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The Epilogue to This Act is Too drat Long I don’t know why Art is so obsessed with trying to get Ventuswill to lighten up. There’s nothing wrong with the way she interacts with the villagers, it’s natural for humans to defer to their dragon. God. King. Actually, I lied, I know exactly what he’s up too. Art is trying to get Venti to open up and be friends with more than one person at a time so that when her time to die comes (because I have trouble believing the spheres are going to keep her alive forever) everyone will be able to talk about it and talk each other out of turning themselves into monsters to prolong her life. And if some idiot does it anyway she’ll have other friends and won’t fall into depression over her only friend in the entire world vanishing without a word. I think I made myself sad there.  Also, Leon is here.  Did something happen? Well, I want Venti to have a better relationship with the people of this town. It doesn't seem like she's having any problems getting along with the others, though... That's true, but... you see...And then Art explained the problem off camera, which is why we only have by ramblings about what his issue actually is. ...Ah, I think I understand. So that's your concern, then. Yeah. I believe I've seen just what you're talking about. And Venti did indeed seem to be acting a bit strange, now that you mention it. Perhaps the best approach here would be to shift your focus.It’s interesting that he thinks Venti is acting strange. He comes from a time when Ventuswill had an actual priesthood devoted to her (although I suspect that the Dragon Priesthood of Leon’s time just evolved into the Dragon Knighthood of the modern era, making Forte Leon’s eventual successor and both of them completely superfluous.). Huh? Think about it. If talking to Venti doesn't help, why not try changing everyone else's perception of her? Venti is easily influenced, after all.Not necessarily a trait one desires in one’s god king. Dragon. Oh... That's a good idea! Thank you very much! No problem. Anyway...I'd like to thank you, too. Huh? For being her friend. Leon… Will you continue to stay by her side? Of course. One more thing... You should also entertain me too, while you're at it. And so Art did travel forth across the town, speaking to the many villagers of the need to treat Ventuswill, the Divine Wind, Dragon God of… pancakes or something, I dunno… like Joe from down the street.  In montage, of course. Terrable forbid the developers think to include an interesting dialogue puzzle into the game. I just want every game to be Planescape, I don’t think that’s too much to ask.  Ah well, so we skipped forward to the end of Art’s montage. Did he succeed?  O-oh! It's you! I've been having countless visitors... b-but why? What's going on?! Well, I called everyone and convinced them all to come see you. Wh-what? How could you do that... and show up before me looking so innocent?! Relax, relax! You look like you're having fun, aren't you? Hmph... Fine... If you insist, I'll say no more. If you insist on being a trouble- maker, I guess I'll just have to grant your wish and eat you up! What?!   Well, I guess we succeeded. That was quite possibly the most difficult side quest in the entire game. Yup. Nothing harder than that. Yeah, I’m done here. What’s going on any place other than here?  What’s our local knight up to?  Pomme-pomme. The most pathetic enemy in the entire game. Watch as she easily strikes it down in a single mighty blow.  ...You are rather cute.Or that. Ha ha! Enough of that. Do Pomme-pommes have tongues?   This has passed dawww and is moving on to embarrassing.  Oh my. Starting to wonder where that thing is licking her…  Oh, well, now that your quickie with the random monster is over.   H-How long have you been standing there? There is no answer here that wouldn’t embarrass her, is there? ACK!! I-it's not what you think! I was not, erm...I...uh... *MUMBLE*... You don't have to be that bashful about it. You just really like adorable monsters. There's nothing wrong with that. I-I do not! I...I just...erm... ...Ngh! ...Hnnngh!Look Forte, the only other explanation is that you’ve got matching bestiality and exhibitionism fetishes. I suggest you take the easy out and just say you like cute monsters. All right, maybe Ventuswill has had time to decide not to eat me by now.  I appreciate what you did, but I'm also angry because you did something you shouldn't have. Is that why you're ignoring me?I don’t think telling you that she’s angry with you counts as ignoring. Hmph! Aha...ha ha...Ah well, she’ll calm down.  My Ironleaf flowers are ready. Ironleaves can be thrown to deal damage. They suck. I’m only growing them for medicinal purposes.  "But I accidentally fell down, throwing the Ironleaf towards a monster! ...I do not think the rest needs explaining. When I told this to Mama, she said that she's done the exact same thing. The only difference is that at that time, Mama's Ironleaf seems to have defeated the monster! It's hard to believe, yes? So I want you to try it out! L  Looks like you've defeated a monster with an Ironleaf. You've completed your task. We'll try a new one next time.Also because the quest called for it. New quests I can actually do are few and far between right now. I mostly just do monster killing, delivery, and shipping quests that you guys don’t want to see a thousand iterations of.  Another festival unlocked. I missed unlocking the Cooking Contest back in early spring, but otherwise I’ll have them all unlocked at the end of the year, and have beaten most of the contests. Contests get harder over time, so knocking out the ones I didn’t beat this year will be tougher, but doable.  Also, it’s late autumn, and it’s starting to snow. Winter is a lovely time to grow crops, only a couple flourish in winter, and many crops have winter as their bad season. This field is gonna stay bare for a while while I focus on using the seasonal fields. The main farm is mostly just providing me with stone and lumber at this point.  Oh Doug, you are hopeless.  I made short work of it, though. Chased it right off, ha ha ha! Hmph. I would've squashed it in half the time it took you. Really? I could have defeated it without even touching it. W-wow! Really?!Oh Vishnal, you are hopeless.  I suspect I could have defeated it as I worked. Oh my goodness, really?! Everyone is so incredible! Uh, Vishnal? They're just messing with you. Still, which of us do you think is the strongest?Not you Mr. Shotacon. Myself, likely. All right then, we shall label Leon the strongest. So Leon is? Wow... Whoa, whoa, whoa! I've got a different opinion over here!Yes, Doug? The strongest one of us is ME! What are you going on about? No way you're the strongest one. What, so you think it's you? Don't kid yourself! What was that, pebble-brain? Just what I said it was, nag!Ooh he had to go and bring horses into it. Decorum, gentlemen. Let us keep our decorum. If we are to decide which of you is stronger, I suggest an arm- wrestling contest. Arm-wrestling? I'm cool with that. Let's do it! Yeah. Bring it on, midget! You've got it, sway-back! I think I'll be heading home.The successful troll, having prompted his fellows to fight amongst themselves, quickly escapes lest the fighting engulf him. I, as well. Oh yeah! I have some work I need to finish. I guess I'll go home too, then. HNGRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! HNNNNNNGGGHH!!!Yeah I think we’ll just leave them to it.  You ain’t just whistling Dixie pal.
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Oct 13, 2016 07:24
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A Wild Plot Appears! Huh, something’s actually happening.  That voice... Oh dear, a mysterious soldier! If you're looking to start something from the shadows, you've come to the wrong place! Game's over. Your only choice now is to surrender.  Well, Art may not remember you, but I remember knocking you assholes around at level 1. So yeah. What...?  …? …Huh?  Shocking plot twist! Oh wait, no it isn’t, because Doug admitted at the end of Act 1 that he was on the Sechs payroll. Wha…?Oh, right, Venti and I are the only ones who knew about that. ...!   Uh… …Doug? Old lady from outta nowhere! G-Granny Blossom?! There's no way that my Doug would do such a thing! Stay back, Granny! No! How could I? Why should I?! Listen. That boy may look rough, but he's really a very sweet child! Although he complains like you wouldn't believe, he always helps out at my store. And you're saying he's a spy for your nasty little empire? Who's going to believe a silly story like that?!Well, I would, but that’s because Doug declared himself my mortal enemy and spent a long period of time acting against me. Granny...  That's... Hmph! You must have come up with this ludicrous scheme on the spot, to turn us against each other! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you slimy coward...Can’t tell if she’s making this up as she goes along or if she’s actually gullible enough to believe it.    Holy poo poo he’s gonna shank the old woman!    Holy poo poo he shanked the dwarf. I would have actually approved of this if he wasn’t protecting Blossom at the time. Doug’s been pretty loving annoying up to now. Doug!! Ack! No!Hey, Art finally showed up! Are you all right?! Yeah...I'm fine... But what about...Granny Blossom? Don't you worry about me! *PANT*...*PANT*... Thank...goodness... You...! Your actions are unforgivable!   You started poo poo in the middle of town and I showed up to watch. You didn’t find poo poo. Why do you know my name?  …!   Well, I guess that confirms what we already knew about Art bringing the Rune Spheres here. ...? What are you...?  drat... Why...is this...?     ...That's...   SHOCKING PLOT TWIST… oh wait, no it isn’t. As soon as we discounted the possibility that Ventuswill killed them, the Sechs were the obvious suspects. What...?  Yes, because the Sechs have so many reasons to remain loyal to them. What...do you mean...?   ...How unconscionable...Art, please, stop talking. ...Why...?  STOP!  What?!  I am going to enjoy removing this man’s teeth one punch at a time. Over my dead body. Forte… I'm sorry. Had I been a better knight... But... I won't let anyone get hurt again. You think you're good enough to face my sword?  Considering that, again, I was juggling you at level 1 for shits and giggles, not at all.  Are you going to start saying that Art's a spy now?Well, he already admitted that he tried to rob me, got his rear end kicked, his lackey dropped me off an airship, and he intends to kill me, yes, clearly I’m working for him.     Huh, so he does. In retrospect, leaving those things sitting on the ground in random spots was a bad move.  Wha...?   Ugh...!   Without that, Venti will...!       Well, it’s not like he can do anything dangerous with that spell, it can’t summon anything as strong as a Guardian, and I can slaughter anything weaker.  Meh, it’s a dragon. Big deal.   This is new.   No Sechs Soldier, you are the demons. And then Sechs Soldier was a dragon.  Getting tired of that laugh. Gonna punch him so much.   Oh no, I am so terrified. What was that...? A person and a dragon... And I thought only the Earthmates could use Omni Gate...! There's no time to waste! Blossom! Wh-what is it? Move somewhere safe with Doug!! O-okay... Granny Blossom...hold on to me...?! What are you saying with all those injuries?! Just listen to me! This is the least...that I can do... Doug......Art. Forte. Sorry...I'll have to leave the rest to you. Don't worry. We can handle it. You can count on us. I’m going to start beating you now. I don’t know when I’ll stop.    I don’t know if I’m going to stop. How horrifying... Art, this monster is dangerous.Yeah, you’re right. You should probably go hide somewhere and let the competent fighter handle this. I'll fight too. Then we fight together. I won't let him do anything to you or this town. That's right. We definitely can't let him go! Let's concentrate on taking him down!The text dump tells me that Forte would toss me a weapon here if I didn’t have any. That’s handy.      This is pretty much how the whole fight goes.  Earthmates: punching monsters until they turn into humans since 2012.   When did you get back here Doug? How did you get back here? Your entrails are still spilling out. He ran away....Did he?No, I’m loving lying to you Doug. ...I'm sorry, Art. Huh? Seems like I've been deceived all this time... Blaming Ventuswill for what happened to my family... And dragging you into it, too...Yeah Doug, you’re a loving moron, we know. Doug…...Tsk! ...The hell's wrong with me?!You’re a loving moron, we established this. ...I... Doug... ...Art, let's go see Ventuswill. Huh...? They've stolen the Rune Spheres, right? Then...ngh...! Doug?! Are you okay?! I'm fine... But we have to...go see her... And...I want to apologize. ...All right. But before we do, get some rest....! But... I'm sure Venti's not mad at you. Although... seeing you in this condition would probably upset her. I'll take Doug to the clinic. Blossom... Y'know, I... I'll scold you all you want later. It's much more important to let your body rest right now. Come on. Let's go....I'm sorry. Art. I'll go check the town first. I think Lady Ventuswill would scold me if I didn't....Okay. And... I must report to Mr. Volkanon about Doug... We must find out what the Sechs Empire is up to.Yes, because Volkanon is clearly in charge here. But... I think the most important thing is that... ...despite what he thought, he still tried to save this town. Forte… I'm going now. Please take care of Lady Ventuswill. I should hurry back to Venti's place! Do I...look all right to you? If so...you must have a problem...with your eyes... At least you have enough energy to say that. Haha... I heard a lot of commotion outside... What's going on? Well... A soldier from the Sechs Empire came to attack the town....What?! But it's okay! We drove him out.We’re gonna need to rebuild the town square though, it’s full of dragon-shaped craters now. I see... ...I'm sorry. Had I been better... No, Venti, you don't understand. You're feeling the way you do... because of them....? What do you mean...? The Sechs... have stolen the Rune Spheres......Hmm... I don't know why they did it...  Rune Spheres have a strong energy in them... Strong enough to restore power to a Native Dragon like me. If they try to abuse that energy... Gehh... Venti?! I'm...all right... Or at least...I wish I were...No poo poo, I’m sure most dying people wish they were alright. You can't move without the Rune Spheres, can you?...Unfortunately, no. If they abuse the power of the Rune Spheres... Who knows what could happen?...Okay. Are you going...? I have to get back the Rune Spheres. But if something happens to you... I'll be all right. You should worry about yourself....Art. You're a strong individual. Thank you......You're freaking me out, Venti. I'm not used to seeing you so amenable... ...Are you being sarcastic? Yes....You... Ahaha. It's a joke. Come on! Let's see that smile of yours!...Hmph... ...Um, Venti? Get better soon, okay? Otherwise, who am I supposed to quarrel with?...I know... Okay. ...I'm going to rest for a while to conserve my energy...I'll try to get back the Rune Spheres as soon as possible. Please. ...I trust you, Art. Leave it to me.
Truthkeeper fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Oct 19, 2016 |
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Oct 18, 2016 22:40
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Rawkking posted:That was the most cartoonishly evil plot dump ever. The only reason I can think of for the soldier just spilling pretty much everything you know to your enemies for no reason whatsoever is that he was really, really sure he could kill everyone after with the rune spheres. Even then that's no reason to out your country's spy just so you can gloat a bit more. Well he expected Doug to jump in and fight alongside him. This was supposed to be the end of Doug's spying activity as the Sechs... ahem... "defeated the evil Ventuswill thus avenging his parents and tribe". And we have not even scratched the surface of the Sechs being cartoonishly evil. And my strength of will to avoid making Sechs/Sex puns is probably not going to hold out much longer. Zagglezig posted:It seems so weird that this single soldier comes in to take on the whole town with only what he thinks is one other person to help, labels himself as boss of someone significant from the intro, dumps all this exposition, doesn't get killed here, and he doesn't even have a real name. If his rank is that important and we're going to be seeing him again, you'd think they'd at least do that much. The implication is that this soldier is the one from the intro who wasn't an idiot. The guy who demanded the orbs without ever specifying what he was asking for, then expected his incompetent minion to effectively threaten somebody. I also kinda wish the soldiers got names, but individual soldiers do get personality traits (like this guy being laughably arrogant), so at least there's that.
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Oct 19, 2016 00:44
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I'm The Bull Goose Prince in This Town That is a problem. Maybe if you hadn’t let that guy who attacked the town run off, you’d have somebody to interrogate.  Oh, well, yeah we could interrogate Doug. But I’m kinda gonna feel bad about putting the hot irons to him after he just got himself stabbed. Ah well, man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Bring me my thumbscrews! But I think I have enough time to get distracted by yet another holiday. Remember Valentine’s Day last month, where I forgot which gender was supposed to be giving out cookies? Yeah, this time is right. Probably. There are only two choices, right?  I gave one to Xiao Pai and she assumed she was supposed to give it to her mother.  That’s actually a little sad.  There, that’s a normal response.  Or… not?  Amber just isn’t sure what day it is.  Forte is polite. Maybe a little self-pitying.  I’m not sure why she would be angry about being given a cookie, but I like the option to give it to Pico instead.         These two are pretty funny together, and kinda adorable. We chose… wisely. Okay, enough playing around with the womenfolk, I’ve got a dwarf to torture for information.  Art... What are you doing here? I heard about what happened. If it's the Sechs we're dealing with, it's not only a problem for the town.The Sechs Empire previously invaded Norad Kingdom back in RF1. Their plan was stupid and convoluted, ruined by the protagonist of that game being a meddling kid, and then they gave up in favor of just sending a bunch of tanks and soldiers. That plan was ruined by Terrable, which is why he was the best dragon god king prior to this game. Sechs has tanks. Norad has guys with swords. This series would have been over by now if not for Earthmate magic bullshit. That's true... Although that's only half of the reason I've come. Huh? How can I stay calm when a friend's been injured? Dylas was just here too. He left, though. He seemed satisfied after seeing Doug's face....Come on, Granny, they don't need to know that. Doug... Are you all right? Yeah, thankfully... I'm glad to hear that. I'm really sorry, Art. It's my fault... If I hadn't reported in to the Sechs... I shouldn't have blindly believed them.I agree on all points. You are an idiot. There's no need to apologize, Doug. But-- Doug... drat it! Doug… Do you happen to know where the Sechs soldier might have gone? Wow, everybody is shocked that Art is following up on this. Because he totally hasn’t been doing all of the important poo poo around here for three months now. Art?! Are you...! I need to get back the Rune Spheres. Do you realize how dangerous that is?! I can't just leave it like this, though. Those stones have so much power. I can't let them abuse it for their own gain! And...I made a promise. Venti's waiting. I have to deliver them back to her. Then let me go instead. What? Have you forgotten? I'm the prince of this kingdom. Although I asked you to take on my duties... there's a limit to my indulgence, and this is it.Come again? Are you seriously trying to imply that you have any authority here Arthur? I’m Prince loving Art, I decide who lives and who dies! I totally regret that the name box was not long enough for me to name myself loving Art. I should totally do that the next time I play a game that allows names 11 characters or longer. You have to stay in the town. Please. Art! You must report to the king, and discuss the town's options. The fact is, the Sechs have invaded. The town absolutely must be defended. And you need to let the king know...that Ventuswill has collapsed. This is something that only you, a real prince, can accomplish.Yes. The town has options. And the king can do things. A lot of princes have showed up in this series, but I’m half convinced the king has just been drunk since this series began. And Arthur isn’t gonna be protecting poo poo. Forte could protect the town, but she and Dolce are coming with me. I guess that leaves That is... true, but... You're the only one I can trust. Please. I'll take care of the Rune Spheres. And I'll save Venti.You guys can stay here and play tiddlywinks. Just stay out of my way while I’m getting poo poo done. So... I want you to handle things here while I'm gone. Dammit... Will you promise to come back safely? Yes, of course!Anytime I get mortally wounded I’m automagically teleported straight here and Jones does the bare minimum needed to keep me alive and drastically overcharges for it. I’m pretty much always safe. ...All right. I'll support your decision, then.He says as if he had any choice in the matter. Doug, are you okay with this too? If you go south of the Water Ruins, there's a bridge. Once you cross it, you'll find Sercerezo Hill, where's it's always spring. The Sechs have a research facility hidden somewhere in there.At long last, the final seasonal area, sort of (there are technically two wintery areas, with the one we've seen so far really just an offshoot of Autumn Road). I really feel like they really should have introduced all of them in Act 1. Especially since the Spring field is the best one. Okay. That does surprisingly little to narrow it down. Little help? Do you have an exact location? Sorry. I only know it's there. No worries. That's enough, then. Thanks!I’ve done more with less info, I suppose. I’ll just murder every living thing in Sercerezo just to be sure. ...I'm the one who should be thanking you. We'll look after the town.That’s adorable. As long as the level 5 wonder twins here are looking after the town, I’m sure everything will be just fine!
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Oct 27, 2016 07:27
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The Lone Badger posted:Doesn't the Sechs Empire already have ample documentation on the fact that getting into a punching contest with an Earthmate is a bad plan? Honestly, trying to use magic against an Earthmate (their plan A in RF1) was the bad plan. Plan B (the army) would have worked if they hadn't just pissed off Terrable. Raguna would have been screwed trying to fight the whole army. But we'll have plenty to say about the empire soon.
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Oct 27, 2016 09:55
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Glazius posted:Forte actually is our entire standing army, isn't she? It's implied elsewhere that Norad has an army... but hell if I've ever seen them. They weren't protecting Kardia from the Sechs army in RF1. They didn't show up to fight Fiersome in RF2. RF3s conflicts didn't really prompt military intervention. And they're nowhere to be seen in this game. Nonetheless, Selphia's standing army isn't so much Forte (although she reports to Volkanon, so I guess it would be both of them). This town has a loving mayor god dragon. Who in their right mind would gently caress with this town? "In their right mind" being the key words there...
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Oct 28, 2016 02:03
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Rawkking posted:And it sounds like they failed due to a god dragon earlier when they tried to invade Norad in RF1, so maybe they decided to attempt to deal with all the dragon business before trying to take over the country again. Well they tried that in RF1 first. Plan A was "Summon random monsters and crap until we can get a dragon god, then bend the dragon to our will", and when that didn't work because Raguna stabbed it 47 times, Plan B was "I dunno, send tanks and soldiers and poo poo". Blind Duke posted:there are occasional soldier NPC's that wander around, but looking at the things they say it's a small comfort I kinda just assume those are kids in costumes who for some reason really like my curry bread when I sell it in the shop. Because if we had actual soldiers around here it wouldn't be up to me to go out and fight everything. Truthkeeper fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Oct 28, 2016 |
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Oct 28, 2016 02:51
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Since I have been and will continue to bring it up a lot, I present: A Brief Summary of Rune Factory 1 Like I said way back when, amnesiac protagonists are the thing in this series. A young man named Raguna, who couldn't remember anything about where he came from, woke up near a farm outside the town of Kardia, somewhere near the border between Norad and Sechs (Selphia is also on the border, and Kardia is visible from the observatory in town, as are the towns from the other games). The farm's owner gave the farm to him to work and live on and he quickly became ingrained with the locals. Kardia is surrounded by caves, usually mostly harmless, except recently monsters have been appearing in the caves, with unconfirmed reports (from the local kid obsessed with spelunking) of strange machines summoning the monsters. Raguna investigated a cave, fought some monsters, wrecked the machines, and found a boss monster at the end of the cave. Boss killed, all problems are solved forever! Rinse and repeat like half a dozen times. Eventually, Raguna figures out the the machines were built by soldiers of the Sechs Empire, who are trying to bind a legendary dragon called Grimoire to their will and use it to attack Norad. Raguna did kill a big badass dragon in one of the dungeons, but it wasn't Grimoire. He also fought and wrecked a single tank that required railroad tracks to operate. The dragon was a more interesting boss. Except! The machines summoning the monsters were actually unrelated to summoning Grimoire! The Sechs were the ones who wiped Raguna's memory and dumped him in Kardia. The monster summoning was just to get Raguna to come in and fight monsters and smash machines, which somehow harvested his Earthmate power. They used that harvested power to summon Grimoire, which turned out to the juvenile form of Terrable. Raguna stabbed it a bunch of times, sending it back to the Forest of Beginnings (it is important to remember that monsters you stab, slash, chop, or beat to death in these games do not actually die) so that plan didn't work out. The Emperor personally showed up and fired the general in charge, but Raguna managed to get her to not commit suicide, and to move to Kardia. Then the emperor remembers that he has an army of tanks, and brings them in. Raguna has the town evacuated and gets ready to fight multiple tanks that don't suck. Then Terrable shows up, full grown and kinda pissed about the whole mind control thing. and he wipes out the entire tank squadron by trapping them in roots and vines. The army is routed, Norad is saved. The ending suggested the king was the one who sent Terrable to save Kardia, which rather suggests that there might not be an army after all and it's a good thing the royal family is in good with at least some of the god dragons.
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Oct 28, 2016 03:28
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Sercerezo, the Land of Always Spring This little path a few screens south of Water Ruins has always been here… and always been blocked by trees. Art’s mighty fists have no power over wood. And there’s no room for Volkanon to get a running start to charge through them. Ah well, maybe I could jump off the airship or something to get in.  I'll get rid of those pesky trees. That is the mission to which I've been assigned. Taaahhh! Daaaaaahhhhh! Ooooooone mooooooooore!BUTLER POWER! BUTLER POWER! That’s not actually a joke on my part, that’s a real line he screams in combat.  You should be good to go now....I saw Mr. Volkanon do the same thing you just did. Is that something all butlers are trained for? I am a quick study, and trained very hard through any trials. So it required little effort on my part. ...Well, I wish that were the case, at any rate. In point of fact, Volkanon actually instructed me on how to do it. At any rate, my work is done here. So, I bid you adieu!I kinda wish I hadn’t come here alone, the text dump indicates that several villagers, including Dolce, would make comments here if they were in my party.  You know it’s spring because pink cherry blossoms. Because Japan.  Of course, the very first monsters we run into are palette swaps of the Woolies from way back in the beginning. Shmoolies are a hell of a lot beefier, but equally inept at fighting. A little bit of wandering brings me to a cave.  Could be. No way to really tell for certain.              Huh. Well, that was handy.  Never mind that...let's just move out! ...Venti, hang in there.Yeah, I could go charging into the cave full of enemy soldiers… or I could do literally anything else. I’m gonna go explore.  The mining rocks in the Sercerezo area drop sapphires. They’re sadly pretty useless, unless you desperately need an accessory to protect you from light elemental damage. The new metal for making the next tier of equipment is, unfortunately, in the cave. And the difficulty spike between Acts 1 and 2 is… noticeable. I’m gonna end up spending a long time slogging through the cave to get to a room where ore spawns and then farming that every day until I have enough gold to kit out my party. Or at least myself, the NPCs are effectively immortal anyway.  The land of always spring has a lake of always spring. I now have access to all four seasonal fishing spots, for what that’s worth. Still gonna have trouble winning fishing contests unless I break Dylas’ arms or something.  Also the spring field. It’s twice the size of the summer field, not quite as large as the winter field though. Of the four seasonal fields, this one’s the most useful, since so many crops grow best in spring. The chests had some seeds, to drive home the point.  I planted melons and flowers.  This area here is the central hub of Sercerezo, Daily Road. It has the annoying trait of changing layout every day, so certain parts of Sercerezo are only available on certain days.  East of Daily Road I found a useful hammer skill. It’s more useful with a spear or longsword though, since it involves spinning around to hit things, but still decent with fists.  This area is where I can catch fish in the ground. You know, those elusive ground fish you always hear about? Because that’s totally a thing?  This lonely tree, off at the furthest east edge of the hill, gives me one crystal flower seed per day for the current season. There are four colors of crystal flowers, one for each season, and annoyingly I need to grow them for future requests. But those requests come in order, starting from spring. I’ll have to grow my fall red crystal flower and keep it on hand until I have the requests for spring blue and summer green done.  Back in town, I ply Dolce with sweets.    I was going to invite her adventuring… but this first delve is best handled solo I think.  This is gonna suck. I’m 60 levels past the recommended level, so I can handle it, but it isn’t a pleasant experience. Overleveling in this game is no substitute for being appropriately geared.  And finding an empty treasure chest does not inspire confidence.    Gobble Boxes are stronger palette-swaps of Mimics. I can easily handle any one monster here just by keeping it locked down with my punch combo. It’s groups that I have issues with.     And that’s the gimmick of this dungeon. It’s full of one-way walls, forcing you to go in circles a lot. Also, fun with teleporters.  Clearing this room will open up the passage to the south and spawn a teleporter letting me hit the switch to the right. Also, note the monster gate, all of them are earth elemental in this dungeon. My next tier glove is earth elemental. Guess what obvious mistake I’m going to make.   They really wanted to hammer the one-way thing in.  Also, I found a fake wall. I could have sworn there were a couple of these in the Lava Ruins, but I never found any.  Mediparalyze! One of three status curing spells (along with Mediseal and Medipoison), these are all great to have on hand. But if I travel north, past the barriers lowered by the switches I fought my way to…     I think I would probably dribble you like a basketball.    Yeah, you didn’t see what happened to the last guy who turned into a Sechs Dragon. But there are still craters shaped like him in the Selphia town square if you want to get the idea.   How the hell would turning into a cat motivate you? Have you ever seen a motivated cat?    I admire his courage. Takes a brave man to go up to the boss and say “I want to use the ultimate godlike power we stole to turn into a catboy!”. Brave and stupid.     Huh, so they have keys to open the barriers, bypassing the elaborate teleporters and switch puzzles. That makes sense. And they were stupid enough to leave it open behind them. Although in the time they spent talking, I could have jumped them, beaten them to death, and stolen the keys, so maybe we’re all stupid here.  Ah well. With the barrier sealed, it’s back to elaborate teleporter/switch puzzles for me. Full of deadly things.  Like this ambush. The minotaurs will stomp me in melee while the Little Mages fireball me from a distance.  Or this lovely room full of poison gas.  And this lovely room full of exploding boxes (hitting any one of them starts a chain reaction that makes them all blow).  And this creepy talking fairy (which is clearly Art hallucinating, because if monsters can talk, than enslaving them like I do would be horrible). I could break her out and she’ll join me as just another fairy monster living in my barns. As she never talks again after that, I think it lends credence to my hallucination theory.  This is a lovely and very special pond that I will explain the details of later. I hosed up and made it harder to get to by hitting a switch. That’ll come back to bite me later.  And then I died and was gangraped by demons for all eternity.  Wait, no, the other thing. Woke up in the clinic, yeah, that’s it.  Conveniently, it’s the Fall Harvest Festival. I carry turnips in my pants for this reason. No other reasons.     I thought the appeals round was stupid the first time I played through this, but it grew on me. It makes an otherwise dull contest more fun.   Now you see, Leon is a massive troll, and the trick here is to troll him back. I thought this was the right answer, but it seems I was supposed to ask for a kiss. I only got the neutral response.    Wait, does sending out my slaves count? I think it does.    Just don’t tell her it’s genetically modified. Of course. So how did I do?    I’m kinda the only professional farmer in this town, they probably shouldn’t let me compete.  My reward, among various unimpressive items, contained this gaudy shirt. It’s the next tier of armor, and therefore pretty useful. But because I go a little nuts with my crafting and upgrading, it’s actually about the same as my current armor. I’ll make my own Sparkling Shirt that’s better than this one, and give this one to one of the ladies. Hey, wait… wasn’t there an event going on? Kinda lost track of that.  Welp. Walked in on Dylas just making GBS threads on the floor like an animal.  And Doug. Horses and dwarves, filthy beasts the lot of them.  How many rounds of arm wrestling have they gone through in my absence? Hahh! I win! That was a fluke! Oh really? Do it again! This time I won't lose! You're on!I think we might need to hold an intervention. Later, I have smithing to do.  I made a full set of golden tools. For some reason, gold makes them more effective, and not heavy and dull. Because JRPG. I also made golden shirts.  And a pair of gloves that incorporate gold somewhere. But no iron, no matter what that description says.  Snow is upon us! Why did we ever decide to live in a place with seasonal weather, and not a place where it’s spring or summer all the time ten minutes down the road?  Yeah, like I said, that’s gonna be a bit annoying to wait on. NEXT TIME: The astounding conclusion to the Doug/Dylas Arm Wrestling Championship, the Courtship of Miss Dolce, and yet another holiday based around turnips.
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Oct 29, 2016 04:17
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Born to be King, We’re the Princes of the Creepy Weirdos Hey, you know what we haven’t looked at in a really long time? The skill list!        Getting those weapon and magic skills pumped up, even the weapons I’ve been neglecting. Having most of the skills (I’m missing a couple Resist (Status) skills), this list is pretty loving long. We covered most of these already, but let’s look at the new ones. Status resistances are the main new addition. There’s one for each status (poison, sealed, paralyzed, sleep, and fatigue), as well as instant death. Most of those are self explanatory. Seals are this game’s version of the more standard silence. Paralyze prevents you from running. Fatigue makes you spend more RP to act. Any resist skill gains experience from either hit with that status or inflicting it on something. I had sleep attacks built into my weapons for a good portion of the game (from the thorns Ambrosia drops), hence having a fair amount of resistance built up. Very few monsters use fatigue attacks (and I don’t believe there’s any point to inflicting it on them, but a few upgrades make it possible) and instant death won’t pop up until the endgame. They all increase INT and VIT as well. The four crafting skills, besides their obvious uses, also increase stats. Cooking increases RP and VIT, Forging and Chemistry increase RP, INT, and VIT, and Crafting increases RP and INT. Searching is your ability to find treasure. Having a higher search score increases the probability of better items from chests. It’s increased by finding hidden treasure, and increases RP and INT. Bathing… does nothing. Like Walking, Sleeping, and Eating, this is just a skill to give free stat bonuses (HP, RP, and vitality) for bathing every day. Taming is the monster taming and training skill. In my experience, it acts as a cap on the total number of monsters you can have, and it increases the attack and defense of your monsters, and raises INT. Bartering is the skill for operating the shop. As it increases, more options become available for trying to push items. It takes a lot of experience in sales to know that if you offer a discount to a customer, they’re more likely to buy! It also increases INT. With that covered, I think it’s time to connect with the people of the village a little. Gonna take it easy and hang around town for a few days.  Okay, that’s a weird thing to point out to yourself Art. Where are you going with this?  Those are both questionable choices and I see no good coming of this. But sure, go ahead and stare at your potential girlfriend’s strange ghost friend/stalker.   ...Fresh. Ah, wait! I didn't mean anything by it, I swear!You chose… poorly. But if he instead stares at Dolce…  Well, that’s... very slightly better? I think the implication here is that creepily staring at women is best avoided in general. Anyway, what brings all the lovely ladies of the town together this afternoon? (Also please note Dylas and Doug are still passed out over in the corner)  I ordered Fried Udon. Sounds good. Would you like to try some? Oh, may I? Thank you, Forte. Mmmm... Um...?!That’s… not a standard reaction to somebody thanking you for letting them try your food. I think the implication here is that Margaret is violating somebody’s personal space again.  It's just the two of you? That's no fair! Clorica, say ahhh. Oh, Xiao Pai! Sure. Ahhh... ♪ Dolly, Dolly! Your turn! Say ahhhh! ♪Very few people follow Pico’s lead and call Dolce Dolly. Amber does it sometimes, and I think Nancy does a couple times. Dolce doesn’t seem the type to approve of childish things like nicknames (although you get to give a nickname to any girl when you start dating them. More on that… eventually, the RNG did not approve of our choice of romantic target). I, uh... I'm good, thanks! Ahhh... ♪ A-Ahh... Is it good?...Mm. It is.Right about now, Art probably wishes somebody would offer him something, he’s been creepily watching the whole table for several minutes now.  "Rrrrrgggg... I've never done that whole open-up-and-say-ahh thing before! And I waaaaaaannaaaaaa!!" It's your turn, Forte! Ah...Ah...ahhh...ah...ahh. Ah, aaahhh...Tonight, the part of Forte will be played by Count von Count. “One sword, ah hah hah! Two swords, ah hah hah!” C'mon, Forte. Ahhh! ♪ Are you gonna do the trick with the airplane next? Absolutely delicious, don't you think, Forte? This is so humiliating...This scene… was completely pointless. And I like that. I like that these characters interact with each other on their own with no need for Art to instigate things. I said early on that one of the things I like about this game is the amount of life they gave the characters, and this is a great example. As long as we’re here, Dolce could probably use some dessert.  Get used to it sweetiebritches, I bought two dozen of them from Porky. I should have made it myself, since you get extra points for handmade gifts, but I’m lazy sometimes. When romancing Dolce, for best results you need to reach her emotionally. The stuff she likes best seems to all relate to her childhood. Flans and cakes and pies she remembers her mother making for her and Pico, and moondrop flowers which aren’t a favorite gift, but she likes them well enough, and they get a specific dialogue response. Otherwise, any hot beverage, any medicine, and any kind of cloth or string (because she likes to sew) are all good gift choices. I believe you can get a positive response confessing your love to a girl with a romance score of 6 hearts or higher (on a scale of ten hearts, although the meter goes up to 100 if you’re crazy dedicated). Dolce… held out longer than that.        Poor Art. This is not the last time he’s gonna get shot down. And life continued on like this for a few days. Then I remembered that I left a pair of idiots in the restaurant.   And then it was called a draw, I guess, because the event ends there.  The Telecommunicator is used to board the airship. The purchasable one can be put anywhere. I’m still lazy, so I’m putting this one in my room so I don’t have to walk two screens to get to the main one in town.  This place is getting a little crowded.  Turnip Flurry. Turnip Festival. Bean Toss. Considering how much people around here love throwing poo poo at each other, we should really just start a baseball league.       Turnips and Failed Dishes spawn randomly on the ground. Throw Failed Dishes to stun (it’s too short to be worth the effort), white turnips for points, gold turnips for more points. It’s easier than the other contests based on throwing things. So how did we do?    I probably shouldn’t be allowed to compete anymore. I’m like *insert skilled sportsball player here* playing in the kiddy leagues.   This makes little sense. Another dialogue says she makes Pico’s clothes herself (sort of). Although I agree Pico’s outfit is kind of silly looking, but we already know Art likes it, for some reason.  No luck this time either (that’s four failed attempts so far).  Oh, hey. There's a bird's nest above my door.That’s… not very unusual and an odd thing to take note of.     See, that’s what I was talking about! Plot hole, plot hole! Okay, if that’s the biggest plot hole I can complain about, there’s nothing worth complaining about here. The “Ventuswill can’t leave Selphia except for the times when she leaves Selphia” thing is worse, and I’ve given up on that one.  Number 5, still rejected. How many days in a row can you confess your undying love before you should be handed a restraining order?  Back at the castle, Act 2 has brought a big quality of life change to the Order board. So what’s up elsewhere? Say, the local general store? Hello, Art. Did you notice? Notice what? The bird's nest above your door. Yeah, I saw that. Oh, so you did. I'm thinking that may just be Twinkle's nest. "Twinkle?" Yes. That was the name of a bird who lived in this town a long, long time ago. It liked anything that twinkled, you know. And if it could, it would make off with it. It was such a little scoundrel. Do you think it's come back? I'm not sure.  Damned ancient bird. Aah. So maybe this is that bird's grand-chick, then. It just may be. But in any case, you be careful, okay? Don't leave anything out where Twinkle might get it.Did we not just finish establishing that it probably isn’t the same bird? Although we should probably get rid of it anyway. I’ll go shoot fireballs at my front door until one mysteriously “misses”.  Ten.  These people sure do love their silly and pointless contests. It’s almost like I’m really playing Animal Crossing! And they don’t get much sillier or more pointless than the Quiz Contest. This one is great.  Oh dear, now what? Huh? Whew. It seems that was close. What's wrong? There was a bird, earlier. It liked to dive at my head. So I escaped inside here. I was rather scared.And so you wanted me to avoid opening the door and risking it coming in… so you told me after I had already opened the door and come in? A bird? Yes. I don't think I did anything to make it want to dive at me. Maybe it was after your hairpin. My hairpin? I heard it likes glittery things. So maybe it liked your hairpin and tried to take it. Ah. I see. It seems I'll have to walk outside with my hands on my head, then. We can’t have wildlife menacing our townsfolk!... Except for when I throw birds at them, that’s hilarious.  I grew and cut down a twinkle tree (presumably unrelated to the bird of the same name, but the coincidence amuses me). Twinkle trees can drop this rather powerful upgrade item.  It increases the range of your weapon, giving my gloves almost as much range as a short sword. It’s possible to boost that up to hitting across the entire screen, but there are limits to what I’m willing to do… I might do it later.  I got lucky on another trip to Sercerezo, and the western path from Daily Road was open, taking me to this little spring. This isn’t Zelda, so I didn’t throw a weapon in, that would be stupid. I threw a giant melon in.   It gave me a hat. A rather decent little hat for this point in the game, but it could be better. How? Wait. Your patience will be rewarded. (This can be done once per day at each of four fountains, but this one is only available one day per week, annoyingly).  Thirteen.  Oh no, what calamity has the bird wrought this time? They're not here. Or here... Or even here! I can't find my glasses anywhere!Please don’t do the “they’re on your face gag”… why do I even bother asking? Um, what are you doing? O-oh! Art.  You mean the ones you're wearing?Yeah, everybody saw that one coming. No, no, a different pair. One that is a touch more stylish.If they’re more stylish why not wear them? (Asks the man with three pairs of identical glasses and no clue what makes any given pair stylish) Oh. Then no, I haven't. I see. I believe that bird must have taken them.TWINKLE YOU MANIAC! A bird? Yes. I noticed an unfamiliar bird on my windowsill earlier. I thought to feed it some crumbs, so I opened the window... And it took your glasses. Yes. I was hoping they might have been dropped somewhere around here.But it looks like that isn't the case. This is all my own fault for being so careless. It really is. Let’s leave Arthur to his misery.  Because it’s QUIZ TIME!   I wonder how much you have to pay Volkanon to get him to declare you the favorite to win. Or maybe there’s a betting pool going on and he actually is keeping track of the odds. In which case I totally need to get in on that.  No good could possibly come from this, but at least it’s entertaining.      I dunno, I’ve played just enough Tides to know that there’s nothing good overseas.   Why the hell are we all standing outside in the dead of winter listening to Porcoline make bad jokes?       Who did Porcoline bribe to take over this contest again?      Of course it is.    Really Lumie? You’d think the World’s Greatest Detective would notice that everybody else disagrees with her.      The contest keeps score by dropping produce on the ground. Art is Apples, Illuminata is Oranges, Amber is Grapes, and Leon is Mushrooms. Sadly, they despawn when the contest ends.  I loving hope not.   Well said Art, well said.  This is one of the little things that makes this contest fun: cheating like a motherfucker. You can push people out of the square to make them lose the point. It’s tricky, but a good way to get ahead.  I didn’t catch the question on this one, but clearly everybody was right.  This is something we’re expected to know?  Boo! Trick question, I call foul!  Given what we’ve seen of Xiao Pai’s personality, it wouldn’t surprise me if 100 people have hit on her and she just assumed they wanted her to pass it along to her mother.    Volkanon, you uh… seem to have completely missed answering the question. Are you sure you’re a butler and not a politician?  Yeah I know, I’ve been meaning to tell him to shut up all day.  Oh boy. COMMERICALS!       We really need to have a balcony where Blossom and Dolce can sit and heckle through this whole thing.  That infers that money went into some part of this event. What, did we need sponsors to buy the paint to make the O and X on the ground?   Sorry, but I have no intention of going along with a joke made in such poor taste.   Kinda gives me an unfair advantage, don’t you think?   Not that I need to cheat to stay ahead, but it gives me something to do.   No idea. I’m sure whoever it was is as brilliant and dashing as he is handsome and strong.     Nah, I just lose some PP. No big deal, but you don’t actually get to go in either, so there’s no point.     People, just go with it. You know we aren’t going to understand what the hell he’s talking about anyway.       What are final rounds that make entire games completely pointless?     My need for huge numbers demands MORE PORCOINS!   SILENCE! I am your prince, and I demand more Porcoins!    This one… actually does come up in a conversation with Jones and/or Nancy, I believe.  There ain’t enough room for all of us on this square… but I didn’t manage to push anybody out in time.       Yes! I’m the greatest! Alright, that one’s done, no more silly contests for a while!  gently caress! Next time: Zen and the Art of Catching Squid, Wooing Wintry Women for Dummies, Twinkle Twinkle Little Dwarf
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Nov 4, 2016 09:39
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Dr. Fetus posted:It really seems like confessing to the same person more than once per day has no effect. If a confession is rejected, you'll have to try again on the next day. Correct. All those confessions were different days.
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Nov 4, 2016 10:34
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Haifisch posted:Fun fact: You actually can grab some of the fruit used to keep score, you just have to be really quick. If it counted toward the request for harvesting various kinds of fruit, I would have jumped on them. I waited way too long before getting my fruit tree seeds.
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Nov 5, 2016 05:18
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Raiders of the Lost Pendant I’ve been growing a lot of these giant melons, sickling them down for seeds, and replanting, until now. Level 10 pink melons are mine! They didn’t need to be giant, but it amused me.     This request pretty much requires waiting until act 2. I think it might be possible to get a crop to level 10 using just a silver sickle and incredibly beefed up soil, but I couldn’t pull it off until I had a gold sickle.  What happened? Just a little while ago, I was ringing up a customer when this bird came flying in! It swooped right towards the customer's coins and tried to take them! ...That sounds like Twinkle. Was everything okay? Did it get the coins? No, it didn't. Porco came by and caught it in the nick of time. I was shocked, though! I mean, who knew Porco could be so quick!The power of a fat man who has seen his next meal. O-oh, okay. So what did he do with the bird? He let it go outside. He's very kind to animals, y'know.Oh. Well. Now I kinda feel bad for implying he was gonna eat it. It's like, every now and again, he'll show flashes of how cool adults can be. Surprising, I know. I don’t like this implication that we aren’t adults. This game is squicky enough is it is.   Yes. He is so cool and adult.  I’ve also been working on befriending Leon. He likes poisonous foods (certain plants and fish). Because he’s a creepy loving weirdo.   So basically, you’re going to eat it.  Fourteen. BUT WAIT! I-I'm sorry. N-no! It isn't that... GAH?! "Dolly is mine! MINE, you hear?" Um... *HISSSSSS* I-I'll see you tomorrow! Huh? "Dolly?!" Let's meet there.Well, things are looking up! Don’t gently caress this up Art.  Also, contest time! Again!     I’d take offense to the implication that Dylas can beat me… but fishing is kinda his thing, and we’ve already seen how hard he is to beat.  Now, this should actually be a nice easy one to win. I’m in Act 2 and have access to Idra Cave, where there’s a pond full of nothing but squid. Except for two minor issues. Idra Cave is still a bit tough to just breeze through, so it takes time to get to that pond. And I changed the route required to get to it by hitting a switch last time I was here, so it takes even longer.  Before, I could have just come in from the west, where that purple barricade is. There’s also the minor issue of the pond having a finite number of fish I can catch, so I have to leave the screen and reenter every time I catch them all, killing a demon every time I reenter. It’s just one, so it isn’t difficult, just annoying and time consuming. The results?    Dylas must be having an off day. But the point is that I won, therefore I’m awesome and everybody else sucks. Meanwhile, over at our friendly local general store…  Doug. Could you take this, too? What, there's more? Ugh. Where do you want this to go? Over there. Eesh. How the hell did the bird get in here? Oh my. Are you little Twinkle? You haven't changed a bit in all these years. I'm sorry, dear, but there's nothing here for you to take.Blossom, that is almost certainly not the same bird that stole your poo poo decades ago. Somebody get the old lady her meds! Apparently the bird didn’t take kindly to the mistake, because it tackled her, as birds are wont to do.  Are you okay? Y-yes, I'm fine. Wait...your pendant! It's gone! ...? How odd. I knew I put it on this morning. That bird. That thing must've taken it! Don't worry, I'll go get it back right quick! No, Doug. It's okay. It's not okay! That pendant is important to you, right? Well, yes. It was important. But how would you get it back? You certainly can't clamber all the way up to its nest.Never underestimate the ingenuity of a dwarf. Especially a stupid one. Why not? It'd be a piece of cake! What if you fell and got hurt? No. Forget about the pendant. I will be fine without it as long as you are safe. C'mon, don't be such a worrywart! I'll be fine! Wait here, I'll go get it back quick!Famous last words. I’ll go get started on digging his grave. I'll go check on him.Or, you know, that. …Blossom? Oh, I'm sorry, dear. Watching Doug just reminded me of my younger self, is all. Long ago, I went to get a pendant back from Twinkle, just like he's doing. The nest was right in the same place, too. You see, Twinkle had taken my mother's precious necklace. It was very important to her. I was still young, but I remember how angry I was about that. So I did precisely what Doug is doing right now. You know, sometimes the two of you seem like a real family.Yeah, if you assume that being a hotheaded moron is genetic. Oh? You think so? Yes. Some days, I wish we were a true family, too.It’s a sappy sentiment, but frankly these two are family in all the ways that matter. The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, yadda yadda. Now then, will you please go and check on him for me? I don’t even have to imply the sarcasm, Art took care of it for me. Yes. Hurry on, now. Well, he’s definitely climbing the castle wall. In the middle of a snowstorm. I'm going to go get that pendant back for Granny Blossom! Wait. It's too dangerous to try and climb all the way up there. I like that they actually went to the trouble to draw up a new sprite for Doug for just this scene to show him from the back.  I feel like they could have done this for a few other scenes to good effect, but at least they put forth the effort here. T here you go... That's a good birdie...stay still... Hmm? Did I step on something? ...A pair of glasses?Welp. Sorry Arthur, but your stuff doesn’t matter. Oh well, who cares about those? I've gotta find that pendant. AHA! Twinkle has become enraged! Ow! Ow ow owww! W-watch it! Ouch! Uh-oh...It’s a little hard to see since I missed grabbing a shot when the talking heads were offscreen, but Twinkle knocked Doug back and he’s hanging from the ledge there on the right.  And then he fell, only to be caught by a green whirlwind that slowed him down.  Are you all right?! You aren't hurt, are you?! I...I'm fine. I didn't break anything. Goodness, you stubborn child! How could you do something so dangerous?! Sorry... That is not enough, young man! I-I'm very sorry, Granny. That is not what I meant! Urk... Honestly, why must you always do such dangerous things?Yeah, like… honestly, I got nothing. Aside from his idiotic plan to kill a dragon god king on behalf of an evil empire that was clearly lying to him, I can’t say I’ve seen Doug take a lot of risks. Sh-shut up! DOUG! Urk...! I...I just wanted to get your pendant back. *SIGH* I'm glad you were trying to do something nice for me, Doug. But I do not recall asking you to do something that would make me worry! Please...don't do anything that could get you hurt anymore. I'm not a kid, y'know... How about you just apologize?He did that, it wasn’t what Blossom wanted to hear. Art! ...I'm sorry I worried you. You had better be! Did you get the pendant? Yeah. Here. This pendant... Is the one that my mother wore. It was her most cherished possession. Thank you, Doug.I get the feeling Blossom just repeated this whole scolding from memory based on when she went after Twinkle to retrieve the pendant. ...It was nothing.But one big question still remains…   Nah, it was probably just a passing airbender. If you do this scene while Venti isn’t passed out and dying, Art instead asks her about it directly. You were the one who saved Doug, right? I have no idea what you are talking about. Uh-huh. Sure. Is that something you really have to hide? Hmph. Mortal problems are best solved by mortals. It is not the place of one such as I to interfere. But you did still save him, right?...S-silence! Today was a...a special case! It was just this once! Understand?!Yeah, this is pretty much the only time in the game she does something to help anybody besides Art. She isn’t a very good god. Maybe we need to make more offerings. BRING ME ALL THE PANCAKES! But enough musings on stupid dwarves and unhelpful gods, I’ve got a woman to woo! And that means showing up early in the town square!    Empty air is probably a bad sign, but asking about Pico was probably not the best way to fill it. Still, it’s what I went with.   Of course.      No, I routinely stalk people and assault them with pumpkin desserts as part of elaborate pranks.     You know what? Pico’s alright in my book.    We’ve noticed.   This has also been established.  Again, no new information here.  That’s why you have Pico to translate for you.    This is… a perfectly normal response to someone saying they love you?  This is more normal.     AND THEN THEY ALL hosed! Or not.     Hey! Whoa! We only just started dating, a little early to start picking out baby names.   Oh, right, pet names. I do not approve, especially since the names offered up here are a little silly sounding. I suspect this scene was originally deciding on honorifics. One of those bits of Japanese almost never translates well.   So no, Art stays Art.       But… I don’t have one. We just decided that.    Are those typos at the bottom, or just really cutesy nicknames? I don’t want to find out. Now the appropriate choice in my mind would have been to skip a nickname for Dolce as well… but… she did insist that she wanted one.     It’s her own fault really.   I don’t really, but it’s too late to change our minds now! (Until we get married, then I have the option to change it) Nobody deserves Doosee-Doo though. And it could be worse. You get the option to call Amber ‘Master’. That got really old really fast.    Now that we’re dating, Dolce’s name box is pink. I guess in case I forget?  Oh, right, there’s still that devil bird to contend with. Snatching people's belongings, making Doug do dangerous things, goodness what a troublesome bird!Yes. Twinkle put a gun to Doug’s head and forced him to climb up a building. For all that, you look pretty happy about this all. Hee hee hee! I'm not, you know. Not one bit. Oh yes. I'd like to give this to you. What is it? Something I made. It's the same as the one I gave to Doug. I hope you don't mind. Thank you. I don't expect you to make an heirloom of it, but I hope you do take care of it. It’s total poo poo, sadly. I’m pretty sure Bado sells these, so I kinda doubt she made it.  That’s what she said. Literally. She literally said that.  I don’t know if ghosts can grind crafting skills, but it couldn’t hurt to try.  Dating is the main thing I can do with Dolce now that we’re dating. This message brought to you by the Redundant Department of Redundancy Department.     Please. Your social life consists of me, a creepy voyeur who’s probably going to record us having sex, and lunch with the other girls.  Because when I think of good date spots in the dead of winter, I think of going to the lake!   When you’re dating someone, get used to meeting them at 10AM in the town square.    You fill me with confidence m’lady. I’ll wear my finest fedora. NEXT TIME: Dating and hats.
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Nov 8, 2016 08:12
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Zagglezig posted:Should this one be the old lady? I swore up, down, and sideways that it had to be, but the screenshot log very clearly shows it was Art speaking.  Glazius posted:I'm not sure if I should be more worried or less worried that there are going to be actual dates involved in romance instead of 80 10 a.m. pizzas and a blue feather. Well, there's still throwing a gift of food at her every morning, and a craftable ring instead of a blue feather, but yeah, you have to be dating a girl before you can marry her, and go on dates to various locations around town. Also, whenever a person you're dating is in your party, villagers you pass by will comment on it. Everybody has a voiced sentence to say about it. Also, you can totally string along multiple girls. I once played all of them at once, but that's loving hard, since every girl you're dating makes it progressively harder to start dating another. RF2 had the best marriage mechanic, each girl had her own quest that you had to complete in order to marry her. RF4 has a simpler but still interesting mechanic that we'll get to... at some point. I would like to get married before Act 3 though. Haifisch posted:It probably did - when I dated Forte in my run, one set of name options was the normal names. As a separate option from "just like always is fine." That one's in there with a few girls I seem to recall. It also explains some of the sillier names like "Lil Art" (Art-chan or Art-kun, presumably).
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Nov 9, 2016 08:51
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Romance and Hats     We’re in a medieval society. I’m pretty sure that I could literally own you if I gave your father a few of my monsters. Probably a good thing her father is long dead and I’m kinda attached to my monsters.  I may have passed out from cooking in the morning a couple hours before the big date, but I made it in time. You actually get a fairly generous window for meeting up for dates. She said 10:00, but I could have come as early as 9:00, or fairly late (I’ve never been later than noon, so I don’t know how long she’ll wait). If you don’t show up at all, the girl will be pissed for a few days, and you’ll have to crawl in the mud and debase yourself to earn forgiveness. It’s better to just not stand her up.      Hey Pico, you mind taking off for… literally anywhere else? You’re throwing off my game.    Popular media tells me it’s appropriate to get a girl flowers. Most women I’ve known don’t care for them.  Well, poo poo, how’s that for timing? Although if I’d known it was her birthday I would have shat out a cheesecake or something.  Seriously Pico, I appreciate the translation, but scram!  Hey, this was your dumb idea. I would have preferred… literally anywhere else.  It’s a good thing Art isn’t as much of an rear end in a top hat as I am.     Really? We’re splashing in the freezing cold water now? Dolly clearly has unresolved inner child issues.    And Art is just a moron.   Phrasing?   Douse yourself in water and repent!  This outcome was obvious. Let this be a lesson: don’t play in the lake in loving winter.   A) What light clothes? You’re wearing the same overly complex knee length dress you always wear. B) Why the hell are you wearing light clothes for hanging around outdoors in loving winter. C) Dolly you are kinda dumb.   Hot drinks are one of Dolce’s preferred gifts. She doesn’t love them as much as cakes, but they’re equal with moondrop flowers.       Art you are full of fail both in planning and execution. The poor girl has a cold because you were screwing around in the lake. Stop trying to pretend you have game and get her some drat tea.     It’s like watching a pair of preteens. Stupid ones.   Pico, I’d be upset at you ruining the moment if the moment wasn’t really dumb.   You forgot about her hot drink dumbass.  The appropriate end to a date is to walk the girl home, after all.  By which I literally mean walk back to her house, then break the party.   Well, it’s still a more successful date than some I can think of. Of course, once you break up your party, your party members immediately get back on track with whatever they were going to be doing. So Dolly just follows me outside.  Art, is your head injury flaring up again? Did you already forget that you just got your girlfriend sick screwing around in the water?  Harsh.     It would be rude not to say it, and Art already failed to say it earlier.      That does seem a little odd. And I’m not sure I have anything to give Pico. This is awkward.   Well that’s convenient.  You just told me.   Well said Dolly.   At this point, my ability to make kickass equipment starts being limited by monsters dropping materials. I’ve been working on growing some four leaf clovers, and I fished up a few rare cans during the fishing contests. Both of these items are said to increase the item drop rate when you use them to upgrade gear (some say any gear, others say weapons only). So I made a Happy Ring, which itself increases drop rates, and rolled a clover and a can into it.  Also, while I’ve neglected my main farm (I’m growing grass and fruit trees on one field and using the other three for lumber and stone), I’ve got a fine crop of hot-hot fruit ready to harvest. My flowers need a little more time.  I use the hot-hot fruit to mass produce Formuade. I can’t recommend using it for combat buffs, taking a 50% hit to max HP is too harsh for my liking. But it’s spectacular for restoring RP for crafting. And more importantly, sells for a decent price. I’m just grinding chemistry up right now, but it’s nice to make a little money doing it.  Everything from here is more complicated.  You might recall this fairy I visited, who gave me a hat in exchange for a giant melon. You can repeat that trade every day, but this fairy is only accessible one day per week, annoyingly. The others are available every day.  And there’s another fairy in the winter area, who trades a different hat if you throw her a flower. I’ve already collected one from a fairy in the summery Selphia Plains, in exchange for a rock, and another on Autumn Road in exchange for an emerald. But why did I bother?     Well, they’re all good hats in their own right for the time that they first become available, but I’m after something bigger.  By your powers combined, I am Four Seasons! This right here is the best hat available in act 2. I wanted to have one much sooner, but got screwed by Daily Road, it took me a few weeks to figure out that the route to the Spring Fairy is open on Tuesdays. I’m going to need to get more headdresses and make more for Dolce and Forte. But I don’t wanna wear a flowery headband! I want my jaunty red cap back!  You of course remember this snazzy cap I wore for a long time back in act 1. Well it’s time to get snazzy. By crafting another Fancy Hat, and using the Four Seasons as a crafting material for it…  I got a Fancy Hat with Four Seasons Stats. This is useful for making gear with the appearance of something else, but you can also use it to add the special effect of one accessory to another. It’s fairly common in the endgame to be wearing a pair of boots with a couple more pairs rolled into them.        As much as I would love to make a joke along the lines of “Step back little missy and let the man handle things here”, I think it’s actually funnier to just stare at her. Also, I’m actually really bad at opening bottles and jars.   It actually just repeats until you offer to try opening it though.    Dolce, you have watched Art pummel several hundred monsters into a fine paste. Are you really doubting his strength?    Well that was anticlimactic.     I didn’t see you offering to open it Pico.  You aren’t making a good case for yourself here Art.       Is the implication here that Dolce is so impressed with Art’s display of manly strength that she’s lost herself to fantasy? Because by that logic she should have been ripping his clothes off after watching him pummel monsters for a few hours.           I would hope she was already looking at Art as a man, or this relationship is going to go in an unexpected direction. I suppose it still could go in that direction once I unlock the ability to change Art’s sprite.  Ouch. Harsh.   Dolce, I think you have a problem. Talk to Margaret, I’m sure she has some kind of sex toys she’d be willing to share with you.  No he really isn’t.  I had a second Spring Headdress, so I made a Four Seasons for Dolce, and turned hers into a straw hat. Dolce’s hat is kinda glitchy, and often changes randomly from screen to screen between what she’s actually wearing and her default silk hat. NEXT TIME: The depths of Idra Cave and the true test of my ability to not make jokes about Sechs sounding like sex. Truthkeeper fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Nov 14, 2016 |
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Nov 11, 2016 08:32
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Glazius posted:Four Seasons is a pretty neat concept, even if it doesn't seem like super-endgame gear. It is the best hat available in Act 2, and good enough to serve throughout. It's useless in Act 3 of course, where I'll need to stack my stats through the roof, but that's life.
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Nov 14, 2016 08:22
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 This loving cave.  More specifically, this loving floor of this loving cave.  But I made it past the bullshit with the one-way walls, from here on it’s just a matter of punching my way to victory.  This barrier only drops when the button next to it is weighed down, or if a character or monster is standing on the barrier. It’s meant to trick you into walking through and getting stuck, having to circle around again. But I have cleverly bypassed it by weighing down the button.  An earth-elemental spirit, Gaias. My current weapon defaults to earth-elemental, which made fighting these guys when I was trying to get to the pond for squid fishing contest extra fun.  A portal back to the entrance and a save point? Clearly there can be nothing dangerous beyond this point!  I’d call it an abrupt change in architecture.  That’s a dragon. That’s a god. That’s a god dragon. THAT’S loving TERRABLE. And that’s terrible.   ...the Divine Dragon Terrable... one of the legendary Native Dragons governing the world. Yes, my lord. Although it's not complete, as the research is still in progress. This is...one of the powers I've been waiting for... My lord! It's too dangerous! Please, stay away! Mwa ha ha... This is the Rune Sphere's...! With this, I can wield the powers of an Earthmate! It can be all mine... It's MAGNIFICENT! MWA-HA-HA-HA!!How many violations of the Evil Overlord List can you count in just this one conversation? I count at least four. Hey!! Give me back the Rune Spheres!! Who goes there?! My lord, please step back!...You look familiar... Oh, you're the Earthmate from Selphia! How do you know about me?That’s a very good question. I didn't expect to see you here. My name is Ethelberd. I rule the Sechs Empire. The Emperor of Sechs...?!Were you recently promoted from the grand vizier of cocksucking? Earthmate of Selphia. Did you enjoy the gift I sent you? Gift...? That soldier who bore your precious Rune Sphere. I knew he'd fall short in the face of an Earthmate... but I just wanted to say... "hello."...Because of him, Venti and Doug... Doug? ...Who's that? He's the spy we sent to Selphia, sir. The dwarf we manipulated after destroying his town. Hmph. I don't recall. How can you forget something like that?!For you, the day the Sechs Empire attacked your town was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday. More importantly...behold, Earthmate! It's Terrable, the Native Dragon! I've used the Rune Sphere 's power to create it!Last time you used a series of machines to harness the power of an Earthmate to summon it from the Forest of Beginnings and enslave it. I guess this was probably easier. It's stunning...just stunning! The ancient magic you've all created is simply brilliant!I think we should all slowly back away and leave the emperor of syphilis alone with his dragon. You...! Mwa ha ha! Don't you wish you could experience its strength? Show me, Earthmate.  Wai—“Wait” you say. Does he look like a waiter?   As a knight of the divine dragon, are you allowed to fight other divine dragons?    Terraclone is an easy fight compared to the rest of this shithole dungeon. He breathes poison gas, drops meteors, and ranged rock spikes. Pretty identical to how Terrable fought in RF1, except that fight was in a much larger room, it’s harder to maneuver in here.  But it’s just a lovely clone, not the real deal, so he still gets put down.   ...I did it. Somehow... But the Rune Spheres ... If that's the kind of power they hold... what will happen should the town be attacked?  Punching it a few dozen times seemed to work pretty well, I’m gonna stick with that strategy.  Arthur? What are you doing here?! Well, as I said before, I am technically a prince.Technically, of course, because nobody around here cares. Huh? It's only natural that I come for a personal visit in this time of crisis, no? Heh. I was only joking, of course. Oh... Of course you were! Ha ha...ha. ...My apologies. Please don't mind my...lack of humor.You tried. W-well...I mean... The crisis had already passed. At least, the one that took place here. What do you mean?I mean you should have literally passed the loving emperor of loving on your way in. Well...And then all was explained in a cutaway, because the writers couldn’t figure out any way to explain this that didn’t make it sound like Art is high as hell. I see. I had no idea things had gotten so extreme. But at least we now know for sure that the Sechs have stolen the Rune Spheres .We knew that already. Because of the soldier. From Sechs. Who attacked the town. With the Rune Spheres. Arthur you are an idiot. The problem lies in the power they possess. I knew it was strong enough to support Lady Ventuswill... But even Terrable...? Anyway, we need to take back the Rune Spheres . That's right. Our goal has not changed. So how are things back in the town? Oh, no need to worry about that. With Mr. Volkanon, Forte and countless other skilled guards on duty... no enemies would be able to set even one foot within its gates!Forte isn’t on duty, she’s here, with me, saving the drat world. I've also finished most of my tasks as prince.What tasks? You compile farming data and run a questionable item shop, with an import/export business of questionable legality on the side. You made me do your actual prince work, which for some loving reason involves running a loving farm. I see. I'm glad to hear that. But it'll probably take a while for the reinforcements to come. A crisis for Lady Ventuswill is equally a crisis for this kingdom. The royal capital must be quite panicked after such a dramatic report! It'll take them some time to sort everything out and actually send us the help we need.So what you’re saying is that the king and central government are completely loving useless, and when this is over we should rise up in revolt and overthrow the monarchy? But, that should be no problem. We're well-manned as it is.Yeah, we have one knight, and some butlers, and a guy who punches stuff! And a number of guys who dress like soldiers but never seem to be around when poo poo is going down. So...you came here because...? I came here because I was officially ordered to find you... and ask you to return to town until reinforcements arrive...Though, to be honest, I am a bit worried. To think the Sechs would go this far! I'll have to make sure I report this to the king at the first available opportunity. Art...? I need to catch up with them. The longer I can keep them busy, the better our chances, right? That's true, but— What's more... I want Venti to get better as soon as possible. I want us to share stupid stories and make fun of each other again, like we always do. To be honest, that's exactly what I was hoping you'd say. Huh...? Now is the time both to be cautious and collect as much information as possible. And the person who's most suited to do that is you. Art...  Arthur, stop pretending you have any relevant opinion here. Nobody cares about you. Arthur... I've been reflecting on what's happened thus far. Oh? When the town was invaded... I was so disturbed that I lost my ability to make sound judgments. As a result, you had to take on everything yourself.Really? Is that why you never bothered to put in an appearance? Because you “lost your ability to make sound judgments”? Are you sure you weren’t just hiding under your bed? That's not— That's why... I would like to officially ask of you, as the prince of this kingdom... ...to track down the Sechs and stop them. In the meantime, I will do what I can as well. And this time, let's be sure we save Lady Ventuswill. Failure is not an option! We will win her back, or die trying.It’s a nice little speech Arthur, but refer back to what I said about what you want not mattering. I’m already doing that.  I truly appreciate all you're doing. You managed to defeat Terrable, so I have no doubt you're up to the task. The only problem is... where did they go? In which case, he must be headed toward the border. The border between the Sechs Empire is in the winter area , west of Autumn Road. There's a single bridge at the westmost point in Norad Kingdom. Please head there first. I'll find them. I know you will. I have faith in you. But please, don't push yourself too hard. All right? Same goes for you, Arthur.Because Arthur is pushing himself so hard, writing the occasional letter home begging daddy for help. I oughta drag him along and make him fight the next boss solo. Right. Let's do everything we can.And so we had a plan!  Which I put off in favor of seeing my lady to her home.  And fulfilling more requests. NEXT TIME: A side boss, a broken bridge even the power of a butler cannot surpass, and more Sechs Soldiers that I’ll inevitably use a single portrait to represent.
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Nov 14, 2016 08:28
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Zagglezig posted:So if the emperor is personally tramping around here, who's running the empire? Did he get his own protagonist-ish character to deal with Emperor duties like Arthur and Venti got you to? He does seem like the kind of guy who would have a treacherous vizier, or an insidious advisor, or maybe just a son looking to knock off the old man and take over. Haifisch posted:This update has A+ timing with the end of the Rune Factory 1 LP. (Go read it if you haven't, the game itself is bad but it makes RF4 Ethelberd seem even more hilariously petty) It's interesting that you bring that up. It isn't very clear yet, but our future interactions with Ethelberd will show that he took the events of that game very poorly.
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Nov 15, 2016 00:03
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Glazius posted:You know, for all the awesome powers of nature, as an actual weapon it's probably going to get beat in the cost-effectiveness department by, like, Greek fire. gently caress the WMDs of the ancient world, the Sechs have guns and tanks. Somehow they're still not an effective fighting force.
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Nov 16, 2016 03:41
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Stupid Sechsy Soldiers Alright, so Arthur said to go as west as west can go. He also said to go to the winter area west of Autumn Road, which is half right. We’ve talked about the first winter area, where the winter field and the out of sequence enemies are. But where we’re actually going is down by the autumn field. A dungeon that I could have done the first few rooms of at any time since Autumn Road opened up, except stuff here was way too tough to handle back then for no real reward. Annoyingly, you can’t take the airship to the autumn field during this time. Here are the rails, now follow them.  So I chase these guys down on foot. It’s better not to wonder how I managed to catch up given the head start they had. He’s running west, getting the gently caress out of Norad, but I can probably catch him at the bridge and kick his rear end.  That’s… odd, but hardly seems to be anything worth worrying about.  Oh gently caress me sideways. Whatever will we do, they have destroyed a bridge. If only I had an aerial means of conveyance, or butlers trained in the art of bridge building. But alas, we are doomed!  I agree Art, this is slightly inconvenient.  I don’t think that’s the word you were looking for Art, but the idea is sound.  No, you really don’t have to. You are already capable of taking the airship to the other side of the bridge, no royal letter writing required.  Not yet. I see. In any case, please don't push yourself too hard. Well...actually, I have a bit of a favor to ask! What is it? I seem to have reached an impasse while chasing the Sechs. And it seems like the only way to go any farther is from above. I see. In that case, I'll try to secure you the use of an airship. In which case, you can just fly to the Maya Road entrance directly.I have an airship license already. I realize they wrote this so that you could still proceed if you weren’t bothering to get licenses, but this is just loving lazy. This entire conversation was completely pointless. Thank you very much! My pleasure. I also have something to report. I've sent word to the royal capital about the current situation and possible countermeasures. Reinforcements should be arriving soon. There was a lot of confusion at first, with everything that happened to Lady Ventuswill... but they seem to have calmed down enough now to take action. What remains is figuring out just how much power the Sechs have... and how to counteract it. So, Art. Please try your best to find the Sechs and save Lady Ventuswill.Spoiler alert! Those reinforcements never show up. Or even get mentioned again, so far as I can remember. I will. Now, I should get back to work. Arthur... Please protect the town, and all the wonderful people in it. You take care of yourself as well, Art. And so I regained the ability to fly to the autumn field. This area, one screen north of that field, leads to Maya Road. They could have made this less pointlessly stupid just by having the bridge be one screen to my left, between here and Maya Road. Also, I’m not going in there immediately, I got poo poo to do. Saving the world can wait. Because while I’ve been chasing soldiers and chatting with Arthur? It’s been typhooning. Well, winter typhoon, so blizzarding. The point is?  There’s a boss in Sercerezo Hill who only shows up during typhoons. His name is Typhoon. He is the natural enemy of all farmers. I’mma deck him in the schnoz!  This is a surprisingly difficult fight, considering the smackdown I laid on Terraclone. Typhoon uses a fairly large dark magic projectile, and there’s not exactly room to dodge around here.  For a while I managed to lock him into a throw chain, where I could keep grabbing him and throwing him around.  He also summons tornadoes. Again, hard to dodge.  Beating him earned me a… rotten piece of fruit?  Well, that just seems worse than useless, huh? Wait and see friends. Wait and see. So what was I doing again? Oh right, gotta save the dragon, save the world.  drat decent of them to wait for me to catch up. Why not? I think it was a brilliant idea! W-well, without the bridge, how are we going to get to the other side ourselves?Why would you need to? You accomplished your objective here, there’s no reason why you would need to go back. ...drat it, you're right! I-I won't report this to Lord Ethelberd... C-come on! Let's run! Fast as we can!Yes, by all means, run as fast as you can. I’m sure it will matter.    No, she’s talking about Forte, clearly.  Maya Road consists of two levels. Here we have the upper area, a winding path of rocky ledges with gusts of wind blowing me around. The monsters are reasonably tough, but no worse than what I fought in Idra Cave. There’s no new ore in this dungeon, so it would be unreasonable to have a steep jump in difficulty when I can’t upgrade my gear very much.  There are lots of barriers blocking the way. Don't be so hasty. They're right on my tail! Calm down. Once we shut this, the only way in is through that hole. Th-that's true... That place is filled with monsters that are resistant to normal attacks... so without elemental weapons or magic ... it's a no-man's land.Well thanks for the heads up. I might have had a problem down there if you hadn’t warned me about that! It's open. Okay! Now run! They… left the barrier open. They can’t possibly be that stupid.  Okay, not all of them can be that stupid. Oops, sorry. Don't know where my mind is sometimes, I swear!And so the barrier was closed, leaving me no option, but the pit.  Which brings us to the lower level of Maya Road. A series of dark caverns full of unnamed monsters that all absorb physical damage. No magic or elemental weapons? You’re hosed.  Which is why I thought ahead and brought an extra pair of gloves with the earth element. Without their gimmick, these monsters are still reasonably tough, especially since there are a lot of them per room and the rooms are fairly cramped, but it’s doable.  Also, the monsters are very clearly palette swaps of the same trolls, fairies, and beetles I was fighting on the surface, with some slimes mixed in. All named “???”. Sadly, nothing down here can be tamed.  For a change of pace, I brought out my light elemental spell, Light Barrier. On its own, nothing special, especially as my light magic skill is poo poo. But it hits things in front of me in melee range, so it’s basically free added damage while I punch stuff.  Everything down here can drop Mysterious Powder. It’s a drat fine item for upgrading magic staves, magic attack boosts are somewhat difficult to find at this point. I’m pretty sure it’s pointless to inflict fatigue or sickness on monsters, but if I wanted to, this would be one way.  I got the silence curing spell Mediseal. That may seem like an oxymoron, but Mediseal can be cast while you’re sealed for exactly that reason.  And back to the surface to continue the chase.  Lots of bees in this area, and birds. I wouldn’t say it’s all palette swaps of old enemies from here on out, but they will be much more common.  And of course there’s another barrier to get around. And another cavern to get around it with! This just seems poorly designed as a means to stop people from getting through the road.  I got… a lovely longsword rune ability. Woo.  When you pop up on the other side of a barrier, there’s a switch to open it, so backtracking and getting back to your furthest point is easier.  Have I mentioned that it’s windy enough to push me around? The holes are meant to be avoided this time in order to get to the chest.  Pineapples are nice. Probably never grow anything else in the summer field from now on. Expect a rant about pineapple juice later though.  I made my way through another cavern, and reached a save point! Because this dungeon is loving long, so they added save points and teleporters along the way. NEXT TIME: Maya Road and Christmas. Don’t ask questions, just roll with it.
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Nov 16, 2016 09:17
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Glazius posted:So are we invading Sechs territory at this point or have they just kind of quietly snuck into a giant stretch of wilderness? The game never says for certain, but the implication is that this area is a sort of no mans land between Norad and Sechs. Maybe a disputed border or something, it's never made clear. But the next dungeon, immediately the next area after Maya Road, is called Sechs Territory, so at that point we're definitely invading.
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Nov 17, 2016 08:26
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All I Want for Christmas is Your Severed Head Just because you can do some things doesn’t mean you should. I have no desire to be visited by four ghosts tonight.  I have pineapples, and I have a blender. But Pineapple Juice? Nope, can’t make that! You’d have to be some kind of culinary genius! Or just find the recipe in a late game dungeon. Because without the recipe, this juice takes over 3000 RP to cook. I’ll find a way around it eventually, because waiting until I can find the recipe isn’t my style. Oh yes. Tomorrow is... Yes. So I heard. … Because, of course, Christmas is the kind of holiday one attends. Wha…? Well...I don't have anything else planned, so I guess I could think about it. What about you? Do you have any plans? I guess I wouldn't mind. And so Art has a date for Christmas.  Your confidence fills me with pride.  Volkanon, you are a large bearded man, it is true, but Santa you ain’t.    Me? Hrm… So Christmas is a holiday based around wishes being granted… I wish for Emperor Ethelberd’s severed head!  I’m powerful enough now to kill Ambrosia before she can metamorphize to her butterfly form.  Terrable isn’t so difficult that I can’t put him on farm with the rest of the cretins. He’s being damned stingy with dropping his item though. And then it’s time for Art’s big date. Sorry I’m late.  Huh?I’m with Art on this one. Apologizing for being late when you’re early is just bizarre. But then, Art showed up nearly an hour early too.   When I think of good date spots at night in the dead of winter, the top of the tallest building in town is not among them. What the hell is wrong with you people? This one is actually set though, the Christmas date is always stargazing at the observatory. It’s not just Dolce being stupid like going to the lake.     I don’t buy it. You made a magic ghost-proof box and locked her inside it.         Counterpoint: shouldn’t you then wish for things that you aren’t capable of achieving on your own? If these people have a magical tower that grants wishes once a year, why the hell isn’t everybody in town standing here wishing for Ethelberd to have a stroke? loving lazy rear end villagers relying on RPG protagonists to solve all their problems.        You just finished telling me that we have a magic wish-granting tower. It either grants wishes or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, then why the gently caress are we up here and not sitting in front of a fire?   Well, that’s nice.  I think that’s the only time you get to kiss your significant other prior to marriage.   You heard the lady.     But if you get what you wished for, doesn’t that mean your wish did come true?     I believe it.   It’s a nice scene, but seriously, round up the town and get to wishing for severed heads already.    Poor Pico, she missed the sappiness.  Also, you get the option anytime you look at somebody’s bed to sleep in it. You aren’t allowed to, but it’s usually amusing.      I dunno, I think she likes the idea.
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Nov 30, 2016 06:39
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Finally added a table of contents to the OP. Put that off way too long. Still need to go back and fix formatting on some of the early posts.
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Dec 2, 2016 03:11
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Maya Road and the Demon God Dragon It’s a shame there are so many rocks in Maya Road, because mining here isn’t very helpful. It’s mostly a mix of gems, and none of them are new.  drat decent of these guys to hang around and wait while I go on dates and work the farm.  Well, look who's here. Oh, for crying out loud... Fortunately, it won't be long until...you know. So let's try to buy some time! Come on! Clearly Lazy and Neutral Soldiers are the only ones smart enough to realize how that would go. W-wait! Why are you guys running away?!Survival instincts? Th-this is a strategic retreat! ...Just you wait! You'll get yours! If you’re telling me Pico could have been doing something more useful than you using her as a projectile all this time…  Oh good, Pico’s still useless.  Yes, but they’re polite enough to wait for us at the next checkpoint.  Art, this is hardly the time for napping!  What did I just say?  The gimmick of the next few rooms is rocks falling… from the sky I guess, because there’s nothing to suggest that there’s a mountain or anything above us here.  Here, they fall slowly, but it picks up as I advance, to the point where the last room is almost a rock bullet hell. Rock hell? Bullock hell? Quickly falling projectiles that I need to dodge.  While grabbing loot and killing monsters, because just dodging rocks would be too easy.  I managed to get the best spear skill though. Axel Disaster is a multi-hit attack that drives you forward at high speed into whatever enemies are in front of you for a decent distance. It’s faster than walking, so sometimes I use it to move across town.  Another clear room with a save point and a teleporter back to the entrance. This dungeon brings a lot in terms of convenience.  See? Such polite invading soldiers.   Ha ha it’s funny because Pokemon.  Guess that kid caught up... Sorry, but we need the Rune Spheres for Lord Ethelberd. O-our lives are actually at stake here, you know! We don't even have the Rune Spheres, anyway. That's right! They're in Lord Ethelberd's hands. H-hey, I don't think you should have said that... You just did. Well, now you have! Oh, dammit... Hey, looks like everything's ready now....Heh heh heh. This is the end for you.Oh yes, I’m sure whatever engine of destruction your empire crapped out this time is so frightening. Come, Fiersome!Oh gently caress me they’ve got another dragon. God. Demon? Maybe? Fiersome is a world destroyer, can we call him a demon god? Demon God Dragon it is!  And he’s loving here. Really wishing I’d gotten around to making fire resist rings like I’d planned on.  Heh, I can still appreciate watching these chucklefucks get knocked around. D-drat it... RUN AWAY! RUN AWAAAAAY!!When a dragon reared its ugly head, brave Sir Lazy ran away. Brave brave brave, brave Sir Lazy.  What Serious, were you actually planning on staying and fighting alongside the giant fiery dragon? This room is too damned small for this fight as it is. The nice thing is that, with the bait and switch on the fight, we get a second set of dialogue from Dolly, Pico, and Forte.    A, that’s my woman you’re creeping on  B, she’s wearing a dress that goes down past her knees. You’re the one with the short skirt Pico.  C, that.  Short and to the point and not creepy. Well said Forte!  Fiergaenger, much like Terraclone, would be a damned sight easier if there was more room to dodge.  As it is, those fireballs can be surprisingly hard to avoid. Thankfully, the game didn’t try to send me to fight the fire dragon with fire weapons like last time. He’s got a boatload of health, and is tanky enough to make it take time to beat him. My punches are knocking him about for around 200-300 each, with Forte and Dolce doing less. He has 16000 HP.  You’d think looking at this screenshot that he’s throwing those fireballs out from his body, but he’s actually sucking them in from… somewhere. It hurts like hell to try and stay at melee range while he’s doing this, but it is basically free attacks while he isn’t moving.  I’m not saying he’s all fire and nothing else. He has some nasty-rear end physical attacks.  When he goes into his critical phase, he gains a sizable defense boost. I’m not saying it took as long to finish him from here as it did to get to this point, but it sure as hell felt like it.  Yeah I know! It’s not like I’ve already killed one of your dragon clones before!    And then the soldiers bolted. They’re smarter than I gave them credit for.  So this is officially the border. I’ve been running with the assumption that Maya Road is a sort of no-mans-land, or maybe a disputed border between these two hostile countries. But from here it’s all enemy territory.  And so the first thing they give me is a level up in a bottle. Until I have the capability to mass produce these, they aren’t very helpful. NEXT TIME: Secrets of the Empire, a bit of sequence breaking, and the last contest of the year.
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Dec 3, 2016 01:20
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 Now we’re officially about to invade Sechs Territory. This would probably be an act of war… if not for the Sechs already blatantly committing an act of war. We totally have casus belli here, but our army sucks, so I’m just gonna assassinate the Emperor, should solve all our problems forever. Killing one person always stops out of control evil empires.  This dungeon has orcs. Lots of orcs, that throw lots of axes. Since there was no real new equipment tier going through Maya Road, the difficulty ramping up a bit here is really noticeable. I can handle it, because I’m awesome (and more than a bit overleveled still), but it would be very possible to just barely squeak through Maya Road and Fiergaenger and be caught totally unaware here.  Hello Tart!       Tart’s goofy, but harmless. She’ll give you a random cooked dish once per day.  And then there’s this poor starving wolf. Given that monsters in this game can eat literally anything, I’m not sure how one starves, but this poor thing is. I gave it my Seafood Doria. If you’re going to give food to a starving animal, why not a complicated seafood and rice dish they can’t possibly have the palate to appreciate?  I made a friend today!  Wolves were originally the only kind of monster you could ride, back when individual monsters could only be good for one thing (watering or harvesting or riding) besides fighting. But I’ve got a unicorn for that.  Just because I’m not marrying Forte doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the reference.  More of the mysterious biting plants from Lava Ruins. I guess they can survive some pretty extreme environmental swings.  Also, giant blue elephants.   The puzzle here is interesting, but not difficult. There are multiple barriers and buttons. For each button I weigh down, one barrier drops. The last button turns off the ice avalanche, allowing me to open the chest. The reward is mediocre, a longsword rune ability, Steel Heart. The areas I just showed off, along with a few that weren’t interesting enough to screenshot, form a giant circle around the area. The purpose of that circle?  This is immediately north of the entrance. The circle leads to those two switches to open these gates. If I wanted to progress further just yet, I would have hit them as I circled around. But the rest of this dungeon will come later.  I did decide to pay a visit to Leon Karnak again. I can, just barely, manage to kill monsters here now. If I avoid getting hit at least. I managed to fight my way to a chest, and was rewarded with armor far beyond my current capabilities. And not just one, but three HP increasing Vital Gummies.   My visit came to an end here though. These pineapple looking motherfuckers have high defense and heal themselves, I’m not fighting through them anytime soon. Huh, wasn’t I complaining earlier that no monsters cast healing spells? Guess that came back to bite me. That was all pretty much to kill time while waiting for the last contest of the year to begin. The fourth and final seasonal harvest contest. And I forgot to save a winter vegetable. Out of season crops take a point penalty, but I’m prepared to work around that.  Very prepared.     I’m the melon king, hail to the king.  Time to deal with weird villager comments about my crops again.   He caught me off guard last time and I guessed incorrectly, but it was a mistake to try to troll me the same way again Leon!      Yeah, you can’t troll the troll king.   About a day actually, if you soak your field in growth inducing chemicals like me.   Wanted to pick the last one to see his reaction, but I accepted that this was probably the answer he was looking for.  Third place:  Better luck next time sweetie, I’m sure if you try hard enough second place will be yours for the taking. First place is over my dead body though. Second place:  When the hell does he even find time to grow vegetables? Where does he grow them? Where does anybody grow them, I’ve got a lock on the only vacant lot in town!  Now imagine if I’d bothered to save a hot-hot fruit for the contest. And bothered leveling them up to 10 for it. Maybe next year. Now that I’ve aced all four of these and gotten their respective trophies, I won’t feel bad about ignoring them if I don’t feel like doing it. NEXT TIME: The year draws to a close. Let us reflect upon what Art has achieved in these past four months.
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Dec 10, 2016 05:24
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Blind Duke posted:I remember diamonds and Platinum being a big thing I needed to craft the next tier of equipment for a long time before I progressed enough to access this area Platinum is the big roadblock right now. Diamonds (available now in Sechs Territory) get me a couple new things, including a new staff for Dolce, but getting Platinum in the next dungeon opens up the final crafting tier for Act 2. Not nearly as much content in Act 2 compared to Act 1, sadly, but we're not gonna be done with this thing for a while yet.
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Dec 10, 2016 22:35
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Glazius posted:So are the Sechs friends with the orcs? Or did they just slip through a secret locked door somewhere? I'm running with the assumption that the orcs are native to this area near the border, and the Sechs don't gently caress with them. BUt the second half of the dungeon has specific Sechs monsters so maybe they're all on the payroll, hard to say.
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Dec 12, 2016 08:07
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mastersord posted:The Orcs, like all other normal monsters, can be tamed with garbage. My guess is the old geezer just threw rocks at them till they loved him enough to stay. Heck, it's what I did. Wish I could send my army of monsters to guard the border. Probably put a stop to these border incursions.
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Dec 13, 2016 07:19
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End of Year Recap It’s the end of the year. Art has been working at this prince schtick for 119 days. What do we have to show for it?  I’m building up a nice little treasury. More than enough money for anything that I can do right now, short of buying the last field, and my building materials are stocking up nicely. I don’t really have anything useful to do with prince points right now, which is why I have a nice little pile, but haven’t really been working to get more.  The prince’s bedroom. I’ve been putting off upgrading this, which would add additional rooms, because I prefer keeping my crafting stations outside. You already know my forge, crafting bench, and pharmacy bench outside. Here we have the rest of my stuff. Along the left and right walls are my cooking stations, which I meant to move outside but never got around to it. I have all of them now. Uncooked, knifework, oven, pot, mixer, and frying pan. The only thing I’m missing is a late-game license that lets me use any one station to cover all of their uses, a big space saver. In the bottom right is my bookshelf, where I keep extra spells and rune abilities. This is mostly useless, as you never really need more than one copy of anything, and the spell inventory is big enough to hold everything. Bottom left, you’ll recall the shop box. It isn’t upgradeable, so I can only ever keep 15 items in it to sell in the shop. In the center of the room is the shipping bin. I’ve been moving this around trying to find the most convenient place for it, but since I always begin and end the day here, putting it right in the room made the most sense. I’ve got it upgraded enough to not have any issues getting all my poo poo shipped. Up top is storage, just the storage bin and fridge still. I’ve been expanding them pretty regularly, so each can hold several hundred items. Still coming close to filling the fridge, since I keep all my extra seeds in it. I’m still missing two boxes, one for weapons and other equipment, the other for tools, including seeds. Next to the diary table is my Telecommunicator. Much like the one in the north part of town, this let’s me summon the airship to fast travel. I’m just lazy and wanted one right where I wake up in the morning. Later I’ll probably have a bunch scattered around.  The original vacant lot/field. I mostly use the seasonal fields for crops now, so this one mostly is just grass and fruit trees. And I’ve been lazy about replanting my grass.   The other three fields (I haven’t unlocked the fifth and final field yet, it’s expensive) I’m using to farm lumber and stone. The pun was not intended. I let my monster pets take care of that for me. They can each hit a branch, stump, or rock once per day. They just destroy weeds instead of collecting them, so I still sometimes run through to grab those.      Monsters, I have them! The ones with skulls above them are exhausted from overwork. They automatically stay off the clock until they recover, or I can feed them food or potions to restore their HP.      Skills! Nothing new since the last time I showed them off. There are a few that could stand to be worked on (spears, all the resists except sleep). It’s still useful to level skills that I don’t use for the stat bonuses (I’ve been grinding a lot recently trying to increase my max RP), but otherwise I’m in pretty good shape here.    Recipe collection is going well. The recipes I’m missing mostly require deep delves into the bonus dungeon (the non-fist weapon recipes still need me to grind my weapon skills a bit as well).     My relations with the townsfolk. I have not been purposefully trying to woo Forte, I have no idea why she’s so high. I swear I’m not cheating on Dolce. Yet. Doug is locked at 3 until the end of Act 2, which is annoying as there’s a request to get everybody to 5.    My monster relations. Those bee names were supposed to be placeholders, I’m not sure how I forgot about them. I freely admit I’m very bad at taking care of my monsters, which is why so many of them don’t have very high friendship.  And then there’s my trophy collection. There’s a trophy for every contest, bronze, silver, and gold for third, second, and first place. I did pretty drat good this year, and only need to worry about acing the bean toss, the big catch and fish variety fishing contests, and the buddy battle. Dylas will make those fishing contests tough, and the buddy battle is always a challenge. The top row and the first half of the second row are reminders of firsts. You get a trophy for dating a girl, completing your first request, and even taking a bath. The book, as mentioned so very long ago, lets me change the difficulty. The projector at the top lets me watch the opening video and the anime intros for each marriage candidate   The other two rooms have the trophies for the final two contests not seen above (handicraft and cooking), and fish trophies. You get a trophy for each kind of fish, better trophies for catching larger specimens of that fish. I’m missing a fair few, and most of them are only the bronze trophies for small fish. Need to catch more fish. So what do my neighbors think about the upcoming new year?     I intend to marry into this poo poo folks. Ventuswill have mercy on my soul.   Poor guy, only gets one day off a year. His job must be so hard. I’m still not sure what it is he’s working so hard on.   Nah Leon, you’re perfectly capable of being serious, when you want to be.   That is literally what I’m doing, thank you Dylas.  Yeah, I know, everybody here would be dead if not for me. I sure am great.   Art can’t do that, because amnesia. You are a cold and heartless bitch for mocking him about that Forte. NEXT TIME: Hey, wasn’t I trying to save the world or something? Meh, whatever, there are shiny distractions!
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Dec 13, 2016 09:21
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Back to the Grind  The new year begins with the adults of town giving money to all the kids… wait, what? This is making it more difficult to figure out how old everybody is supposed to be.  The beginning of a new year is also the beginning of a new month. And the first week of every month, a special dungeon becomes available in Sercerezo Hill (I was annoyed when I missed this in Winter). Just another deep cave with a boss fight in it from RF3.  Two holes and a sign. It’s an interesting layout.   Well, you’re the boss mysterious sign writer.  I probably shouldn’t follow instructions given to me by mysterious signs. After slaughtering the ants, I teleported back up, and went down the left hole this time.   Art is actually a drat good cook, however did the mysterious sign writer guess?   Whoever is at the end of this is going to be very disappointed.        Well, that’s a terrifying response. Tanuki gonna get his rear end kicked again. This is just a repeat of the first boss fight from RF3. At first, he’s nothing special.  I smacked him around the room a little. But then!  This is where the fight really begins. Tanuki’s giant form is much stronger, can throw leaves around the room, and can split into four, with three Tanukis being illusions.  It’s not a difficult fight.         And so Art made a friend. A friend that I will kick the poo poo out of once a day every day. The reward for this fight is a dungeon seed, which will allow me to grow a little bonus dungeon in the field. Unsurprisingly, it’s often called the Field Dungeon.  While in Sercerezo, I popped over to this crystal flower producing tree to get the seeds for Spring, blue crystal flower seeds.  There are some ways to play around with this dungeon, but for now I’m just gonna plant a normal one. You know, speaking of dungeons, wasn’t I chasing some guys into Sechs? I don’t really feel like flying back there, too bad the bridge is out. Wait a second… THE BRIDGE!   Clorica you are the worst butler ever.  Excuse me? You expect me to do manual labor? Beyond that which is required for farming I mean.         You’d think with a bridge construction done entirely off camera, I’d be able to insert some clever innuendo. But I got nothing.         Why the hell did he send Clorica to do this in the first place?  More importantly however, Art’s taking Dolce out again. And not in the dead of winter this time!   The good news is that if we can’t save Venti, she’s gonna make a great dragon skin rug.  What a strange thing to be concerned about. Then again…      Art, you are screwing with the poor girl.  One would think that Art would be scared of heights, or airships, given that his first memory is being dropped over the side.  Dolce, I use this airship a dozen times a day to get to places I’m too lazy to walk too. You’ve been with me for many of those trips.       That was bad and you should feel bad. I think we’re flying too high, the thin air is making Dolly lightheaded. That or she got into the minibar.    She’s not up here on an airship with you because she likes you or anything baka!     After walking the lady home, what’s left to do today?     The Cooking Contest is the only one that I haven’t participated in, I missed it last year.   Nobody ever gives me the respect I deserve.   No respect. So let’s get this thing started.     The way I’m given to understand it (and it seems to work well enough as a strategy), the more HP your dish heals, the better it is. You get more points on top of that for arranged dishes, and more bonus points for dishes you actually cooked, as opposed to buying something from Porcoline or finding it in a dungeon.  And I already know Porcoline loves my curry bread, he buys it all the time when I have the shop open.      Even yesterday, when you bought the same thing from my shop?     Well then, let’s see the results!   It gets you third place. I feel validated.  Margaret wasn’t the projected winner or making a big deal about beating me. She’s a respectable second place finisher.  It’s like I keep saying, I loving own this town and everything that happens in it.  And I stopped in to beat up my new friend again. This time, he dropped a raccoon leaf. It increases the range of a weapon like glitter augite, but also has a significant boost to Intelligence, making it good for spellcasters. NEXT TIME: The World of Fields Truthkeeper fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Dec 31, 2016 |
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Dec 31, 2016 03:34
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FredMSloniker posted:Is there supposed to be more to that update? It just sort of... ends. You're absolutely correct, I cut off my next time tagline.
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Dec 31, 2016 09:20
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I am honestly a little surprised it took them this long to get around to it, it fits perfectly.
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Jan 1, 2017 03:52
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  "Hi, how's it going? Do you know what Blue Crystal flowers are? They're exceptionally beautiful, and quite unique. "An old legend claims the first Blue Crystal Ro-- er, flower was guarded by a demon named Bluaga. That's neither here nor there, though. It's tough to grow, but well worth the effort. That's why my request this time is to harvest a Blue Crystal. Good luck!"I successfully grew some blue crystal flowers alongside my melon patch. Since I can only get crystal flower seeds in their corresponding seasons, this is going to take at minimum until summer to finish getting all four, would be longer if I hadn’t remembered to grab the seeds in fall and winter even though I couldn’t turn those flowers in yet. Is it worth it in the end? Meh, kinda. In the short term, my reward for this quest was that I can buy blue crystal seeds from Illuminata and Amber now.  I really should have started growing fruit a long time ago. Apples, oranges, and grapes are all required for these requests, but I was too lazy, and now I have to wait for the trees to grow.   Gee, thanks Dolly. Such a sweetheart you are, telling me about the flan you didn’t make for me. And then Forte was wandering around town in a daze.  Ah, Art. I was just thinking about castle security. Though we do have the fearsome Lady Ventuswill to protect us, we're still short-handed.Especially as we don’t have the fearsome Lady Ventuswill to protect us. They’re usually pretty good about changing dialogue to suit the ongoing plot, but they dropped the ball here. That's gotta mean a lot of work for you, eh? Oh, it isn't that difficult. I'm still inexperienced as a knight, after all. Ha ha. You're very kind, Art. Thanks... To be honest, I'm uncertain of myself. Hmm? I'm knight to a Native Dragon. It's my duty to protect Lady Ventuswill, but… Forte… My apologies. If Lady Ventuswill were to see me like this, she would be angry with me. It's Lady Ventuswill who protects this town, in truth. She protects everyone, including me. Yes, I know it cannot be helped. Our entire continent is protected by the Native Dragons' power. It's vain to think one human's skill could mean anything in the face of that. But, if that's the case... I can't help but wonder if I'm of any use to the Lady at allIt seems to me that Ventuswill’s knight should be doing the same thing that I’m doing now, and that Leon did as her priest way back when: be her friend. That’s pretty much the only thing we puny mortals have to offer the Dragon God Mayor King, besides doing her dirty work for her, which I guess is the other service I provide. And of course, when she’s completely helpless like now, we go out and commit regicide on her behalf. So I guess us mere mortals actually provide a number of services, Ventuswill should be more grateful. So, to erase those doubts, I have and will continue to train. That way, perhaps one day I'll be of some use to the Lady. And, perhaps I'll be able to protect all I want to protect.That line would be a great segue if I was dating her or intended to. As I am not and not planning to though…  Yes. Him, and everyone who lives in this town. I swore I would do so when I took my first oath as a knight. I'm actually feeling a little better. I've never discussed that with anyone before. It was helpful. Thank you, Art.Art’s a helper! But let’s talk about the main event. That being…  The Field Dungeon. Or the World of Fields, as the game insists on calling it. The first of several randomly generated bonus dungeons. I grabbed my team of lovely and capable women, and now we’re going to go slap a monkey.  The Field Dungeon is randomized. A random layout, based on various outdoor maps, with random treasure. By default, it’s four levels long, with a boss fight (usually just a big monster) at the end of the level. The fancy magic circle here will let me teleport out while standing in it.  Every room I enter is blocked by barriers, requiring that I clear the room to progress.  The final room of a floor has the same fancy magic circle pattern as seen in the first room, which will allow me to progress to the next floor.  Some rooms have treasure. When I’m very lucky, it’s just a room with one or more chests. It’s less lucky to find monsters and chests together, since chests break if you hit them, losing whatever loot they had.  The treasure is very random, possibly based on game progression, I’ve never quite been certain.  I think bonus dungeons and the Heaven’s Gate boss fight earlier are the only times you can actually fight giant Woolies.  The fourth level was a snowy map this time.  The final boss is Greater Daemon, a returning boss from RF1. He’s big, he has a projectile attack that covers a wide area, and he hits hard in melee. It would be a difficult fight, except I’m kinda overleveled for the default version of this dungeon.   The reward for clearing the dungeon, besides whatever loot you can find in the chests, is either a sword seed or a shield seed. When planted, these grow into flowers. At full growth, you can pick them and have a short sword or shield. The stats of the plant sword/plant shield will be randomly chosen from among the short swords/shields available. If you level up you seeds, you’ll get a leveled up sword/shield, which Barett’s analysis will show was upgraded with a completely random item, usually not a good one. Now, you’ll recall I mentioned this was the default Field Dungeon? It can be upgraded, as we’ll see later.  But just doing that one was enough to knock off this request.  I’ve planted my sword flower. Even if it’s something good, I’ll keep punching my way to victory.  As I said, the treasure can be very random. Here I got a long sword rune ability  And here I got an HP increasing Heart Drink.  And here I got puppetry strings, which I have been fighting Marionetta every day in an attempt to get. The drop rate is very low, but the strings are very useful.  And here a Gobble Box (second tier Mimic) caught me off guard. So, what’s so special about puppetry strings, you might wonder.  They’re required to make a rosary. As long as I have this equipped, no random monsters will spawn. It turns bonus dungeons into boss rushes. It’s kinda unsporting to use it in regular dungeons though. Ventuswill will just have to tough it out and wait for me to slog through the enemy army. NEXT TIME: Sechs Territory? I dunno, I think I have a contest scheduled that day, we’ll have to do it another time.
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Jan 10, 2017 23:31
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Glazius posted:Oh, interesting. So you can boss rush that dungeon warp zone? Neat. Yep. There are pros and cons, no chests if you do it boss rush style, but you can also knock out a whole string of boss monsters quickly, gaining a mess of boss drops and prince points. Going into the Sharance Maze (or the endgame dungeon) is how I'm supposed to get the recipe for pineapple juice to give to Margaret for her request that's got my progress all backed up. But I'm being stubborn and gonna force it without the recipe. Dogwood Fleet posted:Hey, you got me playing this stupid game again, this time as a girl. I'm trying some stuff I haven't done before. Would it be alright if I posted a partial LP of some of the different stuff? I don't want to step on any toes, but it doesn't really warrant its own thread. Feel free. There's not that much different, the female PC (Frey by default) has a couple lines that differ in some spots, and Venti and Volkanon end up looking a little stupid for thinking that the new girl in town is the prince they were waiting for. But honestly, I think Frey got a little bit better writing for her unique scenes, some of the romantic interludes with her and the local men are very well done. Also, soda can tab nipple decorations.
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Jan 16, 2017 08:40
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mastersord posted:I don't remember when she sells it (my file is in post game), but White Grass can be bought from Nancy at the hospital/apothecary. It's also occasionally available from the flower shop. It's 120G a piece. Not until either Act 3 or the post-game, I believe. Even then, buyable grasses are only ever level 1, while grasses found in the wild spawn at random levels. Using higher level grasses to make high level Relax Tea is part of my master plan to make pineapple juice. The fact that I need a master plan to run a fruit through a blender kind of astounds me, but that's the kind of game we're working with here.
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Jan 17, 2017 05:26
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Wow, I let way too much time go between updates there. A bit due to life being busy, a bit due to having issues with LPix last time I tried to get this update going, a bit due to technical issues on my end, a bit due to general lazyness. Point is, incoming update.mastersord posted:If you're looking for high level colored grasses, DO NOT use any random dungeons. The items that are found on the floor outside of chests are always level 1 This is true. Half the trick with making fertilizers, relax tea, or anything else that requires grass is to memorize where each color of grass can be found. Glazius posted:Kind of surprised you can't cultivate those colored grasses on your farm. This one has bugged me for awhile. I kinda wish there was more interaction between farming and crafting. The early games had farm plots in dungeons and sometimes required that you grow stuff there to progress. That was... really badly implemented and kind of annoying, but it's the kind of thinking I can get behind.
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Feb 10, 2017 13:09
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A Shiny Distraction Appears! Alright! I’ve putzed around long enough, it’s time to stomp through the Sechs territory and confront the…  Well… I mean that’s a tempting distraction, but I don’t need to do it, right? I already got… that trophy… last year… Second place. Huh. Welp. Sorry Venti, but I have to go do a thing with some beans, you understand, right?  First place victory bitches. Alright, now I can stop caring about contests for a while (until the big catch fishing contest) and go back to focusing on saving… ooh, my sword plant is ready!  Plant Swords are fun, but I’m sticking to my fists. Unless I happen to grow one that’s ridiculously better than my fists, in which case I’ll show off how to turn one kind of weapon into another. Ah well, time to get back to… ooh fun character event!... Which I seem to be missing several screenshots from. This update was delayed more than usual first by me losing a bunch of shots here, and then having some issues with LPix. I’m fairly certain about half of these lines from the text dump at the beginning weren’t actually in this scene, but overly-complete is better than missing bits. *SIIIGH* What's wrong? I've been seeing a lot of trash littering the lakeshore recently. Somebody's littering by the lake? Yeah. It's never been this bad before. Weird. Who could be doing it? Well, we've had more travelers visiting lately. I don't think it's the work of one person. Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to dump all my worries on you. I'll go clean it all up, myself. I like to clean, y'know. Margaret… Okay, off to make our lake beautiful again! Let me help. Hm? It'll go quicker with two people instead of one, right?...True. Thanks. Well, let's head off to the lake then.And so Art and Margaret did travel forth to Dragon Lake.  Yeah. Look. I'm seeing some even over there, now. That boot wasn’t there until she picked it up. Which makes me think she pulled it out of her pocket to prove that people were littering. There's more than I remembered. Ew. This is terrible. Illuminata? Ellie? Where did you come from...I find it odd that Illuminata has two nicknames (Amber calls her Lumie, Margaret might be the only one who calls her Ellie, and I think only a couple times. Translation error, maybe, I dunno.  Don't you know? They do say that a true detective must also be a chameleon! No they don't. But anyway, what are you two up to? That's my line. What are you doing here? Heh heh. I figured I would pin down the location of all the black-market dealings going on. And, just as I expected, the two of you appeared!  I’m fairly certain the only black market dealings in this town are between me and Raven. I’m not asking any questions about where she gets those monster drops she sells. Can't you tell that's not true just by looking? Anyway, I'm bored. Whatever you two are doing, I wanna help. ♪You shouldn’t volunteer to help with things if you don’t know what they are. You might accidentally volunteer for trash cleanup day. There's been a lot of litter by the lake, so we were going to clean it all up. Ah, I see. Well then, I'm afraid I'm too busy to help right now. Ta-ta! Um, didn't you just say you were bored? Hmph. You have sharp ears, Meg. Hmm! I guess I can be nice this once and help out.Gee Lumie, are you sure? We wouldn’t want to inconvenience you or anything. Heh heh, I knew we could count on you, Ellie. ♪ You betcha! I'll start working over here, then. Art, how about you take...hmm...  Okay. And then the scene became interactive. Several examine point appeared around the area Meg told me to investigate, and Art pulls a piece of garbage from out of nowhere at each one.   Hey, Art! Let's finish up. Okay! I think I'll hang onto this weird little bottle. I think that should do it. Y'know, cleaning is a lot of fun! Very rewarding! Yeah, it is. Oh hey! Art, what's that? Let me see! Let me see! Oh, uh, here. Oh, hmm. It's just junk. Pretty junk, but still junk.People collect pretty junk all the time, and often sell it for a lot of money.  Melody Bottle? Yeah. It's a magical bottle that has a siren's song sealed inside of it.Oddly enough, a real item found in game. It’s a drop from a boss in the very ultimately final superdungeon. Ooh, that sounds romantic! How about we open it and listen?Great idea! Listening to sirens’ songs has never gone poorly for anybody ever! Are you sure that's a good idea? Oh it'll be fine! Let's give it a listen! “Do you remember me? I'm sorry we had to meet again this way. I'm afraid I cannot come to see you personally anymore. I've grown a little too old. I'm glad that I got to hear your voice, and I hope that my voice reaches you one last time. Thank you. And goodbye.” Uh, was that supposed to be a song? ...I guess not. It was a message. A very sad message. So what are we going to do with it? It seems a pity to, y'know... throw it away. Yeah. I'll take it home with me. You will? Yeah. Whoever wrote that message wanted it to reach Audy. I want to help it get to her. How are you going to manage that? The only clue you have is a name. I'll ask some travelers. They might have heard of someone named Audy.It’s not as horribly unlikely as it sounds. She does hang out with Porcoline, and he has diplomatic connections. And she could ask Arthur, who has royal connections and also is the biggest import-export kingpin in this part of the country. And she could ask Art… well, okay, for once, this is a problem Art can’t solve. I was right when I said Art can’t solve everybody’s problems. Sheesh. Sometimes you're a little too good-hearted. Heh heh... Thanks, Ellie. All right then, I think I'll be heading home. Okay. Thanks for your help. You bet! Oh, and by the way... Yeah? Wha?! I-it's not like that!! Ah ha ha! Ta-ta! What's wrong? Um...I, uh... Hm? Right. So, um...i-if you wouldn't mind, uh... You can call me "Meg," too. It seems like it would be a dick move to refuse to use her preferred nickname. So I'll call you Meg from now on. Hee hee...thanks. Anyway, I think I'll head home. Thanks for your help. See you later! Hee hee...thanks, Art.It’s an amusing scene with a cute ending. I can’t help but think that would have been a great leadup to dating Meg if I had been going that route. But who should I meet on my way back to… what was I doing again?  Yes Leon, just like it was last time. ...Not bad. Huh? Your conversations lately has been quite entertaining. My opinion of you is improving.I take no responsibility for Leon’s grammar. Given the time period he’s from, we should be amazed he speaks the same language as everybody else. Especially given that they had a different alphabet back then. Remember that tablet in Water Ruins that Art couldn’t read? Leon is one character you could take there that can read it.  If you bring me magic, I'll gladly upgrade it for you. Not for free, though, of course.Oh no, of course. Nobody could ever help out the guy trying to save the world without cash upfront. It’s not an interesting process. You take a spell out of your spell inventory and hand it to Leon.  He quotes you a price, you pay, the spell levels up. Higher level spells do more damage or healing.  The first couple levels just cost money, as you level higher, he starts asking for items, including sapphires and platinum. NEXT TIME: I make no promises about whether or not I'm ever going to get around to saving the world. Venti may be doomed. Truthkeeper fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Feb 11, 2017 |
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Feb 10, 2017 13:12
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hopeandjoy posted:Only some Harvest Moons do this, unfortunately. I don't think it's happened in any of the portable HMs except Friends/More Friends of Mineral Town. Sage Grimm posted:And yes, Rune Factory is quite content to let the player take their sweet time marrying without shutting out options. 2 and 3 even required you to marry before the main plot could be wrapped up for some reason! I would have married Illuminata in a heartbeat... which I suppose would have technically made us Amber's adopted parents? That's not creepy at all. Dirk the Average posted:Leon is the source for upgrading magic. A fireball level 2 does more damage than fireball level 1, but is otherwise identical. He's the only source for controllable upgrades. There's always the off chance for a upgraded spell in a treasure chest (which is the only way to get upgraded rune abilities, as I'm given to recall).
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Feb 11, 2017 00:21
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They haven't since Animal Parade in the Wii, I think.
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YggiDee posted:Weapons get pretty poo poo-crazy if you can handle the crafting, but there's something to be said for casting Prism and body slamming the enemy. This is one of my favorite strategies, especially once I have the endgame accessory that lets me base magic damage off physical attack.
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Feb 13, 2017 01:03
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Got to the end of Act 2. Offloading images now, nearly 6000 already and still a fair few left to go. Even after I pare off the duplicates, we are talking a few good updates worth of material here.
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Feb 18, 2017 10:19
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