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Is it just me or does every scene seems to double as an elaborate action sequence?
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Jul 10, 2014 19:51
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 01:05 |
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            I have anew microphone. It was supposed to be better, but the only thing it seems to do better is pick up my creepy breathing and puffing noises. I tried my best to fix it all but err... turn the sound down a bit, just in case. I may have not been able to hear a few of them.
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Jul 12, 2014 13:21
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Get a pop filter and reduce the mic gain, that should be good. e: Pop filter can be a thin sock over the mic. Anything a bit dense and floofy. Rigged Death Trap fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Jul 12, 2014 |
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Jul 12, 2014 14:37
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D'awwwww.  I was wondering how much of her body was mechanical now, since her arms and legs didn't look like they were just a suit over her original body. Guess that answers that question.
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Jul 12, 2014 18:52
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There are two new battle themes, actually. One is Mechanical Rhythm for starting fights yourself, and the other is Irregular Bounce for when enemies see you and start chasing you. I like Mechanical Rhythm better than the Bionis battle theme, but don't care too much for Irregular Bounce. Sindai posted:D'awwwww. Yes. If you remember Mumkhar, his abdomen had been hollowed out. What happened to Fiora might not have been to that extent, but it's not just a fancy jumpsuit over a normal human body. A note that Fiora has received an entirely new set of arts - the ones she had in Colony 9 are gone. She also uses two full-sized swords now, not the daggers she had. Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Jul 12, 2014 |
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Jul 12, 2014 19:30
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Yeah, from this point forward Fiora is pretty much a direct combination of Elly from 'gears, and KOS-MOS from 'saga in terms of character design.
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Jul 12, 2014 23:16
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Except she has no uterus lasers or dual Gau-8s.
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Jul 12, 2014 23:22
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That we know of. 
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Jul 12, 2014 23:32
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She has--what are they called, AIRDs?
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Jul 13, 2014 07:14
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Sounds like we need to see footage of Fiomechora or whatever we should call her now fighting. Even if she's only an active party member for the beach sequence. Also, poor Shulk. He just can't have nice things.
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Jul 13, 2014 10:18
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I hadn't spoken about Fiora yet because I wanted people who hadn't played the game to think about if she was actually going to be a proper party member or not. Oh well, now we all know: Welcome to the most powerful damager in the game. If they had classes hers would be Murder Blender! I can also post the worst piece of official game art, but you'll have to wait for tomorrow for that. He he...
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Jul 13, 2014 11:51
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Fiora is pretty much the most fun character to play as and I have a hard time not maining her for the rest of the game. Even if some of her armor design choices are... problematic for that... Also, "Fiora" telling Shulk to "please, survive" before diving at Egil is a neat Xenogears callback.
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Jul 13, 2014 15:12
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Shei-kun posted:Sounds like we need to see footage of Fiomechora or whatever we should call her now fighting. How about "Fiora", because that's still her name? Lethemonster posted:I hadn't spoken about Fiora yet because I wanted people who hadn't played the game to think about if she was actually going to be a proper party member or not. Oh well, now we all know: Sorry. Although you did kinda give the game away yourself by having her as your controlled character. You can't do that with guest characters.
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Jul 13, 2014 15:44
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General nomenclature for when your audience may or may not be that far in the story is to call her "Seven" (as the seventh party member). As this is an LP however, and it's now past the point in the story where it would be a spoiler, we might as well call her "Fiora" like civilized people. Japanese wikis seem to favor the use of メカルン (Mekarun) in contrast to early-game フィオルン (Fiorun). I suppose a localization of that would be Mekara/Mekora/Mechara/Mechora.
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Jul 13, 2014 18:54
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Sorry. Although you did kinda give the game away yourself by having her as your controlled character. You can't do that with guest characters. You can totally set Dickson as your control character for the one single battle he's a party member for. He only has 2 artes, IIRC, so it's not the most thrilling battle, but still.
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Jul 13, 2014 18:56
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Vil posted:General nomenclature for when your audience may or may not be that far in the story is to call her "Seven" (as the seventh party member). As this is an LP however, and it's now past the point in the story where it would be a spoiler, we might as well call her "Fiora" like civilized people. I love how that became a universal thing. Like, no matter the website or forum, it's always Seven this, Seven that.
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Jul 13, 2014 19:11
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Vil posted:General nomenclature for when your audience may or may not be that far in the story is to call her "Seven" (as the seventh party member). As this is an LP however, and it's now past the point in the story where it would be a spoiler, we might as well call her "Fiora" like civilized people. I was kinda disappointed out when I found out that wasn't the case.
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Jul 13, 2014 19:49
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Alright, now that the gang has all been accounted for (even if they aren't all together just yet), I think I can start on my character rundowns. This time around I'll take a look at the main man himself Shulk, and why he's really well designed as a character most people will spend their time playing as. Shulk is first and foremost a scientist, so alongside being a lot more fragile than your average jrpg lead (only Melia and Sharla have less hp, and of those its easier for Sharla to equip heavy armour and she gets more defense bonuses overall thanks to her skills), his gameplay is based on assessing an ongoing battle and striking at the opportune time- which I appreciate because that's how I tend to play games most of the time. A lot of Shulk's arts involve him controlling the battlefield while not being under fire- you use shadow eye to decrease aggro and up your physical arts, which largely involve sneaking up on enemies (slit edge, back slash) or hitting them when they're vulnerable (shaker edge) or supporting characters in small but crucial ways with light heal or around half of his Monado arts. Shulk is a unique character because he has access to all sixteen of his arts at all times, instead or having to pick eight and being stuck with a very specific talent art, making him very versatile and able to respond to a lot of situations without players having to do a lot of futzing about in the arts menu(as much as I would like some options to replace really situational stuff like Battle Soul). Shulk's talent gauge is designed for you to use one of several arts in highly specific circumstances- you're fighting mechon, or enemies with auras and spike damage, or a vision shows a dangerous physical or talent art that you can counter. Without spoiling the remaining three Monado arts I will say that they fill this mold and fill functions which Shulk does not have at current. The idea is that you build up a talent gauge and keep it for when its useful, and then try to rebuild it as fast as possible- there are a few purely offensive arts like Monado Buster, but they can put you in a bad way if you overuse them and tend to be best used in a chain attack. Shulk's a very simple character but a very well designed one- he's built to have tools for every situation you can come across and forces players to play smart and use the games' mechanics to their advantage. He builds chain attacks well, though he suffers from having a few too many types of colours to really make for some disgustingly good chains like you can make with Reyn, Riki or Melia, and he has some of the best damage output in the game without having problems with aggro like Melia or a less tanky Dunban can have. This updates a bit short because Shulk's cards are all on the table when you play as him; you're running around doing damage, causing statuses and supporting your party in a way which doesn't draw much aggro. Other characters have a few different ways to be played and are a bit more in depth (as an example you can play Reyn as a stone wall, but he can put out some disgusting damage as well. The balance you find is up to you). The next character I do will be on the thread's request with the exception of Fiora because we don't have most of her moveset yet and the LP hasn't really shown her off. In the event of a tie or disinterest I'll do Reyn and continue through characters in the order they joined the party pernamently (so Sharla, Dunban, Riki and then Melia). e: that said, like any good democracy everyone gets a vote, so mine is for Melia, aka Little Miss Death-on-Legs ManlyGrunting fucked around with this message at 20:10 on Jul 13, 2014 |
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Jul 13, 2014 20:04
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Riki, because everyone says he's a comic-relief freight train but I've never seen it showcased why, exactly.
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Jul 13, 2014 20:34
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Mr Fahrenheit posted:Riki, because everyone says he's a comic-relief freight train but I've never seen it showcased why, exactly. I'm down for this.
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Jul 13, 2014 22:27
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I vote for Melia, because she is my favorite character to control. I've got my own summaries on the roles each character fits into, but a lot of that is probably redundant or obvious.
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Jul 13, 2014 23:02
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If I miss something, go ahead and let me know. It's always nice to get new perspectives. Oh, and two things about Shulk: 1) how come all of his attacks are physical and none are ether-based if the Mondado is supposed to be a bigass ether blade? My immersion  and 2) is that for as much as Shulk is fairly well loved, his voice actor also did Goon hate-magnet Anders in Dragon Age 2. Funny what good direction can do for a VA, huh? Then again, of DA2's myraid problems, the quality of voice acting was not among them.
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Jul 14, 2014 00:00
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Mr Fahrenheit posted:Riki, because everyone says he's a comic-relief freight train but I've never seen it showcased why, exactly. Riki, becasue he is a comic relief freight train and I know why 
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Jul 14, 2014 02:19
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I'm fine with doing the characters in order. Now then, HELL YES FIORA! I love Fiora. She is my favorite character in the whole drat game. I had a hard time not having her in my party once I got her back. She is just so much FUN. And yes, the girl is a human blender and I LOVE IT. My favorite party is Melia, Fiora, and Riki. Usually I control Melia because AI Melia is terrible. If I want to control Fiora, I swap out Melia for Dumban. Either party works for me, as long as Fiora is in it.
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Jul 14, 2014 14:22
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Riki. The cutest tub of HP you ever did see.
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Jul 14, 2014 18:13
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Vil posted:General nomenclature for when your audience may or may not be that far in the story is to call her "Seven" (as the seventh party member). As this is an LP however, and it's now past the point in the story where it would be a spoiler, we might as well call her "Fiora" like civilized people. So she's Seven? GFAQS spoiled that Fiora rejoined the party for me but Seven was also listed so when i got this far into the game i was kind of wondering how they are gonna shoehorn in another party member that sounds to be some kind of android or somthing  By the way, the cutscenes right after this beach part is as far as i've made in into this game so now i have to go find the time to race ahead so i'm not getting spoiled GOD THANKS LETHEMONSTER! Thanks for making PLAY this game again
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Jul 14, 2014 21:39
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Fiora owns. Always use Fiora
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Jul 14, 2014 21:42
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Man, this LP has inspired me to pick up the game again, and my postgame file is just crazy; old areas you forgot because of freakishly high level monsters have these massive areas you never new existed, or there are really involved quest chains that open up secrets in areas you thought you knew inside out. Not to mention that gems start getting good enough that you can reliably murder stuff more than five levels above you. And now I find out that a Banjo-Kazooie as gently caress level was dummied out and is still in the game code (Bionis Left Shoulder, which I'll refrain from posting because I figure youtube links would spoil a lot of you)Dogs and cats living together and mass hysteria  Anyway, I'm probably going to be busy for some time, so let's talk about Riki. And man, did you pick the hard one for me to describe: Riki is that sort of trickster archetype in games where the character has a lot of really unique tricks but doesn't fill any sort of familiar mode, like Teddie in Persona 4 Arena or Yoshimitsu in Soul Calibur if you'll forgive me straying from the genre a little. Riki seems like an odd duck at first: he can't damage in big chunks like Shulk, his support skills are either situational or tricky to use in comparison to Melia's buffs or Sharla's sheer volume of fantastic support skills, and for all his massive HP he can't hold aggro to save his life. Not to mention a good chunk of his skills deal in non-battle situations like drop rates, trading and movement speed. So what makes fans look at Riki and declare him a steamroller of a character? Well it's a misnomer. Riki doesn't act like a freight train. He's more of a calculated air strike. I mean every character is good, really good, but Riki is really good in a way that can take him from joke character into certified badass within a few battles once you really get him. A good Riki can absolutely dominate any fight he's in; Shulk can engineer a fight and Dunban can overwhelm it but Riki will stump enemies at every turn. Riki has access to all four damage over time spells, which means that he may initially seem like he's doing pitiful damage but all of those statuses act independently, which means that an enemy can be suffering frostbite, be on fire, poisoned and bleeding at the same time. Not only that, but these are all independant of other characters DoT attacks: if Dunban or Melia cause bleed or burn it will tick up alongside Riki's amount as well. Also, DoT attacks go up during chain attacks, so Riki can functionally be doing back slashes every few seconds with a little setup- especially with Melia, who will let him do that with multiple attack colours. Speaking of chain attacks, Riki builds them up wonderfully; he has several positional attacks, all DoT skills up it and he has an attack that will give a bar of the party gauge (which has long cooldown, but can be used and then used again in a chain attack, meaning that if you've already killed an enemy in a battle you can have two chain attacks within seconds of each other). His heal is able to hit himself and at least one other party member and can be more than sufficient with good use of some skill linking and additional defensive arts from other characters. His knockdown may seem like it takes too long to come out until you realize that it isn't dependent on break to cause topple, though it isn't very reliable compared to the other forced topple options available (though it can cause bind and bind is good. The only other way Riki can tie up enemies is through Naptime, which is fun but there are better arts). He's got a few auras but I've never found much use for them, since they take up spaces from better arts- play dead is fun but Riki's lack of aggro drawing capability if you're using DoT and support stuff kind of mutes its usefullness, and that goes double for Riki is Angry, though Hero Time can be good for long haul battles- it's a good alternative to Sneaky for a slot, since Riki's strength isn't great. Beyond that he can confuse Mechon, cause a good damage break (which are kind of rare, air slash and maybe Fiora's break skill excluding, and of those only Tantrum hits multiple enemies), and I'm told that the "say sorry" skill can do disgusting damage in chain attacks with all DoT's and Behave's paralysis on it (itself a good art for some uniques, because the crazed buff can be a bitch and a half). Riki almost suffers from too good skills and it's almost a relief that some are so situational they can be ignored, since Riki can be an absolute monster with pretty much any party, is crazy survivable and has more ways to gently caress with the enemy than pretty much any character and a good few support skills that scratch itches you will never know you had. Also Riki is best in heavy armour. I don't know how it stacks up in terms of gameplay, Riki does have naturally high ether defense, but he is hilariously adorable when he's a tiny metal hedgehog. e: oh, and vote for the next character to be discussed. As a reminder, that's Reyn, Sharla, Dunban and Melia. In the event of a tie I will talk about Reyn.
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Jul 15, 2014 06:56
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Man, I might actually get more mileage out of Riki thanks to you. As for the vote, just look at the time!
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Jul 15, 2014 07:36
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It's clearly Reyn time. Also, Riki is hilariously viable in the best ways 
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Jul 15, 2014 07:42
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For the record, as someone who read this thread unspoiled, I appreciate the effort some of you guys put into keeping posters off the trail of spoilers. I'm not sure if it was in a post or if it was in a video by Lethe shortly after the attack on Colony 9, but someone posted that "You can see during the short time you control her that Fiora actually has a full skill tree, which keeps you from guessing that she'll die permanently like she does" And I now know you were giggling to yourselves after a comment like that, but posts like it actually kept me from guessing that particular twist.
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Jul 15, 2014 09:15
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I remember when I played through the game the first time I was convinced right up to the reveal of Face Nemesis that Fiora was dead and never coming back, and I actually applauded Monolith for having the balls to fake you out by giving you a decently rounded main character with their own complete skill line, armours, and weapons, and then kill them off 3 hours into the game. And then I went on Creative Uncut to look at some of the game's official artwork pieces and saw Mechon Fiora front and centre and was so pissed off that I'd ruined the twist for myself. Also, Riki, because Heropon very cool!
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Jul 15, 2014 09:40
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nine-gear crow posted:
He already did Riki. Scroll up.And I hate casual spoilers like that. Like, I go to a Wiki or something to look up where an item drops or whatever and I see spoilers of say, recruitable characters that they don't even bother to hide. Christ, people. Have some consideration! JT Jag posted:For the record, as someone who read this thread unspoiled, I appreciate the effort some of you guys put into keeping posters off the trail of spoilers. I'm not sure if it was in a post or if it was in a video by Lethe shortly after the attack on Colony 9, but someone posted that "You can see during the short time you control her that Fiora actually has a full skill tree, which keeps you from guessing that she'll die permanently like she does" Personally I had a big problem keeping my mouth shut when a bunch of people were decrying Fiora's death as a typical "girl in the fridge" trope. It was hard. Really hard. For my vote, it is clearly Reyn Time.
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Jul 15, 2014 12:25
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I've never really "gotten" how to play Riki, and probably never will. I'm also not keen on using that party-gauge-building skill inside a chain attack - unless you've used everything else, it seems like a waste of one of your turns that could be used for damage. I'm only just now starting to learn how to play as Reyn, but I'm still not that good with him.
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Jul 15, 2014 12:51
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Oh, yeah, its totally time to make it Reyn.
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Jul 15, 2014 20:43
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The gauge-building skill (Happy Happy) works better in, say, a Melia-Riki-Sharla chain attack (since it's blue, and the heropon's lady companions in this case are also blue-heavy) than it does in, say, a Reyn-Riki-Dundun chain attack (which is mostly red). Hero Time is a pretty good aura, though. Upgraded enough, its cooldown is shorter than its duration so you can have 100% uptime, it makes it so the whole party can't lose tension (and tension is always good to have), and it gives Riki a substantial boost to a randomly chosen stat (which may or may not be useful). Another neat thing about Happy Happy is that you can do the following to go from empty gauge to full gauge when running around the world: 1. Initiate battle from a safe distance so your AI allies won't get a chance to do anything. 2. Get the battle-start B prompt properly timed so you get the tension boost (Happy Happy can only be used at high/very high tension). 3. Use Happy Happy. 4. End battle. 5. Once AI allies are back alongside you, repeat from 1. All cooldowns are reset as soon as you're fully out of combat, so... Also if you upgrade it enough, it becomes pretty feasible to use throughout an extended fight even when you have to wait out the cooldown. Not to mention it fills the gauge more, the further it's upgraded.
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Jul 15, 2014 23:31
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I'm sure there are ways of messing with Riki to give him some pretty good offense, but I can just  everything with Shulk-Fiora-Dunban from the word go. And I don't have to deal with Riki's voice. He just never felt worth the effort to me.
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Jul 16, 2014 10:51
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Black Balloon posted:I'm sure there are ways of messing with Riki to give him some pretty good offense, but I can just Riki - Fiora - Dunban. Constant chain attacks. Although to be fair any Fiora - Dunban team is going to put out dps, the siblings are both an one-man/one-woman army.
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Jul 16, 2014 13:04
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FYI if anyone posts spoilers from here on this is the image I will be posting as punishment: I have an approach to life that if I've had to witness something terrible everyone around me has to as well. Have a refresher:   The concept art for this game is gorgeous but a lot of it has mech-Fiora in it so I've been sat on it for now. Edit: I have often wondered if the original story had Dunban as the main character and Fiora and Shulk as siblings, because I feel the latter two look far more related than Dunban and Fiora do. I know there are multiple JRPGs out there that originally had older protagonists that were switched for younger versions because the publishers/developers were worried about missing chunks of their normal demographic otherwise. Lethemonster fucked around with this message at 13:54 on Jul 16, 2014 |
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Jul 16, 2014 13:51
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 01:05 |
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Lethemonster posted:FYI if anyone posts spoilers from here on this is the image I will be posting as punishment:  You were not kidding about how bad this is, also kind of surprised they didn't jam Sharla into it as well The official (concept) art is super gorgeous! It's good to know I'm not the only one who noticed that Fiora and Dunban look nothing alike, although your speculation as to why makes things um just a tiny bit creepy I just thought maybe one of them looks more like their mum and the other one looks more like their dad 
vaguely fucked around with this message at 14:33 on Jul 16, 2014 |
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Jul 16, 2014 14:21
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