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Episode XLIII: Face/Off.jpg)  New Music: SSC - Special Short Cuts (This is the Berserk version of the Europe random battle music. It doesn't actually play here but eh... When is going to be a more appropriate time to hear it?) .jpg) .jpg) Here we go. The final battle against .jpg) Our first order of business is the old classic play of Fusing into Inferno and immediately buffing that with Fighting Spirit. I've certainly missed having access to Yuri's nuclear option these past few chapters. .jpg) Fox Face will immediately try to deter Fusion by hitting Yuri with an attack that saps 20 SP. I could see that being problematic at lower levels but... Yuri's packing 48 SP and it only takes 16 to perform a Fusion. I'm fairly certain we'll be done with this fight within the 14 turns worth of Sanity remaining. .jpg) .jpg) From here, it just devolves into a brawl with the two Hyuga boys punching and kicking each other in the teeth repeatedly. Fox Face is only dishing out around the ballpark of 50 HP of damage while Yuri has a solid NO gently caress YOU DAD comeback worth around 140 HP of damage in return. This is not going in Fox Face's favor. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Which means Fox Face needs to resort to dirty tricks. Such as that the flashy "!!!" move which reduces Yuri's health to a single hit point. .jpg) This is a real fight. If Yuri goes down it is Game Over and there hasn't been a save point since before we fought crazy Yuri back in the real world. Dying here would be less than optimal. So after Fox Face performs !!! we need to drop everything and IMMEDIATELY shove some leaves into Yuri's gob to get his HP back up to a reasonable level. Not like we have a healer in the immediate vicinity who is sitting this one out for no reason other than dramatic effect. .jpg) .jpg) From there, it just kind of goes back to the two slugging it out. .jpg) ...It does not go in Fox Face's favor. Music: Results .jpg) Fox Face drops a big old bucket of experience and Cash in Yuri's lap. Does dream money that manifests itself in reality count as counterfeit currency? The dubious legality of that aside, Yuri doesn't particularly need the extra bump of experience here. We'll come to find Yuri has jumped up to Level 28 since Shanghai while the rest of the party is still around Level 26. I guess half-rear end absorbing a dark god did him a little good in the long run. .jpg) More bafflingly, Yuri also grabs a sweet pair of brass knuckles he can take from his subconscious back to the real world and use it starting punching folks... Music: Tanjou .jpg) .jpg) Oh no... Standing in a dark void with spotlights? Yuri! Turn back! That's the Narration Zone™! There's still some budget for the game left! Get the hell out of there! Fox Face stands up and turns to Yuri. .jpg) We really messed up Ben's hair in that beat down, huh? That mop almost looks like... .jpg) Yuri, you've got to get a haircut. I'm not even sure how you manage to have cowlicks with their own cowlicks.  It's always the worst when you drop a seemingly expensive mask only to realize it's actually some cheap polygonal knock-off. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) RIP Fox Face. He lived as he died. In Yuri's head. Yuri escapes from the Narration Zone™ thankfully unscathed by its dreaded effects. The sun has risen on the hill. PCSX2 bloody HATES whatever weird filter they're running on that sunset and runs the scene at like 20 FPS. .jpg)  Long time, no see. I think... I've kinda lost track of time with... Err... Well, you saw all that... *nods* Yes. I… Yes? Wasn’t that stupid of me? <nods> Yeah.  <shakes head and turns away> Hmph!! I’m sorry. Making you come for me in this place. <shakes head> Not at all. I wanted to see you. Ergh... So... How DID you get in here, anyway? I never really understood this place. I thought it was in my mind or my soul or... somethin' like that. So... You being here kinda put some holes in those theories. I have no idea. I just woke up here. ... ...Was kind of hoping there was a more concrete reason like you cast some spell or did a ritual. Now that's worrying if just any bozo can pop up here.  Not that YOU are a bozo or anything! I'm just saying... I don't need like that creepy Meiyuan guy suddenly rummaging around in my soul or anything. Gotta put a lock on the gate or something...Yuri decides to blind himself by walking to the edge of the hill and gazing into the sun going supernova sunset. .jpg) I thought to myself, if I can control him, I could save Shanghai! Or her... It did have big boobs... I'm not sure. But reality bit me in the butt. Its consciousness flowed into mine, and I could feel myself losing it… I… I didn’t know what to do… I was scared. Very scared. I felt myself like... shrinking into a corncob. A corncob...? Which is weird because I've never even eaten corn before. That’s why you wanted to die? Because I’d much rather die than go on living with a dead soul. I didn’t even have the will to fight. When I called out for help, that drat Fox Face showed up. For the longest time, I thought the God of Death was my Dad… But it was a manifestation of my weakness. You'd think I'd lose the notion my dad was an unstoppable God of Death after finding what an idiot that Dehuai guy that took him out was... <walks up to Yuri> I was never scared of this graveyard or that fox. That fox is half of your soul… A very important half. .jpg) Yeah. Let’s travel together again. <nods> Yeah. Let's also NEVER speak of any of this to the others. ...Yeah. ... ...So. how do we get out of here? <shrug> Sometimes you can go out the front gate. Other times it just kind of fades to white... Ah... Yeah, here we go! Just like thi—.jpg) Music: Coffin Fetish .jpg)  And you say she faints like this all the time..? Yeah, don't worry about it. The kid just does that every so often. ...I feel like that is most assuredly something to worry about. Meh. It's fine..jpg) See? ... Alice!! Are you all right?!Alice and Yuri pull themselves to their feet. .jpg) What in the world happened?! Well, I ended up— <death glare> I'm not really sure.Yuri steps forward. Zhuzhen immediately snaps into a fighting stance. .jpg)  Yuri?! Is it really the honest-to-goodness Yuri? Yes, Zhuzhen. It really is Yuri. <shakes head and waves dismissal> Now, why are you taking that tone with me? You know I never was honest-to-goodness to begin with. You old adept-at-nothing Adept! I'm a likable scoundrel or puckish rogue at best.Zhuzhen relaxes his stance and walks up to Yuri. .jpg) Choke… sob… you gigantic knucklehead, you… Ah, c’mon. Don’t go crying on me now, pops! Now, c’mon! Stop it! You’ll dry yourself out if you cry like that! Aw, stuff it! Don’t you know I’ve been worried sick over what kind of trouble you might be in?! That’s why I came looking for you, you ungrateful son-of-a-bitch!! It just chokes me up! Can I help it if the tears come easy in my old age!? Hahah! Well, as you can see, I’m chipper as a graveyard butterfly! That's not even a real saying. Well, it is now! Point is I'm perfectly fine. Perfectly fine!? You smell like a bag of trash that has been left out in the summer sun all season. Eh...? I don't smell anything. <frown> You're a little pungent, Yuri. I'll need to burn incense for a month to get this room back to form. OK. So maybe I could use a shower and a dry cleaner. But other than that... There’s nothing to worry about anymore. You can retire from all this, pops. Leave the rest to us. Aren’t you funny! I have no intention of retiring as long as I live!! And who’d want a booger-picking kid like you to look after them, anyway?! Aww, c'mon. You know me better than that. I'd put you in an old folks home. I'll finish what I started whipping your butt before you put me in a home, kid. <turns to Alice> My goodness, it’s hard to know whether these two are bosom buddies or sworn enemies… Which is it? <laughs> Oh, I guess you could say both..jpg) Soul overridden by a dark god. You know how it is... Haha, not at all. Besides, it was your intense burst of energy which finally roused me from my sleep. And with the world changed so much in the 200 years I was asleep, I think I’m in a traveling mood. Ergh... 200 years...? He's a vampire. Don't worry, Yuri. He's really nice. O... kay...?Which reminds me. You all seem to be on some sort of special journey yourselves. Well, kind of… The journey was mostly just finding Yuri again. Everything else since then got kind of shelved. I'm glad you all found me so quickly and slapped some sense into me. It would have sucked to have been stuck like that for much longer. Don't mention it. How long has it been, anyway? I kinda lost track of time. What like a week or two? ...Yuri, it's been six months.  F'N WHAAAAAAT!? You did what I asked you to do, so I guess you’re finished here. But you have piqued my interest. If you don’t mind, can I join you in your travels? I promise not to get in the way. We appreciate your interest, but… the enemies we are fighting are no ordinary monsters. We can’t possibly guarantee your safety. Listen. You’ll have a lot more fun if you travel with that widow and her daughter from the village. I feel as though you have forgotten to recall that I am an ageless 400-year-old vampire. Yeah, but frankly we've been slumming in the minor leagues with the stuff like that ridiculous mayor's curse. That what now? Don't worry about it! Oh, no, I certainly don’t expect any guarantees! I’m just insufferably tired of all the empty hours. I just want to be freed from this endless tedium of nothing to do. In that case, why don’t you just… Er… Keith. Welcome aboard Keith! If you've been a traveling companion of these two, you're probably OK. I met them earlier this evening. ...Eh, good enough..jpg) So, where are we headed? Let’s head back to Prague, Zhuzhen. Margarete might be there by now. Good idea! We can plan our next move when we get there! Yeah... Prague! ... ...Where the heck is Prague? I hope you're ready to do some walking, kid. Yeah! This is getting exciting again! Come on, then. No sense in letting the grass grow under our feet!Keith and Zhuzhen leave. .jpg) He’s happy. He kept me going for the last six months. Oh. I almost forgot. This is for you! Alice walks up to Yuri and hands him... .jpg) I found it in Kuihai Tower. Or... at least under the rubble where Kuihai Tower was... … Let’s go! Um, yeah..jpg) In one of the bigger dick moves in the game, an item sparkles where Yuri was sitting earlier. We don't have the chance to collect it here because we're immediately booted out of the castle as soon as this chapter ends. .jpg) We're now allowed to reform our party. As you can see, Yuri has managed to outpace the rest of the party by a couple levels (and will never again be on par with everyone since he's permanently in the party from here on out) despite sitting out the last handful of chapters. We're allowed to reform our party now. Alice is pretty much going to always have a spot since we do need a healer most of the time. The third slot might rotate a bit. But Zhuzhen? Zhuzhen is pretty much done on the active party unless absolutely necessary. He's the slowest party member in the game and his entire second half of the game spells just eat through too much MP to make him particularly useful. But Shadow Hearts is one of those games where usually all party members participate in important story cutscenes even if they're not in the active party. So at least it's not like he'll completely vanish from the relevance. Sometime later... .jpg) What’s wrong? Look! It was red, but now… It really IS a blue castle! Farewell, dear castle. Farewell, my ancestors. Do not begrudge me a little bit of time to travel. And if I don’t return, may you vanish again into the mists of time until a new master arrives. Guys... where the HELL are we...? My home -- the Blue Castle. No like... where is that!? Romania. ... ...Where the heck is Romania? We're in Europe, Yuri. ... WHAT?!.jpg) We're now given back control. Yuri has once more taken over as the lead character. So long Alice and her flailing girly run. We could just leave now to end this chapter of the game. But... .jpg) .jpg) Remember that shiny back at the top of the Blue Castle tower? Yeah... We should probably go back and get that now. .jpg) This does mean we need to once again take the climb ALL the way up those stairs... It's identical to last time but we won't have to stop every few floors for some loot. We'll naturally just jump past that for the LP. But there are a couple things I want to point out as far as Yuri goes in battle post-Fox Face. .jpg) Music: NDE - Near Death Experience  Previously, when Yuri would use Fusion he'd grab his head, stumble around and scream before transforming into his monster form. Now he just confidently waves his hand and instantly turns into his Fusion without any fuss.  Yuri's post-battle victory while using Fusion also had him regain his human form with left him stumbling and nearly falling over when he was done with the Fusion. Now he's just back to normal like it is nothing. It's the same animations known badass Ben Hyuga had during that flashback. It's a nice touch to show that Yuri has gotten over some poo poo. It's also worth mentioning that Yuri no longer accumulates Malice from battles. So that's a nice bonus too! Music: Coffin Fetish .jpg) .jpg) Anyway, ten minutes of climbing stairs later and we can return to Yuri's old squatting pad and retrieve that wayward item we left behind in a cutscene. What was worth all of that effort, you ask? .jpg) The Dark Gravestone! What's that? Well, it's only one of the items necessary to unlock Yuri's Level 3 Fusions. In addition to his new animations, Yuri previously had a cap on Fusions limited to what we saw in the China section of the game. Now, once an Element is leveled up with enough Soul Energy, Yuri can unlock a Level 2 version of the Fusion in question, which is just a flat upgrade from the original form. In order to get a Level 3 (aka the top tier) Fusion of an element, we need a Gravestone like this one in addition to leveling up the Soul Energy element in question rank to Level 3. Most of the Gravestones are obscure endgame JRPG poo poo you ought to be accustomed to in these sorts of games and we won't have access to a lot of 'em until the actual endgame. But this one is just a tedious freebie so we may as well claim it while we're here. .jpg) The shittiest part about getting the Dark Gravestone? There's no skipping back outdoors when we're done. We now how to turn around and march ALL the way back downstairs again. Yeah, I didn't need this half hour of my life for anything better.  .jpg) .jpg) At least, if nothing, we're getting a whole lot of Soul Energy to claim those newly available Level 2 Fusions. Heck, the Dark element managed to reach Level Max by sheer virtue of fighting 90 of those Dead Knights in random battles traversing those drat stairs three times now. The game hadn't been telling us up until now (the post-battle screen Soul Energy screen straight up gone for the duration of Yuri's absence) but we'd actually been accumulating Soul Energy the entire time it had been just Alice, Zhuzhen and later Keith. So that's nice. We'll be cashing in heavily in the Graveyard to upgrade all of Yuri's Fusions (other than that slacker rear end Water) in the next chapter. .jpg) For now, we bid Blue Castle adieu and with it this chapter. Tune in next time for Yuri and the gang's new adventures in Chapter 14: The Witch of Prague. Villains really need to stop announcing their intentions to ambush folks in the between chapters save screen titles...   A lot went down that chapter but nearly none of it filled out entries in the Library. The only thing we added was... MONSTER: .jpg) Enemies are everywhere!   Video: Episode 43 Highlight Reel (You should watch this.) The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Oct 4, 2018 |
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Oct 2, 2018 18:54
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From what I recall, you do still gain Malice post Fox Face. It just accumulates more slowly and culminates in a different sort of fight when maxed out.
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Oct 2, 2018 22:23
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Ubiquitous_ posted:From what I recall, you do still gain Malice post Fox Face. It just accumulates more slowly and culminates in a different sort of fight when maxed out. Nope, Yuri doesn't gain Malice anymore.
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Oct 2, 2018 23:37
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I love the change in Yuri's animations after this. Before, we thought he was in pain because having your body warp into a demon probably hurts, but nope. It was just because he was subconsciously sabotaging himself out of pure fear. On an unrelated note, does Alice keep the she had to sell her soul to snap Yuri out of his dark god-induced funk a secret from this point on? Because I'm pretty sure that Yuri would be happy to punch out whatever amalgamation of demonic energy he absorbs occasionally to keep her safe.
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Oct 2, 2018 23:43
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So is Yuri still fused with the Seraphic Radiance or this not an issue anymore? But yes, echoing the same about Yuri's change in animation- I like it when games make changes like that to show character growth.
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Oct 3, 2018 00:03
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Forgot all about the gravestone stuff to get the third level fusions. I know there's some other sidequest stuff that is the goddamn worst if only because it's missable, but little obscure fetch quests like these are pretty annoying too.The Dark Id posted:I'm not even sure how you manage to how cowlicks with cowlicks. I don't get what the latter part of the first sentence is trying to say.
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Oct 3, 2018 00:22
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Wonder if the stairs were the game trying to guarantee you'd be able to use that gravestone by the time you'd gotten it.The Dark Id posted:
Missing a portrait in the last bit of the first one. Second should be "spells just eat".
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Oct 3, 2018 02:55
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Eruza posted:So is Yuri still fused with the Seraphic Radiance or this not an issue anymore? But yes, echoing the same about Yuri's change in animation- I like it when games make changes like that to show character growth. It’s still there, but not usable. If those mask jerks are any indication, the demons he absorbed have enough influence on his mind. Enough to ensure that he can’t use a power until he’s strong enough to dominate it. Doing so to a demonic god is probably easier said than done. Especially for a guy who just managed to regain his sanity.
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Oct 3, 2018 05:12
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Shitenshi posted:I don't get what the latter part of the first sentence is trying to say.
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Oct 3, 2018 05:37
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Zereth posted:Yuri was previously unable to upgrade to level 2 fusions, but now he is. And level 3 if you get the relevant key item. Okay, I REALLY hate to be this nitpicky, but I'm talking about the cowlick thing.
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Oct 3, 2018 18:24
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Shitenshi posted:Okay, I REALLY hate to be this nitpicky, but I'm talking about the cowlick thing. A cowlick is a stray hair or group of hairs that stick up or out of a person's normal hair style. The Dark Id is saying Yuri's cowlick(s) has its/their own cowlicks.
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Oct 4, 2018 16:28
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W.T. Fits posted:A cowlick is a stray hair or group of hairs that stick up or out of a person's normal hair style. The Dark Id is saying Yuri's cowlick(s) has its/their own cowlicks. I figured that, I'm just not sure saying that "how cowlicks with cowlicks," is good on a grammatical level.
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Oct 4, 2018 18:06
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Shitenshi posted:I figured that, I'm just not sure saying that "how cowlicks with cowlicks," is good on a grammatical level. The whole line was "I'm not even sure how you manage to have cowlicks with their own cowlicks." This is entirely grammatically correct. "I am not sure how you manage to have [thing]" is a fine sentence, where in this case [thing] is "cowlicks with their own cowlicks".
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Oct 4, 2018 20:12
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For all the nitpicking and the nitpicking over nitpicking, I'm surprised no one (nit)picked up on this:The Dark Id posted:We're now allowed to reform our party. As you can see, Yuri has managed to outpace the rest of the party by a couple levels (and will never again be on par with everyone since he's permanently in the party from here on out) despite sitting out the last handful of chapters. We're allowed to reform our party now. Alice is pretty much going to always have a spot since we do need a healer most of the time. The third slot might rotate a bit. But Zhuzhen? Zhuzhen is pretty much done on the active party unless absolutely necessary. He's the slowest party member in the game and his entire second half of the game spells just eat through too much MP to make him particularly useful. But Shadow Hearts is one of those games where usually all party members participate in important story cutscenes even if they're not in the active party. So at least it's not like he'll completely vanish from the relevance.
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Oct 4, 2018 21:27
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RandomMagus posted:The whole line was "I'm not even sure how you manage to have cowlicks with their own cowlicks." Between all the nitpicking and the conversation extending this long, I'm really starting to feel the need to bow out right now just for my own good, but for clarification's sakes, that wasn't the original line. That's why I felt the need to point it out. Anyway, to hopefully clear the air here, I'm surprised that Id's current playthrough has that much money. I was never struggling for cash in this game, but I'm still surprised to see we've hit the six figure ballpark. The last time we saw the current gear for sale was back in Bistritz, and that was really inexpensive by comparison. The discount card is almost like selling mastered All materia in FFVII. Really easy to use and totally cheap.
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Oct 4, 2018 23:12
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Clearly the devs so the error of their ways with barely having any backtracking Koudelka. Gotta put those assets to use! Especially in the mid-00s where if a RPG wasn't wasting hours of your time it wasn't worth the plastic the disc was printed on.
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Oct 4, 2018 23:29
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 Episode XLIV: Mysteries of the Ladies' Room Music: Atmosphere - Blow Up .jpg) Back at it again on the Europe map. We just need to take a short 1064 kilometer trek back from the greater Bistritz area back to Prague to regroup. .jpg) Before we head off, I'd just like to point out we were at 100.115 Miles at the start of the Blue Castle Stairs Hell chapter. So that was a good thirteen-mile walk worth of stairs climbed according to the game. Just in case you thought I was overblowing how much drat stairs were in that castle. .jpg) But that's behind us. We have no reason to climb any more stairs taller than a single flight anytime soon. So let's jump right in back in Prague and see what's crackin' in town. I mean, besides the obvious witch we briefly saw murking Terry and is name-dropped as the chapter title. Music: City .jpg) Nothing at all has changed in Prague since our departure. No sudden monster invasion or curse besetting the town. And World War 1 is still a few years off so minimal political strife. .jpg) .jpg) With that in mind, let's just wander on over to Zhuzhen and Alice's favorite local dive bar since .jpg)  I have a message for you from Margarete. A message? Uh-huh. I thought she would just wait here until you two got back, but she rushed off in a big hurry. Also that was coming up on nearly two months ago. Where the heck have you two been? Romania. Long story... She said she wanted you to meet her in Rouen, north of Paris. Rouen? What’s the matter? Why the sudden outburst? Rouen is the place where my father fought Bacon and died. Is that right? But why did Margarete do that? I thought for sure she'd flake and be off doing spy stuff again by now. Did she get her fill of bombing and crashing things or something?.jpg) Maybe this means she’s finally got some leads! It's sort of been just months of her coming back, shrugging that she didn't find anything and sticking us with the bar tab after a "reunion drinking night." I see… So he’s been hard at work even after I got swallowed up by that beast in Shanghai… I’m sure that Bacon is somewhere in Europe. Either England… or Rouen. Margarete is looking for him, but to no avail. Considering how he taunted us to come after him… he must have some trick even more sinister than Dehuai up his sleeve. We’ve got to find him! We haven’t heard a peep out of him for six whole months now. Oh... So Bacon ISN'T hard at work doing anything since Shanghai. Well... nothing concrete we've heard of, no... But a guy like that doesn't just stop. ... Probably... That's not really reassuring, gramps. Psh! It took Dehuai fifteen years to try his next scheme. Warlocks have no sense of reasonable timetables for their villainy!Flirtatious Yuria stumbles over to the crowd. .jpg)  Let’s party! Wh-whoa! You’re drunk! <waves a dismissal> Me? Drunk? No way. I dunno. Seems like this lady has the right idea..jpg) Yuria wanders off to the bathroom to go puke in the toilet. Totally by coincidence, not because she drank too much. No sir! .jpg) Has she been going at it that hard the whole time we've been gone? Is it a day ending in "Y"? Hmm… Roger Bacon, huh… Do I understand correctly that another member of your party is waiting for you in France? Yes. Hey, friend… hic! …Where’s this France place, anyway? Is it far? Cuz ya said last time it'd be a "bit of a walk" back to this Prague joint and that took like a month jog. Tch. It was three weeks, tops. Oh yeah, cuz that makes it better! So where is this France joint? <shakes head> From here, it’s, let’s see… well… um… C’mon pops! You either know or ya don’t! O-of course I do! What do you think I did on the long boat trip from China?! Sleep half the time? That's being generous. Hey, don't take his side! I studied up real good, that’s what I did! So anyway, let’s see… <laughs> C’mon pops! You’re a regular country bumpkin! Aw, shut up! Takes one to know one!! Hey, I didn't even know I was in frikkin' Europe until the other day. I ain't trying to front as some kinda knowledgeable oracle geezer here like some other old timer I know. <glare at one another> I think it’ll take less than a month to get there. I’m sure we can catch a carriage somewhere along the way. Oh yeah? So whadd’re we waitin’ for? Weren't you just belly aching about the last walk? Meh. Ain't like my feet can hurt any worse. ... Probably... You’re right. What do you say, Alice? <nods> Yes. In that case, we’d better get a solid meal in our bellies before we set out. <nods> <looks around> Say… Whatever happened to Yuria? She hasn’t come out of the bathroom for ages. She’s probably out cold! You saw how drunk she was. Someone should probably make sure she isn't drowning in the toilet. Don't want her to curse us or something cuz we didn't check. That'd be a pain in the rear end. I’ll go take a look..jpg) We're back to playing as Alice again. It's not like any of the other party members are qualified to enter the forbidden zone that is the Women's Restroom. Before we head in, let's chat with everyone briefly. .jpg) Tell me, is it still very French? I... don't know what that means. Yes, you do. ... ...Yes, it's still very French..jpg) Heheh... I can go with ya! <unimpressed glare> Just jokin'! Sheesh... <turns back to Keith> So... umm... You're a vampire, huh? I am. That's cool..jpg) Try not to overdo it. Oh, don't worry. You know me. The last time you had more than three glasses you cried until morning over Master Xiaofang's death. <sniffles and takes another swig> I loved that cat and its terrible puns. ....jpg) ...binges lately. Could you go see if she hasn't fallen asleep in the ladies' room. And tell me if I need to go fetch a mop for in there. ...Again..jpg)  Oh, Zhuzhen's quite handsome, don't you think? S-sure... Mmm... And that boy in purple is quite dashing too. OK. ... ...What about Yuri? Who? The boy in the coat? <cringe> Oh. Is he with you? I thought that was just some drifter vagabond that wandered in the night. ....jpg) In order to progress, we do indeed need to enter the ladies' room and see what became of Flirtatious Yuria. No entering the Men's Room though! That wouldn't be proper. Music: Someone's Table .jpg) That's certainly ominous music for a bar bathroom. I would piss with caution in such conditions. But that goes without saying in any bar piss tank. .jpg) Anyway, Yuria isn't sprawled out on the floor. So let's see if she's in one of the stalls. .jpg) Hearing no answer, Alice opts to go in and investigate further. But there is nobody inside. .jpg) Let's move onto stall #2! Surely, Yuria has to be in that one. There literally is nowhere else she could be unless she squeezed through that tiny vent to avoid her bar tab and that seems beyond the scope of her size or dexterity while shitfaced. Alice enters the stall for a moment and immediately exits finding nothing. .jpg) Well naturally, if she's not in either of the stalls we need to investigate the mirror to see if she's fallen into the Mirror Dimension. You can never be too careful when a mate has had too much to drink. There's nothing worse than having to drag a sloppy drunk out from the Shadow Realm at the end of a night of boozing. .jpg) That's a shockingly clean mirror for a run-down bar on the outskirts of a city. Granted, they couldn't afford a second mirror for the other sink and the sink itself is clogged up. So it's not entirely off-brand for the establishment. .jpg) Alice loses interest in the mirror and walks away to... I'm not sure what the plan is at this point. Moments after she does so, her reflection runs back and giggles. That's probably something to worry about. .jpg) At this point, you would think Alice would go tell the others or at least the owner that Yuria has straight up vanished from the bathroom. And indeed, Alice can leave and go talk to everyone again with zero issue. But she neglects to issue any statement on the weird poo poo going down in the toilet. So, naturally... .jpg) .jpg) ...We need to go check the two stalls again. Maybe Yuria got stuck behind the door or managed to cram herself into the toilet bowl. Stranger things have happened. Alas... .jpg) No dice! Welp. Maybe that mirror with the giggling reflection has something to do with this mysterious disappearance. I mean, WE know that it does. But Alice doesn't. This is a weird conceit for a playable character if you think about it for a moment. .jpg) Nope. Still just a mirror and a normal refle—HEY! Alice's reflection giggles again. Alice jumps back in surprise. .jpg) Wh-what the--? Hee hee hee!.jpg) .jpg) Who...!?.jpg) .jpg) Yes, that was an illusion. But also that was clearly the witch that killed that scrub Terry and you should probably go get help now! And again, there's no magical seal on the door so she can't leave. Alice can waltz right out to the rest of the party at any time. But Ms. Elliot has just taken it upon herself to be exceptionally dumb this chapter. So... let's just go check both the stalls one more time! Surely, a different outcome lays ahead this go around! .jpg) I know you’re in here! Come out!.jpg) ...Well, I mean. I guess that is a different outcome. Alice is now a demon granny. Although she will not realize her transformation until she looks into the mirror again. Again, Alice has just gone full moron for no particular reason here. .jpg) Th-that’s not me! Heh heh heh... Astute observation. Are you sure you don't need to check the stalls a few more times to confirm something is amidst!?.jpg) .jpg) Y-you’re the one who killed Terry! Hee hee hee… That’s right. That was the mayor’s request. Seeing as you lot are back with the Harmonixer boy, I take it things did not go the way the dear mayor wanted... H-He turned into a rotting hound monster. We had to take him out. Hee hee hee... Oh? Did he actually use that transformation? That's rich! I promised him a new form that would horrify his enemies. I bet it wasn't quite the way he imagined. But that's aside from the point... What a beautiful young woman you are. Prematurely graying hair, granted. But no beauty is perfect. <frown> It's just really light blonde! Oh, you keep telling yourself, my dearie. Regardless... Makes me feel good just assuming your form. If your body was to become mine… Hee hee hee….jpg) Music: NDE - Near Death Experience .jpg) Boy, evil granny looks slightly different in battle form. You should probably get used to people suddenly transforming into bizarre outlandish demonic forms as soon as a battle transition occurs. I'm not talking about guys yelling about power and revealing their monster forms like that idiot Kevin or Dehuai. I mean just a normal looking lady or dude suddenly being a lich or hellbeast with zero fanfare as soon as battle music is queued up and everyone enters a fighting stance. .jpg) In any event, since Alice Elliot is a stern believer that what happens in the bathroom stays in the bathroom, she'll be taking on this foe solo. Meet Arcane Olga (or Ghost-Spirit Olga if you're Japanese) the first mid-boss lackey of the foreign lands of Europe. Since this boss has Alice alone as our only party member, it's barely above a particularly annoying random battle in difficulty. Olga is only sporting 680 HP and has a Dark element affiliation but will NOT use any Dark element attacks to hit Alice's Light element weakness. The cards are all stacked in Alice's favor. .jpg) .jpg) There is very little to be said strategy wise for this fight. Alice has the one Light element offense spell in the form of Blessed Light. She is going to use every turn casting Blessed Light until Arcane Olga is defeated. If necessary, she can waste a turn to heal herself. But that was not remotely necessary in our case. .jpg) Arcane Olga lives up to her name and spends her time casting a variety of spells in Alice's direction. None of them hit all that hard. It's mostly 40-50 HP of damage per attack. I'd just like to point out that nobody bothers to run in and see what's happening in this bathroom literally a wall away as restroom gets... .jpg) Set ablaze. .jpg) Energy beams are shot into the walls. .jpg) And javelins of concrete are torn from the floor and smashed into the surrounding area. Owner Gismot must have soundproofed the poo poo out of this crapper. .jpg) .jpg) All that aside, Alice handily wins this occult battle of sorcery in the ladies' room and Arcane Olga's assault is driven off. Music: Results .jpg) Alice's victory nets her a very healthy sum of EXP and Cash. Hitting Level 28 unlocks the Gospel spell which raises a targeted party member's Physical and Special Defense for five turns at the somewhat hefty cost of 40 MP. That will probably prove useful at some point. Or I'll completely forget she even has that spell and never use it. One of the two! It's likely the latter. .jpg) We also obtain a new accessory from the defeated Olga. As it says, these earrings boosts experience gain by 20% which ain't bad. But it also lowers Sanity Points by 20% as well. I suppose that could be OK if we needed to grind with anyone besides Alice. You'd think the girl would get a few more Sanity Points after over half a year of fighting ghosts, demons and warlocks. I should probably remember to use that stockpile of consumable stat increasing items sitting in our inventory one day. I can tell you right now as of this update, that one day is not within the next two chapters of the game I already recorded.  Music: Someone's Table .jpg) I’d be more careful next time! You were under my spell the moment you entered the bathroom. What WERE you even searching for in those toilet stalls?! I... thought maybe I could have missed something. You stepped on the drunken wench on the floor a handful of times, you know. S-Sorry Yuria...Yuri finally notices something is wrong after the two-plus minute long magic battle and barges in. .jpg) Y-You! That cat demon lady!...What? Aren't you that cat demon lady from... err... that Chinese countryside village... Ergh... Alice, help me out here. Zhaoyang Village? <snaps fingers> That's the one! I have no idea what you're talking about. You're not the cat lady demon from that village? You were real mad we killed your hell kittens? That's not you...? You look JUST like her. Huh... now that you mention it... Enough of this ignorant chatter! Hmph, you’re back from the spirit’s graveyard, eh? I’m sure you’ll make Lord Bacon proud. <snort> Lord Bacon... I am Arcane Olga! Remember my name! I’ll be seeing you again. Hee hee….jpg) Arcane Olga OUT! The party really needs to do something about people teleporting away while they stand there doing nothing. The will never do this. NEVER! .jpg) Tune in next time as everyone washes their hands and leaves the Cursed Bathroom of Prague just in time for Yuri to travel back to the Graveyard and make a big ol' showcase of the new line of  Video: Arcane Olga Battle (Who knew dive bar women's rooms could expand to triple the size if a brawl broke out in one?)   Arcane Olga Character Art - Evil vampire grandma is gonna get her drink on. The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Oct 9, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 00:11
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Arcane Olga is basically a level check. If you like to rush from event to event like I did back when I played the game, you're gonna suffer a little bit her. Otherwise she's fine.
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Oct 5, 2018 00:28
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I'm surprised they actually made a battle background for the women's bathroom. It's also my headcanon that Olga really is just some crazy cannibal witch who filed her teeth into points for maximum effect rather than being an actual vampire. It adds her to the level of weird horror this game has like Li Li and all the weird monsters out there.The Dark Id posted:Maybe that mirror with the giggling reflection has something to do with this mysterious. Shitenshi fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 01:15
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Shitenshi posted:I'm surprised they actually made a battle background for the women's bathroom. It's also my headcanon that Olga really is just some crazy cannibal witch who filed her teeth into points for maximum effect rather than being an actual vampire. It adds her to the level of weird horror this game has like Li Li and all the weird monsters out there. I like to think she just has some red Halloween vampire dentures painted red. If she is a a vampire, it’d be kind of disappointing since vampires are pretty low on the supernatural weirdness totem pole in this game.
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Oct 5, 2018 01:59
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Maybe she actually is related to the cat grandma from Zhaoyang.
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Oct 5, 2018 02:05
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The general face structure of the high cheeks, wrinkled forehead, open mouth and prominent chin in the Olga image reminds me of those oni masks. The Dark Id posted:the obvious witch we briefly saw murking Terry Could be wrong on the first one, just always assumed it was "mercing", from mercenary. Third one could probably lose the "barges in" bit or maybe change to "barges in, finally noticing"
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Oct 5, 2018 06:08
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The Dark Id posted:And World War 1 is still a few years off so not political strife.
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Oct 5, 2018 09:26
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Also IIRC this is early 1914, so it's a few months.
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Oct 5, 2018 09:34
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Just because it's not the July Crisis yet doesn't mean there's no political strife The general region was a powder keg long before the July Crisis finally set it off.
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Oct 5, 2018 10:27
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Zagglezig posted:Could be wrong on the first one, just always assumed it was "mercing", from mercenary. Third one could probably lose the "barges in" bit or maybe change to "barges in, finally noticing" You are indeed mistaken. "Murk" spelled in just that way is a pretty common slang term for killing.
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Oct 5, 2018 13:20
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I'm with Owner Gismot on this one; sounds in a bar's bathroom should stay in the bathroom
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Oct 5, 2018 14:26
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Malachite_Dragon posted:Just because it's not the July Crisis yet doesn't mean there's no political strife There was simmering nationalism and oppression especially in the Hungarian half of the empire, but not a powder keg in the Balkan sense.
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Oct 5, 2018 20:02
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Yeah I don't think many people were expecting the Great War to take off quite like it did In geopolitical terms it's what you call an oopsie
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Oct 5, 2018 20:34
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yeah the war was inevitable due to the tangled mess of alliances and increased tension, but the instigating event caught everyone off guard and was just a perfect storm
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Oct 6, 2018 00:24
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People at the time weren't ready for a crisis of that magnitude. They basically thought it would blow over in less than a year.
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Oct 6, 2018 08:49
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I have found this thing in Japan and I think it is relevant to this thread.  The phenomena is known as "Shakurel planet", google on the risk of your own sanity.
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Oct 6, 2018 15:30
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Nimsant posted:I have found this thing in Japan and I think it is relevant to this thread. 
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Oct 6, 2018 18:15
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I dunno. This pretty closely mirrored my experience in the a bar bathroom in Eastern Europe a few years back.
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Oct 7, 2018 01:46
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What the gently caress?... 
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Oct 7, 2018 01:54
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Move over angry eyebrows.
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Oct 7, 2018 14:50
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How is the Hapsburg jaw relevant again in the three centuries after the War of the Spanish Succession?
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Oct 7, 2018 17:32
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Bacon could probably have done this at any time, but he wanted to make a point. ...I suppose? Also, is there no longer a coruscant light monster laying waste to random ports in southeast Asia, or did it rip free of the fusion with Yuri and go about its business?
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Oct 7, 2018 18:06
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Oct 8, 2018 14:56
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poo poo. Double post.
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Oct 8, 2018 14:56
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