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given the likely way to check the tail is pulling on it, yeah it's likely the pervy or jackass option.
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Jul 31, 2021 20:05
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Robindaybird posted:given the likely way to check the tail is pulling on it, yeah it's likely the pervy or jackass option. Omobono posted:I'd assume that checking her ears is the snarky option and checking her tail is the pervy option. I guess I just don't know much about catgirls.
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Aug 1, 2021 12:58
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Cat puns nyare very good. Only meownsters dislike cat puns.
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Aug 1, 2021 18:44
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So about Catgirl, she has an extremely famous japanese VA. Arguably the #1 Female VA of the 00's. Yep, Rie Kugimiya. She's is easily one of my favorite roles of hers. Obviously I like Catpuns. Also the Buffin Rangers killed me. MythosDragon fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Aug 2, 2021 |
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Aug 2, 2021 02:20
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vilkacis posted:Cat puns nyare very good. Only meownsters dislike cat puns. This is going to be a whole thing with her, isn't it? (It's obviously not a spoiler to say that she'll be joining our team. I think that much is pretty obvious to everyone.) MythosDragon posted:So about Catgirl, she has an extremely famous japanese VA. Arguably the #1 Female VA of the 00's. Yep, Rie Kugimiya. She's is easily one of my favorite roles of hers. Obviously I like Catpuns. I did not recognize that name at all. Even after looking her up, out of all the stuff she's been in (and she has been in a lot, as you say), I think I've only encountered her voice work in maybe 5 anime/games.
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Aug 2, 2021 13:50
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Update 21: Clone Wars What’s wrong, Alf? Ah, it’s you. The Valkania Army is just north of here, but we lack the means to defeat them… What are you going to do, then? There’s something I’d like you to do for me.Destroy the army by ourselves? We can do that.  If we use this place as a decoy and lure the enemy here, our main force can swing around and strike their flank. We’re the bait, aren’t we?It should be obvious what he’s driving at here. I’m sorry, but… yes. That’s what I’m asking of you. We will need all our military strength to completely eliminate the enemy. We’ll be leaving our battle flags here, though, in order to draw in the enemy. That would crush morale, causing mass desertion and likely ending the battle for us. I cannot stress enough how imperative it is to protect our battle flags… At all costs. Do you understand the operation? I understand.Yeah, yeah. Stand here and kill anything that tries to touch our flag. Got it. Excellent. As soon as you make your preparations, I’d like to begin this operation. Tell me when you’re ready. Once more, with feeling this time. Buff everyone up and talk to Alf to get started. The plateau has 3 flags on it that we will need to defend. Their positions don’t matter too much, since this fight will (hopefully) be finished before any melee soldiers get within striking distance. Do you understand the battle plan? I’m ready to go. Okay. We will move around the enemy and attack from the rear. I’ll leave the rest to you!*Alf and the soldiers leave to the south*  But why protect flags specifically? They’re just flags. And your men know they’re only here as a diversion, anyway. To a soldier, a flag is more than just a marker on a map. It represents all that you’re fighting for--your leaders, your pride, your family… And not everyone knows the plan. For those, falling flags would just mean that the base was taken, and that would kill morale. It’s important for every soldier to believe that victory is possible. Such hope is a necessity. Okay… I can understand that. Well? What should we do, then? We have some time before the enemy gets here… We certainly can’t leave this area. As long as we stay here, we’ll be all right. We have a chance to talk with our party before everything kicks off. Let’s see how they’re feeling. Hah… never a dull moment with you. It feels kind of odd to be saying that when we could lose our lives in this. But I don’t feel like we can lose, honestly. We’ll have you to thank if we win.That seems overly flattering, but our Eliza will actually be putting in a good deal of work during this mission. You might just be trying to flatter me, but that still makes me happy. I feel like I can rely on you.On to Remus! Also, just as a suggestion: Don’t do this the way I’m doing it. You should try and talk to Frayne first, then Remus and Eliza. You’ll see why in a little bit.  Say, do you remember about the first time I went into battle at Lamplast Island? I was scared out of my wits. What was your first battle like? It was a cakewalk. It was a cakewalk probably because Bauer was babysitting Crevanille during his first deployment. I figured you’d say that. A lot’s happened since then. I’d like to think that I’m much stronger now. Compared to you, though… Well, never mind.Never compare yourself to Vampire Lord Crevanille, Remus. Just be proud of how far you’ve personally come.  This may be just me, but I feel as if you and I have some sort of connection. And our common bond seems to be the Angels…Frayne is really playing up this soulmate idea she’s concocted. Unfortunately we have little choice but to play into that, because the other two options are kind of jerk responses (“Sounds like your imagination” and “……”). It’s true. I knew I wasn’t alone! The Angelic visions… They must be proof of some link. And then why is it that only we can see them?That’s a good question that we probably won’t get the answer to for a while. Anyway, now that we’ve talked to everyone at least once, we need to talk to a party member one more time in order to trigger the mission. Eliza and Remus tend to wander around closest to the right side of the plateau, so you should try and talk to one of them.  And this is why. Norman and a large number of Valkanian soldiers will appear from the top right part of the screen. You want Crevanille to be as close as possible to them when the battle begins. Now, it is possible to talk to three of your party members and then just sit and wait right near the spot where Norman and the soldiers appear. It takes a minute or two, but they will eventually arrive. If Crevanille has Circle Strike, then you can destroy the entire Valkanian force very quickly. I only recommend this if your Crevanille is as powerful as ours, however. Otherwise, all you’ve done is make him a punching bag. Also, in case you haven’t noticed: Yuni’s Costume I has different expressions that reflect her tone. The eyes on the dog and fish portions of the costume will change. Neat!  It seems that we’ve come this far rather easily…[Valkania Captain]: W-What!? There’s only four of them!? Second Lieutenant! The enemy seems to have left only four people to defend their camp!  Four is three too many. I expected to find a massive force, since I picked up a great deal of movement. Seems like whatever plan they had fell apart, though.Yep, that’s definitely what happened. Certainly not an incredibly obvious feint or anything. No, sir.   Norman is a great target for your Thievery ability, so make sure you have at least 1 usage of it before going into this fight. He recovers about 12-15 HP every so often, but he is not a major threat on his own. Crevanille should be able to take him one-on-one (Our Crevanille is of course hilariously overqualified for this). Outside of that, your only concern in this battle should be taking out whatever archers and spellcasters are on the field. Blocking the path of the melee soldiers is easy, since the paths leading to the plateau are narrow. Archers and spellcasters, however, can hit the Ordinale flags from a distance.  If you are quick at the start of the battle, then you should be able to catch every enemy in a Level 2 Joint Spell before they split up. It probably won’t kill any of them, but it will greatly weaken everyone and make them easier pickings for Crevanille/Eliza/Remus.  In our case, Norman coughs up a Luck Up +3, which is great. We’ll cover the details on that after the battle.  Archers will likely be able to get in one or two hits on the flags before you can deal with them, but the flags are thankfully sturdy enough to take a little bit of punishment. The big drawback to the flags, however, is the fact that they are not living things. That means we can’t heal them like we can with the other escort NPCs we’ve encountered so far.  The Valkania Captain manages to drop a Thorned Power upon death. Thorned Power is basically just two Ascetic’s Vows in one. That’s going right on Crevanille once we’re done here, giving him an extra 50% weapon damage while allowing him to keep that STR Growth Up spellstone on.  After dealing with a few of the Valkanian soldiers, reinforcements will appear in the southwest. So, the flanking troops have finally arrived![Valkania Soldier #1]: My deepest apologies for being late! We were waylaid by enemy forces while coming here! These are the spellcasters I warned you about. Make sure you deal with them as quickly as possible. Get Remus and Frayne on them when they show up and ignore the two swordsmen for now. It’s going to take them a while to actually move up to the plateau. In our case, I have Eliza finish off the soldiers she was dealing with, use the Dash Knack, and then send her out to intercept the new swordsmen. Crevanille deals with Norman and the remaining forces in the north.  [Valkania Messenger]: Our troops are in retreat, and we’re being surrounded! What!? So, that was their plan!This scene triggers after Norman has taken enough damage (probably 50%-60%). Shortly after this, another hit from Crevanille forces Norman to back down. We can’t risk staying here any longer… There’s no choice! We have to flee! Rally our remaining troops. We’ll try to find a weakness in their formation and burst through it![Valkania Soldier #2]: Yes, sir!  The enemy is retreating, Master. I suggest we pursue them. If we can eliminate more of them, it will help us in future battles. Apparently, Crevanille’s last hit was also enough to defeat Norman entirely. Normally, he would have a little bit of health left after his call to retreat. He will attempt to escape to the edge of the map, requiring you to chase him down before he gets there. But our Crevanille is so powerful that he just outright skipped that stage.  After Norman calls for a retreat, the remaining soldiers will make a break for the upper right corner of the map. The Messenger from before will likely slip away, because he spawns right at the very edge of the map. While that would normally be unacceptable to me and my bloodthirsty desire to erase all who oppose us, I let it slide this time because it doesn’t affect our ability to get a Mission Complete. Picking him off also requires me to have Frayne standing around on standby in anticipation of his arrival, which is a waste of her time and also a pain.  Everyone else is not afforded the same mercy, however.  Not a difficult mission, but if you get unlucky with the flags then you may have to restart. Losing 1 flag will lock you into a Mission Clear and losing all of them will be a Mission Failure. I think the only conditions for a complete are all flags surviving, but you may also have to defeat Norman/prevent more than 1 soldier from escaping. Superlative, everyone. We somehow kept the flags flying all the way to the end. Alf! Some of them escaped, but we took them to the brink of annihilation, and it’s all thanks to you. Their formation suggested that they had a very capable commander. It was Lieutenant Norman.”Capable” may be too strong a word for him, but at least he’s not an outright idiot like Simmons. Lieutenant Norman, eh? I see… He’s known as one of Sir Muntzer’s best men. Even among his adversaries, he’s highly respected for his wits.He is? …Wow, make no wonder Valkania has been struggling against two weak opponents. Well, we’ll continue our advance. Thank you again for your help.Well, that was an underwhelming resolution. We fight off one of Muntzer’s best men and a raiding party of Valkanian soldiers and all we get is “Welp, thanks. Bye now.” You used to be cool, Alf…  Who am I kidding... He’s still cool. Before we continue, I’ll talk about the Luck Up +3 we got from Norman. Luck Up +3, aside from giving us a better chance at “sweetdiculous items”, will also teach the skills Caster Guard and Quick Cast. Caster Guard raises defence will charging a spell. Quick Cast is the more important one, however, as it naturally speeds up casting time. This goes on Frayne and will stay on her until it gets Mastered (at which point I will likely strap it to Remus or Eliza).  Leaving the plateau to the upper right, we’ll be taken to a new field. After going north for a little bit, the path will split. Alfonse and the Ordinale soldiers are further ahead and will inform us that the frontlines are to the north. We can go there, but there’s just a bunch of roaming Valkanian soldiers that will eventually culminate in one of those infinite enemy spawning map edges. There’s no point to go that way unless you want to do some skill leveling. So instead, we’re going to go to the right.  The field to the right has some more trolls and Kester recolours, along with more sentient sex toys. These things are one of the few enemies that are weak to Earth that you can actually hit with Earth. Be cautious with the Kester recolours. I discovered around this time that their attacks can inflict petrification (along with the Paralysis they have always been capable of). Petrification completely stops a character from acting and technically counts as a KO if all your other party members are petrified or knocked out.  Traveling to the upper right for another screen will lead us to the Kaufman waterfall. If that’s Kaufman Waterfall, then are the ruins somewhere nearby? The information we found about Kaufman said some kind of “Anti-Angel Weapon Facility” is here, but what’s that mean? We’ll find out when we get there.I appreciate that Eliza is consistently the voice of “Guys, cross that bridge when we get to it. Let’s go already.”  Heading to the right of the scenic waterfall screen, there’s one more field between us and the ruins. It’s a straight path with a few groups of enemies on it, but nothing noteworthy to see or find. We eventually hit a group of trees with a rocky path on the right side.  There’s enough energy here for a Transgate. I will set one up here for the future. Before going any further, take advantage of our new fast travel point and head back to No Angeles. We need to rest and save before tackling those ruins.Here is my gentle recommendation at this point: Make sure that Frayne and Remus have the Holy spell. You’ll also want multiple Dispel spellstones. Alternatively, you can teach someone the Magic Shell buff spell. The enemies in the next mission are going to be abusing the absolute hell out of spells.  Remember that there is an infinite enemy spawn just north of where Alfonse and the Ordinale Army are positioned. This is a good spot to grind out some skill experience.  When you feel you are ready, head for the cave behind the waterfall. It was built inside the mountain to keep it from being discovered by the Angels. Inside, there is a door that blocks our path further into the ruins. Before examining this door, make sure you do your buffing.  Magic Shell is very costly (20 MP a cast), but it completely nullifies enemy spells for a decent length of time. You could also give everyone a Dispel spellstone, but that will only block 75% of spells. It will also interfere with allied spells targeting your own characters (like Heal, Raise, Remedy, etc.). However you want to do this, just make sure that you go into this fight with some way of blocking enemy magic. You’re going to have a real bad time without that.  As soon as you open the doors, an alarm will start going off.  One of the guardians will move up to a nearby switch and pull it. Master! We must hurry! I hope you saved right before coming here, because chances are you will be restarting this mission at least once (unless you have advanced knowledge of it, like I’m providing to you right now). There are 6 treasure chests on this map. 3 on each half of the field. It hasn’t been explained yet, but the chests are on a timer. You need to get to them as quickly as possible. In the screenshot above, you can see the manually plotted route I gave Crevanille in order to reach the first treasure. I plot a similar route for Eliza on the left-hand side of the hallway. In both halls, there will be a Skeleton guarding the chest. They have the Counter skill, but overall they aren’t especially dangerous to Eliza/Crevanille.  Here are the primary threats in this mission.  There are a total of four of these shadowy bastards. Two behind the staircase at the end of the main hall and one in the upper left and upper right hallways. These things cast spells very quickly. They have access to Cycle Down and Joint Spells like Thunderstorm and Tornado. Thunderstorm/Tornado will usually tag every character in your party, regardless of where they are on the field. Its AOE range is total bullshit.  The thing is, these guys are very weak to Holy magic. A Joint Spell like Holy Cross will take out both of the ones by the staircase (depending on your stats, of course). After that, Frayne and Remus should be able to take out the other 2 with a Level 3 Holy spell. If you have the spellstone Mage Slaughter, then giving that to Frayne or Remus might allow them to kill with a Level 2 Holy instead.  This is why you want to deal with them as fast as possible. The speed at which these little shits can cast spells is ridiculous. What you’re seeing above is the Joint Spell “Tornado”, which is somehow hitting the entire party, even though you can’t even see Eliza on the screen. Magic Shell should last just long enough for you to kill off the shadow casters. Once those shadow monsters are dealt with, your Holy casters can turn their attention to the skeletons, since those are also weak to Holy.  Eliza obviously gets to her chest first, because it’s attached to her!  No, but seriously, her movement speed is broken AF. The chest she opened contains a Soul Scroll. The next treasure is further up the main hall. The guardians will have likely moved down to meet you at this point, but in our case, they have focused their attention on Crevanille. This gives Eliza just enough room to squeeze by them and continue her mad dash around the field. The chest that Crevanille was after contains another Elixir Vitae.  Eliza snags the next chest. It has Theriaca. We’ll cover all this loot after the battle is finished.  She also gets the chest after that with a Balance Breaker EX in it. Crevanille has unfortunately been held up by the guardians bottlenecking the hallway and blocking his exit from his treasure chest.  Eventually, one of the treasure chests will suddenly evaporate. Yuni will then finally explain the gimmick at work here.  The game is at least nice enough to tell you which chest is going to disappear next. The order also never changes. First the two chests near the entrance, then the two near the room with the staircase/switch in it. Finally, the two chests on the far ends (the ones down the side halls). It always starts with whatever chest is on the left.  There are two ways to get through this mission with all the treasure. If you are lucky/fast enough, then Crevanille and Eliza can run around the guardians to reach the treasures. Alternatively, you can grab the first two chests near the start, then focus on trying to kill all the enemies as fast as possible.  If all enemies are defeated, then the mission will automatically end, even if you haven’t picked up every treasure chest. HOWEVER!   The mission objective still needs to be completed. We need to hit the switch in the room with the staircase before that timer reaches 0. Of course, if we flip that switch, then the treasure chests will be instantly destroyed. The treasure chests will also continue to disappear even after the mission is finished, so don’t delay in grabbing them before that happens. The last two chests I didn’t mention yet contained a Seal Circle Strike and an Interceptor spellstone.  When you’ve grabbed all the treasure (or given up on it and simply want to finish the mission), then you need to get to this switch and hit it to stop the countdown. The door stopped closing.As I said before, this mission will be near impossible if you don’t have holy and/or some type of spell nullification. If the shadow monsters decide to spam Cycle Down on your entire party, then they will probably be too slow to reach all the chests or survive the constant Joint Spells and the Guardians/Skeletons. As for treasure, Soul Scroll will teach someone the ability Magic Vortex. Not especially useful, since Magic Vortex is easy to learn through spellstones (and has limited use). Interceptor teaches Counter, which is way more important for some like Crevanille (who has the Limit Ability “Hard Counter”). Theriaca, meanwhile, teaches Ailment Guard. Ailment Guard bumps up the natural protection against status ailments of a character. At Level 5, it offers protection against stuff like Petrification and Instakill effects.  There aren’t any other threats coming up, so you don’t need to run back and heal before proceeding. Just head down the stairs.  Get ready for our first big revelation of the game! …Unless you count the fact that Angels exist. Or that Vester can tell when Yuni’s foresight ability is being used on him. Or… never mind. There’s a major story development coming, so let’s just watch. Wh-What is this!? Check out the cutscene: JENOVA     B-But… this is a facility for destroying the Angels, isn’t it? They created Angels to fight the Angels? What does this mean? It’s like fighting fire with fire. You’re right. It makes sense they would create these to deal with that level of power.So, the female angel that destroyed Ribocca and appeared in Trockmere is not the female Angel that Crevanille has been seeing in his visions (the one seen talking with the male angel and overlooking that strange futuristic city). The female angel(s) that we’ve encountered in-person (the one with black wings and a purple energy spear/halo) is actually a man-made knockoff of the real thing. But if that’s the case, why wasn’t this facility used? There must be a reason. There’s no clear answer right now. We should keep looking around.We need to explore this place a little more to find the answers we’re looking for. Before we go wandering around, however, we examine the white sparkly right next to where we entered. We pick up something called an Energy Pack. That’ll be something for Maggie to sort out later.  Further in, we find an info panel or something that we can fiddle with. *Ancient text is written on this panel* Master Power: OFF, “Standby Mode.” There’s also something about an “Operations Manual.” Should I read that? Yes. Hm… I don’t understand the more obscure words, but it appears to be a device for creating weapons as strong as the Angels. Once the device is activated, it’ll take about a month for a weapon to be produced. At least, that’s what it says. A month… This button says “Main Start-Up” on it. If you press that button, the facility will become operational again. Uhhh… That’s probably not a good idea. I’m all for slamming on random buttons to see what happens, but if the Angels were as big a threat as we’ve been lead to believe, then it’s super suspicious that a facility like this was just left in standby mode with clone Angels seemingly ready to roll out. No. Nothing happens after we select “No.” There is a little scrap of paper sitting on the ground next to the control panel, though. Let’s have a look at that before we go making any major decisions. That’s in an ancient language, isn’t it? Frayne, can you read it? It’s an order… Hm. So, that’s why this place isn’t running. Speaking of hiding from the Angels… does that mean the thing here isn’t an Angel? In any case, why don’t we try to make sense of what we’ve learned up to now?Quiz time! Okay. What was this facility’s purpose? To make weapons to fight Angels. Why isn’t this place running, then? To hide it from the Angels. Hm. And if this facility is made functional again? The Angels will find it. Yes, that all sounds correct. This place was built to defeat the Angels, but it was shut down to prevent detection. I feel like we have even more mysteries to deal with now. I guess we don’t have any choice but to investigate the other ruins, then. But there is one thing certain. What is it, Eliza? I see what you’re saying… So all that’s left is finding a way to defeat them, huh?I suppose that means we should let sleeping dogs lie for the time being. There’s nothing left to do in these ruins, so let’s head back to No Angeles and turn over that Energy Pack we found to Maggie.  Right before we do that, however, I want to pawn off all the lovely Rings I picked up while grinding for skill exp. Also, there’s something over here that the game doesn’t signal to you. It just hopes that you’ll eventually explore the Western half of your city for little or no reason.   *A little girl wanders out from behind the flowers* [Man]: Why do you have to cause your father so much trouble? Don’t you see how worried I am? [Girl]: B-But… I’m going to regret asking, but…  That would be us. What the hell are you doing in our city? [Man]: Salutations! I do not believe I have had the pleasure of making your acquaintance. I am Unmas. I was introduced by Gordran, and I’ve opened up an equipment shop here. I’d planned on going to see you all, but… Not that I think this is a bad idea (it’s not. Having an Armour shop here would be awesome), but Sydney is certainly making a lot of decisions for us in regards to city planning. We didn’t okay the Battle Arena either. Sure, there was no way we were going to shoot down an idea like that, but it’s nice to be consulted on it before plans start getting drawn up.  Anyway, back to the topic at hand. We have an annoying little task to perform before we get to have an Armour shop. [Unmas]: I was so consumed with my business at the time… I found this one, but I know not where the other three are. Crevanille, if you happen upon my children, could you tell them to come straight home? I’m worried that if I take my eyes off this little one, she’ll scamper off, too. It may seem like an unusual request, but I beg you, please help!  You’re lucky you run an Armour shop. God, kids suck.The only hint that Unmas has for us is that he doesn’t think that his kids would be able to cross a national border, so they should still be in Marquelay. I should remind you that the entire continent is engulfed in war right now and Angels are blowing up random towns. The fact that your kids may not be in No Angeles or Marquelia should be extremely concerning both to their safety, and to your suitability as a parent.  The little girl is a bit more helpful. The city would be Marquelia, while the only fort we know of (in Marquelay) is that one that Baker is stationed at (north of Sunsail). Let’s check Marquelia, first.  We find one of the kids hiding under this umbrella. She immediately bolts towards the castle, so we chase after her.  [Girl #2]: You must be some kind of extraordinary trackers! I understand. Dad, er, Father sent you to locate me, didn’t he? Yes. Now go back to No Angeles. I have poo poo to— [Girl #2]: I bet he told you that it was dangerous for someone as cute as me to be wandering about this city. No. Now go back to No Angeles. [Girl #2]: Even still, I have the right to play, too, so I won’t go home. However, if you entertain me for a bit, I will honor his wishes. I like people who are smarter than I am. So, if you can answer four of my five questions, I will be satisfied and will return home. Well? Will you accept my challenge? God. Damnit… Fine, whatever. Let’s get this done. You’re on![Girl #2]: That’s more like it! Well, follow me.  Don’t ask. [Girl #2]: We need independent verification of this challenge. These soldiers will be our witnesses. [Marquelay Soldier #2]: Uh… What are we supposed to do? Just shut up, dude… Please. [Girl #2]: Question Number 1!  How in the gently caress would you even know this, little girl? Whatever. We will never forget Old Bacon Rind. The answer is Alten Schwart.  Well, only two of these people have a character portrait and neither rocks a porn stache, so Levan must be our answer for Question #2.  Again, how the hell does she know this? Can she even see Yuni? The answer is Fingernails.  We just learned this. It’s Unmas.  This fact is a little more understandable. Latika is incredibly talkative when it comes to her step-dad. She’s kind of a security threat. [Girl #2]: That’s amazing! You really know your stuff!  [Girl #2]: Let’s meet again in No Angeles. I’ll come up with some tougher trivia questions next time! *The girl leaves*  Don’t loving patronize us…  The next kid is all the way out in Sunsail, which we can at least fast travel to. He’s tucked away pretty good.  [Boy #1]: Oh, I get it! Da--um, Father hired you to come take me back, didn’t he? Let’s just skip the pleasantries and get right down to business, shall we? What is your gimmick?    Note: There’s a good chance that this kid is being a cheating liar here. For me, X was the button I had to mash, not O. Like a lot of localized Playstation games around this era (90’s-00’s), O and X are translated directly when appearing in the script instead of being adjusted for English control schemes. You’ve likely heard this a thousand times by now, but in Japan, O is commonly used as the “Accept/Confirmation” button. X is the “Cancel/Back Out” button. Despite how much sense this makes, English Playstation audiences/developers tended to swap these button roles around for some insane reason and it’s something that stuck.  Just make sure you check on which button you have assigned to “Confirm/Accept.” That’s the one you want to be mashing here. Also, the kid will tell you not to touch the analog pad or the cursor key. Basically, do not touch anything other than the button you are using to mash.  Truly, a clash of titans. You have about 30 seconds to push him to the edge of the map. I hope your reflexes haven’t been destroyed by age and caffeine tolerance, because this little bastard puts up a solid fight.  [Boy #1]: I will pay my respects to your superior strength and return to Pop… Father. Let’s face each other in No Angeles next time. Farewell. That’s one more down and one left to find. The first girl mentioned a fort, so let’s go back to where Baker is stationed, just north of Sunsail (the place where we first met Porak).  This one is hiding behind the gate door.  His challenge is tricky. We need to physically block him from reaching the edge of this map, either to the west or south.  What makes this a pain is that Crevanille’s standard movement speed is very quick, while his walk speed is very slow. This makes it difficult to get precise movement. There’s also two NPCs wandering around that can interfere with your movement.  In my case, he very nearly escaped twice, but I was lucky enough to force him to turn around at the last second. With all the children found and forced back to their negligent father, we return to No Angeles.  [Unmas]: Not only that, but they’ve all agreed not to wander off without my permission any more! This is all thanks to Crevanille! Please accept this as a token of my gratitude. *Jade obtained* [Unmas]: This is a family heirloom that has been passed down for generations. But, honestly, even if I were to pass it to the next generation, it is of no use. It would be much better if Crevanille, the savior of Marquelay, could put it to use. Then this treasure would really shine. We do already know the use for this thing. If you recall, Gruff Anime Dad originally gave us a Topaz outside the Ruins of Hope. That one allowed us to navigate the yellow hallways inside. If you remember, though, there were also Green and Red hallways. Unfortunately, we need to be able to return to Trockmere before we can test this out.  [Unmas]: Crevanille, feel free to visit my shop any time. I will take my leave now. *Unmas and his gaggle of little snots head into the hotel/shop building*  And then they immediately escape from him again. Oh well, at least we don’t have to find them anymore. Unmas tells us that they are at least sticking to No Angeles and are not wandering around somewhere dangerous (like every other location on the continent).  Unmas’ shop has new armour for everybody that is just as absurdly expensive as you have come to expect from this game. Thankfully, due to all the grinding I did for skill exp, our wallet has made a full recovery from our last armour shopping spree. I grab an Aura Plate for Crevanille, a Chaos Jacket for Remus, Protection Mantle for Frayne, and Star Dress for Eliza.  We also see some armour here that doesn’t fit any of our current party. Does this mean that Hien is finally about to rejoin us!? Let’s go find out!  Oh god, the catgirl somehow tracked us down. …Well, she’s blocking our way into the villa, so I guess we have no choice but to deal with her.  [Girl with a tail]: …Hmmm?  [Girl with a tail]: *sniff* *sniff* I smell humans! “Humans”…? That’s an odd thing to say… Are you not human? Obviously not. Look at her. She has a tail. Should we know what that is? I’ve never heard of a race called the Pesac. Whatever! I just want to thank you for saving me-ow. I want to help you guys! Help us…? What can you do? As long as she helps, does it matter? What’s your name? Meowna! D-Did you say… Meowna? That’s what she said! LE-O-NA! Oh… Not “Meowna,” then. Arrrgh! Hahaha… Leona, you look like a cute little cat. A cat…? Yeah, actually! She does have ears and a tail like a cat. I know what a cat is! Don’t lump me in with animals like that! They were calling you cute. Why are you angry?Because Frayne and Remus are being racist… or specieist… or something. I don’t need you patronizing meow! I’m old enough to have a master! Don’t make me have to beat you up! A master? Well don’t go looking Crevanille’s way. We already have Yuni, that’s creepy enough as it is for one game. Are you sure you can help us? I’m pretty strong! I’m sure I can help you!*Leona joined your party*  Like it or not, the catgirl is now part of the team. Leona is listed as being “?” years old in the manual, which likely means that she’s extremely underage. I’m sure we’ll get confirmation of her actual age soon enough from the design book. She doesn’t have a listed Ring Weapon, possibly because I think she uses her bare hands/claws. I’ll have a room prepared for her. Come on in! Yaaaaaay! Levan, I’d like a room prepared for this girl. Her name is Leona.[Levan]: As you wish. This way, please, Miss Leona. *Levan leads Leona towards the stairs. Eliza moves over to the bulletin board*  Using this board should help you manage the members of the team. The four names you write up here will be the people you want in your party. I’ll pass on the message! We have finally reached the point where my carefully built plans can be completely upended by the whims of the thread. Well, sort of. Check the following post for details about the party vote. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Aug 5, 2021 |
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Aug 4, 2021 20:58
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Voting Time! – Yuni’s outfit and party formation I’m opening team selection to the thread from this point on. Any time we need to return to No Angeles (after story events have happened, I mean), the thread will be able to swap party members. Crevanille cannot be removed from the party, as indicated by the star near his character portrait.   As a minor spoiler, Hien will also be rejoining us shortly into the next update. The thing is, though, the first mission of the next update will require us to take Remus and Frayne along. I will bring Eliza as well, purely to stay consistent. But I want the thread to vote on a new team for after that, when we truly get freedom to decide who tags along. —Party Vote #1—  Vote for 1-3 party members out of Frayne, Remus, Eliza, Hien, and Leona. These three will make up the battle party after the story mandated mission is over. We’ll likely roll with this team until the next party members become available. NOTE: It would be super easy for me to just transplant the spellstones from one character onto another regardless of who the thread votes in, so in the interest of giving the thread more power over my misery, I promise not to do that. Instead, any time the thread votes in a new character, I will start from scratch with their spellstone loadout/battle role. In other words, if the thread removes Eliza and votes in Hien instead, I won’t simply yank the movement spellstones from Eliza and put them on Hien to force him to fill her role. Every new character will get their own build. —Yuni Costume Vote— Yuni’s newest costume also didn’t set the thread on fire, but was enough to squeak out at least one use in a main update. Because reaction was very mixed, I want to start at square one again. Vote for 1 of Yuni’s Costumes: A, B, C, F, H, I. Here is what they look like:  She will be picking up a new costume relatively soon, but we need something to use in the meantime. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Aug 4, 2021 |
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Aug 4, 2021 21:00
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Hien, Leona and Frayne, and costume B.
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Aug 4, 2021 22:25
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Take Leona and switch Yuni back to costume H.
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Aug 4, 2021 22:25
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Give Yuni her dignity back, go back to Costume H. And use Leona because cat puns rule. Otherwise, I don't much care.
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Aug 5, 2021 00:12
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Frayne, Eliza, Hien and go back to costume H. For the record, Leona is 14. And that is the last outstanding character age in the game.  E: And this is me realizing Yuni's costume F is the Screaper Queen from Growlanser 5. Melomane Mallet fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Aug 5, 2021 |
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Aug 5, 2021 00:44
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Never use Remus Eliza or Frayne again since they got the entire game up till now, Costume F so you show all the costumes off. LEONA IS 14!? I now feel bad damnit. Atleast she's only my 3rd favorite girl. MythosDragon fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Aug 5, 2021 |
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Aug 5, 2021 02:14
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There's a small event if you visit Ordinale before going home   
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Aug 5, 2021 02:24
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Hien, Eliza, and Leona.
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Aug 5, 2021 02:54
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Ditch Remus for Leona and switch Yuni back to costume H.
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Aug 5, 2021 04:32
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MythosDragon posted:LEONA IS 14!? I now feel bad damnit. Atleast she's only my 3rd favorite girl. And now you've realize why Crevanille has a variable 17-19 age. 17-year-old dates 14-year-old? Meh. 19-year-old dates 14-year-old? Umm.... Also, being (potentially) 19 makes it also less creepy to get with an NPC in their 20s.
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Aug 5, 2021 05:48
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Melomane Mallet posted:And now you've realize why Crevanille has a variable 17-19 age. 17-year-old dates 14-year-old? Meh. 19-year-old dates 14-year-old? Umm.... I was also like 16 when I first played in retrospect, so yeah.
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Aug 5, 2021 06:36
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Frayne, Eliza, Hien for the party and keep Yuni in costume I because the others are boring.
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Aug 5, 2021 14:02
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AltaBrown posted:Give Yuni her dignity back, go back to Costume H. You people and your cat puns and catgirls and catdogs and what have you. Also, Yuni had some dignity. They at least gave her costume matching eye expressions. Melomane Mallet posted:For the record, Leona is 14. And that is the last outstanding character age in the game. Yeah, that's what I figured. Thanks for keeping tabs on the character ages. There will be another character list extra update in the near future which should put everything into an easily findable place. MythosDragon posted:There's a small event if you visit Ordinale before going home This is another strange one, although I can see the trace of logic in it. It requires a player to either completely ignore the Transgate and travel by foot back to Ordinale (which, why would you ever do that right after a difficult mission?), or it requires the player to warp back home and then immediately warp to Ordinale. The logic I see in it is at least the Ordinale soldiers mentioned bringing her to a hospital, so I can understand at least some players keeping that in their head after the story missions and Weapon Facility stuff. You did give me a random idea by mentioning this scene, though. Because of the incredibly narrow timeframe for triggering this scene and the nature of what/who it involves, a weird thing can happen: After the scene is triggered where the party discovers Leona sleeping right outside the villa, the player maintains control until they actually interact with her to start the conversation. The game does not prevent you from just turning around and leaving. So if you trigger that scene but then DON'T interact with Leona, you can actually go and warp to Ordinale, at which point the scene you posted still triggers. In other words, Leona briefly exists in two places at once. Instead of tying the cutoff point for the Ordinale scene to the Yuni scene where you first spot Leona at the villa, the developers tied the cutoff point to the scene where the player interacts with Leona. I assume they didn't think that any player would see her and then not bother investigating right away. For those wondering, the scene that Mythos posted is not a "flashback" scene (as in one of those things you see, but then fades out at the end. Making the timing of it difficult to tell). After talking with the guard, Leona heads up the stairs and the screen shifts over to our party at the entrance. The guard she was talking to is also still standing there, but disappears if you leave and come back, meaning that the scene was actually happening seconds before Crevanille and the gang arrived.  Take that, game! Bet you didn't think any player would try that, huh?! Now you know how it feels with these incredibly obscure extra scenes!
Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 14:09 on Aug 5, 2021 |
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Aug 5, 2021 14:05
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Looking at the options here I think we should continue to have Remus and Eliza in the party, and swap in Hien for the final Spot. I'm also all for swapping back to costume H. Remus has broken us out of prison and been a solid ally for the entire game, and it feels wrong to toss him by the wayside because a cat girl in a leotard came along.
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Aug 5, 2021 19:11
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Remus, Hien, and  Also, This is amazing. Much as i like the purple jacket, i couldn't bear to switch back, costume I all the way!
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Aug 5, 2021 20:47
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PK, I did all of that lol. I saw her in front of the door, went to Ordinale, and saw the scene lol. I was checking in on my Yuni's character plot.
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Aug 5, 2021 20:56
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Remus is our bro, and we've seen the least of Hien and Leona, so let's get them in there; but these are weak purreferences. Strong preference that costume I continues.
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Aug 5, 2021 21:05
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Leona, Hien and Eliza with costume F so all costumes get an update. I think the jacket we have been using is the best outfit, but man I didn't think I'd like costume I as much as I do. Just take all Yuni's dignity.
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Aug 6, 2021 13:25
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Update 22: Blood Vengeance We’ll address the party situation in a little bit. For the time being, let’s get the next bit of story stuff out of our way. Maggie needs some kind of special energy to power the spellcannon. She can’t figure out how to supply it herself, but we luckily have the solution to her woes. *You give Maggie the Energy Pack!*  Oh! I should be able to recharge the spellcannon with this! I’ll try it out tonight, so wait for me in your room. Using the spellcannon will finally give us a way to fight the Angels.Awesome! About time we made some progress on that. It’s only been like a year or so since we promised Gruff Anime Dad.  When we head back towards our room, however, we find catgirl waiting there for us.  And then we’re immediately interrupted by Kate for some reason. Is something wrong, Kate?[Kate]: I’ve heard from Levan that you’ve increased the number of your allies. If you happen to have some extra spellstones… might I have them? I can distribute them evenly between everyone you have on standby. Everyone can learn new skills that way, instead of only party members. Your service is appreciated. [Kate]: …That’s all I had to say! Back to my room I go… *Kate leaves* So we can now dump off spellstones with Kate to have our standby party members passively learn new skills. We can deposit whatever spellstones we want with her to help our B-team members. We can also withdraw them at any time, so we may as well dump in everything we have. My only advice with this mechanic is to make sure you keep your “optimal build” spellstones on you (such as the Vampire Lord Crevanille set for us). Now, what is Leona up to?  I have a den, too! A den? Yeah! Humans build big dens, then put little dens inside them. Leona, these are called “rooms.” Rooms… So, this is your room, then? Hmmm… Humans are weird. Leona, what kind of place did you live in before now? The place I’m from doesn’t have a lot of humans. It’s open fields everywhere! You can chase animals all over the place! And then…! ….. I want to go home… Leona… I’m sure we’ll find a way to get you home.Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Yuni. Mew… *sniff* Yeah! I’ll do my best! And until then, you can count on me!*Leona walks off around the corner*  And that’s all for that. Leona’s room is the middle door on this floor, by the way. We can’t talk to her anymore at the moment, though. For now, all we can do is get to bed and deal with the incredibly likely onslaught of visions.  And here they are! Man, Valkania is really getting its rear end handed to it by us, huh? Alfonse is basically on the doorstep of the capital city. The Marquelay-Ordinale alliance could also seriously ruin Diana’s day if they wanted to, since they’ve apparently flanked her at Aida Bridge. [Narrator]: Meanwhile, the Dulkheim Army pushed the Valkanian forces back to the Aida Bridge, but because Colonel Lumis Lichtmann is on the defensive, they have yet to make their next move.  Yeah, that figures. I heavily assume that Ludwig pulled this off by abusing the hell out of those summoning spells.  [Iglesian Soldier]: The last line of defense has been breached… [King Iglesias]: How!? How could this have all happened in three days!? [Iglesian Soldier]: Your Highness, at this rate…  [King Iglesias]: Warm seaports, fertile land… I only wanted better lives for my people… [Iglesian Soldier]: Your Highness…  [Narrator]: After years of fighting, Iglesias chose to sue for peace. Supreme Commander Ludwig, having brought the end to the war, quickly returned to the Dulkheim capital and completed his entry in the presidential election. His ability to “make the impossible possible” won over the hearts and minds of the citizens of Dulkheim.   As promised, I submitted my entry to the election.[Random Moron #1]: Yeah! Hail our supreme commander! I can answer to that title no longer. As you know, a serving member of the military cannot run in an election, so I have handed in my resignation. No longer am I a man of the military, but rather a man of the people. I will do what I can to best serve the nation.Ah, yes, because a charismatic military man taking the reigns of politics has never backfired. [Random Moron #2]: Praise Ludwig! We’re behind you all the way! Thank you. But keep in mind that I’ve only registered. No votes have been cast, and those are what matter. I leave my fate to you, the general public.”At least until you vote me in. Then I will be assuming the title of Ultra-Supreme President for Life of the Continent.”  However, if I am elected, I will make the people’s safety my highest priority, and will use my experience to do so. Who is with me!? Who’ll stand beside me to help raise this country to its proper place!? I promise that a vote for me is a vote for the future!Whole lot of warning bells ringing in that speech.  [Aid]: What’s the matter?  To think that he’d actually go through with his plan to run for election…[Aid]: He’ll be a difficult opponent to beat. His wartime heroics assure him that much. Ugh… I’m afraid you’re right. It’s clear he’s going to win any election. I didn’t think he would resign his commission after being promoted to supreme commander! He was supposed to rally for me! A scandal, you say… It’s true that the war is only over on one front… and there is another hero at the Valkanian front. We only need one hero to win; Ludwig could “disappear” and no one would know. Perhaps it’s time to MAKE Ludwig disappear, hmmm?I love how these guys are planning on enlisting Cargill for this, the man known by all to be a sneaky and duplicitous motherfucker. It’s especially stupid considering that Deringer knows that Ludwig has been actively making inroads with Cargill (Deringer is the one that Ludwig had to ask for an introduction, back when Ludwig was only a Major General).  I’m sure all of that will work out just fine. Oh well, not our problem. Kill Deringer or kill Ludwig. Doesn’t really matter that much to us as far as achieving goals is concerned. Before we go see Maggie, I change Yuni back to her H costume. For those of you that wanted a bit of variety, well, we should be coming up on two more costumes fairly soon. Maybe the thread will latch on to one of those? I also put Yuni through some training, but it doesn’t result in her getting her final skill. Her TLK stat is stubbornly low.  I see everyone is present. Hien. I have completed training some of Marquelay’s army. So, I’ve returned to keep my promise to you.Yay! Uh, can I explain things first? Oh, yes! Please go ahead. With the Energy Pack that you recovered, the spellcannon can be put to use. But it seems it can only be used once. Just once? The first circuit uses energy to cast a spell. The second circuit absorbs the spell’s power and converts it back into a different form of energy. The third circuit then fires this form of energy, which is the basis for the attack. So… it casts a spell, absorbs it, then it fires the energy… I don’t know much about spells, but that seems rather roundabout. Why do you think it has to be done this way? You better explain, Maggie.We sure as hell don’t have the answer to Remus’ question. The energy created via the spell is much greater than that taken from the battery. A small amount of power becomes much greater with spell usage. You could say that this is more efficient. So, the spellcannon is pretty powerful, then? Is that so!? Not even the Angels can stand up to that kind of power! I’d hope to see that kind of power from an “Anti-Angel” weapon! If we search the other ruins, I’m sure we’ll find other sources of energy. On that note, where would we find the Angels, anyway? Ah, right… I don’t know…Of course you don’t, Leona. You don’t even know what we’re talking about. I wasn’t even aware that Angels existed until I came here. Can we lure them out?Seriously, guys. We just covered this. Hmmm… Ah, I see. If we do not know where one is, we can simply lure one out. If we activate it again, though, the Angels might take notice and come. Interesting. It’s certainly worth a try. Any high points overlooking the area? Affirmative, there is an area of higher elevation. Why do you inquire? An unobstructed view is needed to get a proper shot from the cannon. It’s precise, but I’ll still need a line of sight. What do you mean, “you’ll need”? Firing the spellcannon is an intricate procedure--too complicated to explain. It’d just be easier if I did it. One shot and we’re done. But it’s dangerous for me to be near those ruins, so I’m leaving the activation part to you. You really thought this through. Just let me know when you’re heading out. Who’s going to the ruins, then? Me, too! It’s the boss’s dying wish, after all. All right. Who will be the last person, then?So, despite giving us the ability to swap party members, the game is forcing us to take Remus and Frayne along on this mission. The game will periodically do this, which is why I said it’s a good idea to make sure your other party members have some decent skills, even if you never intend to choose them voluntarily. The thread voted for certain party members, but because we don’t get much choice during this upcoming mission, I will stick with Eliza for consistency. Eliza.*Hien and Leona then leave the lab, stating that they’ll be on standby at the villa if needed* We don’t have any further preparations to make, so let’s just talk to Maggie and get the ball rolling on this operation. Are we ready to go? Yes. All right, kids, let’s move out.Maggie grabs the spellcannon and joins us as a guest party member. Like with other guest members, her stats are good enough to avoid getting killed in one shot, but not meant for front line combat.  You shouldn’t be getting in to fights with her around anyway. The Transgate will take us straight to Kaufman Waterfall, after which there’s only a single wide-open field screen to pass through. They’re behind the waterfall. The high point overlooking the area is a bit west of here. Could you take me there?The area everyone is referring to is that overlook where we first saw the waterfall.  I’ll stay here and make preparations. The rest of you, go activate the ruins and lure the Angels out. Once you activate them, do what you can to get back here. You don’t want to get caught in an Angel attack.Can do. Maggie leaves us and we’re tasked with going all the way back to that creepy Mt. Nibel reactor where we found the not-JENOVAs. Thankfully, none of the enemies or guardians have respawned, so the journey is quick and easy.  Here goes nothing… Yes.  Turn around and head back outside. Once you get to the Transgate, stop and do your buffing. This is another mission where Magic Shell or Dispel may come in handy. At the very least you should have Resist on.  Now… when the Angel shows up, which direction will it come from…?[???]: Wait. I cannot allow you to fire the spellcannon. Hm? Who are you? Well then, this is an unforeseen complication.  Just give me the spellcannon, and I will not harm you. I will not. This is the only weapon that can take down the Angels. You really believe it has the ability to kill an Angel?It’s worth a shot. Worst case scenario it only stuns them for a bit, but at least that will let us take a crack at them from ground level. I won’t know unless I try. I have faith in the people who found this. Then you leave me no choice. Tch! Ah…! The Angel… I will cut you down before you can fire. Ngh…! It’s zombie Regina! Here to save the braaaains…  *Zombie Regina throws her big fuckoff boomerang at Bryntir* Hm!? You’re… Come on! Hurry up and fire while I hold him! Th-Thanks! That was a lot less impressive than I was expecting.  *There’s a flash on the screen* We hit it!*The lady angel drops down on the ground in the south part of the field*  Master! The Angel has not been disabled!  Where the hell did these things come from? I do not understand why there are monsters, too… We have bigger things to worry about! We need to finish off the Angel while it’s still weakened! There are some new enemies mixed in with the Lady Angel. The Undead Knight is a very big boy, but he’s not too threatening in this appearance. There’s a good bit of distance between our party’s starting point and his, so Frayne and Remus could take him out before he can attack, if you so desired.  The Angel itself is our main target. She absorbs Holy damage and is heavily resistant to all other elements. She also recovers about 35 HP at regular intervals. The good news is that she’s largely been rendered ineffective because of the spellcannon. She will occasionally attack with spells, but isn’t much of a powerhouse when it comes to 1-on-1 combat. The monsters standing between us and her are, at least at first, the bigger problem. Fortunately…  The monsters are divided into two factions that will fight each other. On the left side are Kester recolours and some Valbugs. The right side has mages, those goat legged guys, and a new enemy called Petite Dragon. No idea what side the Undead Knight is on, because he tends to turn his attention to your party right away.  I recommend dealing with the monsters on the right side first. The Evil Mage recolours can cast Joint Spells like Earthquake, which hits everything on the field (except the Kester recolours, since they are flying). This will deal a solid chunk of damage to your party. The goat legged guys, meanwhile, will cast Death. More than likely they will go after the enemies on the left side, but there’s always a chance that they decide to cast Death on your party members instead. Make sure you have Raise or Nectar on hand, just in case. The Kester recolours and the Valbugs are not overly dangerous in comparison. Still, we need to eliminate all enemies in order to get a Mission Complete, so you might as well work your way through them as you move towards the Angel.  You could have Eliza and Crevanille pop the Dash knack and just book it straight for the Angel, then deal with the enemies afterward, but I find that the more dangerous option. If you leave them alive, there’s also a chance that the Kester variants will cast Holy on the Angel and heal it. Better to get the enemies out of the way first, then focus on the Angel.  The Angel is very damage resistant, so you will also need to devote most of your party to killing her. It’s difficult for only one of your party members to outrun her natural healing ability.  …. My attacks are having no effect!This part will indicate that you’re making progress on wearing down the Angel’s HP. Make sure to keep an eye on your HP, though. The Angel is capable of casting Thunderstorm which, like Earthquake, will hit your party for good damage (Remus and Frayne took over 100 damage each from it, and that was with Resist Level 3 on). Ignoring the fact that it’s total bullshit that the enemy is able to pull off Joint Spells by themselves, Thunderstorm will take a while to charge, so you should have plenty of time to heal up from it. With that in mind, we just need one more good push. More importantly… User vilkacis posted: “Remus is mad as hell and he's not gonna take it any more! Putting in a request that once you're able to fight angels properly, let him get the first kill.  " This one’s for you, vilkacis.  ….. …..*Dies* The Angel stopped! It’s been defeated! For Ribocca! And for Mrs. Gruff Anime Dad! But not for Trockmere because we don't care about them anymore! Superlative, everyone. I thought you might need my help, but it seems you took the Angel yourselves. Congratulations. Thank you. …What are Angels, anyway? We know about the one in that factory, but… What you saw within that facility was a weapon designed by man to combat the Angels. In order to fight them, an equivalent amount of power was required. Why didn’t they create more than one facility? That way, if one were found, its destruction wouldn’t be a problem. Well, the weapon has one major flaw. We just defeated a replica? That’s right. When the designers figured this out, they immediately stopped development; they were only increasing the enemy’s numbers. I can see why you wouldn’t want to give your enemy more weapons.Hey, guys? If that’s the case, then maybe we should head back and shut off the cloning facility we just activated. Well, if we did defeat a replica just now, how many real Angels are out there? Only one more original Angel exists in this world. If we can defeat it, then this’ll all be over. We can defeat it the same way we beat this replica, yeah? Um… Are we sure there’s only one Angel left? If what we fought earlier was a replica, then there should be a female Angel out there still. What are you talking about, Frayne?Oh, right. We don’t ever tell you guys about our weird prophecy vision things. Yeah, we saw a Female Angel that was definitely not a replica. *explain about the female Angel* Oh, really…? You had a vision of male and female Angels? If your vision is true, then…*The screen starts shaking* …Was that an explosion on the hill? Maggie! Check out the cutscene: Kaufman Waterfall Attack Oh god, super early PS2 3D cutscenes!     That came from the ruins! He’s here… The Angel Akyel! Ngh! …Blasphemy. The sacrilege toward her is great… Humans are truly selfish beings. Before further crimes are committed, I offer you the mercy of being cleansed from the face of the world.Whatever. I’m confident that I can find a way to beat you at this stage of the game. Nnngh… ! Master! Frayne! Stupid tree. That-- Is that really Uriel? What’s happening!? Uriel…? You humans have created the most detestable things… However, if that is the truth… I will allow you to live, for now. However, that will not be the case next time!*Akyel turns and flies away. The camera pans up to follow him just long enough for Regina to disappear off screen. Crevanille and Frayne’s stupid Advent Children wings disappear* Are we saved? Are you all right? Y-Yes… What just happened? I’m… not sure myself. She feels different from the time we knew her… Plus, she knows a lot about the Angels… Heeey! That was certainly a close call. An Angel suddenly attacked me and destroyed the spellcannon… I’m just glad you’re all right. I’m all right, but I’m dead tired. I’m going back to the villa. … (Still, that girl…)Maggie leaves towards the Transgate and we follow. Let’s get back home and sort out what the hell just happened and what it all means.  Naturally. It wasn’t hard for a team made of this much awesome! Hell yeah! I guess the last Angel was a real Angel… but with the spellcannon destroyed, we can’t use the same strategy we did against the copy. Speaking of which, why did the real Angel let us go? Frayne suddenly grew wings of light, and-- Right! What was that, anyway? I don’t really… He ran off at the sight of them. Maybe learning this will let us know the truth about the Angels? You know, if the two of you are having these strange dreams, might you have some connection, too? I have seen visions related to the Angels, but… I don’t know how I see them… I… Yes, when the… when the Angels are near, I feel as if I can see them… What do you make of this? I only see them around replicas.Remember, Crevanille didn’t have any visions at Lamplast or outside the Ruins of Hope (where he encountered the male angel). He only had them at Trockmere and Ribocca (where he encountered the female angel). Suspiciously, however, both Crevanille and Frayne had a vision inside the Marquelay ruins, where no Angel was encountered. Oh, that sounds right! It only happens around the replica Angels! So, there’s something about the replica Angels that you respond to? I wonder why. Would we be able to figure this out if Frayne’s memory came back? …I’m sorry… Oh, no, I’m not blaming you or anything! *watch what happens* We can’t. That area was flattened by one of the Angels. Oh… Hmmm… Oh, that’s right! At those ruins, wings of blood appeared on you. “Wings of blood,” you say?It was pretty metal. It’s possible that what the boss really wanted to tell you is there. Where are they, then? They’re to the north of Trockmere, in Dulkheim. If we conduct a search of those ruins, we may be able to understand the secret behind Master’s wings. Yes. But you and Crevanille had different colors of wings, too. Huh? Well, you both had four wings, but Crevanille had two white and two gray, while you had three white and one gray. Does that mean something? I wonder if the answer to that is also at the ruins…Only one way to find out. Let’s go! Let’s at least rest first…Or I guess we could do that. You’re right. Once we’ve had time to rest, we can go to the ruins that you and Remus have seen. [Levan]: You must all be tired from the events of the day. Please rest easy, at least for the night. That’s a wonderful idea. I’m going to my room. I’m going, too!*Everyone leaves* Superb work today, Master.As soon as we go to bed, we’re assaulted with—   President Deringer has issued me new orders. I am to terminate you. He wants me dead, eh? Can’t say I’m surprised. Heh… He certainly is an interesting fellow. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to President Deringer that I might betray him. I’m sure he’ll be livid.The pathetic part is, it probably won’t occur to Ludwig when it comes time for you to inevitably betray him, either. I can imagine the look on his face. Still, I must confess that I’m surprised. I honestly didn’t think you’d make it for the election. You don’t think it’s a waste, though? You were the supreme commander of the military, with the entirety of the armed forces under your thumb. There was nothing more to accomplish. Besides, as a military officer, I would always be on a leash of some kind or another. And in truth, politics has always fascinated me. I was once on my hometown’s city council, you know. Indeed. I’ve taken a look at your past. But for someone in the public light, you managed to disappear pretty readily. After some consideration, I decided I needed to garner prestige if I really wanted to make a difference. That makes sense. It’s much easier to impress people if you have a name with some clout. That’s why you entered the military, then? The war in Iglesias provided me just the opportunity I needed. Many high commanders were killed off. That’s when you first appeared, Ludwig. “The hero of Dulkheim.” As you said, running for President is only the natural next step. I’m not worried. Everything is going as planned. Impressive… The election takes place at the end of next week. That’s when my plans will truly go into motion… Oh thank god… at least we’re done watching Cargill fellate Ludwig. [Dulkheim Soldier #2]: Our nation will have a great leader at the helm. I want to hear his inauguration speech! [Dulkheim Soldier #1]: Don’t get ahead of yourself. He still has to win the election. [Dulkheim Soldier #2]: You don’t think the results are obvious at this point? No candidate stands a chance against him. Hey, man. A lot can change in the span of a week. [Dulkheim Soldier #1]: That’s true…  ”That’s a good question, soldier! What if I told you there was a way for Ludwig to be President and Supreme Commander? Wouldn’t that be awesome?!” [Dulkheim Soldier #1]: Don’t you think so, too?  Huh?[Dulkheim Soldier #2]: Hey, this is no time for zoning! Things are going to liven up soon. The war with Valkania ain’t over. Y-Yes, I know. (War with Valkania… We might end up fighting Marquelay, too. That will mean fighting Crevanille… I don’t feel great about that. Can I keep going like this…?) The answer is simple. Join the cool kids over in No Angeles!  We’re still not done? Come on…  Mmm. How has the summoner training been progressing? I’m sorry to say that none of the users have the aptitude for spells. We have a long road ahead of us. Aptitude…[Minister]: There’s nothing we can do about that…  I propose widening the aptitude tests to anyone between the ages of 12 and 50. Additionally, there’s this.*Regina hands something to the Minister, who brings it to the King* What’s this piece of paper? I believe it will be quite beneficial to your kingdom. This is…! How did you obtain these plans!? Your master, you say? What is your objective here? Our goals are rather minor. My only aim for now is to be of use to Your Highness. And to have the honor of a… small remuneration afterward. …I’ll accept that answer for now. That sounds like good news for everyone. With that, the visions finally stop and we regain control. When we head downstairs in the morning, we find the rest of the party waiting for us near the entrance.  Good morning. Shall we be off? I believe you said we need to go north of Trockmere. How will we approach Dulkheim? It’s the height of the war. We won’t be able to hire a ship. Ideas, people? Without a boat, our options are limited. We’ll have to cross the bridge to get across the border.  So, once again we are being forced to take along a specific member of the party. The thread voted for Leona, Hien, and Eliza to make up our party for the foreseeable future. Frayne has to come with us this time, however, so we’ll be leaving Eliza behind as she picked up the fewest votes of the top 3. If this happens again in the next mission, then I’ll cycle through Hien and Leona so that Eliza isn’t always left sitting at home.  There’s going to be ancient dialect all over the place. Taking Frayne is a good idea.Thanks. We didn’t get a choice in the matter. I will decipher it as best I can. Not our choice, Eliza. The thread voted for you, but the game had other ideas. Maybe next time.  Anyway, before we go on, here is a brief look at Hien now that he has (finally) officially joined. As mentioned previously, Hien is supposedly 45 years old. That is a rough 45. He’s also one of the tallest characters, at 6 feet. He has a very good balance of stats, with a glaring weakness in spells (His INT isn’t bad, but his MP is miserable). That said, he does benefit from a low ATW, like Crevanille.  The question is, what the hell do I do with these two in terms of party role? The thread has ripped my perfectly balanced team away and given me a group of physical attackers. We no longer have ranged support, and technically we don’t have magic support either (Frayne is just being temporarily forced on us). After some debate, I eventually settle on the following:  Hien is given two of a new spellstone being sold by Payton’s shop. Double Strike does what it says. It bumps the number of times a character can attack by 1. It also stacks. Hien uses two swords, so I figured I would turn him into a multi-strike attacker. Now instead of hitting once, he’ll hit 3 times. I combine this with a spellstone that gives Paralysis Strike. The hope is that at least 1 of his 3 consecutive hits, if they don’t kill, will result in the enemy being paralyzed.  Leona is one that I already don’t feel confident about. I kept flipping between trying to make her a defensive wall, a thief, or a Critical Striker. She has about the same stats as Hien, except her ATW is worse and her HP/ATK are slightly better. A speed build would have worked, but I’m already using that on Eliza and I promised not to copy. I eventually decided to try out the Crit build combined with Impede. I’m hoping that she’ll get some stuns in with her critical hits. To cap it off, I give her Skill Effect+3, to help her chance based skills trigger more often. By the end of this update, I will be reconsidering both builds. I almost feel like Leona would do better as a multi-striker, while Hien may be capable of Magic Knight with the proper MP boosting ring.  I also grab both of them new armour. Payton sells Rainbow Ribbon for Leona (which boosts her defence by +21), and Expel Robes for Hien (which boosts his defence by +20).  Finally, here are (most) of the new spellstones that Payton is stocking. He has a few new Level 6 stones as well, but none that jump out to me right now as being worth a mention. In terms of the Level 7 stuff, Spell Barrier is a good one for magic defence. Miraculous Light is good for skill learning, as it teaches Magic Shell, Cure, and Heal. Magic Shell is the one you want, if you haven’t learned it from somewhere else already. Miraculous Light also gives a 15% chance of activating Attack/Protect/Resist Up Lv 1 intermittently during battle. Not bad.  Okay, we’re ready now. I probably should have taken some time to teach Hien and Leona some elemental magic (they are severely lacking it), but I decided to wait on that until I’ve had a chance to test out their current builds in a major battle. We need to cross the Aida Bridge, so that means we need to head north from Sunsail. Feel free to pop by Ordinale first if you want to stock up on some items. We still don’t have a General Store in No Angeles, much to my irritation.  Great. There’s a Marquelay Soldier waiting for us. I’m sure this will be good news. Is something the matter?[Marquelay Soldier]: Muntzer is leading the Valkanians from the north, but General Baker’s fighting them off. We have a request. Is it to fight Muntzer? Because I’d be down for that. Which is…? Are you kidding me?! I thought you idiots were keeping an eye on that place after the first time they invaded it. [Marquelay Soldier]: Up till now, there haven’t been any civilian casualties, but we can’t hold back their main force forever. Before things get any worse, we’d like to resolve this. So, we’re asking if you could sweep the Valkanian soldiers out of Sunsail Village for us… You make it sound like we’re garbage men or something. [Marquelay Soldier]: We’ll send reinforcements to you as soon as we can. Please… will you consider it?  Make sure you buff up before entering the village. I forget to do it this time, but I would recommend slapping on Magic Shell if you have it.  Well then, that’s different.Wait a minute… how long has Marquelay allowed these assholes to occupy this place? They had enough time to excavate half the town square! [Valkania Captain]: About how much more?  [Valkania Captain]: All right, we’ll withdraw once you’re finished. Now the question is how to rejoin the main force.  Hi. We’re here to do this whole rigmarole again. Could you guys just fall over and die on your own? This is kind of distracting us from something more important. Is that… a way in to the ruins!? This is why Valkania is after Sunsail! They must have known of this entrance![Valkania Soldier #1]: Commander! Marquelian soldiers! [Valkania Captain]: Ugh, we just needed a little more time… All hands, prepare for attack!  This mission is incredibly straightforward. You just need to kill everyone here. There are a group of spellcasters on the western side of the village and a group of archers situated around the middle behind piles of dirt. The melee soldiers are all positioned directly in front of your starting point, so make sure you have your strongest attackers (Crevanille and Leona/Hien/Eliza) up front.  The biggest issue in this fight is the fact that the paths through the center of town are blocked by dirt. If you don’t have a spellcaster or Remus in your group, then your physical attackers will need to travel up around the north part of town to reach the enemy spellcasters and archers. I thankfully have Frayne, but this mission is still a little rough due to the lack of Eliza and Remus. Once the melee soldiers are dealt with, I am forced to switch Crevanille to magic casting duty in order to help Frayne clear the ranged units.  I also waste some time having Frayne try and Death spell some of the mages. It works on this one, which foolishly leads me to attempt it on two others, only for those attempts to fail and waste time.  On the plus side, Crevanille manages to steal an ATW Reduction +3 from the Valkanian Captain. This stone is great because it teaches Quick Attack, which is similar to Quick Cast. Quick Attack naturally reduces a character’s ATW. That’ll be going on Crevanille for a while, for sure. I also plan to duplicate it, as soon as I get my hands on the appropriate stone.  These two guys will eventually appear from the ruins and join the fight, for whatever difference that makes.  To answer the question you’ve no doubt had since I mentioned it: Yes. I could give Crevanille a Double Strike spellstone if I felt like it and make him even more broken. No, we have still not reached the peak of Vampire Lord Crevanille’s power.  How reassuring.I’m sensing some sarcasm from Hien there. If the mission drags on for long enough, then you will eventually get some help from Marquelian reinforcements, assuming you want to use a term that generous. I don’t think them dying will impact a Mission Complete, but it’s better not to test the waters on that.  I am not pleased with that performance. If it wasn’t for the fact that I scored an ATW Reduction +3, I would have reloaded and tried that mission again. The main failing of our new team was the lack of ranged attacks. Leona and Hien both have the Dash knack by default, but they aren’t as fast as Lightspeed Eliza, so after the melee soldiers were dealt with they basically didn't get a chance to contribute any more to the battle. Superlative, everyone. Huh… A ruin hidden beneath this village… What could be inside?I guess we’ll take a detour and find out next time. Looks like Frayne is going to be in the party for at least one more full update. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 12:05 on Aug 11, 2021 |
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Aug 10, 2021 17:51
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I thought killing an angel would be a lot more... Impactful? It was just a clone, but even still...
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Aug 11, 2021 01:45
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You left a BB *explain about the female Angel*[/b] Fact should be Face. …Blasphemy. The sacrilege toward her is great… Humans are truly selfish beings. Before further crimes are committed, I offer you the mercy of being cleansed from the fact of the world. Cast should be Case. You humans have created the most detestable things… However, if that is the truth… I will allow you to live, for now. However, that will not be the cast next time! I'll check and see if any of these typos in the game when I catch up to you tomorrow.
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Aug 11, 2021 02:13
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Anime and JRPGs have the best/worst aging.
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Aug 11, 2021 03:51
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Man, I've always thought if I did an LP it'd this game, and a hybrid screenshot with .gifs of the animation touches that really make some of the scenes. Kinda sad I missed this LP until just now. I need to read the thread and see how you're handling leave time.
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Aug 11, 2021 03:54
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MythosDragon posted:PK's stupid errors. I'm positive I caught over half of those early last night. Don't tell me I didn't hit submit... I'll do a second pass, thanks. Space Kablooey posted:I thought killing an angel would be a lot more... Impactful? It was just a clone, but even still... Kinda hard to get some emotional payoff when the thing we're killing is basically a soulless puppet. Akyel even sort of taunts us about this. Evil Fluffy posted:Anime and JRPGs have the best/worst aging. And I love them for it, because that's something I apparently share. Ardeem posted:I need to read the thread and see how you're handling leave time. So far? Poorly. They've been mucking up my post lengths, so I only recently got around to carving them out of regular updates. As for the leave times themselves, that part is easy. I just dump the choice on the thread. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 12:08 on Aug 11, 2021 |
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Aug 11, 2021 05:36
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quote:THIIIISSS  I hope some of you monsters know what it is you're voting against! quote:Whole lot of warning bells ringing in that speech. Whaaaat? Noooo. Can't you see how honest and upstanding he is? I believe in him. quote:That was a lot less impressive than I was expecting. Hey, that hit spark would have covered almost the entire screen if it had been centered! I don't know how much more you can expect! quote:This one’s for you, vilkacis.  You go, you tiny, angry man!Hm, Akyel doesn't sound familiar but Uriel is an actual angel, like from real world mythology. quote:It doesn’t seem to have occurred to President Deringer that I might betray him. I’m sure he’ll be livid. He may be a smug git but i'm quite enjoying this line  Also: quote:"Give me a break, i have amnesia. I don't remember how to hold these things!"
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Aug 11, 2021 20:33
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I wonder if Akyel might be Aciel though Aciel is the name of a demon.
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Aug 11, 2021 20:58
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vilkacis posted:Hm, Akyel doesn't sound familiar but Uriel is an actual angel, like from real world mythology. Robindaybird posted:I wonder if Akyel might be Aciel though Aciel is the name of a demon. It is extremely obscure, even for people that follow astrology poo poo, but there is an angel called Achiel. The name appears in Ars Paulina as part of the Monomoiria. He rules the 21st degree of Gemini. Alternatively, it could be based on an angel from the fifth heaven in the Book of Raziel called Aciel. Alternatively alternatively, it was supposed to be a reference to the Archangel Sachiel that someone messed up.
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Aug 11, 2021 21:52
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Psycho Knight posted:It is extremely obscure, even for people that follow astrology poo poo, but there is an angel called Achiel. The name appears in Ars Paulina as part of the Monomoiria. He rules the 21st degree of Gemini. Achiel is the Romanization the Character & Scenario Collection uses. While some of the spellings in the book are...unique, they got this one spot on and I don't know why the localization didn't. Super delayed edit: On the other hand, the Collection calls the female angel "Youriel" and the localization goes with the (correct) Uriel. Melomane Mallet fucked around with this message at 07:57 on Aug 12, 2021 |
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Aug 11, 2021 23:35
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Caught up again! Not in time for the party vote though... So the clone angels are just mindless "robots"? Is that why Zombie Regina is saying they're incapable of defeating the originals? Lack of sentience is kind of a fatal design flaw. Maybe they thought it would make the artificial angels incapable of rebellion or betrayal, but we can see how that worked out. Or maybe their Anime Power Levels are just lower. We need more combat data!
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Aug 12, 2021 08:50
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My Yuni's doing pretty good on stats.
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Aug 13, 2021 02:58
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MythosDragon posted:My Yuni's doing pretty good on stats. Curse you. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I keep forcing her to study and practice conversation, but her TLK stat has been stuck at Level 3 for ages. Am I not hitting her enough? I've just been so busy lately, I haven't been able to find the time... Commander Keene posted:Or maybe their Anime Power Levels are just lower. We need more combat data! The answer is always lack of combat data. Everyone knows that you devote 99% of your weapon's service life to acquiring combat data and the other 1% towards actually making it do what it is you built it for. Melomane Mallet posted:Achiel is the Romanization the Character & Scenario Collection uses. While some of the spellings in the book are...unique, they got this one spot on and I don't know why the localization didn't. I'll attempt to try and find the logic at work here in the localization. Akyel's name in Japanese is アキエル (A-ki-e-ru). Akyel looks like it matches this, because you might be thinking "Well, words like 'shaky' have a 'ky' sound like 'key', which is what the Japanese characters キ/き sound like. So they just took Akieru, swapped the 'ru' for an 'l' like you usually do, then flipped the 'ki' to a 'ky' because they both sound the same." The problem there is, the 'ky' sound in Akyel would be pronounced like 'kai', not 'key/kee', assuming you are following English language conventions where 'y' at the end of a beginning/middle syllable in a polysyllabic word is a vowel (ie. tyrant, dynamic, cyber, dehydrate). So "Akyel" in English it would be "A-kai-el." HOWEVER, before anyone jumps on me for that, no, I don't believe Akyel is an English word. I think it's Turkish. In the Turkish sense, then it would sound closer to "Akyel." Achiel, on the other hand, I have no clue on because I don't know if it's even a legitimate word (outside of the obscure reference to it Robindaybird and I mentioned previously). If it was supposed to be a reference to Sachiel, then that word is from Hebrew, which gently caress if I know how vowels/consonants and poo poo work in that. I would assume if that was the intended reference, then it should be pronounced "ah-she-el" or something, which in Japanese would make it "アシエル." But then Japan translates Sachiel as "サキエル", which is closer to how you would expect to pronounce it in English (with a hard "k"). Uriel is a little easier to explain, as it is the name of a major Angel. In Japanese, Uriel is written as "ウリエル", which sounds like "oo-ree-eh-ru." You might think that Uriel would be written as "ユリエル” (you-ree-eh-ru) instead, since that is how you probably say it in English. The thing is, there is supposedly disagreement over the pronunciation of the angel Uriel amongst speakers of Hebrew (keep in mind that Hebrew is a revived language, so pronunciation of ancient script is a bit open to interpretation). It could be Uriel (yur-ee-el), or it could be Oriel (oo-ree-el). So... does that clear everything up?  Also keep in mind that I'm no expert on anything. I'm only answering based on my own (possibly flawed) knowledge. Someone else could easily come along and correct me on any of this stuff. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 13:47 on Aug 13, 2021 |
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Aug 13, 2021 13:40
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Update 23: Getting Distracted This one is a short update that's mostly made up of a bunch of short missions. It leads up to another vacation day, though, so it has a hard stopping point for us.  Before we go into the new ruins from the end of last update, I want to cover some… minor tweaks I made to the party. First of all, you’ll notice that Crevanille’s spellstone situation has slightly changed. Using a Magic Shield EX spellstone I stole from the replica (during a redo of that fight. Don’t worry, Remus still got the kill), I teach Crevanille the skill MP Drain. MP Drain will restore a little bit of MP for every weapon attack. It’s not much, mind you. At level 3, the skill only recovers 3MP per hit. The thing is, you’ll remember a little spellstone called Wisdom Blade from earlier in the LP. Wisdom Blade boosts attack by 25%, but drains 3MP for every hit. It reduces attack by 25% if you don’t have any MP left for it. MP Drain will negate that little wrinkle. That means Crevanille Vlad Ţepeş now has his attack boosted by x2.25, while avoiding any power backlash by draining both health and mana from those he hits. But it’s still not enough… he must have more…  Leona has been turned into a multi-striker, as I mentioned previously. I’ve essentially given her Hien’s role from the last update, since I think she’ll do better at it as a result of her higher HP and Attack.  Hien has been turned into the closest approximation of a Magic Knight that I can manage. I discovered that Leona is essentially incapable of learning magic. She can pick up a few basic skills like Cure, but for elemental stuff? Forget about it. Hien’s magic is also a bit limited, but at the very least he has decent INT and DEX, and he can learn all the basic elemental spells such as Ice/Fire/Wind/Earth. He has also learned Soul Smasher and Sabotage, to damage enemy MP and disrupt their casting. I’ve given him Magic Drain EX as a means of restoring some of his MP (since it’s not great and he can’t learn the MP Up skill). Spell Barrier will reduce damage from enemy spells by 50%, and Intelligence Up +2 will give his spell/healing power a boost to bring it more in line with Frayne’s. Finally, I give him some of the Debuff spells that I’ve been ignoring until now. He gets stuff like Atrophy and Fear, which will lower an enemy’s physical and spell defence respectively.  Frayne doesn’t change a whole lot. She keeps Luck Up+3 and Spell Doubling, but I swap in Mage Slaughter to help her kill enemy spellcasters more quickly. It’s not like she’ll ever being doing much against physical powerhouses anyway, since that’s Leona/Crevanille/Eliza’s job.  During the skill training, Leona picked up her second Limit Ability as well. What is Berserk? …You’ll find out soon enough. I was going to try grinding Crevanille’s third limit, since I can finally teach him Counter with a spellstone, but I decided to hold off for now. I was a little bored of grinding by the time everyone had picked up the skills I mentioned.  Oh, right. I should also mention that Crevanille/Leona/Hien’s ATWs are now much lower. That’s a result of that ATW Reduction +3 we snagged last update. Unfortunately, Frayne is unable to learn the Quick Attack skill. Oh well. I also duplicated ATW Reduction +3 using a stone from Payton’s shop called “Duplicate Stone.” Duplicate Stone will copy an equipped spellstone on the same ring after you defeat 4 enemies multiplied by the Spellstone Level. So a Level 7 spellstone will be duplicated after killing 28 enemies, for example. It’s very handy, if somewhat time consuming.  Anyway, enough boring you all with stat talk. Let’s clear these ruins.  As Yuni just mentioned, there are still groups of Valkanian soldiers roaming around the ruins. This dungeon is very short and fairly narrow, so it’s not difficult to fight your way through these groups. They can’t spread out very much, making them good targets for Circle Strike/Pierce Strike/Joint Spells.  More power… Once you’ve cleared the first group, you’ll find yourself in a circular room with this little stone thing sitting in the middle.  There are 3 locked doors in this room that need an item called Ruins Key to open. Behind each one is a treasure chest. In order to get 3 keys, you need to do this next minigame perfectly.   It’s not a difficult game, unless you’re not playing this on a PSP and you’ve fiddled with your key bindings, like I have.  Just move the analog stick or D-Pad in the direction of the button and then press it (you have to hold the direction until you press. Don’t let go before hitting the face button). I remember this being a little harder on the PSP, because the analog nub wasn’t as precise as a controller’s analog stick. Either way, this one took me about 6 attempts until I figured out that my Square and Triangle buttons were flipped.   The message changes depending on how well you do, but you’ll know right away if you’ve gotten perfect from whether or not you’re given 3 Ruins Keys. It is possible to only do well enough to get 1 Key, or poorly enough that you get the Crystal and 0 Keys.  The door in the north part of the room has a Wisdom Apple. The southern door has 2340 Ril, and the western door has a Secret Book.  In the top right of the room, there’s a Crystal sitting on a pedestal. The mysterious voice tells you that you can smash the Crystal to receive some vague assistance. I have no loving idea what these drat things are supposed to do. There’s one of them on each floor of this dungeon. I have tried smashing them all, smashing some of them, smashing none of them. I have tried keeping an eye on everyone’s MP and HP totals. I’ve done everything I can think of and found nothing. I went online and someone said they restore MP, but that wasn’t the case when I tried it.  If anyone knows, feel free to shout out in the thread, because I’m stumped. There’s a stairway in the bottom left of the room that leads to the next floor. The layout is a little different from the last one, but everything else is the same. There’s Valkanian soldiers milling around, there are 3 rooms with chests in them, one with a Crystal, and there’s a button pressing minigame.  This one has a Dandy Book, the chest you see next to it has a Magic Scroll (teaches MP Cost Down to a character). The chest on the right (next to the Crystal room) has an Ambrosia.  Third floor is the same thing. Chest room in the bottom right has a Vito’s Nostrum. There’s a Gale Apple in the chest room to the right. The last one in the north has a Reflex Scroll (teaches Quick Attack).  There’s a save point next to the stairs leading further down. That means a boss fight is coming up. You should buff up as usual, but this next mission is quite possibly the easiest (non-introductory) one in the entire game.   This mission is insultingly easy. The Central Core is the only thing you need to actually destroy.  The five generators that surround the core will occasionally fire out a little energy ball that will begin traveling down the pipe towards the Central Core. If these energy balls get to the center, the Central Core will be able to fire off a powerful magic spell.  Keyword in that paragraph was “if.” While they do move quickly, the spell energy orbs have a laughably small amount of HP. A single Level 1 spell is enough to destroy them before they can reach the boss. As far as I know, the boss cannot attack you without receiving some spell energy. As long as you intercept these spell energy enemies, you won’t take any damage and the boss will be helpless.  Now, what the game expects you to do is to send your party around the arena to destroy the generators. In practice, you may be capable of just bum-rushing the Central Core and attacking it while Frayne or someone sits back and picks off the spell energy enemies as they spawn. In our case, however, we just send in Crevanille.  Not enough… we need more… more!   Berserk is a skill that can be learned through the Seal Circle/Pierce Strike spellstones. It bumps a character’s damage against a chosen target by 50%, but causes recoil damage in exchange. It also makes the character uncontrollable for as long as it is active. They will only hit the chosen target with physical attacks.  MOAR POWER!        Probably shouldn’t do that again…  Having maybe pushed Crevanille a little too far beyond his current limits, I heal him up and proceed to explore the surrounding rooms. *A scrap of paper remains at the bottom of a drawer* I’ll take a look.*Yuni floats over to the desk for a little bit*  I’d still like to read it…   Screw you, game!  The only room with anything of interest is this one to the left. There’s another cryptic document on the bookshelf, so grab that first. This is… a bit too technical for me to read, I think. Why don’t we take it with us for the time being?Then we head over to the desk.  “Spellcannon: Generator Plans” is what it says. Just looking at the diagrams, the numbers are very large. This must be for a giant cannon. Since the small spellcannon we found had the power to demolish castle walls, who knows how powerful this could be? It could destroy mountains. I can barely imagine it… Let’s show this to Maggie. She may know something.*Spellcannon Plans obtained* Let’s go make a Metal Gear Spellcannon! With the plans obtained, we have nothing left to do in the Sunsail ruins. You can walk out manually, or use the Escape spell. If you decide to hoof it, then be aware that the groups of Valkanian soldiers will be replaced with skeletons and shadow monster enemies. Still not dangerous, but it’s not what you’ve gotten accustomed to.  As soon as we head outside the ruins, we get a look at what’s happening with Alfonse. Withdrawal…? Like this…? Muntzer is trying to lure us into a trap. If we follow them, we will likely be surrounded.[Ordinale Soldier #1]: Are we just going to watch what happens, then?  It’s a trap, but it’s still an opportunity too great to pass on. We pursue![Ordinale Soldier #1]: Yes, sir! *Alfonse and the Ordinale soldiers advance*  *Diana enters*  Pardon me, Sir Muntzer. …Still looking over that little gift? Of course. Latika gave it to me, after all. Did you show her you were happy with it? She’s always worried about that. She’s a smart girl. I think she understands your feelings. When the war is over, you’ll have time to be with her. …Which is why we must end the war quickly. I agree. And so we must win the battle ahead. Lord Ordinale has taken the bait. This will be the turning point.Unlikely, considering that we’re in the area this time. The Dulkheim front, I entrust to you. I won’t let you down, Sir. Will you be all right by yourself? It is my duty as a Royal Guard to protect the country. And I have good reason to return alive. Indeed. Then my unit will depart for the Dulkheim border at once. I wish you luck, Sir Muntzer.*Diane leaves and Muntzer goes back to staring at the shiny thing on his desk*  Well then, we know what’s on our agenda next, don’t we? Alfonse is running off into a trap. He knows that it’s a trap, mind you, but it’s still concerning.  Rest up and do whatever prep you need to do back at home. When you’re ready, talk to this Marquelay Soldier just outside Sunsail. What?! No…[Marquelay Soldier #1]: We have to send Lord Ordinale reinforcements! Yet Sir Muntzer’s troops are in our way… If we don’t hurry… Lord Ordinale will be… We’re on it, we’re on it. Chill out. Just follow behind us and make sure to stay out of the splash zone, all right? Now, unlike what I usually tell you, be careful with how much you buff up before moving ahead. We are technically about to get pulled in to 3 consecutive missions. You want to make sure that you are keeping some gas in the tank for the last one. This is especially true for your Knack abilities, which you can only recharge by going to an Inn.  Get a load of Gandalf the Grey up there.  [Ordinale Soldier #2]: Yeah!  Mission 1 and Mission 2 have the same objective. We need to get at least 1 party member out of this map through the north, while not having any of them retreat to the south. The survival of the Ordinale soldiers is not required, although it may have an impact on your ability to get Mission Complete, so you should aim to keep them alive regardless. That said, you will likely feel like leaving the bastards to die, because…  They will constantly get in your way when you are trying to attack enemies or proceed through the map. Most of the Valkanian enemies in Mission 1 are occupying the northern hill. There’s a bunch of spellcasters and archers up there. Try and get Crevanille or another melee character to dash up there before the Ordinale soldiers get too far north.  There’s a narrow path up there that your characters can get blocked out of if the Ordinale soldiers get there first. Normally you would have your ranged or mage characters take care of this, but you need to remember that they have to escape the map as well. This means that you can’t have Frayne standing around casting spells for too long because she’ll need to move to the north eventually if you want a positive bonus gauge.  As your characters escape, they’ll shout out for the others to follow. Just like the last time we had to do this (at Aida Bridge), you cannot kill off every enemy. An infinite number of reinforcements will automatically pop in every time you kill the final enemy on the map. Just like last time, I leave Crevanille on the field until everyone else gets away so that he can repeatedly slaughter every new Valkanian soldier that shows up. Please come quickly, everyone. Ngh… I need to hurry… You’re the last one, Master. Come, let’s hurry.That’s the first mission out of the way. On the next map, do your buffing before moving anywhere. Mission 2 starts once you move towards the Ordinale soldiers standing around up ahead.   Hey, I see some familiar faces!Out of the way, Vallery. We’re going to kick Muntzer’s rear end and break whatever weird spell he has over you that stops you from rejoining us. Vallery… For Sir Muntzer, I cannot let you pass! Let’s go! Beep beep, Crevanille comin’ through!  [Valkanian Archer #1]: Captain, please back down. We’ll handle it!  Sorry, guys…*Vallery runs away again* Vallery…Vallery drops a Petrify Attack spellstone for us. Crevanille also steals a Wisdom Armor +3. A pity, as I was hoping it was a Wisdom Blade +3. Anyway, this mission is the same as the last one, except there are a lot more Valkanian soldiers in the middle. The archers and spellcasters are still littered around and I think there’s a healer up there with them in the north. Vallery changes things a little bit, but Crevanille should be more than a match for him. Once again, just be careful not to burn yourself out on MP or Knacks as you work your way up the map.  After everyone escapes through the north, we’ll get the layout of the final mission. Alfonse has been surrounded on the bridge by Muntzer and is in a real bad position. You’ve done well to hold out with a force this size, Lord Ordinale. However, it seems that your accompaniment will not last much longer. Gah!At this point, the camera shifts over to our party at the southern edge of the field. Before moving, slap on all your buffs.  Hien! Hah… What a cheery reunion… Only four reinforcements, eh? But still, I’d rather none…So would I. I’d prefer to just have Crevanille wreck you and your entire army by himself. Unfortunately, as much as it pains me, that won’t be possible. Not with the party that the thread has saddled me with, anyway.  In order to get Mission Complete here, these two idiots must survive. That is a tall order, because as soon as the battle starts, they will be attacked by those 3 archers, as well as the 3 soldiers to the south. Oh, and the soldiers in the south will sometimes have Double Strike, letting them hit twice in a row. On top of this, there’s also a Healer hiding behind Leona’s character portrait that more often than not will start charging High Attack Up to give all the Valkanians an Attack Up buff. Then there are two more heavy soldiers just off screen in the south that will start the battle by marching straight for the bridge. And there’s also two spellcasters standing on the fortification that can only be hit with ranged attacks or spells.  Keeping them alive throughout the first stage of this battle is essentially a full-time job. You need to have someone constantly throwing healing items at them. In our case, I was forced to use a bunch of the Elixirs we’ve been picking up.  Alfonse should be okay on his own, thankfully. Muntzer and him will trade attacks throughout the fight and, absent any interference from the archers or other soldiers, Alfonse will ultimately win the duel. Muntzer hits hard and has Counter, but Alfonse is much quicker to attack and he can hit upwards of 3 times in a row. My recommendation is to take out the Healer first, so that he doesn’t get the chance to cast any AOE buffs. After that, try and take out at least one spellcaster to stop the Joint Spells. At least one of your attackers should immediately start chasing those two heavy soldiers and then move on to the soldiers that are boxing in Alfonse and his pals. The archers are a definite nuisance, but they aren’t as high priority as the others.  Reinforcements will eventually start appearing near your starting position, so be careful of that. Hopefully, though, you’ve managed to clear out the bridge a little by the time that happens and can lay off healing duty. From what I can tell, the two Ordinale soldiers are thankfully smart enough to not go after Muntzer once the Valkanian soldiers are dealt with. Usually they will start moving off the bridge and going after the reinforcements that keep showing up. Ugh… Prepare yourself!If you hold out long enough, Alfonse will eventually best Muntzer in their battle. It starts raining as soon as Muntzer collapses.  Muntzer… To fall on the battlefield… I can think of no higher honor… Hm, that woman… No! Am I too late!? Diana… Muntzer! Snap out of this! Silverneil… Forgive me… I am… defeated. Don’t try to speak![Valkanian Soldier #1]: Silverneil… We leave Sir Muntzer in your care. Yes, understood. Good luck with that. Crevanille can easily handle Muntzer by himself. You sure as hell aren’t going to stand a chance against him. Anyway, Diana helps Muntzer limp off screen. After that, all that’s left is for us to clean up the remaining soldiers. Reinforcements stop showing up at this point and if the battle continues for much longer, then the remaining Valkanians will eventually flee and end the mission automatically.  This stupid mission. It would have been so easy if I didn’t have to keep the two dinguses alive. I had to send Leona out to deal with the bridge soldiers while Crevanille, Hien, and Frayne all sat around casting spells and throwing items to pick off mages/archers and heal people. It was a long fight. Superlative, everyone. Muntzer… Diana… Lord Ordinale…Could everyone stop saying people’s names in a forlorn tone?!  I’m glad you’re safe. ….. I still haven’t thanked you. It’s because of you that we were able to defeat Muntzer. What do you all plan to do now? We need to go to the ruins in Dulkheim. Dulkheim, huh…? You have a difficult path ahead of you. I cannot leave here at the moment, so it doesn’t appear that I can help now. But I’m sure you’ll all be fine. Please be careful.We sure will, Alf. And being careful starts with us ignoring our trip to Dulkheim and going back to No Angeles for a vacation.  As soon as we leave the area, we get a scene at Valkanian Army Headquarters. How fares Sir Muntzer?[Valkanian Soldier #1]: Not out of the woods yet, but he’s on the mend. He’s not a Royal Guard for nothing. Very good. When I beheld his wound, I feared the worst.[Valkanian Soldier #1]: The worst nearly came to pass. If he hadn’t had this over his chest, he’d have perished for sure. *The soldier gives something to Diana* That plate… Ugh… Is that you, Silverneil? Sir Muntzer! …You’re awake, sir. Have you… have you seen Latika’s plate? I cannot lose it… It’s right here, Muntzer. It saved your life. Latika protected you. …Did she, now? Yes. And buying it was Crevanille’s idea. He’s friends with her. I don’t recall that happening. I remember Diana picking the plate out. Then I owe my life to their friendship. So do I. HAHAHA! You loving wish you were capable of backing up a threat like that. …It does me good to see you well.*Success! Muntzer’s fate has been changed!* We saved Muntzer! Apparently!  Changing Muntzer’s fate is something that is very easy to miss. Latika’s sprite is that of a normal little girl. You’d be forgiven for never speaking to her in Klasdahl. You also need to speak with her after saving Hien and do the whole “Crevanille/Diana help her shop for an accessory” event. I think Muntzer is one of the new additions to the fate system as well. In the PS2 version, and in this one if you don’t talk with Latika, Muntzer dies from his wounds after this battle.   What about spells? Can’t you heal him with spells like usual!?[Valkanian Soldier #1]: Healing spells can only enhance the natural healing abilities of the body. It can’t save a body that’s already shut down… Silverneil… What’s wrong, Muntzer!? Don’t trouble your subordinates by being unreasonable. I’m sorry, but I have to ask one more thing of you… What is it? Tell me!*Muntzer holds something up* What’s this? A woman’s pendant? Don’t be a fool! Don’t give up! I leave His Majesty… in your care…*Dies*  Sad stuff, for sure. Thankfully, we managed to prevent another Gruff Anime Dad from dying in this game. One is enough.  While we’re back home, I turn over the Spellcannon Plans we found to Maggie. Notably, the dialog box mentions that these are only one part of the plans. We also have the option of taking another furlough, which we will avail of. We’ve been through a lot of crap since the last one. Plus, it would be nice to get one more in before we set off for Dulkheim (again). God only knows what will distract us during our second attempt at that trip.  Unfortunately, since we never actually went to the Ruins of Hope, Frayne is still stuck in our party. I’ll give this one more attempt with Hien and Leona before I swap out one of them for Eliza. I will be putting Eliza in the party briefly, though, since a special something is now available to us…  [Random Little Girl]: That’s nice. I’d like something that pretty.  Oh, do you like accessories, miss?No, it’s not this. This is some random event with Mel for no reason. [Random Little Girl]: Yes! All girls love fashion, right? Everything in this store is sooo cute! ….. BINGO! Go to the front of the store and see the amazing items I have displayed.[Random Little Girl]: Tee hee… I do love all this stuff, but I don’t really have any money to buy anything today. Well, for a little lady your age, that’s not such a surprise. I know…*Mel goes into her shop for a second* Here, you can have this!*Mel gives the girl a star shaped pendant* [Random Little Girl]: Huuuh? You’re just giving this to me? Yup! It’s a sample product I was making. [Random Little Girl]: WOW! Thank you so much! Take good care of it.[Random Little Girl]: Of course! I’ll treasure this forever! Thank you. That thing will be lost in the closet by the end of the month. Anyway, that’s not the thing I was referring to. For that, we head a little further to the right. You may have noticed that the gate that was previously up next to Mel’s has disappeared! That’s right, it’s time for…   Mortal Kombat! The arena has finally opened! There are a bunch of different types of battles you can take part in that can lead to a ton of incredibly sweet loot.  Here’s a rundown: Free Battle - Comes in 1v1, 2v2, and 4v4 flavours. 1v1 is the only one available for now. We need to unlock the other two types by achieving Legend Rank in 1v1. Bronze/Silver/Gold Class – The typical arena format. Your team is thrown against a bunch of different groups of enemies. You earn a prize after completing 5 battles in a row and you master the class by completing 8 battles in a row. Every battle gives you the option to Continue or Suspend, so you don’t have to do the entire run in one sitting. Physical/Spell Damage – You and some opponents compete to see who can deal the most damage to a Guardian enemy. You get a reward for coming in 1st. The Guardian will be immune to either spell or physical attacks, depending on which contest you are taking part in. Creature Conquest – You make a 2-member team and compete against three other teams in a race to see who can kill the most creatures within a set time limit. Prizes depend on how many creatures your team manages to defeat.  I will be doing almost all of this stuff off-screen, with the exception of unique fights (it’s possible to fight certain special opponents in here). For the time being, I have Crevanille flatten everything in the basic 1v1 category. 1v1 is divided as follows, with each match consisting of 3 enemies (who come out one at a time, of course): Starting out: 1v1 is divided into Novice, Beginner, Normal, Great, Special, Ultra, Champion, Hero, Excellent, and Legend classes. Yes, that means you have to fight through 10 rounds and 30 enemies in total to unlock 2v2 and 4v4. After winning the 1v1 Legend Class: You gain access to Master classes. Master classes are broken up into G, F, E, D, C, B, A, AA, AAA, and S. Master B Class is where you start fighting unique opponents instead of the usual generic NPCs.  Starting out in the arena is boring as sin. Enemies don’t start to match up with your current level until Ultra Class. You also have to watch that little Bunny/Ring Girl contestant announcement scene every time and run back and forth between the arena and the front desk. It takes me a good 20 minutes or so. The reason I go through the trouble right away is because completing Master AA Class in the 4v4 battles (the 4v4 category starts at Master B Class) will score us—  A new costume for Yuni!  Battle Armour Yuni with special edition cat ears, it seems. Remember to sound off in the thread if you want Yuni to throw on a new costume. Doesn’t have to be this one, but I’ll only swap them if a lot of people latch on to one. —Vacation 5—  As for vacation, I have a few notes for people to keep in mind when they vote: -Maggie joins the list of people we can potentially hang out with. -Yuni’s substory can now be started. -Sydney’s substory can be moved forward very slightly, although she won’t be directly involved in that brief progress. -Because the number of party members to hang out with has gotten up to 8, you can now vote for up to 4 people instead of 3. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Aug 14, 2021 |
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Aug 14, 2021 10:55
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Honestly, the main effect of the fate-change stuff for me is undermining all the drama and making everyone look incompetent, since Crevanille just sort of... averts their dramatic tragedies with no particular effort? Oh, horrors, for she will waste away in despair at the death of her belov- uh, oh, I guess she's fine, because Crevanille chatted with her a bit. Oh, woe, for he has lain down his life in battle against a friend, what a senseless war to- wait, no, he's okay, because Crevanille took his kid shopping. Let's hang out with Hien, Eliza, Yuni, and Maggie.
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Aug 14, 2021 16:02
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I figured Muntzer was going to be 100% dead since it kept showing off his adopted daughter so it's neat to see that you can actually save him and if he doesn't join us as a bonus character then he's a jerk.
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Aug 14, 2021 16:26
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