|
I will get this thread to a second page for the sake of everybody else
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2015 07:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 02:34 |
|
|
//Liminality Vol. 3 "In the Case of Kyoko Tohno" Hello everyone, I'm back from my trip. We're not quite ready to dive into Quarantine territory, but we've already covered everything in Outbreak. You might say we're in a state of liminality. Or, more appropriately, Liminality. Specifically Liminality Vol. 3 - In The Case of Kyoko Tohno. You could be forgiven for skipping this one. Or just watching the anime version. Ultimately this is just half an hour of Tokuoka and Kyo being led around a tourist spot to look at the scenery and talk. So expect lots of shots of cool historical things in the background. My commentary is probably gonna be a bit sparse as a result. If you want to watch the anime version, I found someone on youtube who uploaded it. So, have at it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCNe2WLaoWs Opening Theme: Kimi Ga Ita Monogatari  Like the last volume, someone was kind enough to add subtitles in a hideous font to the Japanese text.  Tokuoka is sitting and smoking. Kyo is leaning on a fence nearby, as we will see in a minute.  : So why did they come to Takayama of all places?  : My parents said they could work anywhere, as long as there's Internet access. : Oh, I see. SOHO? (Small Office Home Office): The so-called literary profession. The depth of culture is amazing here! It is so rich in folklore. A real goldmine, but...: Yeah, but what?  The cameraman just filmed a couple (not Kyo and Tokuoka) buying a pamphlet. Sure, why not?  : I don't know, maybe it's just me, but sometimes it feels like this place is... too "inside.": Inside? How do you mean, inside?: Was there some reason you wanted to meet out here, in Hida?: Ah, well if I'm gonna come all the way out to Takayama, I might as well see the sights! : Not exactly mild weather though, is it?: This is mid-winter! Besides...: Huh? Ah, you mean this. A phone starts ringing.   : *gasp*  : Helba!    : "I would like to discuss some matters concerning recent incidents which have occurred in "The World." I apologize in advance for any inconvenience, but if you are interested meet me at the place where the Carpenter's Daughter sleeps" - Helba.: Helba? Is that a character in the Epitaph? : Helba is the Queen of Darkness.: Really? That's not what I heard.: What did you hear?: That she's a legendary, notorious hacker.: Interesting. But I don't like it!: You wanna expand on that a little for me?: In the Epitaph, Helba is a strategist. She has lots of information and knowledge. She's much more ingenious than Apeiron, King of the Light. And now this hacker's using her name for some reason. Very interesting.: And that's what you don't like?: Look at the timing of this message. It means this Helba knew exactly when you and I were planning to meet.: Well, I suppose it could just be a coincidence. But then again, you may be right. Someone could have hacked into my mail. Or yours.: There's something else. They say that if you delve too deeply into the Epitaph of Twilight, strange things begin to happen. Very strange things, it's like the Hundredth Tale in "The Hundred Stories." You understand?EagerSleeper posted:I'm usually a lurker on this thread, but yay, I'm glad I can help out on at least one thing! The '100 tales' that they're referring to in Liminality is the Hyakumonogatari, an old form of storytelling tradition where people would gather up a hundred candles, and a hundred scary stories and set out to have a terrifying night.   : Mr. Tokuoka from Tokyo. You have a telephone call. Mr. Tokuoka from Tokyo you have a telephone call. If you are in the building, please come to the front desk.: Did you tell someone you were here?: No. Kinda eerie, isn't it?   : What happened?: The bastard. He had the nerve to ask me how committed and dedicated I am.: It was a man?: Yeah. Said he was speaking for Helba. Said his name was Bith the Black. Another character from the Epitaph?: That's Helba's retainer. That means they're active, that they're not just watching inside the net. I don't like this. I mean I really don't like it, and that's why I'm going to pursue it. That's a pretty cool statue. It stands to reason that something that awesome-looking would be found in the local hotel's lobby! : The place where the Carpenter's Daughter sleeps. Here? : They say that when this three-tiered pagoda was built, the palace carpenter killed his daughter and buried her underneath it.: Well that's rather, uh... : It doesn't seem like anyone's around this place now. Another phone ringing! This time it's Tokuoka's.   : Oh, hey Mai. What's up?  : Nothing. I just didn't understand the e-mail you sent me.: E-mail? : Please go to the place closely related to Sadako. What's that mean?: Wait a sec. When did you get that e-mail?: A minute ago.: Okay, don't worry about it. I'll call you back later, Mai. : You know, this could be a big problem for us. Not gonna lie, I have no idea what this statue is, but it's ugly as sin. : It's some kind of threat. Is that what you think? : It's probably to demonstrate that Mai and possibly even Yuki are both under surveillance.  : What if Helba's a cover? Someone from CC Corp. could be using it as a warning.: I don't really think it's them.: They don't want us sniffing around. What if they're saying that CC Corp. is off limits?: It's not their style. They wouldn't beat around the bush. If they ever want to threaten us, it'll be direct... and very ugly.I would contend that some form of beating would definitely be involved in CC Corp's threat. The kind where one security guard kicks you repeatedly while the other smacks you in the head with his baton. Kinda like this:  : Hmm, I guess you've got a point. But why then? Is there a reason we're being led from place to place?: To find that out I guess we're going to have to keep following this Helba and her friend, Bith the Black or whatever his name is. Which leads us to that Sadako thing. What is that?: I have no idea. I've never heard of Sadako.: Well of course I know there's a character named Sadako in that horror movie. But I'm sure that's not nothing to do with it.Anyone who knows even the slightest bit about popular horror movies knows who Sadako is.  : Horror movie?: Yeah, she's some kind of psychic.: I get it! Then it's over here. : What? Wait a minute! Hey! You know where it is just from that?  Someone in the back seat of a car is looking at Kyo and Tokuoka.  : This is professor Tomokichi Fukurai of Tokyo Imperial University. When he researched clairvoyance and spirit photography, he became so passionate that he was ordered to take a leave of absence because it was inappropriate to conduct research of that nature. He was originally from right here in Takayama. : Hmm. A local boy, huh?: Hida is a mysterious place, isn't it? It's inconveniently located in the middle of the mountains, but people have lived here since the Jomon era. And the other day some school kid told me the story of the Okame Stone beneath the Ebizaka streetlight.According to Mysterious Subtitle Person, the Jomon era is circa 400 BC. : What about it?: That's all there is to it.  A Google search turned up someone on "dothackers.net" asking for clarification on what Kyo said. Apparently an Okame Stone is just an oddly shaped stone.: Huh? No, no. What do you mean "that's the end"?: I'm afraid that's all there is to it! But you see, after enough time has passed, even something like that can become a legend here. : I'm referring to the power of this place. This land. This is where Dr. Fukurai was born. Growing up here may have given him a different perspective, a different paradigm than other people.: So you think there's some connection between that and the Epitaph of Twilight?: Oh, you're right. A paradigm shift. I see, I never really thought of it like that. This seemingly-pointless cut away will make sense in a minute. This old woman is obviously walking from the direction of that parked taxi, though. : I think you need to fill me in. What is the Epitaph of Twilight all about, anyway? : It's about a race of sprites. They cast no shadows and are unlike anything you've known before. But this race is being devoured by a woe known as the "cursed wave." They are in despair, and on the verge of extinction, and the wave is advancing closer and closer. It's relentless, nothing can stop it. Then when there's no other hope Apeiron, the King of the Light, and Helba, Queen of Darkness join forces, forging an alliance to strike back against it.: Yeah, but they have no way to fight it, right?: There's a legend. It says that when the wave emerges, three beings with shadows will set out in search of the Twilight Dragon.: So these beings can't fight the wave, but the dragon can.: The beings are one human and two half-sprites who cast shadows. They set out on a journey to the wavering peninsula at the edge of the world. Halfway through the journey, they are assisted by two allies: Fili the White and Bith the Black.I'm not good at dealing with metaphors and reading deeply into things, but let's try and sort this out for a moment. Kite in all likelihood is the human in this tale. Blackrose would be one of the half-sprites. I'm not sure who the other would be. Maybe Orca? Helba is Helba, naturally. Lios is another name for Apeiron the King of Light. Given that we know that Bith the Black is Helba's retainer, we could reasonably assume that means Wiseman is Bith the Black. This logically means that Fili the White is Apeiron's retainer. Given how Balmung worked with Lios in Mutation, that means that he would be Fili. I guess that means Aura is the Twilight Dragon? Another possible interpretation is that Kite is the dragon, but it makes more sense for him to be the human. It's not a perfect reading, but it was a fun thought experiment at least! Feel free to post your own interpretations. I'm curious to see what you all come up with! I also know that Wiseman is not the Bith we're dealing with here. : That's Bith. Got it.  : But why did he send us here?  : Hey mister. Are you Mr. Tokuoka? I don't think I'm mistaken.: And ma'am, you are?: That doesn't matter. I've been sent to give this message to Mr. Tokuoka. : Dual-sided demon?: Victory wish? Lady where'd you get this? : Fearful. So fearful... : Wait! Who asked you to give this to me? Ma'am! Hey!: Fearful. So fearful...: She's afraid.: What's she scared of?: *shrugs*   : Hey, wait! Hold on! Gah!  : What was it? : Dual-sided demon leads us to Senko Temple. But victory wish?: Hey, don't look at me. I don't even know what the dual-sided demon thing is about. : It refers to a powerful man from Hida in the mythical age. This warrior had two heads, four arms, and four legs, representing good and evil coexisting in one body.: Jekyll and Hyde with no on/off switch. : So if you put it all together, you think there's some significance to all this?: How do you mean?: I mean following all these clues around Takayama. What's the whole point of it?: Like I said before, I don't know. But, think about it. We solve a small puzzle piece which leads us to a new location, where we find some kind of clue that points us to the next location. Now doesn't that remind you of something?: An RPG? : The truth is we don't know what the rules are, or who we're going to run into at the end of this thing. But, if that's the way they want to play it, then I'll take it as far as it goes. What the hell, I'm thinking we should just fasten our seatbelts and enjoy the ride.: Well if that's the case, we'll have to call on our strategist for inside information.: Huh? : My mother is the editor of a local magazine. You'd be surprised how much she knows about this town.   : That's Sakuayama Hachiman Temple. That's the shrine where it originated, yes. Lord Takefurukuma who came to exorcise the dual-sided demon built it for his victory wish. Shall I send you some documents? Okay. By the way, I got a call from Mr. Hokiguchi in Koufu a moment ago. He said he saw you walking with some middle-aged man. Who are you with, Kyoko?: He's a guest from Tokyo. I'm just showing him around!: He's middle-aged? : Mom, does that bother you?I mean what's wrong with meeting a middle-aged guy you know from the Internet? Kidnappings certainly don't start that way or anything! Also a car drives up and honks its horn.  & : Huh?: What is it?: It's dad.Tokuoka hears this and swallows the smoke he was about to blow out.   : I'm on my way home from a meeting. You two want a ride?  : You came all the way from Tokyo about the Epitaph of Twilight? That's a strange coincidence. You're the second person today who's into that!: There was someone else here?: He was from out of town. I just had a meeting with him. He wanted me to translate the whole thing.: Really? So did you take the job?: No, I don't wanna get involved in all that.: Do you mean because it's the 100th Tale of The Hundred Stories?: Not just that. There's also the problem with the original text.: That's right. I forgot all about it. You never heard the story of how the Epitaph became public.: Huh?: It first appeared on the personal website of a writer named Emma Wielant. It was only online for a very brief period of time. Hardly anyone saw it. Eventually, some high-profile fantasy researchers and occultists became aware of the work. But by that time, Emma had died tragically and the original version was lost.: She died at the age of 28 in an automobile accident.: Yeah, that's right. Some of her most dedicated followers pieced together sections of the text, restoring about 70% of it.: But then came the release of "The World." Shortly after its release, someone posted that its prototype, Fragment, was modeled after her work by the genius programmer, Harald Hoerwick. Of course, that changed everything.: Oh, I get it!: You understand?: Fakes and alterations. That's it, right?: Mm-hmm. You got it. Since it was first published in plain text format, anybody could easily alter the content. So her work was butchered and everything after "The World" is atrocious. You can't even bear to look at it. Even if the missing portions of text were found, it would be extremely difficult to separate the original sections from the fakes.: That's why the full scope of the story, the true story, is still unknown.  : That's it, the Epitaph of Twilight.: So, uh, this guy who asked you to do the translation. What was he like? I mean, if you don't mind my asking.: He was very well-dressed, but he had a strange attitude. He was kinda gloomy.Sounds like our mystery friend from earlier. : Do you have his business card? : Ichiro Sato.: Talk about a fake name. Ugh. : Thanks.: Thank you! : You think Ichiro Sato and Bith are the same person?: Maybe. Well, since we're here let's take a look around before we go to the next spot. : So, were Emma and Harald acquaintances?: To Emma? Yes. But to Harald, she was much more. : Unrequited love?: It probably was. I don't have many details about Harald's life, but I have the impression that Emma loved his talent, but not him. When they first met, Emma already had a lover. He was 20 years older than her.: What? : It seems that she was very beautiful, but also very high maintenance.: A rich girl?: Her family ran an old winery.: Really? So how does the winery girl meet up with Harald, the computer genius?: There was more to Emma than a girl from a rich family. She lost her mother at an early age, and her father died when she was 18. According to the will, her uncle was appointed as her guardian. But the uncle decided that he wanted to get his hands on her inheritance. So he "kindly" offered to adopt Emma as his own child.: What a lowlife. : Yeah, but Emma was too smart for him.: She refused?: Mm-hmm. But the inheritance was in a trust. It was set up so she couldn't access it until she turned 20. So she decided to go to nursing school to support herself until then. : Ahh, good going Emma. I'd fall in love with a girl like that too.: Unfortunately, on the morning of her 20th birthday, overwork and stress finally caught up with her. She started coughing up blood.: Blood in her lungs...: She was lucky. It didn't get out of control, and the coughing stopped pretty quickly. But on the advice of her physician, she checked into a health resort in southern France. That's where she had a supernatural experience that would influence her entire life from that time forward.Tokuoka thinks back to one of the first stops they made, the one associated with clairvoyance and spirit photography and realizes that's what Emma was studying. : That's it! And soon after that, she moved on to Rudolph Steiner's work. : Anthroposophy.: Yes. It's all coming together, right?: If I remember this correctly, Harald was trying to forge a relationship between humans and computers and he used anthroposophy as a starting point.: Meanwhile Emma was immersed in the same philosophy, trying to understand the meaning of existence. That was when she started writing the Epitaph of Twilight.: As Harald was developing his own design, Fragment. I still don't get it, though.: Yeah, something is missing. It still doesn't explain the things that are happening in "The World.": Is there anything else?: Well, yes. But I can't really say how much of it is true. It's impossible to verify the story.: Go on. I'm all ears!: When Emma had the auto accident, apparently she had called Harald and she was on her way to meet him. Of course he had no way of knowing she died. They say he waited for her under a large ginkgo tree on top of a hill.: Hmm... Someone's phone rings again! This time it's Kyo's.  : Yes?  : Kyo? What's this about?: You mean the e-mail?: Yeah, it doesn't make any sense.: Sorry, it's for me but I had them forward it to you. Uh, would you mind reading it to me, Yuki?: You're being weird. Okay, here it is. "The cross of smoke rises, lake of water sprites." I think that was it. : I got it.: Hey, is Mr. Tokuoka with you? He may not look like it, but he's pretty rich y'know. Make him buy you dinner!: I'll take it under advisement. See you later, Yuki. *hangs up* New location.: We have to go all the way back down, huh? Oh come on, everyone knows that climbing the stairs is the hard part. Going back down is cake!   : This place has caught fire several times over the centuries. But one time, the rising smoke formed the shape of a cross.: A cross over a temple?: That's why it became an urban legend. Oh? : Looks like this is the final confrontation. : Past here, there's a lake where water sprites appear.: This is very well thought-out. & : *gasp*   : Pleased to meet you.: Bith the Black!: Ichiro Sato!: Ah, you already know my other name. That makes things simpler.: How so? It's a fake name, isn't it?: Of course.: You're getting on my nerves.: Names are just symbols. I'm sure you're aware of that. For example Kyo... Kyoko Tohno. And Sieg... and Tomonari Kasumi. Though they're different names, they all stand for the same thing.I'm fairly certain that names don't all stand for the same thing. That's kind of the whole point of naming something. To, y'know, differentiate it.  : What do you stand for? What is it that you actually do?: I'm a representative. I told you that in the beginning when we spoke on the telephone. Of course, Queen Helba has many clients.: Hmph. Hackers have clients?: Now, now. That isn't like you Mr. Tokuoka. Hackers also make excellent security analysts and cyber investigators. Isn't that right? Why don't we sit down and talk? Perhaps over lunch? We can try the local cuisine.  I'm pretty sure that a national fast food chain isn't local cuisine. It reminds me of when my dad went on vacation to Oahu a few years back. Instead of eating at any number of potentially awesome local restaurants, he ate every night at Subway and every morning at McDonalds. : They don't have Hida beef in this town? Or Hoba miso? No, we have to come here of all places. : Please, feel free to have your favorite dishes later. Together.: I'm fine here.: The portions are skimpy, and I can't even taste the meat. Can you? : Let's talk about that later. I was saying that when Harald designed Fragment, he based it on the Epitaph of Twilight. But if he had merely modeled Fragment on the worldview found in the Epitaph, then that would not have caused the chaos that is now occurring in "The World." Do you get it?: We're with you. So what did create the problem, Einstein?: Simply this. To put it in a nutshell, Harald brought the "outside" into the "inside." That's what we presume, so the boundary is wavering. Severely. Of course, you understand that if the wavering were to increase, the results could be devastating. : Can you simplify that so that I can swallow it? : Ugh. You're doing that to make a point?: Inside and outside, religious and secular, divine and worldly, they go together. Every society places the world in order through the concept of opposites. But these elements can never be separated into two wholly distinct parts. There's always a gray area where distinctions blur into ambiguity.: Tomonari Kasumi was also known as Sieg. Physically he was in Kanazawa when he lost consciousness. That occurred inside the game, though of course he exists outside the game. Tokuoka has had enough of this poo poo. : So then we must ask the question where was his consciousness at, the inside or the outside?: Do you see now? It's possible to explain it either way, from inside or outside. : Uh-huh. They say reason and plaster stick to anything.: Exactly. However to make it stick you have to use force, and you have to control that force. That's the true nature of boundaries. In anthropology they have a name for this, liminality. Maybe it's because this is the third time I've heard it in the past 6 hours, but the inside and outside stuff makes some sense sense. But what the gently caress is he talking about otherwise? Why does force enter into the equation? Why does force mean boundaries? Ugh, is this more anime bullshit where characters spout complete nonsense and act smug about it in the hopes that they sound deep and meaningful? : So, you still with me?: Liminality?: Well, um this is slightly different, but can I try?: Sure. : When my family moved here from Suginami we were new here, so we were "outsiders" that came to the "inside" of Hida. My parents chose to assimilate, to get "inside" the community by working at it for two years. Although, I'm still on the outside somewhere.: So your boundaries are wavering as well, is that it Kyoko?: Perhaps, but this isn't where I belong. My heart isn't here.: So the answer is simpler than you think.: What do you mean?: You merely separate the "outside" from the "inside" isn't that right? You're autonomous. An outsider who will leave this city in time. Fortunately, the "outside" that Harald brought inside the game also seems to be autonomous. Like you, it hasn't fully assimilated. You see, if that turns out to be true, then all we have to do is help it along.: Yeah, how?: If you want to know that, you'll need to make a commitment. No more wavering. Worst case scenario, we'll be identified as criminals and they'll come hunting for us. So, you still wanna know how?  : Yes. Tell us everything.  : What if I asked you to pretend we never had this conversation, make it a blank slate?: Ultimately, we'd lose our ability to fight back and CC Corp. would win, destroying the servers and burying the whole thing in total obscurity.: You're kidding.: That's what CC Corp. intends to do. If they aren't stopped, the clues to saving the coma victims will be lost forever. : Our next contact will be on Christmas Eve in Urayasu.With that, Bith drives off. Also no points for guessing when the main plot for this series comes to a head.  : This has gotten totally out of hand.: Even if we never face the worst case scenario, we are still committing a crime.: You still wanna do it?  : I know where I'm going now. This is my game.This took an excruciatingly long time to type up and I'm kind of doubting it was ultimately worth doing. Absolutely nothing at all happened except for a lot of lore being filled in. See you next time guys. We'll be doing something much more exciting then! DoubleNegative fucked around with this message at 02:06 on May 4, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 2, 2015 00:04
|
|
|
Like watching anime paint dry.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2015 01:55
|
|
|
Shinjobi posted:Like watching anime paint dry. Just to move things along, and also because this update was boring trash, I'm gonna be posting the first Quarantine update tomorrow. Now you guys see why I didn't want to leave the thread on this for a week.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2015 02:27
|
|
|
//Update 01 Well everyone, this is it. We've gone through 3/4 of this series and we're in the home stretch. Quarantine is an incredibly short game. Due to the way I've been trying to cut off updates, it's still going to feel about as long as the others, but trust me when I say that the majority of the stuff happens in rapid succession. Imagine me repeatedly snapping my fingers there for accentuation if you like. But getting to the end of the story is only the first half of the trouble we're going to get into. It took use 39 hours or so to get to Quarantine. As you may have guessed, I've recorded everything up through the end of the game already. It will take us another 77 hours to complete absolutely everything. Yes I do mean absolutely everything. But more on that later. Pre-Title Demo: ***LOTS OF SPOILERS*** I'm including the pre-title screen demo for the sake of completion. I strongly urge you to not watch it unless you've already beaten the games. There are some pretty major spoilers in there if you know what to look for! I'll see you guys on the other side of the intro cutscene. Enjoy! Video:      : The day that he first played "The World," his friend Orca fell into a deep coma as a result of Skeith's Data Drain.   : "The World" isn't just an online game. Something with another purpose is lurking within it. : The Book of Twilight, handed to him by the girl Aura, transformed into a bracelet, giving him two extraordinary powers.    : Data Drain, the power to alter monster data.    : And Gate Hacking, which allows him to gain entrance into protected areas. It was these very same powers that put Orca into a coma. : However, contrary to hope, the situation continues to worsen.    : Casualties are no longer contained to the game, and the damages extend to the real world. What is the intention of the game designer, Harald? What is the Epitaph of Twilight, that supposedly is the key to this mystery?  : Nonetheless, they have finally found a clue to counterattack.  : This marks the beginning of the counterattack. : Counterattack? No!  The same spiel we've heard two times now, just slightly modified. I'm still just completely baffled on what it is Kite's talking about with the true rule of the game. That Harald created. Can't forget the dramatic zoom in on his face with that stinger.  Anyway, because it's the start of the volume, we have some incredibly important e-mails to attend to. In fact, if you try to do anything but open the e-mail program, Kite will  Starting from the bottom...  Throughout this volume, more than others, they refer to the Cursed Wave as a huge data file. I like to imagine that it's just this giant multi-terabyte .dat file being moved around on the servers. You can now go to Ω Server. Select Other Servers from the Chaos Gate Menu.  Omega Server access means we've got ready access to some bafflingly powerful equipment, as well as the best consumable items. Aura's garbled e-mails are becoming more readable as time goes on.   Oh boy. The item completion event. In the last incarnation of this thread, I said that doing that particular event would be antithetical to actually completing the game. I still stand by that sentiment. So let me put this as plainly as I can. DO NOT DO THE ITEM COMPLETION EVENT. IT IS NOT WORTH THE EFFORT IT REQUIRES FROM YOU AND WILL MAKE YOU HATE THIS AWFUL GAME SERIES. We'll cover that more later, though. Much, much later. On to the news.     Reading this article reminded me that at one point in the dotHack universe, the US President's name was actually Jim Stonecold.   Scintillating, no?  In all seriousness, apparently the poo poo is hitting the fan harder than we anticipated. Anyway, on with the game!  We'll be looking at the board posts in their own separate update. I captured screenshots for them, and when I was done I realized that there would be a giant block of 40 message board posts in the middle of my update. Nobody, least of all me, wants that. So I've shuffled them off to their own bonus update which will follow shortly after this one. If you're the type to look at screenshot names, look at the numbering between that image and the next one. The last screenshot was 01046. The next one is 01088, meaning I cut out 42 message board posts. Video:   : Do you know where Mia is? She was right there. Hey! You know where she is, right? Tell me... tell me where she is!: I - I don't know... I just got here.: OK... if you see her, tell me! You have to tell me!: Yeah. OK. Poor Elk. Without his buddy, he's completely lost. Anyway, this cutscene is a bit weird. It'll ambush you the first time you log in to Σ Server. So it could be as early as now or as late as 20 minutes from now. We happened to end the last game on Σ Server, so we got to see it now.  Lia Fail awaits! Video:  (You should probably watch this to understand what's going on) Oh good, the new root town is unstable.    Thought it doesn't look corrupted. Gonna spoil something that's gonna be revealed in a minute anyway, but it's a shame we never really get to explore this place. It looks really pretty.  : ......  With all the inverted color images I'm posting, I really hope I'm impressing on you just how unstable this place is. Fields with active phase fights aren't this unstable. This server is barely holding itself together.  : Aaaaah!And now a massive earthquake is rocking the game, and the colors basically go permanently inverted. Ω Server is crashing.  : It's too dangerous here... We're warping!: Helba?! ...Warp?   : Welcome to Paradise!: Net Slum?: It's a mirror of Ω Server... which is mine.You read that right guys. The new root town is Net Slum. It's extremely awesome!  : When did you - I can't let my guard down for even a minute!: ...But we're safe because of this mirror server. : Yeah! What do you expect us to do in a place that unstable?! : Is that how you apologize to someone?That is the first time we've ever heard Lios apologize. Blackrose may not have liked it, but he sounded genuinely contrite. She's the only person still operating under the assumption that we're working at cross purposes with Lios, instead of with him. In fact, this is one of, if not the last, times we'll ever hear Lios called a pig-head. : I am telling you I am sorry!Of course, Lios is still Lios. : Well, there's no point in arguing about something that's already happened.: Yes. : True.: Yeah.: Wha - what?! Why are you all...Video:   : Let's begin our strategy meeting.: Hmph.She's still pouting because nobody wanted to join her in hurling senseless abuse at Lios. It really shows just how immature she is compared to even Kite, who is several years younger than her. Or Wiseman, who is much, much younger than either of them : The Wave is still moving at this point. If it is difficult to determine the location, let's specify its movement. That is essentially the plan for this operation, right?: Yes. Orca told me about it before.Come again? : Orcas - killer whales - create an enclosure when hunting prey, to close any escape paths. But if there's no place for the prey to run, then they will disperse. So they create an escape route on purpose to lure the prey to where it is the most convenient.: Most convenient?: The surface... it's a dead end for the prey.Kite is probably referring to the "Carousel Feeding" strategy that Orcas use against schools of fish. To quote pbs.org... "pbs.org posted:
: So, if your enemy is moving, I was thinking maybe we can apply it.: It is a good plan.: Using the analysis of the Virus Core provided by Lios, Helba is developing a vaccine program.: The vaccine won't be able to destroy the wave. But it may be able to corner it... Don't worry. Leave it to me. But, are we going to have enough people?: That's not a problem. We'll have my employees that I trust do it.: We'll get more pig-heads...: Shut up!Who is surprised that the teenager and the hacker are the two most immature people in our party? Show of hands? : Putting pig-heads aside...: What?!: Excuse me. What do we need to do to prepare for the operation?: Hmm... I would like to measure the data fluctuation. I would like for you to investigate Ω Bigoted Snowflake's Capsule as soon as possible.: Yes sir!: Meeting adjourned!Ω Bigoted Snowflake's Capsule is added to the Word List.  So let's explore  Omega Server isn't very big, which is why I like it the best. If you're hunting a specific player for one of their trade items, this is the best server to search on. Not pictured is the magic shop which is on the north end of the map, just out of view.  The weapons in the shop are all really high level stuff. The three twin blade weapons are all different elemental affinities.  The armor are all level 71-74 depending on type, and as you can see from the image, have incredibly powerful healing spells attached. Everyone in the party gets a full complement of new armor to replace the outdated stuff they were wearing.  The magic shop has all the top-tier magics. The scrolls pictured, the "call" spells, are the best trade resources in the game. Three of these will make any trade succeed. (Excepting, of course, the ones that require specific items.) I don't want to think of how many millions of GP I spent in the postgame loading up on Nightcall scrolls. The scrolls are also one of the best ways to raise affection in party members. Magically-inclined party mates will get as much as a 50 affection boost per scroll! Less easily impressed friends will "merely" get 20 points. That means that even starting from 0, you only need, at max, 500,000 GP to cap out someone's affection.   Healing Elixirs, as pictured, are a spammable instant full heal on anyone, regardless of how much HP they have. Emperor's Souls are a full SP recovery. You're going to want a bunch of each. Quarantine doesn't pull any punches when it comes to difficulty. The designers know that you now have access to full heals and have adjusted things accordingly. More so than before, enemies will hit like rocket propelled freight trains. Anyway, that's all for now. Next time we'll measure that data fluctuation for Lios. There's also a bunch of forum posts coming in a quick bonus update. I wouldn't blame you if you skipped them. DoubleNegative fucked around with this message at 23:03 on May 2, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 2, 2015 21:43
|
|
|
I still want to know what was the train of thought behind the item collection quest. "We have a series of games. Each game has items unique to it and are missable if you don't scrounge every corner. You have limited inventory space. Let's make a quest where you collect all the items!"
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2015 21:54
|
|
|
SSNeoman posted:I still want to know what was the train of thought behind the item collection quest. Luckily for the item collection quest, you don't need to get any of the rare items, or any of the stat boosts. So you don't need Sora's Blades, but you do need every regular type of weapon and armor and so on.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2015 22:52
|
|
|
the item collection quest isn't unfair, per say, just loving tedious and terrible GU had something similar but you were able to register the items as you went through the series, playing normally, whereas in this game it's impossible to even start until you've beaten the game
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2015 00:08
|
|
|
The truth behind Wiseman always makes me break down laughing. In fact one of the funner parts with the series is just how different the lives of those outside the game are to how they are in the game.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2015 02:26
|
|
|
I'm usually a lurker on this thread, but yay, I'm glad I can help out on at least one thing! The '100 tales' that they're referring to in Liminality is the Hyakumonogatari, an old form of storytelling tradition where people would gather up a hundred candles, and a hundred scary stories and set out to have a terrifying night. For each story that's told, a candle would be put out, darkening the room as the night went on. It's said that a terrible thing will happen once you get to the 100th story, and I'm pretty sure that's probably what trying to dig deeper into the series of events behind The World must feel like. By the way, so the author of the Epitaph had a large inheritance waiting for her, and it so happens that she later dies young? That can't be a coincidence, right? Also, that guy dramatically eating a burger is definitely not Bith/Wiseman as well? I remember I somehow managed to watch an episode of Liminality back in the day. I don't know how I managed to watch all of dotHack//SIGN and be cool with it (probably because of the kicking rad OST), and yet Liminality was the one where I said "eh."
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2015 08:30
|
|
|
Also, in regards to Liminality, I believe the "force" that's referred to means one of two things depending on context. With regards to the inside and outside, it would refer to the Force of The Wave, pulling people "inside" the game world from the "outside",at least partway. Naturally, people wouldn't normally being going in to comas left and right and the outside world wouldn't have so many problems. But The Wave on the "inside" is exerting its Force to either pull people in or make chaos on the out. Spoken from a different perspective, it could also refer to an "outside" force attempting to put something from the outside into the inside of the game but that gets into spoilery stuff that I'm almost positive hasn't been mentioned yet.Onmi posted:The truth behind Wiseman always makes me break down laughing. In fact one of the funner parts with the series is just how different the lives of those outside the game are to how they are in the game. Part of why I love this series is that it revels in the differences between how people present themselves in The World and what they are actually like outside, but manages to avoid wallowing in it. Usually. Its also a reason why I really like Kite, because he's pretty much the same inside and out. He's a sweet, if occasionally sarcastic, kid who just really wants to get to the bottom of the problem at hand and help his friend. You look at him and think "14 year old kid" and that's exactly what he is. As opposed to Wiseman, or Balmung.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2015 12:08
|
|
|
Arcade Rabbit posted:Also, in regards to Liminality, I believe the "force" that's referred to means one of two things depending on context. With regards to the inside and outside, it would refer to the Force of The Wave, pulling people "inside" the game world from the "outside",at least partway. Naturally, people wouldn't normally being going in to comas left and right and the outside world wouldn't have so many problems. But The Wave on the "inside" is exerting its Force to either pull people in or make chaos on the out. Spoken from a different perspective, it could also refer to an "outside" force attempting to put something from the outside into the inside of the game but that gets into spoilery stuff that I'm almost positive hasn't been mentioned yet. Also the relations which you don't think about but which make other situations hilarious like Sora and Wisemans players were friends IRL if I recall, and since Sora is Haseo, and Wiseman moves on to play Yata, Wiseman becomes Sora's boss. Is it all that important? nah not really, but I think it covers a wide grade of people who are playing a game together. and almost always the party members help bring you back down. Yeah there's the infection and the wave, but Moonstones a dweeb who wants to go monster hunting and Nuke needs help on his comedy routine. And Gardenia is a troll.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2015 13:35
|
|
|
Click this for the update:  This is the bonus update I alluded to yesterday with like 40 message board posts. Tomorrow will mark the second actual update for Quarantine and after that I'll go back to the one every other day format. EagerSleeper posted:I'm usually a lurker on this thread, but yay, I'm glad I can help out on at least one thing! The '100 tales' that they're referring to in Liminality is the Hyakumonogatari, an old form of storytelling tradition where people would gather up a hundred candles, and a hundred scary stories and set out to have a terrifying night. Totally sticking this in the Liminality 3 update as an explanation! DoubleNegative fucked around with this message at 21:01 on May 4, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 4, 2015 02:03
|
|
|
Another update! Click this for the update:  Like I said earlier, after today they're going back to the once every other day format.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2015 21:00
|
|
|
Hey you know how you think virus cores aren't fun? Well you're right And I don't have the exact numbers, but I swear to god CC2 decided to lower the drop rate of cores in this game. And you need a low infection rating to get cores, but you need to data drain data bugs to kill them, which increases infection. So that's fun.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2015 21:45
|
|
|
I'm kinda anxious to get this update out, so it's going up earlier than I would have otherwise posted it. This, guys, is one of the big ones. I'm sure that not a small number of you have been waiting for this moment from the instant I first started this series back in 2011. Today we're fighting Phase 6: The Temptress. Click this for the update: 
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 18:59
|
|
|
Oh, I had put off reading the previous update because I had assumed it was a link to a video. Linking the screenshot updates though is a good idea, keeps the page from getting bogged down. It's really weird how fast the pace of the game picks up while simultaneously being bogged down with virus core collection crap
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 19:55
|
|
|
And so Elk (.hack//GU spoilers) never gets over Mia, ever, and goes on to become Endrance!
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 20:41
|
|
|
It's good to finally see what the last game in this series is like. I was kind of disapointed back when you stopped that LP just before you reached stuff I hadn't seen yet. From a story perspective this twist seems sort of natural. We have spend a lot of time getting to know Mia, while not knowing her at all. There had to be something off about her.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 22:02
|
|
|
Womp womp waaahhh!
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 22:42
|
|
|
Something to note, is that Mia and Elk haven't had E-mail chains, despite having been part of the party for so long. Elk made sense, he didn't like us, but from the beginning, something was off for Mia
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 10:33
|
|
|
Click this for the update:  Believe it or not, we're almost done with the story of Quarantine. DoubleNegative fucked around with this message at 23:25 on May 10, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 21:30
|
|
|
DoubleNegative posted:Click this for the update: Yay! Mistral's back! I can almost forgive what caused her to return, except, you know... dammit!
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2015 03:34
|
|
|
Click this for the update:  We're now officially in the endgame! The next several updates are all gonna be sidequests and level grinding.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2015 23:28
|
|
|
You are just cranking this poo poo out. Awesome.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2015 23:43
|
|
|
Rachel remains a giant rear end. And man Quarrantine moves loving quick
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2015 00:01
|
|
|
Onmi posted:Rachel remains a giant rear end. And man Quarrantine moves loving quick I guess they ran out of game towards the end when they decided to stretch it across four volumes I wonder what .hack would be like if it had been released today? Would they have done it as an episodic game?
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2015 00:44
|
|
|
Onmi posted:Rachel remains a giant rear end. And man Quarrantine moves loving quick When you don't have to hunt down the absurd number of virus cores they ask you, yeah it's pretty short.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2015 00:45
|
|
|
AriadneThread posted:I guess they ran out of game towards the end when they decided to stretch it across four volumes I'm not sure, but if it had been done by Valve we wouldn't have gotten passed Outbreak
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2015 01:06
|
|
|
I kinda doubt it, but I'd like to see Lady Tsubasa back again. I always wondered what the crew of SIGN was up to after things got resolved. Also, maybe I wasn't paying that much attention back when, but An Shoji was kidnapped?  Kidnapped, and forced to play an anime MMO forever? How cruel...
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2015 03:15
|
|
|
SSNeoman posted:When you don't have to hunt down the absurd number of virus cores they ask you, yeah it's pretty short. We've really only had to protect break one field this entire game so far, so it's not even cheating in the virus cores. Quarantine is just really, really short. I have 20 updates planned for Quarantine, counting all of the postgame stuff. EagerSleeper posted:Also, maybe I wasn't paying that much attention back when, but An Shoji was kidnapped? Kidnapping her was only part of all the hosed up stuff she did to An Shoji. Morganna rendered her comatose, hosed with her memories to make her forget anything good that had ever happened, and then emotionally abused and manipulated her to the point where she withdrew from everyone. That memory fuckery also changed her self image to make her forget her own gender, which is why everyone calls Tsukasa a guy.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2015 03:28
|
|
|
Click this for the update:  Two sidequests and one story field down.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2015 21:29
|
|
|
ever since you cheated in those cores, i've wondered what would happen if you sequenced broke the game
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2015 22:23
|
|
|
AriadneThread posted:ever since you cheated in those cores, i've wondered what would happen if you sequenced broke the game CC2, for all their faults when they designed this series, were pretty good about locking down most chances to sequence break. As far as I'm aware, the opportunity we have now is the only chance you get to do it at all. I'm going to be a little more in-depth about this when we get to the final dungeon in the LP proper, but the game soft-locks once you get to the bottom of Δ Reincarnated Purgatorial Altar. There's a better answer that requires me to put in far more effort than I'm willing to do for a single screenshot showing what happens.
|
|
#
?
May 13, 2015 11:48
|
|
|
Click this for the update:  One more sidequest and then it's time for the end of the game!
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2015 19:35
|
|
|
That area name sounds foreboding. I don't really like Ryoko. And that email was kind of weird. "You have a really strange and scary way to think about those things. But that is just so like you. Just stay the way you are. You're great in your own way."
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2015 22:15
|
|
|
It's coming!  vs  And it is going to be glorious
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2015 04:11
|
|
|
Click this for the update:  I wouldn't expect an update on Monday. My brother's wedding is that day, so I'm going to be busy with that.
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2015 18:40
|
|
|
anime
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2015 18:52
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 02:34 |
|
|
who cares about anything in this dumb series anymore
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2015 18:58
|
|