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discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

























It's not outside the norm to see bizarre re-imaginings of classic works. Whether it's a retelling of Othello based around basketball or a somber Korean dark comedy being turned into a claymation, musical, sometimes great things can be remade with a little imagination. Now it's questionable if this is always a good idea, especially when a re-imagining happens in the form of either video games or anime. Which brings up to the topic of this LP, Sword of Etheria (or it's original Japanese title OZ, which is just a shortening of Over Zenith).

Released in 2005 by Konami, the game takes place in a magical fantasy world where gods rule the planet with an iron fist and an army of super powerful beings. What caused the gods to turn on humanity and just why are they pillaging the countrysides is a mystery lost to some forgotten event hundreds of years ago. Caught in the middle of all this is a young boy and his friends who are having to fight for survival and each other against overwhelming odds, but things are not as bleak as it seems because it's not long before the boy finds some help in the oddest of places.


The members of OZ, the god's crack team of top tier soldiers called in for only the most dangerous of jobs. The team consists of their level headed leader Cain, the cold and calculating Almira, and the hot tempered hunk Leon. They start the game called off to some top secret mission for the gods....but something goes terribly wrong.


Our protagonist, Fiel (or Feel in Japanese) is your standard amnesiac hero with a dark past and a hidden power. He's protector and life long companion of the innocent Dorothy who always seems to be stumbling into trouble. Also they have a flying, talking, sassy cat named Toto. He's kind of an rear end in a top hat.


With the original OZ team disbanded due to their failings in the past, the gods saw it fit to find an even more dangerous group of Katenas to replace them. The new OZ consists of the cruel insectoid, Vitis, the bratty, ranged weapons mistress, Juju, and the grizzled old wolfman, Galumn.

discworld is all I read fucked around with this message at 08:18 on Dec 16, 2015

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discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?







Hey there everyone, it's time to try a little something different. Now I know three updates might seem like a lot, but the start of the game is a bit glacial and tutorial laden....and short? So this is realistically getting all the opening story and tutorial out of the way.

Also just as a bit of feedback, how would people feel if I didn't speak during the wordy text dialogue bits? I can easily summarize them after they're done and just leave in a time stamp when they're done because I know they aren't the most exciting things in the world but I want to leave them in in case people do wish to see conversation choices or things like that.

And finally, I'll probably be looking for co-commentary partners for later updates, so if you feel like joining in for some rambling nonsense then feel free to hit me up in here.

discworld is all I read fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Oct 3, 2015

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

Crigit posted:

Over Zenith, huh? They literally named the game 'over the top.' I'm sure this bodes well for this being a grounded and realistic story :v:
I'll say the cutscenes never really reach the levels of Devil May Cry, but it does get pretty kooky.

Mraagvpeine posted:

A re-imagining of the Wizard of Oz? I'll check this out, if only to see how much they take from the original story.
Hmmm, I'd say a bit but I'll be honest in saying that my knowledge of Oz is pretty much limited to the original movie and 'Return to Oz'. The actual series of books stretched into I think 20 different books and maybe someone that stumbles into here might know more.

Also if there is any feedback you guys have, since this is kind of a new type of game for me to LP, then I'm all ears. I'll probably try to have the next video with time stamped text dialogue, just to give it a try.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?



With our new party member things start to go a tad bit smoother. Also I put the blow into deathblow...cause I suck.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?
No idea; the game just does that. I thought initially it might be an emulator problem but that doesn't seem to be the case.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?



It was only a matter of time before Steven Blum appeared.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

Mraagvpeine posted:

Is it possible to buy everything in the shop, or does it get too expensive and isn't worth it?
The amount of Etheria we'll be getting will keep getting larger and larger, so for the most part it can be reasonable to get enough to buy all the upgrades in normal progression (it's especially feasible if you're only focusing on Fiel rather than trying to spread things out). But something happens after mission 6 that makes everything a lot easier in regards to upgrades. And I do think it's worth it, though it almost seems at times that the game is purposely scaling up with my stats.

Hel posted:

It's really neat how you actually have to interact with your team members while fighting instead of them being reduced to chipping away enemy health while you do the actual combat. Having the AI primarily be there just to set up and continue chaining seems like one of the better ways to do it & while I'm sure some other games have done something similar I can't really think of any, which is a shame.
The fight against Vitis makes it especially necessary to use your team mates because Vitis is actually super apt at parrying, dazing, and counteracting if you just lay into him. Really the fight just becomes massively easy for the mere fact that Vitis' health bar is so small and once you hit him a few times with death blows, he'll go down pretty easily.

Limopalise posted:

Finding this game pretty interesting so far. I really like how they made teamwork integral to the gameplay as well. After seeing a fair few action games with party members that act as little more than meat shields, it's pretty refreshing and I'm not sure why I haven't really seen the system used in other games.

It makes me wonder why this game fell under the radar.
Personally I think that for the new and fleshed out ideas the game has in regards to game play, that doesn't outweigh the negatives. The combat can be a bit shallow, the environments are mostly going to be arenas leading to corridors leading to other arenas, the graphics were considered 'ugly' for the time (which I've tried to help with emulator settings, though there's no helping the cutscenes), and the dialogue/story is something most people would want to skip over (which the only other LP of the game I found was doing). I mean this game came out a couple months after DMC 3, and well, that game does what this game wants to do a whole lot better. Granted Capcom had more practice with the ideas and flow of this type of game, but yeah, I think people would rather stick with development teams and brands they trust to make certain genres of games.

I just hope in the end I'm presenting it in a somewhat fun and competent manner...especially considering there's still like 15 stages of game to go.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?



Hooray, a new location and an interesting, difficult boss. Also we save some children and deal with the first real nasty traps of the game.

Black Feather posted:

Talpa Ruga is probably a play on "talpa" (mole) and "tartaruga" (turtle), since they seem to have some sort of hard shell on their back.
Yeah, I've been having some difficulty trying to unravel the enemy names; some seem borderline Italian and then some seem Latin. Which makes sense since Italian is a 'Romance' language that was originally from Latin...but it still seems like gibberish sometimes.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

Black Feather posted:

Leon seems kind of adorable, really. Definitely not how I imagined him to be at first.

And that boss looked like fun, I'm getting increasingly tempted to hunt down a copy of this game.
It's actually pretty reasonably priced, though you'd need a region free PS2: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Sword-of-Etheria-PS2/dp/B000E85UY4

But yeah, I think the game is going the direction that while people might seem one way on the exterior they're probably a different way deep down. You just got to beat them savagely to reach that inner core. And that boss can be great if you've gotten a hold of combat and understand how to fight it. It's hard to explain how frustrating it is to try to knock the flying guy out of the air to find out it's nigh on impossible, or trying to get to the guy while he's dazed only to have the larger fellow bum rush over and knock you out of the way...or even worse getting ready to knock the dazed guy up, only to be grabbed by the larger gent. I actually find most of the bosses are pretty fun, even if most of them boil down to 'find something to juggle, work up your tension, and deathblow'.

Still I'm wondering (and hoping) that the change to subtitles telling when the text dialogue is done is working out better than the first two videos of me rambling and trying to fill dead air. I hope the plot isn't lost or people can easily skip it if they want.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?



It's time to meet the fearsome and awkwardly named new members of OZ. Also rollerblading frogmen.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

Captain Bravo posted:

I imagine that the usefulness of the conspicuous scarf comes in your allies drawing enemy attacks. For one thing, it doesn't seem like enemies attacking your allies interrupts their attack assists, whereas Fiel seems to pretty easily get stunlocked. I'd imagine it's also pretty useful to be able to stack defense equipment on one dude and have enemies focus on him, while the rest of your squad loads up on attacking items.
The main problem with that is, while the AI can be pretty competent, they can also sometimes have massive brain farts and can easily get murdered when left alone. This is especially true with some bosses as you'll be trying to juggle an enemy to work up your tension, but your AI are busy uselessly whacking away at the bottom and getting hit for a 1/3 of their health. But I can see where you're coming from though; it seems a lot of the scarfs and masks are just mild bits of assistance to suit someone's play style. Having a hard time with a level due to taking too much damage? Then put on the mask that halves the damage you take, but keeping in mind you'll do half damage. I think usually I just like to get better at the system overall....which has taken a while.

Kacie posted:

Just spotted this, half-way caught up on the videos.

I'm reminded of volleyball as I watch the juggling back and forth - the receive, set, spike dynamic of launching, passing, and then deathblow activation.
It can really be a truly fun mechanic once you get it down properly and the AI is working with you, but holy gently caress is it annoying if you don't. Still I have to commend Konami as it's a mostly functional system of combat.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?



When you go fly fishing for lava bass you gotta make sure you bring the right dog to rustle up the prey....just make sure that dog doesn't hold some grudge against you.

Also a bonus video showing the alternate boss fight you can have: Juju Boss Fight (which boss fight depends in part to which new member of OZ you defeated in the previous stage)

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?



Things go about as well as you'd expect when facing off against a god.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?



It's time to get back to the basics...and remember that it sucks to be basic. Also graboids.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?



Happy Thanksgiving! I'm going to drink myself stupid.

Shei-kun posted:

I'm guessing that if you had the Juju bossfight, you'd have Leon here and Juju would find you at the end?
Well she would join up with you, yeah.

RealSovietBear posted:

Only three episodes in, but I'm getting a lot of Chaos Legion vibes from in this, in the sense that it seems like a very diet version of Devil May Cry. The story is super PS2 era dramatic/enigmatic as well.
Pretty much; like the game play is not near as in-depth as DMC, but it tries to make up for that by having the juggling/tension gimmick and giving you an RPG-esque upgrade and equipment system.

discworld is all I read fucked around with this message at 10:31 on Nov 26, 2015

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?




Here's a double update; one weird arena, a sweet rear end boss fight and a returning friend. It's truly a magical chain of events.

Also for the two who might be interested, the song used is from a really fun horror core band called Calabrese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULEYckKnBaw

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

Shei-kun posted:

Leon's reappearance :allears:

Shounen as gently caress.
Well he is a beefcake with a heart of gold. Still.....what the hell is Galumn?

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

Mraagvpeine posted:

It seems that the rest of the LP is up on YouTube. I'm thinking it's not intentional.
No, it is; I just need to make chapter images to fill in for the OP.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

Mraagvpeine posted:

I thought the videos were previously private and that they were accidentally made public, but if you're okay with things, then there's nothing to worry about.
Eh, I'm as fine as someone can be I suppose, but no, there was no mistake. I suppose consider it an early Christmas present for the three of you following the thread. But here's the rest of the videos and the OP has been updated; sorry it took a bit longer than I thought to make the banners for the chapters.










discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

Mraagvpeine posted:

I haven't seen the new videos yet, but so far any connection to the Wizard of Oz has been kinda superficial, a few names and a lion character (though to be fair I wasn't expecting much). Regardless, thank you for showing off this game. It was an okay ride.
Eh, it depends on your interpretation of the Wizard of Oz. Are you taking it from the novel series, the depression era fantasy about a girl growing up, or possibly as a metaphor for the US turning to a more gold backed economy? More than likely it's just taking some very base line ideas from the movie, and using it as a journey of a group of friends to keep a girl safe. I originally thought that the three main characters being their opposite from the original story was meant to just shake up the base idea, but the more I think about it the more I realize that maybe the intention was to have the gods be some weird parallel to the Wizard and his gifts to the scarecrow, the lion, and the tin man. Now the scarecrow wanted a brain, and it does seem that Almira is definitely the smart planner but in turn she also is just cold and calculating; Leon has courage by default, but his courage also comes out in the form of baseless anger and aggression; and Fiel is just the wild card since he never actually interacted with the gods, so he just defaults to be normal and kind (which I think was the point with the tin man in the story as well, that he had always been kind).

In regards to Dorothy's characterization....well I'm not totally sure? Maybe the evil Atheus was more the analogous connection to the wicked witch and Dorothy being the key to defeating it was meant with that? That would support more of the idea that the gods were the wizard; an alien visitor playing god in a world but with a more malevolent intent.

It actually does a fairly good job of taking the original idea and shaking it up, but it does in a poor fashion and it's questionable if any of the above was even their intent. A man can dream though....

Zanzibar Ham posted:

I've been enjoying watching the LP, mostly thanks to your commentary. It really more than made up for the rather samey gameplay (juggle to unleash moves, repeat until victory) that the game seemed to have up until now, though it looks like there're new mechanics introduced now?
The last new mechanic is the introduction of their armor and the Blue Etheria; there's some additions to adding elements to weapons but I covered that before and it's honestly never worth getting since it takes up an equipment slot and usually has some other draw back (though lightning is great because it slows down the enemies and that's always a plus).

And in the end there's an easier means of getting the elements and that's via the relatively large number of unlockable outfits. I was going to make a video at least showing them off but....effort? But hey, screenshots work too:


Yeah....you can dress up the entire team as Robbie the Rabbit from Silent Hill or a character the Japanese only released dating sims Tokimeki Memorial? They made some super odd choices with the costume selections.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

Zain posted:

Hey, it's what makes them happy I guess.
It's just a really bizarre tie-in considering that no one outside of Japan would really understand the reference to Tokimeki. Kinda like when they put Gon into Tekken. Also just out of curiosity, is the bonus finale banner understandable in the sense that it's another video because I really don't want people to miss that video.

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?
I wouldn't worry about having missed it, as long as you can enjoy it at some point. And yeah, I think someone did mention it previously and what makes it even more annoying is that it seems like maybe they intended to have voice overs during the long bits of dialogue...but they didn't? Well at least for maybe two extra chapters which makes it just seem even more strange.

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discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

Shei-kun posted:

I finally got around to watching the last three videos, and let me tell you, that bonus video with the sentai thing was amazing. :allears:

They put so much effort into it. You could tell they were all having fun.
Well I do hope you enjoyed the ride and could tell all the effort I put into this mess. I'm the best Sword of Etheria player ever.

And yeah, it's weird to me that in the bonus chapters they did VO's for the text dialogue but not anywhere else in the game. I think the game would have been at least 20% better with that.

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