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Dang I was prepared for Gruff Dad's death but was not expecting Regina to get iced, rip. Good thing she taught us how to limit break first. Is that missable if you neglect to talk to her?Omobono posted:I hope we'll be able to save cool dad and Regina with the assumed time travel. Oh yeah! Let's hope so.
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May 23, 2021 22:02
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Well poo poo! That sure took a turn. Gruff Anime Dad was a question of time but Regina's pretty unexpected. Just before we could get some info, too   I'm not... entirely sold on the dialogue system. It makes some sense to not flip between rear end in a top hat and shounen protagonist, but "don't blindly charge an unknown but obviously powerful enemy" is not so much cowardly and more... simply not stupid (and entirely justified given how well fighting it went)... Am i reading it wrong that you can just sit at 20% health and multi-shot everything? Or does it have a recharge time or something? I don't think Dixon looks that old, really - grey hair aside he's pretty well preserved for a dude who spends time outdoors (and fighting). Then again, next to Remus just about anyone will look ancient.
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May 23, 2021 22:03
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I can't believe our Anime Dad is loving dead.Psycho Knight posted:
This is really weird phrasing... That's what cooperators do. I bet he was trying to be more evasive here in the original text but this is the translation we got. Space Kablooey fucked around with this message at 22:26 on May 23, 2021 |
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May 23, 2021 22:22
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They’re cooperators working with me toward a common goal.
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cardinale posted:Dang I was prepared for Gruff Dad's death but was not expecting Regina to get iced, rip. Yeah, same. The fact that she has that much character design without being the 'powerful mentor that gets killed off early' type is pretty suggestive that she's coming back even without any mysterious artifacts/other hints. Space Kablooey posted:This is really weird phrasing... That's what cooperators do. I bet he was trying to be more evasive here in the original text but this is the translation we got. Probably doesn't help that "cooperators" isn't a word people use that often. "Allies" might be better but less suggestive of it being a temporary thing. In Japanese it's (translated literally) "comrades for the purpose of accomplishing the current shared objective", so definitely leaning on the implied 'only until it's done' part. Also Silverneil's question is 'Are these your subordinates?' which has a bit of a different implied hierarchy than 'your men'.
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May 24, 2021 00:29
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Space Kablooey posted:This is really weird phrasing... That's what cooperators do. I bet he was trying to be more evasive here in the original text but this is the translation we got. I think he's trying to convey that Crevanille and Remus are equals now rather than his employees/subordinates, but yeah, it's a weird way to say it. Just say they are companions or partners. vilkacis posted:Am i reading it wrong that you can just sit at 20% health and multi-shot everything? Or does it have a recharge time or something? You can proc Limit Abilities multiple times. Crevanille eventually gets a broken one that you can spam pretty reliably. Multi-Shot does have a cool down, though, in the sense that you need Remus to attack for it to trigger (so it will depend on his ATW stat). I also don't think it's a 100% chance. I mean, the people in their mid-40's that I know look a fair bit younger than Dixon. Granted, those people are academics instead of warriors or outdoorsman, but still. Cutscene Dixon looks a bit younger than in-game portrait Dixon though. Also, I made a typo. Dixon is supposed to be 42, not 45. Not that that makes a big difference to this conversation. cardinale posted:Dang I was prepared for Gruff Dad's death but was not expecting Regina to get iced, rip. Good thing she taught us how to limit break first. Is that missable if you neglect to talk to her? This is something I didn't test, but should. I highly doubt that you can completely miss it. More than likely if you don't talk to Regina then Crevanille and Remus will learn it during the brief time skip that's coming up (where they join the army). Omobono posted:As I said, I dropped off from this game fairly early. I didn't even unlock the time travel mechanics (which I presume are going to be a thing based on the game's name and the thread's title). I basically know nothing and I'm coming into this thread almost blind. It is an easy game to give up on. It takes a while for the battle systems and everything to open up. It also looks very archaic for its time (since it's a PS2 game, technically). The early game to mid-game is also pretty hellish. I'm glad to know at least one person is going into this blind, though.
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May 24, 2021 00:35
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Can't blame you for rushing, its one of many games on my favorite games list where it has a long prologue to set everything up, and I do honestly dread it every time I replay. But then I replay and immediately get into the flow and its over before I know it. Just like Suikoden 5. We just met 2 dudes evil enough to inscribe their names on my top 10 most evil names list. I used to have a really good name for the Sephiroth lookalike, but I can't for the life of me remember it. Travelin' Sephiroth will do for now. I love how no one believes Crevanille has wings of blood, go back to hot topic kid. Psycho Knight posted:This is something I didn't test, but should. I highly doubt that you can completely miss it. More than likely if you don't talk to Regina then Crevanille and Remus will learn it during the brief time skip that's coming up (where they join the army). Almost completely sure she just starts the conversation after a few steps if you dont talk to her. I've played the game 4 times and am pretty sure I did that once.
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May 24, 2021 02:24
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Psycho Knight posted:You can proc Limit Abilities multiple times. Crevanille eventually gets a broken one that you can spam pretty reliably. Multi-Shot does have a cool down, though, in the sense that you need Remus to attack for it to trigger (so it will depend on his ATW stat). I also don't think it's a 100% chance. Yeah i figured it'd activate on attacking, but it still seems like being able to do it every turn would be pretty powerful, especially since you'd probably keep him out of most enemies' attack range anyway. Being chance-based at least makes it a lot less overpowered than it first looked. quote:I mean, the people in their mid-40's that I know look a fair bit younger than Dixon. Granted, those people are academics instead of warriors or outdoorsman, but still. Cutscene Dixon looks a bit younger than in-game portrait Dixon though. The "outdoors" bit is pretty important. People who get regular exposure to sunlight tend to get more wrinkles than desk jockeys. I mean, at least that is what i've been told; as a goon i naturally don't get nearly enough sunlight to confirm it in person 
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May 24, 2021 10:46
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Update 4: 2 Kool 4 Skool  Those of you joining the army today were chosen from many candidates and gathered here.”Except for those two in the back. They just kind of stumbled in here at random.” This fort is where the elite will be trained under my command. Oh, it’s him…[Newbie A]: Hey, look! It’s Brigadier General Ludwig, the hero.  [Newbie A]: Yeah! After he held the line in that battle, Dulkheim turned the tide against Iglesias. [Newbie B]: If he’s a brigadier general, doesn’t that mean he works at the General Staff Office? I can’t believe he came all this way just for our enlistment ceremony! Huh, looks like he’s quite well known. I hope you’ll all work hard for the victory of our beloved Dulkheim.Meh. We don’t really give a crap about Dulkheim. If it looks like Iglesias might turn things around, then we are out of here ASAP. *Ludwig then leaves through the stairway on the right. The other guy walks up behind the lectern* [Abram]: That ends the enlistment ceremony. We will now move on to the special seminar for the spell experimentation unit. [Newbie A]: A special seminar? [Newbie B]: Question! Did you just say “spell unit”? Is that right?  [Abram]: Our army has secretly investigated these ruins and found that our ancestors had practical knowledge of spells. Should you really be saying all this stuff out loud to a bunch of new recruits? [Abram]: They’re no mere fairy tales. Our army’s research has succeeded in reproducing the casting methods. But since there’s still too much yet unknown about spells, their use is restricted to a few. This fort was built to study them in a controlled environment. Then… does that mean we’ll be…?[Abram]: Yes, you will learn these spells. But before that, I must distribute spellstones first. Line up in order. *The other students start walking up to get their cool new spellstones. The scene fades to black for a minute as time passes* Spells, eh…? The boss spoke of spells back on Lamplast Island. I wonder if I can learn them, too. It’s possible. All right, I’ll do my best! If spells were excavated from ruins, maybe learning them was the boss’s objective all along. We should take advantage of our position in the army to learn as much about them as we can!Finally, it’s our turn. Walk up to Abram to get some sweet sweet spells. [Abram]: What these are, are gems that add special powers to the Ring Weapons you use in combat. Which spellstone do you want? Take whichever one strikes your fancy.  Well, Fire seems like the default hero/Main Character element. I guess we’ll take that one. Not that it really matters in the long run, since I have a truckload of the things in Crevanille’s pocket. *Fire Imbuing obtained. Spellstone Primer obtained* [Abram]: You’ll be using those spellstones in your training. Make sure you read the manual that comes with them for the details. We’ll get to that in a bit. For now, let’s head back to our seats.  Ice is what I normally choose for Elemental stuff, because I like the cold. These spellstones were found in ruins, too, weren’t they? Then there must be an anti-Angel weapon somewhere… I hope we get to explore another set of ruins soon! I miss the boss. That reminds me, the boss’s hometown is around here. Should we let his family know about what happened to him?I mean, it seems like the right thing to do. It’s gonna suck to do it, but they sort of have the right to know that Dixon and Regina are dead. Let’s ask for time off to do that. All right… though I don’t know when we’ll have time off. Perhaps I’ll just send them a letter for now.I’m okay with punking out on this duty. *As Remus and Crevanille are talking, a new face wanders into the meeting hall*   Nice to meet you. I’m Tricia! They told me to show you around and tell you the rules. Seeing as how I’ve been here so long and all!Tricia is another PSP-exclusive character. The manual says that she is 16. Um, first off… you always gotta salute when you greet someone. You gotta! Even to me!I hate this, but we sort of need to be cordial with her for… reasons. *salute* …I’m kidding! At ease! Huh? But… To tell the truth, no… I can relate. They scouted me because I had a talent for using spells, so it’s hard for me to get used to all the rules, too. We can relax around each other. It’d be too stuffy if we couldn’t! That’ll be nice. Heheh… I think we’ll get along just fine! Oh, but you should probably remember your manners in front of the instructors and other veterans.Meh. We’ll see. I’m sure we’ll be sent to the front line when the time comes, but for now, just have fun practicing with spells. Have fun…? Yeah! Spells are amazing! The ancients sure had some cool technology. Once you get going with spells, you’ll see. Really… I mean, I’ve never seen actual combat yet, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to throw ‘em around when the time comes. But you two were mercenaries. You’ve been in real fights before, right? Then I’m sure you’ll be using spells, no sweat. But I’ll be right behind you! So you say! Ooh, confident, I see. Your experience has made you cocky!Not really. It’s more like a statement of fact. Um, Tricia? Would you mind showing us around the fort? Oh, sure! Come with me and I’ll take you to your room! gently caress yeah, Team Black!  “Team Black”? Team Black 4, specifically. Each team at this fort has a color and a number. I’m on Orange 4. You’ll do everything— training, missions, even chores— with your team, so don’t forget which one you’re on. I see… are we the only two members of Black 4? For now. You might get more members later. I can’t really say. We do? *Tricia leaves* She seemed like a friendly sort. Goodness, I’m exhausted. Once I finish composing this letter, it’s straight to bed for me. We then fade out to a narrated time skip. [Narrator]: Three months have passed since their arrival at the fort. Through intensive training, they have learned the use of spells. *Crevanille wakes up in the top bunk, then hops down to the floor*  Do you have what you need? I’ll be waiting for you here.Now that we have control, let’s pop open that Spellstone Primer (that’s been gathering dust for three months, apparently). The Primer is in our Key Items section.   So here’s the lowdown on Spellstones. They sort of function like Materia from FFVII, except that you can permanently acquire the abilities from them over time.  In order to equip a spellstone, you need to have a slot on your equipped ring that is the same level as the spellstone or above. If the Ring Slot number is red, that means you are using a spellstone colour that doesn’t match the Ring slot colour. You don’t have to match the colour of the spellstone with the colour of the Ring slot, but mismatching colours results in a 75% growth rate for learning the abilities. If you are trying to learn or level up the ability of a certain spellstone, then it’s better to colour match it. In our case, I go ahead and throw the Fire Imbuing we just got onto Crevanille. I also—  …Ignore those.  Here we go. I also equip Crevanille with a Luck Up+1 that was carried over from my clear save. I’m using this NG+ Spellstone because it grants the “Analyze” ability. Analyze with give us a bit more information on enemies, such as their weaknesses. This will help me guide people who might be following along.  I then swap Crevanille’s ring out for a slightly different endgame ring. Its stat boosts are a bit worse than the other one, but KapWarri has the slot colours that we need to ensure Crevanille is getting full Ability Experience. Remus will keep his current ring. I equip him with the Ice Imbuing he picked out earlier.  Status will let you see what skills a character has and what level they are. Equipping Fire Imbuing gives Crevanille access to Fire Arrow Level 1. It needs 70 ability points to get to Level 2. When magic levels up, you will get the ability to charge it for a more powerful attack. We’ll see how that works in a little bit. Analyze is currently Level 0 and needs 20 ability points. Analyze is activated instantly, meaning there’s no charge time.  Over on the desk, we grab our Familiar Egg and the Regulation Book. The regulation book lists Crevanille as the leader of Team Black 4. Good stuff. We can also use this desk to save and check the map.  This is the Fort that the Newbies were gushing over earlier. The one were Ludwig allegedly beat an enemy force of 5,000 with only 100 soldiers. The blue dot with the orange ring around it to the lower left is the fort we currently training in. Looks like we’re ready to go. Let’s head out to the hall! Out in the hall, the room just below ours has a fellow newbie who will give us a helpful bit of info: Earth spells don’t work on flying targets. Good to keep in mind. He also tells us that the surest way to make spells effective is to use the Analyze knack, which I just mentioned. Unfortunately for New Game players, the soldier notes that they’re not selling that spellstone yet.  There’s nothing else of interest here, so we head down the hall and hang a right to get to the main hall. There, we find a new face waiting for us. Well, he’s a new face to us, the audience. Remus and Crevanille seem to already know him.  I am. I see. I’m glad to hear it. You’re a soldier of Dulkheim now. Your errors are the Dulkheim Army’s errors. Remember that for the future.Dude, as soon as we’ve strip-mined the ruins in Dulkheim we are out of here. Let’s not go throwing the word “future” around all willy-nilly. Especially since you’re the team leader of Black 4. You slip up, and you put your subordinate, Remus, at risk, too.*Bryntir then heads upstairs to the There’s something compelling about Bryntir. Whenever I see him, I can’t help but be reminded of you… It’s hard to pin down the similarities exactly, but I can’t shake the feeling. We should be seated. Yes.*We take our seats* I wonder what they’re going to teach us today. I feel like I’m getting better at using spells. I can even see your Familiar Egg now! Maybe I’d be able to see the Angel that the boss was talking about, too.So the reason we are seeing things that other people can’t is because we are magically attuned. That means Dixon was as well, despite doubting the existence of spells. Granted, he may have simply had a natural affinity for it without even realizing. Say, if we went back to those ruins, do you think I’d see some new things there? I may be able to figure out why it was that blood spurted out of your back… *Abram then walks in from the stairs to the right* [Abram]: All right, let’s begin today’s lecture. So far, we’ve covered the basics of spells. Today, we’ll move on to practical applications. With the use of spells, it’s possible for one soldier to take on multiple foes. [Dulkheim Soldier #1]: Hey, like the Royal Guard in Valkania… [Dulkheim Soldier #2]: Better, though! If we used spells from a distance, I bet even the Royal Guard would fall like dominoes.  Looks like some of our classmates are getting a little big for their britches after having a small taste of power. [Abram]: Hm… Then let’s start this lesson with a mock spell battle. I’m sure you’ll see the applications once you start using it. Red 2, Black 4, step forth. Huh? Us?[Abram]: Good luck out there, Black 4. Meet at the training ground outside once you’re ready. Great. Thanks a lot for dragging us into this, Dulkheim Soldier #1. *Abram and the rest of the class file out of the room. Only two fellow soldiers remain with us*  Already with the pessimism?You may notice that a jerk answer is selectable here. I think it may be possible to gradually reverse the hidden point system by choosing more neutral responses (such as “….”). I’ve never messed around with it enough to say for sure, though. You’re right. I’ll try my hardest! Before we head out for the mock battle, there’s a shop to check out that has a bunch of new stuff. Most of it is new spellstones, but there’s also a new piece of armour: Fur Coat. It’s pricey, at 290 Ril, but it has a defence increase of 8 above Soft Leather. The Items for sale remain the same, with just Antidotes and Vulnerary. If you bought Soft Leather for Crevanille and Remus back in Trockmere, then you could sell those for 127 Ril a piece, bringing the cost of the Fur Coats down to 163 each. Before you think about that, however, let’s take a look at Spellstones.  There’s Fire/Wind/Ice/Earth Protections available to buy. You can also pick up Regeneration +1 (Restores 3HP during battle at regular intervals) or Sonic Blade. Sonic Blade only ups the attack range of melee characters, so it won’t do any good on Remus. Keep that in mind. How you spend your money is up to you. I don’t have any particular recommendations here. The mock battle we’re about to take part in will see us potentially getting targeted by Ice/Fire/Wind/Earth, so there’s no way to shield yourself completely (you can only equip 3 stones per Ring at a time). You shouldn’t really need it anyway. Personally, I pick up a Sonic Blade for Crevanille. I also sell the Soft Leathers and outfit Crevanille and Remus with Fur Coats. I already have a Sonic Blade from my previous playthrough, but I feel like it’s only fair for me to have to spend money like someone playing New Game would.  I make a quick trip back to our room in order to save. Upon returning to the main hall, we find Bryntir chilling out by one of the tables. Let’s say hello!  *salute* It seems Tricia taught you well. Oh, man. All sorts of options here. Which one seems the snarkiest, without being an rear end in a top hat… To talk to you, buddy! Are you aware that I am your commanding officer? You should know your place. You’re no fun. This is why I hate getting forced into being a grunt soldier. ….. By the way, do you ever have dreams about… Well, let me rephrase that.Not really sure I like how you felt the need to bail on that, but go on. Do you have any memories of when you were younger? Yes. I remember the brigade.Choosing “No” cuts the conversation short but choosing “Yes” will immediately bring up more options. We can say that we remember Dixon, Regina, or the brigade. So, you were in a mercenary troop as a youth… I suppose that would be the most a small boy would remember… …Don’t worry about it. It was just a thought.*Bryntir then walks off back to the seniors’ floor and we’re free to move around again. Weird*  We head outside through the door in the southwest of the hall. This leads out into a courtyard where everyone else is assembled. [Abram]: I want you all to see for yourself the strengths and weaknesses of spells in combat!  [Abram]: Yes. The purpose of this impromptu exercise is for the rookies to understand the difference between their abilities and ours. [Senior #1]: But if we participate, I don’t see how it’s fair to the rookies. [Abram]: The point isn’t for them to win, I want them to learn how effective skills are in actual combat. After this, the game will label the different teams that are participating. The two Senior Soldiers are Team Brown 1. [Senior]: Understood. We won’t hold back!  [Red 2 Soldier]: There’s no need to restrain ourselves against our seniors if it’s a mock battle!  [Blue 1 Soldier]: All right! Let’s do this!  [Green 3 Soldier]: We won’t go down without a fight! [Abram]: Black 4! Are you ready? Once you’re prepared, we’ll begin the battle. The game then informs us that we can press the Square button whenever we’re ready to start the battle. This is very important, because it means that we are allowed to position ourselves wherever we want on the field before the fight starts.  You’ll notice these red switches placed around the courtyard as you run around. Flipping a switch results in:  A wall of training dummies being deployed. There are two metal slots just in front of the main hall entrance and there’s a long metal slot nestled between Abram and the Senior Soldiers. You can see the second switch in that screenshot. The third switch is to the right, off screen (the opposite side of the main hall entrance). Experiment with these now, but don’t deploy any of them for this battle. The two near the top won’t have any bearing on how this fight plays out, but the one in front of Abram definitely needs to remain undeployed. We don’t want to block the two Senior Soldiers from getting at Abram, because they are going to be our key to winning this mock battle. [Abram]: Looks like you’re ready.  Once you have staked out your starting location, press Square. I set up Crevanille and Remus a little bit to the left of the training dummy slot in front of Abram. You can see their feet poking out in the top left of the screenshot. We got this.[Abram]: That’s the spirit. Give it everything you have! The battle royal begins now!  Right before things get started, the game will go over the point system being used for the mock battle. In total, there are 28 points on the field and six teams (Blue, Red, Green, Brown, Black, and Abram). Abram and the Senior Soldiers are the big fish. In order to get a Mission Complete, we need to come in First. To do that, we’ll need to rack up about 8 points. The other teams will likely pick each other off here and there, earning maybe 2 or 3 points, so they aren’t much to worry about. Abram is a different story.  As soon as the battle starts, the Senior Soldiers will turn and aim straight for Abram. Unfortunately for them, they can barely even scratch the man. If left to their own devices, Abram will swiftly take them both out and score himself 10 points, which will lock us out of first place (there are only 6 points available outside of that and it would require us to take out every member of Red, Blue, and Green). The Seniors are Level 10, so it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to take them in a 1v1 fight during a New Game (but not for the reason you think). Fortunately, we have an easy way of solving that problem:  Kill stealing. Abram is Level 28, so he can almost take out a Senior Soldier in one shot. What we want to do is be ready to pounce as soon as he makes a move.  When the battle starts, immediately have Crevanille and Remus choose their elemental spells. Magic has to be charged before it can be used. When you select a spell, you’ll also get the option to select a Level to charge it to. Right now, all our magic is Level 1, but that will do us just fine.  Once a spell is charged (the green ATW gauge below the character empties), the game will give you the option to Invoke, Wait, or Stop. Invoke means you’ll choose a target and actually use the spell. Wait lets you hold it (and if there is a higher level available, it will start charging towards that), and Stop will let you cancel out the spell. When Crevanille and Remus have their spells ready to fire, we just need to tell them to Wait. From that point, we can have them cast the spell immediately by opening the battle menu and choosing to Invoke it. That’s the key to winning this battle with a Mission Complete. Spell animations can take an agonizingly long time, by the way. Hit Circle to skip them.  As soon as Abram attacks one of the Seniors, open the battle menu and have Crevanille or Remus follow up with their own spell in order to quickly finish the job. You should deal just enough damage to take out the Soldier with 1 spell. If you somehow don’t, then follow up with whomever still has their spell charged. This will nab you 5 points. If Abram does take out one of the Seniors (or, through some miracle, a member of Red/Blue/Green does it), then don’t worry. You can still win as long as you take out at least 1. If you manage to get both Seniors, then First Place is yours with 10 points. There won’t be enough points left for Abram to overcome you because the other team members have been knocking each other out while he’s been busy with the Seniors. If Abram gets one Senior and you get the other, then you’ll need to quickly off some of the remaining members of Teams Red, Blue, and Green. Abram can and will go after them once the Seniors are dealt with.  Overall, this should be an easy win. At worst, you may need to reload if Abram gets two lucky hits on the Seniors. For the most part, Teams Red, Blue, and Green will attack each other. You may take a spell here or there while waiting for Abram to make his first move, but it shouldn’t be enough to take you out. If you want to be risky, then you can try offing some other members while waiting for Abram to strike (he takes a while before he’ll actually start doing anything). Just be aware that you could end up missing your chance at a Senior if you can’t charge a spell in time. I find it’s safer to just sit and wait for Abram to move. Let the others tear each other apart for baby points. The mock battle will end when there’s only one team left. That’s almost certainly going to be Abram. Once everyone else is dealt with (or you decide to aggro him), then he’ll mop the floor with you.  You’ll get about 45 exp and 200 Ril. If you came in first (Mission Complete), then Abram will have a prize for you: Secret Book. We’ll talk about the Secret Book in a second, because I’m sure some of you are wondering about something. Yes, Abram is a valid target in this battle. It is possible to take him out. Like with Garuga, you aren’t going to do it during a New Game run unless you cheat or spend far too long leveling up on Lesser Scorpions and Giant Bats. If you are crazy enough to want to try and get to Level 25 or 30 through 7-15 exp per battle, then go for it. I’m going to tell you right now that it is not worth that many hours out of your life. If you are playing on New Game+, then beating Abram is actually pretty easy if you brought along good Spellstones from your last playthrough.  You can use stuff like Cycle Up + Earthquake and just rapid fire that at him while killing everyone else on screen. Or you can Petrify him and just chip away like you’re Alexandros of Antioch. Death Curse is the Growlanser equivalent to Doom in Final Fantasy, so you could hit him with that at the start of battle and then just watch as he spends his last few moments of life battling the rookies. Or you could just cut out the middle man entirely and summon a Reaper to up and yank his soul out for an instant kill (since I don’t think he is technically classified as a Boss). If all that is too fancy for you, then you could also just slap 3 M2 Spellstones on Crevanille and have him win through raw strength.  But again, it’s not especially worth it. It might be fun to do, but the rewards you get for beating Abram aren’t incredible. You still get a Mission Complete and the following scene doesn’t change. The same thing I said about Garuga is true here: If you are strong enough to beat him, then you’re already too strong for a piddly amount of exp/money to matter to you.  [Abram]: Use all the spells you want, but you’ll find them to be extraordinarily difficult opponents. I suggest you continue devoting yourselves to your training.  After Abram leaves, Bryntir walks out from the main hall to talk to the two Senior Soldiers. That was pathetic. I can’t believe you let the rookies beat you.[Senior Soldier #1]: Hey, it was a battle royal. Things happen. Although a guy like you who’s practically on Brigadier General Ludwig’s level probably wouldn’t have made those mistakes, huh… Bryntir really is amazing… I wonder if I can ever excel as he does.Nope. Going to pop that bubble right now, Remus. We’ll have to work hard.Fine, we’ll be nice about it. There was no snarky option. Just rear end in a top hat and cocky kinds. You’re right. Let’s do our best! Oh, I nearly forgot. I was summoned by the administrative office. I’ll go on ahead. You’d better say you’re sorry. What are you talking about? I meant the furlough we applied for has been approved.You just suck the fun out of everything, don’t you? God, when are we going to get a new party member? One that actually recognizes when we are being a jokester or sarcastic. We can finally go to Dixon’s hometown! In the letter I sent, I asked his wife to gather any mementos that might be a clue. Well then, I should be off to the administrative office.*Remus leaves* Oh, its you.Before we head back inside, let’s see what Bryntir thinks of our victory.  [Senior Soldier #1]: Hey, Bryntir, isn’t that a little harsh? The truth is the truth. Sugarcoating it will do him no good if he dies.*Bryntir leaves* [Senior Soldier #1]: What’s with Bryntir…? He doesn’t usually talk like that… I’m sure he’s just in a bad mood today. Don’t take it personally. *Senior Soldier #1 then leaves*  The other Senior is still milling around outside. If we talk to him, he offers a little tidbit about spells. They cost the same amount of MP to cast, regardless of Level. Of course, the higher the level, the longer you’ll be charging it. The Senior suggests that, if you have the MP for it, you should try casting multiple Level 1 spells instead of waiting for a big Level 5 one. This is advice worth remembering. If a Level 5 spell is going to take you 20 seconds to charge, but a Level 1 only takes 3 seconds, then maybe you should think about firing the Level 1 multiple times and giving yourself the flexibility to change things up in between each cast if need be.  We can’t do anything else outside, so let’s head back to the main hall. I’ve never seen anyone do that well against the instructor and senior officers! You two are really strong!I mean, they were mercenaries. At the very least Crevanille likely has more combat experience than those two Senior Soldiers combined. Hmmm, I was thinking of giving you some tips after the mock battle, but I guess you don’t need them… Let’s hear them anyway.Again, I need to be nice to her for reasons. Also it would probably be a good idea to hear for people who haven’t played this game before. Huh? Really? Okay, then here goes! A bit of advice on the pros and cons of using spells… For example… if Remus attacked from a distance with his bow, the caster would be in big trouble. But the advantages…! As long as the casting is complete, you can activate the spell at any time. Timing them to finish off enemies that have been weakened should open up some strategies for you. If you have any questions about spells, feel free to ask. I could talk your ear off about spells! If I have any, I will. I’ll be waiting!We’re back in control! …For about 3 steps, at which point another scene triggers.  *Some knocking on wood sounds happen* [Elena]: Mission… Oh! Mission successful! [Raoul]: Bingo. Here’s another one. *Knocking sounds* [Elena]: I… love… Come on, Raoul! You’re embarrassing me! [Raoul]: Hahaha… We can choose to talk to them or just watch silently. Let’s talk to them, if only to try and break up this public flirting.  [Elena]: If you send messages like that, everyone will find out! [Raoul]: I don’t care who knows that I love you, Elena. [Elena]: Awww, Raoul… *Crevanille moves back a little bit to talk to Tricia* Whew… I don’t know how those two have the guts to do that in public…Yeah, it is pretty barf-inducing. I understand that they want to try out the code they learned, but everyone at this base knows it. Are they aware of that…? If I wanted to use it for secrets just between me and someone else, I’d come up with a special one! Such as…? Huh? Hmmm… well... We could try that. Ooh, you’ll try it with me? Hehehe, thanks! Um, okay, let’s shift it by 4. You’re Black 4 and I’m Orange 4, so shifting it by 4 should be easiest to remember. Hehehe…Tricia then decides to try it out by knocking. *Tricia is knocking in code. If you shift the code key by 4, you can decipher it as “thanks.”* It’ll be our secret! There! Secret code… made! We should try it out sometime!Well wasn’t that fun? I’m sure it will be just as fun when we get a scene of Elena or Raoul using knocking code to desperately call out for the other as they lay dying. Seriously, they are named Generic NPCs without unique portraits that the game makes a point to show being disgustingly cute with each other. That’s just begging for a tragic end. Then again, Mortis managed to subvert expectations and survive, so who knows?  Now, back to the matter of our prize. Getting 1st Place in the Mock Battle will reward you with an item called Secret Book. Secret Books give a character an instant 100 ability points (which is how you learn/level spells and abilities). The thing is, they also sell for a lot of money as far as early-game is concerned. 3750 Ril could keep you outfitted for a good while with the best armours and new spellstones (especially if you offset the costs by selling the outdated stuff). It’s up to you what you do here. Both options are viable. 100 ability points is certainly useful, since you could get Remus or Crevanille a Level 2 elemental spell right away. You could also hang on to it until another batch of spellstones becomes available, then quickly level those up by 1 or 2.  Personally, I think you’d be better served by selling it. Having the best armour is currently better than having a slightly stronger elemental spell. The extra cash is also good for buying new spellstones, which would give us a better variety of options. Anyway, it’s your call. I decide to hang onto this for now until we hit a point where we need a sudden cash infusion. After that whole secret knock thing, we head back to our room. Remus returns shortly after. And I have great news! They just told me at the administrative offices that our team’s getting a new member, and— Yes. All of the yes. Yes, it is. And which of you is the team leader? That’s me. So, you’re the leader. It’s nice meeting you. So does us getting thrown together mean you two are Ruin Children, too? ??? Ruin… what? Ruin Children. You really don’t know? Isn’t that why you were transferred to this base? I’ve heard over half the soldiers here are Ruin Children. We weren’t originally soldiers… What? We used to be mercenaries. But because we entered a certain set of ruins three months ago, Brigadier General Ludwig brought us here. You got into some ruins? Maybe you guys are Ruin Children, after all… Then I’ll tell you what I know about Ruin Children so we can get to know each other! You know the things we call ruins are the remnants of a civilization from 2,000 years ago, right? Children in stasis? Are those the Ruin Children? That’s right. Easy to remember, huh? Those children have a special function. Sorry, what…? Every ruins has a door in its depths that normal people can’t open. Somehow, Ruin children can open these doors just be walking up to them.That was the game’s typo, by the way. Not mine. This game has been pretty good about spelling/grammar errors so far. Oh! That’s exactly what happened when… Then you must really be a Ruin Child! I gather something like that already happened to you. You must’ve awakened for some reason before the army found you. So that’s what happened… Then, Mr. Vallery, I take it you were— You can just call me Vallery. Very well. Are you also one of these children, Vallery? Sure enough. Ruin Children, huh…? One question: do you also have wings of blood, Vallery? Wings of blood, like I said. When Crevanille entered the ruin, blood suddenly burst out of his back. It sprayed left and right and looked somewhat like wings. I’ve never heard of anything like that… Not with normal Ruin Children, anyway. Wouldn’t someone die if they really lost that much blood? Point… Maybe I was hallucinating…? I’m sure that’s all it was. I clearly remember seeing it, though! Seriously, though, wings? We’re not talking about Angels here… Angels! Of course… Why didn’t I notice it until now!? Hmm… I’m an Angel. What’re you saying!? You’re… well, you!I meant that as more of a joke/sarcasm, Remus. Vallery, please tell us that you have at least a small sense of humour. Please? It’s our duty to do something about the Angels. But I’m not the one everything hinges on. It’s you… Uhhh, sorry to interrupt, but… Oh, my apologies. It’s all rather complicated. That’s fine. I can tell there’s a long story behind it… Anyway, good meeting you two! At this point we are free to walk around the room. Vallery is still standing in the doorway, so we can’t leave. Let’s see what he’s waiting for.  …This one wasn’t a choice. Crevanille gets a little speech bubble above his head with a “…” in it, as though he has no idea what the hell Vallery is talking about. It’s your Familiar Egg. Didn’t you notice it? I’ll help you out with this thing. I want to see it hatch, too. I’m curious as well to see what Familiars look like… I hope yours is cute. Anyway, just put the egg in the Dollhouse. Do you know what a Dollhouse is, Crevanille?I do, but some of you reading don’t. No. What, you don’t have one yet? Then go to the spell research lab and get one. We’ll wait here for you.We now need to go and get something called a Dollhouse. The spell research lab is out in the courtyard.  This door right here. When we knock, an older looking researcher answers. [Researcher]: What do you want? Are you here to see Lumis, too? The doctor’s not in now. He’s exploring some ruins. Anyway, don’t you know access is prohibited to everyone except researchers? *Crevanille explains* [Researcher]: Huh? Your Familiar Egg is ready to hatch? Oh, so that’s why you came. Here, take this Dollhouse. Technically, it’s a Familiar Development Machine, but that sounds too technical. We call it the Dollhouse for short. I included a guide with it, so you can read up on its use. With the Dollhouse and user guide in hand, we head back to our room.   If you run around the room for a while, Remus will eventually point out that you need to use the Dollhouse from your inventory. Normally you would expect to get a prompt upon examining the desk, but whatever. We’ll do it your way, Growlanser. The Dollhouse is under Key Items. Use it from there. The guide is also there, but we’ll look at that later.  We have to do the same thing with the egg. Key Items -> Familiar Egg -> Use. Are you done? Okay, I’ll ready you the instructions. Adjust the device according to what I tell you. It’ll be bad if you mess this up. Maybe you should create a record before we do this. Let me know when you’re ready.There are many reasons to take Vallery’s advice about saving. I heavily recommend saving and then making a backup save on top of that. Are you ready?Once that’s done, talk to Vallery to get started. Begin the procedure. First, to incubate the egg, you’ll need to add some “Amniotic Fluid Base” to water and create “Amniotic Fluid.” *Choice*  *Choice* This next part is important. You need to choose a “Master Recognition” item. This is basically a piece of yourself. *Choice* The last part is mostly up to you. Looks like you can choose to put in a special stone that will alter its abilities. *Choice* Okay. Done with that, then. Done with everything, actually! I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of Familiar we get.So am I! Since I won’t have any control over it! That’s because it’s time for the thread to flex their participation muscles. Next time: We find out what terrible creature they came up with. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 15:06 on May 24, 2021 |
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May 24, 2021 14:54
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Thread Vote: Crafting our Familiar Polling is finished. Thanks to everyone for voting. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 13:43 on May 31, 2021 |
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May 24, 2021 14:57
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I had forgotten about the Ruin Children and the familiar. With the Ruin Children deal there's going to be a lot of chosen ones going around, Dad ( ) probably misunderstood something there. Or possibly Crevanille (and Bryntir because come on) are even more special than standard Ruin Children. It's nice of the game to confirm the obvious after 5 minutes and say that yes, that thing was a stasis pod and Crevanille was found in one. (That last one is just an indirect confirmation and maybe Crev and Bryn got time-warped directly to current times instead, see above) Chuck some stones at random for our familiar, full chaos mode.
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May 24, 2021 15:42
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Bryntir is the person who fell asleep with wet hair and got it stuck like that, and then acts like it's a style choice to hide that he just did something stupid. That's what I decided. I appreciate Vallery though, telling us things rather than hiding them for dramatic plot in the future. Let's go with one stone of each color. Balance is key in life.
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May 24, 2021 16:42
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Psycho Knight posted:Well, Fire seems like the default hero/Main Character element. I guess we’ll take that one. That is exactly why you should pick anything else Ahahaha what the hell is Bryntir's hair doing Is he a sentient wig piloting a meat puppet or what I like that being able to see magical bullshit is apparently something that can, at least to a degree, be taught. Too much fantasy goes all in on the special sparkly bloodline stuff. It's always nice when games give you a little thumbs-up for taking on "impossible" fights if you actually manage it. You don't kill Abram for the exp; you do it for the experience. quote:Nope. Going to pop that bubble right now, Remus. Ouch!  Secret books don't fare much better here than they do in Fire Emblem, huh. I need iron swords, drat it! Goddamn! Vallery looks like he could benchpress Crevanille and Remus at the same time. Things seem to be moving at a brisk pace here. In Fire Emblem i feel like you'd still be fighting brigands at this point. I have no idea what i voted for but i did and that's what matters!!! I also vote we put a blue and a green stone but no red ones to make up for selecting the fire magic at the start
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May 24, 2021 17:20
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Ah, the three types, doll, pet, and ones that aren't doll or pet. One of each stone sounds good to start with. I presume you can either do this again or make another familiar later otherwise it'd be weird to bother giving you magical stone collection for the early game and then forget about it.
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May 24, 2021 19:25
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All the stones available. On the other hand I am impressed that this game gave out exposition without forcing drama from it. It could have been a bit more natural but I can't really complain.
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May 24, 2021 19:35
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Just dump all the stones.
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May 24, 2021 19:54
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Omobono posted:With the Ruin Children deal there's going to be a lot of chosen ones going around, Dad ( To be fair, Gruff Anime Dad was just told by someone who entrusted Crevanille to him that he was the key to saving the world. Dixon knew about ruins, but based on what we just heard he wouldn't have known about Ruin Children since he couldn't access the ruins they would have been in. And yes, it is nice that the game is just passively confirming things that are blatantly obvious to the player. It's not like any of those details explains anything about the Angels or bargain-bin Sephiroth, so just get them out of the way early. SimplyUnknown1 posted:Bryntir is the person who fell asleep with wet hair and got it stuck like that, and then acts like it's a style choice to hide that he just did something stupid. His hair looks sooo greasy. It's also huge, which is funny because it feels like we've been seeing progressively larger hair as the we've played. Like, 5 updates from now we'll meet some dude whose character portrait is entirely hair. vilkacis posted:That is exactly why you should pick anything else Hey! The people demanded a hero. That’s what they're going to get.If someone wants to tell me what the snarky element is then we can slap that on instead. It has to be Wind, right? Polsy posted:Ah, the three types, doll, pet, and ones that aren't doll or pet. Human-like, pet-like, and sweet Jesus what the hell is that thing? Those are the only three classifications you need. SIGSEGV posted:On the other hand I am impressed that this game gave out exposition without forcing drama from it. It could have been a bit more natural but I can't really complain. It's serviceable. I think it's a little clumsy, but I like Vallery's reaction to being asked about blood wings.
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May 24, 2021 21:42
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Psycho Knight posted:If someone wants to tell me what the snarky element is then we can slap that on instead. It has to be Wind, right? It is absolutely wind. 
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May 24, 2021 21:48
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Tricia is pretty much my favorite character, I love her to death and she's a big part of why the prologue is always easy to go through. My absolute favorite RPG gameplay mechanic is equipment teaches abilities. And Growlanser 4 is one of the best in my book. We immediately see why this is one of my favorite gameplay systems ever, if not my favorite. Strategy is HUGE, I never settle for anything less than 15 points. I don't force myself to beat Abram when I NG+ though. THOR JOINS THE TEAM! AND HE FIGHTS LIKE ZEUS!
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May 24, 2021 22:37
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One of each color. I tired booting up my PSP to see what familiar I had, but the battery had come down with a case of the bloat and wouldn't turn on.  Anyway, ages for the important npcs: Diana Silverneil - 25 Ludwig - 35 Bryntir - 30
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May 24, 2021 22:54
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This guy looks Obviously Evil
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May 24, 2021 23:42
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Vallery looks more like a character straight out of Langrisser than I was expecting. I got an ending to Growlanser 2 and got maybe a quarter through 3. They are surprisingly deep gamea but I find them hard to replay. Not sure why.
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May 25, 2021 00:24
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marshmallow creep posted:Vallery looks more like a character straight out of Langrisser than I was expecting. So as someone who loves the entire series, I find both 2 and 3 and even 5 to be a lot less polished. They have quite a bit of jank and just don't progress as well as 4 does I feel, so 4's the only one I've replayed endlessly while I only played them through once. No clue if original 4 is the same way.
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May 25, 2021 02:11
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vilkacis posted:It is absolutely wind. Wind Spellstone it is, then. MythosDragon posted:We immediately see why this is one of my favorite gameplay systems ever, if not my favorite. Strategy is HUGE, I never settle for anything less than 15 points. I don't force myself to beat Abram when I NG+ though. Strategy is something I did like quite a bit about this game, as frustrating as it may have been during main missions. Melomane Mallet posted:One of each color. I'll add those in later, thanks. That sucks about the battery. I know a lot of stories about battery bloat surfaced last year, so I went to check mine. It was still functional as of last year, so I'll have to remember to plug it in occasionally. From what I know, battery bloat usually happens when you leave it uncharged for too many years. My PSP is newer though, so that may explain why it's still holding on. I traded in my 1000 for a 3000 at some point around 2012, I think. Nissin Cup Nudist posted:This guy looks Obviously Evil The excessive amount of black will do that. marshmallow creep posted:I got an ending to Growlanser 2 and got maybe a quarter through 3. They are surprisingly deep gamea but I find them hard to replay. Not sure why. I had a similar experience, although in my case I didn't finish 3 because I had to rent Generations from a video shop under the office where my dad was working at the time. This was in 2005-2006, so I was only a teenager. Didn't exactly have the money or means to get out to the city in order to rent a game for multiple weekends. I almost bought a new copy of Generations back when I spent a summer in Toronto looking for work. I saw a special edition at a game shop out in Scarborough for $120, I think. I was like "I'm getting that when I land some work", which obviously didn't happen.
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May 25, 2021 16:06
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The army's having to cut back on weapons and armor because all the funding is going towards Bryntir's hair gel.
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May 25, 2021 20:42
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May 26, 2021 14:08
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Update: Polling is now finished. ----------------------------------------------------------- megane posted:The army's having to cut back on weapons and armor because all the funding is going towards Bryntir's hair gel. Dulkheim devotes 9.4% of the national GDP towards keeping Bryntir's hair fabulous. It's a matter of national pride. Yay! Something to add to the Extras section of one of my LPs! ...That wasn't made by me! I greatly enjoy the inclusion of Gorilla Glue in there. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 13:42 on May 31, 2021 |
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May 26, 2021 20:58
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Update 5: Hey! Listen! All right, it’s time to find out what the thread has come up with. First of all, we need to prepare the weird alchemic concoction. Make it thick.”Thick” had 14 votes, “Balanced” had 13, and “Thin” had 4. The next step is to regulate the temperature of the fluid. This will also influence the Familiar’s properties. What temperature do you want? Heat it to 50 degrees.14 votes for “50 degrees”, 13 for “40 degrees”, and 4 for “Room Temp.” This next part is important. You need to choose a “Master Recognition” item. This is basically a piece of yourself. This is needed so that you and your Familiar will synch up with each other. What are you going to use? A drop of blood.This one wasn’t even close. The thread was all about that blood pact. 25 votes for “Blood”, 4 for “Hair”, and 2 for “Fingernail.” The last part is mostly up to you. Looks like you can choose to put in a special stone that will alter its abilities. There was a slight preference towards “One of each”. Okay. Done with that, then. Done with everything, actually! I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of Familiar we get. Of course, a cute girl would be best, right?These next few questions are what determine what the Familiar’s type will be. The highest voted first choice (14 votes) was… Only if she’s good in battle.”You know it!” was the runner-up (12 votes).  Well, I guess it’s hard to argue with you. What’s your favorite type of girl?With 15 votes, the top choice was… Serious, skilled, and serene.Runner-up was “Cool and composed” (11 votes). What sort are you hoping to get?Top voted choice (with 15 votes) was… Don’t care, as long as she’s useful.Runner-up (with 7 votes) was “One with strong spells.”  Let’s go get some sleep, eh? You know the expression: good things come to those who wait. Well, I’m off to bed, too, then. We’re on furlough starting tomorrow, right? And then heading east to Ribocca? You should get an early rest, as well. Good night. Vallery and Remus head off to their beds. We then flash-forward a little to later on in the night. Crevanille is apparently a little restless. We’re supposed to check on the Dollhouse. You can, however, head out to the main hall if you want. Out there, we find—  So, what’re you doing out? Is that how you talk to your superiors? I’m on patrol. Go back to your room before you get in my way.Why is everyone around here such a buzzkill?  That’s all we can do with that, so head back to the room and check out the Dollhouse. After that, head over to Crevanille’s bed and hit the hay. [???]: Good morning. It’s time for you to awaken. You’re finally conscious.  Check out the cutscene: Meeting D-MD   Everybody say hello to our own personal Navi. Thankfully she isn’t nearly as annoying as the Ocarina of Time version. This is Familiar Type D-MD. She was created for the PSP version. For those of you who are curious, here are the other three possible outcomes (as well as the only types available in the PS2 versions):  D-RM: The “petite and ditsy” one.  D-YN: The “calm and collected” one.  D-PT: The peppy and talkative one. So what about D-MD? Personally, I think of her as the “Rei Ayanami” one, which anyone who has followed my previous LPs will recognize is a type I simply adore (I cannot stress enough how sarcastic I am being. For the love of God, do not interpret that as sincerity. I hate that character archetype). So of course you people would end up picking that one. Ugh… whatever, at least it isn’t the one that looks like an 8-year-old. Small mercy and all that. A few other things worth noting about that cutscene we just saw: D-MD’s English voice actor is Julie Ann Taylor, who also voices Remus and Tricia in this game. Julie Ann Taylor is also the English voice of Emil in the NieR games. I only mention this because Emil is Top Boy. As far as other voice actors go, I’ll have an Extra Update devoted to that once we’ve met the majority of the (voiced) cast.  The other thing I wanted to mention is that all four Familiar Types have their own cutscene. Sure, they are only a few seconds long, but it was nice of the developers to make alternate versions for each of them. Did you wake me? Affirmative. I determined that this is your wake-up time. Morning… Wow, you’re lucky! It turned out so cute! I was designed this way.I hope all of you enjoy D-MD by the way, because there’s no backsies. The thread spoke and now we’re stuck with her regardless of whether or not you guys like her. Personally, I like PT the best, since she’s the most personable without being irritating. MD is the most soulless of the bunch (at least in the beginning). YN’s very bug-like wings creep me out a little. RM just creeps me out in general. In terms of just how big the Familiars are: The manual lists MD, PT, and YN as being 6.5 inches tall. RM is slightly shorter, at 6.4 inches. They are only a little bit shorter than a 500ml bottle of water/soda. Looks aside, please give her a name. I don’t know what to call her. Oh, yeah! Give her a cute name, too! Please, by all means.The game only offers up three choices, here: Pitti, Yuni, or Raimy. The top voted choice from the thread (with 14 votes), was…  Raimy got 8 votes while Pitti got 2. It’s nice to meet you. After naming her, we get to see our Familiar’s stat spread. Starting stats will vary between 0 and 3. That means our Yuni has good starting STR, INT, DEX, and FRD (Friendship). She also has great starting MAG. What she lacks, however, is TLK (Talking), CHA (Charm), and OUT (Outgoingness).  Your Familiar will also get a random assortment of starter abilities. In our case, Yuni starts with: Guard Spell Lv. 1 – Lv x 2% chance to completely block a spell. Event Memo Lv. 1 (Mastered) – Ask Yuni to give us a brief recap of recent story happenings and objectives. Reconnoiter Lv. 1 (Mastered) – Familiar goes out on reconnaissance in order to scout an area and avoid detection from enemies. Foresight Lv. 1 (Mastered) – Ability to see events that may affect the Familiar’s master. The Familiar will always get Reconnoiter and Foresight. Both of these skills will eventually be explained to us, so don’t worry about them for now. In terms of the other two, Event Memo is one of the less useful abilities to start with. If you drop the game and come back to it weeks or months later then it could be helpful, but if you’re playing this every day or two then it’s worthless (unless you have terrible short-term memory). Guard Spell is the best out of this batch. 2% is very low at the moment, but it’s Max Level is 5, which means we can eventually bump this up to a natural 10% chance of just shutting down any spell thrown at Crevanille. Are Familiars really only visible to people who can use spells? Well, no one could see the egg. It wouldn’t make sense that they would be seen now… Right, so remember that normal everyday people will think you are a crazy person talking to the voices in your head if you engage in any conversation with Yuni out in public. She’s almost like an Angel… Hey, you don’t think the Angels are Familiars, do you? No, I doubt it. Yeah, I guess that might be far-fetched. I was just hoping that it might be a clue we could use to defeat the Angels… Defeating the Angels, huh? You mentioned that yesterday, too. We need to explore the ruins. I know it. That’s why we joined the army in the first place. We’ll never find a way to take down those Angels without doing so. Interesting. If you’d let me, I’d like to help you guys out. Yes.You could say “No” here, but why the hell would you ever do that? Well, we should depart soon, don’t you think? Depart? Where are you going? To a village to the east. Village to the east? We were heading off to Ribocca tomorrow, yes. Though we have some furlough coming today. What? Leave? Didn’t we just start? It’ll be a bonding experience! Huh. That’s true. I have enjoyed similar experiences in the past. Is everyone ready to depart? Huh? You’re coming with us? A person who cannot use any spells will not be able to see or hear me. In other words, if you try to talk to her in front of most people, you’ll look crazy. Watch yourself.As I mentioned a few seconds ago, yes. Now, who wants to bet on how many times Crevanille or Remus (or someone else) will forget about that and get caught by villagers talking to thin air?  With that, we get control again and also a notice that Vallery has officially joined the party. Unfortunately, Vallery is severely underleveled compared to Crevanille and Remus.  Vallery is a ranged fighter, despite his appearance and choice of weapon (he actually throws that thing like a boomerang). According to the manual, he’s 19. Generally speaking, Vallery is more of a mid-range fighter while Remus is more of a sniper. Vallery will (eventually) have better STR, DEF, HP, and ATK than Remus. His attack range is shorter than Remus, but to compensate he has far better MOV than Remus does. What this means is that Remus can attack from farther away than Vallery can, but if the enemy is fleeing (or really far away), then Vallery will be able to close the distance much faster than Remus. Vallery also gets more MP than Remus, but his INT isn’t quite as high so his spell damage suffers a little. The biggest downside to Vallery right now, though, is his atrocious ATW. We’ll need to find a Ring or some Spellstones to offset that a little and speed up his wait time.  Vallery’s starting Limit Ability is Bless, which is great for trash mobs and bosses that have a bunch of adds. If Vallery can take out 2 enemies in quick succession, then he gets a free Level 3 ATK/DEF/MDF boost. He doesn’t have to take them out in one shot; he just needs to kill them with a direct attack. Knowing this, you can have your other party members set up the enemies for Vallery in advance. This is another reason to try and get his ATW down.  But enough about Vallery (for a little bit, anyway). We also need to go over something regarding Yuni. This is how the Dollhouse works. It manages all the aspects of our Familiar and allows us to train her up in order to acquire better skills and stats. In order to use the Training feature of the Dollhouse, however, we need either Blue Stones or a bunch of random battles.  We start off with 2 sessions. Unfortunately, the thread wanted us to use 1 of each stone we had during the creation process, so that means we don’t have any Blue Stones left in order to get an extra session out of it right now. We can have Yuni Exercise, Study, practice Etiquette, or practice Conversation. Here’s what each of those options can result in: Exercise: Increase in STR, DEX, and OUT. Could result in a lowering of INT, TLK, FRD, MAG. Study: Increase in MAG, TLK, DEX, and INT. Could result in a lowering of STR, OUT, CHA, FRD. Etiquette: Increase in CHA. Conversation: Increase in everything except STR and MAG. May result in a lowering of STR and MAG.  We can also use the coloured stones as Catalysts. Blue will give us more energy for the Dollhouse (meaning more Training Sessions). Red will raise OUT, and Green will raise FRD. I use all the stones we have left, resulting in a slight boost to OUT and FRD (but not enough to get them to the next level). Master, I would like to make a report… I then spend 1 session on Conversation, which results in TLK getting to Level 2 and a slight increase in FRD. STR and MAG are reduced by a tiny smidge, but not enough for their levels to drop. I will train hard to be as useful as possible for Master. …..I then spend the last session on Etiquette, which raises Yuni’s CHA (Charm) half a level and takes it to Lv. 1. As a result of all of this, Yuni picks up two new abilities: Enemy Scan Lv. 1 and Gabbing Lv. 1. Enemy Scan will let us view information on enemies during battle (the higher the level, the more info we can see, such as HP and MP totals). Gabbing is…  …Well, at least she’s getting some practice, I guess.  The other feature of the Dollhouse is the ability to change costumes. We start with Costumes A and B (they go up to J). Costume A is Yuni’s current look. Costume B is a colour variant of A that looks like this:  The costumes are thankfully not all colour variants. In fact, there’s actually a completely different looking costume available to us right away. If you head back to the Spell Research Lab out in the courtyard—  we can talk to the Researcher from before. The one that gave us a Dollhouse. [Researcher]: Take this to commemorate her birth, with my compliments. *You obtain Familiar Costume H!* [Researcher]: You may know already, but you can change your Familiar’s costume inside the Dollhouse. Just because it’s called the H Type doesn’t mean it’s hot, though! There are lots of costumes in this world to find if you look for them.  *There’s a brief pause. Then Crevanille shrugs* [Researcher]: ….. This place is off-limits to non-researchers. You’ll have to leave. *And then he quickly shuts the door on us* It may not have landed, but hey, I appreciate that someone around here is trying to have a sense of humour… however slightly creepy it might be… Anyway, let’s head back and have a look at Yuni’s new threads.  Fashionable. For the sake of this update, I put Yuni back in her default outfit. I’ll let the thread decide on which costume she should be rocking from now on and we’ll switch over to it starting with the next update. From then on, I’ll check in after each new costume we acquire to see if the thread wants to switch out. Costumes are purely visual, by the way. There are no stat or ability bonuses tied to them. They also won’t be reflected in animated cutscenes, for obvious reasons (they would have had to animate 40 different variations of each cutscene/CG that a Familiar appears in to make that happen).  Whew… All right, with all of that technical talk out of the way, we head for the main hall. Why do you ask? Where we immediately get sidetracked by more technical stuff in the form of new spellstones going on sale. Wonderful. [Dulkheim Soldier]: I think this is the first fort in Dulkheim to sell them. Dr. Lichtmann supposedly discovered a duplication method. That’s why they’re on sale here on a trial basis. If you don’t hurry, they might sell out! Should we have a look before we go?Yes, yes we should. Before that, though, let’s show off Yuni to Tricia. Wow, is that your Familiar!? So the egg hatched! Lucky you! Nice to meet you. I’m Tricia.Based on everyone’s reaction (Tricia and Vallery, mostly), the process apparently being easy to screw up, the fact that Ludwig told us that Familiar Eggs aren’t especially rare, and the fact that we haven’t seen anyone else with a Familiar, I can only assume that Familiars successfully hatching must be a slight rarity. Either that, or the game simply doesn’t want to render any others on screen. Nice to meet you, Tricia. My name is Yuni. This is so cool! Yeah.Crevanille is a very pretty man, so this tracks. Hehehe, I guess it’s natural she’d take after you. You’re her daddy! Damnit, Tricia… why did you have to go and make it weird(er)? It’s already bad enough that MD is the one that most frequently refers to Crevanille as “Master”. Oh, I wanted to ask you something! Your furlough got approved, right? Where are you headed? Ah, okay. Be careful!We will! In pursuit of “being careful”, we have some shop inventory to peruse. [Shopkeeper]: Welcome! We just started selling Knack-teaching spellstones!   So now our selection of spellstones has opened up a little. That Secret Book, worth 3750 Ril, is looking pretty tempting now, huh? Well, I mean more tempting. There’s quite a bit of cool stuff here. Unfortunately, even if you aren’t limited by your cash, you’ll likely be limited by your Rings. Vallery is a good example of that, as his starting ring has terrible slot levels. What you do here is entirely up to you. Here’s the rundown on each of the new spellstones: Any Imbuing Stone: Personal preference. You originally only got a choice between Fire/Wind/Water/Earth, but Thunder is now available as well. Vallery comes pre-equipped with a Stone Imbuing, so don’t bother getting that. I will point out that Thunder Imbuing is a Red stone, unlike the Green of the other elemental imbuements. It may be a good option if you are lacking in Green ring slots. Luck Up+1: A solid choice. Better chance at scoring items from enemy encounters and you also get the ability to learn Analyze, which I covered in an earlier update. ATW Reduction+1: This is only a 5% drop to ATW, but it still helps if you are feeling like it takes too long for Crevanille/Vallery/Remus to act. Ring Slot Up: This one increases experience towards ring slot levels. You could grab a few and then farm on Random battles to try and level up some of your rings that you aren’t using in order to score one with the right combination of colours you’re looking for. Stun: This is one I personally go for immediately. Stunning an enemy will completely freeze it for a little while, which is helpful in basically every circumstance. I usually put one on Crevanille, since he’s the frontline attacker. Stun can also teach the ability Fierce Strike, which is an attack skill. MOV Up+1: Increase movement by 25%. Normally not a big deal, but… well, you’ll see later in this update why it can sometimes be very important. It also gives you the ability to learn Quick Use, which lowers the turn delay caused by using Items or Swapping Equipment.  I spend a long time tooling around with equipment. In the end, here is what I end up with: – I swap out elements because user vilkacis took umbrage with our defaulting to Fire, otherwise known as the most boring of elemental choices. We both agreed that Wind was the snarky/joker element, so Crevanille gets that as a replacement. He also gets Stun and keeps Sonic Blade. – Vallery gets 2 ATW Reductions for now, which drags his ATW down from 84 to 76. It ain’t much, but it’s something. Once he catches up in levels, I change rings and swap out 1 ATW for a Thunder Imbuing. He also has a MOV Up+1, for lack of anything else to stick in a Yellow slot. – Remus gets Crevanille’s Luck Up+1. He keeps his Ice Imbuing and I give him an ATW Reduction. Once we’re done, we head out to the main courtyard and try to leave through the gate on the right. [Dulkheim Soldier]: Yes, sir! Understood! Sir! Hmmm. ….. That’s a cute Familiar you have there. By the way, are you headed out? Oh, yes… Black 4 was approved for a furlough, as I recall. Indeed. We’re heading for Ribocca. I see. Have fun.*Bryntir then wanders off back to the main hall* Who was that? He seemed… different. That was Bryntir. He’s one of this fort’s most skilled officers. I knew it! I thought the same thing. Really? I didn’t get that at all. What do you think, Crevanille? We’re nothing alike. Yeah, I didn’t think so either.Siding with Vallery on this one. No idea what Remus and Yuni are talking about. Bryntir’s been a stick in the mud this whole time. Anyway, continue on into the forest where you’ll quickly encounter some new enemies. In addition to the Lesser Scorpions and Giant Bats we previously saw, there are also Snakes and Worms. Levels have bumped up a bit, though, so watch out for Vallery (the enemies here are Levels 4-7).  I take a screenshot here because I want to point out the Ability Learning from the Spellstones. As was explained to us, once a Spell/Ability gets to Level 1, it becomes natural for that character. Crevanille doesn’t have Fire Imbuing equipped anymore, but he can still use Fire Arrow. Once Wind Imbuing has leveled up, the same thing will happen with Wind Edge. That said, we aren't earning any experience on Fire Arrow right now, so we're not making any progress towards higher level Fire spells.  Crevanille’s Stun is kicking in pretty frequently, but that may be a result of his buffed stats from the Ring. Either way, it’s helpful. You can tell when someone/something is stunned by the appearance of 2 Stars above their sprite. Technically, the status condition is called KO, but I prefer to refer to it as Stun in order to avoid any mixing up with a character “dying” (that is, losing all of their HP and being taken out of the battle). You can cure Stun with Analepticum, but it also wears off over time.  Following the road to the East, we eventually come across this bridge. On the other side, we spot a village. That must be Ribocca. That reminds me, this is your first time meeting Dixon’s wife, isn’t it? Oh, right. Familiars have access to their Master’s memories, by the way. That’s a thing. Hey, how much do Familiars know about their masters? The way you talk makes it sound like you can see his memories… Partial affirmative. I have access to the memories my master wishes me to access. Those things my master does not want me to know are outside those bounds. All else is conjecture based on inference from other data.In other words, Yuni will never find out about Crevanille’s filthy search history. Bullet dodged.  I see… it sounds tough, being a Familiar. Indeed it does. Well, shall we get going? We continue on our way to the East. Here are the “worm” enemies, by the way. They look kinda like Caterpie to me. Also, you can see Vallery throwing his double-bladed sword thing.  Hooking up North, we arrive at Ribocca Village. Not covered: Me spending like 30 minutes grinding out Random Battles in order to get Vallery to a respectable level. He ends up at Level 8, while Remus and Crevanille reach Level 9. We have safely arrived. I’ll remind you again that the use of spells is forbidden within city walls. Do keep that in mind. Just to hammer that warning home: The game will bring up this message every time you enter Ribocca. So… what’s here? Dixon’s home. Dixon? He was our boss when we were mercenaries. And that’s the end of that conversation, I guess. A little ways into the village, there’s a shop we can check out. Obviously, this one doesn’t carry Spellstones. Good are still the same, so there’s nothing to see there either.  That said, the shop is selling new armour. Leather Jacket is an improvement on Fur Coat. It’s very pricey though. I ended up selling the Secret Book in order to fund the new Spellstones, though, so I have the cash to afford new jackets for everyone. Selling the Fur Coats leaves us with 2295 Ril. Not too bad. You may be noticing a trend here, however. This game enjoys screwing with you in little ways. You get access to a Random Battle area so you can grind up cash for Heavy Clothes, then fight 1 major battle with it (a battle that is essentially a tutorial). The very next shop you get to then has Fur Coats. So you eventually get access to the Random Battle area outside of the Fort (or sell the Secret Book) and get the cash for those, only to immediately get presented with Leather Jackets at a nearby village. So you might be thinking “Okay, well that means there will probably be another new piece of armour when I get back to the Fort later. I should just pass on these and save my cash for then.” Haha! Nope! They will still be selling Fur Coats. Also you won’t be able to just run back to Ribocca after the story advances because we won’t be on furlough anymore and thus cannot freely leave the Fort. Also…  [Shopkeeper’s Daughter]: Buh!? I’m sorry. I can’t identify rings yet… *Identify Rings then disappears from the shop menu*  Granted, I will admit that that fake-out is kind of funny. Dixon’s house is just above the center well (the one with the little stone fence around it), but there’s some guys hanging out over to the left. Let’s see what the deal is.  [Villager #2]: Yeah, if we don’t hurry, it’ll be too late! [Villager #3]: All right, let’s go! *Three of the villagers then leave up the stairs*  Yes.[Villager #4]: Ah! I thought so. There’s something I’d like to ask you in private, if you could come over here…  A secret factory? I don’t see anything big enough to house that…[Villager #4]: To make spellstones, like we are, you only need an ordinary building. I’m sure you know already that spellstones are… well… Not something you should be explaining to anyone who wanders in and claims to be from the military? Their development is still a secret, so I assume it’s less conspicuous in a normal house, yes?[Villager #4]: Exactly. The only ones who know are a few in the spell unit directly under Brigadier General Ludwig. So, where do we come in? [Villager #4]: The villagers call it a monster. Everyone is afraid of it. A monster, you say?[Villager #4]: I haven’t see it myself, but it’s apparently wrecking crops… If it damages the spellstone factory, we won’t be able to keep it a secret. So, you want us to kill it?Get to the point, my man. Like, this is literally all you had to say to us. “There’s a strange monster nearby tearing up our crops. Would you kill it for us?” [Villager #4]: That’s right. We’d like you to take care of this monster… You came just as we were thinking of making a formal request to Fort Leinfaltz. That’s the only reason I asked. Does this so-called monster really exist? It may. I think he’s telling the truth, at least.[Villager #4]: I can’t force you to do this, but think about it if you have time to spare. Sure thing.  Right after we take care of personal business. That’s what you get for beating around the bush like that and wasting our time, big-mouth Villager. Are you Dixon’s wife, ma’am? My name is Remus.[Dixon’s Wife]: Ah, the boy from the mercenary brigade! Thank you for your letters. So, you’re Remus... you seem as kind in person as you were in writing. Please, come in. I hate to make you stand outside like this.  Oh, it was nothing at all, after the boss and Regina took such care of us.[Dixon’s Wife]: When I first received Remus’s letter, I thought it was a bad joke. But now that I’ve met you in person…  [Dixon’s Wife]: I always knew this day would come eventually. A man who makes his living by the sword will die that way. But Regina… I wish my daughter was spared… Maybe… if you hadn’t let her go to begin with…?Jesus, Vallery. Not sure that’s the right thing to say in this situation. [Dixon’s Wife]: Oh, but I always stopped her… Every time they visited, I begged her to stay. She, of course, would have none of it!  [Dixon’s Wife]: I could bear my daughter’s hate if it meant she’d still be alive… I see… Er… I can only imagine how you must feel now…[Dixon’s Wife]: …I’m sorry I lost my composure. Regrets won’t bring them back now… …..[Dixon’s Wife]: I didn’t mean to worry you. Why don’t you three stay here tonight? I’d love for you to tell me about your time with my husband and Regina. Of course, ma’am.*We then fade out for a moment*  When we come back, it’s sometime later at night. [Dixon’s Wife]: Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you. Is there something you need? Oh, no, nothing in particular. I just thought if you’d like, I could keep you company… I know the pain of losing family, too.[Dixon’s Wife]: Remus… I don’t remember my mother, but I traveled with my father. He was my only family… and he was killed by bandits…[Dixon’s Wife]: Oh, no…  If not for him, I wouldn’t be here today. I still can’t really believe they’re gone…[Dixon’s Wife]: So, that’s what happened… It’s like you were part of the family to them. …Which means you’re my family, too, even if we only met today. Yes… If you’d like. Though I’m not sure how to be a son… I never knew my mother…[Dixon’s Wife]: There’s no need to overthink it. Just be yourself, as you were with my husband and daughter.   Anyway, that’s enough of that sentimental garbage. We have an unrelated scene to—   What the hell is going on in the background? Please forgive me sudden intrusion. No, it’s all right. A visit by a renowned hero is good for me, too. What brings you here? All right, so apparently the emulator really doesn’t appreciate dream sequences/sudden changes in location. I guess we’re doing this with pure dialogue. This wasn’t my usual playback glitches, by the way. This happened during gameplay for some reason. What is it? I’ll be blunt; I’d like to meet the one you trained in the intelligence agency. Who are you talking about? Of course I know a few people there, but for a man of my rank to have personal contact… His name was Cargill, as I recall. ….. I have my own information network. But don’t worry. I have no intention of revealing your secrets for now. Who was it that said, “The best way to protect a secret is to share it”…? Perhaps it’s unwise to hide this from you. But what do you want with Cargill? Many within the army are jealous of my accomplishments. Why is that image even there? We aren’t in the Fort right now. Is the game just defaulting us there because the bedroom in Dixon’s house doesn’t have an appearance/physical location within the game? I don’t want to make matters worse, but this kind of thing must be dealt with. Ah, the price of fame. I understand only too well. So, what say you? May I enlist his help? Hmmm… Why don’t we do this? You know about the election coming up in a few months, I assume. Yes. My sources tell me the doves are picking up support and your next term as President is by no means secure. Those in the political world are not only discontent with the weapons manufacturing you have ties to, but also those dealing with foreign markets… So, you know the whole picture… Then you must understand what I’m about to ask of you. Everyone in this nation knows of your heroism. Your words will carry far more weight than mine. I understand. I will do what I can to help out with your reelection. And in return, I ask that you arrange a meeting between Cargill and myself. Yes, yes. I hope this is the beginning of a fruitful relationship between us… Oh, thank God. We’re back from whatever crack in reality we slipped in to. Good morning to you, too. I did. Hm…? What’s the matter, Crevanille? Why so glum? My Familiar can explain it. I believe the dream Master had is weighing on his mind. A dream? Yes. In it, Brigadier General Ludwig and the President were meeting in secret. What? Why would you have a dream like that? Foresight? This ability allows me to sense events relevant to my master’s future. Because of my psychic connection to him, he experienced it in the form of a dream. The brigadier general and the President are related to his future? I can’t see how that’s possible… If only we knew more… [Dixon’s Wife]: Um… what are you all talking about? She has no spell abilities, and thus cannot see me.Number of times the main characters have forgotten this so far: 1. Ah, forgive us. We were just going over military regulations.[Dixon’s Wife]: Oh, I see. Sounds important! Sorry to interrupt you boys. (Nice save.) Before we can head out, we need to ask Dixon’s wife about any personal belongings he might have been storing here. Did Dixon have any mementos?[Dixon’s Wife]: Ah, yes. Sorry, I forgot all about that. I might have some idea. There was a letter addressed to him, but I can’t remember where I put it. I’ll look for it. Perhaps when you come back later, I’ll have found it. Well, since we have some time to kill. May as well help those villagers from yesterday. Assuming they aren’t dead. BEFORE FOLLOWING THOSE VILLAGERS, GO TO THE INN AND SAVE! No particular reason.  That’s my understanding. Everyone, be cautious. Let’s vanquish it before it deals more damage to the village.There are a few enemies in this area in case you want to grind a little more. We’re pretty prepared, though, so let’s continue to the Northwest for an area transition.  What’s the matter?[Villager #3]: A kid in the village has a really high fever… If we could brew the Hauld Fruit that grows around here, he’d get better right away… [Villager #2]: But vicious beasts have settled further inside. We’re too scare to go any closer. [Villager #1]: Could you please give us a hand? Yes.[Villager #1]: Thank you! The beasts are just up ahead. [Villager #3]: We’ll stay back so we don’t get dragged into the fight. But there isn’t much time, so we’ll be back shortly! Great. Looking forward to that.  Let’s defeat the beasts before the villagers return. Immediately after Remus says that line, a timer will appear in the upper left corner of the screen. This is the time before the villagers will reappear on the map and start searching for that fruit. It’s only about 6-8 seconds of real time. We need to haul rear end to the upper leftmost corner of this field as quickly as we can.   Look who’s back, everybody! It’s our pal, Garuga! Is this the monster…? Hm… it looks tough. Wish we could use spells! Welcome to the first mission that truly showcases Growlanser’s love of making you frantically panic. Garuga is our main target, but as soon as the battle begins, you’ll notice that a shitload of enemies have appeared from the bushes all across the field (look at the dots on the map in the upper left).  Garuga is still Level 17, but we’re strong enough now that we can actually take it in a legitimate fight. We also don’t have Regina around to kill steal anymore.  As soon as that timer from before hits 0, the villagers will return to the field. The villagers will state that they have to go and search for the fruit, even if it’s dangerous, because a kid’s life is on the line. That means they will immediately start roaming the field and drawing aggro from enemies. You know drat well what the mission objectives are for this. If you want a Mission Complete, you need to kill every enemy on this field (not just Garuga) while making sure all the villagers survive. A Mission Clear will likely happen if 1 dies, and Mission Pass is probably if 2 die. Mission Failure will almost certainly happen if all 3 villagers die (or you get beaten).  Garuga still hits hard, despite the levels we’ve gained. We also have a new enemy, the Timber Wolf (Level 10), approaching from the right. We can’t afford to get surrounded here, so focus all attacks on Garuga until it’s dead, then worry about everything else that needs your attention. Garuga has about 120-150 HP. Once Garuga’s dead, you need to turn your attention to the other major problem.  The villagers thankfully have a little bit of self-preservation instinct. They will run away from any enemy that approaches them. Unfortunately, the enemies will be a little bit faster. The villagers are not very hardy, so even the little Caterpie monsters can shave nearly 50% of their health off in a single hit. If a Snake or (god forbid) the Timber Wolf catches one, then they are hosed. Try and have Crevanille deal with the nearby enemies that are in the way of Remus and Vallery. You want the two of them to be running full tilt in the direction of the villagers. If you feel like Crevanille can tank Garuga by himself, then you could also have Vallery/Remus just start running for the bottom of the map as soon as the fight starts.  Superlative, everyone.That villager you see at the bottom of the screen only just barely scraped by this fight. By the time Vallery and Remus had dealt with the worm chasing him, he only had about 3HP left. Crevanille had thankfully drawn the aggro of the enemies on the right side, which let the other two villagers escape unharmed. Oh, yeah! I forgot something! Just in case you missed Vallery’s line when Garuga showed up: No spells in this fight. Have fun with that. We get about 160 exp for everyone and about 220 Ril.  By the way, this is where the villagers will try and go. Right next to Garuga’s spawn point. Like I said, you do not have the time to get bogged down in this fight.  We’ve fought one before. That reminds me, something like this happened before we joined the army. I have no data on any such organisms. You’re right. At least the village is safe now.Yeah, great. Cheers all around. Let’s get the hell out of here before another BS mission starts. Next time: We find out what the hell that letter Dixon was holding on to is all about. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Jun 3, 2021 |
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May 31, 2021 17:45
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So it's worth noting that two of the familiars are references to previous Growlanser games: TP is a pallet swap of Tippi*, the homunculus that accompanied the main character of the first game, while LM looks exactly like Raimy*, the fairy from the third game. They both have alternate outfits of characters from those games. Also, I got a replacement PSP Battery!  I had the TP familiar and named her Yuni.*See what they did there?
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May 31, 2021 20:21
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So is there any reason not to use all (or, none of) your stones when you create the familiar, do they do something different before/after? You made it sound like it would have made a difference if we'd held onto the blue stone until after.
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May 31, 2021 20:37
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It's been a hot minute but this critter seems even more robotic than Rei. I'll have you know i voted for the talkative one! Anyway, use the new costume, it's purple and stylin'.  Looking forward to the Sarcasm Elemental magic Given Fire Emblem experience my immediate instinct is to hoard all the +mov, but...I like the little bit with the ring identification option, it's cute. For a moment i thought Remus was planning to seduce the grieving widow... Hmm, Deringer's face looks somewhat familiar...  ...probably just my imagination. Glitches in reality aside, the fruit quest's kind of neat (if mean).
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May 31, 2021 20:54
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Melomane Mallet posted:So it's worth noting that two of the familiars are references to previous Growlanser games: TP is a pallet swap of Tippi*, the homunculus that accompanied the main character of the first game, while LM looks exactly like Raimy*, the fairy from the third game. They both have alternate outfits of characters from those games. Yeah, we'll see when I do the Extra Update that some of the art is reused and repurposed in this series. Also, that's good to hear. I really should get a replacement battery for mine since they will only get harder to find as time goes on. Polsy posted:So is there any reason not to use all (or, none of) your stones when you create the familiar, do they do something different before/after? You made it sound like it would have made a difference if we'd held onto the blue stone until after. Using the stones in the creation process is supposed to grant slight stat bonuses. I say supposed, because stats have a slight randomness to them which makes it difficult to pin down exactly which stone is doing what (if anything). If I went through the exact same process we just did, I'm pretty sure that Yuni would end up with slightly different stats/abilities each time. I think adding Green stones is supposed to boost your Familiar's starting affinity/affection, but I'm not completely sure. I don't recall what Red does and Blue may not matter (I'll need to check, but adding Blue during creation may still give you the Dollhouse energy). Whatever stones you hold on to during the creation process can be used as Catalysts afterward (through the Dollhouse). Red stones will boost the Outgoingness stat. Green will boost the Friendliness stat. Blue gives a free energy charge which allows you to train your Familiar (normally you charge Dollhouse energy through battles). There are more stones available in the game and there are ways to farm them much later on, so you don't need to conserve them. Now, as to whether it's better to use them in creation or hang on until after, that's tough. Considering the RNG involved in the creation process, I personally think it's better to hang on to all stones and use them as Catalysts. There must be some pros and cons to it, because if it didn't matter then why would the game give you the choice during creation? vilkacis posted:Hmm, Deringer's face looks somewhat familiar... Oh, God. That's going to haunt me for a while. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 21:12 on May 31, 2021 |
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May 31, 2021 21:03
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vilkacis posted:Anyway, use the new costume, it's purple and stylin'. Agreed.
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May 31, 2021 21:11
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I actually like not-Kos-Mos. Keep her as is, she's perfect
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Jun 1, 2021 00:01
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So about Gabbing.... with the JP voice acting it means that if you stand around doing nothing, your familiar will start saying things, but uh without a dub and the removal of said voice acting of course that does nothing. In 5 atleast, you can take your Fairy to like, pokemon contests, and you'll meet a bunch of other fairies and its adorable. One of 4's few weak points in my book. Always thought it was weird that Dixon never brought Crev home and that the game had his wife get attached to Remus rather than the literal adopted son she never met lol.
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Jun 1, 2021 02:09
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ultrafilter posted:Agreed.
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Jun 1, 2021 15:09
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Update 6: Remus the Punching Bag Last time we helped some villagers not get killed by forest monsters. Also we got to go another round with Garuga, except we kicked its rear end this time. When we get back to the village, we can talk to the guy that sent us on the monster hunt for a reward. He gives us Parry, which decreases weapon damage from enemies by 10% (key word being “Weapon”). It also teaches the ability “Decoy”, which can be very handy. Decoy is an aggro skill, so the person that has it will instantly attract increased attention from enemies. This is a good skill to get for Crevanille, since he’s likely going to be your tank (and highest leveled) character for a long time.  When we’re ready, we head back to Dixon’s house to inquire about that letter. [Dixon’s Wife]: It seemed to be about mercenary business. I didn’t understand what it meant, anyway. Maybe you’d know? I’ll take it, thanks. “Destruction”? Who is this child they’re talking about? I think it must be Crevanille. The boss said before that he’s the key to mankind’s survival. Either way, this doesn’t make things any clearer. Our best option may be to go see the sender in person.Yeah, that letter basically just told us what Dixon already did: Crevanille is super special and needs to go to a super special place to save the world. Not exactly revelatory info. There’s no return address, though.[Dixon’s Wife]: Those letters are always delivered by a merchant named Porak from Marquelay. He might be able to tell you who sent them. Hey! We know him! …Sort of. He gave us an apple that one time and asked us to buy something from his shop. We proceeded to walk away with our cash firmly in hand. Marquelay… that’s far off. It won’t be easy to get there right now… Oh, right. People in the thread wanted Yuni in her cool purple jacket outfit. That will have to wait until we get back to the fort, though. The Dollhouse isn’t something that Crevanille carries around with him in his pockets. It would be nice if we could get more information about this. Especially about those wings of blood from Crevanille’s back…[Dixon’s Wife]: I’m sorry if I wasn’t very helpful in the end. Oh, no, you did a lot.[Dixon’s Wife]: Well, be careful on your way back to the fort. And that’s all for Ribocca. Time to head back to base.  When we try and leave the village, a familiar face will show up. Pamela! Oh, you have a new face and a little Familiar with you this time. Hi there, I’m Pamela.It’s not surprising that Pamela would have the affinity to be able to see Yuni, since she’s a researcher…. or a doctor…. or both. She’s some kind of scientist, okay? It is nice to meet you. Hey there. Do you know these two? Yes, she was in Alten Schwart with us. Long time no see. How’ve you been? Hm…? Are you running errands for the boss and Regina now?Yeah… about that… They’re both dead. What…? Are you serious…?Yeah. A Sephiroth appeared out of nowhere and ganked them. You really gotta keep your eyes out for those little buggers. This is what happened…*Remus explains* I see… Both the boss and Regina… …That can’t have been easy for you. Is that why you came to Ribocca? Yes. We came to tell Dixon’s wife of his passing. I see… I’m sorry such a painful job fell to you. Don’t let it bother you.To be perfectly honest, we technically told her about it through a letter and then gave her like three months to digest it before actually looking her in the face. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still an unpleasant task. We just kinda chickened out a little, that’s all I’m saying. …Thank you. You’re stronger than I am, that’s for sure. …Yes. Hey, Crevanille? May I ask you something?A date? Because there’s a line that’s steadily forming. You’ll want to get in on that quickly. The boss has passed away, but are you still going to take on the Angels? We’ll do what the boss wanted. Yes, that’s right. We’re currently searching for whatever clues the boss left. That’s a relief. I guess I’d better step up my game, too. We have to see his last wishes through. No promises on that. I intend to try and kill everything that we’re normally supposed to run from. Stupid risks kind of go hand in hand with that objective. Pamela then leaves and we head out to the forest. You can head back into the village and check in with Dixon’s house, but his wife will just tell us to be careful on the way back. Pamela is nowhere to be found.  When we get back to this bridge place overlooking Ribocca, the screen will flash and we’ll see smoke rising from the village. L-Look at that! The village…! Was it an accident at the factory!?poo poo… I may have forgotten to double-tap Garuga while we were in the forest. My bad. That’s not important! We need to rescue the people there!Welp, our objective has changed and now we need to haul rear end back to the village to find out what the hell exploded right after we left.  Okay, there was clearly still a village here when we were up on that overlook. When the hell did it get turned into a crater? What? Did he say…!?[Villager]: Wings… the village… Ngh! *Villager then explodes into light*  Thank you for that medical insight, Yuni. A woman with wings… Was it an Angel, do you think? Hey, Crevanille! Look up there! Great, now we apparently have a lady Angel following us around too. So… that’s an Angel…!  Oh poo poo, it’s happening again! Thankfully for this scene the wobbly dream effect stops and the image fades to black for a moment. When we come back, the vision thing we are seeing is perfectly fine, unlike with that last one with Ludwig and President whatshisface. [Axe Soldier]: What’re we supposed to do!? [Sword Soldier]: Don’t give up! Let’s all hit it at once!  …*The screen flashes technicolour for a second and then all the soldiers/mercenaries die* …..*Angewoman then turns around, spreads her wings, and flies off*  Crevanille apparently passed out on the ground during that. Honestly… you gave us a real scare, collapsing like that.Get used to it. Hey, Remus! Crevanille’s awake. ….. ???*Vallery wanders over to Remus* Do you have a theory on the vision just now, Master? It was not my foresight. I suspect it may have been a fragment of a memory you have forgotten. But I cannot conclusively say. It is beyond my knowledge.After Yuni is done speculating, we have control again. Let’s check in with our boy and see how he’s holding up. …Never… Remus…? I’ll never forgive them… They killed so many people on that island, and now they’ve killed innocent villagers… and even Pamela… Remus… Why are the Angels doing this? Why…?Did you piss on the side of a church at some point? It really feels like they’ve got it out for you, specifically. Remus… I’ll never forgive them! …Yeah. I don’t know why she attacked Ribocca, but I won’t stand for murdering innocents like that. We can’t do anything about it from here, though. Let’s go back to the fort and tell our superiors.With Remus’ second attempt at finding a new family thoroughly squashed, we regain control and are tasked with returning to the fort to let Ludwig know that Digimon are now in Dulkheim blasting villages to pieces.  It should be noted that despite the entrance to Ribocca looking like a blast crater, you can still see the smoldering remains of buildings from the overlook. It’s a bit difficult to tell exactly how destroyed the village is. It could simply be a case of the artists not having drawn a landscape behind those buildings, so they couldn’t be removed from the background. Instead they just kind of blackened them a bit to signify them as being “destroyed.” Oh, yeah. Say goodbye to those Leather Jackets for a while, by the way. We wouldn’t have been able to go back once returning to the fort anyway, but this lockout is a little earlier than you might have been expecting.  ….. Remus… It’ll be okay.Yeah, there will be other parental/sibling figures to temporarily bond with. I’m sure at least one of them will manage to survive the events of the game. Maybe. …You’re right. Acting like this won’t help us. Yeah. Let’s get to work instead of standing around depressed. First, we need to report what happened.And now we’re free to roam again.  We’re looking to report to Ludwig, so we need to take these stairs on the right side of the main hall. His office is at the very end of the hallway up those stairs. If you talk to some of the soldiers nearby, one of them may mention that Ludwig is only working out of this office until his promotion goes through. Apparently, he’s due to move from Brigadier General to Major General. Just a little bit of fluff text. It should be noted that we don’t know exactly when his meeting with the president took place, so this promotion could be part of that mutual back-scratching they discussed.  Excuse us! What business have you here? Ribocca was annihilated.We could have also told him that a monster appeared there, but I think the village being wiped out is a little higher on the priority scale. Annihilated? What? We also encountered a monster in the forest west of the village. It was dealt with. Hmmm… so you met a monster…Yes. Specifically a different monster from all the other monsters that typically roam around. Although I guess you guys just consider giant bats and 4-foot long Scorpions to be everyday animals in this world. And this winged thing… (So… the Angels have finally shown themselves in Dulkheim…)The screen darkens a bit for that part in parentheses to signify that Ludwig is thinking that part and not saying it out loud. Sir, could it be…? I’m glad you brought this to my attention. I’ll put an investigation team together. Dismissed. But, sir! Didn’t you hear me? I said you’re dismissed. To be fair, telling anyone about this wouldn’t accomplish anything. Only certain people can even see the Angels in the first place. You can’t warn villagers to be on the lookout for an invisible person with wings that randomly smites things from the sky. Yes, sir!Remus and Vallery leave. We then get control of Crevanille, but Ludwig stops us as soon as we try and walk away. By the way… Did that Familiar hatch from your egg? Yes, sir. My name is Yuni. Such a formal Familiar.Yeah, she’s not one for personality, unfortunately.  Which is to say, that’s how high your potential is as her master. Ha… I suppose I made the right choice, letting you keep that egg.We would have just kicked the door to this place in and taken it back at some point anyway. Not like you’d be able to stop us, so long as I possess the forbidden power of NG+. *There’s a long pause* What’s the matter? Are you still bitter about your conscription? …Just glad to serve. Ha… Don’t be insincere. Not that that’s a bad mindset to take.Listen my dude, we’re out of here the second you stop being useful. That should be obvious to everyone. Speaking of, when exactly are we going to get sent to some ruins? Your end of this arrangement hasn’t exactly been paying up yet. Sometimes, to make one’s way in life, one must hide one’s true feelings. No matter, though. Forgive me for taking up your time. You may go. Thanks for waiting, guys. Why does everyone keep ditching us?  Once we reach the main hall, we find Tricia, who wasn’t around when we first got back. I was worried when I heard there was an explosion at Ribocca. Looks like you’re fine, though. Whew! Yeah… Huh? Oh, no… don’t tell me… Wow… I was so happy you came back that I didn’t consider that… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up a painful memory.I mean, it’s less about the memory and more about the fact that a whole bunch of people died. *thank her in knocking code**Crevanille heads over to the teaching lectern and knocks* Hey, you remembered… Um… I ought to thank you… I’ve just been lucky. Yeah, I’ll do my best! Wait… something seems off about that.Well, it was a weird way for you to respond to that statement. Anyway, we’re free to head back to our room now.  Didn’t you join the army because he told you to? Brigadier General Ludwig gave my Familiar Egg to Master. That is why I introduced myself to him. I see. And you, Remus? How are you faring? I’ve calmed down, but… still… They say the Angels nearly wiped out mankind 2,000 years ago, but what are they up to now?Finishing the job? That was actually my first time seeing one… Is there some connection between Lamplast Island and Ribocca? It was a male Angel before. What!? It wasn’t the female Angel we saw? So, there are at least two Angels. One male and one female… Will mankind be destroyed again…? It’s starting to make my head hurt. Maybe we should take a quick rest…Good plan. Let’s pop a save and change some things.  First of all, there is something I forgot to do when we first got our Familiar. If you go into Config, you can actually switch the game’s cursor to be that of your Familiar. There is one cursor for each familiar type and also a standard Green Arrow that we’ve been using so far.  Neat! After that, I also go back to the Dollhouse and swap Yuni’s costume out for Costume H, since more people appear to be on board with that one than the standard costume. Like I said, we’ll revisit Yuni’s outfit choice whenever we pick up a new costume. There are 6 more costumes for us to collect throughout the world and 1 that is only unlocked through special means, so there will be plenty of opportunities to switch things up.  We also have 2 more training sessions available for Yuni thanks to all the random battling we did. I have put her through 1 session of Conversation practice and 1 session of Exercise. As a result, she picks up a handful of new skills and all her stats reach Level 2 (except for MAG, which is still at Level 3). Treasure Scout does exactly what it says. It will tell us of any treasure chests in the current area that are unopened. Treasure Chests are something we haven’t encountered yet, but they will start appearing very soon.  Friend Rating is an affection check. It will tell us what our party members think of us. Apparently, Remus doesn’t think we’re anything special and Vallery just sees us as a teammate. Pretty harsh, guys. When we’re done, we head to bed and—   Damnit! Not again! Just… ugh… Whatever, let’s just focus on what’s going on here with all these characters we’ve never seen before.  I’ve brought the Angel research team’s regular report.This guy’s name shows up as “Muntzer”. Not sure how we already know that, but I guess we’ll just chalk it up to Yuni’s psychic powers or something.  Mm. Go on.This is King Valkania. In all honesty, there have been no measurable results. I doubt we can expect any more progress if we cannot access the core of these ruins. Ruins… the ancients left us with nothing but trouble. Agreed. Forgive my intrusion during your meeting.This guy is named “Alfonse”. What is the matter, Lord Ordinale? It must be something of grave import for you to impose. Forgive my insolence, Your Highness, but it is related to Sir Muntzer’s report… Hm? In what way? My independent investigation indicates that a man of special talents is needed to open these doors in the ruins. Go on… Okay… and now everything is normal for some reason. This is going to bug the poo poo out of me for this entire LP, just like that weird graphics thing in Sweet Fuse did. These children appear to have the power to enter the central areas of any ruins in the world. Interesting… Sadly, no such children have been found inside Valkania’s own ruins. If Lord Ordinale’s information is accurate, our research could be sped along by finding such a child. Hm…And the scene fades out from there. Seems as though plans are afoot over in Valkania.  Back to training today. I’m excited to see what training at this fort is like! That reminds me. Where were you before you came here? The fort at the capital. I did a few tests there and they decided to transfer me over here. Tests? Well, yeah. Tests to see if I had what it takes to use spells. *We are then interrupted by a soldier wandering in to our room* [Dulkheim Soldier]: Message for Black 4! Major Abram is calling for you. He wants to see you in his office on the double. The major wants to see us?[Dulkheim Soldier]: That’s what he said. *The soldier then leaves* Does this mean our training’s delayed again? drat, and I was looking forward to it…Oh well, looks like we’ve got marching orders. Let’s go see what’s up. There’s nothing new to buy and Tricia doesn’t have anything new to say, so just head for Abram’s office.  His is the door right before you get to Ludwig’s office. [Abram]: You’ve come.  What mission is this?[Abram]: We got a tip that Valkania is after Dr. Lumis Lichtmann of the ruins research department. Ah, yeah… Valkania is researching spells, too… How do you know that? That’s why we Ruin Children were gathered here from far and wide. The more spell-using Ruin Children there are, the more advances they make in spell research.Yeah, I guess we dozed off during that part of the briefing. [Abram]: That’s right. Valkania has no Ruin Children, putting them at a disadvantage when it comes to their research. So, their plan is to capture the doctor and jump-start their own program.  [Abram]: And thus we come to your mission. You must take the doctor into your custody and escort him back here. He is currently staying at an inn in Saudrick, to the south, while researching some ruins there. *nod*[Abram]: You must be very careful on one point. Even if you engage Valkania’s forces in battle, do not use spells. At all. Understood.Not that I don’t get why, but the game is sure putting a hell of a lot of restrictions on the fancy new spells we just got access to. [Abram]: Since we know it’s spells they want, it would be foolish to give them a demonstration. I’m glad you’re quick to understand. No wonder the brigadier general recommended you. The brigadier general recommended us? I don’t know about the rest of the thread, but I certainly don’t give a gently caress what expectations he has. We’re not doing the Dulkheim route (at least for now), so we’re peacing out as soon as the game lets us. Understood!  The professor may know something about the connection between our ancestors and the Angels.Sorry about the slightly worse character portrait for Yuni. There is no high quality artwork of the Familiars in their various costumes, so I have to rely on in-game assets. I think it looks nicer if the character portrait reflects the costume she’s wearing though. We’ll be one step closer to our goal! Let’s go!All right, we’ve got a new mission. There’s nothing left for us at the fort, so just head out to the courtyard and leave through the southern gate.   There are some new enemies out here, such as Scissor Head… some kind of weird beetle thing I think. These guys are a bit irritating because they have very high defence, so it’s difficult to one-shot them even with their low HP. Magic might be a better option against them (particularly Ice and Lightning), but just keep in mind that your MP limit is not great right now and you don’t have access to MP healing items yet. Other than that: Timber Wolves are now regular enemies, Lesser Scorpions have become Scorpions, and Worms are still occasionally kicking around.  As you head South, you’ll eventually reach a signpost. Saudrick is where we want to go, but Trockmere is also a viable destination. We will actually be going back to Trockmere soon anyway, but I’m going to head there now in order to get something early. It also doesn’t hurt to make multiple trips, because you’ll want to do a bunch of grinding for levels before advancing the story. We want everyone to be between 14 and 16 before activating the next story event at Saudrick.  On our way back to Trockmere, we can stop and check in on Dixon, Regina, and [INSERT NAME HERE]’s graves. We can also go back into the Ruins of Hope for a tiny bit of optional dialogue.  Inspecting the central podium will just have Crevanille(?) remark that the pendant that was there is gone now. If we inspect the table, there will be a comment about Yuni being born from the Familiar Egg that was there. Next to the table there is some ancient writing on the wall, but the characters can’t read it. Heading into the chamber with the stasis pod, however…  Right, you mentioned that before. Fun imagery. But I’ve been in these ruins in the past, and nothing happened to me. Hmmm…And that’s it! Not much, but I felt I would show it off anyway in case anyone was curious about trudging all the way back here.  Once we reach Trockmere, we’ll get the same message we got in Ribocca about not being able to use spells. It’s just like in your memories… A whole town built under sea level. I never thought we’d be able to return like this. If we head down the stairs to the main plaza, we’ll find that Magnus has returned to the spot where we first met him. Apparently he’s just been bumming around the Trockmere area for the last six months. Those sideburns… I’ve never had anyone forget my face before… Could that be the reason why?*A little musical note floats about Magnus’ head* Well, if that’s what helps you remember, no harm in it. They are glorious. I’m still looking for the man called Otter. Do you know anything at all as to his whereabouts? I’ve tried everything I can to find him, but I haven’t picked up so much as a trace on him. We need more to go on. Sorry, but all I know about him is that his name is Otter and he has a very distinctive face. …I can see how he might be hard to find based on so little. I’ll need to change my approach, I can see. Thanks… I’ll give it some more thought.Happy to help! Also, have you considered looking in places other than Trockmere, by any chance?  Anyway, the real reason we came here early is to check out new armour. Trockmere’s armour shop has gotten its new stock in, which includes 3 different armours that are better than Leather Jacket. Buff Coats are very expensive, but they offer up an increase of 33 points over Leather Jacket. Studded will net you an increase of 11, while Hard Leather gives 24. If you sold the Secret Book (and didn’t go crazy with buying Spellstones), then you should have enough to at least get a Buff Coat for Crevanille. Personally, I grab a Buff Coat for Crevanille and Vallery, since the two of them are the ones most often in range of enemies. Remus will stick with a Leather Jacket for now since he’s always hanging out in the back, but by the time we return to Trockmere we should be able to afford something new for him as well. For now, let’s head back to that signpost (the first one I pointed out, I mean. Not the one right outside Trockmere) and then south to Saudrick.  We do some leveling along the way and eventually end up in a new town.  Yes, Yuni, we remember. Thank you. Not like the game is going to let us forget that anyway, since one of those yellow warning messages pops up immediately after you’re finished.  Right next to the main gate, we talk to this girl who is teaching some kids a regional folk song. Considering the text is in blue, you can be sure that this will be relevant at some point soon.  There are also some very rude thugs hanging out at various points in the town. Weird. There is a shop just past those kids from earlier, but it carries mostly the same stuff as Trockmere. It has Leather Jackets, Studded Leather, and Hard Leather, but it doesn’t have Buff Coats. If you didn’t take a side trip to Trockmere right away, then you might easily be tempted into blowing all your money on these (especially if you missed the Leather Jackets in Ribocca), only to later find out that you could have gotten Buff Coats for only a little more. Like I said last update, this game loves to screw with you in little ways (in between screwing with you in major ways, of course).  Just to hammer that point home: This guy right here presents us with our first side quest of the game. He wants to collect some merchandise from Trockmere, but his usual mercenary escorts aren’t available. He asks us if we’d be willing to escort him. If we say “Yes” (and we really should) then he’ll go and wait for us just outside Saudrick. So, the game presents us with an Escort Mission. Missions that are universally derided and hated among players of video games. The nearby armour shop has 2 new pieces of armour that you haven’t seen before. What are you most likely to do if you were unaware of the other new armour in Trockmere? You’ll probably do what most RPG players do: Outfit yourself with the best poo poo for a mission that is almost certainly going to be a pain in the rear end.  WE KNOW, YUNI! Anyway… if you agree to the side quest, then it will start as soon as you leave Saudrick. Make sure to do this BEFORE going to the Inn in Saudrick, because that will start the next set of story events. If you are beaten up from the journey here, then you may have to rely on healing items. We need to protect the merchant and his five giant turkey creature things as they slowly make their way to Trockmere. All the way to Trockmere. Yes, he is going to move through every screen that the player travels through to get to Trockmere, except at regular walking speed.  If an enemy gets too close, the merchant will freak out and a battle will start that can sometimes pull in every single enemy on the field. Look at the upper right corner in that screenshot. See those 3 blue dots up there? Those enemies are part of this battle which that random Timber Wolf triggered.  Here’s the thing, though. This mission isn’t very hard. If you’re around Level 10 or 12, then the enemies can be dealt with in one or two shots. The other thing working to your advantage is the fact that objects like rocks and forests will prevent most enemies from making a straight dash to the merchant, giving you plenty of time to deal with nearby threats before intercepting everything else. For the most part, the main roads in Growlanser IV don’t have many enemies on them. The large groups of enemies are usually skulking around off the beaten path. The main issue with this mission is boredom. It takes about 10-15 minutes to get through this.  Even if you somehow killed all the enemies on the field before the merchant started to move, you still need to wait for him to drag his rear end all the way to the other edge of the screen. At that point a scene will trigger where he rounds up all his pack animals and leaves, which is your cue to follow. There are about 8 or 9 screens you need to follow him through. Realistically, only 5 or 6 of those screens will have anything on it that can pose a threat to him or his Chocobos. That’s because 1 screen is the Valkania border (where we said goodbye to Mortis), which doesn’t have enemies on it and is very small. Once you hit that screen, you’re basically in the clear, because the enemies from that point up until Trockmere are still Level 2 or 3. They can still deal 1 damage to the pack animals, but that shouldn’t be enough to kill any of them unless you royally hosed up earlier and they are only hanging by a thread.  Our reward is a Life Apple, which isn’t much. We did get a good amount of money and experience from killing all the monsters, though, so that part was at least worth the trouble. This quest is repeatable as well. If you go back to Saudrick you can escort this guy a second time, after which he’ll give you a Gale Apple (another stat boosting item that I think boosts MOV). If you feel like you need more levels or money by the time you return to Saudrick, then it might be worth it. Personally, I’ve had enough of this for one day, so I pass on doing this a second time.  Let’s just head to the Inn and look for the Doctor. Dr. Lichtmann is residing at this inn, correct?  Good day, gentlemen. Now, what room is he in? It’ll be faster to just ask the innkeeper.There’s free cash on the ground right where those guys from earlier were walking. Sweet. Finder’s keepers. [Innkeeper]: Welcome, will you be staying the night? We’re with the Dulkheim Army, but we’ve come to pick up Dr. Lichtmann.[Innkeeper]: Ah, you’re with the army. I will fetch him at once. Please wait here. *The Innkeeper leaves through the door behind him*  Snobby and intellectual. Yeah, I think that, too! What’s wrong?[Innkeeper]: I can’t find him anywhere! His room was a mess, like it’d been ransacked! Gah, we were too late!I blame that merchant we had to escort. That reminds me… A moment ago, two men left with a rather large sack. You don’t think… Could they have really carried the doctor away!? They couldn’t have gotten far! Let’s get them!Despite the urgency, we are able to save and rest at the Inn. I recommend doing so, because you’re likely worn out from all the random battles and the last available Inn was in Trockmere.  These men would likely recognize your faces. Huh… They did hear us say we were with the army… If they see you searching around for them, they may go deeper into hiding. However, as a Familiar, only those with spell abilities can see me. And a Familiar’s senses are directly connected to its master’s, so we’ll know where they are at once. Sounds like a plan. All right. I’ll go scout the area. This is Yuni’s Reconnoiter skill. During certain missions, you’ll get the ability to scout out the area in advance using Yuni. You can roam through the streets and take note of where the Thugs are positioned.  The path through the south of town is where the two thugs carrying Lichtmann are traveling. [Thug #2]: Easy for you to say! I’m carrying a grown man, you know… [Thug #1]: Shhh! Keep it down! What if someone hears you? We gotta hurry… You will notice after this scene that the two thugs are slowly moving. They aren’t moving very fast, but they will keep moving as long as you are in Reconnoiter mode, so don’t dawdle. When you are done scouting, hit Square (it was Triangle for me for some reason) to end scouting.  You can resume scouting after this, but I wouldn’t recommend it in this instance. There are four thugs in total, as well as the one that is carrying Lichtmann. One thug is escorting the guy carrying Lichtmann, while the other three are positioned throughout town as lookouts. As soon as one of those lookouts spot you (and they will eventually), the battle is going to start and we’ll need to intercept the thug carrying Lichtmann before he escapes through the front gate. The best route to take is through the North. We already saw that there’s a thug positioned to the south. There’s another in the street right outside the general store. The last one is just north of those singing kids (he’s the guy that earlier told us that he didn’t like our face). The north route will get us closest to the front gate so that we can intercept the kidnappers as they attempt to escape. If you go down the south or central streets, then you’re going to get spotted earlier and will end up having to play catch-up, which is much more difficult (the streets are narrow, so you probably won’t be able to have Crevanille or Vallery go around the lookout thug.  [Thug #3]: We were being followed! [Thug #2]: Wh-What do we do? [Thug #1]: You get out of here! We’ll stop them. [Thug #2]: Gotcha! You’re not going anywhere!The 3 street Thugs are Level 7, while the kidnapper and his escort are Level 8. They shouldn’t be much trouble if you did your grinding. I have Vallery and Remus take out the north Thug while Crevanille manually moves closer to the front gate in order to head off the kidnappers.  There’s something useful you have to help you figure this out. Look right here: We also get a new annoyance to fret over. The Bonus Gauge. The higher this BONUS number is, the better EXP and items you’ll receive. The BONUS will decrease over time. The stronger the enemy and the more of them there are, the longer it will take for it to decrease. Pay close attention to the tens digit. The rank of the items you can receive decreases as this number decreases. To simplify this as much as possible: faster victory equals better rewards.For this battle, that gauge will loving plummet. It drops at a rate of about 2 per second. It does pause during attack/support animations, however.  I want to point out that the girl and those kids from earlier are still on the field and will try and run from the thugs when the battle starts. I’ve never seen the enemies attack them, but if they appear on the field then it most likely means they are viable targets. If you take a different route, then be aware that the thug that starts next to those kids might aggro on them instead of you. I don’t think it’s a Mission Failure if one of them dies, but it will almost certainly screw you out of a Mission Complete if it does happen. Superlative, everyone.The guy carrying Lichtmann only has about 70-80 HP, so as long as you can get to him he should be easy to stop. I heavily recommend sending Crevanille after him, because Vallery and Remus have a habit of missing/having their attacks blocked (since they are ranged fighters). Crevanille has a shorter ATW and is more easily able to block an enemy from moving past him. Once the guy carrying Lichtmann goes down, it’s just a matter of cleaning up whatever stragglers are left.  I finish with a Bonus Gauge of 29, which means I just barely missed a better item. We end up getting an Analepticum (Stun cure item) out of it as well as a bunch of EXP and decent money.  Are you all right, Doctor? Now… What to do with YOU guys, hmmm?[Thug #2]: Oh… oh, no… What’s with that pathetic whining? You’re supposed to be the pride of Valkania, after all.[Thug #2]: Valkania…? What are you talking about? Don’t play dumb with us. A masked man…?I mean, you guys didn’t really think that Valkania would directly hire some rando thugs for this, did you? Of course they’re going to run that poo poo through proxies. This is the kind of thing that would start a war if there was a proven link to Valkania. [Thug #2]: Could I make that up? We were told to take that man into the forest up ahead! What should we do? Not much we can do… I agree, unfortunately… What do you mean? The second they saw you, they would vanish. I guess you’ve got a point. *sigh* We’ll hand these guys over to the guards, then…It would also be exceptionally stupid of us to run blindly out into the forest with the very man that the mystery people wanted to get their hands on.  And on that goofy anime moment, we’ll call it an update. Next time, we’ll figure out what Lichtmann was doing out here and maybe even visit some new ruins. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Jun 8, 2021 |
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Jun 7, 2021 16:34
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Ah yes, my name is also Creature 4. Remus is mad as hell and he's not gonna take it any more! Putting in a request that once you're able to fight angels properly, let him get the first kill. (I mean unless it requires magical protagonist powers or some poo poo which it probably will.) I'm fully convinced Alfonse is a very good boy who would never do anything to hurt us, we will be the best of friends and no one will be sad. Definitely nice to see the outfit in the portrait, yes!
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Jun 7, 2021 17:57
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Portrait change is nice, yeah. Given that foresight ability it's sort of amazing that familiars aren't heavily restricted for state secret reasons.
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Jun 7, 2021 21:09
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SIGSEGV posted:Portrait change is nice, yeah. It isn't made clear if that is an ability that all Familiars possess or if it's only Crevanille’s. Ludwig mentions that Yuni has the highest potential of any Familiar he's ever seen, so this may be something that is unique to her. The other thing to keep in mind is that Foresight only shows visions that will be relevant to the Master's future. Crevanille is seeing these because he's the main character and super special. The average GI Joe/Researcher is very unlikely to be eventually directly involved with any high ranking people in Governments. vilkacis posted:Ah yes, my name is also Creature 4. The monster labeling is weird in these games, since the thing you think is their name is actually their Class. I will take the suggestion as a future vote for Remus to remain a party member. Assuming he stays in the active party, I can certainly try and give him the Angel-killing blows.
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Jun 7, 2021 21:35
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Indeed! Remus is a bro and i don't think our mostly-heroic-but-occasionally-sarcastic Crevanille would bench his bro. e: I don't remember if you said so already - how big can the party get?
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Jun 7, 2021 21:51
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