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ManlyGrunting posted:It's also good for if you chose their reasons: Hiwaka realizes that you're king motherfucker so he just sort of chills and let's you go, Isamu gets stomped by Chiaki and just sort of withdraws into himself and leaves it to you, and Chiaki still fights you because ONLY THE STRONGEST CAN PROPAGATE THIS REASON ARGH You forgot that Hikawa also gives you Samael as an ally.
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Feb 23, 2016 06:14
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- I wish we had a 
version of this smiley, because it's Yosuba in a nutshell.
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Montegoraon posted:You forgot that Hikawa also gives you Samael as an ally. Despite being a selfish, power-hungry dickbag, Hikawa is significantly better at the whole friendship thing than the other two douchebags.
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Feb 23, 2016 14:57
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GilliamYaeger posted:Despite being a selfish, power-hungry dickbag, Hikawa is significantly better at the whole friendship thing than the other two douchebags. Be more charitable - he's about the most reasonable human in the world right now. e: or not, I guess we took care of that 
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Feb 23, 2016 15:13
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Aithon posted:I remember FrankZP mentioning a while ago that Francois hit 30, so with +10 from Gaea/Masakados he hits the cap. That's correct. It's not bad per se to have more than 30 Strength (or Magic or Agility or Vitality) even if only because you don't need to count on Magatama to maximize your damage output, but once it's that high, I personally feel that it's just more beneficial to let the other stats catch up. MarquiseMindfang posted:Can't remember who said it, but someone pointed out ages ago Hikawa being very minimalistic in his movements, with no wasted effort. So yeah. Stillness. Yeah that's pretty much my opinion right there. That said, it could be theorized that on some level, Hikawa somehow realized the noise he was trying to silence was coming from within, that he admitted to himself he never really cared about the new world in the first place, and that he was essentially waiting for the Demi-fiend to come execute him and give him what he actually wanted. Of course, he still puts up a fight, but by that point he's certainly not the only one in charge of the creature he's become. I wish I had the foresight to make a FotNS reference in my SMT1 LP, that way I could've had a hat trick.  Aight, in other news, the next update'll have a bit of a delay, couple more days I expect. I got family stuff to take care of, nothing tragic, but complex. The actual gameplay's in the can, all that's left is to turn it into magic. (Allowing for a sufficiently broad definition of "magic", of course.)
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Feb 24, 2016 19:33
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*: We return to the Tower, in the Manikin enclave, and resume our exploration. We start with the door on the other side of the central staircase.   : Heyo. : ...Oh, it's you again. I've decided to follow Futomimi's will and create a world of Manikins! So, I came all the way here, just to tell Kagutsuchi: "Make it!": I like your style, old man.: But, there's a problem... I can't think up a Reason!: Oh, I bet if you can punch hard enough, it doesn't have to be a problem.   : He might hit us with his hammer if we get near him. And I already have a pounding headache.: His hammer, eh? : It must be my dear son. He has a good heart, but there are times when he lets his muscles do the thinking.: Are we going to have words if I insist on correcting him?: Ha! Be my guest. It'll spare me the effort.  Cutscene + Boss battle: Kishin Thor *: Well, that might have been the shortest boss battle we've had yet. So, Zed needs to be immune to electricity! I could use Masakados, but... Adama will do. Boss battle + Cutscene: Kishin Thor Redux : That was embarrassing. You do your best to transmit your values to your children, and they still manage to fall in with the worst sort of crowd. : I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONNA SAY IT'S EMBARRASSING BECAUSE HE WENT DOWN LIKE A CHUMP.: Yes... Well... That too, I suppose.: This whole Vortex World is operating by Yosuga rules already, isn't it? No one's evaluating any Reason's merits. I only made it so far because I'm stronger than everyone else. : But you are clearly evaluating every Reason's merits, are you not?: Well, yeah, I guess everyone is in a way, but, what I meant is, my judgement only matters because there's nothing in here I can't turn into a corpse. : If it's so distasteful to you, then stop.: Yeah, no. If I give up now, Chiaki's gonna win anyway. : Kid, you're overthinking this. This world doesn't matter. Nothing ever gets clean without someone doing dirty work, and if you weren't making sure none of these other assholes gets to run the show, nobody else would.: So I'm the cosmic janitor? : Wow, you really are King of- : Welp, let's get a move on, we got trash to take out!*: Thor's a lot stronger here than he used to be in the Mantra HQ and he'll mess you up hard if you give him the chance... but in almost every regard he's not as strong as Zouchouten was. Which of course makes sense because he's not an optional boss in a hidden dungeon. In any case, he has no elemental weaknesses and he can buff up his offense, but if you keep him from Shocking anyone, the worst he can do to you is unload a couple Focused up Hell Thrusts or Guillotines during a Dragon Eye. We go back down to get our MP back. Man, the twin Mot we regularly fight around here give more experience than Thor did.  : Yup.   *: Hmm. We get teleported to a new room as we climb up the stairs that Thor used to guard. This won't be as simple as it looks.   : I'll never make it to Lady Chiaki's side at this rate! Let me check my map...*: There are two ways out of here; let's go east.  Welp, Mada as random encounters now. Can't just Deadly Fury everything!  Three more ways to go. ...the first one warps us back to Thor's room. Well, it's not like we don't have a use for the experience. We keep running into encounters with various conflicting immunities, like with Hresvelgr, Randga, Yurlungur and such, which really makes Almighty damage shine. Tao Tie's Megido and Skadi's Megidolaon are all kinds of useful. Oh hey, Zed levels up, and learns Freikugel, replacing Spiral Viper. In many regards, Freikugel is a single-target physical attack skill. It costs HP like a physical skill, it can crit like a physical skill, and it benefits from Focus like a physical skill. It does base damage comparable to Spiral Viper's, but has a slightly lower critical rate. The big selling point here then, is that Freikugel doesn't do physical damage. It does Almighty damage.    You'll note that this is Mada, who absorbs physical damage. With a Focused critical...  Freikugel is our final single-target skill. Alright, so. This floor is a big teleport maze, but you get to keep your automap so it's not so bad. Along the way we find a Cube with 20000 Macca, a Chest with a Bead Chain, and we recruit a Cerberus.     We can lower the red blocks in the center so we don't have to climb the stairs and go through the maze again. Yay Nocturne!    : Hmph, how arrogant it looks...: Well I'll be. We agree on something.: Lady Chiaki is much more elegant.: ...marginally. *: There are damage floors and dark areas here, and you can avoid some of them thanks to side passages if you pay attention... but Float Balls.  An unexpected teleport takes us in front of a small Terminal. I won't complain! We get into a fight with two Mada and an Aciel; the Madas repeatedly use Intoxicate to cause Panic, and manage to kill off Skadi and Throne before we can get cured. I decide to use a Smoke Ball and cut our losses. I've got the encounters around here under control most of the time, but we can't forget that the demons around here are extraordinarily deadly.  After exploring the hallways in here for a bit, we find a lift cube in the southeast. Let's check it out.   Oooh, more of these. "Nice".  Hmm, it only takes us to a hidden pitfall that drops us back to 431F, in an area with a teleport back to the Terminal. We'll find the right lift yet!  Oh-ho! Right in the middle of the north side. It's looking promising!    : If you want to see Kagutsuchi, you need to offer the three stones to it. The stones are proof of Reason, so each leader should be carrying them.: Ha, yeah, right. They're proof that I'm crushing Reasons, at least. : There's nothing better than a good trophy!: Stop talking.: Except maybe earning a good trophy, am I right? Or am I right?: Wow, you're actually making me miss Incubus.: What are you talking about, boss? I'm right here!: Wow, okay, thanks for murdering my nostalgia.: I aim to please.*: We turn back, return to 431F, and keep looking.  Here's another lift, in the northwest corner. Is the third time the charm?  Taking the first path south takes us on a vanishing block loop, leading to a pit and a Soma Drop, then to the main floor. Making our way back up and heading east instead takes us to a hidden pit that drops us to the northeastern area of 431F, which we haven't been able to access until now.  Heading east from here earns us another lift to 444F. Along the way, Throne levels up and learns his last skill, Debilitate, replacing Mute Gaze.     : You still know who's the boss now, right? : I wouldn't dream of changing my mind on this!: For better or for worse, you guys are as good as your leaders, aren't you?: Proudly so! : ... *: The process to obtain all of the Seraphs in Nocturne starts with evolving a Throne into Uriel. Hmm, we're almost level 90. Man there's something I gotta do. We find one of the many teleporters back to the Terminal, then warp to the Amala Temple.    : ...You must bolster your faith by ridding yourself of the impurities of the world. Now, give up those impurities to me... : Sounds serious... Here you go.> You obtained Opal x 1. Dominion left. : That's not what I had in mind, but I'm not angry.*: That was another special conversation. Other attempts to use Brainwash proceed as normal. It's very effective against targets of a lower level than the user, so it doesn't take long. : You're coming with us. *: And he comes with us, no charge, no questions asked. Rigid hierarchy has its benefits! From here, we warp to Little Asakusa again, and hit the Cathedral. Music: Jakyou Mansion *: Just like bringing Orthros to the Cathedral on New K plays the Jakyou Manor music from SMT2, bringing Cerberus to the Cathedral at the same time plays the equivalent track from SMT1. Anyway! That's not what we came here for. Uriel + Dominion =   *: We're not done yet! We summon Throne from the Compendium for 45100 Macca. Raphael + Throne =   *: And that's not even all! We let Cerberus go to get some space, we summon Uriel and Raphael again, for 58300 and 70800 Macca respectively, then we get into a few fights to level Zed up the rest of the way to 90.  Mastering Gaea (and passing on Attack All) doesn't change our alignment, but it does take us to the next tier of Dark titles. We're now Lord Francois Hawke.  : There's no way that won't go to his head.*: You're one to talk. Didn't you declare yourself a Kishin at some point? : Hey, Futomimi made it in the Kishin for getting punked by a high school girl on his own turf. It's not as exclusive a group as you seem to think.*: We finally return to the Cathedral. Uriel + Gabriel + Raphael =   quote:Lv90 Seraph Michael *: So, how about that. The dude's giving orders to your strongest opponent. : Eh. He can't do much worse of a job than his previous employer did : What is this? Do I hear an arrogant infidel speaking out of turn? Which is all the time?: Yeah, you do. Wanna get firestabbed again?: Oh, crap! I'll be good! I promise!*: So. Metatron's dead, and Michael is God's executive vice-president. Technically, Yosuga's troops answer to us now. Chiaki's still leading them, but that won't last, will it? Alright, enough of this for now, let's head back up and sniff out Little Miss Important's last refuge. It looks like the northeastern section has a bunch of dead-ends and lifts leading into pitfalls leading into these same lifts again, so we explore elsewhere for now. Along the way, Dante learns his last skill, Showtime, which is his powerful group-hitting Almighty attack. We have plenty of powerful electricity casters, including Pixie, so I let it replace Roundtrip.   Another lift, in the southeast this time. There's another short sequence of vanishing blocks up there, and another pitfall, dropping us to...   This has got to be it.  It's not Chiaki yet, but is sure looks like progress.        There are some lift blocks taking us out to floating islands, but again there's nothing there but a view.    Oooh, another small Terminal. Amazing!  : Probably not! : There's an incredible treasure hidden in this tower that can manipulate life. After climbing steep paths, falling, scraping knees, finally...*: Hmm. I know there's an infinite-use Balm of Raising in here somewhere, but I missed it and I can't remember where it is. We do have 10 regular one-shot Balms of Rising though, so I'm not too worried about it.   More vanishing blocks over fathomless chasms! Awesome!  ...okay that's new. Wow. At least it's an area we've never been to before. Down here, Zed levels up. Glacial Blast is mostly useless now that we have Freikugel, so I replace it with Makakaja, in case our allies' spells would prove more useful still. A few fights later, Michael levels up and learns Victory Cry, which regenerates his HP and MP to full after every battle. That's... pretty rad. I let it replace Brainwash.   Alright, a new lift block. It takes us next to the Terminal on 444F, so this is less of a hassle than I feared.  Let's try the north path.  Whew! No traps on this one.   The eastern blocks look like they go towards the island in the middle, and the western ones look like they're going all the way to the Dominion and the lift on the other side of the room. Hmm. West seems too obvious, so east it is.  Ah, this is probably more like it.  : I'm surprised you have the nerve to even see us!: I won't dignify that with response.: Lady Chiaki is up ahead. Yosuga shall take that stone you have in your hands. ...And your life.*: Just before we take the lift, Skadi levels up and learns Earthquake, her final skill. I let it replace Force Repel.    Another small Terminal. I think the game wants us to save!  Cutscenes + Boss battle: Deity Baal Avatar: Thanks for helping me with the dirty work, Futomimi.: I would not have dared let this chance you've given me go to waste. If it can spare others my people's fate...: I wonder how things would have gone differently if you had let us in Mifunashiro in the first place.: I... Uh...: It wouldn't have gone differently at all. It's not like we would have just taken up guard duty at the entrance, we had our own stuff to do. I'm sure you did what was best for your people.: I.. shall do my best to keep your words to heart.quote:Deity Baal Avatar *: Apart from reflecting Expel effects, Baal Avatar only has the standard boss immunities. She's surprisingly wimpy on her own; she only has Beast Eye, and tends to stick to Mahamaon, Holy Wrath and Radiance, with the occasional Megidola thrown in. Her first real asset is Bael's Bane, which turns any target who isn't completely immune to Curse into a fly. Flies take a significant penalty to all their stats, become weak to Expel, and the ailment cannot be removed. (I hoped Prayer would work, but it doesn't!) Fortunately they can still perform normally any action that doesn't rely on their stats, such as casting buffs, using any -diarahan spell, or summoning. Her other asset is Divine Will, which she uses on the fourth turn (and on the fourth turn only) to summon Flauros Hallel and Ose Hallel. Flauros knows Hassohappa, all -kaja spells as well as Tetrakarn, Mazandyne and Maragidyne. Ose knows Dragon Eye, Dekunda, Dekaja, Tetrakarn, Makarakarn, Rakunda, Chaos Blade, Maziodyne and Mabufudyne. Both of them also know Diarahan, making them a priority target. They don't come back when killed, so do make them a priority target, with Ose first because you want to get rid of Dragon Eye as soon as possible. Drink of the wine of the wrath of the Demi-fiend. All gods have been rejected! What now?  *: We go around the room and climb up the stairs in the back.   There's only a small room with a pitfall behind that door, and it drops us right in front of the lift to the final area, where that soul reminded us about the three stones. That's our cue to go back down, and make our final preparations. We take the nearby Terminal to Little Asakusa, and run around some until we can hire a Yurlungur. ...in the end it takes so long that Zed makes it to level 94. We're pretty close to a certain milestone, so we keep getting into more fights to gain one more level. Let's just say Skadi, Dante, Michael and Masakados make some some pretty painless grinding! (Pixie doesn't have Mana Aid, so while she tends to hit harder than Skadi, she requires slightly more attention.) Okay, 95. Whew. Lessee... We summon Wu Kong and Arahabaki from the Compendium. Wu Kong + Arahabaki =    : ...: Well then!: ...aw poo poo.: Hmm. I hope you'll use this time to learn a lesson or two, Loki.: Ha, never mind that, he's going right back in. : I take it he's the next sacrifice, then?: Wait, what?: That's right! Just pop him in again.: DON'T I HAVE A SAY IN THIS?: Nope!*: Next, we summon Raphael again. And finally... Michael + Gabriel + Loki =   : Wrath I have more than I need. It's obedience I require from you. : It is all that I am.: No hard feelings about the whupping we gave you down below, then?: You refused the fallen one's request. In this world, I have no other responsibilities. Make what use of me you will through this summoner's compact, and the Universe shall march on no matter the outcome.: Well, I sure made my bed. Come along, then. *: Whoops, I wanted Yurlungur because we didn't have anyone with Rakukaja, but Metatron ended up with it anyway. Welp! At any rate, Metatron is a special fusion: you need to put together Michael with any other Seraph, and sacrifice any Tyrant. Alright, it's time. We climb back up to the final lift.  : This is it. Whatever happens next, everything will change, and it will change because of me and because of anyone who goes up there with me. I don't understand how this whole summoning thing works, but I know you have to do what I tell you. And right now, what I tell you to do, is tell me if you want to keep going with me, or if you want to turn away. I'll let you go. Ms. Takao spoke to me of freedom. It may not be a Reason, but I like the sound of it well enough. It starts here and now. Are you with me?: I obey. : The Emperor will grant you the honor of witnessing your victory, hee ho!: Ha, you know I'm in. I'm all about freedom, and if it kicks the Great Will in the balls, there's nothing else I'd rather do! : This is certainly one rebirth I'm not prophesied to miss, and miss it I shan't. : If I had known you were going to give me such worthy prey, I would have wasted less of our time in the Amala Temple. I can't wait!: THE FOOD GETS SO BORING HERE. WHATEVER KIND OF WORLD YOU'RE MAKING, THERE'S NO WAY IT CAN BE WORSE THAN THIS.: You've more than earned my humble support. I will keep assisting you as I am able.: I can't run this place as long as you're in it, and I'm not so dumb that I think I can take you down. So I don't give a poo poo. Just give me more stabbin' meat and I'll count us square enough.: We've exceeded the terms of our agreement, but there's no one else in this craphole I'd rather fight with, so keep failing to disappoint me, will ya?: Thanks, everyone. Uh, except, Pixie...?: What, are you kidding? You really need to ask? I know this is the end of the road, but there's no way I'm turning back now. And don't you dare say goodbye!: Ha, okay, okay! I get you. Alright then. Let's move. This insanity has lasted too long already.Atmosphere: 666F   *: Before we use the floating block, we go west and drop a last save at the last Terminal.    Alright, Kagutsuchi, you motherfucker. Watch this. Cutscene + Boss battle: Light Kagutsuchiquote:Light Kagutsuchi : ...are you really doing this?*: You better believe it! Why stop now? : Oh for..*: Both of Kagutsuchi's forms only have the typical boss immunities, so you can use whatever strongest attacks you have at will. His sphere form is relatively harmless. It knows all Ma-dyne spells, as well as Megidola, Dekunda, and Dekaja. Where it gets tricky is that it will use Vast Light every time Full K is up, dealing a lot of Almighty damage to your entire party. Now you might think that's easy enough to deal with, you just need to avoid starting the fight on Full K... but the phase advances twice by itself every turn, and Kagutsuchi can use Phase Shift to advance it twice more. So you better keep an eye on the phase meter and make sure you're all healed up in advance. Once you've dealt 20000 damage, the real fight starts. Kagutsuchi keeps the elemental spells and Megidola, and gains Dragon Eye as well as a group-targeting basic attack that does Almighty damage. On top of that, Vast Light turns into Infinite Light, which functions pretty much the same, but deals even more damage. And if that wasn't bad enough, the phase never changes from Full K anymore, meaning that Kagutsuchi can use Infinite Light pretty much anytime it feels like, with the caveat that it does take up all his actions for the turn. The number one priority is to survive Infinite Light and a Dragon Eye + basic attack barrage, and seeing as it's all Almighty damage, it means you need to stack up Tarunda and Rakukaja effects. That's really not optional. Take a look at this. Defeat: Zap! This is an early test attempt where I had no one capable of casting Rakukaja. Kagutsuchi was completely Debilitated, the entire party had an Endure/Never Yield effect, and we were still vaporized. If you can keep the buffs in your favor while you take down his 40000 HP, then he's not very difficult. And if you can't, you basically lose. : Alright alright alright, we get the picture, stack buffs and debuffs, fine, whatever, let's pretend that's all new information. Can we get on with it now?*: Ha, sure, I think I've made you wait long enough. Let's see what our efforts have earned us, then. Cutscene: FreedomIt's been a few days. Everything's pretty much back to normal. Well, almost everything, I suppose. For a moment back then, I was worried. I wasn't afraid for myself, of course. I was long past that. But as soon as I cracked Kagutsuchi's horrible face, I had a doubt. What kind of world would be born? Would a world even be born at all? I had murdered the Reason bearers and crushed the seed of creation. But creation took place. This is a new world, but... it's like the old world got reincarnated into itself. Everyone's back, like they never left. Or at least, everyone who died in the Conception. To them, it's like it never happened. To the rest of us... To me, to Isamu, to Chiaki... We know what happened. Of course, Ms. Takao's e-mail excepted, we don't talk about it. There's nothing constructive to say, really. We see each other every day at school, and we're amicable enough, I suppose. I must admit I can hardly look at Chiaki without seeing her crush a Manikin's head in her bare hands, and I don't know how I'll react the next time I see Isamu give a thumbs down. But... I think they're grateful, in their own way. And as much as I feel like resenting them sometimes, I don't know for sure I wouldn't have acted exactly like them if I had the chance to make my own Reason. Everything was so messed up, you know? It doesn't excuse anything, but I really don't have it in me to fight my friends anymore. Ms. Takao's better than ever. She was always kind, but whatever warmth was behind her smile before, it's grown a hundredfold since. I think she finally found her own Reason. In the end it didn't change the world, but it sure changed her, and sometimes that's enough to make all the difference. I haven't seen or heard about Hikawa, but he's out there. He's still got his company, he's still got his money, as far as I know. But he doesn't have his cult anymore, and he certainly doesn't have the Maiden. Man I would have loved to see the look on his face when he woke up and realized how completely alive he was. I'd make a quip about being a fly on the wall, but that hits a little close to home. Of course no one's gonna know to charge him with attempted global genocide and reckless demon summoning, but I have a feeling that existence is going to be punishment enough for him. Hijiri's running around somewhere, no doubt, but I'll be damned if I know where exactly. I haven't been able to find any issues of Ayakashi Monthly, but I haven't looked very hard. As for me... I argue with my step-sister a little less, I fight with my step-father a little more (though I can't play anyone with a Hadouken anymore), and my mother may not understand why I've suddenly turned into the hug bandit, but she sure doesn't seem to mind. They say you don't appreciate what you have until you don't have it anymore, and I can get behind that. That said, I can't help but feel like I've left a chunk of myself in the Vortex World. Or... or that there's a chunk of it left in me. I keep expecting people to twitch; hopefully that'll go away over time. I look human again, but on the inside... Man, I don't know. Every once in a while, I find myself trying to summon. No one's answering, of course. Other than that, I guess I better find out what it is exactly the Guardian of Tokyo is supposed to do, because that's still me. I paid a visit to Masakado's tomb again. Nothing happened. Can't begrudge a guy for taking a vacation after a thousand years, but he could have left some notes or something. In the meantime, I do my best not to get into any fights. So far so good! Anyway, that's about it. All that's left for now is to find out how this Steven guy got my e-mail address, and who it is exactly he thinks I should be staying strong for.  : Hey guys, what's going on in this thread?*: Nothing! : ...Sorry. I'll... shut the door.
FrankZP fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Feb 27, 2016 |
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Feb 26, 2016 17:40
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 : Intermission time again, hee ho!: Intermission? Doesn't that mean "in-between"?*: Yup! : Huh. So we're not done, then?*: Nope! Alright, so. That's the main portion of the LP done! Man, what a trip. For now I'll tie up a few loose ends, and then we'll get into some bonus content later. 1. Intro videos The game boots up with two short pre-rendered videos, one before the title screen, and another if you wait a bit. I decided against putting them up at first because while they don't really spoil plot details, they do show a bunch of stuff that I preferred to allow the actual game to present at its own pace. I'm sure you'll understand what I mean! Cutscenes: Opening2. Music Title loop 1 Title loop 2 These are the tracks for the intros I just posted. Heretic Mansion ~ Curse The Cathedral of Shadows has one track we didn't get the opportunity to hear, for when we are afflicted by the Magatama's Curse ailment. Man, we nearly went a hundred levels, and we were only cursed once. And it was deep in the Labyrinth too, so we couldn't safely get back to a Terminal without having it cured. Reason Boss Battle Kagutsuchi Tower Last Boss Battle ~ Before Transformation I really like how cold and mechanical this piece feels. It really fits the bizarre form of your opponent, especially with its semi-wireframe look. Last Boss Battle ~ After Transformation Of course, it can't stay cold and mechanical forever. And because Nocturne gotta Nocturne, it transitions into badass electric guitar sound. Reincarnation This would be the piece for the Freedom ending. Staff Roll A round of applause, everybody. 3. Final fusion chart code:Once you've seen the credits and read the mysterious final message, you're prompted to save your game.  When you load again, there are a few differences.    In the opening dream sequence, Ms. Takao asks if you want a new look. You still lose the alternate clothes once the Conception occurs, but they do switch around a couple of your starting stats. If you choose to stay the same...  Another neat bonus is that you can press Select to play with a first-person camera, in a nod to the previous SMT games.    There are also a couple things that have a much bigger impact on gameplay. Namely, your Demonic Compendium completion carries over, and the level restrictions on the fusion process are completely lifted! Sacrificial fusion becomes a lot more practical now that your new ally's level is no longer capped to your own. Of course, summoning strong demons from the Compendium is very expensive for a fair chunk of the game, especially if you've restarted on Hard Mode where cash is a lot dearer, but if you've managed to completely fill out the Compendium, you get a 50% discount. The last thing that carries over is your Burial Chamber progress and records. If you've beat the challenge time for all boss tombstones, you can return to the Labyrinth after beating Matador on a new cycle to get an extra cutscene with Cerberus, Izanagi and Izanami, who grant you a permanent bonus turn icon. 5. The other endings I mentioned before that there are six endings to Nocturne. Of course three of those endings are earned by supporting one of the three Reasons. Interestingly enough, none of them are "bad endings" per se if you happen to agree with them. The game has the courtesy not to judge you for supporting a Reason that appeals to you! I'm not going to go into details here, but do have a listen to the three ending themes, and you'll have an idea of what I mean: Yosuga, Shijima, and Musubi. All three Reason endings culminate in a battle with Kagutsuchi, as a final test of the strength behind your principles. There is nothing that stops you from agreeing with multiple Reasons, but the game tallies up your alignment points and gives you the endgame for the one with the highest score. This leaves three unaligned endings. The one we got is the Freedom ending, earned by refusing to ally with any Reason, trying to stop Hikawa in the Diet Building, and answering Aradia's questions in Yoyogi Park with courage. We fought Kagutsuchi not as a test, but because it was outright trying to stop us from derailing the Creation process with an unofficial quasi-Reason promoted by a non-human without divine sponsorship. Of course there is also an ending if you refuse to ally with a Reason, then skip the Samael fight and/or admit fear to Aradia. It's commonly called the "demon" ending. Once you reach the top of the Tower, Kagutsuchi notes that not only have you murdered the legitimate Reasons, you also bring no conviction of your own to the process. He literally leaves in disgust without a fight, and the Vortex World remains as it is for the duration of the next cycle, as a hollow, sterile, lightless shell where demons rule unopposed. That's arguably the only bad ending, but hey, if that's your bag, who am I to judge, right? And the third one, well. You get it for allying with Lucifer. Beyond that, we shall see, shall we not?  6. What's next Alright, whew. I'm not done with this, but I'm taking a bit of a break, probably a week or two, because man the Tower is intense and this'll take so much grinding, you have no idea. Though maybe I'll get the itch sooner? Who knows. And then we'll pick things back up at a certain point of interest. : You mean the elevator at the bottom of the Labyrinth?*: ...yeah. : Aight, cool.*: You just had to, didn't you? : Hmm-mmm.
FrankZP fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Feb 27, 2016 |
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Feb 26, 2016 17:41
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This was great. Thank you for putting so much effort into this LP. I'm looking forward to the bonus content! I haven't seen the other high-effort ending, but this one has very decent closure. 
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Feb 26, 2016 21:02
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Just wanted to chime in and say how much I've enjoyed this LP. Looking forward to the bonus content, and I hope you make more in the future!
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Feb 26, 2016 22:06
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I've always wanted that jacket. If you want to save yourself some time, how about going for a real challenge, forgoing grinding and trying to beat the true final boss at level 90 or below?
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Feb 26, 2016 22:48
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This was a drat fine LP, thank you so much for making it and getting me to finally play the game (I beat Hell Biker like he owed me money, having Matador for that fight goes a long way). Also if anyone is interested, this video has a bunch of Demi-Fiend attack animations, including all of his unique ones- there are some spoilers for the ending we haven't covered right at the end though, so quit at Magma Axis (the spoiler stuff is Friekrugel anyway). e: also, I can't be the only person who thinks Freikrugel looks like the Demi-Fiend is rending his enemies asunder with the unholy power of demonic loogies, right? ManlyGrunting fucked around with this message at 02:36 on Feb 27, 2016 |
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Feb 27, 2016 01:15
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FrankZP posted:
It's not that you tried to force a quasi-reason without a sponsor, it's that you wanted to revert the conceptual world to the old one before the conception happened. Kagutsuchi tried to kill you because you didn't want to create anything and instead wanted to revert everything.
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Feb 27, 2016 02:35
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FrankZP posted:Of course there is also an ending if you refuse to ally with a Reason, then skip the Samael fight and/or admit fear to Aradia. It's commonly called the "demon" ending. Once you reach the top of the Tower, Kagutsuchi notes that not only have you murdered the legitimate Reasons, you also bring no conviction of your own to the process. He literally leaves in disgust without a fight, and the Vortex World remains as it is for the duration of the next cycle, as a hollow, sterile, lightless shell where demons rule unopposed. That's arguably the only bad ending, but hey, if that's your bag, who am I to judge, right? As I mentioned, that's the one I was hoping we'd get. Admittedly, it was based on some misconceptions about what was involved, but it's really the 'gently caress everyone' ending, where you refuse to play Lucifer or the Great Will's game. (Okay, Lucifer says approving things if you choose it, but frankly there isn't an end where you can disappoint him. You'd probably have to set up a sandwich shop in the Vortex World or something and just ignore Kagutsuchi entirely to do that.) Anyway. Looking forward to seeing how you handle the True Demon ending, considering I wasn't expecting you to handle it at all. E: also, why the heck don't you have platinum after this long? I wanted to PM you, but I can't. E2: oh, you've only been around since November. Still. That's two and a half good LPs! Someone get him platinum already.
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Feb 27, 2016 05:03
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Thanks for the great LP, FrankZP. Thing was a blast from beginning to end. I can't wait for the bonus, and I really hope you'll do more LPs here in the future.
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Feb 27, 2016 07:54
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First time I noticed it but even Hijiri's cursed rear end is still hanging around after the world went back to normal. I wonder if throwing a wrench in the creation process and forcing the Great Will to act against its purpose also unplugged him from YHVH's matrix?
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Feb 27, 2016 21:53
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Undid global genocide and helped your teacher get over a massive suicide/depression metaphor while punching terrible demons in the face? Not a bad day's work if you can get it. Also, still gently caress Lucifer. Nihilism isn't the proper response to injustice, and neither is hitching your horse to a different colored psychopath.
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Feb 27, 2016 21:57
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Great lp ZP. You did the game justice. Now waiting for the bonus material 
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Feb 27, 2016 23:29
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True Demon Ending, ho! Jack Frost: You called? Me: No, not that kind of ho! Lilith: Me? Me: Not that kind, either!
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Feb 28, 2016 02:47
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Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Honestly, when I first got here, I felt a bit like the country boy getting off the bus with his little suitcase for his first stay in the big city, so I'm still blown away by the reception I've had. It's been a pleasure, through and through; you're a spectacular audience. I probably have at least another LP in me that'll have to come out sooner or later, and it'd be foolish not to involve you fine folk again. Though I probably ought to get this one completely finished before I start making plans, heheh.Montegoraon posted:If you want to save yourself some time, how about going for a real challenge, forgoing grinding and trying to beat the true final boss at level 90 or below? Oh I'm definitely going to make early attempts for sure, I don't want to level up more than I have to. I know it's not so much a question of raw stats as it is a question of putting together a viable party. That said, I might like to use this opportunity to show off more endgame demons. Hmm. I'll figure something out! cdyoung posted:It's not that you tried to force a quasi-reason without a sponsor, it's that you wanted to revert the conceptual world to the old one before the conception happened. Kagutsuchi tried to kill you because you didn't want to create anything and instead wanted to revert everything. Hmm, I think that's a valid way to look at it. That said, the way I understand it is that the pre-Conception world was already the world of freedom, and creating a new world based on the exact same rules logically generates a near-exact copy of the old one. The actual process of Creation depicted in the final cutscenes, with Kagutsuchi detonating and planting light pillars all over the interior of the Vortex World, happens exactly the same way in the freedom ending as it does in any of the Reason endings. The game doesn't ever really mention "reverting to the old world" as something anyone actually wants, or even as something that is possible until it outright happens, though if you bring that desire into it as the player then it's still entirely legitimate. FredMSloniker posted:As I mentioned, that's the one I was hoping we'd get. Admittedly, it was based on some misconceptions about what was involved, but it's really the 'gently caress everyone' ending, where you refuse to play Lucifer or the Great Will's game. (Okay, Lucifer says approving things if you choose it, but frankly there isn't an end where you can disappoint him. You'd probably have to set up a sandwich shop in the Vortex World or something and just ignore Kagutsuchi entirely to do that.) Aight, I can see that. Of course, the demon population does benefit from the new state of affairs, but it's not like they were responsible for the Conception in the first place, it's really more of a "door's open, boys!" situation for them. And in fact I'm pretty sure it's the one ending where the Manikins continue to exist, though seeing as the Vortex World more or less works on Yosuga principles by default, that might not be such a great thing for them. Shitenshi posted:First time I noticed it but even Hijiri's cursed rear end is still hanging around after the world went back to normal. I wonder if throwing a wrench in the creation process and forcing the Great Will to act against its purpose also unplugged him from YHVH's matrix? I kinda doubt it, but I can't say I have more than a gut feeling about it. Night10194 posted:Undid global genocide and helped your teacher get over a massive suicide/depression metaphor while punching terrible demons in the face? Not a bad day's work if you can get it. The freedom ending actually is my personal favorite ending, so I can get behind that. I quite like our world, as messed up as it is sometimes! mauman posted:Great lp ZP. You did the game justice. Oh dang that is good to hear, thank ye. This endeavor could easily have devolved into a third-rate fanfic haphazardly tacked on to an amazing game, but my priority was really to show off this beautiful, compelling work of art that Atlus made, which includes pointing out all the space it allows a player to involve themselves and build their own personal story in. And if I succeeded in any way, then hot drat, I couldn't ask for more.
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Feb 28, 2016 16:57
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For your next SMT game, will you be doing Strange Journey or 4?
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Feb 28, 2016 17:30
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Junpei posted:For your next SMT game, will you be doing Strange Journey or 4? Honesty I hope he steers past Strange Journey, Luisfe started that one in 2011 and only finished it last August. It nearly destroyed his will to live. However I also understand that 3DS emulation is... difficult and capture cards are hilariously expensive. (Digital Devil SaGa?)
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Feb 28, 2016 17:56
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YggiDee posted:Honesty I hope he steers past Strange Journey, Luisfe started that one in 2011 and only finished it last August. It nearly destroyed his will to live. However I also understand that 3DS emulation is... difficult and capture cards are hilariously expensive. Looking at the major games, DDS, the Devil Survivor games and Persona 3 & 4 seem to be the best options.
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Feb 28, 2016 18:06
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DDS was done very recently. I think Devil Survivor would be a good choice personally.
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Feb 28, 2016 18:17
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mauman posted:I think Devil Survivor would be a good choice personally. I'm a little worried, as it's a tactical RPG so he might not be the best at it.
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Feb 28, 2016 18:24
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Great job, man. This game is something special to me as it introduced me to an amazing series, and I was glad to see it get a good LP here. The Kagutsuchi battles are the biggest reason I felt Bright Might was indispensable even in the late game, as being able to get eight turns was a huge help in the last phases. I also remember being hella intimidated when I saw that Kagutsuchi would skip turns for dialogue, making me think he was charging up for something much bigger. It's a nice touch, even though I had gotten on the hellevator and was subsequently informed that I was nowhere near done. Also, last-phase Kagutsuchi vibrating would make a great avatar.
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Feb 28, 2016 18:33
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Thanks for all those laughs ZP. Looking forward to your next project. But seriously, don't do Strange Journey. SJ is EEEEEEEEVIIIIIILLLLL!
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Feb 28, 2016 20:34
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mauman posted:DDS was done very recently. The two devil survivor games were already LPed. Nothing on the Break Record rereleases though.
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Feb 28, 2016 23:38
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cdyoung posted:The two devil survivor games were already LPed. Nothing on the Break Record rereleases though. But not as narrative LP's! And nobody has done Overclocked, either. At least not to my knowledge.
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Feb 28, 2016 23:44
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I know DDS2 was done, but has anyone actually finished an LP of the first game?
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Feb 29, 2016 00:12
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ultrafilter posted:I know DDS2 was done, but has anyone actually finished an LP of the first game? Yeah, Dragonatrix did both in one thread. And so did Luisfe before, but that LP's old and full of missing image links now. Of course, SMT3 has been done before too, so that point is moot. Dragonatrix's LP was pretty recent, though, so I'd rather see Strange Journey, SMT4 or one of the old, obscure NES/SNES ones. Of course, I'd be happiest to see whatever OP thinks he can turn into a good LP. That also reminds me, Frank, you'll want to get this on lparchive.org once you're done with bonus content!
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Feb 29, 2016 00:21
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ultrafilter posted:I know DDS2 was done, but has anyone actually finished an LP of the first game? Both Dragonatrix and Luisfe LPed both games. http://lparchive.org/Shin-Megami-Tensei-Digital-Devil-Saga-(by-Dragonatrix)/ http://lparchive.org/Shin-Megami-Tensei-Digital-Devil-Saga/
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Feb 29, 2016 00:21
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I wouldn't mind seeing something like the Devil Children games. Or better yet. The Demi Kids games. I only ever managed to play Light version though.
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Feb 29, 2016 01:25
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Soul Hackers, maybe?
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Feb 29, 2016 01:32
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Kemix posted:I wouldn't mind seeing something like the Devil Children games. Or better yet. The Demi Kids games. I only ever managed to play Light version though. I actually own the carts for both light and dark.
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Feb 29, 2016 03:38
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Just some rambling about alignments, I wish that I could cut the two factions in half. Chaos would be divided into the "gently caress the Great Will" faction, and the Social Darwinism faction. Law would be the "We don't want an anarchic hellhole" faction and the "Communism" faction.
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Feb 29, 2016 06:13
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Just wanted to say that I while I enjoy a good text/narrative LP, I almost never finish them out. However, this one had me hooked from the first post straight to the end, so I wanted to thank you for showing me a game I probably never would have gotten through (I'm at the point in my life where harsh difficulty curves really turn me off), but I'm so glad I got to see this imaginative world, great artwork, and sweet music.
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Feb 29, 2016 06:21
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On the topic of future LPs, I don't think anyone's done the Raidou Kuzunoha ones yet, though I'll say that I'm sure we'll all enjoy the next LP, whichever game it covers.
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Feb 29, 2016 10:19
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Nope! Luisfe did those ones too, they're on the archive last I checked. Personally, my hat is in for DS: Overclocked but I'm happy with whatever comes next. This was a wonderfully done LP, you certainly did the game justice.
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Feb 29, 2016 10:55
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Yalls getting a bit ahead of youselves.
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Feb 29, 2016 11:31
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I dunno if I'm the only one, but Luisfe's LPs rub me the wrong way. I'm not sure why exactly, just... well, I've read more than one of their LPs and come away feeling like I understood neither the game mechanics nor the plot. Like the game had been LPed by an alien, and despite the alien speaking excellent English, their thought processes were just different enough to make communication difficult. That's why I'm glad people like FrankZP are willing to tackle games they've done, and I look forward to Frank's further writing. I am curious how he plans to handle the True Demon path. Mainly because (ending spoilers ahead) if he treats it as an alternate universe, that kiiiiinda sucks for Francois... because in the True Demon path, the Demifiend destroys all the alternate universes.
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Feb 29, 2016 20:45
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Nobody's done Innocent Sin yet, surprisingly enough.FredMSloniker posted:I dunno if I'm the only one, but Luisfe's LPs rub me the wrong way. I'm not sure why exactly, just... well, I've read more than one of their LPs and come away feeling like I understood neither the game mechanics nor the plot. Like the game had been LPed by an alien, and despite the alien speaking excellent English, their thought processes were just different enough to make communication difficult. That's why I'm glad people like FrankZP are willing to tackle games they've done, and I look forward to Frank's further writing.
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Feb 29, 2016 23:36
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