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 Tales Of Innocence ...AKA, "How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Past Life." Hey guys, Darth Numbers here. Innocence was the ninth main (though there might be some debate on how "main" it is) installment of the Tales Of series, developed by Namco. You may remember the Tales Of franchise from such hits as Tales of Vesperia, Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Xillia, Tales of the Abyss, you get the picture. Innocence however, is something of a niche game, even within the Tales Of niche. Developed for the Nintendo DS in late 2007, this game went largely unplayed, and uncared about. In fact, it wasn't even localized! There is an English patch out for the DS version, which is the version I'm going to be playing. The translation was done by Absolute Zero (google em!) and is generally spot on! There are a few iffy things that I'll explain as we run into them, translation wise, and we're gonna be using the localized arte and character names option, which I think works the best. Not only do I not own a Vita, the Vita version added some really dumb things (I'll get to that later) when it was remade, so I enjoy the DS version more. Innocence is the story of Ruca Milda, our intrepid young hero. Ruca is a loser, but lucky for him, he was a giant scary demon lord in his past life, which is pretty neat! Innocence is all about past lives, we'll get to that later. Innocence is a very nonstandard Tales Of game-- not only is it a DS game, so its functionality is obviously limited as compared to the console ones, it has a really neat battle system, a really cool "style" system, and a super neato plot. Innocence uses a modified version of the "Linear Motion Battle System", which basically means that you fight back in forth in a moving straight line. What comes new with Innocence though, is that you are encouraged to switch between characters rapidly in the heat of battle, and rack up some crazy combos, which you'll definitely (hopefully) see later. While it might not be the prettiest game (those DS graphics), it's really freakin' cool, and I hope I can show you guys that. So let's get into it, shall we?  Main Updates Update 1 Update 2 Update 3 Update 4 Update 4 Skits Update 5 Update 5 Skits Update 6 Update 6 Skits Update 7 Update 7 Skits Update 8 Update 8 Skits Update 9 Update 9 Skits Update 10 Update 10 skits Update 11 Update 11 Skits Update 12 Update 12 Skits Update 13 Update 13 skits Update 14 Update 14 Skits Update 15 Update 15 skits Update 16 Update 16 Skits Update 17 Update 17 Skits Update 18 Update 18 Skits Update 19 Update 19 Skits Update 20 Update 20 Skits Update 21 Update 21 Skits Update 22 Update 22 Skits Update 23 (No skits for update 23!) Update 24 Update 24 Skits Update 25 - FINAL UPDATE Extra Goodies Styles and Mystic Artes Explained! This video contains spoilers if you haven't read up to the point where we unlock all six characters (update 13), so watch at your own risk! Here it is folks, the long awaited (maybe) video. The first couple minutes are a rundown of how styles work and how we're using them, and also going a little into the hidden styles that we've unlocked. After that we transition into showing off the main character's mystic artes, which are pretty nifty looking in my opinion. There's an annotation on the video to skip right to that, if you don't care about styles. Pardon my mic, it's not perfect-- I know those hard 's's are killer. Anyway, please enjoy! Styles and Mystic Artes Explained! Explanation posts by RelentlessImp! RelentlessImp has some really neat exposition and analysis of some themes that occur in Innocence-- he would like you guys to know that, RelentlessImp posted:I'm not super knowledgeable about this stuff myself, and may get things wrong; I'm just outputting what I know and can reverify with a Wikipedia search as it's been a while since I studied any Hindi texts. That said, the Rigveda is about as fun a read as some Norse sagas with some really metal stuff happening, so I should probably reread one of the English translations around. but with that disclaimer, here's a bunch of cool analysis by RelentlessImp! Keep in mind that these are for specific parts of the game that are going to be spoilers for later part of the LP! Be warned! On Vrtra: RelentlessImp posted:Vrtra is a reference to Vritra, romanized as Vrtra (" वृत्र "), a Vedic Asura, known also as Ahi, or Snake. Typically depicted as a dragon blocking the course of rivers, Vritra is the personification of drought and is the adversary of Indra, who, in the Rig Veda, destroyed all of Vritra's 99 fortresses and had their two jaws broken by Vritra before throwing the dragon down and crushing its own fortresses, thus liberating the rivers. Indra then went on to kill Vritra's mother with his thunderbolt. A lot of this story is influenced by Brahmanism (and by extension, Hinduism), even going so far as to appropriate a lot of terms and redefining them - Asuras, Devas, even taking names like Vrtra. It would have probably been more appropriate to translate it to Vritra, but I don't know Japanese and couldn't tell you, but Vrtra is at least semi-accurate in terms of references. On "Naraka" and "Devaloka" as "Earth" and "Heaven": RelentlessImp posted:As to why these things are named the way they are, it's basically because Brahmanism and Hinduism from which its major concepts are borrowed from. Naraka is the Hindu Underworld, which in some schools of Hinduism can be taken to be a place of torment, or a literal Hell, where the soul is sent to be scourged of sin. In Buddhism, it distinctly refers to worlds of greatest suffering. Unlike a Christian Hell, Naraka is not eternal, and is more akin to a purgatory and expiation period. On creation myths referenced by Innocence: RelentlessImp posted:It's time for Adventures in Hinduism As Relates To Tales Of Innocence! Darth Numbers fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Jan 21, 2016 |
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May 8, 2015 01:59
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“Lamenting his endless isolation, he formed the world from his body and birthed the gods. And so, all things came to be.” 
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Prologue (Hey guys-- just FYI, Tales of Innocence has a lot of strange translation stuff, the script I'm working off of uses some different terms than the in game screenshots will. In general, every time you see the word "Devaloka" pop up, that means "heaven", and the word "Naraka", that means earth. Also, there might be some shenanigans with 'Ruca/Luca', and 'Asras/Asura', I'll do my best to make this not confusing, but just keep it in mind!)  Let's start a new game.    That's the demon lord, Asura. He's pretty neat.    Sensus Soldier: Lord Asura! Hurry and... retreat!! Argghhhh...!!! Uh oh.   Who's this dude?   Looks like that wasn't the right thing to say.    : To think that a thief would tell me how to wage war... You never fail to make me laugh! : Naught but a single obstacle remains... Without their commander, there will be nothing to fear from your forces.: Now then, let us bring this chaos to fruition!: Your strategy is indeed admirable. However, you made one fatal oversight...: You underestimated my sword by daring to challenge me alone.: You're the one underestimating me! Fear not. The reaper shall claim your life and guide your soul to the world beyond. : What entertainment. In deference to such a bold claim, I'll play with you for a little while.Do these guys ever shut up?  Here is the first battle of the game. It's kind of an on rails battle, you can't open up the menu screen at all, so go beat the crap out of Hypnos. Make sure to switch it to 720p for those sweet, sweet pixels. Hypnos Fight I wanted to show off some of Hypnos's moves, but sadly he doesn't have any! So I just killed him.  That's "heaven", like I mentioned. : Without me... without me... Devaloka will... : Fear not, all will be made right with the unification of Devaloka and Naraka.Oh, looks like he's a good guy after all! : Rest in peace, and be content to watch over this world.: ......: Very well... When I am reborn... when we meet again, I will judge this future of yours and hold you... respon... ible... And he just teleports out. What an rear end.  : Men, hear me! Ratio's brave General Hypnos has fallen!: What have we to fear from the remnants of the enemy?!  Geez.   Fade to black. That's the end of the prologue! Thanks for joining me. Darth Numbers fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Jul 21, 2015 |
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May 8, 2015 02:00
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Ooh, trying for an LP of a Tales game? Ballsy, these take a ton of screens and time. Still, wdarkk did some great ones, and this looks good so far. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
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May 8, 2015 02:05
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LordHippoman posted:Ooh, trying for an LP of a Tales game? Ballsy, these take a ton of screens and time. Still, wdarkk did some great ones, and this looks good so far. Yup! Tales Of has always been one of my favorite franchises, (I've actually played every game except Hearts and Tempest I think? I'm working my way up there, at least.) and I saw that no one had LP'd Innocence before, and figured this was my chance to show everyone how cool Innocence is ^^
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May 8, 2015 02:11
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Oh, I remember following the translation progress back when. If I had a penny for every 'IT'S RUKA NOT LUKA WHY ARE YOU RUINING GAMES'-style argument I saw, I could've paid for an official translation.
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May 8, 2015 02:17
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Kaboom Dragoon posted:Oh, I remember following the translation progress back when. If I had a penny for every 'IT'S RUKA NOT LUKA WHY ARE YOU RUINING GAMES'-style argument I saw, I could've paid for an official translation. Personally, I said Ruca, but this translation has Luca, so we'll be going with that :P
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May 8, 2015 02:24
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Tales Of games seem to be a hit-or-miss with me. In example, Vesperia and Xillia were really good in my eyes, and I heavily disliked Graces and Abyss. I'm gonna follow this if only because I'd never even heard of this Tales game until I saw your post.
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May 8, 2015 02:28
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Digital Jello posted:Tales Of games seem to be a hit-or-miss with me. In example, Vesperia and Xillia were really good in my eyes, and I heavily disliked Graces and Abyss. I'm gonna follow this if only because I'd never even heard of this Tales game until I saw your post. I loved Vesperia (fair warning, Luca is not NEARLY as awesome as Yuri is.), Xillia was great too-- my favorite will ALWAYS be Symphonia, but I enjoyed Abyss too. In my day we didn't have no 3DS ports, we had 10 minute loading screens and we didn't complain! See, that's exactly why I really wanted to LP this game, cause no one heard of it! I always try to get people to play it, so maybe this will start an Innocence revolution!
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May 8, 2015 02:33
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LordHippoman posted:Ooh, trying for an LP of a Tales game? Ballsy, these take a ton of screens and time. Still, wdarkk did some great ones, and this looks good so far. Yeah OP prepare for the next two years of your life. Unless your like Spirit Armor which means prepare for the next decade. of your life. May god have mercy on your soul.
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May 8, 2015 02:39
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Guys this game is only like 36 hours long, he's probably going to be done before he even needs a second thread.
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May 8, 2015 03:30
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I've racked up hundreds of hours in Symphonia over multiple playthroughs, but yeah this game is one of the shorter Tales Games.
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May 8, 2015 03:36
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Waking Up Update 2. In which we get hot dogs, and then lose hot dogs. Also, Luca sucks at soccer. Sorry it's so screenshot heavy-- a lot of these NPCs don't have anything I can use as a portrait. I spent the better part of 2 hours doing a giant update, but decided to take pity on your eyes and split it into a few updated. Next part is coming as soon as I put the screenshots in!  Oh, guess that whole giant demon king thing was just a dream. Back to your regularly scheduled protagonist!     : That dream again... I commanded the Sensus... : We were at war with the Ratio and I... was called Asura.: Bold and resolute, just an upright, a true man...: The complete opposite of me...Well, glad to see he has the power of self esteem. : I can smell Mom's cheese soup... I guess it's breakfast time...And finally we can walk around! Lets go see about that cheese soup.    As you know, bob. : Yeah... : Good... morning.   : Yeah, thank you. Screw breakfast, lets talk about WAR!  : Hmm...Eloquent.      Exposition! : Yeah... No, not the CFRP! Wait, what's a fallen? Quick, some NPC, tell us!  Phew.     I'm sure we'll do our best. : Yeah...: (The Fallen?): (That's just make-believe stuff... It's like something out of a dream...) Nonsense, this kid can't have any friends. : Okay... : It's fine, I can do it myself.I'm a JRPG protagonist mom, leave my hair alone! And now we can move again! You can talk to your mom or dad, but all they say is stuff about you inheriting the family business of... whatever they do.  These guys don't seem like very good friends. : Even if I go, I won't be any help. You know how bad I am at sports, right?  : A-all right... *sigh*... Time to go play soccer... I guess...? Whoa, skit time! As you may know, most Tales Of games have little dialogue skits outside of main dialogue. I'll be doing my best to show them off, but some of them are stupid, so I won't show those.  : They're always dragging me along just to pick on me, plus they always copy my homework! I wonder what they're going to make me do today. It's depressing to think about... Skit over. Anyway, time to go play soccer!  I literally walked around aimlessly until you hit the random spot for the cutscene to trigger.   : If only I were fast and strong, like in my dreams...Me too, buddy.   Remember what that one dude said about spacing out? Time to do that!   That's "earth", again. : Naraka was once part of Devaloka. I must reunite Naraka with Devaloka once again. Geez.  : And yet, we rely on those same scoundrels to maintain Devaloka.: Without the prayers of the humans, the world would be thrown out of balance. However, prayer isn't enough...: Look at us now. We have been reduced to stealing the souls of humans to maintain our existence...Yay for exposition!     : There is nothing to fear. Stay by my side and believe in me. That is all I ask.Flashback over.    : Y-you said all I had to do was stand there... Apparently soccer losses = hot dogs. Good to know.  This seems vaguely illegal?  Time to go get hot dogs.   Never mind! Plot intervenes, just as we almost had to buy some nerds hot dogs. It's that thing we mentioned earlier!      He was just dragged off? Is that powerful? Whatever. Hot dog time.    Mission is a success!    Gosh. Would you quit walking into obvious love interests? : Hey hold on, what happened? Is something wrong? Hey! : It's too late...And now we meet my least favorite character. : Whaaaat?! Too late? Hey, hang in there! Don't die!    Why does she have a monkey? WHY NOT?  : So... hungry...  Uh. Our hot dogs. : I do have these hot dogs... you want them?No Luca, don't!  
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May 8, 2015 04:20
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I know I mentioned your poop video quality in the sandcastle, but have you thought about using some gifs? It might have read a little better than the video. Just a thought really; otherwise I'm glad you got your other kinks worked out.
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May 8, 2015 04:47
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Update 3: EXPOSITION ... : Whew. I'm alive again. You couldn't have come at a better time.: Wouldn't most people be more grateful? Anyway, I have to run an errand, so...: Don't sweat the details! Plus, I'm broke, so even if I wanted to pay you, I couldn't.: *Sigh* Just forget it, I'll buy more.: Man, can't you take a joke?  : Oh um... I'm Luca Milda.: Oh man, not good!: What's wrong?: I just remembered something, I uh, was asked to do some shopping.Left the stove on, eh Iria? : A-anyways, gotta run!: Are you being chased? Gonna take that as a yes.    : Boy, that would've been great to know a few minutes ago...: !!  Oh, poo poo.    This sounds perfectly legitimate and above board!    : .......  You tried.   : Uh, no, I mean...: Hey! That kid has nothing to do with this!: Luca, right? Hurry up and get out of here! I'm gonna chose the cowardly option, because I don't like Iria. : ..........        Scripted fight. Easy peasy.  : I was probably just lucky, I've never been in a fight before...: That power just now... : W-who's there?: Mathias!: You followed me this far, I told you I don't know anything!  : S-sensus? The same Sensus that waged war on the Ratio?: ?!  : Stay back! You saw my power before, the power of the Arch-Demon Asura sleeps within me!Aww yeah.   : A-asura?! : W-what's so funny? Are you stepping up or not?Steppin' up. Them's fightin' words.       Who cares. : Hey, come here!Time to run!  running!  : I don't know where to start, first off, what are you doing with those pistols!?: My parents gave them to me for self defense!: Anyway, I'll tell you everything, you're the same as me...COMPULSORY SKIT TIME!  : And with that power... came these dreams...: Dreams... just like me...: In my hometown of Sania Village, there were other kids just like me.: Our parents always warned us not to use our powers in front of people...: Eventually, Mathias and her Arca religion thing showed up...: Mathias demanded I tell her where the "manifest" is... but I don't know what that is!: But Mathias knew about my power... that I could use the Devic Artes...I believe that's "Heavenly artes. : Devic Artes... that power I used earlier? That the church used long ago?: Devic Artes don't belong on Naraka. They're the power of the gods from Devaloka, long ago.: In other words, here on Naraka, it's the abominable power of the Fallen that everyone fears.: Mathias targeted my village to get to me. : They wanted to force me to join them!: But what about the Compulsory Fallen Rehab Program? Are they exempt or something?: I really don't know. In any case, my parents helped me escape, and I fought my way here.: So what's the manifest thing?: I really don't know. I guess it has to do with my past life though...: P-past life?!: What happens in our dreams. Mathias says that's our memories from our past lives.: So that must mean this Inanna chick was somehow related to that "Manifest"?: HUH? Whaaaat? YOU'RE Inanna?!: Well, yeah? What about it!?: I mean.. Well.. I'm Asura in my dreams!: In Devaloka, Among the gods, I commanded the Sensus! : And there was a beautiful woman named Inanna who I...: Who I, um... : I'm sure that Inanna lived happily with a lover like him!: Um...: Anyway, I guess the first thing to do is to learn about that Manifest thing, right?: Huh? Oh yeah, that's true...: What could be worth attacking a whole village over?: They said they wanted to use it to create Utopia...  : Just like you, Ir- I mean, Miss Animi...: Hey. how about this-- come with me! We'll find the Manifest before they do! : There must be other people who have memories of the Devic era, like you and me...: That means they'll also be targeted by the Avatar Hunt.: If we don't hurry, we might all get caught!: .....: (Eddy and Nico saw my power... they might report it...): That's true... I'll help out! Lets hurry, Miss Animi! : My parents gave me this, but you can use it. Iria joined the party, and we got a sword! Nice. This is a pretty good place to stop, hopefully next update will be less plot heavy!
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May 8, 2015 04:55
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Niggurath posted:I know I mentioned your poop video quality in the sandcastle, but have you thought about using some gifs? It might have read a little better than the video. Just a thought really; otherwise I'm glad you got your other kinks worked out. oh, I'll look into it! Most of the boss fights and things I'd record will be longer than the 12 seconds of the Hypnos fight, so idk how well gif's'll work, but I'll look into it, thanks!
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May 8, 2015 04:56
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Could somebody possibly e-mail me the patched rom? I know its  but since this never came out in the states. All I have while deployed is a tablet so I can't patch it myself. E-mail address is [modedit: nope!](USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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May 8, 2015 06:08
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If a character has more than one line of dialogue at a time, I don't think you should show the portrait for each and every line. One block of text seems like it'd do just fine. But in any case, I actually like Innocence a lot. It shares some things in common with Dawn of the New World, but this game doesn't have the same awful baggage. For the record though, I do like Iria and I'm not sure what you have against her. Also you should post videos of the dungeon crawling. They must be seen to be believed.
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May 8, 2015 06:28
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Momomo posted:If a character has more than one line of dialogue at a time, I don't think you should show the portrait for each and every line. One block of text seems like it'd do just fine. Hmm. Yeah I was repeating the portraits for ease on the eyes, but I can try doing a big block of texts, or just new lines for every new line/ Yay someone who actually played Innocence! I agree, Ruca is a lot like Emil... just not... awful.... I'm not really sure why I dislike Iria so much, I just really don't like her XD Oh yes, I'm saving that for later. Apparently Innocence R has real dungeons that aren't just giant loving mazes, but I have problems with Innocence R (like they added in the random encounter system??? to a modern tales game??? why)
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May 8, 2015 07:41
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Well now you've got me curious; are these dungeons just really long, or are they puzzle-solvers like Zelda, or are we talking really obnoxious like SMT Strange Journey?
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May 8, 2015 18:12
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Digital Jello posted:Well now you've got me curious; are these dungeons just really long, or are they puzzle-solvers like Zelda, or are we talking really obnoxious like SMT Strange Journey? They're like... entirely mazes XD Not quite SMT level stupid but like, since the DS can't handle all that much, instead of lots of puzzles like Tales games normally are, its just really big mazes full of enemies :/ I'll show a video once I get to a dungeon. One of the major gripes I have with the Vita remake of Innocence is as I said, they added the random encounter system to it, instead of what Tales games usually have (enemies walking around and you go into a battle when you touch them, Persona 3/4 style). Might be just me, but I hate the random encounter system a lot (with obvious exceptions for like, pokemon etc)... I think it worked in Persona Q, but just barely >.>
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May 8, 2015 18:44
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Update 4: Jail Time I'll take this moment to explain some stuff about the menu.     Artes are basically just your moves. In older Tales Of games they were sometimes called “techs”, but yeah, your moves. As we can see, Luca and Iria only have one move each: Demon Fang and First Aid respectively. Demon fang shoots out a projectile (you saw it in the Hypnos fight), and First Aid heals one party member for a mediocre amount of HP.  Next is the equip screen. Standard stuff, here I replace Luca's Tree Branch that he was fighting with (I know, it's weird. In Tales of Symphonia, the main character starts out the game with a pair of wooden swords, and I always loved the idea of the good guy beating people to death with wooden swords...) with the broadsword that Iria so kindly gave me.  Under Library we have a bunch of options. Summery is just a plot synopsis of what's happened so far (which will be useful, let me tell you.), monster book is just a 3D model and information on every enemy you've faced so far, Collector's Book is a list of every item you've ever collected, battle record is just information on your battle stats, and awakening list is a bizarre plot elements that contribute to your “awakening level.” Next we have “status”. This is a staple of Tales games, basically shows a full body view of your character, in addition to their full stats.   I really like the full body art, it's something I've always liked about Tales games. Innocence has this really neat mechanic of “friendship” that you can see in the top right hand corner.  You can see that Iria and Luca aint very close right now, they're just 'fellow avatars'. Next is “styles”. This is the cool part. In place of the EX skills from Symphonia or the Special skills from the later games, Styles are how you pimp our your party members. There are in all, 6 styles for each character. You start with Advance (the offense front line one), Wisdom (spellcaster or healer), Guardian (Tank), and Technical (agility, jump height, effectiveness of items, stuff like that). Each style has a level, and as you level them up by grinding battles, you get skills for that particular style. I'll show it off later, but it's really neat stuff like, “more attack for less defense”, “decrease enemy spawn rate”, “increase EXP gained by 90% but lose 90% of your HP”, “prevent staggering”, and more. There are also 2 hidden styles, but we'll get into those later. For now, I'm putting both Iria and Luca on Advance style.  MANDATORY SKIT TIME! It's just an ingame explanation of styles. Feel free to skip this.   : What, something wrong? : How exactly do you use that styles section of the menu?: Oh, that... Well you need to know all your measurements so you can pick the right clothes, nothing you need to worry about.: You don't sound very sure, do you actually know?: What? Of course I know!            I kinda like the 4th wall break here.     Hey, do you like skits? CAUSE SO DO I! Feel free to skip if you don't care.    OH BUT WE'RE NOT DONE, MORE SKITS!   : Maybe if I use a nickname it'll be easier to bridge the gap!: This is it, I have to do it...: If I was as smooth as Asura, I could just call her Inanna, but that's impossible for me...           Luca is smooth. Skit over. From now on, I'm gonna just do all the skits in separate updates, sorry to keep interrupting gameplay! Anyway, lets go find some items or something.  We have a whopping 100 gald. Not gold, no. Gald. G-A-L-D. Anyway, standard Tales stuff, Apple Gels are items that restore HP, Orange Gels restore TP (Stands for technical points, basically MP. Back from the days when Artes were called Techs, just weird translation stuff. Specific and Treat are really neat, they restore HP and TP to the entire party, respectively. They're not as amazing in this game because you can only have 3 people in a battle at once, but they're still useful. I used our good earned nerd cash to buy a single life bottle, they just revive a fallen ally. Very useful.  These are “Accessories”, they're for sale from the same shop. Extra stuff you can equip on your character, too bad we're too poor for that.  I finally found my way out. I hate not having a map. MORE MANDATORY SKITS. I would skip it, but its mandatory, so yeah.   Nice. Let's go get the healer!       Luca has it good.   Anyway, now we're on the world map. On the bottom screen we have the world map, and the Navi map. The navi map is literally just a more zoomed in world map. I'm cutting out the bottom screen though, so you don't care.  This is the world map. See those blue dudes? If I touch em, I have to fight 'em. Let's kill stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ0QMwaXCZc So as you can see, I was controlling Luca, using our only move at the moment, Demon Fang. Pressing the L button switches your character, so I played as Iria, and shot some people. Pressing R switches your target, and pressing L again switches to the next character, but since we only have 2, we went back to Luca. Then we got to play the “run around and pick up gold” mini game! Shame about that C rank for the fight, though. After the battle is a cutscene explaining that you can press X while walking around the mainworld to swing your sword. If you hit an enemy with it, they start the battle with less hp. Neat stuff. They don't mention this until a skit that I skipped, but you can also hold the R button to free run while in battle, it basically lets you walk anywhere outside of the linear target system, like at the end of a battle when you run around and pick up items. One more thing before we move on, above the HP and TP bars on each character is a red line that fills up and drains depending on how many hits you take, deal, or block in battle. That's called the tension bar. When the tension bar is full, you can press L and R at the same time to “awaken” your character. When in awakening state, you have increased stats, cures all status effects, reduces casting times, and half's TP usage until the tension bar empty's. You can make it last longer by hitting enemies, but it's eventually gonna run out. Think of this like Overlimit in any other Tales game. You can also use your Mystic Arte in Awakening mode, but we haven't even sort of begun to unlock that. We'll talk about that later. Sorry about all the battle exposition, onwards!  Did I say I was done with explaining stuff? Anyway, this is a the Regnum Guild Dungeon. Each major city has a guild, which is basically like a request agency. You can take on requests that are usually “find this dude in the guild dungeon”, “kill this dude in the guild dungeon”, or “wear this armor in the guild dungeon”. Stuff like that. Doing requests levels up your guild rank, and gives you GRADE. GRADE is a currency you gain or lose in battle depending on how well you fought, in addition to getting it from guild quests. GRADE is used to purchase upgrades in the guild shop. Most of it is New Game+ stuff, like keeping items, artes, styles, style points, being able to carry extra items, carrying over battle data, etc. You can also purchase cooking recipes and really powerful weapons from the guild shop. But we have a healer to find, so lets do that instead.  We need to go to the holy city, so lets go south. Oh look, a bridge! And a cutscene!  : Is this the right way to Naos?: You mean you don't know?: Miss Animi, I thought that you were leading.: Man, I was counting on you! Oh, here comes some travelers, lets ask them!  Ew, old people. : Yes, but it's a fair distance from here, not an easy journey.  Geez. : Join Arca?  Also, I have a bridge to sell you. : Fallen? What about the Compulsory Fallen Rehabilitation Program?     : Take care.…........ : Arca seems to have a good repuation...: Hmm... : What's wrong, Miss Ani...: Stop calling me that!: Hmm?: Just Iria is fine.: …: I know you're trying to be respectful and all, but we're going to be together for a while.  I'm going to call her Iria, because last dialogue choice I tried to leave her to die. Seems only fair, right? : S-sure, I understand, Iria.: All right! Now, lets get a move on.We walked south some more, hey look, the holy city! Oh poo poo, cutscene time.     : Hey, that's my companion! You think I'm just gonna let you take him away? : Like we'd be caught so easily! You have no idea how powerful I am! NICE GOING LOSER : I- I can't use my power! I'm just normal, weak me...: I can't use my Devic Artes either...?  : N-no way...   Hey, it's King Bradley!       Uh oh. : H-hey, what do you think they're gonna do to us?: Well... I only think in worst case scenarios. Still wanna hear?: I-I'll pass.   : Who are you people?! : Huh? What are you talking about?  : Why are you doing this?! What are you going to do to us?      I like to think that's pronounced, “divas”.          : Who does that guy think he is?!: …: Anyway, there are probably other captured Avatars here, right?: Maybe there's someone who knows something about the Manifest.: That's right! We need to get more information some how. And finally we have control. Welp, we got thrown in mutant jail. Looks like a good stopping place, tune in for the next update! And don't forget to check out the “Update 4 Skits” post, that I'm posting separately from this post. Darth Numbers fucked around with this message at 06:51 on May 9, 2015 |
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May 8, 2015 21:59
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Update 4 Skits Rumors of the Fallen    The guy they're talking about is one of my favorite character. Lets tell her he went to jail!      Kanji Tatsumi?     About the Rehabilitation Program               Uhh... okay.   Um? As it should be???  Tales of Innocence: Political Commentary.     Even Ground                 
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May 8, 2015 22:02
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Update 5 In which we beat the crap out of an innocent (?) dude, and talk to swords.  Well there's 2 people who aren't us in this room, should we talk to cab driver or weaboo first? I'm going with weaboo.  : Hello, nice to meet you.: Hello, my name is Luca. Don't ask me how that's pronounced. : Yes, that's right. You too?: Of course! I heard that they were gathering people with memories of their past lives. I'm searching for someone, He has surely been reborn and it is my destiny to meet him.: Are you planning on joining Arca then?: That is my intention. If I join, I'll surely meet him...: I guess so... but aren't you worried? You're joining a group you know nothing about.: But I'm sure that being together with other people who remember their past lives will be fun. You have memories of your past life as well, right?: Y-yeah. Although I haven't remembered much...: That girl you came in with... is she a friend?Oh god no. Not the yandere. : Something like that.: I'm not sure why, but I don't think I'll like her very much.: Huh? Why? She's self-centered and strong willed, but she's a nice girl! Probably.: For some reason, I feel the two of you do not belong together... Please forget I said anything, it's not any of my business, right?: …  Well. Time to talk to the cab driver with swords?   : You talkin' to me?: (Oh no... a bully...): What, so you're gonna call me out and then go all silent on me?: Oh, um, I'm sorry... : I-I'm Luca. Luca Milda.: Sounds familiar... you rich or something?: Y-yes, more or less... but I don't have any lunch money on me. I'm not gonna do nothin', moron! So how about that cute chick over there? She your girlfriend? Nope. : N-not at all! She's just a fri... an acquaintance.: Strangers, huh?: To be honest, I don't know what she thinks of me...: Well if you're here, you're a Fallen, right?: That would seem to be the case...: I started a fight in town. Thought they'd ship me to juvie, but they threw me in here when they saw I was a fallen.: I saw you being taken away...: Yeah? What'd you think? Pretty strong, huh?: I only saw the part where you got arrested.: What?! Why the hell weren't you watchin' when I knocked them the hell out?: Eek!! I'm sorry!: You scare too easy.: Y-yes, I'm sorry...: You should loosen up. Well, guess I'll be counting on you.: Yes! N-nice to meet you, Spada!Time to talk to Iria. : Hey, Iria...: What's wrong? Don't sound so depressed from the start!: What are they going to do to us? Just thinking about it gives me the shakes...: Then just don't think about it, idiot.: H-how can you be so calm?: There have been plenty of times where I thought I might not survive. I guess I never imagined it would end like this.: I've never even considered I might not survive...: Do you regret coming along with me? : N-no way! I just... : Mmm, actually, never mind. I'm afraid to hear your answer... Seeing the fear in your eyes, I feel like I've done something terrible. So... don't look at me like that.: …..: …... : It'll be okay! I'm sure we'll have a chance to escape.: …......Obviously! Like I would give up so easily!: Yeah! We'll show them! We'll send anyone in our course flying!After you talk to everyone, talk to Spada again. : They can't keep us locked in here forever...  A dating sim?    : Hah! Ain't that just perfect?: Um, is Chitose not coming? : O-oh, nevermind...: Like we would ever join!: drat straight!I really like his manner of speaking. : …..  : Yeah, thanks...   Uh.. Wow. Time to murder an innocent dude I guess? : Just one?! Who the hell you think you're dealing with?!Spada has other concerns. : H-hold on, you want us to fight this man? He's a person, just like us! : No! Monsters are one thing, but this person has a family... friends... : Huh? Me? : N-no way, are you mistaking me for someone else? I've never killed anyone...And this is the perfect time to fix that!     : What the hell?!: H-he isn't human? What is he? Fight time!        Enemy defeated.   : The hell was that about?: Why did this happen?: Could this be a grudge from his past life? He said he was Ratio... : A god? : So he just transformed into a god?  : (In other words, to him, meeting Luca was an extreme circumstance... It might be better if we avoid bumping into other Avatars...): T-then, is it possible for me to revert to my past life's form as well? THIS SEEMS COMPLETELY LEGITIMATE  : No way... I can't fight anymore...: Hold on! You can't just wimp out on us! Here we go again. Murder time!  : Outta my way! : “The heart's blade shall be thy companions shield!” How many times did I hear those words? Stand back before you get hurt. I'll take it from here!  Form of... a giant sword? Anyway, we now have a one on one fight with Spada and the Ratio soldier.       Ignore my E rank, I was trying to show off some of Spada's moves, and I kept getting hit :U  : Then you must be...: I was the holy sword Durandal in my past life.Yup! Not only is he a delinquent knight wearing a cab driver hat and wielding 2 swords, he was also a giant talking sword in his past life! I love Spada. : The unmatched sword of Devaloka, whose very blade was said to be the only thing he couldn't cut. Flashback time!   : Ha. You're magnificently sharp this evening, Durandal... sharper than ever.  : Naturally...: You have saved my life once again. As long as you live, my savior... and as my faithful companion, we can continue to walk the path of battle to the end of the ages.I guess swords can get married in Devaloka. : I am glad to hear you say that... Very well, I shall be by your side for all eternity...: Let us continue to bathe your blade in blood. But for now, you should rest in your sheathe.  Flashback over. : When I think about it, you were a weird dude. Talkin' to a sword like that...: What about you? You were a sword that could talk! That's pretty weird too.: Heh. At least you talk tough. Too bad you would've been nothin' without Durandal.: So you were that sword guy? I was Inanna in my past life. : Oh, that was you? I'd never have guessed by lookin' at you, that's for sure.: Oh, you're too kind. You look just like a normal person, who would have guessed you were a sword?  : That supposed to be some kinda compliment?: So what? We passed? : S-so they're sending us to war after all...  : No! I won't do it!: Bring it on.: …. Spada joined! So yeah, now we're being sent off to war. Cause little kids need a little more war in their life, right? Anyway this is a good stopping place for now, thanks for tuning in, and make sure to check out the update 5 skits, linked in this post and the OP. See you next time! Darth Numbers fucked around with this message at 18:40 on May 9, 2015 |
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May 9, 2015 18:37
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Update 5 Skits Research?               Grigori is Wierd                  I like this skit. Nice Atmosphere, Huh?                  Comrade                Jealousy              
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May 9, 2015 18:39
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Are any of the alternate dialogue choices interesting enough to show off?
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May 9, 2015 19:01
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Mraagvpeine posted:Are any of the alternate dialogue choices interesting enough to show off? Uhh, sort of ^^; There are a few that have some funny results, the one's I've been doing so far are just "piss off Iria" or "don't piss off Iria", you know the friendship meter I mentioned? The dialogue choices so far have just been whether you get more points with that character or not. Don't worry though, when the funny ones show up I'll show them both!
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May 9, 2015 19:04
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I love that the basis for our trio of characters is "Let's bully the wimpy one". You have to love that the character named Spada was the one that used to be a sword. His parents must've already known. His voice is also really weird and hard to listen to, sometimes.
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May 9, 2015 19:24
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Momomo posted:I love that the basis for our trio of characters is "Let's bully the wimpy one". Yeah, I feel like Luca is the Emil we deserved, but didn't get :P I love Spada, he's easilly my favorite character. Not only did he used to be a giant talking sword (A concept that I find hilarious), he plays similarly to Lloyd from Symphonia, who was always one of my favorites.
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May 9, 2015 19:42
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I've made a couple updates, so I just wanna gauge some things-- Fights: Other than a few exceptions (the hypnos fight and the fight showing how combat works), I won't be recording fights. Is my screenshot method working for fights? I'm trying to just take cool pictures during scripted but non-boss battle fights, do you guys like it? Dialogue: I've been combining a few lines of dialogue together when a character speaks multiple times. Easier on the eyes? Screenshots: Too blurry? Too frequent? Too [x]? Skits: Is the way I'm doing skits (Posting them in a separate post for each main update) working? Thanks!
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May 9, 2015 21:55
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Count me as someone who has a soft spot for Tales games. Things I know about Innocence: It has a great opening, it's about reincarnation, and... That's it. I also read the manga, which puts me in a weird position of knowing some late game spoilers, but also not really understanding the greater plot at all. I have a question. Is the friendship mechanic like Symphonia's system where you eventually get unique scenes with the character closest to you? (I think combining the lines of dialogue works well. Splitting off the skits is probably good, since it would break up the flow otherwise in many cases. The screenshots look a little blurry, especially in the skit portraits, for example, but it might just be because of the small screen to start with.)
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May 10, 2015 05:36
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Do skits randomly show up or are there predetermined places where they play out?
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May 10, 2015 06:03
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Anastasiya posted:Count me as someone who has a soft spot for Tales games. Things I know about Innocence: It has a great opening, it's about reincarnation, and... That's it. I also read the manga, which puts me in a weird position of knowing some late game spoilers, but also not really understanding the greater plot at all. It does have a great opening! I meant to link the OP in the OP, but I forgot XD I actually never read the manga, is it accurate so far? The friendship mechanic is kind of interesting in that you can actually gauge it, VS Symphonia's fortune teller BS. If I recall correctly, friendship affects some extra skits, and the end game cutscene after beating the final boss. Yeah the screenshots are kind of an awkward thing, because the DS has bad resolution to begin with. I'm going with 2X the normal size so you can actually read the text, but let me know if it ends up being too blurry/unreadable.
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May 10, 2015 06:30
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Mraagvpeine posted:Do skits randomly show up or are there predetermined places where they play out? The skits show up after walking around in any place for a few seconds. It's kind of complicated to explain, but like-- after a major cutscene or event, if you walk around enough, skits will start asking to trigger. If you trigger them, after walking around some more, another one will ask to trigger. As far as I know, the way it works is there's 4-5 cutscenes that can possibly trigger after each major event, I'll be doing my best to show. It's kind of hard to explain, so if it doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try to explain further.
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May 10, 2015 06:34
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Darth Numbers posted:It does have a great opening! I meant to link the OP in the OP, but I forgot XD I actually never read the manga, is it accurate so far? The friendship mechanic is kind of interesting in that you can actually gauge it, VS Symphonia's fortune teller BS. If I recall correctly, friendship affects some extra skits, and the end game cutscene after beating the final boss. Yeah the screenshots are kind of an awkward thing, because the DS has bad resolution to begin with. I'm going with 2X the normal size so you can actually read the text, but let me know if it ends up being too blurry/unreadable. Kokia is great. I didn't like the remake opening as much, though it has some nice shots of the past lives. It was years back, so I don't remember the manga too well. It's only a few of volumes long, iirc, so they cut and rearranged a lot. Like, seriously a lot. Right now, all I can remeber clearly is that Chitose didn't appear for the first (and only) time until way close to the end. I gotta say, I'm glad this translation makes it clear that Matthias is a Lady. Because I spent the entire manga thinking that was a dude. Awkward.
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May 10, 2015 10:01
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Anastasiya posted:Kokia is great. I didn't like the remake opening as much, though it has some nice shots of the past lives. Yeah, again, the Vita version kinda pisses me off, cause it adds in poo poo like extra Mystic Artes and beautiful graphics, but it also throws in the random encounter system for the entire game, and has these 2 random characters that come from like another universe XD Ahh, okay. Yeah in Innocence Chitose basically stalks us constantly, and I think it's hilarious. Oh yeah, I thought she was a dude at first too, but voice acting helps with that :P
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May 10, 2015 16:38
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Update 6: The one where we murder a bunch of people Just FYI, Monday marks finals week, so in between a few projects and finals, updates are probably gonna be a bit smaller. Sorry about that! Before we go to war, let's see what our friends have to say. : ….huh? If you're worried about me, I'm fine. I'm just thinking of something. Oh... okay. Let's go see what Spada has to say? : The hell you want now? Chill out. GEEZ I'M JUST TRYING TO ADVANCE THE PLOT OVER HERE. No one else to talk to than the soldier dude.  Jesus, what does it take to advance the plot these days?! Talking to Iria again triggers the cutscene, finally.   Have I mentioned I love Spada?     Time to go to war!      : Shut it! We heard you the first time. : *sniffle*    : E-excuse me, I have a question...  Talk about mixed messages. : We haven't received any training, so we're complete novices...  “Listen, just loving kill everything you see.” Solid military briefing! : That it? No sweat.    Mind reading police? What is this, Oblivion? : (How did he know?)        I bought a few life bottles and healed up. Time to murder some children! Let's loot some chests. The one on the right gave us a Pineapple Gel, which restores 60% of a character's TP, as opposed to the normal 30% of an Orange Gel.  As we start to head into the jungle, look who's apparently stalking us!  : Luca, are you all right? Are you injured?  : Who can say?You can say! That's why she asked you that question. : “Who can say?” Are you out of your mind?: So did you join Arca after all?: That's right. As part of my training, I'm volunteering here.: I see...  I didn't catch it in time, but Spada runs off with Iria here.  Spada's a good guy, lookin' out for our idiotic protag.    She wants the D. : M-me? That's not true... : No. I can tell, you are strong. You will surely survive.: You.. really think so? : There may be powerful warriors present. If it seems you have no chance of victory, please run away and save yourself...: (What's that supposed to mean?): (Well... Whatever...): Thanks, I'll be careful. I guess we should get going...: Until we meet again. BLEH! : Hey Luca, does that chick know you were Asura in your past life?: I'm not sure, I don't remember telling her... There's something very familiar about her... Anyway, off to the jungle. Mandatory skit time.    >>>ADMIT YOUR WORRIES            >>>OBJECT     The rest of the skit is the same as admit your worries.  Just for the sake of clarity, I'm going to be walking around as and playing as Spada for now. It doesn't change anything in cutscenes, I just like to walk as him on the world map.  Here is the first “dungeon” of the game. I guess. It's a maze, sort of. I'll be showing off some footage of a real dungeon at a later update.  On the right path, we find a new gun for Iria. The only other way to go is the left path, and aw poo poo did we get caught.  : It's okay... I can do it... I'm Asura... : An Avatar, huh? Did you know Asura?MAYBE GOING AROUND ANNOUNCING YOU MURDERED THIS DUDE'S FRIENDS IS A BAD IDEA LUCA  God. Everyone hates Asura!      Here we go again.  See that glowing circle around Spada? That means I've maxed my Tension Gauge. Time to go super sayian.  So now we get to rack up crazy combos with increased stats, while the enemy is helpless. Too bad I activated it right before he was about to die...  And of course, Iria stole the kill :<  Let's keep going. The left path goes out into an open field. We have a left and right path choice again.  Going right rewards us with a new sword for Luca-- Obsidian.  Going left rewards us with plot.    Everyone wants to fight this guy! : ….!!: You're gonna attack an ally?  : This guy's totally lost it.: My fault? Don't blame me for your weakness.Cutting words from the mayor of Wimptown.   Another one of these fights.  This guys is slightly harder, he can cast Lighting and has more HP. We killed him anyway.                                    #Exposition  Hey look, a save point! Hope nothing prevents me from getting there. The right and left forks both go to the same place, and trigger this cutscene.  : There's a Garam soldier!: I hope he isn't an Avatar...    : Looks like it's Iria this time.  : Why do you have to make this about our past lives!?   Don't think I'll ever get tired of murdering these things.  : Hahaha.... Hahahahaha!!Easy on the evil laugh there, bud. : What is wrong with you?!: Huh?: Don't you think you're out of line? We may be on the battlefield, but it doesn't change the fact that you're taking lives! Weren't you terrified of coming here? Now you're killing people and laughing like a maniac... what happened to you!?  : Chitose... : T-thank you, but....: I wish to be close to a strong man...: Excuse me? You...: Congratulations. Garam seems to have retreated thanks to your actions. Truly... Congratulations...Flashback time!  : Hmph. Of course. There is no need to rejoice after every petty victory.     Flashback over. Sorry to cut it here, but my battery is getting low, and this one was kind of screenshot heavy! Tune in next time for another episode of the misadventures of “Everyone wants to either gently caress or kill Asura”, and don't forget to check out the Update 6 Skits!
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May 10, 2015 17:12
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Update 6 Skits War Is Scary          The commander is scary...           Fear on the Battlefield     You have the option to either whine, or “run from the truth”. If you pick whine, he just complains about how scary fighting is, but if you pick run from the truth this happens:          The best of friends a loser could hope for! Biding their Time            His friends suck. About Chitose         We have 3 options here. >>>ARGUE              >>>ADMIT IT        The rest of the skit goes the same way as arguing. >>>GET FLUSTERED         The rest of the skit goes the same way as argue. The War With Garam                     Asura's Swordplay          
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May 10, 2015 17:13
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Yeah.... that's definitely not a good way to go. Sounding a little crazy there, Luca. Do we ever get an overworld map? I'm having a little trouble picturing where they were, where they tried to go, and where they are now.
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May 10, 2015 20:33
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Anastasiya posted:Yeah.... that's definitely not a good way to go. Sounding a little crazy there, Luca. Oh, my apologies! Yeah the overworld map is on the second screen, which I've been cutting out of the screenshots. So off hand, this is map I found (I would just take a screenshot but I'm at the wrong computer).  We started off in Regnum, tried to make our way down to Naos, and we got captured and deployed to the Western battlefield, against Garam.
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May 10, 2015 21:09
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| # ? Jun 9, 2023 05:15 |
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I haven't enjoyed the last few Tales games I've tried, but this one is charming me. I really think I wouldn't be able to stand it with the oh-so-cool demon protagonist in the intro, but I think they're handling it alright.
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May 11, 2015 03:01
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