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I can't believe Shidou is a gigantic dork and also possibly Josuke.
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Apr 27, 2021 17:28
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Well, now I'm getting a mental image of Shidou chasing a criminal, the criminal throwing a ball, and Shidou stopping to chase after it like a dog. Hope the rest of security /the police don't have that problem.
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Apr 27, 2021 18:59
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Blaze Dragon posted:I can't believe Shidou is a gigantic dork and also possibly Josuke. Shidou would be infinitely cooler if he randomly busted out Crazy Diamond at one point during his route. SimplyUnknown1 posted:Well, now I'm getting a mental image of Shidou chasing a criminal, the criminal throwing a ball, and Shidou stopping to chase after it like a dog. This is how Hogstein will escape in this route. Just watch.
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Apr 29, 2021 12:47
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Note: This update isn't as long as the ones I usually put together. I'm also sorry about it taking so long. As soon as I got my free time back after exams, my shoulder decided to fall apart on me. Currently dealing with tendonitis, so it's hard for me to do any extended work at my desk. So for the time being, the updates may take about a week each and also will be a tiny bit shorter than normal. Update XXXVI: 2-Step Verification  Let’s get Shidou’s route rolling for real. Not going to lie, I think it’s going to be fairly mundane for this first bit.   (Gosh, I slept like a rock. I must have been more tired than I realized…) As Mai and I ate breakfast, I thought back over what had happened the day before. One of us had disappeared in the explosion. There was no getting around it. Just thinking about it made my chest ache, but… (The rest of us are still together. We can handle anything that pig throws at us… can’t we?)Given the pathetically weak lobs he’s been tossing so far, you’ll probably be all right. Shidou was right about doing our best to win, for Urabe. I dug into my food with renewed determination. There was a very good chance I wouldn’t have made it out if he hadn’t helped me. (Too bad Mitarashi wasn’t so lucky. He’s gotten hurt somehow every day so far.) Most recently, he’d been hit in the stomach protecting Wakasa when the hospital exploded.Looks like Towa’s route isn’t the only one where Ryuji has to bail Wakasa out. Weirdly enough, only having to save Towa is what results in Ryuji getting hurt. He was largely okay when he was forced to drag both Towa and Saki out of the fire. (And I don’t think that wound he got from taking that arrow for me on the first day is healed yet either…) Not particularly. Huh? Oh, no, peppers are fine. I hadn’t realized I’d been absently stabbing at a pepper in my salad with my fork as I thought.Boo. What kind of breakfast is salad?  …Oh. I don’t like them. I thought maybe you didn’t like them too… No, no, I love bell peppers. Hey, after we finish breakfast, you want to go check up on Mitarashi? Ryusei?  …Okay. Let’s go. We finished up our breakfast quickly and headed off to visit Mitarashi.*We transition to Ryuji’s room* Oh, you’re all already here? We were all crammed into his room, with Mitarashi sitting in his bed looking grumpy. (Is he in pain…?) Even Mai seemed to realize he wasn’t all right, and didn’t immediately jump up on him like she had before. Are you okay? Yeah, more or less. For him, that was as good as a “no.” I think you’re going to have to sit this one out. If you push yourself too hard, you’re just going to make it worse… Wakasa didn’t look very happy either. Maybe he was feeling guilty that Mitarashi had gotten hurt protecting him. He let out a long sigh and leaned back in an uncharacteristic display of resignation. If I’m a dick about it and then I end up getting in the way, I’ll feel pretty stupid. Makes more sense for me to stay on the bench.Who the hell are you and what have you done with the real Ryuji?  I’m not saying I don’t think this is the best course of action, but… You really think the pig’s gonna let you get away with it? It’s hard to say.He let’s you get away with everything. And if he doesn’t, you just need to let Saki yell at him and he’ll fold. We all frowned. Um, I think someone should stay with Mitarashi, I’m just not sure who… Good point. The fewer of you there are out there, the harder it’s going to be to win, right? It made sense. I was thinking I’d leave Mai behind with you. I don’t want her in the game anyway, so it’s a win-win. Oh, that’s a good idea! She should be safe here. Can you look after him? …Yeah. She nodded. Mitarashi shrugged and sighed. Too bad she’s not ten years older… Hey! Chill man, it was just a joke. I’m a great babysitter. Don’t worry about a thing. She’s not wrong.  Of course, ma’am! I’ll be real well-behaved, I promise! With that, it was decided: Mitarashi and Mai would stay behind, at the hotel.  Oooh? Is something wrong? You seem to be… missing a few people. His tone made me want to punch something, but instead I just ground my teeth and kept quiet. We would like you to approve the temporary withdrawal of Ryusei Mitarashi. An injured player would take the focus off the game, and make it much more boring. Hmm… Very well! I approve your request! It is done! Oink! It wasn’t quite what I’d been expecting. That was too easy. He’s hiding something. Yeah, I agree. Shirabe and I kept our voices low, and if the Count heard us, he didn’t say anything. What…?Beats me. Maybe he’s talking about smoking Urabe out of hiding?  Nothing! Nothing at all! Just talking to myself! Anyway, I’ve got an announcement for all of you! Oh no! You proved yesterday that I can blow up a whole attraction and nobody dies! Where’s the excitement? The thrill?! We need something at stake! If that doesn’t put the spring back in your step, I don’t know what will! I just hope running with a smaller crew doesn’t come back to bite you in the rear end! …Always a charmer, that one. Th-Then does that mean he’s changing the rules?! That’s not fair! If this had been a consequence from the beginning I could understand, but I can’t agree to this kind of change! His ugly laugh cut out as the screen went black. drat… He’s not giving us a choice.Yeah, it’s almost like he’s a terrorist or something. Then we should get going. We need to start as soon as possible. The kid’s right. Okay, let’s go! The mood was grim as we headed toward the next attraction. Before long we arrived at out destination: Shooting Colony. So, what’s the deal with this one…? Oh, yeah, Mitarashi’s not here this time. Don’t worry. I asked him about it. Good work. Let’s hear it. The attraction we’ll be going through here is called “Moonlight OX.” What’s it about? It’s a pretty standard 3D shooter, but the thing that makes it stand out is the protagonists are sort of… cow people. They’re what? That’s just weird… Is that something girls are into these days? B-Beats me……What in god’s name leads you to link “3D space shooter game with cow people” and “Is this really trending among girls”? I looked up the JP playthrough and found out that in the Japanese version Towa says “牛って... 人気あるの、それ？ 女の子的にはどう？” It’s something like “Cow… Is it popular? How about with girls?” It seems to be a very subtle shift in the way it’s said that’s causing this weird statement from English Towa. Japanese Towa seems to be asking if it’s a game that girls like. English Towa sounds more like he’s going “Wait, really? Girls these days play weird games like that?”  Towa also has a different facial expression when saying the line in the Japanese version that's more "confused" and less "what the hell?" Although this might just be a result of the video playthrough I have being of Subaru’s route instead of Meoshi’s (sometimes there are very very minor differences in dialog/character expressions depending on route). Science fiction, eh? Well, this place has variety, I’ll give it that. I won’t lie. With just five of us, I have a feeling things are going to get a lot tougher. We need to make sure not to let our guard down. Right. We can do it, guys! We looked around at each other and nodded. (Urabe gave us this chance. We have to do our best.) Did that segment feel weirdly familiar to any of you? Well, that’s because it is basically the same conversation from Meoshi’s route. I literally just copy-pasted that section from Update XXIII. The only changes I had to make are that two of Ayumu’s lines had to be removed/reworked and Subaru gets a slightly different warning about not letting guards down. Welcome to Moonlight OX! You and your partner can escape this destroyed colony with your overflowing LOVE POWER! Escape the colony… That must be what Meoshi was talking about. Correct. It’s just like the game. Then we’re going to have to split up again. Not good… The piglet in front of the attraction began waving and gyrating in our direction. …! …! Uh… So we’re… going to have to drive something? …As partners? Looks like it. I think he’s saying we need to get into the ships in pairs. (He’s still the best at understanding what they’re saying, but I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of it too.) There’s an odd number of us, though… I don’t mind going solo. Given your proclivity toward video games, you’re probably the best choice for a one-man team. (Who do I pair with…?) I turned away, startled. (Wh-What was that? Wait, why do I feel all flustered…?) Hey. Inafune. Y-Yes?! Would you like to pair up with me? Wh-What?! Is that a problem? I felt my heart jump. (Why am I acting like this?) Before I could respond, though, Wakasa spoke up. Piss off, Towa. We already did your route and I’ll be damned if I’m going to suffer through it a second time. W-Wait, seriously?! (What is going on here?!) I hadn’t expected “choose between two men” to end up on my list of things to do that day.There’s a choice here between “Go with Shidou” and “Take Wakasa up on his offer.” We’re obviously not going with Wakasa. Well, um, Shidou did ask first… It was a silly excuse, but… So… sorry. He didn’t appear too upset though, and just shrugged and walked off. (Sorry, I just felt like going with Shidou today!) So, uh, why did ask [sic] to partner with me? It didn’t quite make sense. Oh! Yeah, I slept fine. Thanks for checking up on me.*Affection up* He smiled, and I felt my heart jump again. (Oh my gosh…) The piglet seemed to understand that we’d finished forming our teams, and started wiggling around again. …! He’s telling us to go get in those ships. All right, let’s go. Right! We all climbed into our spaceships. It looks like this turns it… and that controls the gun. Fortunately, the controls appeared to be pretty simple. Agreed. If there’s a gun, that must mean we’ll be fighting something eventually. I pushed the stick to the side, and the ship began to rotate in that direction. A little more experimentation revealed we could rotate a full 360 degrees. I’ve got experience with firearms, so I’ll take the gun. Can you handle steering? No problem!*The background CG shifts so that the right tunnel is open instead of the left* The ship kept moving as we shifted around to get into position. The moment the announcement finished, the cockpit display began to flicker to life. Is… this a map of the colony? Hm… This icon must be our ship. Wait, was that what the icon was the last time we did this? Wasn’t it “E” last time? There’s a number of them— what?! Ah! At least these guys are still here. Rotate 30 degrees to the right! Roger! I nodded and brought the ship around. Ready… He lined up his shot and finally… Pulled the trigger. With an appropriately laser-y noise, a bolt of light shot out from our ship and hit the alien.*The ox alien thing shakes a little bit and then disappears* Did we get it?! Yeah, you hit— wait! It’s still there! What’s going on?! Shoot the blue jewel on its forehead! Ah ha… I see it!Yeah, it’s not hard to miss.  Yes! You got him! Accompanied by the sound of an explosion, the alien toppled to the ground. That was close. I didn’t know we could talk to the other ships. You got us out of a tight spot. No problem. Can the others hear us too? Coming in loud and clear. I figure we’re all on the same channel. Be careful! Those things will attack you if you don’t kill them first! Understood. Watch yourselves out there. Contact us if anything happens. Aye aye, captain. Roger. Be careful! Where should we go? One of these heads to the emergency exit, but the other goes to one of the “PW’s.” Normally you’d just go for the exit, but… …In this game we can’t be too careful. What do you think? Hm…There’s a choice here between “We should head for the exit” and “I’m curious about the ‘PW.’” Just like in Ryuji’s route, we want to avoid making a beeline for the exit. I’m kinda curious what those “PW’s” are about. Me too, and I don’t think we’ll be able to beat this game just by heading for the exit anyway. All right. PW-1 it is. Can you hear me, everyone? We’re heading for PW-1. Roger that. I’ll take the exit, then. Sounds good! We’re heading for PW-3. Each ship moved off toward its destination. Sorry I’m not all that talkative during this segment. So far this has mostly been a retread of Kouta/Ryuji’s route. Of course, given how I tend to regularly ramble at length during my LPs, some of you may be enjoying this newfound silence. Every shot was perfectly placed, and he never missed. They’re not letting up…*Green and red flashes followed by the screen shaking a little* The words were barely out of his mouth when the ship shook. We were under attack! Whoa! Behind us! Right! I spun the ship around, and Shidou aimed and fired. But just as Shidou pulled the trigger, the alien fired its own gun. It was aimed straight at me. No!*The background goes black at this point* Shidou leapt toward the alien— Watch out! Gah! Sh-Shidou…?! He’d put himself in the path of the bullet. Are you okay?! My chest felt tight. Too many people had already gotten hurt… Hnngh… Don’t worry… I’ll… protect you. But… I didn’t know what to say. Shidou slowly stood up, grimacing in pain. Be careful! Are you bleeding?! No, I’m fine. It hit me pretty hard but I don’t think it actually went in. …I thought so. Look. He held up the bullet that had just hit him. This is… So here we have confirmation that those shots are rubber. I don’t recall if we already learned that in Kouta, Towa, or Ryuji’s routes. Either way, it’s not terribly surprising. Saki had been shot in the back during Towa’s route. If those were real bullets, she likely would have been paralyzed instead of just incapacitated. That said, Shidou is correct that the fact they are rubber does not mean they aren’t dangerous. Saki got seriously hosed up in Towa’s route, and a bad decision in Ryuji’s route can lead to both of them being killed in a hail of rubber bullets. The interesting thing here is that Hogstein has rigged this game to use these rubber bullets even though he has ready access to real bullets. The guns that the zombies use in Bloodstained Hospital (and Kouta’s route) do use live rounds. As Kouta’s route revealed, the zombies are supposed to deliberately aim away from our heroes. The bullets are real, but the intent of them is only to scare. In comparison, the ox aliens have to aim at the heroes due to the nature of the attraction, so Hogstein has made sure that their rounds are the “non-lethal” variety. Taking bets now that Hogstein will eventually be revealed as not actually wanting to kill anyone. That will be the cop-out for why he ends up being forgiven or some poo poo. …Does it hurt? Not that I’m trying to imitate Ryusei or something, but it’s not a big deal. I’m a police detective, remember? All right! Let’s keep going, but we really need to stay on our toes.*One fade transition later* We were almost there when the radio crackled to life. Hey guys, I got to the exit. It was Meoshi. How’s it look? It won’t open. We need to put in a password. Hm… [Announcer]: Someone has reached the exit. The colony will self-destruct in 7200 seconds. Please unlock the exit and evacuate immediately. This is different. Well, it’s different for us at least. We never got to find out what the gimmick was intended to be for this attraction. Moonlight OX in Ryuji’s route was a special scenario designed for Saki and Ryuji which involved using Urabe as a human shield. In Towa and Kouta’s routes, Saki gets injured and they get knocked out of the game before there’s any discussion about what has to be done to win. What?! 7200 seconds?! Two hours, huh… Heh. Every day it’s just bombs on top of bombs. Starting to get kind of old.When did you become the comedian of the group? Before I had a chance to respond, Shirabe’s voice exploded over the radio. Of course! “PW” stands for “password”! We need four letters to open the door. But there are five PW points on the map… Right. That’s PW-2. Good. We’ll go for the nearest one to us. Sounds good! Just like that, our immediate goal changed: Find the password. (Oh… Shidou just called Meoshi by his first name…) We were slowly beginning to trust one another, and it looked like maybe we were starting to grow closer too. That made me happy.*Shidou takes down another ox* I think that’s the last of them. Hooray! With the aliens exterminated, the PW-1 point was ours… The sound of victory! Awesome! Good. Let’s move to the next one. The closest one would be… PW-5. We notified the others of where we were going, and headed off.*We shift the background CG again so that the opposite tunnel is open* All right, the password for PW-3 is “N”. We’re heading for PW-4 next. Apparently he’d succeeded too. Roger that. Good luck! That’s two so far. And it didn’t even take us a full hour! I’d say we’re doing pretty good.”Maybe we should stop for a short 45-minute break.”  I agree, but there’s one thing I’m worried about. What’s that? Towa. Is he dead?! Please tell me he got gunned down an hour ago and nobody felt it necessary to mention it. (Whoa, I’d totally forgotten…) Shirabe’s voice crackled over the radio. Well, he was full of piss and vinegar when we started out, but… What’s the matter? I’m the reason Ryusei got hurt… So that was it. (I don’t blame him. It sucks when somebody gets hurt because of you…) I knew it. Huh? I wasn’t sure what he meant. Remember how he was acting when we first got here? (Oh yeah… He’d made a big deal of trying to partner up with me.) I’m not sure if he was trying to fool us or himself, but he was definitely putting on a show. Oh… (Why didn’t I see it!? Man, I feel like an idiot…)Why? It’s not your job to pick up on subtle changes in everyone’s mental health. You sort of have more important things to concern yourself with. Still, I was kind of impressed that Shidou had figured it out. Chin up, Towa. If you really want to feel sorry for yourself, you can do that later. You can’t fix Ryusei, but if we lose this game we’ll just make things worse for him. Yeah… yeah, I guess you’re right. Being sad won’t do anybody any good, huh?I don’t know about that. I mean, It’s making me happier. Even over the radio he sounded like he was beginning to cheer up. (Shidou’s pretty nice, in his own way…) All right, let’s beat this game! He’d just finished talking when Meoshi’s voice came over the radio. Meoshi?! Kouta! What’s wrong!? drat! They’ve got us trapped! Oh no! Shidou squeezed off a shot at the one in front, and I spun us around to get the other one, but—*Red and green flashes with shaky screen* Aaaah! Guh! Before I could, their attack slammed into our ship. Hey— You… right? …ear me?! The radio! We need to deal with the other alien first! Right!*We fade to black for a moment*  I’m worried about Meoshi… I am too, but for the time being our first priority needs to be getting those passwords. You’re right… Our minds made up, we headed for the PW-5 point.*We fade to black again. When the scene comes back, another ox alien gets taken down* [Announcer]: Password obtained. Password is “M”. We’ve got three of the passwords, but… There’s only 25 minutes left on the clock! No time to try the last two, then. We need to get to the exit. Agreed. Let’s just hope somebody else got them! I think that’s a safe bet. With that, we turned and set off toward the exit. drat… There’s no one else here. Where are they?! I heard Meoshi’s last, desperate transmission play back in my head. (Oh man… I hope he’s okay!) It looks like we can put in the password over there. Let’s go have a closer look, and hope they show up soon. All right. Just like Meoshi had said, there was a device next to the door that had spaces for four letters. ”Noms”? Then we need one more letter… He groaned.  Sorry for the wait! Shirabe! Wakasa! We’d been so absorbed, we hadn’t even seen them approach. Try and be more punctual next time, all right? More punctual? We’re 15 minutes early!Don’t start with me and joking about time. You have long since passed the point of getting away with that. They grinned at each other, and I smiled to myself. We were pretty worried, you know. Everybody’s radio just cut out all of a sudden. Wait… everybody’s? Yeah, right after we heard Meoshi’s transmission, the whole thing went dead. Hmm… That’s odd, but we don’t have time right now. What was the other letter? Shirabe shook his head. Oh no! Then we have to wait for Meoshi! Right. Sure hope the kid’s safe…Going to have to stop there for the moment. I’ll pick this up with the rest as soon as I can get my shoulder to cooperate. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 16:10 on May 6, 2021 |
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May 6, 2021 16:07
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First off, please take your time and take care of your shoulder! I have the same thing on my shoulder and it's hell. This LP can wait a little more. It's also really weird they dropped the E gimmick for this time around, but I guess they didn't want to make this run too loaded with gimmicks? Psycho Knight posted:
Bad Mitarashi! Bad! Where's my spray bottle
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May 6, 2021 16:34
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Your health is first, LPing can come later. Also Shidou is a signfiicantly more enjoyable co-lead/love interest than anyone other than Ryusei so far. I'm enjoying his snark.
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May 6, 2021 22:56
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Space Kablooey posted:First off, please take your time and take care of your shoulder! I have the same thing on my shoulder and it's hell. This LP can wait a little more. It's not bad to the point that my doctor is considering "treatment" (meaning sound therapy that probably won't work or jamming steroids in there which could gently caress it up even worse), but yeah, it isn't exactly fun to have. Right now I just need to focus heavily on rotator cuff exercises and hope that that loosens it up/strengthens it enough to heal, which honestly sounds counter-intuitive to me but hey. It's likely my fault since I fell out of exercising when the pandemic lockdowns started. The sudden muscle loss probably caused calcium build up or something. As for the E gimmick, I think that was just a speciality thing for Ryuji and Saki. Because Urabe was the "Boss Fight", they only needed to reach the exit. The energy system was probably Hogstein's way of punishing them if they tried to blitz the exit. Of course, that also means Hogstein is apparently capable of reprogramming entire attractions by himself. And yeah, that is a terrible comment from Ryuji. I get he's the playboy, but you should never be making a flirting joke centered on an 8-year old(?). Blaze Dragon posted:Your health is first, LPing can come later. I mean, he is better than Towa and Urabe (at least from a personal standpoint), but he also feels sorta boring. The only quirk to him so far is his weird fixation on the roundness of Saki's head. Other than that he's just the standard leader archetype. Of course, we're only halfway through his first episode. There's still 3.5 more to go and there's a hint of some "my greatest failure" backstory (I'm betting his mentor/partner got hurt or killed during his early rookie days).
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May 6, 2021 23:18
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Hope you get better. Also, they spent 2 hours on that ride? With 3 separate groups? Is the attraction huge or are the carts just going .001 mph. Actually, the mental image of them getting hyped up and hopping in these carts and going slower than walking speed is kind of funny.
FalloutFan56 fucked around with this message at 13:30 on May 8, 2021 |
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May 7, 2021 07:06
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Update XXXVII: He Wears His Sunglasses at Night We’re back and still waiting on Meoshi, who is totally dead. At least, that’s what I always immediately assume. I’m sure I’ll be proven right one of these days. Finally, Shirabe broke the silence. So… Urabe wasn’t around this morning. Yeah. I wonder where he is… I’m kind of worried about him. I bit my lip. But… he was a traitor, right? True enough. Maybe his job was done after that explosion… He stroked his beard. Hm…We’ve got a choice here between “You really think so?” and “Urabe’s not that kind of person.” …Ugh. You know what the “correct” choice is. Urabe’s not like that.Sorry, Saki. You are completely wrong. We just did Urabe’s route. He most certainly is like that. Really? C’mon… He didn’t seem convinced.I wouldn’t be either. Honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that Saki is our audience surrogate, I’d be increasingly suspicious that she was also a traitor. She certainly loves to defend this random stranger who stabbed everyone in the back and then disappeared.  I love that Saki’s influence has apparently destroyed any professionalism that Shidou once had. Remember when he was giving Saki the third degree because she volunteered to be a part of this game? That was about 3 days ago. Really?! He nodded and smiled. (Yeah! I knew I couldn’t be the only one!)Where’s my realistic otome game? One where we discover that Subaru doesn’t actually trust Urabe; he was just hoping that constantly agreeing with Saki would score him some rear end, like a socially awkward creeper. He saved us. That much is certain. What we don’t know is what the pig had told him to do.Spoiler-Alert: The exact thing that he did anyway, except he was supposed to make sure that one or two of you “tripped” during the escape. Good point. Hm… I wonder why he was even working for the him [sic] in the first place?He wants to shame his dad and then kill him. As far as Urabe is concerned, all of you are perfectly acceptable sacrifices in service of that goal. You gotta break a few eggs and all that. You know how it is.  A team… Yeah. After a moment, Wakasa and Shirabe nodded. (Good. I feel like we’re all on the same page now.) I let out a quiet sigh of relief. Only 5 minutes left. Think we should go look for Meoshi? The clock was running down, and everybody could feel it.What you idiots should have been doing was workshopping possible passwords. There’s only so many words you can make out of 4 letters, three of which being “O”, “M”, and “N.” Look! That’s his spaceship! He’d arrived with only minutes to spare. Oh man, I was really getting worried! But is he okay…? The… password is… “O”… With his message delivered, Meoshi crumpled to the floor. Meoshi?! Urg… What’s wrong?! Are you hurt? *Insert face fault scene with comical anime groans of disbelief*  What? Huh? I, uh… I’ve been feeling sick ever since I climbed in that thing. That what you were groaning about? Yeah… Right after that I took a hit and the radio cut out. Y-You got shot?Hey! This is great and all, but could you guys maybe focus on the password thing? You know: ticking time bomb, maybe 3 minutes left before it goes off, failure results in a hostage dying even if all of you manage to miraculously escape this explosion as well. It’s kind of important. They just hit the ship. I’m fine. Oh… I felt some of the tension leave me. I… uh… I guess I don’t do so well with spinning rides… Take a rest, Kouta. You’ve earned it. All right, let’s put in that password! We left Meoshi to sit down for a bit, and headed back to the exit. Then is there really any question about what they’re supposed to spell? NOOM! Of course! It’s “MOON,” right? Well, it would have to be. This is “Moonlight Colony,” after all.This puzzle seems to be a tiny bit tougher for Japanese players. The Japanese version still uses English letters and words for this password, whereas the English localization doesn’t require the player to have any knowledge of Japanese.  As an example, in the Japanese LP videos I found, the guy playing the game spends about a minute and a half talking to himself about the three answers and quickly looks back at the text log at one point as though he’s looking for something he might have missed. He eventually makes the correct choice, but it takes quite a bit longer than you would expect. Of course, there is a chance that he’s either joking around or explaining (like what I’m doing right now), but based on how he’s speaking it does sound like he’s at least a little bit lost or unsure. If I were to try and flip this puzzle around so you could get an idea of how Japanese players likely see this: Imagine if Shidou had just said “We have ‘－’, ‘－’, ‘－’, ‘l’, and ‘l’.” And then the game presented you with “月”, “曰”, and “日” as possible answers (Also try and imagine that I hadn’t told you what “Moon” was in Japanese like two updates ago). Honestly, I kind of wish the localization had done something like that, because that could have made for a more interesting puzzle than what we got.  Now, in the Japanese version the attraction itself is still referred to in English as “Moonlight OX” (it’s also in English on the sign hanging on the front of the building), so a sharp-eyed/eared player will likely catch that. That said, both of those mentions were likely 10 to 15 minutes of game time ago depending on your reading speed. Basically, the game does give the answer to the Japanese players as well, but it’s more subtle compared to the English version where “Moon” is the most logical choice even if you had been paying absolutely no attention up until this point. “Noom” isn’t even a word as far as I know, and younger teens probably only know the word “Mono” from “monochrome” or “mono sound”, if they know it at all. Shidou typed “MOON” into the device next to the door. [Announcer]: Colony completed. Yay! Well, that’s the first part done. Yeah, but maybe the next one can be a little less down-to-the-wire?And whose fault is that? You idiots had the last part of the password with 5 minutes on the clock and opted to spend 3 of those precious minutes chewing the fat with Kouta. Get better or stop whining. Uhh… Urp… We climbed back into our ships and headed out the exit. We were actually still just moving down a set path, but the gentle up-and-down motion of our spaceship made it feel like we were flying. Shame Ryusei couldn’t be here. I bet he would have loved this. Yeah, but then he’d probably get mad and act like he didn’t care. Why do you think he’s so worried that we’ll figure out he loves amusement parks?It’s a guy thing, Saki. Specifically a childish guy thing. Who knows, but he’s pretty terrible at hiding it. We giggled at the thought of Mitarashi trying desperately to cover up his apparently embarrassing enthusiasm. Oh, right. I forgot about that guy. I was kind of hoping we were just done with this place. As soon as the announcement was finished, aliens appeared all around us. No time to waste! C’mon Saki, let’s go!I haven’t really taken notice of it because it’s been overplayed by this point, but it’s kind of weird how Subaru just suddenly felt like it was open season on first names as soon as his route started. R-Right! I was surprised for a moment to hear him call me by name, but it didn’t last long. Rotate 45 degrees to the left! Roger! By now our teamwork was pretty tight, and we plowed through aliens like a thresher on a deadline.”Plow” is one of those weird cases where I prefer the American spelling instead of the British (plough). Shorter/less complicated feels more appropriate for a word that can mean “use brute force to push stuff out of the way.” Meoshi seemed to be feeling better, and Shirabe and Wakasa were holding their own as well. Then what could only be described as “boss music” began to play. Do you think this is the general? Yes. Brace yourself! There he is in case you’ve forgotten what he looks like. We only saw this guy once, during Ryuji’s route. He doesn’t have Urabe chained to him as a shield this time, though. He’s also not goofily flying around the room (as far as I know). Aaaaah! It’s huge! How the blazes are we supposed to kill that thing? Unlike the other aliens we’d fought, this one had four jewels, and they were scattered across its body. We must have to hit those 4 jewels… Saki, turn us 30 degrees to the right! Roger! I twisted the stick to the right, and our ship turned.*The jewel on the boss’s right shoulder turns red* You got him! Wait… Look! Huh? The jewel blinked red for a moment or so, then turned blue again.Well, that’s different. I guess it didn’t work. What’s going on?! *Same result as last time* Shirabe and Wakasa hit the jewel too, but the result was the same. Strange. Doesn’t matter how many times we shoot it, it stays blue. Why?! Almost as if in response, the alien general slammed its huge body into our ship.*The screen flashes red* Aah! Our ship shook so hard I had to hang on tight or risk being thrown out. Are you okay?! Yeah, I’m fine, but… why can’t we beat it? Shidou took another shot at one of the jewels just as Meoshi did the same.*The boss appears on screen with both shoulder jewels turned red* What was that noise?! Look! The jewels you shot are blinking faster!*Then the jewels turn back to blue* The blinking was faster; both turned blue again almost immediately. (What was that…? They both hit jewels at the same time… I feel like I’ve almost got it…) Gonna need all our brain power for this one, I’m sure. (When we shot it, the jewel didn’t stay red… But when Shidou shot it a minute ago, I heard a weird noise. The jewels started blinking faster, and something was definitely different. I think it was because Meoshi and Shidou attacked at the same time, which made the two jewels blink red. But both of them turned blue again, so we’re not sure how to defeat the alien general. If we take too long and he gives us another body slam, we might not make it… So how the heck are we supposed to beat it?) Duh. Wait… what if we attacked all four of the jewels at the same time? Then that sound earlier must have been because we both attacked at once! Yeah! …That’s impossible, though. There are four jewels, and only three spaceships. You’re right… Gosh, if only all seven of us were here… That would be correct, my man. Kind of shot yourself in the foot by leaving Ryuji behind. Not really anything you could do about Urabe, though. Of course! Suddenly Hogstein’s comment about us “rolling with a smaller crew” made sense. (This is what he was talking about!) There’s just enough lag when the gun reloads for the jewels to reset… Damnit! There’s no way we can hit all four at the same time! Shidou punched the side of the spaceship angrily. We have to think… There’s got to be another way… I closed my eyes and thought furiously. (Attack all of them at once… That would mean…) Use Towa. Just throw him at one of the jewels. He probably only weighs like 30 kilos. Not that a stick would have worked very well— the alien was too far away. Still… Saki. Do you trust me?Depends. There was a glint in his eye. Huh? Do you trust me? Um…?Choice between “What are you going to do?” and “Yes! I trust you!” You know the deal. Yes! I trust you! Thanks!*Affection up* He flashed a wide smile, then stood up and handed me the controls for the ship’s gun. (Wh-What…?) He pulled something out of his jacket— a smooth, black pistol.Credit where credit is due, this is some quick thinking on Shidou’s part. Not sure how this is a matter of trust though. Get ready to fire on my mark! He planted his foot on the top of our ship and glared at the alien general. I tightened my grip on the ship’s gun and aimed it at my jewel. Suddenly, the alien fired— Watch out!*Shidou shakes a little* The bullet shot past Shidou’s face, grazing his cheek and sending his sunglasses flying. He didn’t even blink.Noo! Not his sweet shades!  Shidou?! I’m fine! Stay focused! R-Right! I turned back to the gun, my heart pounding in my chest. I could feel my hands getting slick with sweat. Fire! That doesn’t look like it grazed his cheek. That looks like it only barely missed his eyeball. Hn! Four bullets shot out— …And four jewels turned red. The roaring sound of an explosion filled the air, and the alien general sank down into the floor. Phew… I’m not looking forward to the paperwork I’m going to have to file for this one.If you think that’s bad then don’t look into the other routes where 3 or 4 shots got fired by civilians because you willingly turned it over to them. He gave me a shaky grin, then sat down hard. There was blood dripping from the cut his sunglasses had left on his forehead. Are you okay?! I pulled a handkerchief out of my pocket and pressed it against the wound. Yes. Thanks. Your sunglasses broke… Huh. I kind of figured that the sunglasses were just a style choice. But if they’re broken now… Before I could finish my sentence, he slipped his hand into his jacket and pulled out… a pair of sunglasses.I had wanted to put in a gif of Rude from Advent Children seeing his sunglasses get crushed and then quickly pulling out a fresh pair from his jacket. I say wanted to, because the actual clip is not as snappy as I remember, and it would have had to be cut up a bunch to make it work as a gif… also my feelings on Advent Children are weird now because of the stupid screwing around that FF7R is doing with the original story which is starting to make me actually pine for the preservation of the Compilation— Wait, sorry. We were talking about Shidou having weak eyes or something. Wait… what? Aren’t those…? Obviously. They would have had to make a separate set of portraits if he didn’t have spares. That also means I would have had to do the same, so I suppose I’m thankful for the handwaving. He kept a straight face for only a second or so, before grinning and then finally laughing outright. I couldn’t help but join in.[Announcer]: Dark Space completed. The body-less voice echoed through “space.” We did it! Yes we did, thanks to your insight. He gave me a smile, then reached out and tousled my hair.What is with you and hair ruffling? Does the roundness of Saki’s head mess with him so much that he has an unstoppable urge to mess up her hair in order to un-round it? … I froze, and felt my eyes widen. You should be! Stop touching people. N-No, it’s nothing! Shidou pulled back his hand quickly, looking as surprised by his own action as he had been by my reaction. (I didn’t expect that! …Although I guess it wasn’t really… bad, per se… In fact, it was kind of… nice.)[Announcer]: Stage four has been completed. You have obtained a reward. …! The sudden announcement had taken me by surprise, and as soon as it finished a compartment in front of the seat popped open. Yeah, it is… Everyone let out a long sigh of relief. Adequate job, team. Oh thank God… I took a deep breath. The air outside tasted so good. But the calm was shattered by an all-too-familiar voice. Congraaaaaaaaaaaaatualations [sic] on beating today’s game!That [sic] is because of the extra “a”, by the way. Not because of the… extra “a”… you know what I mean. The one next to the “u”.  If you’d told us we couldn’t beat him without four ships, I wouldn’t have had to! Uh, I don’t believe I told you you couldn’t take four ships either… Oink oink! So forget about that nonsense and let’s get back to what matters: my jewel! That sort of violence is entirely uncalled-for! Do you know how much that cost?!What the hell do you care? It’s not your park. Unless… HOGSTEIN IS KEIJI INAFUNE!…Oh, right. We’ve had scenes where the two of them are in the same room at the same time. Nevermind. I was starting to get pretty tired of Hogstein’s selfishness. (We’re risking our lives, and he just says to forget about it? And why does he get to complain about that jewel? We only shot it because he didn’t tell us about the ships and we didn’t have a choice! How could he act like a stupid jewel is more important than our lives?!)You guys just don’t get this whole revenge/terrorist thing, do you? Anyway, just get on with it.    The only reason the jewel got broken in the first place is because you didn’t tell us stuff you should have! And you just blew up an entire attraction! How do you get to lecture us about breaking a jewel?! Urrrgh… Okay, okay! I’ll let the jewel slide! And just like that he seemed to just forget all about his earlier frustration. But you guys not having enough people is your problem! And it’s not my fault you didn’t realize you needed four ships! Oink oink oink!There’s a lot of solid points being made here by Saki and Hogstein. Then the screen went dark. Man… What a long day. Agreed, but at least it’s over. I… I still feel kind of sick… I say we all turn in early today. Yeah, I’m pretty tired… After taking a few minutes to catch our breaths, we headed for the restaurant. We’d decided to eat with Mitarashi and Mai instead of in the restaurant. …! (I… think he’s saying… “Of course”…?) I still wasn’t quite sure how to interpret the piglet’s strange movements. Uh, let’s see… I’d like a BBQ pork, a kid’s meal… I read off the list of meals I’d gotten from the others. …! (Um… I guess that’s “Okay”?) It nodded several times and began to move toward the kitchen before I held out a hand to stop it. Oh, one more thing… Could you lend me a first aid kit? …! The piglet nodded and disappeared. (They’re so weird… I can’t tell if they’re men or women, and they can’t or won’t talk, but at least they’re not attacking us or something…)I’ll probably catch some flak for this, but: Those uniforms look very form fitting. Generally speaking, you probably wouldn’t have much difficulty distinguishing which ones are dudes and which ones are ladies. I was still thinking when a piglet appeared with our food and a first aid kit. After thinking it, I headed back to our table, where Shidou sat, deep in thought. Hey! Is something wrong? Huh? You got hit, remember? I just want to be sure you’re all right. It’s just a bruise. Nothing to worry about. Well then there’s no harm in letting me take a look! Let’s go! Somebody’s pushy today… He grumbled and frowned, but took off his jacket and turned his back to me. …! I lifted up his shirt to see a massive black and blue bruise. (This is because he was looking out for me…) I felt sad and angry at myself, but I couldn’t take back what had already happened, so I just did what I could to treat it, then pulled his shirt back down. I must have looked upset, because I felt him lay a hand on my shoulder. Don’t worry about it. I know, it’s just… I’m assuming that he’s just lying about this to make Saki feel better. Ignoring the fact that Subaru is 22 and therefore has a “career” in the Police spanning 2 years at most; there’s also the fact that Japan’s violent crime rate is near rock-bottom. Unless Subaru’s service record includes getting into fistfights with petty larcenists, then I doubt he’s suffered much in the way of injuries. Thanks… Anyway, we still have some time until the hotel docks. Do you want to go look for Urabe again? Yeah. We can’t just leave him out there. Search it is, then. Let’s go. We told the others, then headed off to look. Our first stop was the ruins of the Bloodstained Hospital. Shidou looked at them and sighed. drat… I guess he’s not here. It barely even looked liked… well, anything. The explosion had turned it into a twisted mass of broken concrete and bent metal. We made our way to where we’d last seen Urabe, but there was no trace of him. (Where is he…?) Shidou grumbled, and began to pick his way back out of the wreckage. (He looks pretty upset. Makes sense, though— I am too.) Shidou took his job very seriously, and that meant he felt responsible for our safety. (I suppose that’s why he took that bullet for me…)Eh. Ryuji did that too. I’m sure Shirabe will also get a moment like that. Towa is pretty much the only one that doesn’t put himself in harms way for Saki’s sake. For a moment I remembered the horrible-looking bruise on his back. He was kind of a jerk to me on the first day, but I think his heart was in the right place, and he pretended to fight Mitarashi to tell him his plan on day two. (He was the only person worried about Wakasa, and he said we should trust Urabe.) He did seem kind of cold sometimes, but… The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like he acted that way because he didn’t want to put people in danger. (But he’s not just like that because he’s a cop. There’s something else…) Shidou… What is it? Why are you always going out of your way to protect people? Looks like she touched a nerve. (Was that a weird question…?)I mean, it is. You generally don’t go asking people “Why are you so [insert positive personality trait]?” The answer is typically “That’s just the way I am.” He frowned and thought for a moment. Uh… … Something… happened.Of course, this is a dating-sim game, so obviously there was some kind of dark and troubled event in Subaru’s past that caused him to be a protective/selfless person. God forbid he just naturally developed into it. (Well that wasn’t very helpful…) It looked like that was a touchy subject. I felt a little bad for bringing it up.*We see a transition wipe, but don’t change locations* We continued our search for Urabe in silence, until Shidou’s phone rang. Is something wrong? That was Shirabe. He found something. Where? The plaza in front of the tower. Let’s move! Right! Ah, finally. Here, take a look at this. Urabe was wearing this! Where did you find it? In front of that. He pointed to the large door set in the front of the tower. Is… he in there? I can’t say for sure, but it seems likely. Can we get in? Not any time soon. That door’s pretty solid. That’s bad… I frowned, and looked up at the castle. Well… A [sic] least we know he didn’t die in the explosion.You can’t say that for certain. Maybe it fell off of his corpse as the Piglets were dragging it away. Yeah… Do you think he’s okay? I got the feeling he was reassuring himself as much as me. (Oh Urabe! I hope you’re okay!) Once we reached the hotel, everyone headed to Mitarashi’s room. Hey, you’re late! I was getting worried! Hi everybody! They both smiled as we stepped inside.  What injuries? I’ve never felt better! What? But, but, you said earlier that they really hurt… Mai! That was supposed to be our little secret… Oh! …Sorry. I looked around the room, and saw that everyone was smiling. Anyway, I’m glad you jerks showed up. I’m super hungry. Oh, here you go. We got you something at the restaurant. You too, Mai. Eat up! Thanks! You’re the best. I’ll just take that… He began shoveling food into his mouth the moment it was in his hands, so we all found places to sit down and dug into our own dinners. While we ate, we talked about the attraction we’d played that day. Mitarashi frowned. He’d finished eating long before the rest of us. Man, I should have been there… No, you were exactly where you should have been. You took care of Mai, which I can’t thank you enough for, and Shidou handled things pretty well. Besides, your company seems to be having a positive effect on Mai.Yeah, it’s almost like she’s missing a parental figure in her life. Yeah? Maybe I should try being a preschool teacher. Might be a good look for you. C’mon, I was just kidding! Still, could be nice. Nothing like seeing a kid smile, you know? Ha! You’re a kid, what do you know? (Was it just me, or did Wakasa react kind of… weirdly?)Shout outs to Ryuji and Towa’s routes!  I’m mainly cheering for the fact that they’re both done with already.  You couldn’t find Urabe? He looked suddenly serious as Shirabe handed him the prayer beads and explained what he’d found. Hm… So he might be locked up in the tower, huh? We don’t have any proof of that, but… yes, that’s my best guess. drat. I don’t like this… Silence fell over the room. Each one of us was thinking about what could have happened to Urabe. Yeah, what about that? Throughout all of the routes so far we’ve barely paid any attention to those things. He looked around expectantly. Yeah. It was just a scrap of paper like the others. Any idea what they mean? Not yet, but if we can figure that out, maybe we’ll figure out who Hogstein is. Hm. Well, today’s said “K1”. The others were “SUN” and “07”… We failed yesterday, so we didn’t get whatever that one was going to be.And we never will, because Bloodstained Hospital is in the Common Route and therefore always ends the same way. However, if we include the fact that Urabe’s route reveals Hogstein’s alias as “M2”, then our clues so far are “SUN”, “07”, “M2”, and “K1”. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have any idea of what those could possibly be leading to. Correct, which is frustrating. They’re all just nonsense, though. Who knows if yesterday’s would have had anything useful? How do they fit together…?I kind of thought that maybe these clues would mean something during Shirabe’s route (since he’s kind of an investigator), but based on this reaction it doesn’t seem like these words or numbers are ringing any bells for him. We spent a little longer discussing them, but nothing came of it. (I should tell Uncle Keiji about the “rewards,” though. Maybe he’ll know something.) (Gosh, is every game going to be this exhausting?) I lay down on my bed and ran over the day’s events in my head. (I wonder if Shidou’s swapped out that wrap I gave him…) He’d probably showered and taken it off… I decided to go drop by his room.*We transition to Shidou’s room* Who’s there? Oh, sorry, it’s me. Inafune. Are you still up? Is something wrong? No, no, I’m fine, I was, uh, just wondering if you remembered to change your wrap after the shower.Does a wrap actually do anything for a bruise? There’s no open wound that can get infected through outside germs or anything. Oh… Yes, I did. Nothing to worry about. Good! Glad to hear it. Heh…Don’t tell me you’re about to ruffle her hair again. What are you laughing at…? No arguments there. Odd?! Sorry, that didn’t come out right. I meant it as a compliment. You’re… how do I put it… different. That’s not much better! Really? Hm. Maybe I’m still not saying it right. Um… what are you trying to say? You’re really bad at giving compliments. Sorry. I just feel like I can be frank with you. I trust you. O-Oh, well, um… (What is this…? My heart feels like it’s going to pop!) So you shouldn’t make that face. What?! He suddenly reached out and pinched one of my cheeks gently.Stop loving touching her! Jesus, have you never interacted with a human being before? You don’t just reach out and grab people in weird places whenever you feel like it. You look better when you’re smiling. Uh… uh-hay… Oh, I suppose you can’t if I’m doing this. I apologize… He let go of my cheek and stepped back. O-Okay. Good night… Good night, Saki. … After he closed the door, I just stood there for a few long moments before shaking myself and heading back to my room.*Back in Saki’s room* (H-He wasn’t… drunk or something, was he…?) Shidou had been right about needing sleep, though. I’d just climbed into bed when I heard a knock on my door. Y-Yes? All right, let’s go to bed! …Okay! I grinned and lifted her up onto the bed. You’re not going to sleep with Ryusei? …He told me I should come over here. I see… He says he talks in his sleep, and that it’s embarrassing.More shoutouts! Really? Are you serious?! (Well, at least Mai will keep me from thinking about Shidou all night…) And that’s it for Shidou’s Stage 4. It didn’t feel like we really did all that much, but this stage was longer than the last few Stage 4s. I would have had to break this up into two updates even if I hadn’t been suffering the shoulder pain that’s been hampering me. Oh well, next time we start Stage 5 and do… something. I’m not really sure where Shidou’s route is going to go from here. We’ve never really completed a Stage 4 without some kind of major shakeup happening. Based on Towa’s route, I guess we’ll go on to do that stupid Price is Right game in the Gift Shop? Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 16:19 on May 13, 2021 |
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May 12, 2021 16:43
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Honestly this route keeps being better written than the last two even if Shidou really needs to stop touching people.
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May 12, 2021 18:09
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I'm actually excited to finally see the final three attractions. I'm not holding my breath we will actually see them though.Psycho Knight posted:Update XXXVII: He Wears His Sunglasses at Night Hogstein folding like this is lame in general, as already noted, but I like how the bib thing he has frowns when Saki blows up on him. Psycho Knight posted:
Typo here?
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May 12, 2021 18:47
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Blaze Dragon posted:Honestly this route keeps being better written than the last two even if Shidou really needs to stop touching people. I mean, at least we are getting to see games the way they were supposed to be played. Also, we will hopefully get to see the remaining games that have so far been skipped (such as Animal Band Family, that gift shop game, and the first half of RTCK 4). Space Kablooey posted:I'm actually excited to finally see the final three attractions. I'm not holding my breath we will actually see them though. There's a good chance. If any major event was going to happen that would split the group, it would have likely happened in Stage 4. It's also a twist that they have used very frequently, so I'd imagine that at least one of the routes subverts it and sticks with the group death game thing from start to finish. Hogstein's little bib device always does that when Saki freaks at him. I think there is another pose where it is strangely expressive as well. I like it. This game is just goofy enough to get away with having inanimate objects emote a little. As for the typo, I'll have to check. It's hard to tell with this game. I guess I'll have to fix it one way or another, since if it is the game's typo then I need to make sure I'm passing the blame. FalloutFan56 posted:Hope you get better. Also, they spent 2 hours on that ride? With 3 separate groups? Is the attraction huge or are the carts just going .001 mph. Actually, the mental image of them getting hyped up and hopping in these carts and going slower than walking speed is kind of funny. I've mostly given up on the time thing. It's obvious that the game is pulling these numbers out of its rear end in order to try and create tension. To be slightly fair, we don't know how big the maze is. 2 hours does seem like a stretch, but if they had to stop and laser battle with anamatronics every minute or two as they navigated, then it could have taken them a decent chunk of time to get through.
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May 12, 2021 22:42
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Update XXXVIII: Shopping Spree We’re back! No, I didn’t abandon this LP or kick it to the back burner. Me starting another LP while this one is still going is just another ill-advised life choice. My shoulder was having a good week, so I’m stupidly assuming that I’m in the clear and can therefore spend twice as much time typing.  Last time on Sweet Fuse, we completed Moonlight OX the way it was supposed to be done. That’s basically all that happened. It was sort of… normal? Kind of a weird thing to say given the premise of this game. Oh, we also connected a few more story dots and found out that Shidou suffers from weak eyes or something. It’s a handwave for why he can never be seen without his shades. (Gosh, I feel kinda nervous about seeing Shidou…) Once I’d woken up, memories of the night before had kept popping up faster than I could shove them away. (What the heck is going on with me?) I was still deep in thought when Shidou himself walked up to me. H-Hi! (So I guess we’re on a first-name basis now?) Although I knew I wasn’t the only one. (All right Inafune, you need to calm down. Snap out of it. You’ve got stuff to do!) Bit by bit, the others trickled into the lobby, except for Mitarashi. (I wasn’t really doing much, after all…) I’d drifted off again when Wakasa spoke up. That is kinda weird, bro. Stop that. Hm? Are you talking to me? Yeah, of course I’m talking to you. …I’m not grinning, though. But you were! I was not! You’re making that up! He looked… slightly shaken. (Why would Shidou be looking at me…?)A truly impossible question to answer. Wakasa had to have been mistaken. Forget about Shidou grinning. I wasn’t! Sure you weren’t. Mitarashi’s got a fever. What?! Is he okay? There’s no way we’re taking him with us. Do you think it’s all right for Mai to stay with him? You just said he’s not sick. There shouldn’t be anything for her to catch.Yes, but he’s immunocompromised at the moment and kids are walking germ depositories. Probably not a good idea for her to be hanging around him in an enclosed room. Hm. Good point. All right then, Mai. Do you think you could take care of Mitarashi again today? Sure!I like how Mai serves essentially no purpose outside of (I assume) Ayumu’s route. She just exists to show that Ayumu is a deadbeat dad and to be left behind on the boat. Not complaining, obviously. I dislike kids, so the less time Mai spends hanging around us the better. She looked pretty excited. (I’m worried about Mitarashi, but if we don’t beat today’s game that won’t matter much.) Once we got to the plaza, Hogstein didn’t waste any time. I’m sure we’ll manage. The pig actually seemed almost disappointed by Shidou’s disinterested response, but quickly moved on to his next point. Listed up, everybody. I’ve got a big— no, a huge— surprise for you today! A surprise…? I don’t like the sound of that. Why do I get the feeling things are about to get worse? Stop wasting our time and get to the point. What’s your so-called surprise? Well you’re no fun. But that’ll change! As soon as you hear about my surprise, you’re gonna get super excited! Soooooo…Personally, I doubt that. I’m adding a hostage! What?! The image of Hogstein disappeared, to be replaced with… Oh my gaaawwwhhh*yaaaaaaawnn* Urabe! On the screen we could see Urabe, unconscious. He was only there for a split second before the pig reappeared. Soooo as you already know, this miserable pile of secrets ignored my orders on the third day and tried to tell you the answer! That’s, what, a double— no, triple!— cross! Ha! Anyway the point is, if you lose this one, I’m going to kill him.Meh. Ah! Shidou stepped forward. Fine, but if we do beat today’s game, we want Urabe back! What what WHAAAAAAAAT?!I hate the fact that none of you understand how all of this works. I’m including Hogstein in that statement. That makes us even, and it makes your ‘game’ more fun for you, right? No! You don’t understand anything! And what did I ever say about us being ‘even’!? Oink?! Damnit, why does your head have to be so wide?! That was a slam dunk gag and your stupid fat head ruined it. You live or die based on my whims! If I feel sad, I might blow you up just for fun! Understand?! Oink oink! Ha ha ha ha ha! (Gosh darn it, he’s really cheesing me off! He’s acting like our lives don’t mean… well, anything! And what makes him think he’s the law!)Please Saki, you can salvage this joke if you just—  God bless your spherical head. I only regret not being capable enough to include the background explosion.  Where do you get of treating us like we’re just toys or something?! If all you’re going to do is push us around whenever you feel like being a jerk, what’s the point of having rules in the first place?! Hmm… Weeeeeell, I guess it might be more fun to accept your offer… Fine! It’s done! I accept! Now, let’s see what you’re made of. Oink oink oink! With that, he was gone. Great! If we can beat today’s game… We get Urabe back! Excellent. Filled with new determination and focus, we headed out. We did move, by the way. Chibi Saki moves like 2 centimeters south from the plaza. So, what’s the lowdown on today’s game? Mitarashi briefed you on all the attractions, right? Meoshi nodded. Oh, so it’s not really an attraction? What’s this mall based on? A game called “Bazaar Planet.” You run a “planet” which is basically a store in space. It’s a sort of community sim. You buy and sell things to other users. Pretty much just for casuals, though. Sounds fun.I bet it does, you filth casual.  Yeah. It’s got a lot of dedicated players outside the usual markets. Wakasa finally spoke up. He also intended to kill at least some of you for purely selfish reasons. Good deed = negated. That changes nothing. Shidou’s tone was harsh and determined. Seriously man? That’s cold!A reminder that in Towa’s bad ending he toys with Saki’s emotions and then up and ghosts her the second the game finishes. He literally left without a single word as soon as he was through the front gate and then talked to her like she was just some random fangirl of his when she finally managed to contact him days or weeks later. Get hosed, Towa. You don’t know the meaning of “cold”. … (He’s not being cold at all; Wakasa just doesn’t get it. Even if Shidou looks calm, he’s probably more fired up right now than any of us. That’s why he asked for Urabe if we beat the game. He’d do anything to protect us. I have to do my best! I gotta help the park, and get Urabe back!) We saw a very brief glimpse of this attraction’s game all the way back in Towa’s route. Time to do it for real. If the situation had been different, I probably would have had a lot of fun shopping, but as it was… His transmission cut out as one of the piglets stepped forward. …! He’s telling us to go to that shop. Hmph. Guess we don’t have a choice, then. Okay! We followed the piglet into one of the shops. Oh God…! Is this place selling… Count Hogstein stuff? It was packed with all sorts of different things, but every single one had Hogstein’s image on it. In the center of the room was a stature of an alien. It was holding a large tray, and on its chest was a digital panel of some sort.[Announcer]: Welcome! Let’s start with something easy, shall we? The voice seemed to come from the statue. [Announcer]: And the list price of that item? 10,000 yen! Can you figure out which one it is? With that, the stature fell silent. So… he’s asking us to look for something that costs 10,000 yen, right?Is that big-rear end Hogstein doll up in the right corner for sale? That looks like something that would go for $100. Yeah. Let’s go see if we can find it. But… none of the items have price tags… Yeah…It wouldn’t be a game if they did. Without the price tags, how were we supposed to know what anything cost? Shidou stared at the statue for a few long moments. Hm… Shirabe tapped its head. He’s got a big number “6” up here. Wonder what that’s for… Well, only one way to find out. Plop something down on that tray.I feel like the answer to this mystery is absurdly clear, to the point that there is no reason to “test” it. It should be obvious that Hogstein isn’t going to give you unlimited tries to find the right item. Okay, might as well start with this. I picked up a sort of… pendant with Hogstein’s face on it, and set it down on the tray. Oh! The number went down. That probably means…[Announcer]: You have five attempts left! We only have five tries to find it…? But there’s mountains of crap here! Forget needle in a haystack— this is like trying to find a grain of sugar in a salt factory! Then we take it one step at a time. First we need to look for things that look like they might be worth 10,000 yen. The announcer said “list price,” so this item sells for that much all the time— it hasn’t been marked up for this game. We all nodded, and headed off to different parts of the store to look. All right, guess I’ll start here… Huh?) Someone tapped my shoulder and I turned around to see Shidou. What’s wrong? He he. Yeah, sure. Shall we? We began to search through the items in our corner of the store. Well, 10,000 yen is pretty expensive… What about these earrings? Are they expensive? I’m not sure. It’s hard to tell what they’re made out of, but they look pretty well-manufactured. I’d say they’re more expensive than a lot of this stuff. Hm… Makes sense. See? I told you I was out of my league. Apparently so. Sorry… What about this? A stuffed animal? Well, some of the bigger ones can get expensive, but… I frowned in thought as I examined the shelves of stuffed Count Hogsteins. Huh? Nothing, never mind. Stupid question. Not relevant. Was he… blushing?We have a choice here between “Not really” and “Yeah, I kinda do.” I’m not really a fan of Hogstein, so I don’t like these, but… yeah. I do like stuffed animals.It’s not perfectly clear, so I’ll note that “Yeah, I kinda do” is the right answer. Really? Why do you look so surprised? I apologize. I guess I just didn’t think you were that kind of girl.Really? She’s so innocent and wholesome that her go-to swear is “Gosh”. I think loving cute stuffed animals is pretty predictable for her. *Affection up* What…? I wasn’t sure what he’d meant by that, but whatever it was he seemed to find it funny. (Oh well.) After a few minutes of searching, we all met up back at the scale with about thirty different pieces of merchandise. (Hm… All of Wakasa’s stuff looks like it could be in the right price range… But what the heck were Shirabe and Meoshi thinking?) Wow, that’s… uh… that is exceptional poor judgement. I mean, depending on what the hats are like you could probably guess at 50 or 60 bucks, but a bucket and dustpan? Saki, could you pick out the things that look way too cheap? Are you sure you want to trust me with that? If Ayumu was a better father than he’d probably be the expert on this stuff, seeing as how he has a daughter in the perfect age range for this overpriced crap. All right. Just give me a minute… I felt a slight twinge of guilt as I threw out pretty much everything Meoshi and Shirabe had brought. When I was done, we were left with sixteen items. Okay, what next… He rubbed his beard and stared at our pile of stuff. Hm, let’s see…There’s a choice here between “Let’s try the most expensive-looking one” and “Why don’t we put them all on the tray?” Why don’t we just put them all on the tray? Hold on a second there, little lady. That’s gotta be against the rules. Oh, really? Actually no, I don’t think so. Huh? The announcement didn’t say anything about putting all of them on there at once. That might work.*Affection up* Good point. Maybe we’re supposed to, I mean, look at how big that tray is. Exactly. That’ll allow us to eliminate larger numbers of items. Huh? I like this game so far. It requires some actual thinking and clever ideas. It’s less about solving stupidly easy riddles. Oh, right! Well let’s get going, then! We quickly heaped all the junk we’d collected onto the tray. Oh! Now we know the right one’s in there somewhere. Let’s split this batch in half and measure that. Okay, just— Wh-Whoa, hold on a minute! We’ve only got four tries left! If one of those eight things isn’t the right thing, we’ll have wasted one! Towa… just… just shut up. Okay? Smart people (well, mostly) are talking. No, if the batch we test doesn’t have it, then we know it’s in the other half.I can’t believe we just had to explain process of elimination. Oh. Right. Of course… So we did as Shidou had suggested. The items we tested didn’t contain the right one, and the number of tries remaining dropped to 3. Let’s just split them again… You may be noticing an impending problem with this good idea. Okay, now just two… The cost showed ¥10,100. One try left. This next one is our last shot. Right. I looked at the last two items for a long minute, and finally chose the stuffed Count Hogstein.That’s right. If our heroes hadn’t stupidly wasted one of their attempts, this game would have been a guaranteed win. There actually would have been a 50/50 chance of finishing the game with 1 try left on the board. Remember that little detail.  Oh my god I want one of those. No joke. Slowly, carefully, I set it down on the tray. Then the answer is… this stuffed Count Hogstein, right?![Announcer]: Correct! Looks like I lost this one. I’ll give you that toy as a prize! It almost seemed like it was answering me. Phew… Looks like we did it. But the alien wasn’t finished talking.[Announcer]: Unfortunately, it took you all of your tries to get the answer. Heh heh hehe.  Wait! I heard something… He pointed at the door in the rear of the shop, and we all ran up to it to listen. You’re right… Sort of a… gurgling? Yes, I hear it too. Shidou quickly examined the door. It didn’t appear to be locked. I’m going to assume this is where we go next. Slowly and carefully, he opened the door. This is the same room that Urabe locked Saki up in during his route. In the center of the room was a huge cylindrical tank. Next to it was a statue just like the one in the previous room. Oh no! Look! I gasped in shock. Guys, please chill it with the Christ imagery on Urabe. This is the second time now that he’s been crucified. It doesn’t symbolize anything with Urabe because he was trying to atone for the sins of one person BY COMITTING SINS AGAINST OTHERS. It’s not selfless! Inside of the tank was Urabe. It was filling gradually with water, which had already passed his knees. That was the source of the noise we’d heard. Hey! Urabe! Urabe! Urabe! We pounded on the tank, but he was unconscious and didn’t seem to hear us. The water’s already up to his waist… Damnit… Wait a second, what’s that number up there? Above the tank was a display showing “6/10.” Wait… Six was the number on the forehead of the alien in the last room… Yep! Good job wasting one of those tries to test something that should have been clear as day right from the start. One of the major reasons that part bugs me so much is because they didn’t stop to discuss that at all. Ayumu suggested it and they immediately tried it without any form of group discussion. This group is more than eager to waste hours on needless stupid bullshit during games where they really can’t afford it. But this game? The game that could not possibly take longer than 1 hour to get through? Nothing. They just go right ahead and jump on the first suggestion someone throws out. Of course… This is what that smartass comment was about!It gets worse, by the way. I forgot to mention that. Damnit! When that number hits ten, Urabe’s going to drown![Announcer]: Once this water tank gets filled up, you guys lose! I wasn’t sure if I imagined it, but the alien’s voice sounded almost happy. On its forehead was a number 4, just like on the other statue. When it dropped to 0… (No, I don’t even want to think about that!) The alien cackled. Twenty coins with “500” written on them tumbled out of the alien’s mouth— 10,000 yen. So what are we supposed to be buying with this money? A light flicked on, illuminating one of the fish tanks.[Announcer]: I will show you each item, one at a time. All you have to do is tell me what you’d be willing to pay for it! If your bid is higher than the item’s price, you’ll get it! And if our bid is lower than the actual price, we get nothing, right? I’m guessing that if we fail to purchase an item, the number on the statue’s head decreases. That’s… kinda complicated. The important thing is going to be managing our money. We’ve got 10,000 yen but we’re going to need to be careful or we’ll run out. But if we’re too cheap then the tank will keep filling up. That sounds tough. We don’t have the luxury of failure. We must be cautious. Shidou sighed, and walked up to the lit tank. So… what are these fish worth…? There were ten small, colorful fish in it. Any of you know anything about tropical fish? We all shook our heads. In the Japanese version, Ayumu says they are Medaka (Japanese Rice Fish). I think Medaka are a type of Killifish, but I’m not a marine biologist so I don’t know for sure how closely they are related (if at all). (There’s a chance they’re more expensive than they look…)Choice here between “That sounds about right” and “I think it’s closer to 200 yen.” Maybe it’s more like… 200 yen per fish?Killifish are definitely more than $1 a pop. What are you basing that on? Well… nothing, I guess. I don’t see your rear end contributing anything, Justin Weeber. What’s she supposed to do? We don’t have any frame of reference here. No, wait… 200 yen per fish would add up to 2000 yen for the whole thing. That might not be a bad guess.*Affection up* I looked over at Shidou, confused. What do you mean? Why? Let’s say these fish are ridiculously rare, and they’re 12,000 yen a piece. That would make the game impossible. It wouldn’t even be a game.That is not even remotely how this game works, Shidou. You are only required to make enough purchases to avoid the number getting to 10. Even in the worst-case scenario (which we are in, as previously established), you only need to purchase 2 items out of 5 in order to avoid a loss (they have 4 attempts, so they could fail three times and still win with 1 on the board). In fact, it would be incredibly stupid of Hogstein to not include an item that exceeds 10,000. You want to know why that is? Because if you guys hadn’t wasted a chance during the first game and had managed to bank 1 attempt, then the statue #2 would have 5 attempts on his head. If all the items had to add up to 10,000, like you assert, then it would be impossible to lose the game at that point because you could just throw down 10,000 yen on the first item and be guaranteed at least 1 purchase. Failing to make the remaining 4 purchases would then leave you with 1 left on the board, meaning victory. That’s a good point.GAAAHHHH! You’re supposed to be a loving detective or some poo poo! Use your head! What blows my mind is that nobody else realizes the flaw in Shidou’s logic either. You would think Ayumu would at least be sharp enough to catch on. That’s not even getting into the fact that the group is missing something else about this game which shreds Shidou’s theory to pieces on its own. So we can assume that the average price is 2,000 yen. If we use that as a baseline, then we just need to decide if these fish are expensive or cheap.This is the kind of thinking you should be doing. You just shouldn’t be doing it under the assumption that everything has to add up to 10,000. Good thinking, gumshoe. It’s not a lot to go on, but it’s something. It’s still a guess, but at least it’s an educated guess. Might as well give it a try. We decided to lead off with a low bet of 500 yen. Oh sweet Jesus, put me out of my misery.”Let’s use 2,000 as an average! Hm… why don’t we bet a quarter of that? Half of Ayumu’s already low estimate.”  500 yen!Remember, they are banking on these Killifish costing $0.50 each. As he spoke, he laid one coin on the tray.[Announcer]: Your 500 yen has been accepted! The price of the item is… The counter on the alien’s chest began to spin. I’m not sure what Killifish cost back in 2012 (in Japan), but doing a quick look around online right now seems to match up with this price. You can get 10 eggs for about $22 on eBay. Specialty sites seem to charge upwards of $20 for a single one, but they appear to be more exotic types. [Announcer]: Purchase failed! Your money will now be confiscated. The number on the statue’s forehead dropped to 3, and water began to pour into Urabe’s tank. No! Man, this is tense! Wakasa shifted from foot to foot nervously. Well, the good news is it looks like our average of 2,000 yen isn’t too far off.[Announcer]: Here is your second item!  Are those… goldfish?These are also Goldfish in the Japanese version (金魚). Could it really be that simple? Even if they are, we can’t afford to lose twice in a row. You guys suck so much at this. I think that sounds good. It’s a little risky, but we need a win and that should do it. We all nodded agreement. We bet 3,000 yen! He tossed 6 coins onto the tray.[Announcer]: Your 3,000 yen has been accepted! The price of this item is… Just as before, the numbers began to spin… [Announcer]: Purchase successful! Aren’t you pleased with your new acquisition? The number on the statue’s forehead remained at 3. Well, we lost 1,500 yen, but we’ve still got 3 tries left. All we have to do is win one more, and the number can’t hit 0.You’re all about to do something very stupid, aren’t you?  That’s right! We only need one more win to save Urabe! Awesome! I could feel the tension begin to slip away.[Announcer]: Now for the third item. Another tank lit up. This one contained eight small shrimp, each one about half an inch long, with red and white spots.Also shrimp in the Japanese version. Let’s finish this now! What do you say we go all in? Yeah, let’d do it! All right. We’re betting 6,500 yen! He threw the remaining 13 coins onto the tray.[Announcer]: Your 6,500 yen has been accepted! The price of this item is… (Oh man, I hope this does it…) The numbers on the counter started to spin just like before, but when they stopped… *Price is Right loser horn* I’m not entirely sure what kind of shrimp these are. Blood Shrimp? Those are pure red with white spots though. Tiger Shrimp? Those are in Asia, but they have stripes. It didn’t make any sense.[Announcer]: Purchase failed! Your money will now be confiscated. What?! W-Wait, that can’t be right! Those three things added up to more than 10,000!Yeah, it’s almost like Shidou was hilariously wrong. The number on the statue’s forehead clicked down to 2. The sound of water pouring into Urabe’s tank filled the room. What the hell is this? We’ve still got two more items but we’re broke and we’ve only got two tries left. We’re toast. Then are we just supposed watch [sic] that tank fill up with water and do nothing?!I’m down for that. Once it’s full, it’s game over. Then we all blow up… Oh no! It was fair to say the atmosphere in the room was… grim.[Announcer]: Well? Would you like to… surrender? The tone of the announcer was almost mocking. It probably means that you guys get to walk away, but Urabe dies. We must have missed something. There’s no point to an impossible game.IT’S NOT IMPOSSIBLE! You did miss something, but even without that thing you missed you still could have beaten this. (It we missed something, then it was probably something the alien said… Come on Inafune, what did it say?!) I’ll be honest, this one is actually a bit tricky. It’s been a while since one of these things hasn’t been glaring obvious. (The first thing it said was that if the tank filled up, we’d lose. That seems pretty straightforward. Next it said… “Now it’s time for your real shopping trip! Your commerce skills are going to get a real workout here!” That wasn’t all the alien said, though… “You will be given 10,000 yen. You will make five purchases. Take care not to run out of money!” That’s all I can remember… I gotta figure out what the hint is, or we’re going to fail this game! There’s still got to be some way we can save Urabe. We can’t surrender!) Commerce! That’s it! We don’t just buy— we’re supposed to sell too!We’ve made a purchase, which means we have an asset that we can leverage. This is the other way in which Shidou’s stupid assumption doesn’t make sense. Of course… We should have seen it. Let’s give it a shot. Okay! We set the fish we’d bought earlier on the tray.[Announcer]: You get 1,500 yen for this item! The alien spat out three coins. If we sell the items we bought, then we get that money back… That’s the trick! Yeah, once you look at it that way, it makes sense that they were adding up to more than we thought. We all nodded, and as we did, the 4th fish tank lit up.[Announce]: Here’s the fourth item.  It’s a catfish in the Japanese version as well, although it’s called “Namazu” and written in Katakana. Not sure why, but I’m sure there’s some reason for using that instead of Hiragana or Kanji (there is a kanji for Namazu). Another note is that the Japanese version describes the fish as being 20cm. The English localization converts it to Imperial. We went through this with the temperature readings back in Kouta’s ending, where a Japanese nurse was using F instead of C in the English version. It doesn’t change anything here, it’s just a trivia thing. So… what are we gonna do? Well, we’ve got two options. Either we go all in… or we just drop 500 yen on this one and take our chances on the last item. We had to win at least one of the next two bets, or the number on the alien would drop to 0, and Urabe’s life would be over. Well, we’ve only got 1,500 yen anyway. Splitting it up won’t help. I say we go all in. We all nodded in approval. All right. We’re betting 1,500 yen! He tossed all three coins onto the tray.[Announcer]: Your 1,500 yen has been accepted! The price of this item is… The numbers spun. Oh no![Announcer]: Purchase failed! Your money will now be confiscated. Oh well, we tried. Sort of. The number on the alien’s forehead dropped to 1. We could hear the water begin to pour into Urabe’s tank. Urabe…! Guh! The water had already reached his chin. Damnit! poo poo… We’d been excited only minutes before about figuring out the game, but now all of that was gone. Urabe could still breathe, but just barely.[Announcer]: So, thinking about surrendering? Hmmmmmm? Like hell we’re gonna surrender! We’d be signing Urabe’s death warrant!Fun fact: He had signed all of yours. But… what are we gonna do?! If only we had something else to sell!Sell Towa. I’m sure he’s got a net worth of at least 20,000 yen. His fists were gripped so tight they were shaking. Wait… Something else… to sell…She’s got it now. (Oh man, I’ve almost got it…)Never mind, she needs us to help. (All right, I need to think back. We must have missed must [sic] something, somewhere! Our first game was supposed to be easy— that was the one with the 100 yen sale that had one 10,000 yen item. Shidou thought up a way for us to figure out how much the stuff we had cost. It turned out the right item was the stuffed Hogstein. After that we came in here and found Urabe. Every time we messed up, water got poured into his tank. We had a 10,000 yen budget, and we had to buy five things, but we ran out of money. I figured out we could sell the things we’d bought, and we thought that had solved our problems, but we ran out of things to sell. If we just had more stuff to sell, then maybe we could do it!)Holy Christ that was a needlessly long-winded insight moment. We knew the answer before you even started thinking, Saki.  Duh. It’s the only other thing from this shop that we have in our possession. That’s it… The stuffed Hogstein! I think we can sell it too! Yeah! Lemme see it! I grabbed the toy from Wakasa and tossed it on the tray. After a moment…[Announcer]: You get 10,000 yen for this item! Yesssssss! Coins flew out of the alien’s mouth. Right… We got this thing from the shop outside. God drat! Young lady, I have never been so grateful to another human being in my life.Wow. I bet your late wife is happy to hear that in the afterlife. Shidou grinned and put his hand on my shoulder, but he’d barely touched me when his expression changed and he quickly pulled his hand back. …Ah… Huh? Oh, uh, nothing. Well done, Saki! Thanks! (Whoa, I totally thought he was going to hug me there for a second…) I let out a sigh of relief. All right… We’re back to the cash we started with. But we’ve only got one more bet to make.[Announcer]: Your final item is… this! A light clicked on to illuminate a large fish tank. Right. Our bet is… 10,000 yen! Correct. We’re going all in! We dumped all the coins onto the tray, and the counter began to spin.
Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 16:11 on May 20, 2021 |
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May 20, 2021 16:07
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That challenge was much more interesting than many of the ones we've read even if the characters did still make some silly choices.
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May 20, 2021 17:08
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Yeah, that was a very interesting idea for a game. Too bad our protagonists aren't too intelligent, to say the least...
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May 20, 2021 17:16
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I liked it, because it involved some actual thought and a little risk taking. It wasn't about figuring out silly riddles that tell everyone the answer. This game was: Here's the rules and here's what you need to do to win. Figure it out. A side note: This update cuts off kind of abruptly because I had intended to do Stage 5 as a single update. I thought it was going to do the typical thing were the update just barely spills over the 50k character limit, but the second half ended up being about 30k by itself. I'll hold it back for now, since I don't want to go posting two updates at the same time.
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May 20, 2021 17:22
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My initial guess was that since the room was in the back of the shop, it was still part of the store and the "every item is only 100 yen" rule could be used to figure out the total cost of the fish. Ah, well. That'd be lamer than the real trick anyway.
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May 21, 2021 20:57
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Huh, this challenge was actually kind of neat. You have also earned my respect for the Judge Dredd reference.
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May 22, 2021 08:57
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Bloody Emissary posted:My initial guess was that since the room was in the back of the shop, it was still part of the store and the "every item is only 100 yen" rule could be used to figure out the total cost of the fish. Ah, well. That'd be lamer than the real trick anyway. That would end up being way too easy. Granted, I'm sure the group would find a way to misconstrue it to the point that they end up coming right down to the wire anyway, but still. I think I would have had a rage stroke if that was the puzzle and they still only barely passed it. FalloutFan56 posted:Huh, this challenge was actually kind of neat. You have also earned my respect for the Judge Dredd reference. Again, this has been one of the better challenges. For the first time in ages the Insight Moment actually took some consideration because I didn't immediately know what the answer was before the dialogue even popped up. I only wish the other games could have been like this. So far, my favourite two games (in terms of setup) have been this one and Samurai Fantasy VII. This one because it involved some level of risk, no matter how quickly you figured out the rules. Samurai Fantasy because there were clear and present dangers to each puzzle (poison gas, arrow traps, and hidden crossbows). As for Judge Dredd, as soon as I saw Hogstein shout "I am the law!", I had to make sure that happened in some form or another. I thought my limited photoshop skills would be able to pull it off fairly easily, but then Hogstein's wide head had to go and derail it.
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May 22, 2021 13:49
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Update XXXIX: Getting Warmer [Announcer]: Amazing! You’re had one heck of a shopping trip! Thank you! With that, the alien went quiet and another, much more familiar, announcement rumbled over the PA.[Announcer]: Bazaar Planet completed. Hooray! With a gurgling whoosh, the water in Urabe’s tank began to drain. Let’s get him out of there! Right! We opened up Urabe’s tank, tilted it to the side, and slowly lifted him out. Oh man… Oh gosh… I grabbed his hand and felt for a pulse. Every one of us felt like they were about to cry.You are all insane.  No, we did all this together. Everyone looked at everyone else and nodded.[Announcer]: Stage five has been completed. You have obtained a reward. Something that looked kind of like a receipt came out of the alien’s mouth. It had “07/” printed on it. What the heck does “07/” mean?Well, one of the other clues was “07”, so 07/07 would be a date. It’s most likely the date of the bus accident (July 7th).  Agreed. Let’s get him out of here. Shidou and Shirabe carried Urabe’s unconscious body out of the shop. As soon as we’d stepped outside, we heard Hogstein’s voice echoing from the speakers. I thought this game was going to be the most dramatic yet! Too bad for you, then. We’ve got Urabe back. You have my unending gratitude for being so reasonable and agreeing to hand him over.I’d tell you to stop antagonizing and taunting him because it’s just going to make it more difficult to bargain with him in the future, but we all know at this point that Hogstein will fold no matter how much you slapped him in the face previously. I smiled a little at Shidou’s sarcasm. He spat out the words and then hung up. Man, I’m exhausted. That really took it outta me…You didn’t even do anything. Shut up. Oh! We need to warm Urabe up so he doesn’t get sick! Right. Let’s get him to the restaurant. I’ll ask the piglets if they can give us anything warm. As the others picked up Urabe, I ran ahead to the restaurant to get things ready. (I’ve really been feeling like I can understand them better lately…) I was still thinking about that when the guys finally showed up. Saki! Oh, you’re right on time! I just got this towel. Excellent. Let me see it, I can take care of him. Thanks! I handed him the towel. Meoshi and I can go grab food. Sound good? They headed off toward the counter, and I sat down to rest. It looked like we’d be waiting in the restaurant until the hotel arrived. (I hope Urabe’s going to be okay…)We get a transition wipe here.  Oh, sure. How’s Urabe? We just finished drying him off. Now all we have to do is wait for him to wake up. Good… Do you think I can borrow you for a moment? Huh? Well, sure, I guess so. Shirabe, do you mind if we step out for a bit? Sure thing. I’ll keep an eye on him. He gave us a dismissive wave and turned back around. Come on. Sure. (What does he want…?)Backstory stuff?  As we stepped outside, I felt the night wind brush pleasantly against my skin. Um… About yesterday… Huh? You asked why I’m… so focused on protecting people. Oh, right. He turned around and looked straight into my eyes. (He didn’t want to talk about it yesterday… What changed his mind?)Choice here between “You sure you want to talk about this?” and “Stay quiet and listen to him.” Correct choice is the top one. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to… I know. But I want you to know. I want to tell you.*Affection up* …Okay. I felt my heart skip a beat. My old man was a detective too. He was… I supposed [sic] you could call him “old school.” Honest, tough, hard-working, never afraid to get his hands dirty. We got on each other’s nerves sometimes, but I respected him. Shidou paused for a moment, and he looked a little sad. Did… something happen to him? I became a police officer just like him so that I could fix the rotten system that had destroyed him. He sighed and shook his head. But I was young, and stupid. I thought all I needed to change things was the will to try. If I’d just gotten myself in trouble that would have been bad enough, but I went farther than that. Called it. Also, I want to remind everyone that Shidou is only 22 years old. You need to be at least 20 to join up with the Japanese police (and older than that in some Prefectures). Shidou is still a rookie officer even now, yet he’s telling us that he was given the lead on an investigation. An investigation that was apparently dangerous enough to result in the death of a fellow officer. And then shortly after this incident, they assigned him as head of security for this theme park opening. After that, I saw what I was turning into, and I promised myself that I wouldn’t let it happen. Thank you for telling me that. I felt kinda bad yesterday, after I asked you. But… why did you decide to tell me now? I’m not sure. He sighed. To be honest, I really don’t know. I guess I just felt like I should. Maybe I just felt like you were the right person.The game is peeking out just around the corner behind Saki and tapping its watch like “Come on Shidou, get the ball moving on the romance stuff. We’ve only got 2 more stages left.” The right person…? Sometimes you need another person to listen to what you’re feeling. Thanks. It’s not easy to talk about, but… somehow it is with you. I’m glad you were willing to listen. Oh, I was happy to. (That was awfully nice of him to say. I’m glad he feels better now.) My face felt a bit warm, but I gave him a small smile. Do you think we should go back in, Shidou? Maybe Urabe’s woken up. Please don’t start making things weird…er. Wh-What? I’m sorry. I’m just trying to say… Well, do you think you could call me “Subaru”? Um… sure. Thank you. He gave me a short nod and a smile, then turned and walked back toward the restaurant. (Whoa, that was… different. It felt kinda nice, though.) I smiled to myself and turned to follow Shidou— no, Subaru now— inside. The time came for the hotel to arrive, so we lifted his unconscious body and carried him down to the dock. How is he? It looks like his fever still hasn’t gone down. We should probably leave him alone for now. I went to check on Mitarashi, who was still deep asleep. I didn’t want to wake up him, so I headed back to Urabe’s room. I think Mai can keep an eye on Mitarashi for now. This seems like a good time to talk about what we’re going to do going forward. You mean… what we’re going to do about Urabe? I’m convinced there’s more to these games than we’re seeing. We touched on this last night, but I think all of us are here for a reason.Except Saki, who just sort of stumbled into the whole situation. Hm… Then I guess we need to find out what that reason is, mm? Shirabe, you said you came here because you were investigating something, correct? What exactly was it? Oh boy. Everyone strap in, because the last bit of this update is going to have some answers. He rubbed his hand over his beard for a few mintues [sic] before he began to talk. This was… ten years ago or so. A city bus crashed through the center divider at night and hit a car. The bus flipped and caught fire, killing most of the people on the bus, and the family in the car. So right away, we find out that Ayumu is connected to flashback dad. Flashback dad was the reporter that was poking around Urabe’s father’s dealings and became a target as a result. Ayumu is seems to be suggesting that flashback dad was also his mentor back when he was in his early 20’s.  The closest thing I could find to this was a place called Kanedo Park in Koriyama. That’s right in the middle of a city though, so they definitely aren’t referring to that place here (the bus crash happened in a more rural area). Yeah. You know anything about it? My father was involved in the investigation. He was what…? Oh, you mean as a police detective? Yes. Huh. You sure know a lot, Saki. I had a feeling I knew what he was hinting at, but I decided to ignore it for the time being.Shut up, Towa. Jesus. Anyway, ignoring Towa’s incredible bout of jealously in this route, we find out that Subaru’s father investigated the accident that involved Ayumu’s mentor, who is also possibly Hogstein’s father. Subaru’s father is also likely the detective that Kouta remembers talking to at one point.  Urabe?! …It was… my father’s fault… We hadn’t even noticed Urabe wake up, but when we turned around he was already sitting up in his bed. What the hell’s that supposed to mean?! That was why I decided to help Hogstein. What?! …! What do you mean?!  I… I should have died in that explosion! No…! You’re not answering our questions. Tell us why you did this! I should have died…! It was looking like Urabe wasn’t really hearing what we were saying. But what really bothered me was that he kept saying he should have died. (We were all so happy to hear that everyone had survived the explosion… And we all worked really hard to save Urabe and get him back. I don’t care what he thinks he did wrong, how can he act like his life isn’t important after all that?!)This is another “Get Mad” moment, but we need to hold back on this one for an affection point. (But if I get mad now, that might just make Urabe more upset.) After everything that’d happened over the past couple days, we were all a little emotional. Suddenly… …! There have been no casualties. We heard that you tried to bargain with the pig to save our lives even though you had no reason to.That does not absolve him. You can turn yourself in after all of this is over if it’ll make you feel better, but we need to know what you know for any of us to make it out.That actually has no bearing whatsoever on you surviving this ordeal. You could know Hogstein’s true identity right now, and it still wouldn’t help you solve the last two games. Shidou… Urabe fell silent. When he finally spoke, it looked like he’d made up his mind. He… became engaged in illegal activity, which was subsequently uncovered by a reporter. The incident with the bus was his attempt to remove that threat. I overheard him order it done. It was then that I first realized my life of privilege was steeped in the blood of innocents.Do you have any proof that this was the case? Not trying to excuse Urabe’s dad, but just because he planned for one person’s murder does not mean that he was killing people left and right before then. Oh… drat… Shortly thereafter, I met a person online who had chosen the moniker “M2.” He first introduced me to fortune telling, which I took an immediate interest in. Wait. “M2” is… The name of the guy who contacted Shirabe and called him here. … He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. I see. So that would mean “M2” is the Count. Urabe nodded silently. Then who is “M2”? Who is Hogstein? I am truly sorry. I have only spoken to him online. As to his true identity, I fear I know no more than you.This is stuff we already knew. Hm. It seems like three of us— Shirabe, Urabe, and myself— are connected to the bus crash. There’s no way that’s a coincidence. What about you two? Wakasa? Meoshi? You know anything about the bus? Towa was in the crash, as far as I remember. I think he would have been about 5 or 6 years old at the time, though, so he doesn’t remember much. …I don’t know anything. This is the first I’ve heard of it.Kouta is lying, which is probably why he can’t look anyone in the eye and takes a second before answering. We found out in his route that saw something regarding the accident that he didn’t tell the police. Hmm… (It doesn’t sound familiar to me either.)And Saki just straight up wasn’t involved. Her presence here is something Hogstein didn’t plan for.  Yeah… My greatest regret is that I have put you in danger. I do not think I can ever atone for this sin… Urabe bowed his head. A knock suddenly sounded at the door. Mai was standing on the other side, a large grin on her face. Ryusei woke up! Good. Kid’s gotta be starving. What say we head over to this place to eat? Yeah! You should come with us too, Urabe. He’s been worried about you. As you wish.So we now know everyone’s connection to this, with the exception of Ryuji. We know that his mother died in the crash, but that’s as far as his connection to it goes. We all followed Mai back to Mitarashi’s room. As soon as we finished our meals, we headed off to our individual rooms. The moment I was through the door, I made a beeline for my bed. (I’m so glad Urabe’s safe!) He probably still felt guilty, but I was just happy that he was alive. (Oh yeah, I should check my phone for messages…) I’d forgotten that I’d sent my Uncle a text about the notes we’d gotten. Oh! He’d replied! Perhaps I’d missed it in all the excitement…  Things may be rough now, but it will all turn out all right in the end. As long as you never give in to despair, you will succeed. Stay strong, and remember you can win! I believe in you! (Oh Uncle!)Lame. I expected the usual weirdly appropriate advice, not just some general “You got this!” pep talk. I was touched that my uncle took time to cheer me up, even with everything he was going through. (I’m definitely going to do my best tomorrow! I’m so pumped up!) A knock sounded. (I bet that’s Mai.) Coming! I hurried to the door. When I opened it… Shidou! Chill out, man. You need to give her a second to get used to that, you know. What? He looked hurt for some reason. Oh! S-Subaru… Do you really not want to call me by my first name? N-no! No, that’s not it. I’m just… not used to it yet. A-Anyway… Do you need something? Not really. I was just wondering if you would… like to look at the stars with me. What? That sounds incredible! Sure, I’d love to go! Good. I walked with Subaru to the terrace. I know, right? The water’s so dark, and it’s reflecting the sky so clearly, it’s like we’re floating in space! I agree. …Cool, cool. Did you have a plan in mind, Subaru? Or were you hoping that Saki was just going to throw herself at you? We stood together and quietly gazed at the star-filled sky. (Wait a second. We’re all alone out here…)Now that I think about it, maybe he’s stalling for time because the moon is behind a cloud right now or something. He’s like “poo poo, I can’t do the beautiful moon thing. Gotta buy some time.” … Suddenly I was very aware of my heart pounding away in my chest. Huh? Oh, I was just thinking, the sky is so vast. We humans are incredibly small in comparison. It really grounds you. Th-that’s true. If you look at us from space’s point of view, we’re tiny. Like… like plankton!Please shut up. I really don’t need existential dread in my life right now. But even if we’re tiny, we’re still alive. We have lives, even if they’re really small. Ha ha. What? What is it? Did I say something weird? Not exactly. I just thought “plankton” was an… interesting choice of words. W-Was it really that weird? No… Um… It’s not strange. That’s just how you are, and I don’t think you should change at all. You’re perfect. Oh… (I feel so light-headed… I…)Now’s the time! Go for it, damnit!  My world narrowed down to just the tender look in his eyes, and the feel of his hands playing in my hair. (I… I can’t look away.) The night breeze blew over the water, and softly passed through the small space between us. Aw, you hosed it all up. Oh! Are you cold? U-Um… No? Uh, well… That is… So…? …Maybe just a little. I had tried to hold the sneeze in, but couldn’t. It totally broke the mood. I wanted to go bury myself I was so embarrassed. I couldn’t look at him. I heard a rustle, and a warm weight settled on my shoulders. Wear this, then. Oh… Th-Thank you. Nice recovery. We can still save this. (It’s so warm… This is his warmth. I can smell his cologne, too…)What brand you think he uses? He doesn’t seem like enough of a bro to use Axe. He seems like a Hugo Boss kind of man to me.  What? … He had spoken so quietly that I couldn’t hear him, but he didn’t repeat himself. I thought about asking again, but changed my mind. We stayed outside gazing up at the stars together, and lost track of time for a while. Booooo! I climbed back into bed as soon as I got to my room, and it was only then that I remembered Mai would be spending the night with Shirabe, not me. Mitarashi had actually suggested it, apparently.That’s because Mitarashi is the best. Nobody else is going to make the effort to repair a broken family, so that means it’s up to him. (I hope they have a good time!) My heart was still racing. I closed my eyes in the futile hope that sleep would calm me down. There were two days left. And that brings Stage 5 to a close. We learned a little more backstory and also retrieved Urabe. There haven’t been any major upheavals in the games either, so with only two left… Does that mean it’s finally time for Band Animal Family!?
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May 24, 2021 15:15
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Psycho Knight posted:Update XXXIX: Getting Warmer 
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May 24, 2021 17:12
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Psycho Knight posted:The closest thing I could find to this was a place called Kanedo Park in Koriyama. That’s right in the middle of a city though, so they definitely aren’t referring to that place here (the bus crash happened in a more rural area). In the Japanese script he says it's the Kanedo loop bus fire, so it could technically be a extremely long loop which visits the park (but yes probably not) This is presumably the same Kanedo from Kane De Boo and Kanedo Blossomland, either way.
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May 25, 2021 10:29
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Here's hoping. It's the only game we haven't seen yet. That brief moment in Towa's route doesn't count, because it was specifically tailored to him and his insecurities.  I'm also desperately hoping those animal costumes we saw are put to use. Polsy posted:This is presumably the same Kanedo from Kane De Boo and Kanedo Blossomland, either way. drat, I completely forgot about the name of the theme park in Japanese. That could potentially explain why Hogstein decided on this park in particular (and maybe why Keiji Inafune got caught up in this). I'll have to go back and add in that connection to the update.
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May 25, 2021 15:48
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I apologize for the late update. I've been having a miserable time with an anxiety attack, so I have lost a great deal of concentration ability, which Sweet Fuse requires a lot of due to the heavy transcription. I've been pulling out of it over the last two days or so, so hopefully I'll be back on track soon (I assume as the medication starts to work its magic). Update XL: Saki and the Pussycats  We’re closing in on the end of Subaru’s route. Feels kind of weird that there haven’t been any zombie outbreaks or kidnappings or crippling injuries, doesn’t it?  Everyone else was already there. Mitarashi! Are you feeling better now? Sorry about making you guys worry. My fever’s all gone now, though. Never felt better! He thumped his chest and grinned. That’s great! (Awesome! They’re actually starting to look like a father and daughter.)And I assume we’ll figure out how that little family bonding happened when we get to Ayumu’s route. That’s an awful big turnaround considering that 2 days he nearly smacked her upside the head just to try and shut her up. It was so cute! Uh… Urabe caught my eye and smiled gratefully at me. Good morning! I smiled back happily.All right, I guess Urabe is just part of the gang again, now. No real confrontation over the fact he tried to kill everyone for personal reasons. Also, I don’t think we even really resolved the minor mental breakdown he was having last night. It sort of just petered out.  Right! (I feel better going into one of these dangerous games when all of us are here, and trying to solve it together. And this is all because Subaru keeps us focused on getting out of here.) No one had actually said it, but I felt like all of us looked up to him as a sort of leader. (I’m sure today’s going to be tough, but together we can do it!) We asked the piglets to watch over Mai, then headed off to the plaza. The Count appeared to be genuinely amused when he saw us. (But he was furious with us after the last game, worse than I’d ever seen him. How is he suddenly in such a good mood?)This is how he always is. He always gets pissed off, then Saki yells at him and he goes off to pout somewhere, then we see him the next day and he’s back to gloating about how sinister he is. I swallowed. There could only be one reason he was so happy— he had something particularly horrible in mind for us. We’ve almost made it through all of the games and if your luck holds this’ll soon be over! Hope you’ve kept all your rewards! Oink! Oink! What’s up with those notes? Hogstein rounded on Shirabe, a glint in his eye. Nothing concrete, but after we got that last one, the old noggin’ finally connected some things. What? You know what they mean? Put that with all the other notes, and only one thing made sense. The date of the bus crash, and the bus number. Wait, what bus? What the hell are you guys talking about? (That’s right! We never told him!) Mitarashi didn’t know that Shirabe was investigating that case. Can you draw a conclusion from that information? Any ideas on what the clues point to? Mitarashi looked a bit disgruntled at being ignored. Unfortunately… I’m stumped. Oink oink! I have big news! I’ll turn myself in! Of course that means the game will end and all hostages will be released! Surprise!This is something that Shirabe should be able to piece together given what we know so far (assuming it’s all true). If the flashback family was Shirabe’s mentor’s and Shirabe has been investigating that case, then Shirabe should know that Young Hogstein survived that crash. Even if Young Hogstein wasn’t found in the aftermath of the crash, the lack of only his body would have raised suspicion (at the very least, Young Hogstein would have been listed as “Missing” instead of “Deceased”). I have a hard time believing that Shirabe’s mentor would have never mentioned his family to his protégé at any point. So based on the clues and the time it’s been since that accident, it should become obvious that Hogstein is the son/daughter of Shirabe’s mentor. So… excited? R-Really? … There’s gotta be a catch somewhere. The screen winked out. We barely noticed, too stunned by Hogstein’s announcement. Okay, hold on. Is he saying all we have to do is clear the game today? All right! I’ve been out of action for too long; my body’s raring to go. Let’s kick some rear end! Ryusei, wait. Huh? Mitarashi frowned. You’re not going anywhere. What? Why? I think he knows. No, buddy, I don’t think I do. Mitarashi glared furiously at Subaru, but was met with a steely, determined gaze.*Subaru’s portrait slides into Mitarashi’s a little* Oof! You can barely stand. Your balance is shot, and God knows what else. I don’t think you’re nearly as recovered as you say you are. …Urg! Damnit! Just when we’re all back together again…! Mitarashi punched the ground. I laid a hand on his shoulder. Please don’t push yourself! You should go back and rest. He wasn’t pleased about it, but I could see he knew arguing wouldn’t get him anywhere.And we say goodbye to Mitarashi once again. Well I’ll be damned. I didn’t notice a thing. Pretty sharp eye you got there, Detective. It was obvious that type of injury couldn’t have healed as fast as he wanted us to think. (That was incredible!)I mean, I guess? I wouldn’t have been sure enough to go and push him over like that, but anyone who has been seeing how much of a beating he has been taking could have told you that there was no way he was back in top shape after 2 days of bedrest. We said our good byes to Mitarashi and followed a piglet to the day’s attraction. Yay! The Band Animal Family thing! The only game so far that we’ve seen nothing of other than background CGs (and an improvised game made specifically for Towa). So, uh, do you think what he said is true? Who? Hogstein? Yeah. He said he’d totally turn himself in if we figured out the clues after today’s game. Of course he thinks you won’t be able to guess it. He arranged for Urabe to sabotage one of the games so that you would miss out on a clue reward and yet still live through the fail explosion (well, most of you anyway). Are you two sure you don’t know anything about the bus crash? Hmm. I don’t know anything about a bus accident. I mean, it was what, something like ten years ago, right? Close. Twelve, now.Huh. Is that the first time that’s been mentioned? I feel like up until now we’ve only been told “about 10 years ago.” Well, then I would’ve only been five. I already said before that I don’t remember anything. It was all over the news back then…To be fair, he was also a kid, Shirabe. Kids don’t tend to follow the local news. …So about today’s attraction… (Wait… Did Meoshi just change the subject?) It’s based off the rhythm game “Band Animal Family,” where you play music as an animal character in a band. Eight people could play at one time, which made it a super popular party game.It was also a gigantic waste of money and plastic and space. God, the amount of lovely plastic instruments that we had to stuff into every corner of the store during the years when that was the biggest craze. Not to mention the drat spreadsheet compatibility chart we had to consult in order to figure out which loving games worked and didn’t work with which instruments. And when the genre finally started to die in the early 10’s and we thought we were finally free, Skylanders decided to rocket off. (Is he… talking faster than he normally does?) Whatever, let’s just focus on what counts. Band Animal Family. I want to see all of you in those ridiculous animal costumes we spotted during Towa’s route. Cute little animals were playing at the entrance. The PA system’s hiss cut off. Don’t let their appearances fool you! Keep your guard up, and pay attention. Right! Just like before, a piglet led the way as we stepped inside. A big screen hung in the back of the room. (Music notes are streaming from the right side of the screen to the left…) Shirabe groaned. I think you’ll be all right. It works like a rhythm game, so just keep watching the screen. Matching the beat is more important than playing well. So we need to just keep the beat? Right. When each note gets to the left side of the screen and hits the light, the corresponding instrument needs to play a sound. Perhaps it’s not as difficult as it looks.[Announcer]: We need to rehearse before tonight’s concert! All right, baby! Time to decide who’s in charge of which instrument! The announcer sounded pretty excited. What?! There’s no singing? Of course he’d be upset— he’s a singer. (An actual celebrity in a hostage situation? Gosh, the news must be having a field day with this.)Uhhh… okay? Not sure I quite see the connection there between what we’re doing and that. I’ll take bass. I used to play a bit back in college.You certainly have had a busy life for a 22-year old. Apparently he graduated high school, went straight into (what had to have been) Junior College, immediately got hired by the police, and then was apparently swiftly appointed the lead on an investigation. Then after getting a partner killed during said investigation, they put him in charge of security for a theme park opening. Wait, you were in a band, Subaru? …Something wrong with that? N-No, of course not. Nothing wrong, per se, but it certainly was unexpected. Well, I’ll take guitar then. I’m pretty good at guitar-related rhythm games. All we’ve got left now is the drums, but there are three of us… We looked at each other. Any of you played the drums before? All three of us shook our heads. Then the person on the left takes the snare drum and hi hat cymbals. (I don’t know what any of those are!) See, that all just sounded like gibberish. This isn’t going to work… So… All I have to do is match the beat, right? That’s what you’re saying? Yes. As for who should do what… The middle person’s job would likely be the hardest. Rhythm is vital for the drums. Therefore, the person who has the best sense of rhythm should be in the middle. Oh… Uh… Definitely not me. Hmm… How about testing it out and deciding afterward? Good idea. Could each of you try your hand at it? We all nodded. We need to sit back and take notes for now. Saki’s range of skills is… limited, to say the least. I doubt she has some hidden musical talent that will reveal itself by jumping in to this with both feet. (I’ve never even touched an instrument before, so I should see how the others play.) I decided to study how Wakasa and Shirabe played the drums. (Hmm, I see… After watching them, I’m starting to get the timing for the notes, and when you’re supposed to hit it. Now it’s my turn!)*We briefly fade to black as everyone gets a practice session in* Because I was able to watch it twice before, I think I did okay. *Affection up* Thank you! Subaru approved of my effort, even though I wasn’t that great. In the end, we decided that Wakasa would take the middle position. It seemed obvious in hindsight— of course he’d have excellent rhythm. Shirabe claimed he wouldn’t be that good, but he wasn’t nearly as bad as he thought. (So… I guess that makes me the worst…) Well, Towa can manage the middle just fine, but the rest… Oh… I’ll… do the best I can… Yay! Pity affection! Subaru pulled me aside for a crash course in playing the drums. All right, we’ll tackle this together. Take a seat. Okay! I sat down and picked up the sticks, but as I did Subaru reached around from behind my back and placed his hands on mine. (Oh, gosh… He’s so close!) Look carefully at the music and get a feel for the beat by tapping your foot to it. Right! I watched the streaming notes, and started tapping a steady rhythm. Good job. The tempo speeds up here, so you need to concentrate. Whoa…! Don’t panic. The drums set the rhythm for the rest of the band. If you lose track of it, everything falls apart. G-Got it! Before I knew it, ten minutes had flown by.Really? 10 minutes? That’s it? You’ll spend several hours standing around in one room wasting time you don’t have, but you’re only willing to spend 10 minutes practicing an instrument? Everyone moved to their respective places, and the announcer’s voice rang out.Just… forget it. Time is meaningless. [Announcer]: Wicked! Let’s jam, dudes! (All right, I can do this!) …Ah! All of our heads whipped up to look at the ceiling. Right above us was a gigantic weight with Hogstein’s face on it. H-Hey! That’s so not fair!It is pretty metal though, you’ve got to admit. Take a look at the screen. I’m betting that counter tracks our mistakes. drat. Well, I guess one way or another this’ll be the show of a lifetime.[Announcer]: Here we go! …Oh! The music began before we were ready. (Stay calm! Don’t panic!) I could see everyone straining to play along with the notes. My own palms were getting slick with nervous sweat. (If the drums lose the rhythm, everyone will get off the beat.) I steadied myself, and continued playing. Finally…*We get a black wipe to show time passing* [Announcer]: Rehearsal session completed. Yes! We did it! Phew…! We’d missed plenty of notes, but somehow we’d managed to keep the number under thirty. Oh my God, I don’t think my heart can take any more of this! Woo… Man. Really takes it out of you, huh? I dunno how musicians do this… I agree.Wait, that was really it? No second round or anything? …Huh. There wasn’t much tension in that game. We all collapsed on the floor, unable to hold ourselves up any longer. I didn’t want to ever do that again. Shirabe scrubbed his hands through his hair angrily. We stayed there until we caught out breaths, then moved into the next room. My heart still feels like it’s racing. Understandable. We could’ve easily died… Hm? Kouta, is something wrong? … Out of the blue, Meoshi sat back down again, not looking at anyone. What’s wrong? …Oh, uh, nothing. Just as quickly, he got back up and left the room. (What’s going on? He’s acting weird…)We already know the answer to this. He’s hiding his involvement in the accident investigation.  Yes. I… I hope this isn’t what I think it is…It most certainly is that. He sighed, and I followed his unhappy gaze to the suits.[Announcer]: All right boys and girls, it’s time to become animals! Put on those suits and let it all out! I knew it… That was that, then. We’d all be dressing up. There’s a bear, a lion, a wolf, a bird, a squirrel, a fox, and a bunny. That’s seven, so we’ve got one left over. Then I call dibs on the lion. He grinned, grabbed the lion suit, and headed off toward a fitting room. But the moment he stepped into it—*The screen shakes* There was a loud “thud” and Shirabe came flying out of the doorway. Gah! Are you all right?! Yeah, I’m… fine… The walls they, uh… attacked me… *Cough* *Cough* Whatever had thrown Shirabe out of the room seemed to have knocked the breath out of him too.I like to imagine that it was a giant “High Five Hand”, like in Jackass 3D. [Announcer]: Aw shoot, I forgot to tell you! I picked out animals that’ll match your personalities perfectly, so make sure you pick the right ones! Wait, then why did it reject Shirabe taking the lion costume? Male lions are lazy assholes that dump responsibility for providing for the family on females and focus on fighting off any males outside of the pride so they don’t shack up with any of the lionesses. That’s basically Shirabe to a T! …In other words, we have to wear what they want us to, or get kicked out. Hm… Saki, what do you think? Uh, well… I guess I’d have to say Shirabe is probably the bear, Wakasa’s the squirrel, and Meoshi’s the fox. Urabe would be the… bird, maybe? I think Mitarashi would probably have been the lion. Yes? You got a problem with wolves? I don’t mean it in a bad way! It just kind of… fits… So Saki’d be the rabbit. Well, why don’t we give it a shot? Each one of us picked up “their” outfit. … Um… Subaru…? Everyone except for him, of course. Well, before we get excited let’s see if you’re right. He hefted the bear suit and headed into the fitting room… There was no thud this time. We all looked at one another, then headed into the other fitting rooms.*Black wipe transition* After a few minutes, we were all back. Yes. Still not sure I completely agree with these assignments, but whatever. The important part is that we get to see everyone dressed in doofy costumes. Disappointed that Mitarashi isn’t involved in this either, but oh well. He’s been embarrassed through other moments. (Ha ha, oh my gosh! They all look so adorable!) I had a feeling that wouldn’t be a welcome compliment, though, so I kept it to myself. Uh, you still need to put yours on. Everybody else has. … He stood completely still. Put on the stupid wolf costume! Subaru…? No! What is it?! Get your rear end in that wolf costume, young man. I’ve been waiting for this moment since Towa’s route, I will not let you ruin it. Subaru seemed to be… embarrassed. (Oh man… What am I supposed to say?)There’s a choice between “You’ll look great” and “You have to.” We actually want the second option, despite what your gut might be telling you. You have to, or we can’t beat this game. …You’re right, of course. I nearly lost sight of why we’re here.*Affection up* His body relaxed a little. We don’t have time to indulge my pride. He pulled the wolf suit off the hook and strode gallantly to one of the dressing rooms. A few moments later he stepped out, dressed as a wolf. How do I look?Like a furry boy band. Great! You look awesome! (He’s trying to look cool, but I can tell he’s super embarrassed… But oh man, that is so cute!) Ha ha. Lookin’ good, Detective. H-Hey, I don’t like your tone.Yeah, you might want to rethink laughing at others, squirrel boy. There’s a lot of jokes we can make at your expense involving nuts. Ah, lay off him. He’s just being honest. Indeed. You look awfully cute. C-C-Cute?! His face turned bright red, and we were all laughing when the announcer began to speak again.[Announcer]: Backyard Stump completed. Oh. That was it? Yes! He leapt back into his fitting room before I could blink. Laaaaaaaammmee. We didn’t even get to see Saki’s costume! I could hear the elation in his voice even through the fitting room door. We all grinned at each other and headed into our rooms to take our outfits off. All right, let’s go! Subaru was halfway to the door out, when… …Wait. What is it? Meoshi seemed… strange. I… I… He looked down at the floor. His face was pale and sweaty. What is it? I something wrong? Meoshi looked up at Subaru and swallowed. Another CG? So soon? Really stretching the budget on Subaru’s route, huh guys? I… I’m a witness. No one said anything. I… I saw the accident. The bus accident. Wh-What?! …! I heard there was one, but… drat, never thought it’d be you. Why didn’t you ever come forward?! … Leave him alone! He put a firm hand on Shirabe’s shoulder, then stepped toward Meoshi. …! Thanks. I’m proud of you for telling us this. I know it couldn’t have been easy. *Sniff* *Sniff* *Sob* *Sob* As Meoshi began to cry, Subaru put an arm around his shoulders. (Whoa, this is pretty big…)Not really. Well, at least it’s not currently a big thing. We still have no idea how or if Meoshi’s missing testimony would have even changed anything. He supposedly saw another car involved. What exactly does that do for the victims or Hogstein’s possible family? I was on my way home from a friend’s house, and I… It just happened right there in front of me. I was the only witness, so the police kept trying to question me, but I was only in second grade. I was so scared… I… I couldn’t say anything… He told us about how the ultimate verdict was that the bus had crashed because the driver had been suffering from some sort of medical condition. But… But what? …You never told anyone?Again, I don’t know how this makes sense when we take into account the flashback family. How would Meoshi saying “I saw a car” blow that whole case wide open? The cause would just change from “Driver had a medical emergency” to “Unfortunate accident as a result of road conditions.” It’s not as though anyone got wrongfully convicted (that we know of so far) because Meoshi didn’t say anything. One person… The last policeman that came and visited me, but… by then the case had already been closed. It’s my fault… If I’d just said something… Meoshi… I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t even imagine the kind of guilt that would give somebody. He’s lived with that guilt for so long… No wonder he was a little… strange. (In a way he’s a victim of that crash too…) Not quite. One of us volunteered, so it’s really four out of six.Oh, right. User Polsy mentioned something after the previous update that I hadn’t even thought of that could potentially tie Keiji/Saki into this whole thing. This bus crash happened somewhere along the Kanedo loop. If you recall, the Japanese name of Keiji Inafune’s big new theme park is Kanedo Blossomland, which would presumably be located in the same area. The mascot is also named Kane De Boo, which is very close to Kanedo. There’s still a small chance that Keiji Inafune is tied into this whole thing somehow, which could explain Hogstein allowing Saki to participate. drat! We should’ve asked Mitarashi about it this morning… Nothing we can do about that now. We need to beat this game first. Afterwards we’ll have time to talk. Right you are. It’s starting to look pretty unlikely that you’re not mixed up in this somehow, Wakasa. If you think of anything, you make sure to tell us right away, all right? …Yeah. Sure. He nodded meekly. Yeah, I’m… I’m fine. Thanks. He wiped away his tears and nodded. On stage at last… There were a number of instruments set up in front of a giant television screen. So we’re going to have to play the notes as they come across that screen? Almost as if on cue, the monitor flickered on, displaying a busy city intersection. Whoa. Just a small note, but that number and the little circular thing next to it is not visible in Towa’s route. It’s not like it’s a lot of work or anything, I’m just surprised they thought to remove it for Towa’s route (the image itself is the same, the number is just missing). [Announcer]: Show these chumps just how hard you can rock! But you only got thirty minutes for this set! If you screw it up? Iiiiiit’s bomb time! I want to point out that it’s already nighttime, somehow. The games usually start at noon, so the gang has once again managed to slip into a time warp. What?! On [sic] no! As soon as the announcer finished, a clock on the screen began to count down. Wh-What are we supposed to do?! Well, they’ve put some instruments up here… Then they must be able to see us. We might as well give this a shot. It’s not like we have a choice…This is one of the most unbelievable moments for me. This collection of weirdos suddenly shows up on a jumbotron in the middle of a (very busy looking) Japanese city and you’re telling me that attracting the attention of 5000 people in 30 minutes is supposed to be difficult? I’m blown away that there’s not already over 5000 people stopping to question what the hell is going on up on that screen. Even more so when you take into account that this theme park terrorist thing should have been a national news story for the last 5 days. Let’s go, then! We headed over to the instruments and got ready to play.[Announcer]: All right! It’s… showtime! W-Wait, we don’t get to practice…?!That’s what the practice session was for, dumbass. Were you not paying attention to the announcer? Maybe you guys should have spent more than 30 minutes on that. I know a couple songs. The rest of you do your best to follow my lead, understood? R-Right, okay. He nodded and began to play. The rest of us did our best to keep up. Urabe, on the keyboard, was the only one who could manage to follow along very well.*Black wipe transition* This is bad. I’ve seen better middle school bands… Hn… After what seemed like forever, the song ended, and we looked up at the screen. The counter read “0052/5000”. That’s probably how many people stopped to watch.See? I feel like even a lovely band would pull in more onlookers than that if they had taken over a jumbo screen in the middle of a shopping/business district. You’d get more than 52 people who would look up and go “What in god’s name are those losers doing up there?” Wh-Whoa, does that mean we have to get five thousand people to stop?! It looks that way, yes. Our paltry fifty-two was looking worse by the minute. Even a hundred people seemed like an impossible number. Why isn’t there a singer in this band?! I could’ve gotten us twice that number in half the time! I think they figured that out. Why do you think they didn’t give us a mic? drat… If we just had one more person to fill out our roster…Yeah, that sure would make all the difference. (One more person…)Choice here between “There’s nothing we can do” and “If only Mitarashi was feeling better!” I wish Mitarashi was here…Whenever Mitarashi is not on screen, everyone should be asking “Where’s Mitarashi?” Ha… I was just thinking the same thing. He would’ve figured something out by now.*Affection up* On the first day nobody had trusted anyone else, but now… (Too bad Mitarashi is still sick…) That was when I heard it.[???]: This is a pretty sad excuse for a concert! What?! You owe us a shot of you dressed in the lion costume! It was Mitarashi. You climbed all the way up here? Are you insane? You really care if I am? You said you wanted my help and drat do you need it. He grinned and snatched up one of the guitars. Are you… okay? Hell yeah. Besides, all that waiting was getting really boring. I ate, like, five steaks at the restaurant, so I’m 100% good to go. Subaru put down his own guitar and picked up a bass. All right then. Let’s do this! They nodded to one another and started to play. Each one reinforced the performance of the other. They were awesome, and the rest of us struggled to keep up. At the end of the song, the number on the screen had risen to 328. Our two stars kept on playing, and after twenty minutes it was up to 1479. Damnit. We’re not going to make it… What should we do? I was trying desperately to come up with any idea when a familiar voice echoed over the PA.  Laugh all you want! We’re not giving up! Well that’s real cute, but this whole thing is gonna go KABLOOIE in just a few minutes! No chance for a comeback tour after that.We’ll stop there for now, since I’m trying to get back to these updates all fitting in a single post. Next time: We figure out what miracle will save our gang, since there’s obviously going to be one.
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Jun 6, 2021 16:41
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I disagree with some of those personality assessments. For one thing, I hear foxes are dang rowdy, and we’ve all seen Meoshi is… not,
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Jun 6, 2021 16:56
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In not sure if i can forgive this game if they won't show us mitarashi in costume. Also they didn't even keep the costumes on! Come on game, would it really be that much effort to have a few more different portraits for a few scenes more?
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Jun 6, 2021 17:19
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Space Kablooey posted:In not sure if i can forgive this game if they won't show us mitarashi in costume. Also they didn't even keep the costumes on! Come on game, would it really be that much effort to have a few more different portraits for a few scenes more? This is what bummed me out. Part of this "game" was literally just "Everyone put on a costume for 3 seconds and you win." Would it have been that hard to create a Front and Side animal costume portrait for the characters? From there, all you have to do is swap out facial expressions. It's something I could have done myself if the animal sprites existed. Also, the fact that both Ryuji and Saki aren't shown is a ripoff. AweStriker posted:I disagree with some of those personality assessments. For one thing, I hear foxes are dang rowdy, and we’ve all seen Meoshi is… not, Definitely a misjudging of character going on here. Kouta isn't even all that crafty. That moment he had at the end of his route was just baby-level mind games.
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Jun 6, 2021 17:41
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Bummer. I thought for sure they were going to have to do the Band part with the costumes on. Especially since it was being broadcasted. I dunno, it really seemed like something Hogstein would do. The fact Shidou would have to go back to his Precinct after that and get endlessly teased by his coworkers would have been pretty drat funny too.
FalloutFan56 fucked around with this message at 05:05 on Jun 16, 2021 |
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Jun 15, 2021 07:06
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FalloutFan56 posted:Bummer. I thought for sure they were going to have to do the Band part with the costumes on. Especially since it was being broadcasted. I dunno, it really seemed like something Hogstein would do. The fact Shidou would have to go back to his Precinct after that and get endlessly teased by his coworkers would have been pretty drat funny too. That's the biggest shame. Subaru's ending would be absolutely amazing if there was a moment of Saki describing him getting ribbed at the precinct for his wolf costume. Missed opportunity. Update News: Sorry for taking so long. I'm halfway through the next update, so hopefully I'll have it ready to go by tomorrow. I'm trying to alternate between this and Sweet Fuse, but Sweet Fuse requires so much more transcription that it's hard to hammer out an update as quickly as GL4.
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Jun 16, 2021 16:53
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Update XLI: To Protect and Smooch Yay! No actual tension! Witness the miracle that we all know was going to come eventually. Although I will admit that I didn’t think it would kick in literally the minute that Hogstein started gloating. What…? What’s going on? More and more of the people in the street were looking up at us and pointing. Whoa, look at that! He started playing with renewed vigor, and with three minutes left our number hit 3801. Wh-What is this?! When time was finally up, we’d caught the attention of 5017 spectators.[Announcer]: Outdoor concert completed. Wait, that’s it? No insight moments or puzzles or anything? Just Guitar Hero and Cosplay? I don’t know about you guys, but I feel kind of cheated on this one. Almost makes me feel bad about making the live thread wait nearly 2 weeks for this update. You can blame a combination of anxiety and my hosed up shoulder for that one. Hell yeah! What just happened? Everybody’s watching us… If I looked closely, I could see that a lot of the people watching were also carrying smartphones……It’s Japan, Saki. Of course everyone is carrying a smartphone. [Announcer]: Stage 6 has been completed. You have obtained a reward. With that, the screen flickered off. We all feel the same, Hogstein. For once, Hogstein seemed just as confused as we were. Then a voice broke the silence. Ha ha ha… Oh man. Meoshi was looking down at his phone and grinning. We weren’t fighting on our own. There were people on the outside helping us. Wh-What…? Instead of responding, he just flipped his phone around to show us what he’d been looking at. A blog…? I go by ‘Ares’ online. My blog gets a couple thousand hits a day. But since I’ve been stuck here, I haven’t been able to update it. What are you getting at? When you started your game, you called us all up on stage during the opening ceremony.  S-So what?! Well, that meant they knew who we were, sort of, and they know this was a game. So what do you think they did? He flipped down to the comment section of his blog. There were… a lot of comments. How many comments do you think I have on that last post? When I checked it just now, there were more than 10,000. 10,000?! drat… Lemme see that. “You can do it!” “We’re spreading the word online!” “I came from the Ares search thread.” “Reporting in from the field! I’m ignoring the traffic signals and backing up traffic. Everybody’s going to have to stop!” Whoa…I call bullshit on half of this. This is technically what should have happened. If some Batman esque villain gang had taken over a Six Flags and was forcing a group of people to go through deathtrap games, that poo poo would be global news and people would be on that 24/7. If those people then suddenly popped up on a jumbotron in Shibuya, you would expect that way more than 5,000 people would stop to watch in the span of 30 minutes. But the idea that the MySpace page Kouta set up for his WoW character somehow helped get the word out and mobilized a flash mob in under half an hour is patently ridiculous. Of course! And once they noticed us they stopped to take a look? So the people reading Meoshi’s blog hooked up with the people at the theme park… Right, and as we all know: gamers are notorious for jumping into concrete action and running off to random locations in a city based on poo poo some random goons posted in “The Something Awful Forums -> Discussion -> Games -> The MMO HMO” subforum. Like, I love you guys that follow my LPs, but if I see you wrapped up in some Jigsaw situation and someone messages me saying “Dude, you need to get down to Kingsway-Victoria right away!”, I mean… I’ve got stuff to do, man. Plus I’d have to put gas in the car first, it would be this whole thing. (Gosh, I never would have guessed…!) Rrrrrggggh! Th-Th-That’s cheating! No contact with the outside! You broke the rules! I didn’t break anything. They did all this on their own. I haven’t made contact with anyone. Th-That’s immaterial! You got help from the outside! Unacceptable! That’s not fair! Fair shmair! No is no! What?! (That’s ridiculous! We didn’t break any rules! We beat that game fair and square, and he’s just being a sore loser!) What’s wrong with you?! Rules are rules! We didn’t break any rules and we beat your game, so Deal! With! It! He spat out the words and the [sic] disappeared. Phew… I won’t lie, my friends. I thought maybe our luck had finally run out this time.Maybe you morons should STOP GLOATING IN FRONT OF HIM AND EXPLAINING HOW YOU CIRCUMVENTED HIS RULES! Seriously, there was no reason to explain what happened to him. You aren’t the only one. We really would have been in trouble if it weren’t for all those people out in the city.Oh, you were referring to that. Yeah, that was exceptionally lucky for you guys. I felt bad that I couldn’t thank them in person. Wait, weren’t you using a normal phone earlier? Yeah, so? He grinned.…Am I missing something here? Mitarashi, there’s something I need to ask you before I forget. What is it? Do you remember a bus accident in Kanedo 12 years ago? What?! We quickly explained that, except for me and Wakasa, everyone seemed to be connected to the accident somehow. All right, well, say we’re all connected to this thing. What does that mean? Ah, well… we don’t know. Let’s take a look at that new note. Right… We opened the treasure chest and found a piece of paper that said “M2” on it. That’s the “name” of the person who tricked Urabe and lured Shirabe here… the same person who’s Hogstein.Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on there, cowboy. “Tricked” is a loaded word. Hogstein did not trick Urabe into doing anything. Don’t try and whitewash his crimes like that. Urabe was fully on board with everything until Saki came along. There is no evidence to suggest that Hogstein hid his intentions to kill people or blow up the amusement park. Does this mean that the solution to this puzzle is his true identity…? That seems like the only thing that would make any sense, but this isn’t going to give us the answers we need. Yeah, we still don’t have enough to figure it out. Do you think we missed something? We may have. Perhaps the lost note from the third day contained crucial information…? Everyone gasped. If we were missing the final piece of the puzzle, that note had likely been it. Then I remembered what Count Hogstein had said the morning of the fourth day. “After yesterday I can breathe a little easier, so maybe I’m just feeling magnanimous”… That’s right… Of course! Of course he’d be “breathing easier,” the swine. Everything was starting to come together. So he wouldn’t really care if we didn’t die on the third day. If he can keep us from getting the key to figuring out who he is, then he’s safe. Sick bastard was probably having the time of his life…You guys really don’t get this whole revenge thing. That son of a bitch! (That’s horrible! I’m not gonna let him get away with this!) Ryusei. Do you know if there might have been any connection between your parents and whoever Hogstein is? Mitarashi frowned thoughtfully and was silent for a moment. Is… is that the answer?!Nope, but you can be forgiven for thinking it is considering Towa still hasn’t piped up about his involvement. At almost the same time, Hogstein’s voice exploded from the speakers. Whoa whoa whoa! No more of this hush-hush cloak and dagger stuff! Get off my stage right now! Guess our time’s up. Then let’s get out of here. A ladder down had appeared when we beat the game, so we headed over toward it. … What’s wrong? Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just… thinking. He shook his head and went to climb down the ladder. (I thought he’d be all scared and stuff, but it seems like he’s totally fine…) So! Have you figured out the answer to my riddle? Because it’s answer time… now! There was an edge of cruel excitement to his voice. Guess he’s not gonna give us time to mull it over, huh? It’s okay. You take this one. Right. Everyone nodded… Everyone except Wakasa, who was deep in thought again. O-O-Oh nooooo! He was shaking visibly. Aiieeeeee! He let out an extremely odd shriek and froze in apparent terror. (Was… was that it?) We looked back and forth at one another for a long moment before Wakasa spoke up. Um, uh… that… I think that was actually… me. What? Huh? I was way too young to remember it, but my mom told me about what happened… She said a lady saved me after a crash, then died. And that was the Kanedo bus crash? Well that’s the thing, I don’t actually know, but… Then Mitarashi said something the other night. What…? You said “Nothing like seeing a kid smile”… Oh. Yeah. Guess I did, huh… Wh-What…?! When he said it the first time I thought maybe it was just a coincidence, but after hearing that his parents were in the crash… I thought, maybe… Then… she… His eyes grew wide as he look [sic] at Wakasa. Ha! It’s you! Mitarashi threw his arms around a surprised Wakasa and hugged him as tight as he could. WROOOOOOOOOOOOOONG! Oink oink oink! What?! You were so close too! Practically burning up… but you veered off there at the end! Oink oink oink!Were they really that close, though? Are you telling me that if they had said “You were the survivor from the car” that he would have accepted that as guessing his identity? It’s not like they would have any idea what his name is or what he even looks like.  Ah well. Bad to the bone it is, then! We ride together, we die together! See you all tomorroooooooow! There was a soft click, and he was gone. … We just stood there, dumbfounded. Damnit! We had our chance top uncover the truth and we blew it! He dropped to his knees and slammed both firsts into the ground. (He looks so upset…) None of us knew what to say until Subaru moved over to stand in front of him. Get up. This isn’t over yet. We just didn’t manage to finish the game today. Tomorrow we’ll beat the last game and hunt him down in person. Once we’ve got him, you’ll get the truth you’re after.No he won’t. Hogstein has escaped in every route so far. There’s no real reason to believe that Subaru’s route will be the exception. His voice was calm, but I could hear steel in it. I… I guess you’ve got a point there. Blowing my top isn’t going to do any good. I’ve been through worse than this. He shook his head and ran his hands quickly through his head, then stood up and took a deep breath. Indeed. We will all survive, and will we all [sic] complete this game— together. We will leave no one behind.Please pull yourself together, Sweet Fuse. I really don’t have the mental focus to put up with spelling and grammar errors right now, especially when every one makes me question whether or not it’s an error on my part or yours. I don’t think I’ll feel satisfied until I sock that drat pig one in his fat, stupid face. This is the last stage. All that’s left is for the heroes to defeat the final boss. I feel kinda bad for screwing it up, but I’m sure that if we all stick together we’ll be fine… right? Of course we will! Together we can do anything! (We’ve gone through a whole lot, but it’s made us friends. That final game’s gonna be easy with this team! We can do it no sweat!) Once we got our dinner, we sat at the big table until the hotel arrived. (Gosh, everybody looks really tired…) Mitarashi was sprawled across the table, snoring. I glanced over at Subaru… … …! He must have been looking over too, because our eyes met. (Wh-Whoa, I didn’t expect that…) Suddenly I felt a powerful urge to talk to him about… anything. What had happened at the park, each other, the weather… (But… what could I say?) I opened my mouth but nothing came out. (Besides, everyone else is here right now…) … With no other explanation, Subaru stood up and left the restaurant.  The night breezes felt cool and [sic] relaxing and I follow Subaru outside.Are you two finally going to kiss? Because we’ve only got one small stage left and there’s other poo poo that’s going to be happening in that. (Oh man, I hope he didn’t just want to be by himself…) He didn’t tell me to go back, though, so I figured I was okay. We walked in silence for a while, and even through [sic] we weren’t talking it felt… nice. (Maybe I just like hanging out with him…) Oh! R-Right! I jumped a little when he finally spoke. Today there was a moment where I thought we were completely done for. I was terrified, and I was ready to give up. (…?)How do you think a question mark ellipses? I’m a police officer. It’s not a… safe job. This wasn’t the first day I thought I might die.Once again, Subaru’s career as a police officer cannot have been longer than 2 years. We know that he was involved in a case that resulted in an officer’s death, but this still feels like an exaggeration from him considering Japan’s violent crime rates. But I’ve never felt as scared as I did today. Do you know why? Because… you weren’t alone? Subaru… I guess that before I realized what was going on I was thinking you as… more than a friend.*Gasp* You mean like… a best friend!? (Oh my gosh, my heart is beating so fast! Wh-Why am I so excited?!) He smiled. Tomorrow’s game is probably going to be the hardest yet, but I promise I’ll keep you safe. Even if that means my life. …! (Wh-What should I do? I have to say something!)We get a choice between “Thank you!” and “Don’t say that.” Don’t say that. …What? Don’t say “even if it means my life.” I don’t want you to die. … For a long moment we were both silent. *Affection up* He nodded. All right then. A promise. I won’t die. I’ll survive. We both will. No matter what happens, remember that you can trust me. Okay? He looked straight into my eyes.Dooo it. (Oh man, I can’t look away when he does that…) Saki… His face was close to mine now, really close— GRAAH! What is so difficult about a kiss?! Just loving—  —get… in… there! …! His lips pressed softly against mine. *Fade-to-black wipe*  R-Right! With that we turned around and walked back the way we’d come.It’s so frustrating. Maybe as a guy I just have a different idea of what makes a good kiss scene, but Sweet Fuse’s stubborn insistence on these CGs where two characters look like their lips are both made of the same pole of a magnet are really irritating.  (Tomorrow’s the last day… We’re almost there!) It had been a long, difficult week, but we’d pulled together and done what had to be done. (Without Subaru, though, we’d have really been in trouble…) I knew I needed to rest, but excitement of knowing that we were almost done kept me wide awake. (A walk might help me calm down…) There was so much bottled up inside me… If I did happened [sic] to see someone, a long conversation sounded pretty good. Subaru! There he was, relaxing in the lobby. Are you drinking coffee? Yeah. The piglets said they had some, so I decided I’d have a cup. You want a drink? Sure! He beckoned one of the piglets over and said something to it while I fidgeted and look [sic] around nervously. In a few moments it was back with a steaming cup.I hope to god these spelling/grammar errors are ones I’m actually seeing and not merely hallucinations caused by my current mess of a mind. …Huh? Something wrong? This, um, isn’t coffee. Yeah. I asked for hot milk. Why did you do that…? It’s just about time to go to bed. I figured drinking caffeine this late probably isn’t a good idea. He was grinning. But you’re drinking coffee! Are you gonna be okay? Of course. I’m used to it. Then I want to get used to it too. Hm?I think it’s better if caffeine doesn’t become a natural part of your pre-sleep ritual, Saki. Some may argue that it shouldn’t be a natural part of your life at all.  … (Oh man, what was that?! I just started rambling!) Well, they made me milk, so I’ll drink milk for now. Hold on. Huh? My milk was already halfway to my mouth, but Subaru was quick and nimble enough to pour part of his coffee deftly into my cup. I take my coffee black. If you, uh, start off that way it’ll taste horrible.Personal opinion: Coffee tastes horrible no matter what. Unless we’re talking Coffee Crisp. … So try mixing in some milk. You can adjust the balance as you get used to it, and eventually you’ll be able to drink it black. O-Oh, okay… (Wait… is he saying…) (Oh gosh, he wasn’t kidding. It’s kinda bitter.) Even though it was still mostly milk, I could taste the strong flavour of the coffee. Subaru had been right— I wouldn’t be drinking black coffee for a long time. (Then some day… we’ll drink the same coffee.) Maybe by then I’d be more… cool? You’re all seeing this, right? What the hell happened to the proof-reading in this stage?  (We’ve gotta kick butt tomorrow… If we screw up, my uncle could be in real trouble! And not just him… everybody!) I sent off a quick text message to Uncle Keiji about how we were almost there. (I’ll save you, Uncle! I promise!) And we’re done! With Stage 6, I mean. Next time: We’re headed into Subaru’s final stage. Will we learn any shocking new details? Will Subaru’s gun shoot something/someone again? Will his bad ending result in him or Saki getting killed? So many questions. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Jun 17, 2021 |
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Jun 17, 2021 19:25
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Gee Towa, thanks for jumping in at the last second.
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Jun 17, 2021 20:17
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Man, I feel quite let down by Band Animal Family. They only had the costumes on for like 10 seconds! Boo. Feeling apprehensive about the final romantic route being with the oldest guy.
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Jun 17, 2021 23:04
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Psycho Knight posted:
In Japanese they specifically call him out as using a 'smartphone' in this scene and just here he goes on to explicitly say he has two phones, though I'm not sure if we're supposed to think anything of that other than he's a nerd who carries two phones around all the time. Space Kablooey posted:Gee Towa, thanks for jumping in at the last second. Just in time to confirm that their guess was wrong, very good. Though, if he hadn't said anything they would have had to come up with a plausible different answer, they don't have much of a track record for that.
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Jun 17, 2021 23:58
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Space Kablooey posted:Gee Towa, thanks for jumping in at the last second. I understand that he doesn't remember a whole lot from that time, but something clearly got him thinking way before that exact moment, so it is kind of a jerk move to announce that right as Ayumu blurts out the assumed answer. cardinale posted:Man, I feel quite let down by Band Animal Family. They only had the costumes on for like 10 seconds! Boo. It is a definite step down from the others. There were no puzzles, no Insight moments, and no real moments of tension. They went in, played some Rock Band, put on some costumes and then immediately took them off, then badly played music in order to attract the attention of random passersby. Plus, their victory in the game was almost completely a result of actions outside of their control. They didn't do anything to win the game, they just had an incredibly stroke of luck. I'm wondering if maybe Band Animal Family only appears in Subaru's route and therefore got no budget associated with it. Like, the developers just went "This game is only played in 1 out of 6 routes. Why bother putting any effort into it?" Polsy posted:In Japanese they specifically call him out as using a 'smartphone' in this scene and just here he goes on to explicitly say he has two phones, though I'm not sure if we're supposed to think anything of that other than he's a nerd who carries two phones around all the time. Yeah, I don't get the reason for that comment. It comes up with Ryuji as well, but in his case it makes sense because of his job. Him having two phones is a minor part of his character background. What does Kouta having more than one phone tell us? Nothing. How does it tie into him as a character? It doesn't. It's just an incredibly out of nowhere comment that impacts nothing.
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Jun 18, 2021 17:23
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Update XLII: Shock and Awe Let’s put a bow on this route, shall we? Or at least we’ll try to do that. Could take more than one update.  But it won’t be our last time. We still have Shirabe’s route to get through. It made me a little sad. I’d only been there a week, and it had been a stressful week, but I’d gotten kind of attached. Thanks for everything. …! After a moment of surprise, the piglet responded with a series of gestures that seemed to mean, “Oh, no, don’t worry about it.”I still hate you guys. (I’ve gotten pretty good at understanding them, huh?) My phoned dinged, and I looked down to see I’d gotten a text from my uncle. Trust your friends, and good luck! You’re almost there! (He’s always so positive!) I smiled, and with renewed determination sent off a quick reply. (I’m gonna end this whole thing today!) Yeah, you’re right. Thanks again. …! The piglet “said” something and moved off out of the room. Morning! So, uh, what was that about? Is everything all right? Well, this is our last day here. They did an excellent job, but it turns out they don’t have any experience as hotel staff. Have to admit I was a little surprised. Is that what you were asking about? It looked like you were have [sic] a real conversation.Please, Sweet Fuse, I beg of you: get your spelling under control. You have really gone off the rails in Subaru’s route. We’ve been dealing with them every day… I guess after a while I started to feel like I could understand them. Didn’t you?Yeah, Stockholm Syndrome really is a hell of a thing, isn’t it? Anyway, if you forget anything they’ll bring it out to the plaza. (Whoa, I guess Meoshi isn’t the only one who’s figured out their weird sign language.) So, we’re all here. Yep. Today is the last day. Are you ready? He looked slowly across our assembled faces, meeting each person’s gaze. Let us finish this.  Yeah! Okay! With a cheer, we headed for the hotel exit.Yay! Team spirit!  Everyone say goodbye to Mai again. That said, prepare to see and hear a lot more of her once we start the next route. I assume, anyway. It would be pretty funny if Shirabe’s route ends up being the one where Mai gets the least amount of screen time. Tough luck last night! As soon as we arrived, he was waiting for us. Or at least his voice was. This is the last day of our game! Never thought every single one of you would make it this far…Neither did I, to be honest. I figured the game would designate at least 1 character as the sacrificial lamb for each route.  Even if I’d managed to figure out what the piglets meant, the Count was still a mystery. I’ve heard more convincing lies from a kid with his hand in the cookie jar. He frowned. If we beat this game, we want to see you. In person. No more of this video nonsense. It’s a perfect climax! The beautiful bonds of friendship you’ve built will be tested… TO THE MAX! Oink oink oink! Will you be able to make it though? Let’s find out! Off you go! The final battle begins in the Warrior’s Arena! Then with a click he was gone. Our bonds will be tested…? Bring it on! Nothing on Earth could sever the bonds we have now.You were planning on helping Hogstein kill everyone as of three days ago. No, I will never let that go. I will continue reminding everyone of that until the final moment of this LP because the characters are way too willing to let that poo poo slide. Right. Let’s get going, then. We all nodded and made our way toward the final attraction. All right, this one was based off of— Hey, c’mon, let me do this one. It’s the last one! Mitarashi was practically jumping up and down with excitement. He’d spent the last several days cooped up, and now that he was out he was bursting with energy. …Sure. Go ahead. Meoshi sighed. The twelve knights of the Round Table are fighting over the holy sword “Excalibur.” Each character has different chakra weak points, so you hit those to get devastating combos. That’s why it got so popular.Ah, yes, that time when the Knights of the Round fought each other in the first ever King of Iron Fist Tournament circa 538AD by karate chopping chakra points, a concept conceived by ancient Buddhists in India, in order to somehow reclaim Excalibur from the Lady in the Lake. A classic Arthurian legend. Joking aside, there is at least some tiny basis for this fictional game’s plot.  “Historically,” in Mort Artu (a 13th-century French work about Arthur), Arthur dies from his wounds shortly after his battle with Mordred. That battle was so deadly for both sides that the country suffered a long decline afterward (so it basically “turned into hell on Earth”).The only problem with that tiny grain of truth is that most of the Knights of the Round died in that same battle as well. I told you all of that. S-So? Whatever. You’re good at fighting games, right? I figure they don’t call you Ares for nothing. You can handle this, right? Sure. He nodded, a bit more confident than usual. …How? Why did you get the name of a Greek god through a game about Arthurian legend? What weird fanboy of yours managed to draw that connection? Why not Mars, the Roman’s version of Ares? At least the Romans actually occupied Britain around that time period (and Colosseum is in the title of the game). There’s at least a plausible connection there. Or you could have gone with Odin, the Norse equivalent. It would have been a little anachronistic, but at least it would be geographically appropriate. A Christian deity would have been most appropriate, but Christianity doesn’t have a war god since it’s monotheistic. I’m thinking too hard about this, sorry. What?! (Whoa, I guess he’s got a good reason to feel confident, then!) Good to hear. We’ll be counting on you, Kouta. Sure. Gloomy weather? Yeah, this is totally the last boss. The building in front of us looked like an old, broken-down colosseum. A sword and scabbard made a huge “X” over the entrance. (Is that Excalibur…?) I’d barely had time to think that when Count Hogstein’s voice echoed across the courtyard. Enter! Enter the colosseum! Several piglets appeared to guide us in. There was a sort of stage in the center of the room, surrounded by amphitheatre-style seats filled with piglets. drat… Looks like we’ve got a full house. Yeah, but… they’re totally silent. Don’t you think it’s kinda creepy? Yeah… Even when they were just there to be an audience, apparently the piglets were still “on duty.” (Whoa, look at the size of those guys!) One of the three huge piglets that had just appeared climbed up onto the stage and strapped on gloves and shin guards. …! I think he’s telling us to come up. Huh. So it’s a real fight? I’ll handle this. He cracked his knuckles, grinned, and leapt up onto the stage. Watch out. I don’t think this is going to be a straight fist-fight. It’s cool. Just like the piglet had done, Mitarashi strapped on gloves and shin guards. (I don’t think he’s really all healed yet… I hope he’ll be okay.) I realized I was holding my breath, and forced myself to let it out.[Announcer]: Learn your opponent’s weaknesses, hit their chakra points, and obtain victory!  The piglet’s silhouette had a star on its stomach, and Mitarashi’s had one on his shoulder. On top of the screen each had a bar for their health.[Announcer]: Fight! They didn’t even give us a chance to figure out the rules before the fight started.Seems pretty straightforward to me. Hit the star locations and don’t get hit. It’s a fighting game, Saki.  Here we go! Yaaaaah! Mitarashi charged! His fist flew straight for the piglet’s face— …! But it dodged lightly around his punch and reached out to gently tap one of Mitarashi’s shoulders. GYAAAAAAAAAAH! Mitarashi! He screamed horribly and fell to his knees, his back arched in pain as far as it would go. Wh-What the hell was that?![Announcer]: DOWN! A full third fell off of Mitarashi’s health bar. He shook his head and blinked hard, then climbed to his feet. Of course… Those stars are his chakra weak points. The star on Mitarashi’s shoulder moved down to his stomach. Yeah, yeah, I got it! He threw another punch, but the piglet dodged that one too and lashed out with its foot. Rrgh! He caught the piglet’s foot with his elbow and managed to avoid the main force of the blow, but the very tip of the foot brushed against his stomach. YEEAAAAAAAAGH! No! Stop thinking about this like a boxing match. All you’ve gotta do is tap those stars. It’s about finesse, not raw strength. Heh… I know, man. I figured it out too, you know.Really? Because reality seems to be contradicting that statement. He stood up again, but he was starting to look a little wobbly. The star had moved to his right breast. You can’t just charge at him! Use your head! But Mitarashi didn’t hear or didn’t care, and leapt straight toward the piglet, his fist out. Oh no…! Just as before, his opponent dodged easily, and struck at his weak point. Mitarashi’s health bar dropped again, almost to zero, but… You’re mine now, bro! Yaaaaaaah! …! He slammed his head into the surprised piglet’s face. With a sickening crunch, it toppled to the ground, unconscious.[Announcer]: K.O.! Sometimes you just gotta take the a [sic] hit, you know? Ha! Showed him! Yes! As far as we could tell, a K.O. meant the piglet had lost, despite having a full health bar. Whoa! He didn’t hit the star once and he still won… I guess he did technically use his head… Mitarashi’s movements were a little shaky as he made his way down off the stage and back to us. Good job there, buddy! Mitarashi! But he’d already collapsed to the floor, unconscious. I ran over to him as the second piglet stepped up onto the stage.It just wouldn’t be Sweet Fuse without Ryuji getting constantly injured. Who’s going to go next…? I’ll do it.…No.  Playing Street Fighter a bunch does not translate into MMA skills, Kouta. One of the biggest ways it doesn’t translate is in stamina. Remember when he took like an hour to haul Saki to the restaurant and nearly died of exhaustion from it? This isn’t just about reflexes, Kouta. I can’t let you go. It’s too dangerous. But he’s Ares, right? I think he can handle it. Good point, kid. He might be our best bet. Subaru looked over at me, and I could see uncertainty in his eyes. (What should I say…?)Nope, siding with Shidou on this. I’d say the police officer has a better chance in hand to hand combat compared to the shut-in gamer that gets winded from taking the stairs to his apartment. Maybe Subaru should do it. Whoa, hold on there little lady. Aren’t we a team here? He is correct. We cannot hope to triumph if we do not trust one another to succeed.This isn’t a loving team-building retreat, you morons. Several lives are on the line here, including all of yours. Are we just not picking people who are best suited for the job anymore? I mean, I can dominate in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, but if we’ve got to do a slalom run or something on a skateboard in real life, I think the dude that has actual experience on a skateboard would be the better choice. You’re right… My apologies. Sorry… I should have trusted you, Meoshi. He gave Meoshi’s shoulder an almost fatherly squeeze. You can do this. We believe in you. Yeah. Meoshi climbed slowly up onto the stage. This time the piglet’s star was on his shoulder, and Meoshi’s was on his left leg.[Announcer]: Fight! You can do it, Meoshi! The piglet started to move immediately, its feet dancing back and forth as it circled, but Meoshi just stood there. …! There it is! The Ninja Step! Apparently he’d named that particular… step… after watching Meoshi dash down the Corridor of Hate on the first day. Its frustration clearly mounting, the piglet’s attacks became more desperate, until finally it left itself open. Meoshi ducked in and tapped its shoulder. …! With a shudder, the piglet fell to the floor.[Announcer]: DOWN! The health bar over the piglet’s silhouette dropped by a third. It shook its head and moved to get up. But— Sorry, but no dice. Getting in a hit on a downed opponent’s a basic tactic.Good thing that they didn’t program i-frames into this game, apparently. He lunged in and, before the piglet could scramble out of the war, touched the leg the star had moved to. …![Announcer]: K.O.! Yeah! You dominated that fight! Gosh, they don’t call you Ares for nothing! He didn’t respond, just got back into position as the final piglet climbed up onto the stage.[Announcer]: Fight! Just as before, Meoshi’s strikes and dodges were deft and well-timed… Oh, geez, it’s almost like you shouldn’t have pulled a trick like that in the second out of three fights. It was looking like a stalemate, until I noticed something. Wait… Is Meoshi kind of… wavering? Is he tired out already?!YES! You idiots learned this about him on the very first day! He could barely stand after moving through a hallway! He. Has. No. Stamina! For real!? Guh…! The piglet chose that moment to throw out an almost lazy kick at Meoshi’s stomach.[Announcer]: Down! …! Meoshi bent over his stomach, and the piglet wasted no time in reaching for the star on his shoulder. Meoshi! [Announcer]: Ring out! *Fade wipe transition for some reason* Damnit! He slammed a fist into the floor. Thanks to you, now we know how to beat them. You’ve earned a rest. Let me handle this one.You already knew how to beat them. You guys were telling Mitarashi how to do it as soon as his fight started. So all everyone’s “Nooo, let Kouta do iiitt! You have to trust in him!” got us was another tie. He didn’t even tire the third guy out. He balled his hands into fists, and glared at the piglet as he stepped up onto the stage. You can do it![Announcer]: Fight! With a grunt, Subaru settled into a fighting stance. With minimal movement, he expertly avoided the next attack, and the next… Look at him move… That must be kendo! He tapped his forehead. This is a real thing. Not sure about small local departments, but the National Academy includes extensive training in judo or kendo as part of the curriculum. Some officers pick up other martial arts like Aikido in addition to the required stuff. Oh… There wasn’t anything unnecessary in his movements. He didn’t just have training, he was good. Yah! He lunged skillfully forward, through the piglet’s guard, and delivered a hard chop to its neck. …! The piglet stumbled back as the sound of electricity crackled through the air. I noticed something earlier. Everyone’s trying to hit the star, which makes their moves predictable. It makes them easy to dodge. The piglet crumbled to the floor.[Announcer]: K.O.!  Wow, it’s almost like Shidou was the best suited person for this since he has real-world skills that directly translate to the mechanics of the game. Subaru sighed and wiped the sweat from his forehead.[Announcer]: Warrior’s Colosseum completed. The voice of the announcer echoed through the amphitheatre. That was great! Mitarashi had recovered enough to throw Subaru a thumbs-up. Everyone agreed, but as we sat down the announcer began to speak again. Two doors at the back of the room opened. The implication was clear. The old “divide and conquer,” eh? Dollars to donuts there’ll be more tricks and traps, and we’ll meet up again at some point. So… how should we split up? I’d like you to come with me, Saki. Okay. As I nodded, he reached out and took a hold of my hand. Oh, right. You guys aren’t in the know about that yet. Huh? Why’re you guys holding hands? Oh! A-Ah, it’s, um, I mean… uh… We both let go, extremely embarrassed, but it was too late. All eyes were on us. When on Earth did you find the time to hook up…? I admit, this line got me. H-Hey, hold on a minute there… (W-Wait, does… does this mean they all think we’re… together…?) I felt my heart flutter as I watched him try and explain what was going on. (I-I mean, he never said anything about… Oh gosh, but he didn’t say “no” either…) I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head to clear it, but I must have been daydreaming longer than I thought because the groups had been decided. Subaru and Shirabe would go with me, and Mitarashi, Wakasa, Meoshi, and Urabe would be the other team. All right, see you at the end! Back at you! We split up, and headed to our respective doors. Once through, we found ourselves in a pitch-black hallway. Just put your hand on the wall. We can follow it. Right! (Oh…) I felt Subaru’s warm hand wrap around mine. Are you okay? … His voice was quiet and close. I could almost feel his breath on my ear. (I-I should say something…) I know how you feel. As long as you’re with me, I feel… better. Keeping you safe helps me stay focused.*Affection up* I felt his grip on my hand tighten. After a few more turns, we saw a dim light somewhere ahead. That must be the next game… Sure looks like it. Let’s move! Here we go. We can finally see how this game works. Although we sort of got an inkling already from what Urabe said. (It’s… kinda creepy in here.) There was another set of gloves and shin guards up on the stage. We were going to have to fight again? It looks just like the game earlier, but… There’s no opponent. Maybe they’re hiding out there in the darkness… Huh. Well, I might as well give it a shot this time. No. I’ll go. He held out a hand to stop Shirabe. Sure you weren’t a general in a previous life? Sure, Detective. You take point on this one. I got your back.Thank you. Was that so hard? (Be careful!) In front of the piglet, though, was an image of Subaru’s back. So I guess you’ll be fighting through this monitor instead of in person this time? It looks like it’s connected to some sort of motion sensor. Subaru settled into his fighting stance again. The whole game is different. It doesn’t have the health bar, or the stars. [Announcer]: Fight! The battle had begun, but the piglet didn’t seem to be moving. What…? Why isn’t he doing anything? The timer is counting down… Subaru tried another chop at his opponent’s neck, but the piglet dodged it easily. He pressed forward with his attack, but the figure on the screen avoided each strike with easy, rhythmic steps. Then, suddenly it attacked. Gah—! Subaru![Announcer]: DOWN! What the hell? drat, does that mean that any hit gives you a shock?! …! This could kill you. No! The piglet wasn’t waiting for Subaru to get up, and lashed out with another attack. He dodged and then countered with an attack of his own.[Announcer]: DOWN! The piglet’s head snapped back, and it fell to the floor. Wait. Don’t you feel like something’s… off here? Off…? In the time it took me to say that, both Subaru and the piglet hit each other again. (Subaru! …What am I missing?! There’s something going on here… They’re fighting over that screen… The health gauge is gone… And there’s something about the way that piglet moves… It’s there, I’ve almost got it…!) This should be pretty obvious, especially if you played through Kimimaro’s route before this one. He mentioned something about the plan for this game back near the end of his route. (Okay, so in this one we’re fighting over that screen, right? And there isn’t a health bar like there was in the last one, but three hits were enough to take out even Mitarashi… But the weirdest thing is how that piglet is moving. It’s really rhythmic. It just doesn’t seem like a piglet. Meoshi had a kind of rhythmic thing to his fight earlier. I wonder how the other team is doing…? Mitarashi’s pretty strong, and Meoshi has the Ninja Step, so they should be fine… right? No! I need to focus on this right now!) That’s it! The way he moves… it’s the Ninja Step! Wait, then… that would mean…! Subaru, stop! I think that’s Meoshi! What?! He spun around, surprised. That’s correct! …! S-Subary?! What the hell is going on?! Oh man…! …!That sure is surprising, right Kimimaro? Who could have foreseen such a devious trap? Granted, there’s a remote possibility that Kimimaro was only told of this game in his route. I am willing to at least give him that much benefit of the doubt. It wasn’t just Meoshi— I could see the entire other team on the other side of the monitor. Hogstein! What’re you doing!? You’re going to make us fight each other?! (This must be what he meant by testing our bonds…) I bit my lip. You’re not testing our bond, you’re just trying to break it! Oink oink! If the time runs out, you’ll have a tie and everybody gets a game over! How are we supposed to know who wins? There’s no health bar. Haven’t you noticed that every time you get hit we up the voltage? Only a few more hits before you dieeeeee, I’d guess. That’s insane! You’re making us fight to the death?! That’s horrible! Guh… Everyone was silent. If we fought, someone would die. If we didn’t fight, then the time would run out and it’d be game over. We’ve only got 200 seconds left… There was nothing we could do. It’s gonna be really boring if you guys just sit there until the clock runs down so just… fight, okay? Pretty please? This… Trust me, Saki.Bad things happen when people say “Trust me.” …What? Shirabe, can you come over here? He leaned over and whispered something into the other man’s ear. (What are they talking about…?) Are you serious?! I could hear disbelief in his voice, but also a little bit of… fear? Please. Ugh… Shirabe let out a long sigh and nodded. Kouta. He turned back to the screen and drew himself up. … (Oh my gosh, is he crazy?!) He held out his arms, leaving himself completely open. No… I can’t— I won’t do it. A chorus of voices from the other side of the screen agreed with him. Are you seriously going to sacrifice yourself?! How beautiful! How noble! You know what— just for you I’m going to crank up the juice! It’ll only take one hit to send him to heaven now! That oughta make you feel a little less guilty. Subaru, you can’t do this! (I know he told me to trust him, but I don’t see how he can possible [sic] get out of this alive!) Do it, Kouta! We’ve got less than a minute left! … No! If you don’t, we’ll all die! Just trust me! NO! Meoshi nodded. So long as we trust each other, we’ll beat whatever that pig throws at us. I’ll be fine. Just trust me. … (There’s only 20 seconds left!) Subaru! His body twitched once, horribly, then collapsed to the floor in a limp heap.[Announcer]: Colosseum of Darkness completed. Once again: Keiji Inafune designed these games. Hogstein tinkered with them to make them more lethal, but Keiji had the groundwork laid. He is an insane man. Also I guess Subaru just got hosed up, but that's not as important to me as calling out Keiji Inafune's psychotic business practices. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 20:27 on Jun 23, 2021 |
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Jun 23, 2021 20:20
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 Subaru I guess. This is really a low bar but I have to give the devs props for remembering that Kouta gets winded easily and not making him last enough for the last fight. However I have to give two demerits to the devs for having the characters forget that instead, and also for having that trust BS to pick Kouta in the first place.
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Jun 23, 2021 21:10
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Space Kablooey posted:
I could accept it if Subaru has used anything from Kouta's fight to help him win, but he doesn't. Kouta does this big thing about attacking when the opponent is down and the game makes it sound like this was valuable information for Subaru. But then Subaru just knocks the piglet out in one move with a cross chop and well timed weak point hit. Subaru could have easily handled two of those piglets by himself and everyone had every reason to think that since he’s a cop.
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Jun 23, 2021 21:20
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I can't believe Subaru's loving dead. Also you had Meoshi call him Subary once.
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Jun 23, 2021 21:43
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Psycho Knight posted:…How? Why did you get the name of a Greek god through a game about Arthurian legend? What weird fanboy of yours managed to draw that connection? Why not Mars, the Roman’s version of Ares? At least the Romans actually occupied Britain around that time period (and Colosseum is in the title of the game). I noticed this in the previous episode but I figured it was going to be a one-off so it didn't particularly matter, but his Japanese nickname is literally 'Fighter God' which to be fair sounds kind of lame in English so I'm not surprised they changed it, but yeah, it runs into issues here. also rip
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Jun 24, 2021 00:05
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Blaze Dragon posted:Also you had Meoshi call him Subary once. As entertaining an error as that is to me, I had better fix it. Thanks. Polsy posted:I noticed this in the previous episode but I figured it was going to be a one-off so it didn't particularly matter, but his Japanese nickname is literally 'Fighter God' which to be fair sounds kind of lame in English so I'm not surprised they changed it, but yeah, it runs into issues here. I completely forgot about comparing that to the Japanese version. Yeah, "Fighter God" is a lot more lame. I suppose I can forgive the localization team for changing it a little. That said, it's strange they would change that and contradict the voice acting. If the player knew anything about Katakana then they'd probably wonder why nobody is saying "アレース" despite it appearing in the text.
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Jun 24, 2021 13:29
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