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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:Like TWD said, his songs tend to fall apart after the first 20 seconds into an incomprehensible electronica clusterfuck. The end result is actually pretty bland once you sit down and look at 90% of an OST being similar apart from the pitch of the synth notes sounding at apparent random. That or entirely generic town themes. I only remember SO2's town themes because I've played that game more than I want to admit. Even after playing more SO2 than I'd like to admit, I have problems differentiating his town themes (and his goddamn CASTLE themes, ugh) in SO2 from the ones in Tales of Destiny. They're just so generically bland. Also, tri-Ace is like an abusive enabler there. "Why yes, we'd love to have you shoehorn Mission to the Deep Space into yet another game's soundtrack so we can include a bonus dungeon! C'mon, it's not hurting anyone!" I am so goddamn sick of Mission to the Deep Space.  ...Interestingly, his stuff on the Mario sports games is a million times more memorable and listenable than his stuff for tri-Ace.
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Mar 15, 2015 10:58
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KataraniSword posted:I am so goddamn sick of Mission to the Deep Space. Haven't they stopped using that a long time ago? I haven't played SO4, but I didn't see it on the soundtrack. And Valkyrie Profile 2 had the fantastic "A Thoughtful Strategy" instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqUYnk8fdAU Unless you're an organ-hating weirdo or something, I guess.
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Mar 15, 2015 11:04
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Rushputin posted:Haven't they stopped using that a long time ago? I haven't played SO4, but I didn't see it on the soundtrack. And Valkyrie Profile 2 had the fantastic "A Thoughtful Strategy" instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqUYnk8fdAU They brought it back for Covenant of the Plume, but thankfully that was the last we've seen of it, I think. Still, it's a track copy-pasted onto six seperate soundtracks (SO2, SO3, the SO1 remake, VP, VP: Covenant, and Radiata Stories) and that's just way too much. Yes, I'm aware of the irony of this sentiment when we're in a Final Fantasy thread and the Prelude exists.
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Mar 15, 2015 11:39
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KataraniSword posted:They brought it back for Covenant of the Plume, but thankfully that was the last we've seen of it, I think. Still, it's a track copy-pasted onto six seperate soundtracks (SO2, SO3, the SO1 remake, VP, VP: Covenant, and Radiata Stories) and that's just way too much. The Prelude is a gorram classic though  Also I still like Mission to Deep space even after hearing it all the time so v  v
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Mar 15, 2015 12:00
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While she's not quite Yasunori Mitsuda, Yuji Kajiura should definitely do more videogame soundtracks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpKaTldbcyA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2tZc2E8soY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgJag_EBeZk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjiGAaQK_EQ The four songs are actually one super-long track split into four. It's loving amazing.
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Mar 15, 2015 15:45
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I like her Episode III stuff a lot more. She rearranges a few of the tracks you posted and makes them a lot better IMO. But yes she was fantastic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n10VyIRJj58 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV_g76ThygI
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Mar 15, 2015 18:27
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KataraniSword posted:They brought it back for Covenant of the Plume, but thankfully that was the last we've seen of it, I think. Still, it's a track copy-pasted onto six seperate soundtracks (SO2, SO3, the SO1 remake, VP, VP: Covenant, and Radiata Stories) and that's just way too much. Prelude isn't copy-pasted so much as it's a theme for the series. I get a big stupid kid grin when I hear how they've worked it into each new one. Re: composers, I like a lot of what was done for the XIII series more than most of these other composers that have been linked.
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Mar 15, 2015 18:34
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KataraniSword posted:They brought it back for Covenant of the Plume, but thankfully that was the last we've seen of it, I think. Still, it's a track copy-pasted onto six seperate soundtracks (SO2, SO3, the SO1 remake, VP, VP: Covenant, and Radiata Stories) and that's just way too much. Prelude, FINAL FANTASY, and the victory fanfare are all different though since they've been associated with the series since the series began and are inexorably a part of the series' legacy since they show up in 90% of the games in some way shape or form. If you play a Final Fantasy game, odds are you'll hear one of those three themes, exceptions being XIII (I think, I don't remember any of them showing up). Mission to Deep Space just kinda shows up in the post game 95% of the time so it's less of a recurring thing and more of an  thing.
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Mar 15, 2015 18:53
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TARDISman posted:Prelude, FINAL FANTASY, and the victory fanfare are all different though since they've been associated with the series since the series began and are inexorably a part of the series' legacy since they show up in 90% of the games in some way shape or form. If you play a Final Fantasy game, odds are you'll hear one of those three themes, exceptions being XIII (I think, I don't remember any of them showing up). Mission to Deep Space just kinda shows up in the post game 95% of the time so it's less of a recurring thing and more of an the FF Wiki says that there's a snippet of the prelude in Sunleth Waterscape, but I listened to it and it's bullshit because the prelude is more than just fast arpeggiated runs.
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Mar 15, 2015 19:05
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Kalenn Istarion posted:Re: composers, I like a lot of what was done for the XIII series more than most of these other composers that have been linked. Masashi Hamauzu is a great and very interesting composer who is stylistically refreshing, and yes, the music is one of those games' saving graces. I only played about half or so of the original FF13 so far, but while the music itself is great, I found the music direction rather irritating. Most songs have kind of the same mood and tone, I specifically remember a part where there was a boss battle and then there was a lengthy cutscene that used the same music as the battle. In a game where you already have trouble making a connection with what's going on because everyone's using nonsense words and traversing great-looking but essentially random environments, this lack of effort to find some kind of focus (besides "the battle music is basically the main theme, kind of") doesn't help. But I guess it's just that general problem with these games (and some other modern Squenix titles, usually to lesser degrees). The people who actually code the game and create the assets are all talented and doing a great job, but there seems to be no-one in charge of giving them any direction or creating a cohesive tone and character.
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Mar 15, 2015 19:10
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counterfeitsaint posted:How is it that people can post about video game music, and CC in particular without Unstolen Gem? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dGeVOsBfzY I just recently heard this. The whole "Real Life" thing in the credits was kind of jarring.
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Mar 15, 2015 19:27
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Silegna posted:I just recently heard this. The whole "Real Life" thing in the credits was kind of jarring. Schala was the Original Waifu. e: Doesn't that credits sequence also depict her as being at a train depot too? That's a little 
Fur20 fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Mar 15, 2015 |
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Mar 15, 2015 19:55
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I sure hope that...Time-merged(?????) Schala-Kid ends up with more of Kid's personality and accent.
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Mar 15, 2015 20:01
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NikkolasKing posted:I sure hope that...Time-merged(?????) Schala-Kid ends up with more of Kid's personality and accent. I'd say I wanted her prim and rowdy accents to average out... but on second thought, that would be pretty generic, wouldn't it?
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Mar 15, 2015 20:28
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The White Dragon posted:Schala was the Original Waifu. It's hard enough keeping the Chrono series plotline straight; if we have to bring in the whole Fabula Nova whatever mythos into it, I don't want to play.
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Mar 15, 2015 21:38
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I don't care how much some people might hate Masato Kato, he's still better than whoever wrote the Lightning Trilogy. Keep that poo poo away from mah Chrono Cross.
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Mar 15, 2015 22:26
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Chapter 100 - Hide and Seek This is it, the last disc in our adventure. The first thing we see is the Jessica Rabbit wannabe that Cid loves.  We are the border of the Northern Crater, the Final Dungeon. We could go down and defeat the game... in this very chapter. I even have the videos for the final battle ready.  There's still a bunch of stuff to do, though. Let's see what Yuffie has to say.     At least she's trying to steal the materia legally   Fate of Wutai decided because these two just can't not puke.  Well that was great. One of my favorite dialogues in the game.  Everything seems to be in order.  drat, she's right. We need some beach balls right now.  You do know that our airship is literally there, right?  Oh clearly you haven't read my LP. The time for flying is only beginning.  Ok, now you're just screwing with me.  Would you say... this guy... are sick?  Sure, all the clichés that you want.  These options are great.  There you go Tifa.  Why yes Cid, in fact, I do have.  You should see Laurence Gackt Olivier doing it, great soliloquy too. Truly a marvel of modern theatre.   Cid: "And I remember seein' it just once..." Cid: "That was when I was in Midgar interviewing to be a pilot. I had some free time and thought I'd catch the play." Cid: "Now, I'm no big fan of the theater or anything." Hahahaha  This is the best sequence of pre-final-dungeon dialogues I've seen.  Cid: "The sister of the lead asks her lover, 'Do you really have to leave?'" Cid: "And the guy says, 'I promised. The people I love are waiting.'" Cid: "-...I don't understand. Not at all. But... please take care of yourself." Cid: "-Of course... I'll come back to you. Even if you don't promise to wait, I'll return knowing that you'll be here." Cid: "I remember thinking when I heard those lines," Cid: "*&%! What the hell's he talking about?" Cid: "But, you know... now I'm not so sure... I think I understand..." Alright, I do feel like flying after that epiphany.  The first thing of which we need to get rid is the Ultimate Weapon. Remember when we fought him in Mideel? He's back in the center of this huge crater he made. We can't let him destroying things all over, that's our job.  Ultimate Weapon unfortunately is extremely easy, probably even easier on air than when we fought him in Mideel. I wish I could see his KDA and compare it with Air Buster. Did you know there's an arena in WoW in which you can see the win rate of certain bosses? For months after release this little guy here had over a 100:1 win ratio, which means people on average died 100 times to him before managing to beat the encounter.  You can pretty much defeat him by just holding the Confirm button, as long you either have someone who can attack from afar or you have the [Long Range] Materia equipped.  After you defeat him the dude just flies away, thus giving birth to an incredibly annoying chasing sequence.  Colliding with him pushes you very far away. You need to hit him a few times before he decides to move and attack someplace else.  He really dislikes Mideel.  You don't even need to reach a damage threshold, he'll just run away on his own after some turns. So depending on how much damage you deal per encounter this can take a long, long time - or you can just kill him in one encounter with, say, Knights of the Round, in which case he'll immediately move to his final destination with a fixed minimum amount of HP.  There are plenty of places he can attack, in the meanwhile.  I hate him so much.  I think we should let him.  Interestingly enough, fighting him in Midgar results in a land fight. Which is cool, because I like this combat background. I take this chance to steal from him a [Reflect Ring] which I will never use.  Ok seriously now I really think we should let him.  Here's something cool:  His Ultimate Beam uses the (Hidden) Element which, for all intents and purposes, is just a non-elemental special attack. However, most Materias count as being (Hidden), which means if you put a [Long Range] on Cloud for him to hit Ultimate Weapon and link it to an [Elemental] Materia in his armor, you'll be absorbing the damage from Ultima Beam.  Even Ultimate Weapon hates the RTS minigame.  Another one of the many different encounters.  If you don't have something to deal a lot of damage in a few turns (usually a cheese that will take him from 100 to 0, let's be honest) he can be a huge pain, especially if you lose sight of him - you can spend a long time tracking him playing the most nightmarish version of hide and seek you can imagine. When you're done with his low-but-still-annoying-since-he-runs-away-before-you-can-deplete-it Health Pool he'll move to this place, near Cosmo Canyon.  He always casts [Shadow Flare] before he dies, an Enemy Skill. At this point it's just a matter of catching them all for the sake of completion.   And at last we get Cloud's Ultimate Weapon, called Ultima Weapon, dropped by Ultimate Weapon.  Oops.  With Ultimate Weapon gone the local landscape is now dramatically different  Which means we have now official access to the forest pudding we've been spotting since Disc 1.  I mean, we could always have accessed it anytime with a Chocobo but this is the "correct" way.  And it looks gorgeous! NEXT TIME: Side-Quests! Jumping Puzzles! 
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Mar 16, 2015 00:26
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There's exactly one reason not to go 'gently caress it' and blast Ultimate Weapon with Knights or something similarly ridiculous and save yourself a goose chase; the steal off Ultimate here is based on where you fight him, so if you can get him to roll over to Mideel you can steal yourself some more Curse Rings. Which aren't the best accessory (at this stage in FFVII the only thing that'll realistically threaten you is certain statuses so you want to load up on Ribbons or at least Anti-Confuse accessories), but they're neat and farming Ultimate steals is the only way to get more than one (although the forced battle against him has that same steal). I want to say you can get a new steal in every encounter, but it's been long enough I can't say for sure, and the Curse Ring is the only steal of the bunch not more easily obtained some other way.
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Mar 16, 2015 00:40
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Man, I remember him flying around, but I don't remember him doing it that much. Nor do I remember the unique backgrounds.  Can he crater other locations?That said, glad that the gold text boxes are still happening even so close to midnight, and Cid's dialogue about Loveless is a work of art and may as well be about the entire FF7 EU. Stay cool, Cid. 
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Mar 16, 2015 00:45
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It always disappointed me that the flag-ship Weapon of the game, even called "Ultima", was such a road bump with basically any party that can even manage to reach this point in the game. Such a disparity between "cutscene" power and "battle" power. At least they gave Ultima a fight kinda worth that name in FFXIV
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Mar 16, 2015 00:47
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I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to grind out a paladin ring...
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Mar 16, 2015 00:47
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I remember chasing this guy around. I got bored with him and left for the final boss. I had no idea there was this at the end of the chain!
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Mar 16, 2015 01:00
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Not that I don't love this Ultima Weapon, but FF6's lightsaber will always hold a special place in my heart. Mostly because it's a lightsaber and I was a huge dork for Star Wars and stuff that bore a passing resemblance to anything from Star Wars as a kid.HIJK posted:I remember chasing this guy around. Yeah, I'm kinda glad there aren't too many "chase the guy around" boss fights in the series, honestly it's one of the bonuses of the series abandoning the traditional airship in recent installments. Either way, I still rank this guy below Doom Gaze on the "pain in the rear end" meter.
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Mar 16, 2015 01:04
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I really don't like the Ultimate Weapon sequence, but nearly every non-Highwind battle scene with him is beautifully composed. My favorite is the Mt. Corel battle screen. Bits like this really show how much work they put into this game, even minor annoyances like this sidequest. Rushputin posted:Most songs have kind of the same mood and tone, I specifically remember a part where there was a boss battle and then there was a lengthy cutscene that used the same music as the battle. In a game where you already have trouble making a connection with what's going on because everyone's using nonsense words and traversing great-looking but essentially random environments, this lack of effort to find some kind of focus (besides "the battle music is basically the main theme, kind of") doesn't help. The Assault of the White Dragons track is part of one of my favorite sequences in FFIX, but then it ends with one of the worst ball-droppings in the game by not carrying that song into the Nova Dragon fight. Not that FFIX's boss theme isn't great, but man what a missed opportunity. You'd think with how they did the way-too-lauded "You're Not Alone" section they'd know how to include music through a boss fight, but the late-to-endgame is full of weird stumbles like that. Also I forget if I mentioned Mother 3 on the list of games with cohesion, but that game's soundtrack does such a good job progressing the tone of the story and the game world through its music. The final boss theme nails it by being a fight between the boss's theme and Lucas's town's theme. Zeikier fucked around with this message at 01:30 on Mar 16, 2015 |
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Mar 16, 2015 01:13
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Hah, wow I never knew about the Ultima Beam thing, that's some pathetic cock-wilting sight to see for an ultimate weapon to realise some weird loving humans just no-sell'd his poo poo. I do like this next area though, just because it is pretty gorgeous stuff to see. Rushputin posted:I'm an unashamed Sakuraba fanboy, but I guess I can sort of understand some of the criticism against him. I think his greatest problem is that he's a workaholic who composes 200+ songs a year, and it shows in games like the Tales series where half of it seems to be generic filler. I really like what he did with Dark Souls definitely.
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Mar 16, 2015 01:20
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Mazed posted:Man, I remember him flying around, but I don't remember him doing it that much. Nor do I remember the unique backgrounds. He always ends at Cosmo Canyon. Even if you Knights him in the first battle around Junon, he'll just fly right to Cosmo Canyon with 20k health (which is the cutoff for him going to Cosmo Canyon, since he doesn't regenerate health between fights).
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Mar 16, 2015 01:32
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Oh, that actually wasn't the Yuffie dialogue I was thinking of. There's one really, *really* weird bit of gobbledegook where she goes like "Well, it works out, blue sky, cheese, stop it Cloud!!". I have no idea now when it happens.
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Mar 16, 2015 01:56
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I...I don't think I ever went to that pudding mountain thing when I played this. Admittedly by the time I got to Disc 3 I was pretty much ready to finish the game. It'll be weird seeing something brand new after all this time.
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Mar 16, 2015 02:16
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You can defeat Ultima Weapon and get to the next area while still on Disc 2. You just have to be intentional and careful about it, because if it flies over Midgar, you'll have to do the Midgar sequence before you can get close enough to fight it, and if it then flies over the crater, you're forced to move into Disc 3. As long as it doesn't force you to progress the story that far, though, nothing stops you from defeating it as soon as it's available.
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Mar 16, 2015 02:39
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FinalGamer posted:Hah, wow I never knew about the Ultima Beam thing, that's some pathetic cock-wilting sight to see for an ultimate weapon to realise some weird loving humans just no-sell'd his poo poo. I still haven't played either Dark Souls game. I have this dumb feeling that I need to get through Demon's Souls first, and while I enjoy it, other things keep popping ahead of it on my game queue.
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Mar 16, 2015 03:00
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None of the three Souls games are required to enjoy any others, unless you want to indulge in a discussion comparing and contrasting them, or going "hey, that's a (varyingly obvious) reference to <thing> in <earlier game>".
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Mar 16, 2015 04:08
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Vil posted:None of the three Souls games are required to enjoy any others, unless you want to indulge in a discussion comparing and contrasting them, or going "hey, that's a (varyingly obvious) reference to <thing> in <earlier game>". I'm aware that this is the case. I nevertheless have them in my series OCD box and thus it is impossible to continue. 
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Mar 16, 2015 04:53
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Cid's comments on Loveless feels almost eerily rpescient in hindsight. Also we need more of Yuffie bullying Red XIII.
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Mar 16, 2015 05:34
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MonsieurChoc posted:Cid's comments on Loveless feels almost eerily prescient in hindsight. They also make the nonsense about it in Crisis Core even dumber.
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Mar 16, 2015 05:35
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Oxxidation posted:They also make the nonsense about it in Crisis Core even dumber. I think it's kinda brilliant honestly. Gackt goes about quoting a popular, super-long running play to sound cultured, and his fanbase figures this mean it must have Deep Hidden Meaning and goes full on  over it. Then he loses his goddamned mind and starts believing his own bullshit about it. Definitely some poo poo I could see happening to a celebrity.e: not to say Crisis Core didn't run it into the ground and needed to tone down on reusing the same quotes from it over and over. But the concept is neat.
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Mar 16, 2015 05:41
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Crap. I've been playing along with the LP, but did the first ultimate weapon fight back on disc two. I kicked his rear end (Tifa's limit looked hilarious), he ran off, I rammed into him a bit, but when Cid said the same thing every time, I figured I was meant to leave it for later. Now I'm on disc three and can't find him anywhere. Have I screwed up and missed my chance? 
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Mar 16, 2015 07:33
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AlphaKretin posted:Crap. I've been playing along with the LP, but did the first ultimate weapon fight back on disc two. I kicked his rear end (Tifa's limit looked hilarious), he ran off, I rammed into him a bit, but when Cid said the same thing every time, I figured I was meant to leave it for later. Now I'm on disc three and can't find him anywhere. Have I screwed up and missed my chance? Nah. From memory, Ultimate's stop locations are: North Crater, Mideel, and places with Mako Reactors so... Midgar, Condor, Junon, Corel, Gongaga, and Nibelheim. Could be wrong! But check those first.
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Mar 16, 2015 08:03
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Just imagine Loveless is The Threepenny Opera and everyone is quoting Mack the Knife.
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Mar 16, 2015 08:19
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CmdrKing posted:Nah. From memory, Ultimate's stop locations are: North Crater, Mideel, and places with Mako Reactors so... Midgar, Condor, Junon, Corel, Gongaga, and Nibelheim. Could be wrong! But check those first. Found him, thanks!
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Mar 16, 2015 08:35
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Yuffie continues to be the best.
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Mar 16, 2015 08:52
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