless waste of screentime. Plus, why the hell would they do a comedy routine? Just tell fortunes!  Yes, Collette is holding up bread dough that’s rolled to resemble a dick. There is a tiny hint in the next Collette scene of her “I know more than I let on” personality that I previously ranted about being left out, but they still have her sounding really innocent about the whole thing (she’s asking Itsuki about a saying from his world, “I want a piece of her”, and asks him what piece of her he would want). It kind of sounds like Collette doing that thing from the game where she talks about Itsuki being lewd or perverted, but it’s not obvious so it’s possible that she’s asking it out of genuine innocent naivety. Itsuki also mentions that something about her is off, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see if she is matching up with her game counterpart or if this is just a big bait-and-switch setup to make Itsuki look like a creep. Oh, and if you were hoping for more bread puns, then I’m sorry to say that there haven’t been any so far. Collette has made a few regular puns, but nothing specifically involving types of bread.  Forget it, never mind! They are totally doing impish-Collette or at the very least they are going to fanservice the ever-loving poo poo out of her. There was a very brief scene where Mana finishes building some kind of dorm room building or something (possibly for that Horror House thing she was planning) and Tarua runs headlong into it and destroys it. This is followed up by Collette presenting that bread you see in the screenshot. But that’s not all! See how suggestive the bread is? They aren’t done with it. Collette proceeds to fellate the goddamn thing. I’m not exaggerating that. She loving licks the end of it and then deepthroats it. If you somehow can’t take my word for it, then just track down Episode 7 online and go to roughly the 6-minute mark. I am not posting screenshots of it. There’s more to this gag by the way, but I don’t want to give it any more attention. We flip-flop between Collette’s porn bread and Tarua/Mana (Mana ditches the Horror Mansion because Tarua destroyed it and does a fortune telling thing instead. Tarua asks her why her deliveries are so slow and this is where we get the “Because you run too fast” thing from the game).  Speaking of, Itsuki isn’t even in the vicinity of this Tarua event. She’s just delivering her backstory exposition to Mana because I guess the writers locked themselves into this whole “porn bread” bit with Collette and Itsuki can’t conceivably be in two places at once. They also can’t have him ditch Collette, since they already had him do that in Episode 6.  Oh yeah, speaking of Collette, let’s flip back to her again. That screenshot is from a flashback that Collette delivers about what her grandfather told her when she was a child. She looks only slightly younger than current Collette. She’s also wearing the exact same outfit. Just in case you needed further evidence that Collette most certainly is not an adult.   The porn bread bit finally leads up to another suggestive scene with Itsuki pushing a sausage into some Chikuwa that Collette is holding and they make it sound/look like sex. Apparently the legendary ultimate bread of Collette’s grandfather is “pigs in a blanket”. Absolutely mind blowing. At least the clover thing from the game was an idea that few people would have ever thought of. Festival time then happens. Mahiru and Yuzuha then proceed to roll up with some kind of coffin cart/pop-up food stall and set up next to Collette’s stall. The two of them were asked to run the stall and sell Lunch Packs by Femiruna’s father because something shocking happened to her recently and she’s not well enough to run the stall herself this year. Good to know that Femiruna is confirmed to be suffering from lingering trauma. Yeah, yeah. I’m sure the anime would just say she’s been overtaken by infatuation with Itsuki or something, but they didn’t explicitly say that and so my belief remains that she’s suffering from associated nightmares and anxiety from the ordeal she went through.   Moving on from that, there’s more shots of Tarua running around and not being directly involved with the episode. Collette’s plot also wraps up (she sells out, but Mahiru and Yuzuha still vastly outsell her because Femiruna’s dad keeps sending in new truckloads of stock). She realizes that she can’t compete with mass production but Itsuki provides her with the realization that she doesn’t have to because she’s able to put her heart into each loaf of bread she makes, which is something that Lunch Packs can’t do. I don’t know, it’s some feel good bullshit that motivates Collette but doesn’t change the fact that she’ll likely be run out of business because she can’t sell enough bread to support her bakery.  Yes, they are dressed as a sausage and chikuwa. Whatever, at least it means that Collette isn’t shown partially naked. Then we get the Love Ritual between Collette and Itsuki, which I guess officially marks the end of Collette’s screentime.  I… I don’t even know what the poo poo this scene is. Mahiru and Yuzuha sell out of Lunch Packs, then Femiruna and the two thugs show up. Femiruna tells them that if they’re sold out of bread, then “let them have panties.” User HerpicleOmnicron5 mentioned that this probably makes more sense in Japanese due to "pan" (Bread) and "pantsu" (Panties) being similar words. Granted, HerpicleOmnicron5 admits that this is still a weird scene even with that in mind. Itsuki comes back to the festival to find that Mahiru and Yuzuha are selling panties now (there are some boxers in there as well), which is disturbing because they are all loose and of different styles/designs (why exactly are none of those underwear packaged?). It was sort of funny to see Narc standing in line. He apparently just unknowingly wandered into the line; in case you were curious. He keeps muttering about “ancient texts”, so he must be lost in thought about that plot stuff.  …Wait, what? Tarua also pops up for another split-second interaction with Itsuki. She delivers him a letter from… Canada…? I think? Canada should be "カナダ", which that writing sort of resembles... if you squint... I thought it might be a mistranslation, but both the Funimation dub and a separate fan sub both say the same thing. Maybe it just looks weird because it's Mana's terrible handwriting? And how the hell does Mana even know what “Canada” is? Addendum: I immediately thought that this "Love Letter from Canada" was a reference to the trope/meme "I have a girlfriend. She lives in Canada" excuse. However, user Polsy dug around and discovered that it may be a reference to a Japanese song from 1978 called "カナダからの手紙" (Letter from Canada) by Masaaki Hirao and Yoko Hatanaka. "Love letter from Canada" is the English refrain of the song. Polsy thinks that the musical note on the letter points to this being the intended reference. I'll side with Polsy on this over my own theory, because the "Girlfriend in Canada" thing is more of a North American/European trope. Makes more sense that someone on the production team of this show would be a lover of that song as opposed to knowing about a seldom used trope of Western media.  Then Itsuki goes to a rebuilt Mansion of Horror that is now called “Delivery Training” and there’s a montage of Itsuki delivering letters in increasingly insane ways (he skydives out of a plane at one point to dunk a letter in a mail box). Apparently Mana and Boss (Tarua’s master) are testing him to see if he’s worthy to be with Tarua… who has interacted with Itsuki for roughly 20 seconds since he arrived in this world.  And then Narcisstes is shown being totally on board with the “panty packing” thing after all and nobody finds that strange in the slightest. Then we’re back to Itsuki helping Tarua with the “I lost a letter” scene as well as the entirety of her bonding route in the span of a 20 second scene.  The Love Ritual happens and we get a very brief shot of the new additions to the team: a sorcerer and a ninja. Also, Itsuki seals the 9th and 10th Labyrinths (according to Mana), so he’s just ripping through those without breaking a sweat I guess. That episode was a complete mess. More so than other episodes, it felt like we were changing scenes and subplots every few seconds. Not to mention that Tarua had barely any interaction with Itsuki and then her entire character route occurred within the span of a minute.  Oh sweet Jesus… Yeah, they aren’t even skirting around this. Episode 8 is just “The Bachelor”.   For some reason half of them are wearing dresses and the other half are in swimsuits. Also, we get a complete side-by-side shot of everyone here and none of the heights look even remotely close to the game. I know my height comparison was based on nothing but the character models in the game, but come on, Collette is nearly as tall as Reone here in that screenshot. There’s no way that’s a legit height adaption. Although, to be fair to the studio, it’s not as though we get a definitive answer in the game that the writers just ignored. I won’t hold it against them. Anyway, this “Bachelor” competition is similar to the show itself (I imagine. I’ve never actually watched an entire episode of that show). I’m not sure what the purpose of it is, though. Mana makes a point to mention that Sue and Mirei are the only two Star Maidens that haven’t Classmated with Itsuki yet and the next scene focuses on Sue’s entire character route. It’s no secret that Sue and Mirei will be winning this “competition”. Seems like a waste of screen time to fool around with this game show thing since we know exactly how this ends.  Yes, Itsuki summons a comically long stretch limo that has all of Sue’s animals inside. Sue gets her character spotlight and we get a few moments of characters like Ruka/Mahiru and Yuzuha/Collette teasing each other/hanging out as part of the "show". These scenes are intercut with cut-ins that have the characters sitting in chairs and talking to the camera about stuff that’s going on ("confession cam", basically). They’re really going all out on “The Bachelor” look. I’m not necessarily against it, I—  gently caress! TCG! Censor! For the love of god, cover as much of that as you can! Moving on, because “realistic naked woman body (with Mana’s head attached) covered in fruit” is something that will haunt my dreams for the next few weeks. There (surprisingly) isn’t much I can say about this. It’s just framed as an episode of “The Bachelor”. Other than that moment with Mana, there’s nothing particularly terrible or offensive about it. It just feels like something the writers did so that they would have something to constantly cut away to in order to sate their short attention spans. Alfie also makes her minor guest appearance with Seiya this time, watching the Granvanian Bachelor show on TV and also seemingly acting as guest commentators (there’s a picture-in-picture thing with Mana during this scene).  I don’t know. It’s not bad, but I just don’t see the point to it. I know it’s supposed to be funny, or a gag, but I’m just watching and going “I don’t care. I see things happening, but it’s all just static.” Maybe it’s because they don't go all the way with the idea. We don’t get any of the "plots, betrayals, alliances" or any of that drama stuff that people watch reality shows for. This is just wondow dressing for a typical episode of this anime.  There’s a thing where they have to compete in a stair climb after Mana covers them in white lotion, which is typical for this show. Only Reone, Mirei, Femiruna, Lillie, Arie, and Farun are part of it for unexplained reasons. Reone slips first and ends up taking everyone except Mirei and Arie down with her. Then Arie loses her grip and goes sliding down, which leaves Mirei as the winner of a private hot-tub date with Itsuki. This is the only game segment that happens by the way. Another way in which they half-rear end this idea.  Mirei’s character route is then boiled down completely to “can’t see well without her glasses” and “is intrigued by her heightened senses while she can’t see well”. She also gives Itsuki what is very clearly a handjob in the hot-tub, but then Itsuki tries to tease what actually happened by telling people to leave it up to their imagination.  At least we kind of get to see some of “Mad Scientist” Mirei. Although, like Arie, it’s been twisted into being a fetish thing instead of a quirk or simple hobby. Everything culminates in a Double Love Ritual with Sue and Mirei where Mirei uses hypnosis gas to make Sue not be embarrassed. This translates into making Sue act like a cat in heat (I mean that literally, by the way. She starts saying “Meow” and Mana wiggles a cat toy in front of her, which she pounces on and bats at). Mirei goes stupid, and by that I mean she becomes a drooling idiot only concerned with the Love Ritual.  And Mana gets gangbanged by Sue’s animals because she slipped some aphrodisiac into Mirei's hypno gas and Sue's animals ended up breathing it in.  Itsuki gives Archer and Thief pats on the head and they trot off smiling and laughing. The Star Children scenes will be the only unconditional praise I ever give this series. The ending few minutes of the episode features another brief appearance of Alfie. Also we get to see the Star Children in their little kindergarten classroom. The mysterious roar also happens and Itsuki rushes to the castle where all of the actual story kicks back in and the Ophiuchus Labyrinth/13th Phantom is explained to everyone.   You don’t have the balls, Conception: The Anime. We all know it. They also tease the idea that the 13th Maiden could be Seiya, Shang, or Narc. Itsuki blushes and says “Maybe”, but then while Mana is going crazy with fantasizing we see Itsuki walking by her with a “Not a loving chance” expression on his face. I think that means Mana was just imagining Itsuki being into that idea. Let’s be honest here: We know Alfie is the 13th Maiden. That wasn’t even a secret in the lead up to this series (she was advertised as such). I don’t believe for a second that this show has the guts to show Itsuki doing the Love Ritual with Seiya, Narc, or Shang. But who knows? Maybe they will show something like that and treat it seriously instead of turning it into a— No, sorry. I can’t even finish that statement with a straight face. I fully expect them to make this an extended “ew, gay people HAHA” thing. After the trash fire that was episode 6, do you honestly think they are capable of treating something like that with nuance?  Oh yeah, and the episode ends with this ominous shot of Alfie. The credits sequence is then replaced by sepia-toned footage of Alfie and the Star Children from their appearances in the episodes so far.  This loving show… All right let’s get this over with. Is everyone properly braced for what could be another train wreck? We already got a hint in Episode 5 that Seiya was secretly hot for Itsuki. We also know that the show is completely incapable of approaching something like this with respect. They also don’t have the comedy chops to make it funny.  Itsuki walks around looking at pretty dudes and buff sweaty dock workers, but doesn’t really react. Then he sees Seiya jogging and we get some close ups of his hamstrings and biceps and there’s bishi sparkles around him while Itsuki blushes a bit.  Itsuki continues to wander around places where dudes hang out, like the public baths. He’s clearly thinking it over in his head. I guess at the very least I will give the show a thumbs up for not making Itsuki act like Yusuke from Persona 4. Seiya also keeps “coincidentally” turning up everywhere Itsuki goes. So I guess this is the plan that Mana came up with back during the beach episode. The 13th Maiden thing was just the excuse they needed I suppose.  Mana just starts breaking the fourth wall eventually and telling Itsuki about how they teased a boys' love thing last episode so they’ve got to deliver it, that it’s a plot twist to stimulate and shock the viewer, and that it’s not a stretch for episode 9 material. Sure, I guess just do that. I will say that so far, I do like the fact that Itsuki has just been kind of spaced out about this whole idea. He’s thinking about it and he’s not sure how he feels about it. I fully expected this show to make him do the “Gross, get the gayness away from me!” deal. I’m just predisposed to expect the worst from this show.  …For good reason. That’s Mana suggesting other ways that the 13th Maiden could be a “forbidden” love situation. She says that if it’s not boys' love, then maybe it’s sibling love, or stepmother love, or dominatrix love, or beastiality.  So glad I decided to do this side-series of updates. I could be grinding out RNG based quests right now. Yes, that prospect sounds far more enjoyable to me. No, I am not misinterpreting that. That’s Sue looking at Itsuki in tears because Mana is talking about him loving one of her horses and she thinks he might be on board with that idea (He most certainly is not, thankfully. He quickly tells Sue that he’s got nothing to do with what Mana is saying).  I do like this scene a little bit. Mana points out that Narc is totally a virgin because he spends all his time reading ancient texts and being a weirdo. Mana asserts that Seiya is because, as a playboy that looks like he has lots of experience with women, he would never let girls know that he actually has no experience (he would save himself for the perfect chance). Mana sidesteps the possibility of Shang by saying Itsuki will know if he can do it when the time comes (Itsuki can’t believe that Shang is a virgin). Anyway, let’s not drag this out (like the episode is doing). We’re halfway into the episode and so far we’ve gotten nothing but scenes of Itsuki questioning whether or not he’s cool with grinding up on a man. Let’s cut to the chase.  Itsuki/Seiya is teased, but Itsuki bails on it before anything actually happens. Itsuki then goes to Narc, which Mana is excited about, but the two of them just talk about the 13th Labyrinth and Narc empathizes with Itsuki’s plight of having to shoulder the burden of the world on his shoulders. There’s no yaoi teasing going on here. Itsuki does get freaked out and bail when Narc asks him for help in deciphering an “ancient text” though (it’s basically a copy of the Kama Sutra).  Mana’s backstory is then randomly dumped out of nowhere.  Mana’s backstory somehow gives Itsuki the resolve to go through with doing the Love Ritual with another dude… somehow. I think it’s framed as Itsuki putting the needs of the world over his personal sexual preferences. He brings in both Narc and Seiya in order to try for the Double Love Ritual.  But no, of course they don’t actually go through with it. Just as Itsuki gives his big plea for Narc and Seiya to “have his child” for the sake of Granvania, the walls of the ritual chamber fall apart and reveal that everyone was just punking Itsuki about the whole “the 13th Maiden is a man” thing. Everyone was in on this and Mana laughs off the idea of the Love Ritual being possible between men.  Hilariously (in terms of poor animation), the “Maidens” are all in their stock/artwork poses. It’s like the show couldn’t afford to get the “actors” together for this scene and just decided to use promotional standees. It looks like someone photoshopped them into the background. Arie’s hair looks like it’s frozen in time. Not to mention, is that Ruka's hand? It's minuscule! So yeah, everybody was trying to get Itsuki to think that he had to do the Love Ritual with men in order to… teach him a lesson? No… no, that’s not it. Mana suggests that they did it in order for Itsuki to overcome prejudices… or to make him realize that some things are more important than personal hangups… or to make him more open minded… or it was so that Itsuki could “love the thirteenth maiden with fresh feelings”? I don’t know. I really don’t. They tried to make Itsuki think that he had to engage in a gay three-way against his personal preferences in order to save the world, then yelled “Psyche! Don’t be stupid.” Somehow that will make his Love Ritual with Alfie better. I like the concept of “be more open-minded” and I’m glad they didn’t have Itsuki act like Yusuke or Sanji or someone at the suggestion that he had to do it with a dude. But I don’t feel as though they stuck the landing. It could have been worse. I was expecting worse. I think the fact that this was treated as a big prank that everyone else was in on is what ruins this. The justification that Mana gives is incredibly flimsy (“You were willing to gently caress a dude! That means your feelings for the 13th Maiden will be stronger than ever!”). This entire episode would have been better spent focusing on Alfie and building her up. Just before the credits, we get a slightly better delivered message that amounts to “It’s not about preferring men or women, it’s about having feelings for each other. Whether you like men or like women, there’s somebody out there for you. You’re someone’s personal ‘Visitor/Saviour’.” And no, Alfie doesn’t show up in this episode. She doesn’t even get her usual guest appearance from what I recall. That was an entire episode where nothing happens and no story is advanced. It didn’t even advance Itsuki as a character. Itsuki is clearly not interested in men in that way. All this episode does is get him to admit that “Yeah, I’ll do whatever it takes to save the world.” He sort of already had that resolve. His own life is on the line as much as everyone else’s is after all. So, there you go. Episodes 7-9. Not as bad as previous episodes, but that’s a low bar to clear so nobody should be applauding this show for doing it. Overall, these three episodes just felt like a lot of padding. Which is weird, because this series shouldn’t be able to afford padding. Like, looking at this from the perspective of the show being a marketing tool (which it specifically is), what aspect of the game was episode 9 advertising? Seiya has roughly 3 lines in the entire game (as part of Lillith’s route) and he never directly interacts with Itsuki. There’s also no “Classmanting” like there was in Conception II. -Ratings- I don’t feel like ratings are appropriate for this anymore, at least not as far as I originally intended. The animation hasn’t gotten any worse or better. There’s still the problem of wonky character appearances in some scenes and an overall lack of fluidity in the animation. The longer the series goes on, the less it sticks to the game in terms of just about everything (characterizations, events, character interactions). Even the fanservice is all over the place. As for episodes 7-9 on their own? They were boring and felt pointless at several moments (The Bachelor segment, the entirety of Episode 9), but I’m okay with that. After episodes 5 and 6, being able to zone out and just let this show flow over me was relieving. I’m already forgetting the details of each episode and I haven’t even finished the update. That suits me just fine. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 15:06 on Apr 9, 2020 |
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Apr 8, 2020 00:44
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Honestly the Bachelor bit has some potential given the material but I'm not surprised that they didn't have the talent to pull it off.
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Apr 8, 2020 01:04
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Psycho Knight posted:Special Update IV: If nothing else, I’m a glutton for punishment – Conception: The Anime (Episodes 7-9) Props for going through with this, I suppose. I wouldn't have. That being said... Comments Regarding the Anime: thanks, I hate it ...And that's all.
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Apr 8, 2020 01:32
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I think the "ran out of bread, so give them panties" makes a lot more sense in Japanese. Bread and panties, pan and pantsu. Still, that's the dumbest goddamn thing, and having Narc take part just makes zero sense to his character. I can't believe that they made this terrible game this much worse by somehow being far more nonsensical. It's making me miss the actual game?
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Apr 8, 2020 01:47
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SSNeoman posted:Honestly the Bachelor bit has some potential given the material but I'm not surprised that they didn't have the talent to pull it off. I would have liked it! But they only kind of commit to it. They go all in on the dressing, but there's only a single game segment and the part with Sue doesn't even feel like it's part of the "show". I had an idea to do up a video that overlayed audio from Most Extreme Elimination Challenge over this, but I didn't have enough "gameshow" footage from this episode to make it work. I thought there would be a bunch of weird reality show games when the episode first started and I found out what they were going for. I'll post a mockup of the idea I had later on. The scenes also change constantly. They never linger long enough for you to enjoy anything about the concept. We get a brief moment where Ruka prods Mahiru about her first Love Ritual and Mahiru gets embarrassed while Ruka acts as though it was no big deal for her. They're teasing each other and talking like they are on an episode of "The Bachelor" (as in they seem to be forcing themselves to get along and laugh at each other's teasing for the sake of the script). We also get a screenshot of Collette and Yuzuha baking together, but there's no dialogue. But that's about it as far as the concept goes. The rest is just that stair climbing game and some confession cam stuff. There's not even a rose ceremony. Itsuki is supposed to give special sushi (which is a substitute for the roses in this version), but only Sue and Mirei are shown being given it. They give up on that idea almost as soon as they mention it. I think I would have been on board for the episode if they had everyone going all in on it. Show them competing in a bunch of games! Show them interacting with each other and then having confession cams shots where they're like "God, I hate that bitch. She thinks she's so funny." Mana even teases drama, tension, betrayals, and all that juicy stuff that people watch shows like "The Bachelor" for, but none of it happens. The Flying Twybil posted:Comments Regarding the Anime: That's all that really has to be said. HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:I think the "ran out of bread, so give them panties" makes a lot more sense in Japanese. Bread and panties, pan and pantsu. Still, that's the dumbest goddamn thing, and having Narc take part just makes zero sense to his character. I miss the actual game every single time I sit down to watch the anime. That pan/pantsu thing is probably what they were going for, now that you mention it. I never thought about that that way. It's still kind of weird, but at least there's some thread of logic to where the idea came from. I'm not sure why Narc is shown getting serious about. What's weirder is that, despite me pointing out that there are men's boxers included in that pile, you can clearly tell that Narc is grabbing women's panties. You'll notice that all the boxers are dark colours while the panties are bright colors (which Narc is grabbing). Nobody questions why he's doing this. The only thing that happens in that scene is that Yuzuha counts up to 13, which causes Narc to stop and realize something (related to the 13th Labyrinth), at which point he runs off. That seems to be the only purpose of the scene. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Apr 8, 2020 |
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Apr 8, 2020 02:18
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So basically you want Sabagebu, OP! 
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Apr 8, 2020 04:28
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Psycho Knight posted:That's all that really has to be said. Yep. SSNeoman posted:So basically you want Sabagebu, OP! Cripes. That's, uh, going to leave a mark. A big, permanent one.
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Apr 8, 2020 05:16
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