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Omobono posted:Tales games, Tales games never change. Actually, that point of no return I showed a little while ago has a ways to go before you get to the final boss. So no, not really.
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Jul 6, 2016 06:03
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quote:
Or in an alternate reality: Whoops Leia went exploring and accidentally went into the final boss portal, then was horribly mangled. quote:
I agree. Because it sounds like she was at least 20 years younger than you, Rowan.    : And it looks like I can see again. : I can tell because my arms and legs are moving again, and also light is hitting my retinas, allowing me to discern shapes and movement.Seriously, don't just lie there like a lump Dr. Mathis. Could you not at least go for help? And don't say "the mine is full of monsters" because step 1 of deciding if the mine should be re-opened should be to get rid of all the monsters so people can look around the mine in peace.  : Dear Al, I never expected that you would return to me. As someone who has endured betrayal her whole life, to have my expectations betrayed so sweetly was, for once, a great kindness. But if you're reading this letter now... It means that in choosing to live my life as Presa, I have chosen to betray you. I am truly sorry. : P.S. I'm also really sorry about my outfit.*** Wait, they just heard from a climatologist that altering Spirit Climes could be dangerous, so... they decide to alter one for some mild convenience? And to do that they need to get into the fort so they can get boosters so they can kill the golems... so they can get into the fort? ... what. They had to kill the golems to get into the fort. But to do that, they first had to get into the fort. ... I think they're not noticing that step 2 could he skipped...
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Jul 6, 2016 22:44
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Ch34: Sidequest, Sideboss : At this point I actually took a break from waiting with Gaius to do some errands. Even someone like him can only go so long without food or water, and those guys were taking their time. Teen: I was out shopping with my mother, but we got separated. Her hair and eyes look just like mine.  : Unfortunately, we don't know this city very well. Woman: There you are, Lem. What are you doing here?  Teen: Me?! You're the one who got lost! Did you forget where we were supposed to meet? Woman: Oh... Did I? Teen: Honestly, I don't know how you keep a nursing job when you can't even stick to a simple schedule!  : Heh. It's nice to see that Elympions are as human as we are!  : No kidding.  : Carrie? Carrie, it's you! You're alive!  : Wait... Nachtigal's sister?! Woman: Oh, yes, my name is Carrie. But I'm afraid I don't know who you are.  : You... You don't? Woman: I'm sorry. I can't remember anything from my childhood. When I washed up on a beach here twenty years ago, all I could remember was my name. Teen: Wait, do you know who my mother used to be?  : Uh, no... I merely met her once before, when I was working with her husband. Girl: Oh, are you in the military too? Woman: Forgive me for not recognizing you. You meet so many people as a soldier's wife. : N-No, no apologies necessary. It was a long time ago. May I ask where your husband is? Woman: He's away on an expedition right now. I haven't heard from him in a long time. But I'm not worried. Ever since he found me twenty years ago, Julius has never broken a promise he's made to me. Teen: Ugh, Mom, could you stop gushing to complete strangers? Woman: Haha, okay, okay. But it is true, you know. Teen: Come on, we need to get going. Nice meeting you all!  : Hey...  : When the schism was breached twenty years ago... The tsunami must have brought Carrie all the way here to Elympios. : Aren't you going to go after her? : I... I don't know what I would say to her after all these years. I don't even know how to feel about this.  : It's a pretty weird situation. Even assuming they haven't already killed her husband, which I give 50/25/25 on.: Don't you mean 50/50?: One of those 25s is "He was killed by Gaius instead."Skit Video: (That's a Big House)   : How may people do you think live in one of those giant houses in Trigleph?  : Have you always liked pop quizzes this much? I've never noticed after all this time.  : Oh, I know! : Did your love of pop quizzes awaken while I was dead?  : She's always liked pop quizzes!  : Oh... Skit Video: (A Dialogue Between Worlds)  Technically I think this is the skit for the preceding segment, but it flowed better this way I think.  : Don't be afraid. They're people, just like us. Try to speak to as many people as you can.  : Gotta pump 'em for info!  : Information is important, but learning to understand and appreciate each other--that is our top priority. Skit Video: (Let's Go Visit Driselle)  : Why not go to the manor and see? : Driselle must be worried sick about you!  : Worried about me? Oh my, I do hope she doesn't perceive me as being that old.   : That's Muzét's voice! : I thought Muzét was with Gaius? : We should check inside! : No, wait. There's a human in there with her. We need to be careful.  : When Billy found them, he said... "Hey, which one's the wife and which one's the mistress?"  : Wh-What kind of story is this?! : What are you doing?! : So yeah I bugged out of there. I'd already lost a 1v4 fight, a 1v6 wasn't really in my interests. : Also a 1v1 fight.: That was a 1v5 thank you very much.: Then shouldn't this be a 1v10?: Well I sure don't want that! : Let's go!  Old Woman: I don't know. Are you friends of hers? Did Muzét leave already?  : Are you okay? : You seem a little bit off, Granny.  : Actually I teleported through the roof. Milla's never been good at thinking with teleportation.: Are you better now? Old Woman: Yes sweetheart, thank you. : Your eyes... Old Woman: I appreciate your concern, dear. : Can you see us? Old Woman: I can sense you. I may be blind to light, but I've learned how to see other things. : I need to ask you something. I know Muzét was here. What was she doing? Old Woman: Before I answer, could you explain to me why you're so interested in her? : Well-- : Milla is Muzét's sister. : Elize? : Shhh! Let's just make this easy for everyone, okay? Old Woman: Muzét's sister? : Yes. Old Woman: Very well. Since it sounds like you don't mean Muzét any harm. I first met her five years ago, when my daughter and I were involved in a terrible accident. Muzét happened to be there, and she saved my life. Unfortunately, my daughter was not so lucky. : She saved your life? Old Woman: She told me she only did it on a whim. But even though I had survived, I had lost my will to live. My beloved daughter, who had read to me every day, was gone. But one day, I asked Muzét if she would read to me instead. : And she said yes? Old Woman: She did. But I could tell that she hated it at first. Just another of her whims, I suppose. : No. Way. : I can't believe it. Old Woman: She is a very kind girl, you know. And a little bit timid, but I suppose that's true of most girls her age. I'm sure you have your reasons for chasing her. I certainly won't try to stop you. But if I may, I'd ask that you please try not to hurt her. : Milla? ; I understand how you feel. Old Woman: Good. That's wonderful. : Why are you smiling? Old Woman: I'm just relieved to hear that. : Obviously since she's here telling you this, Lady Milla was indeed able to grant the old woman's petition.: It's not easy to permanently kill a spirit, unless you're willing to use spyrix.  ; I do. In fact, embarrassing stories might be the only Alvin stories I know. : This I gotta hear. : Shall I tell you one?  : One more word and you're dead to me forever. : Well now, this is a conundrum. I know. How about a bet? : Truly an Elympion's answer to everything. : Now now, Alfred, you know better than that. Gambling is a long and proud Elympion tradition. It has some bad points, but it has good ones too. : Would we be betting money? : Certainly not. We can choose to bet anything we like. For example... We could bet on whether or not you can find a Light-Leaf Clover! If you can, you win, and I'll air out some of Alfred's dirty laundry. : What's a Light-Leaf Clover? : It's a clover with golden leaves that grows on the sides of roads. : Elympions consider it a good-luck charm. I've heard they once grew along Rusalle Highroad. : Then this should be a piece of cake! You got yourself a bet, buddy! : So, betting is a hallowed Elympion tradition? I'm a little intrigued myself. : Okay, let's go check out Rusalle Highroad. : Hey, wait a minute... It's been ages since a Light-Leaf Clover was seen on the highroad, and some say they might be extinct. : Alfred, are you really going to waste my magnanimity? : This is why I hate gambling. Skit Video: (Finding the Light-Leaf Clover)   : It's a clover with sun-colored leaves, right? Let the hunt begin!  : Honestly I'd be surprised if they hadn't found it.: Is this a Light-Leaf Clover? : Yeah, that's it. drat it, Balan told me these things were extinct!  : Extinct?! You thought they were extinct and let us bet anyway? : No, I just... Well, yeah. Basically. : Well, all's well that ends well. It's a miracle! : We've traveled to an entirely different world, and this is what qualifies as a miracle to you?  Soldier: You there. Hand over that clover if you know what's good for you. : Huh? Who the heck are you? We found this fair and square. Soldier: If anyone else finds a clover, we lose our bet! If you won't hand it over, we'll take it by force! Fight gets no screenshots due to  : Why would they just attack us like that? And what did they mean about a bet? : Wait a minute. : Do you know something? : Best not to talk out here. Let's go back to Balan's. : Yes! Now we get to hear an embarrassing story about Alvin! : This is why I hate gambling. Skit Video: (And Back to Balan Once More)   : And then we get our story. This is gonna be good. : Then they fought some stuff. So while we're here let's annihilate some random boss monsters.  Having random boss monsters in the world to bump into is a thing that's appeared in a few of the 3D Tales games, but there are only a few in this game. These two are the only ones that aren't Devil's Beasts.  It hits hard, but not hard enough for me to be worried or anything.  OK sometimes it can hit hard enough for me to worry.  Assault Claw is a series of slashes.  Burn status is doing nearly 3k dps.  Wild Voice inflicts stun status in a cone in front of him.  Both these bosses drom Mysterious Jewels, which we've occasionally been picking up from chests. This is #20.  Boss #2  It's got quite a reach on that tail.  Cross Breaker slashes the area in front of it.  Slash Arm is, surprisingly, the same thing but with only one of his forearms.  After Jude dies 3 or 4 times in 15 seconds, this is kind of bad.  Except I can goddamn buy Omega Elixers. Like, just go to an item store and BAM fill up.  Stone Powder is pretty cool, he changes the color of his wings and blows petrification powder on everything in front of himself.  Although it just outright killed those two.  And they just pop right back up because all difficulty has been annihilated by various auto-revive skills, spells, and items.  Kind of an annoying fight. Anyway we have 21 Mysterious Jewels now. : Anyway, they went back to Balan's to deliver the light-leaf clover. : Holy... I can't believe you actually found a Light-Leaf Clover. If we had bet money, you'd have made a killing.  : All right, make with the embarrassing stories! : Oh well, a bet's a bet.  : Which one are you going to tell them? : Let's make it the one about this very clover. When Alvin was five years old, he wanted to do something for Aunt Leticia's-- for his mother's birthday. He came up with the idea of giving her a crown made entirely out of Light-Leaf Clovers. : Sounds like that could be difficult. : Right. Even back then, they were quite hard to find. So little Alvin thought long and hard about what to do. After a lot of thought, he came up with the idea of painting regular clovers the color of Light-Leaf Clovers. : That's brilliant! : Is it? : He gave it to Leticia before the paint was dry, and she ended up getting it all over her hair! Alvin was even more surprised at this than Leticia was, and he started bawling his eyes out. Out of habit, he buried his face in her hair as he tried to apologize, and ended up getting paint all over his face too. The end. : Ah ha ha ha, that's so cute! : That was a wonderful story. : You really loved your mother, didn't you Alvin?  : I'll get you for this, Balan. : Ha ha, talking about Leticia has put me in the mood for one of her peach pies. They were absolute perfection. I'd give anything for one more bite. But unfortunately it's not to be. : Balan, you hang on to those memories. She may never have made it back to Elympios, but at least we can keep her memory alive. : Even if you asked me to, I could never forget about her. Or about you, naturally. : I'm glad I made it back.  Soldier: Hey, things are tough for everyone! We can't afford to pay these prices! : Hey, hey, let's all calm down! Woman: What, you're taking the soldiers' side? I can't believe this!  : Stop it! : Karla? Merchant: Hey, I know you. You're close with His Highness. : What exactly is your connection to Gaius? : He just summons me here sometimes, that's all. I heard he was away, so I came to see if everything was all right. : Well, you were certainly right to be concerned. : I'm afraid so. With King Gaius and the Chimeriad gone, the domestic stability of Auj Oule is beginning to unravel. But I still can't believe that things have regressed this far, this quickly. It's simply pathetic. : Is it that bad? : Clearly, the weak must be tended to constantly, or they'll disrupt everything. I guess it's too much to ask for everyone to grow strong. It's hopeless.  : Hold on. Maybe they'll never know what it's like to be as strong as Gaius, but that doesn't make them hopeless! : How can you deny it? You see what's happening here! My brother Erston sacrificed his family for these people, and this is what happens?! : Wait, what? : You're Gaius' sister?! : Yes. You wanted to know Gaius' real name? It's Erston Outway. I believe that my brother forged his philosophy partly as a way to atone for what he did to me. That's why he wanted to be the king. And because of that, I thought I could forgive him. But looking at this, I don't know anymore. If this is what his efforts amounted to, then give me my brother back. Man: Hey, come on... If the guard's undermanned, I can help out. I know my way around a sword. Soldier: But only official soldiers are allowed to fight. Other Soldier: Hey, it's obvious we're going to need some help to get through this. Merchant: Listen... I'll talk to the other unions about the skyrocketing food prices. Woman: But if this situation drags on, things will only get worse. : That doesn't mean you can't do anything about it! Merchant: The boy is right! Forget about what we can't do and let's focus on what we can! : Jude... I hate to say it, but I think we have to face the facts. Everything King Gaius did was for naught. : Are you sure about that? Woman: Lady Karla, we may not be the kind of people that King Gaius would consider strong. Merchant: But that doesn't mean we can't do for ourselves the same things that he's always done for us. Soldier: I want to know that I've done everything that I can, so I can hold my head high when King Gaius returns. : Thank you... All of you! If the news of my identity spreads, it will only make trouble for King Gaius. We'll probably never see each other again, but I'm glad I was able to meet all of you. Farewell. : I suppose we should be going ourselves. : Jude, seeing you follow your own path has helped me erase any doubts I had about mine. Maybe that's the same thing Gaius felt when he first met you.   : I had heard you'd been sent to the other world. So you found your way home after all. : Wingul, there is something I would like to ask you. Am I correct in my understanding that you led Auj Oule's armies at Fezebel Marsh? Using boosters to move through the marsh was a brilliant strategy. : Are you mocking me? That strategy played right into Gilland's hands. : You aren't the only one who failed to see through Gilland's facade. I share the same shame. : I didn't realize someone who turned his back on his duty had any honor left to lose. Is that what you're doing here? Some sad attempt to return to the battlefield and erase your shame?  : How can you say that?!  : Don't you make fun of Rowen! He's a great guy for someone who's so old! : Yeah he was paying absolutely no attention to those two.: You were a skilled tactician in your prime, I grant you that. But how much of that skill remains today? Former Chief of Staff Ilbert. Care to play a game? : A game, you say? : A mock battle, using a real military map. But of course, I would understand if you were reluctant to see how time has ravaged your talents. : You don't need to buy into this. : I accept. : Then come to the Xailen Woods Temple.  : This board lets us control data from historic battles and see different ways they might play out. : And what battle is this data from? : Twenty years ago, on the Fezebel Outback. : The Battle of Fezebel. : The struggle between the armies of Rashugal and the former King of Auj Oule. : Correct. It was a tragic battle, in which both armies suffered heavy casualties from a giant tsunami. It was Ilbert the Conductor's one and only draw. : And you wish to recreate that battle now? : This is no recreation. If I had led Auj Oule into battle, we would have won. That is what I will prove here today. Formation: Ichthys! All troops, advance! : The core of the Rashugal army is being pushed back! : Left and right troops, spread out to the wings! Surround the enemy's vanguard! : It's no good. The vanguard is unstoppable. What is this power? : That's Gaius' unit, their first time in battle. You won't surround them so easily. : Both wings, advance! Circle to the enemy's flank! : Planning to launch a counterattack from my flank? Such a boring and predictable response. I'll simply attack while your troops are changing course! This battle will be won before the tsunami hits! : The enemy is turning faster than Rashugal! : Look out! : All troops, maintain forward movement! Your goal is the high ground behind the Auj Oule army! : What?! : Rashugal's army is assembling on the hill. : It's over. It is impossible to defeat a defending army on high ground in so short a time. Soon the tsunami will come and engulf the plains. You will have no choice but to retreat. : Hmph. And this is what you call a victory? : I am satisfied simply not to lose. I see. Thank you for the match, Conductor. We will settle this in a different way. : Hmph! Sore loser! : You did great, Rowen. : It's because I failed in the past. If only I had used this strategy back then. : Uh, how would he know that a tsunami was going to hit sufficiently far ahead of time to do this?: I think it's great you learned from your mistake! : You're still growing! Even at your age! : Indeed. And I still have a great deal more growing to do. I may even grow out of these clothes one day.  : Yes... It does look like it might fit. : I knew it! The jewel fits!  Tess: It's been ages since we've had guests! Let's go greet them, Patel. : Forgive us for barging in like this. Tess: Not at all. Please, make yourselves at home. : Who are you? Tess: I'm Tess, and this is Patel. We're the temple caretakers. Patel: You guys must have a lot of time on your hands if you're visiting a beat-up old temple like this. : Um, may I ask what this is? Tess: Oh, you mean the Transcendental Ring? Using a pattern of 23 jewels, it represents the three defining aspects of our world: spirits, humans, and souls. It used to be one of the great wonders of Rieze Maxia. But at some point its jewels were pried out and scattered to the four corners of the world. Patel: Legends say the Transcendental Ring still conceals a secret that has been hidden since antiquity. : A secret? What kind of secret? Patel: No one knows! Even the details of the legend have faded away over the years. Tess: Oh my! One of the jewels is back?! Did you do this? Patel: If you can restore all of the jewels, we might learn its secret at last! : An ancient secret, huh... : It sounds intriguing. Wait, 23 jewels? gently caress. I came here with 21. Ugh, guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow. : And then they fought some more Devil's Beasts. This was actually worthwhile for them, since they could use the practice.   Thunder Rain. Despite being weak to fire, it uses lightning (which is fire+wind).  Man am I glad Milla can sometimes land elemental debuffs on bosses.  I have no idea what this actually does.  Not too hard.  Notably more annoying. Our Darkness-elemental attacks are fairly limited.  It has a lot of mobility and a tendency to send people flying.  Frolic & Cavort is a powerful leap-and-smash attack.  Poison Claw is another leap attack, and you can see here that Milla's darkness attack (and its Linked Arte with Jude) rely on him standing still in the AOE, which he doesn't have to do.  loving finally.  Next!  Another drat boss with bullshit mobility that will make it take too long.  I think that causes status effects, but I'm not sure which.  For some reason it has Divine Streak rather than an air spell.  As a light spell it has a chance to inflict goddamn charm on whatever it hits.  Revolver Assault is a flying spin-kick.  The name seems self-explanatory.  Add summon spell.  Weak and easy.  This is actually a very bad situation.  Except everyone dies and comes back at full HP. Note the auto-revive icons. This stuff really murders the difficulty curve on Xillia because everything is either fully capable of wiping your entire party at any time or a complete non-threat in the endgame.  
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Jul 7, 2016 02:44
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Story Time!: So, that Wingul sub-event there has a little skit involved telling you Wingul's on Kanbalar. Those little skits count for the Skit Viewer Trophy and Title. Now, this sub-event could also be triggered way back at Xailen Temple. There's even a mini-skit leading you to it. Only, Gaius, Wingul and the Chimeriad go through an area inaccessible by the party. I tried going through the area to no avail. I never thought to go out front, the exact opposite direction they headed. In addition, after the next batch of cutscenes there's another sub-event for Wingul that I thought related to the mini-skit at Xailen. I managed to get the Trophies for both Skits Viewed and Sub-events completed on the exact number required to complete. Because of a baffling series of coincidences and mistakes. In other news: Rowen's older than Carrie by 18 years. He was 36 when they fell in love. She's younger than both of Jude's parents but has an older child. Jiao actually fought with the Gatrega Devil's Beast once. Took some of its fur as part of an atonement ritual. There are artes enough to alter and sense the weather so both sides in Fezebel could have been forewarned. Rowen, however, was too busy dealing with the command incompetency due to the feuding between Nachtigal and his brothers.
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Jul 7, 2016 04:15
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:They had to kill the golems to get into the fort. But to do that, they first had to get into the fort. ... I think they're not noticing that step 2 could he skipped... They had to kill the golems so you could pass through the fort, not get into it. The golems were guarding the big passageway between sides. McTimmy posted:Jiao actually fought with the Gatrega Devil's Beast once. Took some of its fur as part of an atonement ritual. Are those from supplemental material?
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Jul 7, 2016 04:28
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As someone who's had hell with both Folzam there and a few bosses in Xillia 2, CONFUSION IS THE loving WORST. I hate Confuse-inflicting bosses with every fiber of my being.
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Jul 7, 2016 07:34
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wdarkk posted:Are those from supplemental material? The Jiao thing, yes. Weather is some NPC chatter and implications from sub-events. Civil War 3: Brothers Edition is straight from the prior step before meeting Carrie.
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Jul 7, 2016 07:46
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So how early in the game were you collecting these jewels that you had no idea what they did, now that you're up to 21? (At least Dragon Quest gave you some interstitial rewards for turning in Small Medals.)
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Jul 7, 2016 14:49
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Those jewels start popping up during your first trip to Hamil, Glazius. So, pretty drat early.
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Jul 8, 2016 02:51
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Ahahaha I beat Solo Arena Advanced while I wasn't recording. I thought I was recording.  EDIT: Ha, got it done. Efreet spam > everything that isn't resistant or worse to fire. wdarkk fucked around with this message at 03:50 on Jul 8, 2016 |
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Jul 8, 2016 02:51
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So because revival stuff in this game is so overpowered, Advanced Group went down on the first try. I hope people are ok with a forty-five minute fight.
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Jul 8, 2016 22:15
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wdarkk posted:So because revival stuff in this game is so overpowered, Advanced Group went down on the first try. I hope people are ok with a forty-five minute fight. I think you've beaten my record of 42 minutes for one fight (in my case against the final boss on Unknown). That was not fun.
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Jul 8, 2016 23:07
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Bufuman posted:I think you've beaten my record of 42 minutes for one fight (in my case against the final boss on Unknown). That was not fun. Reading the XIllia 2 LP reminds me of how incomplete this game is. Due to the lack of a mechanic like power charge, combos feel weak and don't seem to last as long compared to other series entries. Thus, my damage potential feels super-low.
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Jul 8, 2016 23:25
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Ya got a link to that other LP? Would wanna bookmark it and give it a gander once this one wraps up.
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Jul 9, 2016 01:16
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Deceitful Penguin posted:Ya got a link to that other LP? Would wanna bookmark it and give it a gander once this one wraps up. I do! Here it is.
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Jul 9, 2016 05:18
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Bufuman posted:I think you've beaten my record of 42 minutes for one fight (in my case against the final boss on Unknown). That was not fun. Was that on a second playthrough with grade bonuses? I fought the final boss on hard on my first playthrough and maxed out the clock on the results screen. It was about an hour more than that.
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Jul 11, 2016 15:58
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Phantasium posted:Was that on a second playthrough with grade bonuses? It WAS on a NG+, but I was only using 2x experience as opposed to 5x or 10x (I was maybe 5 or so levels higher than I was at the end of my first playthrough, and endgame levels honestly don't help much in such small doses), and using standard store-bought weapons (no Devil's Arms or anything like that).
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Jul 11, 2016 22:02
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CH35: Round One: Fight: So your guess earlier turned out to be totally wrong.  : We just captured one of the soldiers from that airship. : Wow! How'd you pull that off? : Actually, he seems like a pretty strange guy. He actually turned himself in! He said he'd like to speak to Rowen. His name is Julius. Do you know him? : Lady Driselle, would it be possible to see him now?  : At your service. And you must be Carrie's husband... Julius. Julius: I should have known the Conductor would already know the score. : You give me too much credit. Carrie and I merely met by chance in Elympios once. My question is, how do you know about me? Julius: Carrie had a ring with your name engraved on it when I met her. When I saw her using calculatrics without a spyrix, I knew she had to be from the otherworld. I volunteered for the Otherworld Reactor Plan expedition so I could learn more about her past. : Why would you risk so much? You already know she loves you. Julius: Because I hid the ring from her! The one with your name on it. I didn't want her to have anything that would remind her of her past! I'm a coward who took advantage of her amnesia in order to steal her heart. : I saw for myself how deeply Carrie loves and trusts you. It was clear from the way she smiled. Even twenty years ago, I'm not sure I could have ever done anything to make her smile like that. Julius, you must make it back to Elympios alive! Your wife and daughter are waiting for you. Your only sin is abandoning the people who love you. Julius: But, there isn't any way for me to get back. : Not to worry. We will escort you home ourselves. In fact, I insist upon it. However... : There's no telling how long the dimensional breach will last. We should hurry. : Thank you. Julius: Rowen, it's been an honor to meet you. : The honor is all mine.  : Yeah. Carrie was overjoyed to see him. : You should have gone with them. : Oh, no, that simply wasn't possible. The way my back has been acting up. Carrie: Well, that won't do. You must take better care of yourself. : That voice... Carrie... Carrie: I just had to come and thank you all in person. Thank you so much. If it wasn't for you and your friends, we might never have seen Julius again. Rowen, how have you been? : My beard's a bit longer, but other than that, not much has changed. And yourself? Carrie: Apart from a few more wrinkles, nothing. : Haha, those aren't wrinkles. Those are laugh lines! You seem very happy. Carrie: I am. You do too. : Oh yes. Spending time with so many young folk makes me feel a few decades younger myself. Carrie: That's wonderful. But do take care of yourself. : I will. Thank you. : Rowen... : Are you sure about this? : Please cheer up. : Haha, how could I possibly think myself unlucky in love when I have three lovely ladies looking after me? Now then, let us be off! : I hope I grow up to be someone like you, Rowen. : Then you'll need another fifty years of training. It's not as easy as it looks! : They had a lead on a Devil's Beast in Elympios, near the research facility. When they went there, they found out about one drawback to the spyrite program. Boy: Thank you so much! Woman: Oh, really? That's wonderful. : Wait, aren't you from Rieze Maxia? Woman: You all are too?! : How did you get here? Boy: Hey, can you believe it? I can see now! It's all thanks to the spyrite this lady made for me! : They're already making spyrites?! Uh, we've seen some spyrites already. I think this might be a mistake of some sort, or a mis-translation of something. Maybe "they've already put spyrites into production" or so? : This must be Balan's doing.  : Whoa, this place is amazing! : We're getting some very valuable data here. All thanks to the cooperation of these Rieze Maxians. : Have you learned something? : Oh yes, many things. For example, we've confirmed that Elympions and Rieze Maxians are biologically identical. : Really? But I thought Elympions didn't have mana lobes? : As it turns out, Elympions have the same mana lobe region that Rieze Maxians do. The only difference is that ours has devolved to the point where it no longer functions. : Makes sense. Sometimes you got the lucky ones who can still use artes without spyrix. : It's very, very rare, of course. They're usually famous entertainers or religious figures. : So why did your mana lobes devolve in the first place? : One reason is that we no longer needed to use them once we developed spyrix. But the biggest reason-- : Is that Maxwell took all the people with developed mana lobes when he created Rieze Maxia. : Correct. In legends, this is referred to as "The Great Departure". When Rieze Maxia's existence was confirmed, and we learned that the legend was true... It was a huge surprise, not just in scientific circles, but to all people of Elympios. : So basically, we're all the same kind of human, and we're all from the same world, right? Then I'm sure we can all work together. Just like you guys are doing here! : Leia's really bad at the whole "optimism" thing.Reize Maxians: ......  : Wh-What's the matter? : Wait a minute. How did these people get to Elympios? : W-Well, I, uh... : Given the current circumstances, there is only one possible explanation. : They were brought here under duress after your military invaded Rieze Maxia. Correct? : ...... Boy: What's "duress"? : As an Elympion, I apologize for the actions of our military. But I promise you their rights have not been violated! They're cooperating with us of their own free will. Man: What else could we do? There's no way for us to go home. Second Man: Really? I kind of like it here, to be honest with you. Back there I was just a fisherman, but here I can help save an entire world! If this research succeeds, the repercussions will be huge! Right, Dr. Balan? : Absolutely. And I'll make sure you're properly rewarded for your cooperation. Woman: We don't need your rewards. Just get us back to Rieze Maxia. Boy: ...... Woman: I know what we're doing here could help the people of this world. But is it so crucial that you had to rob us of our lives?! : ...... : I know we're acting very selfish here. I do understand. But we Elympions are quickly reaching a point where we may not survive without help. Please, help us. Boy: I'm sorry. Woman: No, I shouldn't have said that. This shouldn't have been one of the first things for you to see. I'm sorry. : I've never seen Balan so desperate. : But the Rieze Maxians do have a point.  : Yeah... : In the end, we're all human. I guess that's what makes this so difficult. : The Devil's Beast was a little closer than they expected. : Does that monster have a sword stuck in it? : Can you tell me what that thing is? Soldier: Beats the hell out of me! It just attacked out of nowhere! We tried to fight it off with new spyrix weapons designed to repel Muzét, but they did nothing! You guys get out of here. We'll hold it off for as long as we can! : Those weapons were probably not up to the task of defeating me if they couldn't deal with that thing.: You know Jude's group had already beat you when they were weaker than that before, right?: I was weaker before too.: And leave a lady to fend for herself? That's madness! : Right, because picking a fight with an indestructible monster is the very height of sanity...  Looks like a job for Rowan. Also this guy's model gets reused in Xillia 2 for one of the more annoying bosses.  Electroshock Skull fires an orb of electricity that...  Terminates in a column of lightning  Thunder Clad is a point blank AOE and a buff too, shrounding him in lightning.  His tendency to do burrow attacks (and the fact that it's impossible to damage enemies doing that) makes this take way longer than it should.  Thunder Blow hits a huge AOE repeatedly.  I really need to replace the armor on these guys, we're dying up a storm here.  I'm not 100% sure what "Thunder Stav" is because he does the same move earlier with no popup name.  gently caress you and  And Leia finally manages to not bop Milla on the head during their end battle skit. Woohoo. Soldier: I can't believe you beat that thing. : An electrifying performance, wouldn't you say? Soldier: Oh yes, I was positively shocked. : What is wrong with you two? : All that electricity must have scrambled their brains. : Is that really possible? That would make sense. Soldier: Forgive me! Just releasing a little tension! I really am impressed that you were able to defeat such a powerful monster without using spyrix. : Oh, that was nothing. My only fear was that it wouldn't stick around long enough for us to deliver the finishing blow. I was afraid it might... bolt. : ... Now I'm the one who's shocked. : Perhaps the lightning really has affected Rowen's judgment? Soldier: I think that hit harder than the monster. : All that hard work, and now we're coming off like a bunch of idiots... : There was one last Devil's Beast, but while tracking it down... : What is it? What's wrong?! Victim: I... I came to investigate reports of the ground collapsing. But then poisonous gas started leaking out from that fissure... Get out of here... while you still can. : Milla...  Miasma is most famous among Tales fans for its appearance in Tales of the Abyss (and this dungeon is named Tatalian Abyss, which is a play on Anise Tatlin's (from Tales of the Abyss) last name. It also appeared in Tales of Phantasia. : Miasma? : It's a cursed substance that was sealed underground when this world took form. Prolonged exposure to it will kill anything. Humans, spirits, plants, animals... : It seems to be welling up quickly. I doubt that merely covering the hole would suffice when it's under this much pressure.  : Wah-hey! Run for your liiiiiives!!! : Sylph!  : Whoa. A wall of wind! : How do you intend to stop the miasma, Milla? : If the Four protect us with their spirit artes, we should be able to survive within the miasma. Then we can go in and seal the leak at its source. : Go inside of that? Are you serious? : I'm always serious. : Now look, Mil-- : Come on, Alvin! Your hometown is in danger!  : You've got a point there, little lady...  Dungeon Video! Not too long, either the last or second-last one I'm going to do.   : As soon as the wind stone shattered... : A ring of light appeared on the ground! : What's going on? : It appears there were two seals placed on this cave. They seem to have been arranged so that when the wind seal is disabled, the earth seal is activated. : An excellent conjecture, Rowen. The Four are telling me you're right. These seals were placed here by spirits of an older era in order to keep the miasma at bay. Originally there were four seals: one each for earth, water, wind, and fire. But the fire and water seals have broken, which allowed the miasma to seep out. : Who'd be crazy enough to break those seals? : No one. It was simply a matter of time. Those seals were placed here eons ago. Probably long before Elympios and Rieze Maxia were separated. : Seriously? But, everything within the cave seems so new. : Perhaps the combination of the four seals was able to effectively halt the flow of time within the cave? : Correct. That was the only way to stop the miasma. : So in order to get to the miasma's source, we have to disable the wind and earth seals. : The wind seal was merely hidden, but the earth seal could be a problem. We don't have much time. So I suggest we use the power of gravity to destroy it. : In other words, leap onto the seal to crush it? Sure, what could go wrong with that? : Alvin! : I know, I know. If I can't suggest a better plan, I should shut the hell up. Sounds like we've got some climbing to do! : This seems to be the source of the miasma. : Wah-hey! We've got company! And it's the scary kind!  : What's it doing down here? : Isn't that one of those-- : Save the questions for later! Our wall of wind won't last much longer.  Wind weakness = get hosed.  The guide says its attacks are slow than the other Devil's Arms bosses but I'm not seeing it.  Gotta say I hate 360° attacks.  Ugh, finally using a skill. No points for guessing what Evil Breath does. I feel like the fights in Xillia are just less interesting than the ones in Graces were.  He does a loop-de-loop and then charges forward.  Not sure what Shock Howling does. Maybe a chance to stun? And it can't get you in the middle of a linked arte?  I think I've been underutilizing Alvin, after I brought him in this dumb dragon has been taking a lot of falls. Although maybe that's because it keeps using Shock Howling, which does nothing but leave him open to getting whacked it seems.  Spit Bomb is self-explanatory.  Nice aim dummy.  So uh Shock Howling ladies and gentlemen.  : Good. The Four will now seal away the miasma.  : Go! : It worked! The miasma is fading!  : Jude, are you okay? Did you breathe some of it in?! : No, I'm fine. I was just wondering why that monster was here. That was a Devil's Beast, wasn't it? : I believe so. One of the monsters that was designed to get stronger every time it fights. : We're lucky we met it when it was miasma-sick! If it had been at full strength... Yikes. : It must have been traveling underground and accidentally burrowed its way here. A stroke of luck, to be certain. : You may be right. But I can't help but wonder... What if that monster came here to die of its own volition? : Huh? Why would it do that? : Well, it was designed to do nothing but fight, right? Maybe it got tired of fighting, and it thought the miasma could help it die? : A noble end for a noble beast. It's almost poetic. : So when we defeated it, its wish came true? : I suppose we'll never know what it was thinking. But the idea of a being created for an unwanted purpose, desperately battling with its own destiny... It doesn't sound so far-fetched to me. Skit Video: Devil's Beast Extermination  : Indeed. The last remnants of the Battle of Fezebel. : After twenty years, I'm glad we were finally able to put them to rest. : And since we got the devil's arms, it was a win-win.  : We got a twofer!  : They sure weren't easy to find, though. I guess the devils were in the details. : Jude. Seriously?  : Alvin, what's wrong?  : It's probably nothing, but don't these weapons seem a bit strange to you? : In what way? : I don't know quite how to put it, but they feel like they're not as impressive as they should be.  : Now that you mention it...  : These are weapons not forged by men, but born from beasts. They may have special properties.  : Maybe the old man who told us about the Devil's Beasts knows something?  : That's true. We can head back to Sapstrath Seahaven to see him. : Perhaps he can tell us more about these devil's arms. So yeah, the Devil's Arms right now are maybe about as good as the weapons you were using to kill the Devil's Beasts. But we can't do more about this until we beat the final boss. Skit Video: Fists of Jude  : Ah, that's quite a layer of calluses forming around your knuckles.  : Yeah, probably from all the people I've hit. : Didn't you want to be a doctor? That's kind of ironic. : Do you regret this? : ......  : No, these calluses are proof that I'm striving to do the things I need to do. : That's the spirit! They prove you're no quitter! : A man's hands always reflect the path he's walked in life. You have the hands of a true man. : Your calluses are the coolest!  : I'm going to keep fighting until I have calluses too!  : Haha, thanks. You guys are the best.  : We did as you said. : Are you going to show us the cute pink thing now, or not? Girl: What's your name? : Elize. Girl: Well, you beat us fair and square, Pro Pinkist Elize. Second Girl: Super fair and square! : Thank you! Girl: Come with us. We'll show you the cute pink thing.  : It's so cute! : It's adorable! : I've never seen anything so pink and cute before! : I can't believe how pink it is! Second Girl: Super pink, right? Girl: Here Elize, this is for you. Congrats on becoming a pro pinkist. They hand over a weapon with pretty good stats but nothing else exceptional about it. Saves me some money though! : Thank you! : You did it! : That was a well-earned victory. : Thank you for all the help. I'm sorry I got you involved in this. : Don't worry about it. But I am curious what the cute pink thing was. : I, uh... I can't tell you! : It's a secret shared only among pro pinkists! : It is? When you put it like that, it makes me super curious. : Ha ha! You're starting to sound like them! : But we still won't tell you! : Heh heh. I think becoming a pinkist has been good for you. : I don't know what it is either.: There was still the matter of that odd mandala.  Patel: The Transcendental Ring has been restored to its former glory! : It's so beautiful. : It's very impressive. : So, about that ancient secret...  : Something's coming! : Get back!  Well hello there. Whatever the hell those things are. Milla confirms that they aren't spirits.   "Tail Rush" seems to be a bit of a misnomer, since it's the only limb they're not pummeling you with there.  They have some of Elize's darkness spells.  Incidentally I'm absorbing dark damage   Chaotic Soul spawns darkness projectiles...  ...and then darkness pillars.  With one down it gets a fair bit easier.  Although his rush attack still hurts.  Nice XP for that. : Did I miss the part where you warned us about the monsters? Tess: I am so sorry! We had no idea the Transcendental Ring was sealing away monsters. : Maybe we should destroy it. : There's no need. All of its spirit power is now gone. Besides, it would be a shame to destroy something so beautiful. : Totally. And if those monsters show up again, you better believe I'll send 'em packing! : It's settled, then. Leia's in charge of monster control. : No! We'll all do it together. : All right, we should be on our way. Tess: I never imagined they would best our minions! And we were so close to breaking Maxwell's seal. Patel: But it was kind of fun having those humans around. Tess: Indeed. Out of respect to them, we shall temper our efforts... for the moment. Patel: Ha! Just admit that you actually enjoy having our soul split in two and sealed in these bodies! Tess: Well, I'm certainly not in a hurry to break free. After all, you and I have all the time in the world. Patel: Yes. Death comes to everything in due time: Lives, worlds, and... even seals. The only thing that transcends death... Tess: ...is -----, Lord of the Underworld. Patel: ...is -----, Lord of the Underworld. So uh you're probably expecting a follow up to this. NOPE! There is none. Until Tales of Xillia 2, which has a thing that doesn't mesh 100% with what just happened here. I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be a throwback to Phantasia, where you fight Pluto, King of the Underworld. As demons, his followers would be neither a beast nor a spirit, so it'd make sense for Milla to be confused as to what they are. Too bad the back end of this game is rushed as gently caress. : They wanted to train a bit more, so they hit the colosseum for some more practice.Receptionist: Welcome to the Xian Du Coliseum! Where pain is the game and blood is the currency! How can I help you? Apply to fight Wonderful! Okay boys, we've got a live one here! At what level would you like to fight? OK, so there are basically four options here at the arena. Basic/Advanced singles, and Basic/Advanced group. I'll be showing you the Advanced for both, since during the course of each you do all the fights from basic. Advanced Single Receptionist: Excellent choice. So who will be recklessly risking life and limb today?  Receptionist: You sure you're ready? If you've got unfinished business in the mortal world, you might regret stepping into that ring. Receptionist: These are the items you can use during the fight. Use them wisely if you want to survive!  The items we can use are restricted, which in my opinion is a step up over the "no items at all" of some previous Tales games. Receptionist: All right then, it's off to battle with you! Have fun!  OK so take a look at the edge of the arena. Anyone who falls/gets knocked off it insta-loses. I've had a few failures in the past due to around-step of all things taking me off the edge.  Most of the enemies here can be blitzed down by summon spirits. I'll be skipping over non-notable enemies because there's a lot of them.  Not a lot of damage, but I'm really, really scared of any attack that pushes me.  Bullshit unstaggerability working for and against me simultaneously.  Ledge working in my favor.  These guys aren't so tough, and in Beginner mode are the last enemies you face.  Dialog for the end of Beginner Mode: MC: This Beginner Single battle has concluded, with Milla Maxwell as the victor! You did it, Milla! : Yes, I suppose I did.MC: You've won over a lot of fans with your bewitching fighting style. Is there anything you'd like to say to them? : Well, I'm no stranger to being worshipped. Feel free to revere me in whatever manner pleases you.MC: A comment fit for a queen! Thank you, Milla! : The body pillows were pretty creepy if you ask me.: I have no idea what you're talking about. Or why you're looking directly at me.Anyway, continuing...  Treant can get good distance on a knockback but is otherwise weak.  The first difficult set, since they have a fair chunk of HP and will block if you're facing them. They can also knockback and fire line attacks that have knockdown and knockback in that order so you can't block-cancel the knockback.  These guys got me a few times because they have some really huge knockbacks.  loving close. I started off next to the green thing. The earth and wind guys are probably the easiest to kill but the dragon has the nastiest knockback.  Now we fight 5 gentlemen, four of which are elemental.  This is all about bursting them down to a manageable number.  Not the strongest healing item, but I have time to dodge these guys.  Holy Symbol + Free Run = Super Good  This isn't too bad, but the tortoise has cannons that can take off 1100 or so from me with each shot at a decent range.  If you set it up right you can just absorb most of this guy's attacks but gently caress IT so I pushed him off the edge.  : And then it was time for my daring arena debut!: You were fighting against Milla and didn't goddamn recognize her.: She was covered in monster blood! It could have been anyone.: Anyone commanding the four to smack your dumb face. rear end in a top hat hands out arteseal so gently caress that.  So yeah the way to go here is to just burn him down when you can and run around healing up when you can't. BTW note that the arena has a railing now, so that you can't win by tricking Ivar into ringing himself.  I think his AI is set up to mostly fight Jude, he's too far away from Milla to hit with that.  I did in fact die to his Mystic Arte once. Well, fail the arena. You can't actually game over here.  Finally.  MC: As elegant as she is beautiful! As grand as she is graceful! With her fast and fluid fighting style, I know I couldn't peel my eyes away from Milla's stunning athletic form! : I noticed that. There was a certain part of my "form" that seemed of particular interest to you. MC: Ha ha... ha... I don't think we need to get into... specifics. : Oh, no need to be shy. Tell everyone what you were so impressed with! I'm sure everyone is eager to hear your expert analysis. MC: How... How about her, folks?! That's our Queen Milla for you! No one can stand up to her relentless offensives! Not even me! And with that, I'd better conclude this interview before I get myself in even more trouble! So long! For our reward, we get the Jude Sync skill for Milla, which lets her Snap Pivot when linked with Jude. So uh warning, Advanced Group arena has over an hour of total video because Xillia bosses. If you want to skip to the good part, go to the third video. : And there was also Team Battles, since it seemed likely to them that Gaius wasn't going to insist on a one-on-one duel. So uh every single enemy here is a thing we boss-fought earlier. EVERY SINGLE ONE. The only difference is that their stats are different and we fight them in pairs. At least the solo arena had a few unique enemies.  So we're basically fighting nearly every single non-humanoid boss in order of appearance. I didn't really like fighting most of these guys the first time and it's not like they have any new moves. Let's skip ahead.  This is where Beginner mode ends. Beginner mode victory dialog: MC: Jude and Milla's team has emerged triumphant in a thrilling Beginner Group battle! Tell me, what do you think was the most important factor in your victory? : It was teamwork that won the day. : I would attribute it to our strong personal bond. : I'd call it the power of friendship. : We all worked together! : This battle was won on mutual trust. : Good friends and effective cooperation! MC: Um... Is there a reason you're all saying the exact same thing in different ways? : That's just the kind of team we are. Our reward is 10,000 gald. Second verse, same as the first. The rest of the non-humanoid, non-spyrite, non-devil's arm boss monsters.   The two outdoor optional bosses at once is kind of annoying. This will take the entire rest of the video.  I switch in Leia to conserve a life bottle. Took a lot of maneuvering to get the party back up. Also if you watch, you realize I forgot Leia can't cure statuses.  I didn't like either of these bosses by themselves, and fighting them together sucked balls. Graddic Claw won't last much longer.  Oh dear. Had to use a life bottle there. And now, for the actual good fight: people!  So I wonder how many of you thought it was a lost opportunity that we never fought the Chimaeriad at full strength? Well now we can!  So, notice how there are two red links? Yeah. : Uh, aren't 3/4 of them dead?: I heard a guy in the stadium say that those are replicas, created using fomicry.: WHAAAAAAT?: Is that bad?: I, uh, may have to make a call. BRB real quick. So I can't quite recall why I chose to take Jiao out first. Maybe because he's easier to hit?  Fatal Crossing is Jiao and Wingul's linked arte, which I don't think we've ever seen before.  Jiao knocks a victim into the air, then they charge through them in mid air. It gets foiled if the initial toss fails for whatever reason, like many of our linked artes.  I don't think Jiao and Presa have any linked artes.  I don't remember Presa's "fling cards/pages in a circle" move before.  Now that's a well-timed Opportune Moment. Thanks Rowen!  One down, three to go.  Agria next.  Halfway there  Presa's about halfway down too. So Presa/Wingul do have a linked arte.  Which appears to be trapping a target in a water bubble and then slashing the hell out of it.  WHOOPS! His Mystic Arte trumps my super mode.  And with this I think we've been hit by every single mystic arte in the Chimaeriad.  Somewhat annoying.  Getting a little low on life bottles.  And then this happens. Man, if I'd lost here after like an hour of fighting with the Chimaeriad almost down I'd be so pissed. Fortunately Leia and some lemon gels see me through.  And then there was one.  That battle time doesn't count time spent in menus or scene transitions, so the real time for the videos is OVER AN HOUR. Note that due to the raw brute strength of the revive mechanics in Xillia, I beat this on the first try. MC: This Advanced Group battle comes to a thrilling conclusion with Jude and Milla's team as the triumphant victors! So what was the secret to your success? : It was all thanks to Milla. : I disagree. We couldn't have won without Alvin's considerable combat prowess. : Hey now, I wouldn't have stood a chance out there without little Elize doing her best. : Oh no, I couldn't have done anything without Rowen watching out for me. : You flatter me, my dear. In truth, we would have been lost without Leia's hard work. : Don't be ridiculous! It's all because Jude kept us together! MC: Um... This is because I scolded you about everyone saying the same thing last time, isn't it? : Well, to be honest... : I'm afraid so. MC: I see. And yet despite seeming to disagree with each other, you've all said the exact same thing once again. : I guess we really are just that kind of team. For winning, we get a skill tome that grants everyone the Linked Action skill, which gives us an extra AC and is shared with whoever we're linked with. Not really that great, I'm almost never really constrained by AC, usually my problem is enemies not being staggered or breaking out of combos. So, aside from the stupid black feather quest (which I just need to grind some for) that's all the sidequests we can do before actually defeating the final boss.
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Jul 17, 2016 00:13
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The Arena Chimeriad are a combination of spirit arte and mannequin. They're not the living ones, even Wingul. So, all the Chimeriad don't actually have linked artes with each other. They only have what's available in their real fights. So Agria has nothing with Wingul or Jiao.
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Jul 17, 2016 00:59
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I could swear there's an NPC somewhere that says they're fomicry.
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Jul 17, 2016 01:21
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wdarkk posted:I could swear there's an NPC somewhere that says they're fomicry. There's probably a reference to that somewhere, but it is what I said.
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Jul 17, 2016 01:30
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So out of curiosity for your narrative, who was Martel making a call to about the fomicry? Getting the Necromancer to put the kibosh on that poo poo?
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Jul 17, 2016 09:50
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So their evil plan was to sit still and mention there were like thirty lost things and assume the heroes would just find them and bring them there. What a masterwork of diabolical insight.
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Jul 20, 2016 00:48
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Glazius posted:So their evil plan was to sit still and mention there were like thirty lost things and assume the heroes would just find them and bring them there. It's a long-term plan, really. Or maybe they're just immortal and really lazy.
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Jul 20, 2016 01:49
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CH36: Gotta Fight 'em All: They were going around finishing up some loose ends. Citizen: Dark Wing has struck again! He's attacking merchants south of here, on Culmar Trail!  Dark Wing: Oh, I used to. But that charade proved more trouble than it was worth. It's just poor form to leave eyewitnesses alive. : Hold it!  WEAK!   Trader: Sorry about all this. He was my partner... I should've been the one to stop him. : Your partner? Trader: He and I used to work together as the Dark Wings. We'd only steal from the rich to help the poor. We used these feathers because they bring good luck. After we stuck a few hundred to our bodies, there was no one alive who could catch us. But his greed got the better of him. He took all our feathers and became a ruthless thug. : So you were collecting those feathers to catch him? Trader: Exactly. But I didn't think I had enough feathers yet. : We brought you some more. Trader: Over 459 feathers... I guess that was enough to beat his luck. : It wasn't luck. It was the strength of your resolve that stopped him. Trader: Thanks for sayin' that. The feathers seem to have lost their power, so I hope you'll accept this instead. If you ever find any more Jet Black Feathers, please bring 'em to my store. I don't want what happened with my partner to ever happen again. So I thought you couldn't do this before fighting the final boss, but you actually can if you're on new game+.  : If it's about the Devil's Beasts, you already told us. Storyteller: Did I now? Then at least let me repeat my warning. If you come across one, do not attempt to fight it! : I don't think we'll be coming across any, as we've already beaten all six of them. Storyteller: You what?! Th-That's impossible... : But it's true! : See for yourself! We brought all their weapons. Storyteller: It... It's true! I can't believe it! I never thought this day would come! At long last, my soul is free! Free from the clutches of he who bound my soul to the lives of the Devil's Beasts! : You feeling okay, old man? Storyteller: O brave warriors who have defeated the cursed Devil's Beasts, hear me out! You must use the golden key to open the door and challenge he who awaits! Once you do, you too will know the secret that lies hidden within the realm of man! The true power held by the Devil's Arms! : "He who awaits?" Storyteller: The door to his world, Magnus Zero, lies at the place where my body perished! Where I, Trille, drew my last breath twenty years ago! At the dark heart of Fezebel! : He's gone! : Trille... That was the guy who created the Devil's Beasts. : This may sound strange, seeing how we've fought Maxwell himself, and traveled to Elympios and back, but... Is this truly happening? : I believe so. If Maxwell and Elympios turned out to be real, why not this? : So we're supposed to bring this golden key to the center of Fezebel Marsh, huh? : I'm still not sure what he was talking about with "he who awaits" and the "true power of the Devil's Arms". : It's the same as everything else we've faced so far. If we don't go, we'll never find out. If we do go, we'll have our answers.  : Do you think this is it? : Yes. It appears to be the entrance to Magnus Zero the old storyteller told us about. : I guess the portal opened because we have the golden key? You normally get the key for beating the last boss and loading the clear game save, but since I'm on new game+ I've just got it on me. : The storyteller said Magnus Zero was the world where "he who awaits"... err, awaits. And that if we went there, we'd discover the true power of the Devil's Arms.  : I'm kind of scared. : Yeah. I've got a real bad feeling about this. : "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," as they say. : Then I guess I'm in? : Heh. Our foolishness hasn't brought us down yet!  : What are we doing back in Fennmont?! : We're not. This isn't our world at all. Golden Mage Knight: It is a world created by your own minds. A tour of the battlefields in which you've tasted triumph. : Identify yourself!  Golden Mage Knight: Now come! Ascend the mountain of corpses! Ford the river of blood! Blaze a path to my side! With blade and fang, tear the flesh of your foes to ribbons! Let their blood fall like the autumn rain! : I'm guessing... that was our man? : It seems so. I cannot yet tell if he's a fool, but I'm quite confident he's no angel. OK, so now we have the bonus dungeon of the game. It's just a set of random areas from the rest of the game, populated with Magnus Zero's monsters and treasures, connected by warps. Every 5 levels you get a save point, the option to leave, and a store that sells everything except consumable items. Dungeon Video! So someone has complained about me always playing as Milla and linking with Jude. Well, Milla and Jude just have the most (and more importantly, greatest variety of) link artes in the game. Also Milla is the best. So that's why. But here I'm linking her with Leia for the dungeon, since everything in here has stuff worth stealing.  Also worth a note is that many of the monsters in the dungeon can call friends. I took advantage of this a while back to farm up arte usage to gain little bonuses on all of my artes (mostly the tp discount). If you're willing to leave your ps3 on for a few days, in one battle your party will eventually kill the maximum possible number of enemies that can spawn in an encounter, even while their damage is capped at 1 per hit. Trigger Warning: Long fights.: We couldn't see into Magnus Zero. If we could, I think I'd have surrendered instantly after seeing this fight. Golden Mage Knight: Welcome, champions of battle! You have done well to make it this far. : Who are you? Golden Mage Knight: Even I no longer know who I am. After tens of thousands of years, my name has ceased to be relevant. : You lived for that long?! Golden Mage Knight: My identity is of no significance. I desire but one thing. Battle without end! : I probably don't have much right to complain, but... : I don't wanna be friends with this guy! Golden Mage Knight: There is no need to resist me. For you and I are already as one! What does that mean? Those Lilium Orbs you wear are the very roots that sustain me. A few thousand years ago, I spread them throughout the world to learn more about how humans fight. : No way! You're the source of the Lilium Orbs?! But... Uh... Why, exactly? Golden Mage Knight: Having reached the limits of my own power, I needed to find some means of growing even stronger. Humans may be weak, but they possess an incredible capacity to learn. Lilium Orbs are the tools that provide me with any new combat knowledge humans devise. : It was the discovery of the Lilium Orbs that first gave humanity the power to battle monsters. Without them, we could never have developed the wealth of artes and techniques we use today. Golden Mage Knight: All of which now belong to me. : So your power is the embodiment of all warfare in the whole of human history?! : Were you involved in the creation of the Devil's Beasts as well? Golden Mage Knight: Indeed I was. I shared a portion of my power with a human who desired it, and had him create them. I would have been happy if they had grown strong enough to oppose me, or so strong that humanity would need to develop new tactics to defeat them. I never expected humans to defeat them directly, but it was a most pleasant surprise when you did. : That's the reason you unleashed them upon the world? Why do you want to fight so badly? Golden Mage Knight: Because combat is what sustains me! : ...... Golden Mage Knight: Now come! Let us sup on this banquet of battle! : This doesn't seem to be up for discussion!  Well, that doesn't seem too bad.  So he's using Alvin's artes.  But with a little more power.  My first time through this I linked with Leia but didn't do so well, so I decided to mix up my lineup a bit.  Here's Scarlet Fang, a linked arte you haven't seen before, triggered off Milla's Sunburst. Jude steps behind the guy and knocks him into the air...  Then Milla smacks him with fire.  Jude joins in.  And then the enemy loving explodes. It's pretty nice, but the catch is that the initial attack into the air can miss or be resisted, and then you spend a while attacking thin air.  Setting your enemies on fire always helps. That's the 3375.  So yeah, you can steal permanent stat boosters from this guy, which is nice but optional.  I am really, really glad it's not tracking how many times we die. Because it's a lot.  But he goes down eventually.  Uh, I said "goes down" there. Those of you who see the timer at the bottom of the video know what's up.  Uh-oh.   So now we're fighting enemies with Rowen's and Leia's artes. Remember how Leia's artes include healing? So does this guy.  And they can link. You know what that means.  He can also use Leia's buff spells. Unrelated, but you can steal Red Verbena from him.  Took them awhile to use their linked arte. I don't think we've ever seen this one, since I don't normally have Rowen and Leia linked.  Huh, managed to get both of them at once with Scarlet Fang. Almost makes up for the times it totally missed.  Incidentally I don't think Rowen actually has that four-stalagmite PBAOE move.  The enemy getting off a heal isn't fatal, but it sure is annoying.  With EvilDudeLeia dead, EvilRowen is a piece of cake. He's down to 65976/172500 as of this moment despite me not giving a poo poo about attacking him, in part due to Elize and Leia, and in part due to redistributing some of his HP to the guy I was making an actual effort to kill every time he linked up.  Yup, they're copying Milla, Jude, and Elize. 550,000 hp to go! Despite having two potential healers, I don't think I ever saw him try to heal.  Not taking any chances with that, EvilDudeElize is going first.  Shining Prism is the main threat here, since it inflicts CHARM.  Huh, maybe that move is a thing they give all copies of caster party members.  So uh we've run out of life bottles. OK technically we have two left, but the AI is set to not use the last two automatically.  So I can buy Omega Elixers now. What's difficulty?  These guys haven't really been doing nearly as many linked artes as the Chimaeriad replicas did.   I'm being a big dumb and trying to kill EvilJude because I'm still worried about healing.  Uh-oh.  If I'd lost here at this point I'd have probably thrown a controller.  Not today!  Target... reprioritized. Actually no, I was really dumb and stuck with the EvilJude.  OK I was wrong, this is when I went down to 2 life bottles. I started with 30!  Finally switch over to EvilMilla.  At some point I switch back over to EvilJude.  Huh, they do have more than one linked arte. Up till now they've only done Final Gale.  And then there was one.  And none.  That's without an xp-doubling food, I needed one that gave me +25% to attack and def for physical and magical artes.  Golden Mage Knight: How strong will you become? How long will you continue to fight? : ...... For as long as we need to. Golden Mage Knight: Ha ha ha! A fine answer! Then I shall give you the power you'll need. The time has come to lift the seal on the Devil's Arms! Now go! Go and wield this infinite power! Fight for all eternity! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! : So, uh... Did we beat him? : I wonder. He didn't seem too broken up about it. : I'm in shock! : I can't believe our Lilium Orbs were just tools to serve him.  : It makes quite a bit of sense when you think about it. Lilium Orbs have long inspired man to fight and learn. : I think there's more to them than that. My Lilium Orb gave me the power I needed to accomplish what I had to. I don't think tools are inherently bad or good. : I agree with Jude. Whether a tool is used for good or evil depends entirely on the user. : Well maybe the Devil's Arms are like that too? He said something about lifting their seal. : I agree. I don't see why we should deprive ourselves. We should use them to help achieve our goals. : Yeah... Jude's right! : That's all well and good, but what do we do if Firehead there comes back stronger than ever? : Simple. We'll just defeat him again. So you can fight him two more times, but we'll do that later. We also get the Skill tome "Indefatigable" which gives Jude the "Grounded Stance" skill that prevents him from ever being knocked down when he has two feet on the ground, and is shared with the link partner. Let's have a look at these "Devil's Arms."      Soooo. These gain P.ATK and A.ATK based on how many dudes we've defeated. You remember that thing about hitting the cap for adds that can spawn in a battle up above? Yeahhhh, I did that a few times. Needless to say we won't be using those on the final boss, but I'll feel free to use them on anyone we've fought before. Such as, say, rematches with Mister Splitz up there. So now we've really done all of the pre-boss sidquests. See you next time when we actually go after the final boss.
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Jul 23, 2016 04:57
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That fight. So I'm playing Xillia with two other people. We beat the final boss, reload our clear save and go to do the bonus dungeon. Alright, it's not so bad. We get to the end, and are like, "you know what, we've had an easy time so far, let's put this on Very Hard" (or maybe it was Unknown, but it was Up There above the normal Hard we'd been doing). We clocked about forty-five minutes at the end of the fight, which means it probably took an hour or so real time. I spent the entire time on healing duty as Elize except for the rare times I bounced out for Leia to mass throw a Life Bottle/Elixir. Maybe five minutes of that fight time was actually used paying more than fleeting attention to anything above the life bars. More than any other, that battle showed Elize to be a bit ridiculous. In the hands of a savvy human player you can keep status effects from ever being a problem, keep everyone Reraised, and heal the entire party on demand. Oh, and you're still capable of busting out powerful attack spells, your taunt recovers TP faster than any other while recovering HP, and you're nearly unkillable while guarding. (And then they went and buffed her in the sequel) On the flipside, we did use an EXP boosting food. And Elize had Healer's Gift equipped, so she got something like five times the EXP wdarkk's party just did. Not that there was anyone left to fight or any worthwhile things to get from the Lilium Orb, but still!
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Jul 23, 2016 05:21
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I have healer's gift, but I don't think it shows how much bonus XP Elize gets in the end-battle status.
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Jul 23, 2016 05:57
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That stalagmite counter is seriously one of the most dangerous artes in the game. It's the only one I've seen (besides Mystic Artes) that will break 9K.
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Jul 23, 2016 06:15
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Oh man, this fight. This was one of the two fights I never bothered beating on Unknown (the other being Milla's solo fight with Muzet). I tried him on Moderate first and said "You know what, I'm good." at the idea of trying a higher difficulty. In my defense, this was after the 42-minute fight against the final boss on Unknown that I mentioned earlier on this page, and this one was nearly as much of a bitch despite being two difficulties lower, so I feel like I was justified in my gently caress That response.
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Jul 23, 2016 07:57
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Trasson posted:That fight.(...) Elize is a freaking monster. It is rare that I venture anywhere without her in my party, in either game.
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Jul 23, 2016 12:40
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wdarkk posted:I have healer's gift, but I don't think it shows how much bonus XP Elize gets in the end-battle status. I confess it's an estimate. Healer's Gift caps out at triple EXP and we had a Spicy Chicken Roll on. That her gaining something like twice the GP of everyone else in our party kind of said it all. KieranWalker posted:Elize is a freaking monster. It is rare that I venture anywhere without her in my party, in either game. Yeah, I'm still not actually sure what their design for her was. In terms of party capabilities she outdoes both Rowen and Leia outside of the edge cases (Dark resistant/immune enemies or when stealing/item throwing) which is really odd in a game where you can hotswap party members. Like, Tear sort of had the same issue in Abyss, but it took her most of the game to get going, was defensively fragile, didn't have status or auto-revival tricks, and wasn't really competing for a slot (since the optimal party was three casters and a fighter). I mean, I guess she doesn't really play nicely with the link system? But she doesn't really need to, because Dark Visitor and Dread Wings are better than anything the link AI on either end would do, so I'm not really sure. She doesn't even need any time to start working: Negative Gate, Healing Circle, and Dispel can all be gotten fairly soon after she joins and everything's just upgrading those as she goes. Maybe someone on the development team just really liked the idea of making the twelve year old healer having all these incredibly strong skills and moves outshining everyone else?
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Jul 23, 2016 13:01
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Honestly, I can see how each person was supposed to have their own role, with Jude being a quick melee fighter that's a monster up close, Milla being effective and capable of doing lots of damage at any range, Alvin being a tank that can take hits and smash enemies back, Elize being on heals and specialized attack spells, Rowen being a bit more varied for spells and having field-clearing and chain spells with extra effects, and Leia being a jack-of-all-trades with melee, healing, buffs, and item-based skills. The problem is that the game was poorly balanced (yet again, probably as a result of being RUSHED AS gently caress). Jude and Elize are far and away the best characters, with Jude being WAY too strong for the speedster archetype they based him on (he can take hits very nearly as well as Alvin can, only having slightly less HP, and his quick blows also deal a lot of damage per hit, which quickly adds up), and Elize effectively being immortal. Milla's relatively strong herself and has some of the best elemental coverage along with The Four, and Leia's in for her item skills, aerial artes (which are just about the most effective way, if not the ONLY way, to keep an enemy stunlocked in this game) and having a backup Resurrection user if Elize gets ganked somehow (gotta conserve those Life Bottles on higher difficulties!). This leaves Alvin (who tends to die way too quickly despite having the best HP and defense and being able to fight at range) and Rowen (who is somehow less durable than the 12-year old girl despite being a legendary soldier and an accomplished swordsman) out in the cold. Trasson posted:I mean, I guess she doesn't really play nicely with the link system? But she doesn't really need to, because Dark Visitor and Dread Wings are better than anything the link AI on either end would do, so I'm not really sure. Hell, not even this is applicable. She's part of some of the best Link Arte spells in the game; her and Rowen's Azalea Blade deals a metric shitton of damage, and her and Milla's Chaotic Fusion has insane range (place in in the middle of a battlefield and it'll probably hit everything without question) and can tack on like 4 or 5 different status ailments, one of which is the incredibly useful Burn. EDIT: Or are you talking about the fact that she tends to follow your character into melee range if you're linked with her? Because that's mostly a design flaw of the link system rather than a failing on Elize's part. Rowen has this problem too, remember. The link system just doesn't work well with casters. Thankfully the sequel fixed that problem by giving everyone an "Ignore the fact that you're linked and just act like normal" AI setting in the Strategy menu. Rowen and Elize get put on that setting the very instant they join my party and stay that way all drat game. Bufuman fucked around with this message at 14:58 on Jul 23, 2016 |
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Jul 23, 2016 14:52
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You know, in a different series, the golden mage knight would be the actual end boss.
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Jul 25, 2016 03:50
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Bufuman posted:Hell, not even this is applicable. She's part of some of the best Link Arte spells in the game; her and Rowen's Azalea Blade deals a metric shitton of damage, and her and Milla's Chaotic Fusion has insane range (place in in the middle of a battlefield and it'll probably hit everything without question) and can tack on like 4 or 5 different status ailments, one of which is the incredibly useful Burn. That she follows into melee range instead of casting, and that if she's doing her thing (casting) then her link partner just does whatever instead of supporting that. It is really only a Xillia 1 problem. Xillia 2's solution was amazing (three different AI options and you could switch them in real time depending on need!). Chaotic Fusion never stops being awesome, though. Status effects in this and Xillia 2 are both great, actually. I mean, they might be a bit too strong but it feels really nice to land petrification or some such on a boss. It's even crazier in Xillia 2 where there's three more status effects for the three physical elements and so you get insanity like having three damage-over-time statuses plinking away (Burn, Poison, and Bleed) and it feels like some Xenoblade chain attack cheese.
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Jul 25, 2016 03:57
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Honestly I was just so excited by how much easier it was to get a real combo going in Xillia 2 that I didn't pay attention to the improved status effects. But yeah, goddamn bleed.
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Jul 25, 2016 04:11
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So I've got everything up to the ending in the can. It's time to finish this off. Heck, I might have been able to update tonight if it wasn't for the stupid computer stuff earlier today draining my reserves dry.
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Aug 2, 2016 22:06
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Yeah, dealing with computer issues when you're trying to work on something has a way of dragging your motivation to actually work on the thing into the toilet. What happened, if we may ask?
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Aug 2, 2016 22:52
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Those are ridiculously long fights, and I'm speaking as someone whose latest LP's final boss took 40 minutes.
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Aug 2, 2016 23:04
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KieranWalker posted:Yeah, dealing with computer issues when you're trying to work on something has a way of dragging your motivation to actually work on the thing into the toilet. Eh, my mailbox had become corrupt and had to be restored from a backup, as well as a few other issues.
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Aug 2, 2016 23:11
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I heard an unsubstantiated rumor that an update is coming really soon.
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Aug 3, 2016 02:48
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