Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
Accordion Man
Nov 7, 2012


Buglord

The Dark Id posted:

The Mandela of Hell shall open, and the Seraphic Radiance will be summoned!
That should be Mandala.

And yeah, Zhuzhen and and Dehaui just trained together, they're not blood related.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Shitenshi
Mar 12, 2013
I thought for a sec after getting that Lottery Ticket that Dehuai WAS going to be a member. Your fantext of "But enough talk..." reminded me instantly of SOTN Dracula, and drat if it wouldn't be in character for Lottery Member Dehuai to open up the ring with "HAVE AT YOU!"

W.T. Fits
Apr 21, 2010

Ready to Poyozo Dance all over your face.

The Dark Id posted:

Meet Yamaraja: Stone. Keeping up with the theme of its predecessors (discounting the pretender Wugui) the boss is a Fire elemental enemy despite having Stone in its name. Dehuai is not good with naming his guardian minions.

Actually, it does make some sense that Dehuai is naming these things after the wrong elements. I mean, if you were an evil overlord, would you name your minions after their own elements, essentially revealing their weakness to your enemies and thus making it easier to kill them, or would you name them something completely off the mark to throw off your adversaries so that they get their poo poo wrecked when they keep trying to spam wind spells at a fire-elemental monster?

Qrr
Aug 14, 2015


quote:

Life Sucker does some respectable damage, but that MP is better served distributing Nourishing Potions to hurt allies and himself

Probably to heal allies and himself. Unless Zhuzhen has been taking lessons from Decadus.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!
Dehuai even keeps up the improper naming with himself. "Now you face Dehuai, the great Earth sage!" <- Is Fire Elemental

And I find it even more hilarious that you can go back to Shanghai (and presumably leave for Kowloon Fortress) after getting far enough in the tower to have a shouting match with Dehuai and being all "Alice, we'll be right up to save you!" Party leaves for 4 days

Tallgeese
May 11, 2008

MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR


He means Earth as in Earth and Heaven, not Earth as in the element I think.

DeafNote
Jun 4, 2014

Only Happy When It Rains
Always nice when party members are forced to lag behind in levels.

Oh well Dehuai still cant get anything right.

Speedball
Apr 15, 2008

The Dark Id posted:



[i]Grr... Now, this pisses me off to no end! Why do I even bother with a gate and summoning a guardian if they walk right past them?! How do those dicks even see up here from that perspective?! Bah!


Hahaha. Yesss. Good. This is good.

The Dark Id
Aug 13, 2005

Why
you
know
I
LOVE
THIS SHIT !!!!
[citation needed]
Episode XXXVI: Calamity


Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple




Meanwhile...



Japanese soldiers flood into the hall as soon as the explosion clears.



Should we split into teams to secure the tower floor by floor or—
I said move your rear end soldier! Go go go!


The soldiers shuffle up both the staircases with no rhyme or reason. Kawashima and Kato enter after they're all upstairs.



Just like you hoped, Shanghai will become a stronghold for the Japanese Army!

…So it will.
What happened, Lt. Colonel? Is something wrong?
<waves him off> No.
Kato, do you ever feel like you're riding on someone else's coattails?
Constantly.
...Maybe you're the wrong person to ask.

...
They’re… still fighting above, right?
<nods> Yes’m!

Kato walks over and fiddles with some of the décors.



It’s quite astonishing that your plan to storm Kuihai Tower has gone so smoothly!
I thought the worst when Yuri's group vanished for a few days. We still don't have any intel as to where they went off to in that boat. They must have found some important key to defeating Dehuai we weren't privy to...
Still fighting… him, too. Very well, we’ll fight those monsters too! To the top of the tower!
Yes, ma’am!



Kawashima and Kato head up the tower. We never see them fight a single monster. In fact, we never see them again until near the end of the game in an optional sidequest that wraps up their storyline.



Back up in Dehuai's lab, we could run straight up for the final showdown. But a couple things have changed now that the Japanese troops have invaded the tower. Namely, a couple of soldiers are now stationed downstairs. Let's go gab with 'em for a minute.



<reveals himself as Lottery Member No. 09> This... wasn't ordered by my superior... Are you up to the challenge?
Now? Really?
...
...I have done this without my superior's permission...!
Yeah, yeah. Count me in.



It's the final lottery member of this half of the game! Boy does he have a pain in the rear end Red Hit Area prize. It's those two tiny slivers and this Judgment Ring spins twice as fast as normal on top of it. But through the magic of savescumming quick reflexes and some luck, we win...



Oh, that Oh family. I'm not big on glass cannon builds, so I doubt this will get much play. Regardless, we've gotten a prize from all of the Lottery Members in the first half of the game. So that's a nice milestone.





The second soldier hanging out here allows us to switch out Margarete for Alice if we are so inclined. But my importantly, he runs "Shanghai Transport Reg. Logistic Comp. 8" aka the final available shop in this act of the game. We're going to drop some money here on acquiring three Mirror Bracelets for the party.



Mirror bracelets prevent the Petrification status effect, something we've very rarely come up against thus far. I think maybe one random battle enemy might have been able to pull it off back during the Wuhan Temple Ruins and that's it. Guess what kind of poo poo Dehuai is going to pull out of nowhere coming up.



That's not all. Our preparation for the final fight also requires we equip a set of Bell Bracelets (prevents Silence) on our party as well. Most major battles in the game usually only have one particular status effect to be wary of and prepare for ahead of time. Considering we need to prepare for two here, this fight coming up might be some right bullshit!



Once we're prepared, all that is left to do is to head up and face Dehuai. Literally, that's our only option. This was the point of no return because Japanese soldiers have stationed themselves in front of the two staircases leading down to the first level and have orders not to budge. There's simply nothing our arcane superhumans who can unmake soldiers with a single punch can do to move them.



So upward we go to the final battle...



Yep... That sure looks like a boss battle arena. Less for a JRPG and more for a fighting game, really. Like Shang Tsung is going to show up here and open a portal to Outworld or some poo poo.



They're nice enough to give us one final save point before the end. Granted, there was another save point like two screens back and random battles have been deactivated so... not that much of a boon. But given how this fight will almost definitely smoke anyone unprepared their first time through... it was nice of them to provide it.

Up we go...



Hee hee hee… Fool! The time is at hand!
The Mandala of Hell is drawn!!
<looks at the devices> The Vessels of the Gods of the Four Directions face the heavens! So, this is why you soiled Nine Heavens’ most sacred ground… The most secret magic of all… I understand now, Dehuai. Even I understand now…
...I don't.
Same.
<concerned look>

<turns around> Correct! The ultimate skill of Nine Heaven’s Taoist magic! The Reverse Demon’s Gate Invocation!

The area shakes and flashes with light.



...
...Is that bad?
It does not seem good.




Yeah. Yeah, that was bad! We probably shoulda tried to stop him from doing that!
Ya think!?


Dehuai gains a glowing evil aura.



And you, half-rate adept. And you, hussy that shot my cat.
<shrug> You're the one that threw your cat at us in the first place. Who DOES that?! You can't get mad it died!
Silence! I can do whatever I frikkin' please!

The power of Heaven… the power of GOD fills my body!! Let us settle the score before I create a new world!!




Music: China Ogre
(OK, THIS is the final time this track gets used.)





Dehuai is back for another round. Or so it would seem... After a stare down with the party, Dehuai reveals he's actually having the courtesy of doing a real transformation into a second boss fight form.





Meet Yamaraja: Calamity -- the Disc 1 End Boss of Shadow Hearts and the final Yamaraja boy. I dig the William Birkin G-Type chest-face thing he's got going on here. Dehuai 2.0 is by far the biggest hurdle in the game so far. Remember how his previous incarnation had the most HP of anything at 1800 HP? Yeah, we're going to nearly double that with 3500 HP for Round 2! Strap in, we're gonna be here for a while...





Right off the bat, Calamity has initiative and opens with Shockwave -- an attack that does a respectable 50~ HP of damage to the entire party. More importantly, if we didn't have those Bell Bracelets equipped? Whoops! The entire party now has Silence status! Time to waste three turns to sort that out in a party composition where 66% of your members are only useful with special skills! Spoilers: He'll also cast this again at around 50% health and then randomly whenever after that. So, there's the first kick in the nuts for the unprepared for this fight.



On our end, the usual strategy of Yuri doing the Fusion into Inferno and going to town punching is getting sidelined. The thing with Yamaraja: Calamity is that all its major attacks are full party hits. We could have brought Alice in as healer but that'd just have Zhuzhen tagging in too in order to cover everyone's healing. On top of that, there is Alice's poo poo Sanity stats making topping her SP off another issue to waste someone's turn down the line. So, we're going to sidestep that whole issue by fusing Yuri with Heaven's Fiend which, as might recall, has a relatively cheap (18 MP) full party heal at its disposal. He can do in one turn what Alice would take three to do. That takes a big impact on our overall DPS with Yuri only contributing if everyone is relatively well-off (he can still do around 100 HP of damage even in this form.) But it's easily the smartest way to deal with this boss's bullshit.





With Yuri on healing duty, we're left with Margarete residing in Headshot City and Zhuzhen spamming Life Sucker. Yamaraja: Calamity is one of the very few non-elemental aligned bosses, or just enemies in general for that matter, in the game. So, none of our elemental tricks will do much work against him.



Yamaraja: War has an extremely strong physical attack combo in excess of 100-120 HP of damage if he does the full set but around 60 HP of damage at minimal. On the bright side, Dehuai loving HATES Zhuzhen and will tend to only target him with his physical hits. Which means Zhuzhen's health needs to be monitored a bit more closely than Yuri or Margarete. But isn't that true of all old timers?



The resident evil sorcerer can also just slap folks with Petrification (and failing that just whack 'em for 50 HP of damage.) Again, that is a status effect I had to look up to see if anything inflicted up to this point and the answer was exactly one jobber enemy. So that's another fun quirk that can come out of nowhere. Remember: Petrification counts as being KOed as far as the game is concerned so if the last man standing gets Stoned, that's a quick trip to the game over screen.







Finally, and certainly most dangerously, is Yamaraja: Calamity's ultimate attack -- Crimson Flame. This does around 80-90 damage to the entire party and is most of the reason we have Yuri as our healer this fight. Especially, since Dehuai just loving LOVES this attack! Can't get enough of it! When he's at around 50% health and below he'll just spend near every turn casting Crimson Flame. Which gives us about three rounds before everyone is in extremely critical health levels or dead.





If we didn't have Sacred Remedy essentially negating all that lost HP in one go, that'd be a turn from our entire party wasted just keeping our health up, only to lose another 80 HP the very next round. That's not the most sustainable way to go about things. But we've got that covered.



Even with this fairly decent set-up, the biggest issue with Yamaraja: War is its mount of HP. This is the only fight so far where Sanity Points become a major concern because by sheer virtue of the time it takes to burn through all of that health. I ended up using more Sanity consumables in this fight than the entire game thus far combined and doubled. Even Yuri was getting low by the end and he has nearly three times the SP of everyone else even taking his Fusion hit into consideration. MP depletion is a secondary concern since Zhuzhen and Margarete's special attacks take a healthy chunk to cast. Which only adds to the time needed to complete this fight.







That said, if we keep the course and keep everyone's SP in check and their MP up and eventually Dehuai will take the hint and fall. This ended up being nearly a 20-minute fight knowing exactly what to do and executing it alright. My test playthrough a few months ago took almost half an hour with a party like five levels short of the current group. I think I just died a half dozen times my first playthrough. This big boy is definitely a worthy difficulty spike for the end of the first half of the game.


Music: Results




For our troubles the party a splendid Cash settlement and a massive dump of EXP. Margarete even learned about a mid-aughts arena shooter that was a bit above average and whose legacy was sullied by a half dozen garbage spin-offs and expansions.



We also receive the Third Key's cousin the Fifth Key. The 20 Day War of the Gods was a hell of a trip. I'll never forget YHWH doing a flying elbow drop off the top of the cage into Zeus, destroying the foreign announcer's table in the process. Hell of a match.



On top of that, we gain +5 in all Soul Energy elements. Earth Element has made it to Level 2 with Dark and Fire taking up the silver and bronze to the second rank finish line. Get it together Water, what are you even doing with your life?


Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple




How… dare you… stand in my way…
Dick... move... Blargh!
Hey, guys... I'm not feeling... so great...
Missy, you're the only one who didn't just get set on fire by a magic dragon repeatedly! I don't even want to hear it with your swooning damsel act right now!

<drops to her knees>


Everyone ignores Dehuai and pays attention to Alice instead.



I’m fine…
You… shouldn’t push yourself so hard…
I mean *I* would have gotten enough rest standing on the sidelines for the fight. But we cannot all be as charming and athletic as me.
O... kay.

Hee hee hee…

Right, we should probably finish this geezer, huh?
Mhm.

<crawls forward> It’s… not too late… If I funnel just a little more chi into the Machine… my dreams will… J-just… a little… more… Heh, heh…
What is he trying to pull…?
You're gonna be cool if I punch a hole in this guy's head, right? You don't want to take this one?
Knock yourself out, kid.


Dehuai drags himself back to his feet and faces the party.





If you're gonna do it, now's the time, kid!
Nah...




What do you mean "Nah"?! He's casting a spell!
Shhh... No, look. I always wanted to do this!
Do what?!
If one of you won't finish him, I'm just going to shoot him in the head.
No! Don't you dare! Just give it a sec...

OK... Here! Quiet!
<clears throat>
Hey, Dehuai...




<points at Dehuai> Omae wa mou shindeiru.
Nani!?


Music: ENDS. Dehuai falls backward dead.



BARF! <dies>
Yes.
<fist pumps> Hah! Nailed it! I always wanted to do that! Hehehe... That's one off the bucket list.
You're weird, kid.
So... what just happened?

The bastard tried to let loose his last bit of strength and ignite that Spirit Machine. Even though he no longer had the strength to stand…




Music: Much Hatred Still Rankles




You!!
Roger Bacon!
It's delightful to see you all arrived safely from Kowloon.
Huh? Kowloon...?
D-Don't worry about that. What do you want, Bacon!?


Dehuai's body evaporates.



What the hell’s that supposed to mean?!
<walks toward the center of the glyph> Now for the Reverse Demon’s Gate Invocation. Such a pity you won’t get a chance to see it.




Perhaps one more push is in order!!






New Music: Sacrifice - ALICE
(This only plays here, so you should probably listen to it.)


:frogsiren: VIDEO: CLICK HERE FOR END OF FIRST ACT VIDEO :frogsiren:






I somehow don't think Kuihai Tower was built to support a god summoning. The top of a heavily renovated villain tower is never the best place to do one of 'em.



Heh, heh… Now you’ve made me mad, pops!



You really forget what a hideous caveman stunt double Yuri gets for CGI cutscenes. I don't even know what they're going for with that hair other than an intensely ugly mop.



Hey, kiddo! What do you think you’re doing?!
Don't! No!



No... He can't!



Is he planning to fuse... with that monster? Don't! Don't do it!



Imma do it!
Let's get friendly!



It's a Yuri Fusion special crammed right up yer rear end!
...
...Wait, that came out wrong!






Ha ha ha. Most interesting... Fusing with a god, in order to defeat a god, eh...? But at your level...
What are you... low-to-mid 20s at best? Pah...
You'll be swallowed up by the darkness. Just like the other one!



<shakes head> DOOOOOOON'T!



The Seraphic Radiance powers down.



The monster seems to have settled down. Does that mean the Fusion has succeeded?



<shakes head and cries> Yuri... Your soul is... fading...





I can't believe Yuri Hyuga's stunt double is loving dead.





Ah, there goes the monster. False alarm... I was worried for a moment.



HELL SCREAM!







Hey, ever read about that incident back in 1913 where several blocks of Shanghai were obliterated by energy radiating from a hundred-foot-tall nightmare angel?





Oh, that's right. It quickly got overshadowed by the part where Shanghai got completely nuked and completely wiped off the map. It's really quite impressive how they've rebuilt it in the last century from that smoldering crater where the old city once stood.



<shakes around wildly in mid-air from blast> Ahhh... most impressive! Such is the unfettered power of a god! But... compared with what I had in mind, it is mere child's play. Well, for Dehuai I suppose I must admit it is something of an achievement. Well, there's no sense in my lingering here. I believe I shall return to London and have myself a spot of tea. Well, then... Ta-ta, everyone! If you survive, I hope you'll come there and pay me a visit someday! Wa ha ha! Ah ha ha!



Hahah—D'OH!



Bacon teleports away for fear of getting a further concussion from flying debris.



That day, the flames were almost beautiful... as they turned Shanghai to ash. In the blink of an eye, they took away so much... Thoughts... Hopes... Dreams...



And as they watched their world burn, the people cried out in grief. It was like a scene from hell. One of our own making...



And that night was the last time I ever saw him...





And that concludes the first half of Shadow Hearts. That... probably could have gone better.





Now THAT was definitely the end of a chapter. Let's wrap up the last of the Library entries for the first half of the game. No new NPCs, though the "alive" status of quite a bit of the cast is currently in question.

MONSTER:



Hands out Chick Tracts on weekends. Just smile and accept it or he'll get pissed.



I do NOT want to know what kind of poetry this guy writes.



Just in case you thought that maybe that thing was supposed to be a weird umbilical cord or something else. No. It's a penis with the implication it does rapes. It's just as bad as it looks.



That limp dick is really upset you poisoned it.



He just CAN'T stop eating babies! He loves 'em! Can't get enough!



You cannot fool me, ghost. You're just describing assholes on Twitter.



Note: Very weak against bullets to the brain.



Dehuai: He lived as he died. Gravely incompetent and accomplishing very little on his own.




Video: Yamaraja - Calamity Boss Battle
(If you REALLY want to see an 18-minute JRPG boss fight...)


Video: Yamaraja – Calamity Highlight Reel
(You should watch this though. Most of the moves here are unique to this boss.)


Video: End of Act 1
(Hey! It's the end of the first half of the game! Go watch this!)

The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Sep 11, 2018

Tuxedo Ted
Apr 24, 2007

It's been so long since I last played this that I honestly thought I imagined Bacon getting beaned on the back of his head. Playing this on a fuzzy old CRT screen didn't help matters.

Hunt11
Jul 24, 2013

Grimey Drawer
I didn't see that one coming.

ultrafilter
Aug 23, 2007

It's okay if you have any questions.


The Dark Id posted:

That day, the flames were almost beautiful... as they turned Shanghai to ash. In the blink of an eye, they took away so much... Thoughts... Hopes... Dreams...
And as they watched their world burn, the people cried out in grief. It was like a scene from hell. One of our own making...
And that night was the last time I ever saw him...

I'm pretty sure these lines are spoken by Lt. Kawashima rather than Alice.

Tallgeese
May 11, 2008

MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR


I'm still not clear on the difference between the Demon's Gate Invocation and the Reverse version.

I suspect some kind of translation screwup. The regular summons the god, while Reverse transforms the user.

DukeofCA
Aug 18, 2011

I am shocked and appalled.

Tuxedo Ted posted:

It's been so long since I last played this that I honestly thought I imagined Bacon getting beaned on the back of his head. Playing this on a fuzzy old CRT screen didn't help matters.

Shadow Hearts is absolutely not afraid to have its' villains look like goofs from time to time.

Robindaybird
Aug 21, 2007

Neat. Sweet. Petite.

DukeofCA posted:

Shadow Hearts is absolutely not afraid to have its' villains look like goofs from time to time.

yeah, it's honestly one of the things I like, it kind of humanizes the villains that stupid poo poo happens to them too.

Shitenshi
Mar 12, 2013
For some reason, I don't remember having that hard of a time with Dehuairaja. It doesn't help either that I had to turn the game off and do the fight twice because I had to leave in the middle of all the cutscenes. Then again, I completely forgot about all the bullshit involving Wugui and his insta-death too. So I probably prepped by looking it up on GameFAQs and just forgot all about it.

And ayup, back then, I did try to pretend the dick demons were something else. The way some of them would turn their butts around or their heads were already turned around, I thought it was supposed to be their tails or some poo poo. Silly me. This is a game with giant spiders that attack their victims by gnawing venom in their assholes and let's not get started on the creepiness of Li Li's story. What was I thinking?

The Dark Id posted:

But my importantly, he runs "Shanghai Transport Reg. Logistic Comp. 8" aka the final available shop in this act of the game.

The Mandela of Hell is drawn!!

The monster's seems to have settled down. Does that mean the Fusion has succeeded?

2. Should be Mandala.

3. I watched the vid to make sure for the last one and it should just be "monster." And it should be Zhuzhen's portrait there.

Hunt11
Jul 24, 2013

Grimey Drawer

DukeofCA posted:

Shadow Hearts is absolutely not afraid to have its' villains look like goofs from time to time.

In this very game one of the big bads decided to transform himself into a cute puppy to spy on our party.

Shitenshi
Mar 12, 2013

ultrafilter posted:

I'm pretty sure these lines are spoken by Lt. Kawashima rather than Alice.

I always thought this was Alice speaking too, so I checked the wiki, and apparently Kawashima doesn't have a voice actor. In a few future cutscenes too, Alice also sounds exactly like the person who says these lines. I guess when she's narrating a bunch of plot, she sounds pretty measured to the point that she sounds like a completely different person.

StandardVC10
Feb 6, 2007

This avatar now 50% more dark mode compliant


The cutscene director must have watched Akira like, ten times.

Space Kablooey
May 6, 2009


The Dark Id posted:


Yamaraja: War has an extremely strong physical attack combo in excess of 100-120 HP of damage

The thing with Yamaraja: War

Should be Yamaraja: Calamity

Space Kablooey fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Sep 12, 2018

Space Kablooey
May 6, 2009



... Drakengard.

:v:

TalkLittle
Jun 23, 2004

The Dark Id posted:


New Music: Sacrifice - ALICE
(This only plays here, so you should probably listen to it.)

Me: Way to put a spoiler in the song title, game developers.

Me, 5 minutes later: Goddamn it.

Brainamp
Sep 4, 2011

More Zen than Zenyatta

The Dark Id posted:



Hahah—D'OH!

Massive props to the animator who decided that the villain should get smacked in the back of the head after his victory speech. This sweeping, dramatic scene and then pop. The game has now peaked and will never match this moment.

Tuxedo Ted
Apr 24, 2007

DukeofCA posted:

Shadow Hearts is absolutely not afraid to have its' villains look like goofs from time to time.

You're right. I never should have doubted my memory.

Robindaybird
Aug 21, 2007

Neat. Sweet. Petite.

There's one thing with a minor bad guy in the sequel where the party just flat out do not see him as a threat and it's easily one of the funniest scenes in the entire series.

yeah, Shadow Hearts really likes silly moments with their villains and making their heroes very sassy

Wonderslug
Apr 3, 2011

You don't say.
Fallen Rib
Ah yes, that time in Shanghai when Celebrity Deathmatch Vicki Lawrence fused with Similar To But Legally Distinct From Mitochondria Eve while Play-Doh John Inman delivered a villain monologue straight from the cue cards with no rehearsal.

Bacon getting beaned mid-exit was pretty great, though. I completely forgot about that.

Rabbi Raccoon
Mar 31, 2009

I stabbed you dude!
...Why are Alice's bangs like an inch in front of her forehead?

Robindaybird
Aug 21, 2007

Neat. Sweet. Petite.

Rabbi Raccoon posted:

...Why are Alice's bangs like an inch in front of her forehead?

curling iron and a spritz of hair spray.

Nohman
Sep 19, 2007
Never been worse.
Bacon taking a rock to the back of the head is amazing. Shame about Shanghai getting nuked and Yuri getting stuck in the butt of the final form of Parasite Eve.

Rabbi Raccoon posted:

...Why are Alice's bangs like an inch in front of her forehead?

Anime.

Shitenshi
Mar 12, 2013
I know everyone was making fun of Bacon for being dapper as gently caress from the very beginning, but poo poo, even in the face of a city wide unholy disaster that he helped to bring on, the man's only concern is getting himself some sweet tea. A change of scenery from a haunted old monastery with troubles brought on by some sadsack who delved into eldritch horrors he couldn't possibly hope to harness does wonders apparently.

Robindaybird
Aug 21, 2007

Neat. Sweet. Petite.

Nohman posted:

Bacon taking a rock to the back of the head is amazing. Shame about Shanghai getting nuked and Yuri getting stuck in the butt of the final form of Parasite Eve.

could be worse, he could get stuck in The 3rd Birthday

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


The Dark Id posted:

Hey, guys... I'm not feeling... so great...

Should probably be Mr. Zhuzhen? I don't feel so good. :v:

The story definitely got chopped up around here- Kowloon was clearly meant to not be a sidequest and Kawashima and the Chin disappearing smells of "Well that draft of the story went up in flames, we better tie that loose end off SOMEhow."

Space Kablooey
May 6, 2009


Bacon getting beaned on his head is amazing, but I also really like how he is hanging on to his top hat in that wind.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


So we're gonna pick this up with a new set of PCs, right? :stare:

Shei-kun
Dec 2, 2011

Screw you, physics!

HardDiskD posted:

Bacon getting beaned on his head is amazing, but I also really like how he is hanging on to his top hat in that wind.
Look, you can remove a man from the dapper culture, but you cannot remove the dapper culture from a man.

Zanzibar Ham
Mar 17, 2009

You giving me the cold shoulder? How cruel.


Grimey Drawer
Bacon's worked too hard to find all the elements of the Dapper Regalia, he ain't letting some gust of wind carry that hat away.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!
It took me so many tries and so much real time to manage to beat Calamity as a kid that it's probably the one part of the game I remember best.

Crimson Flame sure looks as rad as I remembered at least. :v:

Malachite_Dragon
Mar 31, 2010

Weaving Merry Christmas magic
You gotta give Yuri props, not many protagonists would just skip straight to option Fuse With The Giant Monster when presented with it. Sure, it didn't work, but it's the principle of the thing!

WampaPartyEX
Jan 13, 2012
This is one of my favorite moments in one of my favorite series, for a whole ton of reasons. Roger Bacon proves what a great antagonist he is, mixing threatening, dapper, and a moment of actual hilarity; Seraphic Radiance is a downright terrifying display of power that you'd normally expect from the endgame of a JRPG, and instead you get it midway through, blowing apart a city to show you that yeah the villains have some actual teeth behind them; Yuri proves that he's a really decent dude underneath his bluster, swagger, and general attitude, charging headfirst into the monster to try and save the day; Yuri *FAILS* to save the day and the consequences are DIRE for both the party and the city.

It's very strong, and it's very unique. Shadow Hearts is one of those rare JRPGs of the era that really, really, really broke the mold in a lot of ways, and this moment is a big reason why, at least for me. It's up there with Nocturne, the Personas, and Okage as some of my favorite work on the PS2, and the hits from this series *will* just keep coming, and they *will* keep being incredible.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

I also like that to the end Dehui was mostly the joke he appeared to be the whole time. Just a cavalcade of incompetence that happened to be convenient to Bacon's own research and plots, which he had to help him along in the whole way so the stupid bastard could get anything done.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5