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Latest (Oct. 23rd): Update 35: Grand Finale (Part 1) and Update 36: Grand Finale (Part 2) Check out the Opening Movie (Yes, that is the best quality I can find and yes, that's the official Atlus West Youtube channel) You know, up until now I’ve been LP’ing fairly laid-back games. Sweet Fuse: At Your Side was a visual novel that didn’t really require any skill (also yes, I am still finishing that LP). Conception PLUS and Conception II were JRPGs that were insultingly easy. World of Final Fantasy was a game designed to appeal to 30-somethings but was built to appeal to children, meaning that it too was largely a cakewalk. So, let’s change that by playing a Growlanser game. I wasn’t particularly attached to my hair anyway. Not just any Growlanser game, of course. We’re going to look at Growlanser IV, because MythosDragon requested it long ago and everyone else was too sane to accept that request. What is Growlanser? Growlanser is an RPG series originally developed by Career Soft in 1999 for the PS1. Career Soft was also responsible for the Langrisser series. Atlus, who was their publishing partner for Growlanser, bought out the company in 2001 and would later transfer some of their key development personnel into the main Atlus team where they would work on Persona 3 and Persona 4. Career Soft itself would go on to help develop the Devil Survivor games as part of the Shin Megami Tensei series. When Sega acquired Index Corporation in 2013, it merged everything together under Atlus, which resulted in the end of Career Soft as a label. Growlanser is composed of 6 main entries, as well as a few remakes and rereleases. Most of them released on the PS2 and only two of the titles have failed to receive an English localization (1 and 6). 2 and 3 were released in an English-exclusive collection called Growlanser: Generations and 5 was released as Heritage of War (because its Japanese title ended up being "Generations" and that had already been used in the West). Then there’s 4. Growlanser IV has 3 versions. There’s the original Wayfarer of Time (2003), Wayfarer of Time – Return (2005), and Over Reloaded (2011). So this game is the original version? Confusingly enough, no. When Atlus decided to localize IV in 2011-2012, they used the Over Reloaded version, but published it in English as Wayfarer of Time. So English Wayfarer of Time is actually Japanese Over Reloaded. Over Reloaded contains a bunch of new content such as new characters, scenes, and story paths. Strangely, it does not contain the content that was added to Return. Granted, the additional content of Return was pretty much just an extra fan disc with some Visual Novel style stories that may or may not even be canon. You usually do audience participation. Will there be any here? Yes and no. I’ll poll the thread on which character (if any) the LP will focus on for a character specific ending. I’ll also leave it up to the thread to decide on party members. Finally, there’s a (kind of) major choice early on in the game which will also be left up to the audience. The main story path is a different matter. The True/Modified route is the one that was added to the PSP version and is how you get access to a lot of the new characters. It is a bit of an extension to the Original route from the PS2 version. It makes a number of changes, but it’s still largely the same as Original. There’s also an “Evil” route. It’s shorter than the Original/True routes and the endings it leads to are either morally grey at best, or genocidal at worst. For the sake of showing off the most actual game content, this LP will be covering the True/Modified route. That part won’t be up for debate. We can talk about the "Evil" route once we get near the end of the LP. We'll see if I have the energy/time for it then. Spoilers? Absolutely no spoilers. It’s fine to talk about the game or characters in general, but don’t reveal anything about the main story or character stories. The only exception to this is once the thread has chosen their favourite character. Your opportunities for ranking up social links in this game are limited, so the thread will need to definitively latch on to 1 or 2 characters fairly early. Once we’ve zeroed in on specific characters, you will be free to discuss what happens during the other characters’ routes (as long as there are no main story spoilers within those routes). We’ll talk more about this once Free Time becomes a thing we can do. Generally, don’t spoil main plot details and don’t say anything that could sway people’s opinions on characters/decisions which will be voted on.  --Alten Schwart-- Update 1: Outer Heaven Update 2: Not getting paid enough for this Update 3: Parting Ways --Dulkheim-- Update 4: 2 Kool 4 Skool Update 5: Hey! Listen! Update 6: Remus the Punching Bag Update 7: Ruin Raider Extra Update 1: Artistic Expression Update 8: Parties and Politics Update 9: The Trockmere Treaty Update 10: Love Me When I'm Gone --Marquelay-- Update 11: Paradise City Update 12: Road Trip --Valkania-- Update 13: On the road to Fandelcia City. Meet my friends along the way. --Iglesias-- Update 14: Just like old times --Valkania-- Update 15: Detours --No Angeles-- Update 15.5: Takin' a Break (Furlough #1) Update 16: A knife in the back Extra Update 2: A Familiar Fate Update 17: War has changed Update 18: I'll get you for this, He-Man! Extra Update 3: Talking Shop Update 19: No Man's Land Furlough #4: Fledgling enterprise Update 20: Mighty Buffin' Angel Rangers Update 21: Clone Wars Update 22: Blood Vengeance Update 23: Getting Distracted Furlough #5: The Science of Bloodsport --Dulkheim-- Update 24: Too Many Missions Update 25: Mood Whiplash Update 26: Pulling a "Reverse Muntzer" --No Angeles-- Furlough #6: Right in the Feels Update 27: The Bottle Episode Update 28: Spirit Science --Valkania-- Update 29: Let's blow something up, yeah! --No Angeles-- Furlough #7: Ticking All The Boxes (Part 1) and (Part 2) Update 30: Cleaning House --Iglesias-- Extra Update 4: War in the North --No Angeles-- Furlough #8: Tying Up Loose Ends Update 31: To Evil or Not to Evil --Dulkheim-- Update 32: Gunboat Diplomacy Update 33: Monster of the Week --No Angeles-- Extra Update 5: Unlimited Power! Update 34: Date with Destiny --Mt. Eizenvant-- Update 35: Grand Finale (Part 1) Update 36: Grand Finale (Part 2) Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 16:46 on Oct 23, 2021 |
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---Extras--- ---Cutscene List--- Intro - Opening Cinematic Update 2 - Lamplast Island Update 3 - Battle in the Rain Update 5 - Meeting our Familiar Update 7 - Ruin Child Update 9 - Levee Update 21 - Anti-Angel Weapon Facility Update 22 - Kaufman Waterfall Attack Update 24 - Forest escape Update 26 - Battle Video: Crevanille is busted Update 27 - Darkness Update 29 - Warning Shot Update 30 - Tears Update 35 - Spellcannon Defence Update 36 - It's the main ending! Update 36 - Credits --Character Profile Lists-- Entry 1 - Prologue to Marquelay ---Thread Submissions---  User marshmallow creep speculates on why Dulkheim's military budget is so high.  User vilkacis recognizes something familiar about President Deringer's face, but can't quite put their finger  I imagine what could have been, if only the thread had chosen to name our city "Ft Kickass" like user AltaBrown suggested.     At least once per  User Red John compares Crevanille's desire for more party members to General Grevious' lightsaber collection. I think it's fitting.  The character build I came up with for Magnus basically turned him into Wolverine. He's even got the sideburns!  Magnus finally gets his revenge against Cargill. This is how I remember it happening, anyway. There was definitely a fight on the pier where the rest of our party stood by and cheered Magnus on.  User megane follows up the previous image with an appropriate defeat screen. I shudder to think of Cargill as a "family man." Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Oct 23, 2021 |
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May 18, 2021 23:14
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Update 1: Outer Heaven Here’s the main menu. “Start” is for a new game, while “Load” should be obvious. For those of you that never had a PSP (or didn’t play any PSP titles that used this feature), “Install” was an option on some PSP games to install extra data on the memory stick in order to speed up load times. I recall it making a fairly noticeable impact, although I’m not about to go digging out my PSP and charger just to give you exact comparisons. I’m playing my copy on a PC, so the Install feature doesn’t do anything in this case. ”Appendix” is something I’ll show off later on as part of an Extra Update.  Maaaan, it’s been a hot minute since I played this. Wayfarer of Time released on July 31st, 2012 in North America. This clear save is from when I beat the game about two and a half weeks later, on August 18th. Apparently, I beat it at roughly two in the morning. I only mention that because it reminded me of the days when I used to always be up into the wee hours of the morning. 9 years later and I am typically dead by midnight. Being fully awake and playing video games until 2am is a foreign concept to me now. If you’re curious, my save file made right before the last battle (pictured just below the Clear Save) has a Play Time of 39:11:29. The save file will show play time, in-game save location, and the Level/HP/MP of your four party members. I can’t show you that right now because there’s minor spoilers visible in my main and backup save.  Also that black bar in the Clear Save screenshot is me editing out my own name. Yes, I am one of those sad individuals that enters his real name for self-insert characters. In our case, we’ll be sticking with this dude’s default name: Crevanille. As clumsy as it is, I don’t trust the thread with naming duties for Main Characters. Crevanille has a last name in Japanese, but I don’t recall if it’s ever stated anywhere. There’s also a chance that it ends up spoiling a relationship to some other character, so I won’t bother to list it.   Do you really hate shopping that much? The game gives us a little leeway in how Crevanille acts. Generally speaking, the responses are typically: The Mostly Silent Protagonist, The rear end in a top hat, The Agreeable Hero, and The Snarky One. For the most part, I’ll let people in the thread decide how we should behave. For now, we’ll just be the snarky one.  A mule’s lot is hard. What!? Are you mutinying against your sister’s orders, Crevanille?Choice: “My ‘sister’s’?” or “*sigh* My “sister’s”? Well, close enough, given how long we’ve been together. I think of you as a younger brother, at least.Oh, Japan. You and your weird fascination with “just to be clear, there’s no blood relation. Any potential hooking up isn’t technically incest.” *Crevanille just lifts his hands up and shrugs while shaking his head* Hey, just how long have we known each other, anyway? Was it really fifteen years ago that Dad brought you home? Do you remember those days?I choose “No” here because I enjoy fighting back against any efforts by the game to push a sibling pairing. Hahaha, I’m not surprised. I don’t remember things from when I was two or three, either. But I’ll never forget the day I first met you. Thanks for putting the weight of the world on our shoulders, Dad #2. It’s tough to explain how shocked I was to hear that. It really scared me as a child. And Dad wouldn’t tell me what he meant, either… But now? However special you were supposed to be, you turned out to be such a normal guy…Choice: “Hey, I’m not normal!”, “I’m sure you’re right.”, “Sorry about that…”, “…..”. Sorry about that… Oh, no need to apologize for it.I kind of thought that response would be a bit snarkier. Based on Regina’s reaction, it seems as though Crevanille was legitimately apologetic. These choices are kind of a crapshoot sometimes. Still, whatever happened, bringing a child into a mercenary brigade is another matter… I really wonder what he was thinking, bringing you into our group. Well, enough about that. We need to get going! We finally get some control. Regina continues walking along the path to the left and we are unable to overtake her. All we can do is run around at three times her speed and wait for her to cross the bridge. There is a sparkly thing on the ground nearby, though. Let’s grab that.  We’ll have use for this later on. Quite a bit later on, actually.  I also open up the menu in order to change something that was carried over from my personal playthrough. Don’t worry about that for now. We can take a quick look at other stuff, though. Crevanille’s stats are shown in the middle. Here’s a rundown taken from the game’s manual: -STR: Affects weapon attack, rate of HP growth, armor STR. -DEX: Affects movement range, spell charge time, hit, and evasion. -INT: Affects rate of MP growth, and strength of spells. -ATK: Affects strength of weapon attacks. -DEF: Affects amount of damage received from enemy attacks. -MOV: Affects movement speed during battle. -ATW: Shows how long it takes before you can attack again. The lower the number, the shorter the time. So in every case except ATW, higher numbers are better. For ATW, you want lower numbers. ”Knacks” are something we can’t do anything with just yet, so we’ll skip that. “Items” and “Equip” should be self-explanatory, but I want to highlight something in both.  Because I’m using a Clear Save, there are a number of items and pieces of equipment already in our inventory from when I beat the game. I didn’t have a lot of unequipped armour sitting around when I beat the game, but the stuff I did have is absurdly broken for where we are right now. That said, I won’t be using any of it. The game itself is actually going to help enforce that. The armours in this game all have Strength requirements. All the endgame armour that I had left in my inventory from my playthrough requires a Strength stat of 100, at minimum, to wear. If you equip armour that the character doesn't have the Strength stat for, then they suffer a major penalty to movement. With Crevanille's current Strength, he'd be left immobile if I tried to slap any endgame armour on him (the MOV penalty would be -168). There are very few situations in this game where making your character a statue is beneficial to you. Most of the time you want your characters to be as mobile/fast as possible (for various reasons that I will explain when they become frustratingly relevant).  That said, I will be giving myself a slight leg up by giving Crevanille an endgame Ring. Rings provide some stat bonuses, but their real purpose is yet to be introduced. For the time being, I just want to be transparent and show you where Crevanille is getting his slightly higher stats from. It will allow me to steamroll most starter enemies, but it doesn’t turn him into a war god that can solo everything in his path. As such, mission strategy won't really change much as a result of these boosted stats. It's mostly to make my life a little easier.   Also, I’m showing you the Goods I currently have from the Clear Save because of one type of usable item that is not in my possession: Blessing Bells. If you played this game before, you know what I’m referring to. If you haven’t, then you’ll find out about Blessing Bells eventually. For now, just know that they are stupidly useful and I could spit in this game’s face if I had even a few of them at this stage. All the other items I have are certainly good, but not to the point of breaking difficulty. Most of them are status curative items and minor healing (I used all the good poo poo during the final boss fight). Key Items don’t transfer from a Clear Save, so there’s no worries about sequence breaking.  Anyway, here’s the dedicated “Status” screen for Crevanille. It gives a little more in-depth look at his resistances and whatnot, as well as some character art. ”Config” is the only other option we can mess with right now, but none of it is super important or interesting. You can turn Data Install on and off, adjust the sound from Stereo to Mono, turn on “Remember Cursor”, and so on. Basic stuff. You can also change the cursor, but we’ll get to that in time.  Moving on from my rambling, we spot somebody face down in the middle of the path just beyond the bridge. Hey, are you all right!?[Boy]: …N-Ngh… Crevanille… let’s go back to camp.Choice: “Sure”, “What about the shopping?”, “I knew this would end badly.” I knew this would end badly. Quiet, you! [Narrator]: The young man, whose name was Remus, told them he was traveling with his father when bandits struck. Remus barely escaped alive. Since Remus was close to Crevanille’s age, Crevanille was charged with looking after him. Awesome. We get saddled with dead weight.   Get a load of this dude with his gigantic loving shoulder pads. Choice: “I asked him to do something.”, “What do you mean?” What do you mean? I just thought you were supposed to be looking after him. That’s all. Speaking of Remus, though… I had my doubts about him at first, but he’s finally starting to snap out of it. I saw him borrow some books from the boss and Pamela the other day. Looked like medical books and stuff. Choice: “So he told me.”, “I didn’t know that.”, “…..” So he told me.Just a note: Once the thread chimes in with how they want Crevanille to generally act, I’ll stop listing the dialogue choices all the time. I just want to give everyone an idea of what the player is typically presented with. Oh, so you knew already. It’s all thanks to you being nice to him. I bet you’re glad, too, having something like a younger brother.Not really. He cramps our style. Whoops, nearly forgot that the boss was calling for me. Speaking of cramped style. Choice: “Nice work, Remus.”, “*nod*”, “…..”. *nod* Silent as always, eh? You were already participating in battles at my age, weren’t you? Amazing… I’ve yet to experience real combat for myself even once. So, what’s next on the agenda? I’ll follow you as always, so if anything comes up, just let me know. Remus joins our party, except not really. We can check his basic stats on the menu, but everything else is locked out for now.  Time to roam around camp and chat up our fellow Diamond Dogs. Well enough, I suppose…[Mercenary]: drat, you sure don’t sound like it. Still having confidence issues? Yes…[Mercenary]: Listen. Even if you haven’t seen combat yet, you’re still a member of the Alten Schwart mercenaries. ”Alten Schwart” (アルテン シュヴァルト/a-ru-ten shu-va-ru-to in Japanese) is supposed to mean “Old Sword.” That’s what they were going for, anyway. The problem is, while “Alten” is German for “Old”, that spelling is usually used in reference to the elderly (as in people). “Schwart” is also a misspelling of “Schwert” (which means sword). So, what we end up with is stuff like "Schwart for Old People" (as user VictualSquid put forth) or "Really Old Bacon Rind" (as user Cloacamazing! put forth, since Schwart is very close to Schwarte, which can mean "bacon rind"). "Alte Schwert" is probably what they should have gone with. [Mercenary]: Knowing you’re there to patch us up helps us fight better. So, have a little confidence and be proud of yourself! Thank you. I will.Talk to this person a second time for an item. In our case, it’s a Green Stone. If you are on a first playthrough, then I believe you get a Vulnerary (a starter healing item) instead. Good practice in this game is to make sure you are talking to NPCs multiple times.  Well… I did manage to get it working.[Mercenary #2]: Let’s see it then! O-Okay… Whomp whomp. [Mercenary]: …That could’ve gone better. Here, Crevanille, show him how it’s done. Choice: “*show him*”, “*don’t show him*”. I’m down for flexing on Remus. Let’s do it.  Wow! I’m impressed you can make it work so easily.[Mercenary #2]: These Ring Weapons were supposedly developed by some nation’s military. Ever since they hit the black market, you see mercenary corps like us using them more often. I don’t understand the fine details, but supposedly it’s triggered by one’s self-preservation instincts. So that’s it…[Mercenary #2]: In other words, you can’t make it work because your life’s never been in real danger. I see… What should I do if I can’t make it work in a real battle?[Mercenary #2]: You’ll just have to make do with a regular, heavy sword. So, Ring Weapons are a special type of weapon using technology from some super advanced country or something. Based on what this Mercenary just said, the main benefit to Ring Weapons seems to be how light they are. I’m sure the ability to summon and unsummon a weapon at will is also a major convenience, since you can more easily sneak them into places with tight security or use them with a disguise. The downside is that if you aren’t capable of summoning a Ring Weapon, then you’re stuck using the heavy-rear end jobber weapons.   I just came back from the village with supplies, so I have some to spare. Ah, Remus is with you… You’ll need this. Here, give me your hand. Sweet, free cash! Use it wisely.We’ll see what happens. *And then Pamela walks away* Pamela is a new character that was added for the PSP version. She doesn’t exist in the Wayfarer of Time (JP) or Return versions of the game. Ah, it’s you two. Together as always.Regina wandered out from that tent just to the south of Crev and Remus.  She implies that he’s in the tent, but the Boss is actually just off screen in the upper right. Our next job…?Choice: “Do they know where?”, “Too bad our furlough’s over.”, “At least we won’t be bored.” At least we won’t be bored. Haha… Getting stir crazy, eh?Of course. We haven’t had a chance to kill anything yet. You’d think there would have been a tutorial battle against forest wolves or something during that moment where we found Remus. If you want to know more, ask Dad yourself.Can do! Let’s—  Choice: “Are you kidding?”, “Her father scares me.”, “Yes, she is.” Are you kidding?Sorry Remus, but we’re going to keep our options open until at least the halfway point of the game. You don’t think so? She’s strong as the boss’s daughter ought to be, but she’s still a woman…That’s not really my problem. My issue is more with the fact that she’s a walking fashion disaster. I mean, look at this poo poo:  Silver platform boots, odd coloured stockings with a lace garter belt, red leather booty shorts, a random spattering of gold trinkets/bracelets, and a strip of material that only barely qualifies as a “tube top”. I may not fancy Remus’ look either, but at least he seems to have put some thought into it rather than throwing on literally the first things he saw when he woke up that morning.  This guy gets to have a name, but no portrait. Definitely a Red Shirt, so I wouldn’t go getting too attached to him (I actually don’t remember if he dies or not, but I’d be willing to bet on “Yes”). Just to the right of good old Mortis, there’s a pair of no-name mercenaries chatting about something.  He gives us a Red Stone. Sweet. We’ll stuff that in our pockets next to the Green Stone and hopefully make use of them someday soon. [Mercenary #2]: You have to fix your weapon…? Man, it must be awful, not being able to use Ring Weapons. Oh, right. Ring Weapons also apparently don’t need maintenance. That’s another benefit. The conversation stops there, but if we talk to the lady(?) mercenary, a different discussion starts. [Mercenary #2]: Oh, hey, Remus! Know why this guy doesn’t use a Ring Weapon? The first time he tried, lo and behold, a wooden hammer appeared! [Mercenary #1]: Don’t tell him that! Now I can’t give him my excuse about it being good training to use normal swords… Drawback to Ring Weapons: You don’t get a choice as to what your Ring Weapon is. I don’t remember if IV talks about it in detail, but in other Growlanser games a Ring will manifest a weapon based on its user’s personality. Anyway, we’ve talked to everyone in camp, so let’s check in on the strategy meeting between Big Boss, Bauer, and Pamela.   Indeed. There are gold mines on that island, with many kingdoms fighting over the rights. There are two factions. One has been working with the islanders all along and the other is the invading army. The island’s not small, but the fighting is so widespread that the whole place is now a battlefield. Boss, if you’ve already sealed the deal, is there a chance of winning? Or a reason to side with them? We have an even chance of victory, but with all your support, I’m sure we can turn the tide. All right. Then it’s our job to meet your expectations. I don’t doubt that you will. We’ll depart tonight. Go on and spread the word. Right away! I’ll go back to checking on our supplies, then.*Bauer and Pamela then wander off screen* Hm? You two heard all that…? Yes. We’re off to Lamplast Island. It’s to the south of Marquelay, out on the sea. Got it.We could have also responded with “…”. Um, boss…? I wanted to ask you something. What is it, Remus? Hm… I’m a mercenary, too! I don’t want to stay a burden on this brigade! I see… Very well, then.”We could always use designated bait.”  Crevanille, I want you to act as Remus’s bodyguard.Choices: “Yes, sir.”, “What!?”, “I hate to be kept from the front.” Yes, sir.As much as I hate being a babysitter, Dixon looks far and away more experienced than anyone else here, so it’s probably best not to argue with him. I-I’m sorry to inconvenience you. Thank you, though… No need to be ashamed. Everyone must start somewhere. Also, this is a solid point. Everyone has to suck it up and take their turn on Newbie Watch at some point, including the dude that looks like he’s wearing the front half of a semi-truck. Anyway, we’ll be off soon. Gather whatever you need.*Dixon wanders off* The boss reminds me of my father. You may not be his blood relation, but I envy you somewhat, having a man like him as a father. I must try my hardest in battle to repay the boss’s kindness! [Narrator]: The islanders were simple folk who lived off the fruit of the jungle and the fish of the sea. But with the discovery of gold, the island changed completely. Since the island belonged to no kingdom, every monarch sent soldiers at once to wrest control of the mining rights.  [Narrator]: In response, an opposing faction considerate of the islanders’ lives hired the Alten Schwart brigade.  Shiny! Give me shiny! So, this is Lamplast Island… I’m going to meet with the commander. I’ll be back shortly. Wait for me here.We get control back as Dixon walks away. I immediately grab the blue shiny, which is of course a Blue Stone, to go with our Green and Red.  [Hobson]: Yes, Crevanille? Are you here to help maintain the mast? If not, then don’t bother me. Also there are two more named Red Shirts. Moving on, we can’t get past Remus and Regina, so we’ll need to talk to at least one of them. So many people here… Could they all be mercenaries? I’d like to chat with them a bit. Would you mind coming with me? What a tranquil island. Hard to believe it’s a war zone. I like the sound of free. We can rest and create a record over there.The camera pans over to a building in the harbour. [Mercenary]: I wonder what kind of fighting style these guys use. Time to let loose![Mercenary #2]: I feel sorry for the natives, what with those guys storming in and acting like they own the place…  After talking to everyone on the dock, we move towards Pamela, only for this scene to interrupt us. [Soldier #2]: Sounds like a spell! [Soldier #1]: You and your “spells.” There’s no such thing! Was the voyage okay, Crevanille? We might see combat tomorrow, so if you’re not feeling well, you should rest now. We’ve been granted the use of the harbor. Might as well take the opportunity to go ashore.After talking to Pamela, I go and chat up those two soldiers for a bit of extra info. [Soldier #2]: Who’re you? We’re, um… with the Alten Schwart mercenary brigade…[Soldier #2]: Oh… you’ve got quite the reputation for a group with under a hundred members. Right. So, despite being the Alten Schwart mercenary “brigade”, we don’t actually have that many mercenaries on payroll. “Brigade”, in terms of word origin, can simply mean a group that fights. In terms of modern military formations, however, a brigade typically has a few thousand troops. Alten Schwart is more like a mercenary platoon or company. [Soldier #1]: That won’t matter much if they die before they can reach the enemy. What do you mean?[Soldier #1]: The soldiers here supposedly have this weird weapon.  They developed the flamethrower. Got it. [Soldier #2]: I’m telling you, it’s a spell! [Soldier #1]: And I’m telling YOU you’re acting like a child! Spells only exist in fairy tales to scare kids.  Are you implying they might not?! You think they…? I see. I’m somewhat surprised. It would be interesting if they did exist, though. Perhaps… Oh! If they’d use their wits more, they wouldn’t lean on superstition so much. I take it you’re not a believer. I won’t dismiss the idea out of hand.   You have no idea how terribly wrong you are. Certain enemies in this game will be making liberal use of spells to wipe the floor with us, including co-op spells that the enemy is able to use with only a single unit because gently caress you, that’s why. Well, let’s get going. I need to explain the operation to you all. Dixon wanders off screen to the right, but following him will take us into the next segment. Stop at this door first in order to save the game. Resting isn’t that important this time, because you can’t get into a battle at this stage and the party is fully healed between the camp and harbor scenes.  [Narrator]: A few days later…  And now we’re on the battlefield. You can chat with one of the mercenaries and Regina, but they don’t have much to say. It’s basically just “The enemy is supposedly using a weird weapon” and “Shut up and focus!”  When we try to move towards Remus, a scene kicks in. [Mercenary #2]: We can’t let those Alten Schwart punks take all the credit! We’ll handle this! [Mercenary #1]: Right!  That worked about as well as you would expect. [Soldier #1]: Is that the big scary weapon? [Enemy Soldier #1]: Begin pumping! There’s a little animation of the rear soldier looking like he’s using a bike pump. Not sure you guys should be shouting these instructions out loud. [Enemy Soldier #2]: Pumping complete! [Enemy Soldier #1]: Firing now! *The soldiers spew out a bit more fire* Soldier #1 then hauls rear end out of here before Soldier #2 even starts to speak. [Soldier #2]: It’s spewing out fire! It really is a spell! And then Soldier #2 gets the hell out of Dodge. That’s no spell! They’re just setting fire to the oil from the spout! Shoot fire arrows at those barrels! Well, so much for the weird super weapon. That sure was easy. Good! Now’s our chance! Get them! Regina! Remus! Crevanille! I’ll leave this to you! What about you? I’m counting on you! Be careful!Dixon leaves and takes the two archer mercenaries with him. This is finally it… Wh-What do I do…? Oh… I should get my weapon out… Yay! Now we’ve got a ranged unit! Well, a second ranged unit. Regina uses a big-rear end boomerang like she’s Sango from Inuyasha. Umm, so next, I pick the Attack command… Then I select which enemy I want to attack… I must do my best! And that’s basically it as far as tutorials go. If you are playing this for the first time, then you do have the option of a full tutorial from Regina, but I’ll just skip it and explain as we go. In the top right corner you can see a map which shows the positioning of units. The Square button (or whatever the hell you have mapped to represent that button) will let us scroll around the full map and check some basic details on enemies. These guys are all level 1, so they shouldn’t be a problem to deal with. Regina acts on her own during this fight, but she’s a ranged fighter that’s capable of tanking hits well. Remus is someone you should be concerned about, however, as it is possible for him to get taken out quickly and easily.  There are two ways to move/attack. If you choose “Attack” and pick an enemy, then the character will make a beeline for them automatically (so long as their ATW gauge is empty). You can also choose “Move”, which allows you to scroll around the map and set waypoints for the character to follow. You can set 3 waypoints, which allows you to create a rudimentary path around obstacles or enemies (so long as they don’t move, anyway). If you set all waypoints on the same spot, then you can get the character to just move in a straight line. The move command is useful for positioning and getting characters away/towards specific spots. If a melee enemy attacks a character while they are traveling on their planned route, then the character will stop to retaliate. Basically, the character isn’t going to adapt their route based on changes to the battlefield. You need to keep an eye on them and handle that stuff yourself. If that flanking position you wanted them in suddenly has Level 30 Death Wizards in it, then you better hope you notice in time because the character sure as hell won’t be giving you a heads up. You can interrupt a character to change their orders by opening the battle menu with Square and picking which character you want to command.  Oh, wait. Stuff is happening. We’ll return to tutorial town once Remus is done getting ambushed. Ack! Ngh…! Fight, Remus! Ahhhhh![Enemy Soldier]: Gah! And the enemy soldier gets taken out. D-D-Did I do it…? Wh-What now? What do I do…? Calm down, Remus! Remus, all you have to do is follow his commands. Just do what he says and you’ll be fine! …O-Okay…*Remus joined the party! For reals this time* What should I do…? Tell me, Crevanille! We now have control over Remus. He’s a ranged attacker, which is good because he has the HP and Defence of wet tissue paper. Since this is a starter battle, there isn’t much we can do here in terms of tactics. Be careful with where you position Remus, however. A hit from an enemy archer can easily shave off 40% of his health. Regina will operate on her own.  Archer characters have absurd range by the way. This enemy archer tagged Regina immediately without moving a step. The good news is that they aren’t dealing much damage.  Regina’s range is similarly absurd, but unfortunately we can’t direct her to take out the archer first.  Remus’ damage is nowhere near Regina’s, so he won’t be contributing a lot to this fight. It is important for him to at least try and get a kill in, though. We’ll go over why that is once the battle finishes. I should also note that the archer in this screenshot spawned in. They weren’t just obscured by the tree. Growlanser IV loves spawning enemies in front of, behind, to the sides, and on top of you at seemingly random moments. This is one of the many different ways that this game enjoys loving with you. You’ll get to see all the other ways as we progress.  I manually moved Remus just behind the big rock next to Regina. This results in Regina taking the arrows from the enemy archer, which largely bounce harmlessly off of her. Remus manages to take out a single soldier during the fight, just before said soldier can throw himself against Regina/Crevanille and get bodied by them. A different soldier ends up dropping a Red Stone for us.  Crevanille dealt with that Soldier in one shot. Even with the endgame Ring, his damage is still not even close to Regina’s.  At this point, the enemy forces realize that poo poo has hit the fan and they decide to haul rear end out of here.  No survivors.  Seeing as how the enemy is trying to run, I should mention another benefit that ranged attackers have (aside from being able to attack from relative safety). If an enemy or player takes a hit, they get a small amount added to their ATW gauge (that bar under the character portraits), which must be empty in order for a character to take action. It isn’t a lot, but even a half second of slowdown can result in a pursuing enemy unit catching up, and once a unit has a melee character on their rear end it becomes much more difficult to escape.  The surprise archer ends up dropping another Red Stone. Once the last enemy is dealt with, we score a “Mission Complete”. Random Battles end when either you beat all enemies, or the enemies beat you. Mainline missions are different. There are three ways to finish a main mission in Growlanser: Mission Complete: Quickly complete all mission objectives (required and optional). Mission Clear: Complete the required objectives in a decent amount of time. Mission Passed: Complete the required objectives at some point before you die of old age. The better you do in finishing a mission, the better your rewards will be. For this mission, Complete means we killed every enemy and didn't lose much HP. Clearing this mission involves taking out every enemy but having a character drop below half health (in other words, Remus). I assume a Pass happens if one or more of the retreating enemies escapes, but Regina will almost certainly snipe everyone before they can get away even if you have Crevanille and Remus sit around and do nothing. It is possible to fail this mission. The Defeat Conditions for this battle are: Regina Dies, Crevanille Dies, or Remus Dies. Crevanille could get offed if you have incredibly bad luck, but I don’t think it’s possible for Regina to get killed here. Remus is the most likely one to cost you a victory. He’s also the most likely reason why you might miss out on a Mission Complete. One hit from an arrow and you are almost assuredly getting a Mission Clear instead.  At the end of the battle, you get a results screen. ARP is a bonus earned during the mission based on enemies taken out by a particular character. It’s a little like Fire Emblem, in that you want to make sure that every party member is getting an opportunity at kills. There is a skill you can get later on that provides a little ARP to everyone, though. The game is a little vague on how ARP works, but we’ll talk more about it once other gameplay mechanics are introduced.   Crevanille and Remus both get a level up from this. Crevanille got 15 base exp, 6 clear bonus exp, and 1 extra exp for a total of 22. Remus got 12 base, 6 clear bonus, and 1 bonus for a total of 19. …Looks like it’s over. Dad! Thanks. We didn’t see much trouble here with you keeping them off our back. Mm. Everyone is safe, then… ……We are free to wander around the battlefield a little bit here. Talking to Dixon just results in him telling us to check on Remus, though. That’s the real reason for this moment. Might as well get to it, since nobody else has anything interesting to say. ….. Oh… Crevanille.Choice: “You okay?”, “You did great.”, “That was an embarrassment.” Well, you didn’t take any hits that cost us a Mission Complete, so we’ll be nice this time. You did great. Oh… Th-Thanks…Remus rejoins us. Head back to Dixon to finish things up.  …Y-Yes… I’m glad you made it through. Th-Thank you… Um… Would it be all right if I take the rest of the day off? I can see that battle tired you out. Very well, go get some rest. Yes, sir…*Remus wanders slowly off screen* …I hope he’s able to sleep tonight… *Remus takes off his hat* ….. I… *sob* I… Technically the arrow did that. Also, you killed two people. Give yourself a little more credit.  The camera pans down to Crevanille and Dixon and we’re given control. Trying to walk up to Remus or talking to Dixon immediately both result in the same thing happening, though.  …Can’t sleep, eh? U-Um… No need to excuse yourself. Everyone goes through this. No one can last as a mercenary if they don’t grow accustomed to that… Accustomed…? But listen. Though it’s necessary to get used to it, you mustn’t forget the way you’re feeling now. If we forget that, we become nothing more than murderers.Pretty sure forgetting that is what leads to being a psychopath. Murderer remains true whether or not you feel bad about it. Murderers… To prevent senseless bloodshed, it becomes necessary to involve professional soldiers who know when to quit. Professional soldiers… Mercenaries? That’s right. True, we make our living through war. But I believe one can find one’s own worth within that niche. I vowed to become as strong as I could so as to prevent unnecessary bloodshed. Thank you… I suppose all I can do is try to be stronger. Both physically and emotionally… Indeed. You can’t put it off forever, but there’s no rush. I appreciate this part, because it’s more believable than the typical “heroes beat up some thugs and then the conflict is resolved.” This might not be a major conflict, but it’s going to take a hell of a lot longer than a weekend to resolve it. We’re going to be here for a while. Yes, sir. Well, I’m heading to bed. I suggest you get some rest as well.*Dixon walks back down to where Crevanille is*  Fat chance of that.  The game is giving us an option to save, so that seems like a good place to take a break. Next time: We get to do a little shopping! Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 02:42 on May 20, 2021 |
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May 18, 2021 23:15
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VictualSquid posted:Alten Schwart doesn't mean old schwart. It means schwart for old people. Dammit, thanks for pointing that out. I'm forgetting about usage context/homonym stuff. I think "Alt" is typically for old with an object. In terms of word order, that part is flexible from what I know. In this case it would read more like "Old People Schwart". McTimmy posted:Satoshi Urushihara loves two things and ridiculously huge shoulderpads are one of them. I will touch on Urushihara eventually. I planned on mentioning it in the intro, but it was already getting too long. Maybe in an extra update. PotatoManJack posted:Games seems interesting with a bit of an SRPG flair to the combat. Definitely looking forward to this one! As frustrating as it can be at times, it is an interesting and fun take on S/T RPGs. Having free movement instead of being locked on a grid is nice. It's also possible to use terrain to your advantage (especially with ranged characters) to impede enemy movement. My only major complaint is that you can't zoom out the map to see everything at once. It's easy to lose track of enemy movements sometimes because the camera is shooting around all over the place during attacks (you can turn that off, but that creates its own problems). Seraphic Neoman posted:I can already see the twist with Remus coming from a mile away. I honestly don't remember if there is a big twist with Remus. I do remember something about him, but it's more humorous than shocking, mainly because of Urushihara's artistic hobbies. SIGSEGV posted:I really wish that people working on projects involving another language got a native speaker at some point to look over the words. While I don't know much about German, I have experienced this a lot with Japanese games that try to freehand English. Sometimes all it takes is for you to show the phrase to a native speaker and go "Does this mean what I want it to mean?" I remember that Conception II tried to give some characters English-sounding names and that resulted in one girl literally being named "Fine Glass". This is also why you should never get a foreign language tattoo without strict consultation from a native speaker (that likes you). Melomane Mallet posted:I loved the crap out of this game back when it came out. Looking forward to seeing an LP of it. I loved it whenever I made it through a mission. I remember ripping my hair out during missions, though. It was a frustrating, yet rewarding experience. That said, I played it as soon as it came out. In the time since release, ways to break the game's difficulty over your knee have been firmly established. Also, that's 1 vote for "The Hero" personality. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 13:03 on May 19, 2021 |
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May 19, 2021 11:19
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So what I'm getting is "Act like the hero for serious/emotional moments, but be snarky when we're just hanging out and wandering around." I can make that work. Not every choice gives you four possible ways to respond, after all.Omobono posted:I bounced hard off of this (PSP version) fairly early because I really couldn't wrap my head about where the game expected me to be level/power-wise and I probably missed something about the combat/equipment systems. A lot of the difficulty from this game comes from not being precognizant. The game spawns reinforcements mid-mission constantly, and it usually accompanies a sudden and stark change in mission objectives that it's very difficult to prepare for even if you know what's coming. I remember going through a lot of trial and error when I played, so I'm not surprised to hear about people who tapped out on it. You can be above the recommended level for a mission and still get your rear end handed to you purely because you moved a character to the wrong part of the map or didn't take enough ranged/magic people with you. Also, Feene was great. My favourite may have been Narika, but Feene as a character was a hell of a lot better than many of the others. I think the worst I said about her was that she was a bit too "perfect". Polsy posted:Useless trivia - in Japanese all the responses as phrased as reactions rather than straight-up dialogue. This mostly doesn't make a whole lot of difference but all the '...' responses are variously 'ignore him' and 'say nothing' and 'stay quiet' and I can't entirely blame them for just localising it all into ... instead of coming up with a dozen synonyms for the same. I kinda prefer it the localization way to be honest. I know people rag on the stereotypical "..." moments in JRPGs, but I mostly like them because they don't explicitly spell out why the character isn't saying anything. "Ignore him", "say nothing", and "stay quiet" all imply something about how the character is responding or reacting. "..." can mostly be left to the player's imagination or personal understanding of the context. It's also a good option for when you hate all the other possible options. Of course, you have to be careful with doing this in localization. Getting carried away with it is how you get Squall from FFVIII and his now infamous use of "Whatever." Cloacamazing! posted:Schwarte is also a word for crust, so for me this name translates to some really old bacon rind. I kind of feel like getting the thread title changed to something like "Schwart for Old People" or "Really Old Bacon Rind" now. I didn't think those two words would be producing so many amusing meanings. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 18:22 on May 19, 2021 |
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May 19, 2021 18:17
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ultrafilter posted:"..." is onomatopoeia for flatulence and you can't prove it's not. I'll be honest, I can't really find a way to argue against that. MythosDragon posted:I have arrived, thank you for fulfilling my request, friend. Also my request for hero personality is just to choose all the flirting options regardless of gender, since the funniest scene in the entire game relies on you being able to flirt with a dude. I've been waffling on this for a while, which I'm sorry for. I think I twice gave you the impression that it was my next plan, only to ditch it. I intended to do it after Conception Plus, but I think wrangling with that weird text issue got me frustrated and I just ended up starting Sweet Fuse for no reason. To tell the truth, I'm not sure what prompted me to start this now. I wake up some days with weird projects in mind. I will attempt to balance your request with the thread's desire for a heroic yet sometimes snarky protagonist.
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May 21, 2021 00:34
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MythosDragon posted:Also you didn't go into detail about this, but the protagonist's personality is measured in some kind of hidden point system, and if you go too far in one direction, ostensibly opposite choices get grayed out. IE be too much of a dick and you can't be nice later, or be too stoic and you can't flirt at all. Though it can be inconsistent. The dialogue choice thing hasn't happened yet, which is why I didn't mention it. Our first look at that system will happen in the next update. I'll be alternating between Sweet Fuse and this, and since I just posted a SF update today, I'll be working on GL tomorrow. I didn't realize that about the items. I just assumed that certain free items were replaced with cash in NG+. I'll mention that next update, when I discuss item limits. Commander Keene posted:Clearly this means the intended method for selecting responses is to roll a die and choose randomly. Wouldn't want to get locked out of a choice by being too predictable, after all. Clearly. If the game wants to prevent you from becoming an inconsistent character, then the solution is to simply be inconsistent from the very beginning.
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May 21, 2021 01:21
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Note: I tinkered with my recording settings a little. Hopefully the screenshots look a little sharper now. Update 2: Not getting paid enough for this  Guess who had to replay the game from the beginning! Stupid recording programs. I am also partly to blame, though. I need to dedicate 1 slot as my “only save over this after two updates worth of video has been used” save.  Well, at least I relearned this lesson 20 minutes into the game instead of 20 hours. Let’s move on. We find ourselves in a little situation update with the mercenary leadership. Wonder what’s going on? All right, everyone’s here. We learned yesterday that our enemy is stronger than we anticipated. Never seen a thing that shoots fire like that before…[Mortis]: Yeah. If the boss hadn’t given us the heads up, who knows what could’ve happened to us… [Ned]: Like you’d even notice… He’s got a point.[Mortis]: You two are so cruel… Poor Mortis. Jokes aside, we must discuss our counter-strategy from here out. Yes. Someone’s taken technology from the ruins and fixed it up. I overheard the liberation army talking about a tactician named Alec with the occupying army. He brought in some mystical artifact. It has nothing to do with spells, though. Good old Alexander the Great. He was so great he even crossed dimensions to conquer anime worlds. [Mortis]: I’ve heard the same thing. Hm…At this point we’re free to wander around and talk to our companions. They don’t really have anything new to say, though. They mostly just speculate on what we just heard.  After walking around a little, this guy will wander in from the right side of the screen. What you see just barely visible to the right is actually a tent. Ah, I’ve been waiting for you.[Peddler]: I looked into the occupation army’s tactician, like you asked. [Mortis]: Boss?! Let’s hear it. [Peddler]: He’s applying his research results from that time to the occupation army here. Dulkheim… the militarized nation on the mainland.We’re going to be getting a full rundown of all the regional powers in a little while, so we won’t get into detail on Dulkheim right now. [Peddler]: But that aside, I have terrible news! That flamethrowing device Alec devised will be delivered again tomorrow! And the new version has a much longer range than the last! If the new one has a greater reach than yesterday’s, we’re in trouble…[Ned]: Wish we had a weapon like that. Any ideas, Crevanille?We get three options here. Crevanille can suggest destroying it en route, stealing it, or sneaking in and destroying it. The thread wants to play Crevanille as The Hero who is also snarky (when appropriate, that is). All three of these options could be construed as “The Hero” in my mind. Sneaking in to destroy it could be argued as being underhanded. But the other two options are heroic in their own way (Idealist vs. Pragmatic). Let’s steal it for ourselves.I make a judgement call and choose Pragmatic Heroism. Destroying this single weapon isn’t going to noticeably shift the tide of this war. We just destroyed one of them yesterday and there’s already a (improved) replacement arriving on the front lines. Taking it and using it for our side could drastically shake things up, though. It would also help put our fellow mercenary pals in less danger. Stealing it, huh…? Hm… Stealing the enemy’s weapon… What’s your call, boss? drat right. Let’s snag us a Peace Walker. Let’s work with the liberation army and conduct a large-scale diversion. I’ll stay on the front again. We’ll keep the enemy generals occupied. That will leave the transport lightly guarded, then. You can count on us! That’s where you come in, Crevanille. Well, we suggested it. Can’t exactly back out from the responsibility now. Also, The Hero wouldn’t try and wimp out. I’ll do it. I’m counting on you. Santos and Remus both show up from the bottom of the screen to ring the dinner bell. It’s only at this moment that I realize we basically just volunteered Remus for a risky mission without his knowledge. [Ned]: Awesome! Let’s eat! Is the meeting over?Remus then rejoins the party and everyone starts milling around the area. Good luck, Crevanille! Does this seem like an impossible mission for just two people? Any mission is impossible if you believe it to be. Have faith in yourself. You can do this. We’ll be supporting you. Just be confident and carry out the mission.Everyone has some words of encouragement for us, so there’s no particular reason to chat them up. They will slowly leave the map, however, so if you do want to talk to them all then don’t run around aimlessly too much and start with the characters closest to the bottom edge of the screen. Every time a unit leaves the map, the screen will shift over to show them walking out. This is true for moments like these as much as it is true for missions. Everything will completely stop while the map scrolls over (you can’t move or do anything and also other characters/monsters will be frozen). This becomes a little irritating when there are multiple people/things leaving, because the screen will do this every second or two. On the other hand, it is a good thing that the game makes sure you are aware of who/what has exited the field and where they did it (obviously this is more important during missions).  You can hit up the tent to the right in order to rest up and Save. Once again, our HP has refilled since a day or more passed after that last battle. You may want to get into the habit of resting anyway, though. If you change equipment then HP or MP totals may change and those won’t automatically be topped off.  We can also talk to the Peddler, who will be our first chance to shop in this game.  He doesn’t have much to offer. In terms of Armor, he has Clothes (default armor) and Heavy Clothes. If this is your first playthrough, then grab a set of Heavy Clothes for Crevanille. You should just barely have enough for it and he’ll be the frontline fighter for the next few missions (since Remus is meant to be ranged). In my case, I buy a set for Remus, just in case. Crevanille is rocking an endgame ring, so he doesn’t need extra protection right now. Heavy Clothes have a STR requirement of 4, but Remus can handle that. It boosts his DEF by 6, taking it from 9 to 15.  Items are limited to basic healing and Antidote. Poison isn’t a concern just yet, so if you have some cash left over then it may not hurt to grab a Vulnerary. Not like you’ll be able to afford a second set of Heavy Clothes, anyway. Might as well use the money for something. By the time the shop inventory gets expanded, we’ll be able to enter random battles and grind for cash anyway. Now that shops have started to appear, I should mention that the Item limit in this game is 9. You can only carry 9 of each kind of item and if you acquire another one beyond that then it’s replaced with cash. Originally I thought Pamela giving us 8 Ril was a NG+ thing, but user MythosDragon pointed out that it was actually a result of me already being maxed out on Vulnerary. Anyway, head for the bottom edge of the screen when you’re ready.   [Mortis]: You guys hit the transport, like we planned. The head guard has a whistle, so get it away from him. Once you have it, the pack animals will follow you instead. And you, Mortis?[Mortis]: My job’s to secure your retreat. Once you get the animals, flee south. I’ll be waiting.  Mortis heads off to the south to secure our route and then we immediately have our cover blown when one of the soldiers spots us. [Occupation Army Captain]: What?! You two, deal with this! I’ll stay right here! [Occupation Army Soldier]: Understood! And we’re off! The main objective (for now) is to take out the Captain (Level 2) and grab the whistle. The two accompanying soldiers (each Level 1) will immediately head straight for Crevanille and Remus.  Be careful here. Despite what the Captain just told his subordinates, he will haul rear end to the north as soon as the battle starts. The mission is failed if he reaches the top edge of the map (not this screen, the map. It’s an important distinction). I have Remus attack the closest soldier while sending Crevanille off to chase the captain. As soon as Remus takes out that first soldier, I have him target the Captain in order to slow him down a little bit so Crevanille can catch up quicker. Crevanille should be able to catch the Captain either way, but slowing him down leaves him further away from the edge of the map. The second soldier has aggroed on Crevanille by this point, so he’s no longer headed for Remus. The Captain has about 20-25 HP (we can’t see exact amounts at the moment). Crevanille hit for 18 and Remus had previous scored a hit for 6. You shouldn’t have to worry much about counterattacks, since the Captain will usually focus on trying to run, rather than engaging in a 1v1 fight.  Once he’s dead, we need to manually move Crevanille to the red shiny point where the Captain just stood. That’s the whistle, and we need it in order to get the transport animals to follow us.  An alternate strategy is to have Remus attack the Captain and have Crevanille go straight for the soldiers, but Remus is more likely to have his attacks Dodged/Blocked. Dodging/Blocking will happen sometimes and completely negates damage. Remus also doesn’t deal as much damage, so there’s a chance that the Captain will be able to escape, or at the very least cover more distance/get too far away from Crevanille for him to catch up in time. The only risk with my strategy is that the soldiers may decide to keep their attention on Remus, but he’ll likely win that damage race even if they do (unless you get real unlucky and they keep Blocking/Dodging or scoring Criticals). [Occupation Soldier]: Wh-What the…!? Sir Alec, we’re in trouble!  Once the last soldier is dead, reinforcements will appear in the north. Two soldiers and the big man himself, Alec. [Alec]: The nerve of them, trying to steal my invention! You two! We’re taking back our weapons!  I-Is that… this Alec person? So now our objectives have changed. Crevanille is now caught halfway up the field with Remus sitting in the southeast corner. We’ve got two more Level 1 soldiers to deal with and also Alec, the Level 3 Tactician. If you want a Mission Complete, then you have to take out Alec. The Transport Animals will follow Crevanille now that he has the whistle and they also have their own HP bars. That said, I don’t think they can be targeted by the enemy (not in this case, anyway), so the Mission Failure conditions have likely changed to be “Crevanille or Remus dies.”  I haven’t tested it, but I think you can get a Mission Clear if you have Crevanille escape to the South with the transport animals (that was our intended objective, according to Mortis). We’re not going to do that, obviously. Despite the reputation, Alec doesn’t even warrant his own character portrait. We’re not running from some nobody like that.  I have Crevanille run south just a little bit so that Remus has a chance to get some shots in before they catch up with the convoy. If Crevanille took some damage during that first phase of the battle, then pop a healing item instead of moving him. He should have ample time to heal up and prepare before the enemies reach him. In the meantime, Remus will have likely dealt with at least one of the soldiers.  During the fight, you may see Remus level up one of his Ring Slots. As I mentioned before, the true purpose of Rings has not been introduced yet, so for the time being this means nothing to us. Once the enemies are comfortably in range of Remus (and he has taken out one of the soldiers), you can have Crevanille start his attack on whomever is left.  [Alec]: I may have been a researcher, but I can hold my own in a fight! Alec also has about 25 HP. He hits harder than the Captain, but he’s nothing to worry about for Crevanille. It should be an easy kill. [Alec]: I-Impossible… My plans… They can’t end here…  We hardly knew ye, Alec. Upon his death, there is a chance that Alec will drop an “Unidentified Ring.” We’ll be able to appraise it in a little bit and find out what it is. Anyway, that’s a Mission Complete. The weapon is ours. Also I guess we acquired two giant turkey creatures or something. Crevanille and Remus both gain another level and we nab about 75 Ril. W-We won… We really did it! Let’s hurry back! The others are waiting! We’re immediately brought back to the meeting field. Amazing work! Not only did you take out their supplies, you even bested their tactician! You should’ve seen the panic that spread when the enemy got the news. Ahhh, it was sweet… Wish I could’ve shown it to you. This will make our job much easier. If all goes well, we may be able to end this war before long. We’ll have Crevanille and Remus to thank in that case. That’s no bad thing, Bauer. Better that it end soon if it helps to stabilize the islanders’ lives. True. Anyway, I’m pleased with your performance. I may be able to trust you with more important missions in the future… Sleep well tonight.Yay! We get praised by Big Boss!  Oh, come on. Can’t you just let us enjoy that for like, a second?  [Soldier]: Go! Push on! Keep at it! …This is too easy. Think they have something up their sleeve?[Occupation Soldier #1]: Ngh… They’re good… [Occupation Soldier #2]: Just a little longer until we can use that thing we dug up…! [Occupation Soldier #1]: Oh yeah! *The screen then shifts back to where Bauer is* I mean it, something’s off here. We’re going to fall back for now and rendezvous with the boss![Mercenary]: Got it! *Bauer and the two mercenaries with him decide to peace out and leave to the north*  *The screen flashes white for a moment as the ground rumbles* Looks like Bauer was right to be suspicious. poo poo’s about to go down. [Occupation Soldier #1]: Wh-What was that light? It came from over by the castle. [Occupation Soldier #2]: Don’t tell me that doohickey went berserk? Nah… but what else could it have been? *The screen flashes and rumbles again* [Occupation Soldier #1]: That came from close by! [Occupation Soldier #2]: What in the world’s going on!?    Ignorant, arrogant humans… I shall annihilate you before you can repeat your errors! And now we’re back here. We can try to talk to people, but they just have some generic lines. If you talk to some people or wander around for a few seconds, then a scene will kick in. The screen will flash white and slowly fade while the ground rumbles a bit. What was that? An explosion… in the east? Boss! Bauer! What’s going on? [Mercenary]: The first one was over near their castle. The next one was at the battlefield where we just were! It’s slowly coming closer… Everyone, retreat to the harbor!*Everyone else books it off screen* We should hurry to the harbor, too!You can still use the tent to the right, but there isn’t much point. Just leave to the south. We find ourselves back at the dock with everyone asking what the hell is going on. Run over to Dixon, Bauer, Pamela, and Regina, who are standing over by the boat.  Check out the cutscene and revel in the 2012 voice acting that sounds like early 2000’s voice acting!  They’re here, dad. What are we gonna do now? Oh, there you are. !!   That’s probably a harbinger of bad things to come.  …Well, I guess that solves the Blood Hey, is everyone all right!? Yes. I-I think so. Damnit! It’s getting closer! *sobbing the entire time* Oh, Jack! Please hang in there! Jack… No! Jack’s… Jack’s… Gah!I have absolutely no idea what name she is saying here, so this is my best attempt at a guess. At different points it sounds like Jack, Jackson, Dag, and Tag.    Boss, look!Pretty sure he can see it, Remus. The sky doesn’t routinely explode lightning like that. Is that…  God is not amused, apparently. No… this is happening too soon. We’re not ready for this yet. Boss? Why are you looking up at the sky like that? Is there really something up there? So I take it you aren’t able to see it? Boss… If we don’t hurry up and evacuate, everyone will die for sure. All right. Prepare to evacuate! Let’s move! Everybody, get on the ship, now! And then there’s a totally inexplicable shot where the camera pans up Regina’s body while she strikes a pose. The only explanation I can come up with is they crammed this shot in purely so they could use it in the opening eyecatch.  We also get our hero shot as the ship sails away.  In case you are wondering, that cutscene doesn’t exist in the original PS2 version. PS2 Growlanser 4 does have some cutscenes, but new ones were created for the PSP version, which explains how Pamela is included in this one. In the PS2 version, this scene takes place using in-game sprites (and Pamela isn’t present at all, since she was created for Over Reloaded). We get an option to save, here. I would recommend taking it, if only so you can make a habit of rotating your saves. Growlanser does have some content that is easy to miss if you aren’t careful. You also want to make sure you have plenty of saves so that you can quickly retry missions for Completes.  [Narrator]: Marquelay is a small kingdom to the south of the continent. Its warm climate attracts many visitors. ---Marquelay – Dock 3---  We start just down the dock from where Bauer is, but there’s nothing to do besides talk to Remus. I wonder if the ones on the other ships made it out safe. None of the ships here seem like they came from the island, though.After that, head up to where everyone else has gathered.  I saw the one behind us sink. What!? Then what about the rest!? I lost sight of them along the way. If they were in our current, they should’ve drifted around here… Are… are we the only ones who made it? No…”If only I hadn’t held everyone up for that photoshoot!”  Regina… So many people… gone… But dying in a fight is one thing. A weird explosion out of nowhere is no way for a soldier to go! What the hell was that, anyway!? Not even lighting up an oil barrel would cause an explosion that big! Boss… where do we go from here?Okay, I think everyone needs to chill for a second. I’m sure the boss has it covered. Hm… ….. Everyone, listen carefully. Okay then, never mind. I guess he’s just going to burn the whole thing down. Where will the old people get their Schwart from now? [Mercenary]: Huh? Seriously? Don’t interrupt![Mercenary]: All right…  But for those of you who wish to use this opportunity to follow another path, I invite you to consider it.We can now chat with some of the people nearby. Some of the mercenaries are lost in their own conversations, but most of the named characters have something to say. I’m going to take over the mercenary brigade. Though even if someone else was in charge, I’d still keep being a mercenary. Why not try something else? Something else…? Should I open a bakery like Santos? That’s not really my style, you know? I wouldn’t mind having Pamela for my second-in-command, though… She’s a capable girl. She managed Alten Schwart all by herself.The “girl” comment reminds me that I haven’t really talked about ages yet. Crevanille’s age isn’t mentioned in the manual, but I believe he’s meant to be around 17-19. Remus is only 15, Regina is 20, and Pamela is 27. I don’t have Bauer or Dixon’s ages. My guess would be that Bauer is probably in his late 20’s or early 30’s. Dixon is harder to pin down. I want to say mid 50’s, given that he has a 20-year old daughter, but there’s another character later on who looks older than him and is somehow only 45. Then again, the new brigade will be a lot smaller, so I’m sure I can manage!In terms of the No Portrait Squad: Santos says that they plan to open a bakery and Mortis talks about his hometown of Klasdahl being within walking distance of here. Another mercenary wonders about what they will do. What am I going to do? The boss seems to have a plan, so I guess I’ll go along with whatever he says. Me? I’m going with dad. Do you want to come along? Or are you going your own way? I’ll come with you.The people demand a good boy hero, so we’ll stick together with our not-sister and stepdad. I knew it! It’ll be good to have you with us. It’s hard parting with everyone after all we’ve been through, but there is something I have to do. And in order to do it… Crevanille, I’d like your help. Of course.Once again, good boy hero. Thank you. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you. I’m sorry to burden you with this, Bauer. But I know you’ll be a great leader. Don’t worry about it. And if you don’t mind my asking… Can we keep the name Alten Schwart? …I don’t see a problem with that. It’s a rather famous name, and it should prove useful in finding work.The “Old Bacon Rind” mercenary group lives on!  As I recall, Dulkheim is currently at war with Iglesias. I recommend siding with Dulkeim. Really? Not Iglesias? From what I hear, they won’t last much longer. No sense throwing in with the losing side. Remember, you’re responsible for your men’s lives. Stay calm when making decisions and don’t let your emotions sway you.I like that Dixon has a heart, but that he also isn’t an idealistic moron. If he knows which way the wind is blowing, then he won’t pick a side based on which one hugs more puppies. Even in the case of Lamplast where he felt sympathetic to the islanders, he took the contract in part because there was an even chance of victory. Thanks. I think I’m starting to get an idea of what it was like for you, boss. I’ll take the warning to heart and do nothing to disgrace the Alten Schwart name! Mm. All right! Anyone who hasn’t had enough of fighting, come with me! I’ll take good care of you guys!*Some of the mercenaries gather around Bauer, but not all of them*  If the situation changes, I’ll call for you, so don’t leave the city. Regina, Pamela, let’s go. Okay. Yes, sir.*Dixon, Regina, and Pamela leave to the northeast. Remus then approaches Crevanille* Are you going with the boss? That’s the plan. I thought as much. Well, be that as it may, let’s have a look around!Yay! Exploring!  We can talk to Ned, now. He was blocked off by a no-name mercenary before. Ned plans to tap out and go live in the countryside. Probably a good choice considering he’s in a JRPG with Judeo-Christian influences. We already saw an angel nuke an island. It won’t be long before God is turning every major population center on the continent to dust.  Despite being able to explore, there isn’t much we can do or discover around here. We’re still sort of in tutorial town. That said, if we go up the stairs and around to the left, there is a barrel over by this old man that has an item. It was 8 Ril for me, so that means it was probably a Vulnerary. After that, head up to the northeast, where Dixon left with the others.  It reminds me of something my father once said… His job wasn’t so dissimilar from our work as mercenaries. And he told me, “You’re a blood relative, so never go to Marquelay. Nothing good for me has ever come of that place.” It must have been a grave error for him to stop coming entirely, I’d say.$10 says his dad knocked up a woman and then bolted.  After that little look into Remus’ family, we are free to run around again. Unlike most RPGs, we are barred from storming into random houses and robbing them blind. Going up to doors results in Crevanille knocking and the occupant popping out to spout some inane garbage we don’t care about. There are a bunch of these door people to talk to, but none of them are especially insightful about the current situation.  Up to the northwest is the castle. We can’t go in, though.  There’s a shop just down the righthand castle stairs. It has all the same stuff from the Peddler, so there’s no reason to pick anything up. We’ll hit another store in a few minutes that has something new in it. [Man]: Hm? What is it? The guy right next to Porak’s shop has a scene for us, though. Oh, hello.[Man]: Don’t think I know you two. Say, weren’t there some drifters in the harbor…? There’s no snarky response here, so we’ll be good boy honest. That would be us.[Man]: Knew it! I heard you fellas went through hell. I mean, you could consider that to be literal in some ways. [Man]: Boy, you fellas look like you could use a good meal… Ha… haha… Looks like the man we’re talking to is the owner of the shop. Kinda weird how he just stands around out front like this, but whatever. To each their own. More importantly, a new face has arrived on the scene. [Porak]: Well, if it isn’t Ms. Mayfield…   Are you new workers at the shop? What!?[Porak]: Naw, they’re travelers. Ah, pardon me. By the way, Mr. Porak, is the item I requested in stock yet?[Porak]: It’s right here. I’ll have it delivered to your villa by sundown. Thank you. I look forward to receiving it. Have a nice day.*And Eliza walks back to the southeast, where she initially came from* [Porak]: Sorry about that. Quite all right. May I ask who that lady was? We’ll see in a little bit that she is far away from her home nation. We’re talking a British Virgin Islands kind of deal. Iglesias is that cold country in the north, yes? You carry goods from so far away?[Porak]: I do indeed. Want to try one? *We tried an apple!* [Porak]: These won’t grow down south here in Marquelay. That one’s on the house. Just be sure to buy something later! You’re all right, Porak. We’re not going to buy anything. That was delicious… It washed away all my exhaustion from the voyage.With that done, we’re left to our own devices again. There’s only one other thing left to find right now—  …Did he mean me?Okay, so there’s two things. You are a very pretty young man, Remus. But that’s better than being a bridge troll, trust me. Embrace it.  If we travel to the southeast, there’s another part of the town to roam through. Just to the left of where we’re standing, you’ll see a barrel peeking out from behind a building. Investigate it to find a Life Apple. Life Apple is a stat boosting item. It increases a character’s strength by 1-4 points. I’ll be storing these things away until late in the game, since the thread will be in charge of party members for most of the LP and will probably swap people out constantly. I could use it on Crevanille, but I’d rather wait and size up the party when we get near the home stretch. The town exit is right next to that gate, but we’ll be stopped by Remus if we try to go. Instead, let’s just head to the inn (just north of this screenshot) and talk with Dixon. There’s also an armor shop right next to the inn with a new item (Soft Leather), but it’s likely too expensive for you to afford at this point (it’s 170 Ril). Even if you can afford it, it’s sold at the next shop anyway, so don’t worry about it. The next fight we get into we’ll be random battles, which will let us farm for cash and stock up on whatever we want.  The innkeeper will tell us that our companions are waiting, so just walk on into the hall next to the desk.  The game makes it seem like we are free to walk around, but as soon as you attempt to take a step, the next scene starts. What’s your plan, Dad? When those explosions happened… Did you see anything in the sky? In the sky? Was there… something to see? How about you, Crevanille? I saw something. As I thought… I had a feeling you’d be able to see it. Dad, what’re you getting at? A man with six wings… A winged man…? Like an Angel? So… you saw this Angel? We didn’t just see it. The explosion on the island was the Angel’s work. I don’t believe this… Did you know our civilization was annihilated once before? The ruins left today are remnants of our ancestor’s advanced technology. The Angels are what destroyed that civilization. Then… what the villager said before wasn’t just a fairy tale? I doubted it myself until I saw that one. But now that I’ve seen it, I must act. Act…? We must defeat the Angels. Defeat the… Us!?Yeah, that’s a big ask there chief. That thing wiped an island out of existence by hovering near it.  To prevent that, I need your help. You were a child entrusted to me. I was told that your existence was the key to stopping the Angels. I don’t know what that means, but I was given directions to take you to a certain place. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to come with me.We could say no, but that wouldn’t be very heroic. Yes. Um… would it be all right if I came along? The journey will be very long. Are you sure? Yes. I have nowhere else to go… And if possible, I’d like to stay with you and the others, boss. All right. We’ll be glad to have you. Thank you, sir! Well then, our first stop is Dulkheim. No, no. I’ve already chartered a fishing vessel headed in that direction. We’ll go to Dulkheim directly.Good thinking, boss man. We depart in the morning. Get some rest tonight. Before turning in, we can talk to Pamela for a little bit of extra info. Do I seem that way? I’m as shocked by all this as you are, you know. Maybe a bit less, since the boss has told me some of this before. What did he tell you? Oh, this and that about Angels and whatnot. I did my own research, too. Anything that might be useful. So that’s why you’re the brigade’s most informed member. Flattery will get you nowhere, Remus. But I only knew about them. This was my first time seeing an Angel in action. If they mean to annihilate us, we have to fight back. We’ll be very busy starting tomorrow. You should get some rest.We can talk to Dixon again, but he just mentions that this will be Crevanille’s first time in Dulkheim. Regina has a little bit of background info on herself, though. My hometown’s in Dulkheim. It’s a tiny village called Ribocca. I wonder how mom’s doing.After that, I head back out to the front desk and talk to the innkeeper to turn in for the night.  In the morning, head back to the docks. There’s nothing else of interest to do or see here for now.  All right, then it’s off to Dulkheim.[Ned]: We’ll be staying behind. [Mercenary]: We plan to try different paths, like woodcutting or hunting. I see.[Santos]: I’m going to become a cook! Make sure to stop by if you’re in the area again. By the time you return, I should be good enough to have my own restaurant! You’ll treat us, right?[Santos]: Wh—Awww! You’re always one step ahead… By the way, where’s Josef? He said he’d be staying behind, too… That guy… …You all did well. Though we part ways now, the days when we fought side by side will never fade. We’re comrades to the end.[Mercenary/Ned/Santos]: Yes, sir! All right, it’s time we left. All those headed to Dulkheim, board now!We say our goodbyes to everyone and board the ship.   [Narrator]: Crevanille set sail toward a new goal. There are four countries on the continent of Noyeval.  This is where we just were. [Narrator]: The peace is maintained by a “peace-preservation fee”— a tax— and by its alliance with the neighboring kingdom of Valkania.  This is just to the northeast of Marquelay. [Narrator]: They also have the most formidable army. The Royal Guard, a corps of knights answering directly to the King, is the nation’s face. Known throughout the continent, they are a match for a thousand soldiers. In times of emergency, they take command of the army as the King’s agents. Currently, Valkania holds a neutral position in the war, watching the chaos unfold from a safe distance.  So Iglesias tried to grab better farmland from Dulkheim, but Dulkheim was like “Yeah, no. We’ve seen you eyeing us.” Now that the war has started going tits-up, Iglesias has sent their nobles to go hide out in fantasy Bermuda in the event that Dulkheim decides it wants to solve its neighbour problem permanently.  [Narrator]: But because the elected President controls not only the military but also other elected officials for military purposes, it is seen as a thoroughly militarized nation.  We leave Marquelay and travel up the coast to this port town.   This place looks pretty cool.  If we head up the stairs, we’ll find everyone having a little pow-wow. We’ve reached our destination. Whew, I’m feeling better already! The sea wind mussed up my hair… It’s good to be back on terra firma. I wonder what this town is like. Dry sea? You’ll find out why if you head east. Why not go for a walk?Why not?  Kitty cat.  There’s lots to do here, but let’s head to the right a little bit first to search that other dock for—  Yes. We were advised to take a walk around to see something surprising. Ah, so you haven’t seen the dry sea yet. It’s quite a sight! Oh, but I’m sorry, I haven’t yet introduced myself. My name is Magnus. I hail from Valkania, originally. Tough call. I guess we’ll just be honest. Option #2 seems kind of edgy and although Option #3 sort of sounds snarky, it mostly just seems like a weird thing to say. I’m Crevanille. And I’m Remus. We just arrived here from Marquelia.The names of the capital cities being close to the country’s names is going to get real irritating. Dulkheim’s capital is Dulkhen and Iglesias’ capital is Iskendros, Valkania is the only one that stands out, with their capital being named Kilgrid (which is metal as gently caress). So Crevanille and Remus. From Marquelia, you say…? Do you know a man named Otter? He has striking narrow eyes.Can’t say we do, unless he was one of the no-name mercenaries that get glassed back on Lamplast. Otter? I can’t say I’ve heard of him. I see… I’m on a journey in search of that man. You are? You seem to be mercenaries. In which case, I’m sure we’ll meet again. Feel free to say hello if that happens. This feels like fate at work…We’re pretty relaxed right now, so that means it’s prime time for snarkiness. Sideburned guys aren’t my type. You’re a funny man. I like you.Aww yeah, keepin the gay options alive. Well, I’m going to take up the quest again. I pray our paths cross someday.And with that, Magnus wanders back over to the lamppost he was standing by when he spotted us. Magnus is another PSP exclusive character, just like Pamela. Anyway, that little encounter has used up our exploration time for this update. Next time, we’ll fully explore Trockmere, meet some more characters, and start slaughtering the local wildlife for petty cash. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 01:22 on May 22, 2021 |
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May 21, 2021 23:39
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ultrafilter posted:Duplicate images here. Seraphic Neoman posted:The mark of his dignity shall scar thy DNA It took me a minute for this to click. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 01:26 on May 22, 2021 |
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May 22, 2021 00:17
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MythosDragon posted:Oh yeah, one more thing since its relevant now. In Japan, this game had full voice acting for plot scenes, but when Atlus licensed it, they only dubbed the anime movies, and didn't license the JP voices. People online have made an Undub version that fully brings all that back, and since I last played, they've even added subititles to said anime movies. I personally got even more enjoyment out of the game with those voices, so I thought I should mention it for anyone who decides to check the game out because of this. Obviously buy the game first. I'm planning on doing an extra update soon where voice actors will be included. I didn't think I would have the room to mention them within that update (and I was right, since the update ended up at 48.5k characters). I'll include this bit from you in that, since I feel like it's worth mentioning. Also, I appreciate you pointing that out for another reason. You gave me the idea to check over the Japanese footage for that cutscene to try and see if there was any mention of a dead Alten Schwart mercenary. That random dead guy's name in the 2003 Japanese version is ジャック (Jack) after all. So my guess as to what the hell Pamela was saying in between sobs was correct. SimplyUnknown1 posted:Also, can I say I wish there were more snarky options for Crevanille? I like some good snark, though the hero personality is still good. We may get more opportunities later on. Up until now, most scenes have been serious since the characters are fighting in a war and getting nearly exploded by angels. After the main plot has hit the Phase 1 climax, we'll probably settle in for more relaxed/laidback scenes that lend themselves to sarcasm more. Melomane Mallet posted:And for the record, the Character & Scenario Collection book list Dixon as 42 and Bauer as 25. I'm guessing you have a copy of that, right? Because I couldn't find any scans of it online. I can accept Bauer being 25, but Dixon at 42 is baffling to me. I mean, sure, he's the leader of a mercenary group. That's a hard life that's going to lead to a hard aging process, but still. Plus, it makes the comparison with a future character even more stark, since we'll be expected to accept the fact that some guy 3 years older than Dixon looks like he's in his late 80's. FalloutFan56 posted:In response to the "name character after me" thing I used to do that until I played Persona 4 and saw "Tyler-kun" and cringed so hard I immediately started the game over and haven't used my name in a game since. Now I try to find a canon name instead. I was still in peak weeaboo when Persona 4 hit (pretty sure I was 17-18 and fresh out of High School), so that moment actually legitimized me naming the MC after myself, in my mind. After that, games with nameable main characters continued to drop off because of the steady increase in full voice acting for games, so I never really fell out of the habit because I never had a moment of realization like the one you described. vilkacis posted:Growlanser's one of those names i've heard of but never actually learned anything about so i'm curious to see how this plays out. Looks pretty neat so far, i dig the shoulderpads (even if the actual designs are a bit hit and miss...). I'll be getting into character design in the extra update I have planned for sometime soon. There's a particular moment I'm trying to get the LP to as quickly as possible first, though. Before I start losing people to disinterest, there's a major poll I need to run. As that poll is going on, we'll have an extra update where I will, in part, discuss the main artist for the Growlanser/Langrisser series. That man knows what he loves and big shoulderpads are definitely one of those things, as user McTimmy first mentioned.
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May 22, 2021 14:39
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Note: I hope to have another update done by tomorrow. If you are worried about pacing, then relax. I'm only moving the LP this quickly because there's a moment that's holding up my ability to get recordings done. I need audience participation for it. Once the next update is out of the way, I'll be going back to a slower posting schedule. Update 3: Parting Ways  Okay, let’s get back to what we were doing before we were so Appraising costs 5 Ril per ring.  This is the ring we got from Alec. Ignore the others, as they were left over from my previous playthrough. Morin Fish has increased MOV and some slots that don’t matter to us right now. Remus’ current ring is boosting his ATK by 2, so I leave him with that. He’s a ranged fighter, so movement is less important than damage right now.  North of where we ran into Magnus, there’s an armor shop. It carries all the same stuff that Marquelay had. Once we’ve gotten into some random battles, we’ll be able to drop back here to grab the Soft Leather that we couldn’t afford in Marquelay, though.  The Inn is just up the stairs to the left of Magnus. The path to the northwest leads to a dead end right now, so let’s head to the northeast instead.  If we follow the upper path it will loop us around the plaza we started in. Eventually there will be a screen transition to the south.   So, it was made by reclaiming the land here? No wonder it’s called the dry sea… After Remus comments on the wonders of dam technology, we can continue south to find a shiny point. After entering the little hut, just hit X to open the door. We grab another Green Stone and then double back to the plaza.   Never! I got my fill of that in World of Final Fantasy… and Nier… and Trails of Cold Steel… and Persona… and countless other Japanese games that think fishing is the ultimate in video game side activities. We can also spot someone of obvious importance from here. Let’s get a closer look.  To the right of where Magnus is, we can pass under the archway and head down the stairs to the “Dry Sea.”  Not sure that’s a wise storage location for barrels of poison. Anyway, before we find out what Pink Hair’s deal is, we’re going to stick to the wall and just squeak underneath them.   There’s another barrel in the corner of this lower plaza. It has an Analepticum for us. This cures Stun/Paralysis. Handy. With that done, we return to the central tower. [Town Mayor]: …Well? What do you think?  It’s quite a hall. It will be perfect for our use. Once the conference is confirmed, I’ll name this town as the rendezvous point.[Town Mayor]: Thank you. We do strive for peaceful relations between our countries. I’ll be going, then. [Town Mayor]: That was Dame Silverneil of Valkania’s Royal Guard. Everything we have heard or learned about Valkania so far as been rad as hell. Magnus, Kilgrid, Dame Silverneil, Royal Guard, the name of the country itself. The ones who report directly to their King? I hear even one of them is worth a hundred men in combat![Town Mayor]: That’s not all. They’re also so well-informed as to make a scholar blush. Their grace is synonymous with their country. Amazing… but what was one of them doing here?[Town Mayor]: I can’t say specifically, but canny Dulkheimer politicians have gathered here in our little town. Political dealings, then… I see why you must be vague.[Town Mayor]: Indeed. So sorry, but I must be going now. And then the Mayor wanders off to the right. Honestly, he gave up way more information than you would expect from someone of his status. Oh well, not like it’s our concern what the people here are up to. We don’t exactly have our fingers in international politics.  Trying to go back to the upper plaza results in us spotting the boss having a chat with Dame Silverneil. So, are you planning to side with Dulkheim next? No. My mercenary days are over. You’ve retired? We would be honored if you’d join our forces and— Forgive me, but the offer is no more tempting than the last time you made it. I see. I have a mission to fulfill. Until I do so, I won’t go back to mercenary life or join anyone’s military. Will you consider it once this mission of yours is over?Big Boss certainly is in high demand. Well, when the time comes…*Dixon then notices us standing awkwardly off to the side* Hm? You two? What is it? They’re cooperators working with me toward a common goal. It’s a pleasure meeting you. My name is Remus. Option #1 sounds pretentious as all hell, so let’s go with the normal person answer. And I’m Crevanille. I am Diana Silverneil. Please to meet you, too. We’ve heard the rumors about you being a Royal Guard, Dame Silverneil… No need to be so formal. Well, if you’ll excuse me, Sir Dixon… I’ll see you to the main road. I’m afraid I must decline. There is a man in town I must meet with first. Oh, but you should meet him, too, Sir Dixon. You wouldn’t regret it.*The Boss then leaves with Silverneil* …The boss sure is amazing. He was invited to work for Valkania? I wonder what else is hidden in his past…That does it for our exploration. When we get back to the upper plaza, we find that Magnus and our entire group have disappeared. Make a quick save at the Inn and then head for the path to the northwest of it.  [Hobson]: The boss already left with the others. Wow, thanks for giving us a heads up guys. Jerks... What? Already?[Hobson]: Yeah, but if you take the main road north, I’m sure you’ll catch up to them in time. Thank you. Did you stay behind just to tell us that?[Hobson]: Nah… I’m planning on staying here for good. Oh? Really?[Hobson]: Yeah, I thought being a sailor might be nice. You sure you’ll be okay?[Hobson]: Don’t worry. I actually already have a line on a used ship. Good luck. We’ll be cheering for you![Hobson]: Thanks. Best of luck to you guys, too! Oh, wait… I nearly forgot. Have you guys heard the weird rumor going around? What do you mean? [Hobson]: There’s some kind of creature no one’s seen before haunting the main road. Though this is a port town, so it must be some imported animal that escaped. Well, better safe than sorry, anyway. Why not go create a record at the inn before you leave, just in case? Be careful out there! Already taken care of, bro. *Hobson then leaves* A monster…Let’s go kill it!  Leaving to the Northwest will bring us to an intersection. The sign says that Lake Aida is to the north and Trockmere is back to the east. There’s no indication as to what is south. Lake Aida is where we are supposed to go, so if you plan to grind, then don’t go too far North just yet. You can freely run the Northern part of this map, just don’t transition to the next map. The next field map to the North has a scene that will lock us back into story progress for a while. Get your grinding done now.  Wandering around a little will eventually turn up random battle enemies. Let’s test this out.  Though it does seem ready to attack. We should work together to defeat it.We’re now in a random battle. You may have noticed that there are other enemies present for this fight as well. They didn’t spawn in when we triggered the fight. In this game, there is no pocket dimension where battles take place (well, normally. You’ll see eventually). All enemies are visible on the field and if you get close to them or they get close to you, then you’ll immediately shift into battle mode where you are standing. Any other enemies that are nearby will be pulled into the battle as well. For the most part, it will just be the enemies that you can see on the screen, but sometimes enemies just out of frame will be included for seemingly random reasons. The distance at which battles are triggered, as well as the distance at which enemies will be included/excluded from the fight seems to be arbitrary. Unless an enemy is on the opposite side of the screen from you, then never assume you are completely in the clear.  The upside to this system is that it gives you some freedom of positioning if you can spot a group of enemies from a safe distance. In this case, the enemies have Crevanille and Remus caught in a pincer attack, but if I had felt the need to do so, I could have backed off and came at them from the southwest corner. This may have resulted in those two enemies in the upper right not being pulled into battle at all (allowing me to attack them in a separate battle later) or, if they still were pulled in, then it would have given us a lot more breathing room to deal with the first two enemies. Being closer to the edge of the screen also makes it easier to escape from battle. Your characters need to get to the edge of the battle screen in order to escape, so if you get pulled into the battle zone right in the middle (or far away from an open path), then you’ll have to fight your way out. This is very useful to keep in mind as random enemies get more difficult, since you can carefully size up a potential battle in advance and possibly position yourself near or away from the most troublesome enemies first. You could also do fun things like wait for the enemies to wander around in such a way that they bunch together, then trigger the battle and use an area skill or spell to hit them all at once.  Either way, just remember that it’s not always a good idea to tear rear end around a field map. In terms of enemies in this area, there are two kinds: Giant Bats (Lv4) and Lesser Scorpions (Lv2). Both of them are very easy to kill and don’t hit particularly hard. Trockmere is also a few steps away, so you can top off HP and save as you need. EXP payouts range from around 7 to 25, depending on how many enemies the game decided to pull into a single battle. You also get between 5 and 25 Ril.  Also worth noting: Terrain can obscure enemies. There are actually three Lesser Scorpions in this screenshot. You can see where they are and know how many enemies are in the battle while selecting attack targets, but it’s still a pain in the rear end. Not being able to see the enemies moving around in real time can create problems.  Also worth noting: Non-aggroed enemies are capable of stumbling into an ongoing battle. You’ll notice that a Giant Bat comes in from the upper left part of the screen and a little orange-ish circle zeroes in on them. That means the enemy has joined in the battle. It’s possible for some enemies to spot you and move towards your position to try and trigger a fight, so there are ways for you to lure some enemies away in order to break up groups like this. This could be handy later on when you start recognizing certain problem enemies that you really don’t want to fight in groups. Just make sure you are luring them far enough away to avoid situations like this, where new enemies will randomly stumble into the fray.  Sometimes you’ll spot shiny points on the ground as you walk around a field map. These are search points where you can pick up items, so make sure to check them. They are a bit random, however, as I did not find any during my time spent grinding here. Anyway, if you follow the south path from that signpost, you’ll eventually wind up here. Remus will question what it is, but then also say that you should get out of here before you get in trouble. Since there’s nothing for us to do, we return to the signpost near Trockmere. With our current boundaries established, I do some leveling. Growlanser isn’t very good at letting you know what level you should be at during any given moment, and that’s largely because positioning, tactics, spells, and abilities will become much more important as the game goes on. For the time being, however, we’ll need to rely on raw stats.  I would recommend getting both Crevanille and Remus to at least Level 5 before moving on. I got them to Level 7, which is a little overkill for what’s to come, but that’s fine. Personally, I find that once you hit level 7 it becomes too much of a pain to keep leveling (you need about 400 exp to get from 7 to 8). When you’re ready, make your way North from the sign outside Trockmere (towards Lake Aida). After transitioning to the next screen, keep meandering towards the North until—  this little fella decides to pop out of the trees. I-Is this the beast?! About now is when you might notice something curious with the dialogue choices for Crevanille. Some of the options may start getting greyed out, making them unable to be chosen. Growlanser IV has a hidden system in place with dialogue options. It keeps track of what kind of personality type you have been drifting towards and will eventually lock you out of the opposite types when you’ve moved far enough. In our case, the thread wanted Crevanille to be The Hero (and also a little snarky). Because we’ve chosen good boy responses so much, we are no longer allowed to pick cowardly options. If the thread had asked for Crevanille to a jerk/coward, then we wouldn’t be able to select the more heroic responses. To battle!Basically, the game will work to stop you from playing Crevanille as an ideal hero who suddenly, and completely without warning, shouts “I’M SO SCARED! I DON’T WANNA DO THIS ANYMORE! *runs away crying*” Likewise, you can’t have him pissing his pants or telling everyone to gently caress off, only to suddenly turn around and go “We can do this everyone! Believe in yourselves and there’s nothing we can’t accomplish through the power of teamwork!” O-Okay… I’ll try! Anyway, just an interesting little fact. If you don’t want to be locked out of any options, then maybe follow user Commander Keene’s advice and roll a D4 for every dialogue choice. Chaotic Neutral, baby! Back to the main matter at hand, though. This is technically a full Mission, although it won’t last very long. The mystery monster (called Garuga, apparently), is way above our current level. It will pop out from behind that tree to the left and move towards whatever direction you were approaching from, so there’s no way to slip by it or start the battle with obstacles between it and you.  Remus will likely be the first one to hit it, resulting in damage that’s way lower than you might be used to dealing (our Remus only hits for 8. If you are level 5, then he may only hit for 2 or 3). He’ll then say that their attacks aren’t having any effect.  Garuga will then likely get a turn, at which point it will rock you with an eye laser beam for heavy damage. Keep in mind that our Crevanille currently has an endgame ring equipped, so if this is a New Game run then it could result in nearly killing him. You may have to quickly heal. You guys!?After taking a hit, or hitting Garuga for enough damage, Regina will appear from the northeast. Regina! Wh-What is that thing…? Hold on, I’m coming to help! Take this! Regina will then use an ability called Multi-Shot as soon as she is in range of the creature. If Multi-Shot doesn’t kill Garuga outright, then she’ll immediately follow up with a normal attack to kill it. Yes! The mission then ends with a Mission Clear. You’ll get about 15 clear bonus experience and 25 Ril. It is possible to score a Mission Complete here, but the only ways to do it on a New Game run are to cheat, or pull a CirclMaster and spend countless hours doing insane power levelling using the little baby starter enemies. It’s entirely possible on a New Game+ run to kill Garuga before Regina can attack, but it requires quite a lot of luck. It’s difficult to know exactly when Regina will appear on the map. You can approach Garuga’s tree from the left in order to pull him a little further away from where Regina appears, but it will only delay her attack for maybe a split-second (no matter how far you get Garuga to appear from its tree, Regina will only need 2 or 3 steps to get into attack range). You also can’t just lure it farther away from its starting location, because it uses ranged attacks. Those will eventually proc Regina to appear. Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about pulling this off. The only thing that changes if you kill Garuga yourself is that Regina will say “Wow, not bad at all.” Besides that, if you can kill Garuga that quickly, then the piddly bit of extra EXP from a Mission Complete won’t matter to you.  A never-before-seen creature. Perhaps. Hard to believe there’s undiscovered life out there, though… Do you know, Regina? No… I’ve never seen anything like it either. You should hurry, by the way. Mortis is waiting for you two. What will you do, Regina? I’m going to look into this thing a little more for future reference. We’re given control again, but rather than run off to the North, make sure you stop and talk to Regina. She’ll start by repeating what she just told us, but Remus will then interject with something new. But my goodness, that maneuver you performed was impressive. Oh, that? It was my Limit Ability. It’s basically a special attack. You two can probably use them, too, so I’ll teach you the trick to it. …And there you have it. You guys are fast learners, so I’m sure you’ll be using them in no time.Really weird how Crevanille never learned about this in the 15 years or so he’s spent in this mercenary brigade. Oh, and one more thing. Sometimes when you’re using a Limit Ability, you’ll suddenly think up a better one. Oh, shoot, Mortis is still waiting. You should hurry on ahead. We now have access to Limit Breaks… I mean, Abilities. If you go to the Status screen in the menu and hit X a few times, you’ll eventually scroll to the Limit screen. Crevanille’s first Limit is Iron Wall. Remus’ first Limit is what Regina just used: Multi-Shot. It activates when attacking with an HP total less than 20%. Multi-Shot will attack a random enemy within range 4 times at half damage.  With that out of the way, head North to the next screen. We’ll immediately be greeted by Mortis. Ah, Mortis![Mortis]: I came to say my last goodbye to you guys. What are you going to do from here on out?[Mortis]: I’m going to go back to my hometown and be a farmer. Where is your hometown?[Mortis]: A little village called Klasdahl just past the border up ahead after you enter Valkania.  No more jerk options for us. Crevanille is officially a “Good Boy”. It sounds great.[Mortis]: Yeah. I’m glad I lived to see it again. If we’re ever in the region, we’ll make a point to stop by.[Mortis]: Gotcha. I’ll be waiting. Good luck to you two. *Mortis then heads off through the border checkpoint* Another of our company gone… Better that than dead.drat right. Be honest, how many among you expected a character named “Mortis” to survive that Angel attack? Or the convoy robbery? Indeed. No need to mourn him, right?With Mortis gone, we try heading up the left path (the guard will stop you if you try and cross into Valkania), only for Regina to catch up to us. Did you say goodbye to Mortis? Then let’s move on. Dad and the others are waiting for us. We need to report back to him on that monster we ran across.Continue towards the upper left, then keep following the road in the next screen. We’ll quickly spot the rest of our gang.  S-Sorry for the tardiness! Does everyone have their stuff? The new Alten Schwart brigade’s about to depart! Huh? You’re leaving already? The tide of war isn’t favoring Iglesias. If we don’t hurry, we might miss the war. Well, then… Be careful, Bauer. Of course. Good luck to you, too, Miss Regina. Look after the boss. Hmph. I’m not so old yet I need looking after.Oh, right. According to user Melomane Mallet, the Japanese “Character & Scenario Collection Book” for Growlanser IV lists Dixon as 42 years old. Bauer is supposed to be 25. That’s a hard 42, but I guess Dixon was a mercenary leader. That would probably age a person pretty fast. Bauer… Remus, I didn’t know you long, and it’s a shame I won’t be able to watch you grow stronger.  Let’s be nice. This is an emotional moment. I won’t! I’m counting on you. A man has to live up to his promises. Remus, Crevanille… Good luck. You’re not coming with us? Unfortunately, no. I have my own task to perform for the boss. I’ll be with Bauer and the rest part of the way, so they’ll protect me. I see. Be careful on your journey. I will. May we meet again someday! Good luck to you, too, boss! You, as well. Drinks on me when we see each other again! All right, let’s go!*The left half of the group then heads off along the road to the left* Take care of them, Bauer… *Dixon, Mercenary, and Regina then leave through the trees to the North* They’re all gone. We started with so many, and now we’re down to five… I can’t help but regret that.Don’t regret things you have no power to control, my man. Anyway, follow Dixon and the others to the North. You can run around this big screen, but there’s nothing to find or do. Well, that was the case for me, at least. You can always check the map and make sure, just in case there happens to be a search point in the area.  Either way, you’ll eventually have to go to the upper rightmost corner of the field and transition to the next screen. It’s early yet, but we’ll set up camp here today. Looks like it might rain. I’ll go gather some firewood in case.[Mercenary]: I’ll help. I can head out once I’m done unloading this. Thank you. I’ll go on ahead!*Remus leaves to the South* Ha… What is it, Dad? I was just thinking that Remus seems to be finding his feet. [Mercenary]: It’s in large part thanks to you, Crevanille. Indeed. Crevanille… I want to talk to you. Once you’ve taken a rest, come see me.*Dixon then slowly walks off to the North* We have control again, although there’s nothing to do except follow after Dixon.  Take a look at this. I wonder what’s inside… I doubt it’s been raided. Not many can open this door, you see.So that means all the good poo poo is still in there! Let’s crack this baby open and get to looting! …Heroically, of course. No one alive can create the substance this door is made of. The technology to make it has been lost to time. Meaning the culture which had such technology no longer exists… Why do you think that is?*Dixon pauses to think for a little bit, as indicated by a little speech bubble over his head* You saw it, back on the island. The thing with six wings that could destroy a man in an instant! Our research shows they destroyed human civilization once before. These ruins are one of the remnants of that culture. Now they have shown themselves once again. Do you understand what this means? Even our ancestors, with all their technology, could not withstand them. We won’t stand a chance.Yeah, but that’s because they relied on technology and guns and poo poo. They didn’t have a band of plucky teenagers with swords that are all secretly horny for each other. That’s every Angel’s critical weakness. How can we survive? There’s only one way… and you hold the key! You are the key to stopping the Angels. The key to mankind’s survival. Without you, there is no other way! This is your destiny. But it’s not yours alone. First, I want you to enter these ruins here. The Ruins of Hope… Yes. That’s my boy. Ah, yes, you should have this.*Topaz obtained. The topaz gives off a pure, yellow gleam* Sweet, a new addition to our rock collection. The ancients believed the colors held power. Yellow signified hope and vitality. Look at the way this topaz glows. It’s like it’s shining with hope! If you ever get lost, look at this gem and let it fill you with hope and vitality. I pray you become a hero to mankind.*The rain then starts to fall and we fade out*  Check out the cutscene: Battle in the Rain   Hahaha… I had received information that a group of people was indeed on their way to the ruins. But to think I’d find you here.  You managed to escape last time. But you won’t be so lucky now. Hurry up and get out of here. Trust me, you are no match for this man.Please, we’re on New Game+. I’m pretty sure we can handle Hot Topic Sephiroth over there. …Although actual Sephiroth is already kinda Hot Topic… what would be considered the “off-brand” Hot Topic? Blue Banana?  Hrrrrragh! Hmph.   No… Damnit… Hey! The generic Mercenary got to be animated into this scene too! Good for him. Dad! What’s going on?! *hacking up a lung*[Mercenary]: How dare you! No! Don’t be a hero! You don’t even have a character portrait! He’ll just— [Mercenary]: Hrugh! *Mercenary then drops like a rock* …do that.  Heh. If only more people actually knew their places. Hah!*The man dodges the boomerang and rushes to Regina*  Oooh man, right through the cleave. Also, I want to point out something for those of you not watching the cutscenes. Every time this dude has struck someone, there’s been a metal banging/thudding noise. Imagine the sound you would hear if you smacked the hood of a car with your hand. For Dixon and the Mercenary it sort of makes sense, because they had armor on. The funny part is, that same sound is used here, when the mystery man stabs Regina through the loving torso.  Ah…! I have to… buy some… time… I’ll keep stalling him. You need to get out of here… Please, run… Regina! Ugh… guh…No, it’s okay. It looks like he missed the heart, so maybe there’s still a chance she’s—   …Never mind.  Oh, come on! What the hell are you doing here?!  Huh… I don’t know how, but… looks like this one’s still barely alive. Well, I’m willing to leave his survival up to fate.*And then the mystery man hauls rear end out of there*   Angemon looks over the corpses, but then decides to chase after the mystery guy instead of going for the double-tap.   [???]: Please… open… your eyes!  Ahh! Naked anime ghost girls! [Girl]: We haven’t even met yet! Now open your eyes! We get a few choices, none of which are greyed out. We could thank her, but we don’t know who she is or whether or not she’s evil. We could also just ignore her, but that would be rude. The other options are to get up or just open our eyes. *get up on your own*[Girl]: …Haha, that’s more like it. *The girl then fades out as Crevanille stands up. Then she fades back in*   Looks like we’ve been out for a while. Remus had time to find us, recover from the shock, and then bury our comrades. I finally had a new family… Am I… to be denied that…?*Crevanille stands up* Ah! You’re awake! I can’t believe you survived with such horrible wounds… Hm? The wounds are gone… But that’s… I must have been seeing things. Anyway, what’s important is that you’re alive!We could ask if anyone else survived, but we already know the answer to that. ….. ….. The explosion didn’t leave much of their bodies. It’s a miracle you yourself survived… I… finally thought I had a new family. Why did this happen…?*We fade out and an indeterminate amount of time passes. It’s been long enough for the rain to stop*  But I wonder what the boss was trying to tell you. It was the way to defeat the Angels. It’s that important? …Then, even though we’re the only ones left, we should investigate the ruins. I wonder what we’ll find. Whatever it is, we must carry out the boss’s wishes!Remus rejoins the party, and we have the new objective of entering the ruins. Well, sort of new objective. We were going to do it anyway, but now we’re rocking a much smaller party.   Rest In Piece Big Boss, and Regina, and… uhhh… Carlos? …Patrick, maybe? …Whatever, the point is he went out like a hero and we’ll all remember him fondly for it. Head up to the ruins door and hit X. They will swing open for us no problem. Maybe everyone who has tried to get in here so far just didn’t read the “Push” sign and kept trying to pull it open?  I thought I heard movement. Let’s proceed with caution…As soon as we enter, Remus will ask us if we heard something. We’ll soon discover that these ruins, which have been sealed for thousands of years, still somehow contain a handful of Giant Bats. They’re still Level 4, though, so they are no threat.  When we approach the intersection, the camera will pan around to show us the three paths. You’ll notice that they are color-coded. You’ll also remember that we recently received a yellow Topaz from Dixon. Obviously we need to follow the Yellow corridor. If you go down Green or Red, it will just spit you back out at the entrance to the Black corridor. Just stick to Yellow.  After going down the third Yellow corridor, we find ourselves outside this weird room. You can fight the Giant Bats along the way, but there’s not much point (they only give like 7 exp).  Just above Crevanille and Remus, there’s a ghostly crystal floating in the air. You can use it as a Save Point if you want. There’s no real danger between us and the next save point, but it never hurts to rotate those saves. What were you doing just now? There’s nothing there… You can’t see the light? Lights? I don’t see any lights in particular… That reminds me, when we were fleeing Lamplast Island, there was something only you and the boss could see… Is that the case here, as well? After that conversation, this one will trigger when you try and move. *Remus tries to push the door open* Hrrrrgh… Whew. It’s no use. Maybe this isn’t it?*Remus then moves aside, allowing us to give it a go* Are you going to give it a try? It won’t budge.*The door opens* Huh? It opened? Did you use some spell? I, uh, unlocked it. Ah, so it was locked! No wonder it didn’t open! But… when did you unlock it? ….. You shouldn’t lie like that, you know. Anyway, let’s go inside!Geez, Remus. Learn to take a joke. Besides, we’re technically not lying. If the door wouldn’t open for you, that means it was locked. We opened it, so therefore we unlocked it through some means. So the boss’s secret is in here… Let’s look around.Remus starts slowly wandering around the room and we’re left to investigate. Let’s check the middle, first.  Is this metal? I’ve never seen anything shine like that… I wonder if the paper under it has any information. The picture makes it look like it used to be a whole circle. The script is different from the alphabet we use… I wonder that it says. This writing is 2,000 years old, right? After that, we check out this table with the weird floaty egg thing on it. *You pick up the egg-like object!* Why are you staring at your hand like that? What are you doing…? Stop joking around. I’m not joking! To me it looks like you’re pretending to hold something…You best not be gaslighting us, Remus. I swear to God. After picking up the egg, a little sound will play. Oh! I heard something at the door. I wonder what’s over here… Weird. Crevanille will stop, then turn around and take a knee. Wh-What’s wrong!?Then—  Ahhh! Y-You’re bleeding!No poo poo! We just got blasted by a Digimon like an hour or two ago. *Crevanille collapses onto the floor* Oh no! Are you all right!? Hang in there! Uh oh. [Guard Member]: Intruders! How did you get in here!? Never mind, you’re coming with us! Oh no… Oh no, no…!We got busted by the local PD. The scene fades out and there’s a brief time skip.  You have some alternative explanation, dumbass? [Guard Member]: Honestly… for someone your age to make up these ridiculous lies is just pathetic. I bet you snuck in to steal this pendant, didn’t you? Don’t think you can hide it. What about the egg?[Guard Member]: Egg? What egg? What’re you talking about? There’s a chance that Crevanille may be going insane and hallucinating stuff. *There’s a knock at the door and the Guard Member gets up to check it out* [Guard Member]: What? I’m interrogating in here!  [Military Man]: Don’t worry about it. But I’d like some time alone with him. [Guard Member]: Yes, sir! *Guard Member then salutes and leaves*  Yes.Might as well. Not like we’re going to get out of here if we suddenly decide to keep quiet. *A little speech bubble pops up over Crevanille’s head as the scene fades out for a moment*   Hm… if you can see a Familiar’s egg, you must have quite a gift… ???A what now? This is called a Familiar Egg. It was made with ancient spell technology… They’re not rare, so you can have it.Great, so it wouldn’t be worth much even if we could find a merchant who can actually see the drat thing. Booo. But I’m keeping the medallion.Douche. That’s probably the expensive poo poo right there. *Familiar Egg obtained* Now, to my real business here. I want you to join our army. No.Screw that. A Hero doesn’t go joining in with the jackboots. Let me guess… you won’t yield to threats?We’ve got New Game+ stuff in our back pocket, so no. Fortunately for me, this isn’t a threat. We can both benefit from this arrangement. The same army that wants your talents. If you join, you’ll be issued missions to investigate these ruins, allowing you legal entry to them. I’d say it’s a fair trade… So, let me ask again: Would you like to enlist in our army?As much as I hate moments like these in games, this guy does make a solid argument. There’s no reason for this country to give us free reign over the ruins under their control without getting something in return. We also need to get into those ruins at some point or another if we want to fulfill Ghost Dad’s last wishes. Don’t get me wrong. If we are in a game and the main character is offered the position of Admiral or some poo poo, then I am totally on board for that. I’ll lead the poo poo out of an Army/Navy/Air Force. I just don’t like RPGs where the MC gets forced into being a grunt and bossed around by random assholes. Yes.Oh yeah. Just in case you thought that this guy seems very reasonable and understanding: Saying “No” a second time has him make veiled threats to Remus’ life, which forces us to accept the offer anyway. So yeah, this deal isn’t quite as benevolent as he makes it seem. I’m glad you’re quick to understand.*And then the scene fades out* We’ll stop there for now. The next update is (hopefully) going to be an important one, because the people following along in the thread will get to have some major input on something. Something that I need to get sorted quickly so I am free to record at my own leisure for a while. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 00:39 on May 24, 2021 |
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May 23, 2021 18:05
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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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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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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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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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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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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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I had the TP familiar and named her Yuni.
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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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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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vilkacis posted:Indeed! Remus is a bro and i don't think our mostly-heroic-but-occasionally-sarcastic Crevanille would bench his bro. Uhh, it's been a while but I believe there are 10 recruitable party members on the Modified/True path (not counting Crevanille himself) that can participate in fights. The battle party is 4 and Crevanille can't be removed, so eventually the thread will be picking 3 characters out of 10 available ones.
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Jun 7, 2021 22:21
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Update 7: Ruin Raider When we left off last, we had rescued Dr. Lichtmann from some thugs that were trying to kidnap him. God only knows what happened to the guards that should have been keeping an eye on this incredibly important man, but hey, it all worked out in the end thanks to the intervention of Crevanille and the gang. Now, let’s find out what the hell Lichtmann is doing all the way out here. Sorry about the wait. Those thugs weren’t exactly eager to be handed over. Welcome back. Say… if you come from Fort Leinfaltz, would there by chance be a Ruin Child amongst you? Remus isn’t, but Crevanille and I are. Join you? Where? Why, in the ruins! There’s a door that only you two can open for me! Er, what should we do? Go to the ruins. Ludwig promised us Ruins access. We are going to get Ruins access. Okay! We’re getting that much closer to our goal now. Doctor, we’d actually been interested in the ruins, too, and were looking forward to meeting you! If you did any amount of exploring before coming here, then you likely already know where they are. Of course, you would have been barred from entering them by some Dulkheim soldiers. I’m happy to hear that! There aren’t a lot of the younger crowd interested in such things. I’d love to talk to you more about them right now, but I think that can wait till we get there. I’m a part of the army, so I have a rank of captain. I’ve never really thought of myself like that, however. I’d feel more comfortable if you called me Lumis. Or “doctor,” I guess…? In any case, it’s nice to meet you!*Lumis will accompany you!* Well, at least he seems like a pretty nice guy. Genuinely nice, I mean. Not “vaguely sinister” nice like Ludwig. Regardless, at least he’s not the snobby intellectual that Crevanille and Vallery feared he would be. The ruins are a little north of here. Let’s get going once we’re ready! Lumis has joined us as a guest party member. Thankfully he has somewhat decent stats, so this isn’t quite an escort mission. His HP is terrible and we can’t deck him out with equipment or spellstones, but his AI is set to keep him out of harm’s way as much as possible. He will also contribute to battles by occasionally casting support spells (like Cure, ATK/DEF Buffs, and etc.). That said, he is not fit for frontline battle and we can’t direct his actions, so make sure to keep an eye on him.  You’re probably in decent shape despite that last battle, but just in case I would recommend hitting up the Inn. The Ruins aren’t very far and the enemies along the way are the typical assortment, but we’re about to head into a dungeon where healing will be more difficult (much more difficult if you end up missing an important treasure chest). You may also want to grab some Vulnerary if you don’t have a bunch already.  The path to the Ruins starts up here, tucked away behind these trees which are directly north of that previous screenshot (which is right outside Saudrick). The next two field screens consist of dense forest. In both cases, you want to work your way to the Northwest corner. There are enemies around here, but they are the same batch that we’ve been dealing with since leaving the Fort (Scorpions, Worms, Timber Wolves, and Headscissors).  Eventually we reach this door with some soldiers and a researcher wandering around. You may have discovered this earlier while exploring the area to grind, but you would have been prevented from entering.  The screen pans up to show this grassy hill overlooking the door, for some reason. All right… time for you to do your thing and get this door open.*The screen starts to shake as soon as we approach the door*  After which the screen pans back up to that grassy hill to show that a big-rear end tower has erupted out of the ground. I can’t believe a tower like this was hidden under the ground… We don’t understand how it works exactly, but these doors open automatically when a Ruin Child approaches. This is the primary reason Ruin Children are a necessity when investigating ruins. Knowing this, I’m fortunate to have been born in Dulkheim… There’s a surprising lack of such children in Valkania. Ah, but that’s not important now. Let’s head on in!Yay! Exploring! *Lumis just walks straight on into the ruins* Hey! Sheesh, guess it can’t be helped… He seems so carefree and happy. I can understand that.It is his life’s work, after all. Of course he’s going to act like an excited child. Haha, you’re right. Doctor, going alone is dangerous! If you’re wounded, you’re gonna be hard to carry back safely.I generally like how blunt Vallery is. He doesn’t look at Lumis’ actions from a standpoint of “I’m worried about your safety, person I just met!” He looks at it from a standpoint of “If you get hurt then our job becomes a way bigger pain in the rear end.” The ruins ARE full of anti-intruder devices. There may also be ferocious beasts… God knows how they got in here.I’m glad I’m not the only one curious about that. Okay, I understand. Lead on, then. Take a second to scope out the layout of this area. There are two of these doughnut shaped rooms on either side of the entrance. At the bottom, you’ll notice there is a treasure chest hidden behind a steel shutter. There’s another steel shutter at the top of the two rooms, although we can’t see what’s behind them.  If you try to open the center door and head north, an alarm starts going off. [Warning Announcement]: Powerful A-type Astral reaction detected. Commencing elimination.  The screen then pans up to show us a third doughnut room to the north. Both shutters open, but some kind of floating magical sword enemy comes out of the right room. There’s another treasure chest in the left room. The same scene will then play out with the two rooms on the right and left of the entrance. Uh, wh-what’s that? Doctor…? Astral bodies are the mimetic substances that make up Familiars, but… No, I don’t believe that’s the case. Researchers have brought Familiars into ruins before without having this happen.Yeah, but those were Familiars belonging to weak little researchers. Yuni is a Familiar belonging to a super special Main Protagonist. There’s a difference. Perhaps these ruins are different. I have no idea. Something’s coming…!And the battle is on!  The enemies are called “Executioner”… or I guess that’s technically their class. They are named “Guardian 1/2/3” and each of them is Level 11. Not especially dangerous at first glance, but if you kill one of them you will quickly find out that they respawn infinitely. To stop the infinitely spawning enemies, we need to have a character reach these glowing orange lights. There’s one of these switches in each room. The thing is, hitting this switch will close both shutters in that particular room. That means we need to grab the treasure chests before triggering the switch.  The best way to do this is to just send 1 character to each room. Use the Move command and set a manual path to the treasure chests. Crevanille is standing closest to the door, so I send him to the northern room. Vallery gets sent to the room on the right and Remus is sent to the left.  Lumis will move back towards the entrance and cast support spells, so you shouldn’t have to worry about him getting getting hurt. The Guardians will almost certainly aggro on Crevanille/Remus/Vallery as soon as they walk into their respective rooms.  The Guardians will heal themselves whenever they deal damage, but it’s nothing to be concerned about. 1HP is nothing. Of course, 15HP to Remus is a different story. He should be fast enough to get to the treasure chest, hit the switch, and then deal with the Guardian before taking too much damage, but just be wary of his health.  Vallery reaches his treasure chest first, which contains 244 Ril. The character will automatically open a treasure chest when they get close enough to it. After the chest in a room has been opened, send that character to the switch on the wall.  Crevanille is next to reach a chest, which contains Soul Crusher. We’ll look at that later. The switch in the northern room is at the top. Remus’ chest contained the Lv. 3 green spellstone: Chemist’s Art.  Once a character reaches the switch itself, you’ll be given a few options. You can flip it immediately, wait a bit, or wait longer. There is no reason at all (for this mission, anyway) to wait on flipping a switch to close the shutters. The only scenario I can see where this would be of benefit to you is if you sent two or more characters into one room and the switch character got to their point before the treasure character. If you’re doing this mission that way, then you are doing it wrong. If that way is the only way you can manage to pull through this mission, then you are grossly underleveled.  Once the shutters in a room have been closed, you are free to deal with the Guardian that is following you around. They aren’t especially strong, so it shouldn’t be a problem for anyone, including Remus. Lumis is also helping by casting support spells such as Attack Up Level 3 (which he used on Crevanille just before this screenshot). The controls for the switch will continue to popup as long as your characters are standing next to them. Any time it does this, just select “Wait longer.” If the character has killed their respective Guardian, then you can also manually move them away from the switch to stop the prompt from repeating. If you do flip the switch a second time, then the shutters will reopen and a new Guardian may spawn in.  I finish with a Bonus Gauge of +33. Remus and Vallery both took extra time to kill their enemies because their first attacks were blocked/missed. Not that it would have made a huge difference. If you want those treasure chests, then you aren’t finishing this mission with a 40 or above anyway. Mission Complete for this one is to just close the shutters and eliminate the Guardians with a positive Bonus Gauge. I’m not certain, but if the Bonus Gauge gets to under 10 or 20, then you might wind up with a Mission Clear. A Mission Pass will most likely happen if the Bonus Gauge drops to 0. Whew, looks like it’s over. Superlative, everyone.I guess that’s going to be Yuni’s catchphrase or something.  These strange devices then rise up from the holes in the right and left rooms. Everyone will rejoin Crevanille and our job is to then go and check those devices out. Hm, if I do this… So, what do we do now? Now, now, don’t be hasty. Let’s see… to go upstairs… Ah, here it is! Lumis’ tinkering results in a stairwell rising up from the hole in the northern room. Look, stairs! Then we’re done with this. I’ll take it back with me to research!*Lumis obtained the Projector!* He took the blue diamond thing that was on top of that pedestal. In case you’re wondering, the one in the left room is busted and can’t be acquired. Vallery posits that it may have been the command module for the Guardians, which is why it’s no longer functioning (since we destroyed them).  Before we continue, here are the spellstones we got. Chemist’s Art will teach the spell Cure, which is a basic healing spell. It also boosts the effect of healing items by 1.5 during battle. I slap this on Vallery, because he’s not using his MP for much else. We are currently permitted to use spells, since there are no civilians around here, so I have Vallery cast Cure on Remus. It takes him from 71 HP to 104. Not bad for a cost of 4 MP. The other spellstone was Soul Crusher. It converts 10% of the character’s weapon attack into MP damage. That’s a very situational skill. More useful is the Knack that Soul Crusher teaches, which is Critical Rate Up. That’s much more beneficial in the long run.  After taking the stairs, we end up in a much prettier locale. Great view, fancy ornamental floor patterns… those pillars are a little weird, but I’m sure you could refashion them into Roman style columns for a better look. Anyway, interior decoration aside, you’ll notice that there are new enemies hiding behind those walls.  If you stick to the windows and follow them south, or follow them the opposite way all around the edge of the room, you’ll eventually run into this group.  He’s facing away right now, but the Master Guardian looks like a caped knight holding a huge sword. He’s fairly beefy and has some resistance to most elements. If you recall, we heard something about a cowardly keeper back in Saudrick. That girl was teaching some kids a song about a gatekeeper that held the key to treasure. That means we want to eliminate the Floorkeep/Master Guardian as quickly as possible, before he has a chance to bolt.  When the Master Guardian is aggroed/pulled into a battle, he’ll start charging up a spell. The spell takes a fair amount of time to charge, but if he completes it then he’ll escape from the battle and you’ll lose your chance at the key to the locked treasure chest on this floor. Defeating him before he escapes will reward you with a Small Key. Once that’s done, you are free to take your time cleaning up the other enemies. The other new enemy type for this area (the ones that look like little imps with pitchforks) is Puppet. They are Level 12 and have a natural healing ability which restores 15 HP every so often. It’s not enough to be too much of a problem and they aren’t very strong, but they can slow you down if they end up blocking your path to a Master Guardian.  The locked chest for the first floor is in the middle. It has a Life Apple. We then move on to the eastern side of the screen, where there’s another staircase leading further up the tower.  The Master Guardian on Floor 2 is more of a pain to reach than the first one.  He’s tucked away inside this loop just above the staircase we came from. A Puppet is also front and center, so it’s difficult to get at him quickly. Wait out of sight of the enemies and watch them move. Either wait for the Master Guardian to walk left (closer to the opening of the loop), or wait for the Puppet/Guardians to move away to the right (behind the wall) so you can sneak in closer before getting spotted. Remus and Vallery cannot shoot through walls, so either have them try and clear a path inside for Crevanille, or get them to charge up spells and hit the Master Guardian with those to weaken him.  If you gave Crevanille the Sonic Blade spellstone from the Fort, then he should be able to hit the Master Guardian if he can slip in between the column and the Puppet. Remember, Sonic Blade gives melee characters greater attack range. The locked chest on this floor is once again in the middle. It contains a Nectar, which will be your first Revive item. We’ll be able to buy Nectars soon, but they are quite expensive (350 Ril each), so this is a welcome gift.  The next floor is more complex than the previous two. You’ll spot the locked chest in its own little room. There’s also an outer walkway around the entire area which leads to the next set of stairs. The inner walkway leads to where the chest is.  What you want to do is take the outer walkway counter clockwise. Just after you pass by the room with the stairway in it, you’ll find the Master Guardian. You’ll have snuck up behind him, so he should be easy pickings since Crevanille, Remus, and Vallery will all be able to get immediate hits in. The nearby Puppets will also be blocked from getting to you until the Master Guardian is dead. If you took the outer walkway clockwise, then you’ll be blocked from the Master Guardian by the Puppets. Remus and Vallery should still be able to hit him, but Crevanille will almost certainly not be able to help.  The locked chest on this floor contains Critical Strike, which increases Critical Rate by 15% and teaches the Knack Critical Rate Up. Another very good choice of Spellstone to equip. Since they both teach the same Knack, it’s up to you whether you would rather have an immediate 15% Critical Boost or the 10% MP Damage of Soul Crusher. Personally, I replace Crevanille’s Sonic Blade with Critical Strike.  ….. Oh, you already knew, then. Well, yes, this crystal can record what it sees. Would you like to create a record, just in case? You never know what may happen.This is the same shiny crystal thing we saw in the Ruins of Hope (the one that Remus couldn’t see at the time). I heavily recommend popping a save here, since the next battle is one of the “Trial and Error” types that Growlanser likes to throw at you.  There’s no Master Guardian on this floor, but that’s a good thing because our attention will need to be focused elsewhere. When we get to the center area (that has the weird tree growing through it), a scene will trigger. Those Guardians are still around, aren’t they? Yep! Let’s do this.The battle will then start. It’s a very wide area with Puppets and Guardians scattered throughout. If you take a second to cycle through the enemies, you’ll also notice:  These bastards. You might have seen them poking out of the bottom and top of the screen when you entered this floor and assumed they were lights or something. When the battle starts, however, Lumis will fill you in on their true danger. Watch out, everyone! I see a will-o-wisp! Physical attacks aren’t terribly effective on them. So, this is a perfect opportunity to exploit spells! They’re very weak to them. Hurry!Follow Lumis’ advice and immediately have everyone start charging an elemental spell (if they have them). Lightning won’t work against Will-o-wisp, but the only access to that you have by this point is through Lightning Imbue (which doesn’t actually teach you a spell. It just applies the element to a character’s weapon). Be aware that Earth spells also won’t work against these things. Remember what the Dulkheim Soldier mentioned to us back at the fort: Earth doesn’t work against flying targets.  A single Level 1 spell will be enough to take out a Will-o-wisp in one shot. There are four Will-o-wisps on the field that are hidden behind walls, so the only way to deal with them is to use spells. If only 1 of your characters is capable of casting elemental spells, then you could be screwed here. Generally, a character should have enough time to fire off two Level 1 spells before a Will-o-wisp is able to get off one of their own. If you have two characters with elemental spells, then you should be able to eliminate all four Will-o-wisps before they can finish charging. If you don’t take them out in time, however…   You will get picked apart. Will-o-wisps like to charge up Level 2 spells, which will hurt a lot (and is the reason why you can get in two Level 1 spells before they can use theirs). 67 damage right now is about 40% of Crevanille’s max HP, 50% of Vallery’s, and 70% of Remus’. Crevanille is basically the only one that will survive a second spell. Lumis could easily end up getting taken out by just one hit.  Another problem is that Guardians are flying enemies, which means they can move directly towards your party members. The Puppets will need to funnel into the narrow pathway in order to get to you, but the Guardians can approach from any direction (some of them start next to the Will-o-wisps on the outer walkway).  This means trouble for Lumis as well, since he is very bad at taking hits. A single hit from a Guardian shaves off 20 HP and stuns him. In this screenshot, you can see that Lumis’ ATW gauge has a green and yellow meter. Green is the time for him to finish charging his spell to Level 2, while the Yellow is the time that was added from the Guardian’s attack. The ATW gauge will only start draining again once Stun has worn off (or is cured by an item).  Overall, this is an easy Mission as long as you come in with multiple spell users and know what the Will-o-wisps are capable of. Ideally, have Remus and Vallery take out the Will-o-wisps while staying close to Lumis. Once the Will-o-wisps are dealt with, have Vallery and Remus switch to taking out the (likely 2) approaching Guardians before they can start attacking Lumis. Crevanille can handle the Puppets that are slowly approaching the central walkway. You can bottleneck those enemies on the walkway and draw aggro on the other Guardians while you’re at it. Superlative, everyone.If for some insane reason you didn’t equip an elemental spellstone on any of your characters, then give up and reload your save. The only way to attack the Will-o-wisps without spells is to fight through every other enemy on the field, run to the left sides of the room, and then run back down the outer walkways to where the Will-o-wisps are. It’s unlikely you will survive the repeated Level 2 spells being hurled at you during that time. Even if you do, you won’t be getting a Mission Complete out of it.  There are no items laying around the area, so let’s head through the middle door into this weird room. A cutscene will trigger when we approach, and it’s a pretty lengthy one.  Check out the cutscene: Ruin Child  Is this really a Ruin Child? How old do you think she is? She kind looks like she’s about our age. I’d heard the oldest Ruin Children are 10 years old, at most. This is just my personal opinion from looking at the device, but… I think its size is the key point here. This girl is very slight for her age. That might explain why she was able to enter stasis. So what are we supposed to do next? How do we wake her up from this? Uh… give me a moment. In my experience… if we do this… Ah, look! There’s a projection device here, as well. Well good for you, but… is she okay? Oh, she’s just fine. The awakening protocol has been activated. Looks like it should finish in one or two hours. Well then, I guess we should just sit back and wait for the—  What the?! Th-That’s…! Leave us alone, damnit! An Angel attacking the tower?! Doctor! We need to get the girl out! But the awakening protocol isn’t finished yet! If we don’t, she dies.Yeah, we no longer have one or two hours, Lumis. Let’s grab and go.  We need to hurry! I’ll use the escape spell! All right, apparently this place has beam shielding. That’s good to know.  No-one move!   *labored breathing* We worked together for so long… I can’t believe this… This is horrible… Why is the Angel attacking us? Why does she hate humans?I still think its because they have some kind of hate boner for Remus.  So that’s what an Angel looks like. It truly is awful… Hey, the girl! She’s waking up!   Are you…? Ah! I don’t believe it! What a relief! I finally found you! Who are you… Oh, wait! Naked anime girl! That’s right. You showed up when Crevanille got knocked the gently caress out during the fight between Angemon and Not-Sephiroth… well, if you want to call it that. Wait… how did you do that if you were in stasis?  Hi there. I… I’ve wanted to see you… I’m sorry to interrupt, but may I ask you some questions? Who are you? We’re with the Dulkheim Army. You wouldn’t know what that is. You’ve been asleep for 2,000 years. 2,000 years? Yes. Do you remember being put to sleep? It should seem like yesterday to you, I’d think. Ngh… Hm, let me try something else. How do you know Crevanille? Oh, well, that’s because he’s… Because he’s… Huh. Why do I…?Yeah, we kind of yanked her out of stasis before the defrosting was complete. There’s gonna be some wonkiness as a result of that. Doctor… We must be seeing the aftereffects of waking her. I’ll give her some time to recuperate. So, you really don’t remember anything? How about your name? My name… Yes, I remember that. Ah, I’m glad to hear you remember that much, at least! It’s pretty.Is it just me, or does Remus seem to be lowkey hitting on every girl we meet? He’s used some variation of cute/pretty/beautiful to describe Regina, Lady Mayfield, Yuni, and now Frayne. Maybe he’s giving up on the whole “finding a family” thing and is switching focus to making one instead. Thank you. But in any case… What happened here? An Angel happened. One of them attacked and destroyed everything. An…gel…? Well, that’s what we call them. They have wings on their backs, fly around, and kill people for some reason. Not that killing is really an angelic trait… Maybe we should be calling them “Demons,” eh? What’s wrong!? Are you all right, Frayne? Is that really what’s happening? What? Are the Angels… really trying to kill people? I-I can’t believe— Even if they aren’t enjoying it, such mindless, unwarranted slaughter can never be forgiven!All right, Remus. Let’s relax a little bit. We know that you’ve developed a bloodlust for angels, but it’s not as though Frayne is one of them. At least, as far as we know. Remus! What’s gotten in to you? I know what you’re saying, but taking it out on her won’t change anything. It’s just…! Ugh… …. I’m sorry, Frayne, he went too far.Notably, there’s an option here for “Please forgive our manners…”, but it’s greyed out. I guess that’s supposed to be the “Full Paragon” response or something?  You have to understand… We’ve all suffered losses because of what the Angels have done. It’s not something any of us can get over easily. I-I see… Lamentations aside, I can’t help but wonder what the Angels actually are. These ruins were created 2,000 years ago by people who were then killed by Angels… But then, traces of Angels have been found in ruins older than these… Angel “traces”? We need more to go on than pictures to figure out what Angels are, though. I’ve always held out hope that Ruin Child would know the secret. Huh… Well, no reason to worry about it for now. The memories will come. Now… I know this might be hard, but could you help us bury the people who fell during the attack…?That’s kind of a dick move, Lumis. She just woke up, nearly got killed, and is suffering memory loss. I’m pretty sure we should have her sit out the gravedigging. *A quick funeral service later*  Right. Our original mission was to bring you to the fort, too. What should we do about her? We should bring her with us. It’s a different department than the one I’m with, but there’s a team at the fort that studies Ruin Children specifically. You’ll be well taken care of. Ruin Children are special, and you’ll be treated as such. Hrm… I feel bad making her come with us without much explanation. She won’t be up to speed for a while. Works for me! I’m not exactly hyped about a double-escort mission, even if the enemies along the way are pushovers. Take good care of her.The other options are for Crevanille to do it, Remus to do it, or Lumis to do it. The fact that you can suggest Lumis, who we’re supposed to be escorting ourselves, is funny to me. Vallery is our bro, though. We can trust him with secondary escort duty. Remus is probably a bad idea considering the little outburst he just had. You have my word. (Vallery…) (Hey, I realize it’d be awkward if you went with her right now. I got your back, don’t worry.)See? He’s a total bro. (Thank you…) ….. ….. Okay, then let’s get going. Frayne, you’ll be with Vallery, and— N-No… Huh? I could maybe endure it if I’m with him, but not otherwise…Chill out, KOS-MOS. You don’t get special attention from Crevanille unless the thread deems it so. Get in line like every other character we’ve met so far. We have our reasons, and we need you to understand. Ruin Children get investigated by the army. That’s the way of it. You’ll be separated from him one way or another. I’d rather just go off on my own, then. Urgh… What should we do, Crevanille? No. Special. Attention. Frayne, you need to trust me. All right… If you say so… Thank you. Please watch over her. Leave it to me.And now we’re free to leave. Our party is pared down to just Crevanille, Remus, and Lumis, but there’s no major threats between us and the fort. It’s all the same forest critters we’ve fought before.  Once we get back to the signpost near Saudrick, we’ll be stopped for a quick scene with these two people. [Young Woman]: You wouldn’t really go on without me, would you, Christopher?  [Young Woman]: I’d go twice as far to be with you. You know that… [Christopher]: Oh, you’re just nothing but trouble, aren’t you?   [Christopher]: Haha. You’re hopeless. All right. Stick around. But only till we hit the next town, all right? *And the two walk off toward Saudrick* …What was that all about?Who knows? Not our problem, though. If we go back to Saudrick, there’s no sign of either of those people. Maybe Christopher is like Jack the Ripper or something and lured that woman out to the woods to gut her like a fish. I’m sure we’ll find out eventually, considering that that was a named character. We’re here. I’ll be around, but since I’m in a different department, you might not see me. We’ll talk more about the ruins next time. Please excuse me for now.*Lumis leaves* He’s probably going to research what we picked up… He seems like someone who’d only have research on his mind. Probably. Yeah, right? Anyway, though… our mission is complete. Should we go report int to the Major, too?May as well. There’s nothing else to do at the fort right now.  When we get to Major Abram’s office and knock, we discover him leaving Ludwig’s office. Ah, Major! Reporting in.[Abram]: No need. I’ve already been briefed by the brigadier general. Oh…?[Abram]: Dr. Lichtmann told us what happened. Now there’s something I must tell you. ”Be quiet about this”, right? What’s that? Yeah, that figures. Understood.[Abram]: Good. But in any case, well done. You’ll return to your regular duties starting tomorrow. Yes, sir!*Abram heads back into his office* I’ll return to our room, then. See you later! Until next time, Remus.*Remus then leaves* I speculate that something we saw at the ruins is considered classified. I am concerned, Master. Can the army be trusted in regard to the Angels? No, they can’t.Absolutely not. Everyone around here except for Tricia and Lichtmann is shady as hell.  It is absolutely logical, Yuni. You really think the military nation with World War era Germany stylings can be trusted with knowledge of ancient superweapons?  We head back to our room, where I put Yuni through some more training. All those battles have given the Dollhouse enough energy for 3 training sessions. I have her Exercise twice and Study once. Her Charm dips down to Level 1, but she does manage to pick up Guard Physical when her Strength hits Level 3. Guard Physical is similar to Guard Spell. There’s a 2% chance, times the level of the skill, of negating a physical attack against Crevanille. At max level, that’s a 10% chance of nullifying a physical attack. Not bad.  Uhh, no it wasn’t, Remus. That was definitely the lady Angel. I’m not sure about the PS2 version, but in the Japanese PSP version (Over Reloaded), Remus says “遺跡を破壊した天使は男のようでしたね…”, which isn’t so much “Looks like the angel who destroyed the ruins was a man” as it is “The angel that destroyed the ruins was similar to the man (angel)”. Could have been the same one who destroyed the island, but it was too far away to be sure.This is similar in Japanese, but combined with the previous line it reads like Remus is more uncertain than he is in the English version. That said, both lines don’t make a lot of sense because Remus has never seen the male Angel and therefore has no point of comparison for their looks. His first and only sighting was of the female Angel that destroyed Ribocca.  If we try and get to bed, Vallery will return and fill us in on what happened with Frayne. I took her to the lab. I felt badly for her, surrounded by people she didn’t know. But, oh! You gotta hear this. What’s that? We met this really weird guy on the way back. It was hilarious. It took me forever to get him away from her! Hahaha, I wonder if he’s the same person we saw… I usually hate shallow people, but that Chris guy’s flirting was funny. If most anyone else had tried that, I’d want to deck him.Too bad we weren’t there for it then, I guess. That’s all for this update. Next time, Crevanille will have more graphically messed up dreams and we’ll check in with Frayne to see how she’s holding up under questioning. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Jun 13, 2021 |
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Jun 12, 2021 20:33
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ultrafilter posted:Wrong portrait? No, that is actually Lumis from what I recall. It's supposed to be an acknowledgement that it was dangerous for him to just run off into the ruins alone and that Vallery/Remus are right to chastise him for doing it. The reason he has two portraits in a row is because I wanted to slot in my comment on the beasts thing. Omobono posted:Furthermore, Frayne was very confused about the news that angels are going all Ancient Testament around the place. Add it to the :speculation: pile. There's another piece of this puzzle that people in the thread haven't noticed yet in regards to the Angels as well. Well, maybe people have noticed, but nobody has questioned it or brought it up yet.
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Jun 13, 2021 02:25
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MythosDragon posted:I mean, I'm not allowed to talk about anything concerning the plot, at most I can like say Chris is one of my favorite characters in the game. It's good to err on the side of caution with possible spoiler stuff, but I'll just point out what I'm talking about to clear it up for everyone. It's not a spoiler, since I'm only pointing out stuff we've already seen. Go back and look at the Angels we've seen: We (the audience, and Crevanille) have technically seen 3 different Angels so far, not 2. I haven't seen anyone ask about it or mention it, so I wasn't sure if it was noticed. Just something else to throw in the speculation pile. Polsy posted:It's the same in the PS2 version, I can't imagine they rewrote any dialogue they didn't have to. That said - the PS2 cutscene, such as it is, doesn't actually show the angel at all so this wouldn't be contradictory there either way (Remus's "why does she hate humans" earlier is not gendered in Japanese). Crevanille does say the Angel at Lamplast was male. It happens just after the Ribocca attack when Remus (again) assumes that it must be the same one from the island. I'll have to check the tower scene in the PS2 version, because even though that scene isn't animated in the PS2 versions, it should still have roughly the same dialog as the animated version. It might be a case of Remus still seeing the Angel but the game simply being incapable of showing it.
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Jun 14, 2021 01:43
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Space Kablooey posted:huh I don't remember seeing the angel sprite. Omobono posted:
Polsy posted:Oh, huh, yeah, I didn't notice that at all. I guess I assumed it was just shadowing at the time. The scene is very short and I took the screenshot I did in order to show the soldiers and Angel, but the game does give a brief shot of the female Angel's portrait:  That gives a better comparison to the difference in her looks versus the one at Ribocca/the Tower. Space Kablooey posted:Also, maybe it's to keep the sprite artstyle consistent, but I thought the angels were gigantic. I believe they are supposed to be roughly the size of a normal person. I think the game deliberately frames them in cutscenes/CGs to make them seem gigantic because that makes them more menacing/dangerous/insurmountable enemies. MythosDragon posted:Just reviewed the dont talk about stuff policy, and realized I should tell you before you record any furlough stuff. If you plan it perfectly you can unlock every character ending in one play barring the mutually exclusive ones. There's a guide on gamefaqs and everything, and bonus, it uses the same fairy as you, which is generally the point where it falls apart if you have a different fairy and need to plan around that. Yes, but it's more entertaining if I make the thread pick their favourites and vote over it. I also might not be able to follow a precision guide like that for other reasons related to user-voted content. I will show as much of that content as I can, but I don't like to do completionist SSLPs or follow walkthroughs. I don't want my writing to end up getting influenced by a guide that I'm following (since some walkthroughs like to throw in funny comments and such). Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Jun 14, 2021 |
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Jun 14, 2021 16:29
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isn't the third image the lady angel again in sprite form
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Extra Update 1: Artistic Expression To start us off in this Extra Update (which may or may not end up being the only one), we’ll be taking a look at the Appendix. I pointed this out at the beginning of Update 1. Growlanser IV: Over Reloaded/Wayfarer of Time (EN) was nice enough to include an Appendix which let’s you look at a bunch of collection material that you have unlocked from the game. You need to unlock the Appendix itself, which I’ll mention once it’s appropriate, but this is still a welcome addition compared to the previous editions of the game. For Wayfarer of Time (JP) and Return, I think you can only access the appendix material through Debug codes. Either way, Appendix let’s us access multiple different options, as pictured above. —Sound—  I personally do not have the Sound Test unlocked, and for the life of me I cannot remember how you go about doing that, but as a substitute: here is the full soundtrack for Over Reloaded. The main composer is Tomoyuki Hamada who has had a long, if somewhat lowkey, career in terms of video game music. He founded T’s Music in 1990, which has gone on to do a lot of work in some major games (including Fire Emblem: Three Houses), but Mr. Hamada himself left the company in 2007 and went to work as a producer with 5pb (now known as Mages Inc.). I’m not sure what he is currently up to (or if he is still with Mages Inc.), but he does have his own independent career as an artist outside of video game music. For what it’s worth, I do enjoy the music in this game. The main reason I don’t typically link individual tracks in the LPs I do is because it eats up valuable text space (which I very rarely have extra of). That said, despite the fact that I do like the music in this game, none of it has really stuck with me. From a personal standpoint, none of the tracks in this game jump up to memorable status. —Gallery— The Movie Gallery should be obvious. It allows us to rewatch any of the animated cutscenes in the game that we’ve seen. I can't show a screenshot of this here because we've only seen a handful of cutscenes so far. The Movie Gallery pages shows thumbnails of a bunch that we haven't run into at this stage of the LP.  Character Gallery allows us to have a look at all of the character art in the game (as in the in-game portraits).  It also allows you to view all of the Costumes you have acquired for the Familiars. This is Costume H for Type D-PT, for example.  You can also scroll through all the different facial expressions/poses of each character. Almost every character in the game also has an “Injured” portrait, such as Diana here. Some of these are fairly subdued, with only minor cuts or bruises, but some of them can get pretty bloody or nasty looking. These portraits are used whenever the character is defeated in a story battle and forced to retreat, or is otherwise plot-killed. The Visual Gallery is where we view CGs from the game (such as that one we saw of the lady angel attacking Ribocca).  Ruins of Hope Scene - PS2 Version  Ruins of Hope Scene - The same shot rendered in Anime Cutscene form for the PSP version Notably, the Visual Gallery also includes CGs which don’t get used in Over Reloaded/Wayfarer of Time (EN). The first CG is used in the PS2 versions of Growlanser IV during the scene where Dixon, Regina, and No-Name Man get offed by Not-Sephiroth. The second shot is from the PSP version, where new cutscenes were drawn up for various moments. These new cutscenes sometimes ended up replacing CGs from the PS2 versions. It’s nice of them to still be included (in widescreen no less) for the PSP version.  You can also view how many of the game’s 40-something different endings you’ve seen. Unfortunately you can’t rewatch them from here, so all this really does is let you know which ones you are missing for 100% completion.  Finally, we’ve got the Chips Card Collection. This is something you need to unlock later on in the game, but once you do you will be able to buy special items called GL Chips Set. You may have seen these items in our inventory already, since I’m using a NG+ file. GL Chips Sets 1 through 4 are minor healing items that give you a random collector card upon use. These cards are of characters and special artwork from the Growlanser series.  For example, this is Tippi. Tippi is a Fairy from the original Growlanser and acts as a mentor of magic for one of the heroines. She’s also the basis for Type D-PT’s appearance from Growlanser IV, as you’ll notice the similarity in costume and hairstyle, a possible name choice “Pitti” (ティピ = Tippi / ピティ = Piti), and also voice actor (Megumi Toyoguchi voices Tippi in Growlanser and Type D-PT in Growlanser IV).  In addition to basic character art, there’s also special artwork cards. This one is of Carmaine, who is the main character of Growlanser I.  And here is a clean version of Growlanser I’s PS1 cover art. There’s also some… uh…  …suggestive artwork included in here.  Suggestive artwork that is not limited to just the ladies. This will act as a segue into the next part of this Extra Update— —The Art of Growlanser—  Looking back on some artwork from previous games in the Growlanser series—  as well as the artwork in the Langrisser series, you may notice some recurring elements at work. This is because the main animator/character designer for the Langrisser and Growlanser series is a man named Satoshi Urushihara.  Mr. Urushihara is a lover of many things as far as character design is concerned. He loves the 80’s/early 90’s look, he loves shiny things (hair, clothes, skin, etc.), he loves very pretty faces (male and female), and he loves big things.  Big boobs.  Big shoulder pads.  Big swords.  Big hair.  Big everything at the same time. Mr. Urushihara started out working as an animator at Toei Animation in the mid 80’s. He did work on the first animated Transformers series as well as Transformers: The Movie. He also worked on the G.I. Joe animated series and has published a few (short-lived) manga series.  Satoshi Urushihara’s take on G1 Arcee, from Transformers He also draws a lot of erotica and has been involved in several adult OVAs and manga. But that’s obviously not something we need to get into for the sake of this LP. The main takeaway is that the distinct artistic style of Growlanser comes from Mr. Urushihara’s distinct personal style. So what is he doing these days? Uhh… not much from what I can find online. He was involved in the recent Langrisser I & II collection on Switch. The only other mentions of him over the past year or two are related to freelance artwork and collaborations (very NSFW stuff, I should add). He is still active, but I can’t find any anime/video game/manga/OVA work credited to him, so he’s either going by a pen name in SFW stuff, or he’s keeping a low profile.
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Jun 16, 2021 18:19
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mastersord posted:When you mentioned shoulder pads, my first thought was Fist of the North Star. Was Mr. Urushihara involved in that? Not to my knowledge. FotNS was 84-88, during which time Urushihara was graduating from high school, working at Toei as an animator on Transformers, and then turning freelance. He didn't get a crack at a character designer position until 87 (on an adult OVA series). I think FotNS just shares the 80's aesthetic that he loves (shoulder pads, spandex, wild hairdos). Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Jun 17, 2021 |
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Jun 17, 2021 03:05
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Melomane Mallet posted:Yeeeeaaah.... that's the other thing Urushihara is know for - hentai. One of his artbooks has nude art of all the playable girls from the first three Growlanser games. All of them. Even the twelve-year-old. I was going to include a joke about Growlanser/Langrisser being one of the only series to have official Rule34 of basically every character, but I didn't want to dwell on the NSFW stuff too much because this is an LP of a T-rated game series. Polsy posted:Judging by vgmdb he left videogames a long time ago, except for sequels (unless he didn't work on the sequels either but he's credited because they reused some of his work) and has been composing/arranging for (5pb-attached) idols since. Judging by his twitter he's now either running or heavily involved in a new label, Beyond the Music, so I guess that's working out for him. Not entirely sure if he's still technically with Mages since even stuff under the new label is listed as distributed by Mages. Yeah, he doesn't have much direct involvement in video game music post-2010. He's listed in Senran Kagura and Corpse Party games, but I believe that's because he's Asami Imai's producer (who has done lyrical/voice work in those titles). I think that Beyond the Music is his independent work. I had found a website with a bunch of his tracks listed on it while I was researching him, but for the life of me I can't track it down now. I think a lot of it showed up in Touhou stuff, so he might be involved in that community in a hobby capacity. MythosDragon posted:There's no way to talk about this tactfully, but I'm gonna try. I love his art normally, like top 10 best artstyles, especially his psp remake era art with extra shine, but that all evaporates when its NSFW. I legitimately dislike it for some reason even if you ignore that, and I just question how both sides are his art. Barring that uh... thing I could have lived without knowing, I'm glad he generally keeps them separate. It is a very strange juxtaposition. Love it or hate it, he has a distinct art style that stands out from others and that is enough to justify including it in a personal top 10. A lot of artists have personal touches in characters they design, but not as many have an entire ethos about it where someone can look at it for a second and go "That's definitely so-and-so's work." But the fact that he uses that same art style for his adult oriented work, and also likes to use previously designed characters as material, is a bit troublesome. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how he gets away with that stuff. Just searching for some of his artwork to use in this update resulted in NSFW images of characters that are very clearly Growlanser/Langrisser characters. I understand that he is a freelancer, but you would think that kind of thing would cause some friction with Atlus/Sega, yet they still worked with him on the remastering of Langrisser I & II.
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Jun 17, 2021 14:37
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Update 8: Parties and Politics We start the update off with another trip to Crevanille’s weird dream world, where he can see Ludwig and President Deringer having another meeting while also seeing himself standing in his own room despite being asleep. I see… And now everything looks okay somehow! Maybe my computer is in need of an exorcism. After we’ve completed that, we can redirect those forces toward Valkania… I understand your plans, but do you really think we can win this? Yes, I do. Just leave things to me and we will emerge victorious. Hmmm… Not satisfied? A nonaggression pact…? A lot of money has been spent by my supporters in the war against Iglesias. Too much, in their eyes. I’m starting to sense some discontent from them. Indeed. If I don’t split the spoils from Iglesias with them and then stop the fighting, I’ll lose their support. This is not to mention that war is an unpopular venture in general, and the public has lost its stomach for it.So Deringer’s donors are looking to cash out and score a return on their “investment” while the general public is reaching the stage of “Why the gently caress are we still throwing bodies into the meat grinder?” Not a good combination to have when heading into an election. I can’t afford to go into the next election while starting another war with Valkania. I’ll have to reject your plan…I’m honestly kind of surprised that Ludwig would suggest something that stupid in the first place. Yes, Valkania is secretly loving around in Dulkheim’s territory, but Dulkheim is already worn down from a war that hasn’t even ended yet. Not to mention that, based on what we’ve been told about Valkania, they aren’t exactly a pushover. If Ludwig is feeling confident just because they’ve cobbled together a few hundred kids that can use spellstones, then he’s a very reckless fool.  Yo! You must’ve been pretty tired to not wake up before right now. We’ll go on ahead to the main hall. It seems there’s going to be some kind of explanation…*Remus and Vallery head out* That was another “foresight.” It was Brigadier General Ludwig and the President speaking. They will undoubtedly affect your future in some manner, but I wonder how and in what specific way.I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. Let’s head out to the main hall and see what this explanation thing is all about.  Ah, hello there. Why are you here? Isn’t your laboratory next door? Oh, did you come here to tell us about the ruins? Over here…? You mean, in a military capacity? That’s right. I’m not thrilled that I won’t be able to study the device I took from the ruins, but orders are orders… I understand you were ordered, but… you’re a researcher. That doesn’t make a lot of sense. I don’t disagree. But it’s not that abnormal in the military. I did graduate from the academy, after all. Still, to be transferred from something you like doing… Hah, I appreciate your concern, but I’m sure it will all work out as long as I’ve got fine men like you. *Lumis heads to the lectern while Remus and Vallery head to their seats* I suggest we sit down, too. Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am taking over Ludwig’s duties, as he himself has been promoted to major general.Isn’t Abram also a major? Why wouldn’t you have him take over Ludwig’s duties? I guess you would still need someone to fill Abram’s job at that point, but still. Seems weird to rope a researcher into that over a man who has actually been acting in a military capacity for however many years. A party will be held tomorrow here in this hall for Major General Ludwig. We will use today to prepare for it, so all training is canceled. Everyone will have assigned duties to perform. Okay, you all know what to be doing. Get to work.*Everyone scatters, save for two random soldiers and Remus/Vallery*  Looks like we’ll be guarding the guests that arrive tomorrow. You’ll be on Doct-- I mean, Major Lichtmann. You’re lucky to only have work in the afternoon. Hah, that’s the benefit of being group leader!drat right. Okay, well, I’m going to go enjoy my free time today, then. Wonder where I should go…*Vallery and Remus both leave in different directions* What should we do now?Good question. I guess we’ll start by nagging the people we just saw.  It’s near the fort, though, so I’m sure nothing will happen! Don’t let your guard down. I won’t, I won’t… Don’t make such a fuss. And hey, if anything happens, I’ll just call you! I’ll come whenever you need me.First of all, phrasing. Second, I know what I told Frayne about “no special attention until the thread votes”, but we need to be as nice as we can to Tricia for the time being for reasons that will become apparent much later on. Hee hee, it’s a promise! If we try and head back to our room, Tricia will send a knocking code. This is only if we try and go back to our room. If we leave through any other exit, she won’t stop us for this. I’m not sure if it’s possible to miss this, but I wouldn’t chance it. Better to trigger it before starting the next story event. *send back, “Be careful”**A little pink heart floats over Tricia’s head*  If we head outside, we’ll find Vallery training against the dummies. This is all he has to say, though. Remus is hanging out at the end of the hallway that leads to our room and just wonders aloud about what kind of party is going to happen.  If we walk around anywhere near the laboratory, we’ll get pulled into a scene. [Kate]: I’m sorry… We’ve tried everything we can. [Researcher]: If she’s in that state, then… Hm? Hey, weren’t you one of the people who went to find Dr. Lichtmann? You know about that girl, then, right? Please, we could use your help. Yes.We could say no, but that would be a non-heroic thing to do. [Researcher]: Thank you. I’ll take you to her.  I was starting to think I’d never see you again…It’s been less than 24 hours, Frayne. Relax. Have you remembered anything? I’m afraid not. When I first awakened, I could not remember anything else, but I somehow remembered you… Who are you? Someone you met in a dream.As corny as that sounds, it’s technically what happened. In a dream? I am sorry. I do not remember… If you’re a Ruin Child, then please tell me: why was I asleep? I’m searching for that, too.Yeah, sorry about that, but Crevanille is just as lost as you are. He didn’t even know he was a Ruin Child until a few months ago. Until then, he lived with the idea that his dad just passed him off to a mercenary leader when he was a kid. You, too? I see, so I’m not alone in this fear… Thank you. Just knowing that makes me feel relieved. What’s in those memories I’ve forgotten? What if I had some kind of mission? If so, I have to remember no matter what. Yeah yeah, we’re soulmates or whatever. Like I told you before, the thread will be the ultimate arbiter of that. Vallery awoke in the same way that you and I did, but he is different somehow. Or maybe it is more that we are the different ones… Perhaps that is where my fear truly originates-- that we share the same past, yet our path differs from others’… Yes.*Frayne heads for the door, but then stops to look at Crevanille* Now that I know I’m not alone, I know I can go on. We will meet again.*Frayne leaves* [Researcher]: You really helped calm her down. Thank you. We’re free to leave the room at this point. There’s nothing left to do, so I guess we’ll just have Crevanille spend his free day sleeping. It’s what I’ve been doing for the past year. #PandemicLife.  Back in the Dream Zone, Crevanille starts having another graphically screwed up vision. This one concerns Tricia. *Tricia destroys the scorpion* Whew… Is that the last of the monsters?[Dulkheim Soldier #1]: Looks like. But why were there so many near out fort? It was almost like they were being chased by something.  I guess that answers that question. Not sure why the monsters were running from Garuga, though. They all seemed pretty chummy with each other during that mission in Ribocca. At the very least they were all friendly enough to agree on a loving ambush plan. *Dulkheim Soldier #1 takes a swing, but gets immediately bodied by Garuga* [Dulkheim Soldier #1]: Ngh! What the-- This thing’s strong! No way! W-We need to hurry and contact the fort for backup![Dulkheim Soldier #1]: But how!? Ugh… Here it comes again…!  Tricia! Affirmative. That means the place we saw was the forest to the east. Their situation was critical. We should leave at once to aid them.We have a new mission: Save Tricia! …Also the no-namers with her, I guess. Remus and Vallery are nowhere to be found, so I guess we’re on our own for this one. We need to head out to the courtyard and then leave through the East gate (the one that leads to Ribocca). That said, however, I recommend that you make sure Crevanille is equipped with a Decoy spellstone before continuing. We want him to be drawing as much aggro as possible.  *We hear a knocking from somewhere* Master, wait… I hear something. It is Tricia’s knocking code. I believe she is telling us where she is. We must hurry. If we move a little further to the right, we’ll find Tricia being accosted by Garuga. Master, we’ve found her! Crevanille!? How did you find me? We heard your code. Thank goodness! Thank you, Crevanille! So here’s the layout: Tricia is tucked away up in this little forest area. You can see one Garuga here, but the second one is actually a little further up, just off screen. Crevanille needs to kill the first one as fast as possible and draw aggro on the second.  Tricia is essentially helpless in this fight. She can take a few hits, but Garuga’s attacks are fairly quick, so it’s not hard for her to get killed here. 16 damage is about 20-25% of her total HP. A stray critical could cause double that. If you are decently lucky, Tricia will be able to block most of the attacks. If you are unlucky, she’ll eat a face full of laser on every attack and be dead in 4 or 5 hits. Garuga still have around 100HP, so it will take Crevanille a few attacks to take one down. The other thing to keep in mind is that Garuga #2 starts the fight with a lot of aggro on Tricia. Even when Crevanille starts attacking it, Garuga #2 will likely still keep attacking Tricia. This is where Decoy can come in handy, as it might pull #2’s aggro in time to save Tricia from an extra attack or two.  Not a difficult mission to pass, but Completing it may be harder. The main factor is level since you don’t have the time or party members for anything approaching “tactics”. Our Crevanille was Level 14 and got through this pretty easily. Just keep in mind that our Crevanille is also benefitting from an endgame ring. I’m just glad you’re safe. It’s all thanks to you. Haha, and I’m the one who’s supposed to be looking after you! Tricia… Your hands are trembling. I never knew how scary a real fight could be. This makes you look even more amazing, Crevanille.You want a tip for battles? Don’t have your caster standing out front. What the hell was that formation we saw in the vision, Tricia? Two melee DPS standing around in the back and you out in no-man’s land charging spells? Shameful. Ahem. Oh, but, Crevanille! There are still injured! My two teammates… I need to help them back to the fort. We’ll get them together. Oh, thanks! Let’s go, then!I’m genuinely amazed that they survived.  We should go rest for tomorrow’s mission.All right, then. Back to bed it is. Remus and Vallery are still nowhere to be found, so we don’t have anyone to recount our heroic tale to.  I’m not sure if this scene is a Foresight thing or not. Yuni won’t mention it and the graphics aren’t all screwy, so this could simply be a fourth wall breaking thing where only the audience is seeing it.  Ah, Simmons. Always a pleasure. Shut your mouth, boy! Answer me! I have business with my brother. I would think that someone of your abilities would have been able to puzzle that out for himself. Tch, come to let your brother take more underserved credit, then? Look, I’ve only come to talk with him. The specifics are between us. You never know when to quit, do you? It’s only thanks to your younger brother that-- Ngh…*Captain Simmons then starts walking away* Long time no see, brother. Indeed. When did you return? Just last night. ….. His moodiness is somewhat understandable. He had a great deal of respect for Sir Muntzer, and he doesn’t relish being required to now serve under Silverneil. Ah, Diana Silverneil. Think what it must be like for her! To be required to work with such a man…He does seem like kind of a poo poo-starter.  Diana, you’re as ravishing as ever. I would compare thee to a rose that grows in the barren desert. So, you’re saying I have thorns? Heh, same old Diana. How have you been? I’ve heard you’ve been dealt a real winner in dear Simmons. Perhaps. Depends on whom you’re speaking. Someone who is openly hostile toward you seems like a tough sell. He must have simply been in a foul mood. Seems like a true leader is expert at covering for their subordinates, too. I think that’s enough, brother. Didn’t you have business with me? Ah, yes. I thought I would share with you some of the tales from my travels. Hah, tales from YOU certainly sound intriguing enough. Let’s invite Sir Muntzer, too. I’m sure he’d be interested. Well, it can’t be helped, then. We three will just have to make do. Well, that sure was some playful banter. Too bad we aren’t hanging out with those guys. They seem like way more fun than Bryntir and Ludwig. [Dulkheim Soldier]: There’ve been no problems thus far. Just continue the guard of Major Lichtmann. It’s time for your duties, Master.Just a friendly reminder, if you want to drop a save here then make sure you are rotating. No particular reason, just… trust me on this.  Fancy. Ah, over here! There are mostly Dulkheimers at this party, so I doubt I’m in any serious danger here. That said, I’ll be relying on you to guard me until the party ends.*The camera pans over to Ludwig and Deringer* What’s the general doing? Hm? He seems to be talking to President Deringer at the moment. I have many misgivings about that, to tell the truth. I wonder at the major general, our military’s top strategist, being so cozy with the highest political authority in the nation… They seem thick as thieves. Well that’s the thing, we’re not judging their relationship based on a simple conversation. We’re basing it on the fact that we’ve seen psychic visions of them engaging in some under-the-table dealings. Military must be the tool of the government, not the other way around. A military maneuver is ultimately a political one, after all. But politicians should not grow accustomed to such maneuvers. Such actions should always be a last resort. If those two get close, that boundary may grow uncomfortably thin… The more I think about it, the more dangerous it seems. I agree. So, you understand? Being privy to private conversations between the two also helps. Dulkheim has been invaded many times in its long history. Each time, we’ve driven the invaders out. Lately, we’ve been making good strides against Iglesias. No Dulkheimer thinks we might lost at this point. Now we see a major political figure trying to leverage his popularity… I’ve heard he has close ties to weapons dealers. This is truly worrisome… Say no more.We mean that literally, by the way. Please stop talking. I hardly think I’m alone on this. I wonder how many of our politicians really have the country’s best interest at heart… Back room deals with the military are a problem, but that’s always the way in politics… But pardon me, I’m starting to complain again. Hey! It’s Not-Sephiroth! Ah, Vester.And we finally have a name! …I prefer Not-Sephiroth, or maybe Sephinot. We’ll have to continue this later, Mr. President. Please make yourself at home while you’re here. Well, it’s my turn to entertain the President next. Orders are orders… This may take a while, so you can do as you please in the meantime.Finally free from the grip of Lumis’ poli-sci lecture, we can turn our attention to more important matters.  Not at all. I merely pitched in a bit here and there. This is all your doing, sir. But you must excuse me, as I need to be on my way. Mm…*Vester then heads towards the courtyard* Get your rear end back here! We’re not done with you! Do you remember me? That’s an odd question… Wait, you’re the boy who was with Dixon. I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Vester. I’m working with Major General Ludwig. *draw weapon* It’s go time, jackass. We still need to avenge our Grizzled Anime Dad, stripper not-sister, and Steve. *sigh* Don’t. It’ll only cause trouble for your major general.Since when do we give a poo poo about him? You greatly overestimate our attachment to everyone in this base.  Unfortunately, we can make Crevanille stand there in a battle stance for hours and still not trigger a fight. As soon as you hit a button, Crevanille will back down and put his sword away. A shame, since I could have leveraged the almighty power of NG+ to crush Vester if given the opportunity. Even if I don’t deal with you personally, I could have the major general send you or your friends to the front… Farewell, my dear pawns…*Vester leaves* Moments like these really piss me off. But, I guess we’ll just have to bottle that anger up and keep it in reserve for a potential showdown later on.  Yes, Mr. President!*President Deringer then leaves*  [Dulkheim Soldier]: Is the party over? Yeah, all that’s left is to clean up.Before we can go anywhere, someone calls out to us from the Eastern gate.   I, uh… I don’t think I got around to saying it properly yesterday… Thanks so much for rescuing me. You saved my life! Call me anytime you need me. I don’t doubt that you’d actually come. You’re like a knight in shining armor! Huh? Oh, I didn’t mean it like that! That’s just how it felt… I’m sorry I stopped you. That’s all. Thank you so much!*Tricia leaves* Good stuff. Before we go back inside, we can chat with Vallery. Yo, Crevanille.And that’s literally all he says before heading back inside the fort. Riveting. With nothing else to do, we try and head back to our room, only to be interrupted with a new scene.  [Abram]: What’s the hurry? [Noris]: I’m Sergeant Noris from the Saudrick patrol unit. I came to request that a clearance squad be dispatched. *Noris moves in close to Abram and tells him something* A clearance squad? To Saudrick? Whatever for?[Abram]: Sixty to seventy bandits have been lurking around there for the past week or so.  Shouldn’t you guys deal with roving bandit groups immediately instead of just watching them for a full week? [Norris]: I’d like three units to put down these bandits before they do any real damage. No attacks yet? And they’ve made no demands, either? [Noris]: Two people who went into the mountains supposedly saw a number of armed men, but there haven’t been any skirmishes. [Abram]: Any damage to nearby farms? [Noris]: The farmers retreat into the city at night, just in case, so there’ve been no deaths yet. Some food’s been stolen, but that’s all so far. [Abram]: Hm… If their numbers are that great, they should have struck by now. It worries me that they’re only spotted at night, in the distance. Colonel, why don’t we send a scout team? It’s unnatural for such a large bandit group to appear so suddenly.Huh, I guess Abram also got a promotion. Good for him.  Well… true, but…[Abram]: We’ll pick out squads and have the three teams depart before dawn tomorrow. You go back to the city to tell them we’re coming. [Noris]: Thank you!  Wait, 10? How many soldiers does this base have exactly? It’s not exactly reassuring to know that a group the size of Alten Schwart is enough to threaten a major military base on the border. [Abram]: I worry about the fort, too, but this will only take a couple of days. They’re just bandits, and we’ll outnumber them.  *Abram then leaves* I’m worried. But I have to figure out the brigands’ objective before anyone will listen to me… People here still see me as a man of science, and they don’t trust that about me. It can’t be helped…Yeah. Abram is now calling the shots as the highest ranking officer here, so there’s not much you can do. I suppose you’re right… There are ruins just southeast of here known as the “Ruins of Hope.” She was taken there. That is…Maybe those ruins are just cursed or something. On the other hand, Vallery was perfectly fine when we stopped by during our trip to Saudrick. Pardon me. I have to prepare for deployment. Guys! Guys! We’ve got so much to tell you! There were some high-ranking people at the party for such a small event. I never would have expected to see the President himself there. Lumis said something interesting…Shut up about that, Remus. There’s something more important— The military and politicians scratching each other’s backs? That could be a problem, if it’s true…What? No! Crevanille, would you tell them about Frayne and the blood wings thi—  Ugh, whatever. Forget it. Don’t expect me to explain poo poo when you end up being surprised by that information later on, though. [Raoul]: The bulk of our forces have been assigned a mission to clear out some bandits near Saudrick. Black 4’s orders are to remain here and take turns patrolling the fort. Understood.[Raoul]: I was told your patrol duty starts tonight. Good luck. *Raoul leaves*  Vallery is such a bro. You earn instant friend points if you volunteer to take the night shift. Unless the job is super easy and laid back at night, in which case you’re a douche. I’ll take tomorrow’s shift, then. I’m somewhat tired, so I think I’ll be getting some rest. Yeah, I ought to sleep while I can, too.Everyone else heads to bed, but we can go and have a quick chat with Tricia before doing the same.  No. You’re staying behind? I was hoping we’d be out there together. Oh, well. Orders are orders. That they are. Take care of the base while I’m gone!Don’t get killed by bandits! We head back to our room and hit the hay. Unfortunately, there’s a noise sometime during our rest that wakes everyone up.  I hear voices outside…*Vallery runs out and Remus follows* Ah, wait! Master, I advise that you prepare yourself for the worst-case scenario.Here’s the thing: Yuni is giving you great advice. That said, you will likely take this to mean that you should save before heading out. Make sure you save in a new slot. If you are only using one save file and you overwrite it here, then you could possibly softlock yourself. You’ll see why in a bit.  Yes, sir!*Vallery and the soldier leave* Will those two be all right? There aren’t many soldiers here now. If we don’t obey orders, there may be a weakness in our defense. True. And given their skills, I’m sure whoever it is will be captured in no time.*Crevanille comes out of the room* Ah, Crevanille! So, you were left behind, too. *Another soldier appears*  Understood.*The soldier and Bryntir leave* Our duty is to provide backup during an emergency. Let’s make a patrol around the fort first!When we get to the main hall, we’ll see a brief shot of Lumis heading for the courtyard. We need to follow him, but first allow me to make some recommendations. Make sure you fully stock on Vulnerary. You can only carry a max of 9, but make sure you have that max. Also, it would be a good idea to give Remus the Chemist’s Art spellstone (if you managed to get it from the ruins where we found Frayne).   Uh-oh. [Abram]: Ngh! Why did this happen while our soldiers were out!? The mystery’s solved, Colonel. This was no accident. There were never any bandits. We fell directly into their trap.[Abram]: What? They must have come with a small group over the border to avoid raising suspicion. Those few soldiers drew out our forces here to accomplish their mission as quickly as they could. Were there really sixty of them? The patrol unit only saw sixty torches. Each man could have held several. If you attached several torches to a long pole, as many as ten could have been held by just one man.That’s some Sun Tzu poo poo right there. It seems one among you is crafty. But it’s too late now. Only if it gets out, which it won’t. The authorities will never admit that a small force infiltrated a military base.[Dulkheim Soldier #1]: Ngh…! [Abram]: Then we only have to prevent you from escaping! All personnel have my permission to use spells! Let no one leave alive! [Dulkheim Soldier #2]: Yes, sir! The battle’s begun… We need to do our part!Here we go. This mission right here? This is the mission where you get the answer to the question “Am I the right level for this part of the game?” You might have been able to squeak by previous missions at level 10 or 12, but that’s not going to be the case here. There are only 3 enemies in this fight. Muntzer and the two soldiers accompanying him. The thing is, Muntzer is a Royal Guard member. The Royal Guard of Valkania is just as strong as Abram warned us about back during the practice battle. Muntzer is level 41 and has about 700HP. The two soldiers with him are much weaker, at level 15.  It should be obvious that this mission will be about survival. You will not be able to beat Muntzer unless you are on NG+ and brought some real good spellstones with you. Now, remember way back during the practice battle with Abram where I pointed out the switches on the walls that controlled the training dummies? Now is the perfect time to employ those. Have Remus head for the switch in the screenshot above. Meanwhile, Crevanille should head for the switch on the far left wall. Don’t bother with the switch on the right.  Abram will likely start the fight by taking a swing at one of the soldiers accompanying Muntzer. He should shave off about 90HP, which is a big help towards killing those two off. There’s a good chance that the other Dulkheim soldiers will finish the job on at least one soldier without you needing to get involved. Unfortunately for our side…   You began your research before we did, but it’ll do you little good if your men have no combat training with it.[Abram]: Don’t let him get to you! Remember your training! Spells have disadvantages too!  And those disadvantages are exactly why Muntzer will proceed to immediately give up on using spells and instead focus on slapping Abram upside the head the good old-fashioned way. I’ve only ever seen Muntzer use spells this one time, which is a shame since his spell damage is far weaker than his sword damage. But if they have spells already, why invade…? If it were the research materials they wanted, they could have got them easier with a covert force… Is there more to this?Really not the time, Lumis.  When Remus gets close enough to the switch, have him flip it. This will raise the barriers near Muntzer and Abram. It may seem like we’re hanging Abram out to dry, but—  [Dulkheim Soldier #1]: C-Colonel!  *Abram explodes into light* [Dulkheim Soldier #3]: The colonel’s dead! Don’t panic![Dulkheim Soldier #2]: But, sir! If the colonel couldn’t beat him, there’s no way we can… Don’t worry about winning! Hold the line and wait for our backup![Dulkheim Soldier #3]: Th-Then…  [Dulkheim Soldier #3]: Understood!  [Dulkheim Soldier #2]: Right away, sir! So like I was saying, pinning Abram against the wall doesn’t matter because he won’t survive this fight either way. Muntzer’s HP is programmed to never fall below 1 as long as Abram is alive. It is actually possible to keep Abram alive long enough for a NG+ Crevanille to reach him, but Muntzer will be unkillable until he succeeds in striking Abram down. Muntzer’s attack frequency will also eventually increase if Abram survives for too long, making it harder to keep him alive (Muntzer will start hitting him twice in a row after a certain amount of time passes). There’s nothing we can do for poor Abram, so you may as well get that training dummy barrier up while he’s holding Muntzer off.  Two soldiers will head for the lab while the other two head for the main hall. There’s no way for Muntzer to get to them before this happens, but that doesn’t mean that they are safe.  All right, but hurry!At this point, a timer will appear that counts down from 4. It’s similar to the timer during that mission in Ribocca, except it’s draining a lot slower than it did back then. This is the time until the laboratory is barricaded. We need to make sure that Muntzer and his soldiers don’t reach that door before then.  If you got those training dummies up before Abram got killed, then Muntzer and his soldiers will be forced to go around them. This prevents them from plotting a straight path to the door. With Remus’ job done, he should switch focus to killing the soldiers. You can use spells or regular attacks for this. If Bryntir and Vallery came back, we’d stand a better chance at this… When Crevanille reaches his switch, have him flip it in order to raise the barrier just outside the lab. This cuts off Muntzer and the soldiers from the lab and basically ensures that they won’t reach it in time.  When Crevanille has flipped his switch, then manually move him back towards Remus’ position. Muntzer should ignore Crevanille in favour of going to the lab so long as it’s still being barricaded. With the barrier in the way, however, he won’t be able to make it in time (his AI is only programmed to try and go in a straight line to the lab. It doesn’t account for the barriers being up or down).  When he reaches the training dummy barrier, you will reach the hard part of this mission. Muntzer will turn and start trying to walk around the barrier, which will point him directly at Remus/Crevanille/Lumis. [Dulkheim Soldier #2]: The barricade is ready! Whew… Now we can buy time until they get into the lab. We just have to hope someone saw the flare to send backup… The barricade won’t cause us much trouble, but if we don’t hurry, our escape is in jeopardy… I’ll at least accomplish the other mission we were given.At this point, Muntzer will aggro on your team. Losing Crevanille or Lumis is an instant mission failure, but losing Remus isn't an option either. You need Remus alive in order to survive Muntzer. That’s because…  He hits like a truck. This is the plan: Position Crevanille in such a way that Muntzer will aggro on him (or have Crevanille attack him, like I just did, if you think he can survive at least 1 hit). After that, set Crevanille to Defend and never stop defending. Immediately have Remus focus on healing Crevanille from that point on. The time between Muntzer’s attacks is long enough that Remus should be able to fully heal Crevanille using Vulnerary (which only heals about 30-37HP each). If you equipped Remus with Chemist’s Art, then you can also have him continuously charging Cure and casting it whenever Crevanille gets hurt. With Crevanille defending, the damage from Muntzer should be cut down to around 120-140 (again, our Crevanille’s defence is slightly better than normal because of his endgame ring).  Well done. Let’s escape before the border security tightens up.Lumis will cast support spells throughout the fight, but he can’t be relied upon to use something like Cure when you need it. Lumis’ AI isn’t smart enough to hold a spell that’s fully charged, so he’ll throw out Cure as soon as its ready, regardless of whether or not Crevanille is full health (he used it in this fight at a moment when Crevanille had just been healed back to full by Remus). [Valkania Soldier]: Yes, sir! All right… All units, retreat! This is what I meant about possibly getting softlocked. If Crevanille isn’t a high enough level to survive one of Muntzer’s attacks and your only save is right before this mission started? Too bad, start the game over. To my knowledge, there’s no way to go out and grind on random battles once the party event gets wraps up. Now, is it possible to beat Muntzer at all? Yes. Once Abram is dead, Muntzer’s HP unlocks and he can be defeated. If you’re playing NG+ it is possible:  This is all you get for it (other than the useless EXP/Ril bonus). Just like with Abram, it’s not really worth it, unless you’re trying to speedrun through a second playthrough. Ah, they left. Superlative, everyone. Have you heard from Vallery’s team? They’re not back yet. That’s it! They were after the spellstone technology and the Ruin Children themselves! One of them said the east unit completed its mission… You don’t think…? Noooooo! Not our bro! Talk about trouble…[Senior Officer]: Let’s hurry, Bryntir! *Bryntir and the Senior Officer leave to the East* We should go with them! We have to save Vallery!Let’s go save our bro!  The rest of you, go on ahead.[Valkania Soldier]: But, Sir Muntzer… Our mission is to take a Ruin Child back to our country.[Valkania Soldier]: …Yes, sir! *Three of the soldiers leave* Now… Wh-What should we do?We’re going to charge at him recklessly, of course. He has Vallery!  Master, are you safe?*Crevanille kneels down and picks up Yuni* How dogged of you. Then try this…! Th-The bridge! Farewell.*Muntzer and the archer leave. Lumis and some Dulkheim soldiers then arrive behind us* It seems they got away. The bridge… Don’t tell me he did this. This is made of ancient metals. For him to cut it so easily… I’m glad you were unharmed. By the way, where is Bryntir? We didn’t see him… No? Where could he have gone? Maybe he went back to the fort? Let’s return to the fort and assess the damages. Since Abram passed away, we must carry on without him… She protected Crevanille, and— Save the explanation! She’ll fade away if you don’t hurry back to your room and put her in the Dollhouse!Looks like we’ll have to give up on rescuing Vallery for now. Yuni needs some immediate magic infusion or she’ll die. Next time: We take stock of all the ways things went horribly horribly wrong.
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Jun 18, 2021 18:08
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AtomikKrab posted:So Valk whatever probably knows something about the ruins and angels and poo poo but has no ruin child to utilize. They probably figure that Dulkheim will be busy getting turbo nuked by sky assholes to stop them. Well, they are definitely right to make that assumption. That's what makes it even weirder that Ludwig would be pushing Deringer to pivot from a war with Iglesias to a war with Valkania. Dulkheim kind of has a bunch of other problems to worry about. Even with Valkania screwing around with black ops missions in their territory, Dulkheim can't really afford to go after them. We haven't seen much of King Valkania, so we can't yet tell if he's the brains behind this or if it's the work of the Royal Guard, but whomever came up with this gambit that's being pulled is a loving genius: -Valkania gets to nab a Ruin Child and greatly speed up their spell development. -Dulkheim won't call them out for the raid because Deringer is facing reelection and an incident like this would be a huge embarrassment for him at a crucial moment of his campaign (a handful of soldiers punked an entire military base and got away with national secrets). -Valkania makes public overtures for a non-aggression pact with Dulkheim, whose population is turning against the war with Iglesias. Again, it's an election year, which means that Deringer basically has no choice but to go along with that. If he does, then Valkania has secured some peace and quiet that they can use to do research and development. -In the event that Dulkheim does decide to go public with the raid and start a war with Valkania, then Valkania still has the Ruin Child to help their development of spells. Dulkheim has also been worn down in their war against Iglesias, so they won't be able to mount any kind of effective attack for quite a while (which gives Valkania time to shore up their defences or make some early gains). Dulkheim got massively outplayed here, on every level. Seraphic Neoman posted:Welp. That got bad fast. Good news! It isn't done getting bad just yet! vilkacis posted:
This is a little bit misleading on the part of the game, because the Female: Others section does have characters in there which are enemies. There's also an "Evil" route in this game, so technically every character is a potential enemy. The amount of endings is a tiny bit misleading as well. The vast majority of those are character endings. This is how it shakes out: Modified/True Route: -1 "Good End" + 21 character endings + 4 variations on the "didn't choose anyone" character ending -1 "Bad End" Original Route: -1 main ending + 13 character endings + 1 "didn't choose anyone" ending Dulkheim Route: -6 endings that range from "Somewhat Heroic" to "You think that's villainous? Hold my Vulnerary." Melomane Mallet posted:As always, important NPC ages: I need to find a way to add these in, because some of my updates are so tight on space that I literally cannot afford even a handful of extra letters. I may have to do some selective editing. MythosDragon posted:Love that fight, its so fun. It is a good battle, even taking into account the fact that you could end up softlocking from too low a level. It's a mission that's completely feasible without the training dummies, but if the player took the time to explore and poke around the environment earlier on, then it rewards them for doing so by making the mission a little easier. To explain for everyone who hasn't played this: If you aren't aware of (or decide not to use) the training dummy walls, then the only way to stop Muntzer from reaching the lab is to have Crevanille block his path and fight him. This means that Crevanille will have to survive way more attacks from Muntzer before the mission ends. If you know about the training dummies and use them, then Muntzer wastes extra time navigating the field, which means he will have fewer chances to hit Crevanille once the lab is completely barricaded. This results in a lower risk of you running out of healing items/Remus running out of MP for Cure. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Jun 19, 2021 |
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Jun 19, 2021 14:26
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MythosDragon posted:My bad, knee jerk weirdness and again, I dont think in terms of things like that, edit the quote and I'll delete it. No worries. In this case it's going to come up in about an update or two anyway, but I wanted to give a heads up just for future reference. Melomane Mallet posted:Maybe do a characters page and just put it up on lpix or something? That's probably best. My only thing about character pages is that it will end up listing characters that people who may be catching up haven't seen at the point they are at. I'll think on it.
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Jun 19, 2021 19:10
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Melomane Mallet posted:Another idea: character posts. Find a good break point (I do know there's one coming up), and do a post of only the characters we have met and what we know of them and what their deal is at that point in the lp. Later on, do another character post, with updated info for characters we already know and add anyone we've met since the last character post. Repeat till we have everyone. ultrafilter posted:This seems like a good way to approach it. I'll do it this way, then. Not really keen on devoting a post on such a short topic, but I guess I can just compile it all into a single post at the end for the purposes of archival. I'll figure out a different way to organize it at that point. MythosDragon posted:We're getting towards the end of the prologue soon, so I was gonna start my first PPSSPP playthrough, but man PSP games are kinda weird to set the graphics for. I'm assuming youre using it too, mind sharing your setting? I have Window Size and Rendering Size set to x2, although the screenshots for this LP are technically x1.5. PPSSPP only has round number rendering resolutions, so I have to use x2 and then have OBS scale the footage back down to 720x408. This saves me from having to batch resize all the screenshots afterward (although I do batch convert to JPG in order to bring the file sizes down more). Fullscreen just isn't going to work with a game like this. We're talking about a 480p 4:3 PS2 game that was adapted to a 480x272 16:9 PSP format. PSP games don't seem to hold up too well when stretching, as I've run into a minor reoccurring graphical bug in my Sweet Fuse LP as well. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 10:47 on Jun 21, 2021 |
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Jun 21, 2021 10:39
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Update 9: The Trockmere Treaty Just in case you forgot what happened last time: Everything has gone to hell. [Narration]: But the truth of the attack on the nation’s secret base could not be made public.  [Narration]: One month has passed since the assault on the fortress. The mysterious creatures claim more and more victims…  Looks like she’s finally back.[Researcher]: She expended more mana than we thought. I didn’t expect it would take a full month for her to recover. You shouldn’t be so reckless with your Familiar. They’ll gladly give their lives for their masters, you know. We’ve noticed that now, thanks. You are in error. It was my own lacking skill, not any fault of my master’s, that caused this.[Researcher]: That’s a pretty great Familiar you’ve got there. Lucky man! I should be going, though… *The researcher leaves* You must be glad she’s recovered. Yes, I am.Not sure how the thread feels about Yuni so far, but it would be a very not-heroic thing to say “No, not really.” I am sorry I troubled you, Master. [Dulkheim Soldier #1]: One of those things showed up in my own hometown. I bet it’s those drat Valkanians doing this! What do you think? The scuttlebutt is that the Valkania Army is releasing monsters into Dulkheim. Could it truly be so? I don’t think so.We have literally no proof of that being the case. Yes, releasing monsters is much too flawed as a viable attack strategy. You also know what they say: Correlation does not equal causation. [Dulkheim Soldier #2]: You know what else I hear? People with wings are attacking both armies from the sky. That’s old news, my man. People with… Do you mean Angels!?And then the conversation sort of just stops. Well, I guess we’ll head back to our room and mourn the loss of one of our party members. Vallery had just joined the team, too. Why did they have to go and take him away so soon?  When we try to leave the hall, Yuni will pipe up. Seems that she’s still hung up on what happened. I’ll look into it. That will suffice for now. If I exhaust my mana like last time, I will be unable to protect you. I wonder if there’s a way to get around that.Well, let’s find out. There’s a research lab right around the corner where we could ask someone who specializes in spells and Familiars and such.  I must become stronger to protect my master. How can I go about this?[Researcher]: Hm, I see. Essentially, you’ll have to gradually grow stronger by using the Dollhouse… Yeah, but that takes time and effort. Isn’t there like a faster and easier way? [Researcher]: But I have also heard of a tool that can greatly increase a Familiar’s abilities. There we go. Magic fantasy homunculus steroids. [Researcher]: It’s very rare, though, and won’t be easy to find. What does it look like? [Researcher]: You find them in matching sets of blue and red ones. They’re useless without both colors. The master and Familiar each hold one for it to take effect. They’re commonly found in ruins, though maybe not in the Dulkheim ones. Investigation of our ruins has been so extensive that the army has no doubt collected nearly all of them by now. Intriguing. It would be an excellent tool if we could procure one.[Researcher]: I’ll show you some material on what they look like so you can tell if you ever find one. The lab is off-limits to humans who aren’t researchers, but I can show your Familiar. Come with me. *A little while later*  So now we’re keeping our eyes open for a Red Resonator and a Blue Resonator which Yuni can identify but we can’t beyond a simple description of “machine part”. Wonderful.  Speaking of Yuni getting stronger: after some training, she masters Enemy Scan and also picks up an ability called Point Bonus. Point Bonus is what I mentioned near the start of the game. It automatically distributes some ARP to all party members, so that everyone gets a piece of the bonus pie even if they didn’t manage to kill anything. It’s a good skill to level up/get early.  For reference, here are Yuni’s current stats.  God fuh… Ugh. After heading to bed, we get another screwed up dream vision. I hope you like these cutaway scenes, by the way. The next one or two updates are going to have a lot of them. Did you call for me, Mr. President? Ah, you’re here. It seems the non-aggression pact with Valkania I spoke of before will go through, after all. Hm. So much effort put into whipping the citizenry into a frenzy, only for it all to go to waste… Oh, so you knew about that. A well-crafted rumor, don’t you think? So much hatred towards these graphical issues... I believe I may know why. They’re keen on pushing the treaty through for their own protection. …Go on. This mustn’t leave this room, but we have already been attacked by Valkania twice. What!?I feel like this shouldn’t be something that the President of a country is only finding out weeks after the fact. First, a failed kidnapping attempt on one of our researchers, and then a strike at our secret research facility. We drove them off with minimal damage, fortunately, but we kept the attack hidden to save face for our army. Though if we’d made it public, we could have potentially justified retaliatory action on Valkania… If it became known they’d infiltrated our borders, we’d have egg on our faces. And sealing the treaty now limits our options when it comes to retaliation. Knowing that makes signing this pact all the more galling.In other words: Dulkheim got massively outplayed here. Is signing the treaty our only move, then? If it weren’t so popular, I could use what you’ve told me to my advantage and lead this nation to war… Thankfully, the rumors in circulation served their intended purpose. What is Valkania’s actual reason for wanting the treaty, do you think? Supposedly, the monsters have caused casualties there, as well. Particularly a variety of unknown, flying monsters. The Valkanians are calling them “Angel” for lack of a better term.Looks like the Angels really get around. ….. First they invade, and now they’re eager for a nonaggression pact. I can’t understand them…What the hell is so hard to understand? If there was some pretext for striking back at Valkania, I’d push for war even if it meant defying the legislature… But enough wishful thinking. Let’s get back on subject. Yes, Mr. President. I want you to guard the nonaggression pact summit. The location Valkania requested is the port town of Trockmere near the border. Your research fort is the closest outpost we have to it… Understood. Good morning. Things certainly seem lively in the hall today. I wonder if something’s come up.Let’s go find out, shall we? It beats listening to more geopolitics crap.  Do you need us for something? Yes. We have a new mission. The soldiers at this fort will provide security for the upcoming summit with Valkania. The summit will be held at Trockmere. Major General Ludwig will be in direct command there. The men here can keep their heads.We have no basis for believing this, but we don’t really care if we’re wrong. With Vallery gone, we have even less attachment to Dulkheim than before. I hope so. Well, the major general must have had some reason for agreeing to this. So, I’m trying to do my part by selecting personnel that can put their feelings aside. Which is why I’d like you two to take on this duty. I’ll be counting on you.*Lumis leaves* Trockmere again…I guess we’re going for another walk. Head to the courtyard and then leave through the southwestern gate. The monsters along the way are the same as always. You can do some grinding if you want (I would recommend it if you had a hard time against Muntzer), but it’s going to be quite some time before we get another mission so I wouldn’t fret over it too much. I've been assigned to Trockmere, too. We're going to be serving under Major General Ludwig! This is so exciting!When we (eventually) get to Trockmere, we’ll find Tricia waiting around near the entrance. It sure is. I mean, this is THE Ludwig! It’s not everyone who gets to work with him! You’re an excellent soldier, so I bet the major general might even take notice of you. Okay, I should get back to my patrol. I’ll see you later!At least somebody is enjoying this.  Yes. Now then, where is Major General Ludwig?Back in Trockmere, all the shop inventory is the same. You should restock on Vulnerary again (if you used a bunch against Muntzer) and check out your armor situation. A quick tip: All of Vallery’s equipment has been given back to us, so if he had better armor than Remus then you can give it to him now instead (or sell it). In our case, Remus was still rocking a Leather Jacket, so I swap that out for the Buff Coat that Vallery had been wearing. There’s nothing else going on in Trockmere right now, so head on over to the lower section of the town.  It is I who must thank you for permitting our guard detail to accompany us. May the summit go well for us all.*Alfonse leaves to the right*  Yes, sir! We were assigned to guard duty. Mm. The summit is tomorrow. I’ll send a message to the inn tomorrow with details on everyone’s postings. Learn the town layout thoroughly today in order to perform whatever is asked of you. Yes, sir! I trust you not to make mistakes. Once you finish your rounds tonight, you are at your leisure afterwards.*Ludwig leaves* It’s good to know we have his trust. I don’t like it. What’s wrong? It seems Master doesn’t trust the major general. Mm… I admit it’s hard to see what he’s thinking on this.Not for us! Thanks to Yuni’s Foresight ability, we are privy to at least some of his sneakiness. That’s exactly why we don’t trust him. We’re free to move around after that, but if we head to the right in order to follow Alfonse, we’ll quickly stumble on him meeting with a familiar face.  Of course! I didn’t think I’d run into you here, either.Does Magnus ever leave this freaking town? Still have no intention of going back to your country…? No, not until I’ve achieved what I set out to do. I can’t show my face to my master with a job half done. I see… You never relent once you’ve made up your mind. I won’t push you on this, I promise. Thanks, Alf, and sorry. By the way, I heard you met Dame Silverneil the other day. What did she say? Her way of cheering you up. At least, I think so… Yeah. Well, I should go. Hope to see you again!*Magnus then leaves* But we weren’t finished talking… Ah, Magnus. You never change…*Alfonse then leaves to the North*  So we obviously continue to chase after him. Indeed we are. Interesting. I’ve never seen a soldier with a Familiar before. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alfonse Ordinale. I’ve come early to Dulkheim to watch over tomorrow’s summit. I mean, we have to, right? How would you invade it? Haha! Now that’s an interesting question for an officer of an opposing army. This is only speculation on my part, but… attacking this city would be difficult. Destroying it wouldn’t be so hard, but occupying it while keeping the ports running is a trickier proposition. This place is easy to defend, but hard to invade. That’s why Trockmere was selected for the site of the summit. I’m not so sure… Why not…? My master is concerned that you are currently within the city limits.Eh, I mostly disagree because of Trockmere’s positioning. It’s at the southern coast of Dulkheim, which is very close to Valkania. The bulk of Dulkheim’s army is positioned in the far North due to the ongoing war with Iglesias. So it would be fairly easy to blitz Trockmere and overtake its (no doubt meager) defensive forces. It only seems to have a single point of entry, so you could bottleneck any Dulkheim reinforcements and keep your own forces supplied through the ports. True. Normally, everything I said applies, but once someone gets inside like this…I think that’s supposed to read “Normally, everything you said applies”. Hm, I didn’t think you’d bring that up… I admit that anything I say, given the circumstances, would be hard to swallow. I don’t intend to take such enormous risks. My men are waiting for me, so if you’ll excuse me, I must be getting back.Good stuff. Let’s head back and try to find Magnus next.  Do you know the Royal Guard? Oh, so you were watching? I’ve known him for quite some time now. I met him through my master. Since we were around the same age, he looked after me, too. I guess he was like an older brother. I need to find that man Otter as soon as I can. No, I still feel that there’s some mysterious destiny we share. I will see you again!”The next time you visit Trockmere!”  Anyway, when we try and head back to the inn a girl will come flying down the steps, forcing Crevanille and Remus to jump out of the way. Another girl appears shortly after.  Whaaat? We’re going back already? We finally got to stay in a town! I wanna play more! You can go back on your own, Cynthia! No. We’re here on business, not to fool around. We’ll get a scolding if we’re late. Urgh, I hate getting scolded… All right, fine. I’ll do it this time. But you better be thankful! *sigh* I know I’m cute, but it’s rude to stare at a lady! I wasn’t looking at you. Hmph! Are you saying I was falsely accusing you? That’s just as rude!No, rude would be running around town like a maniac and nearly bowling people over on the stairs.  Don’t you insult Yuni. At least not until we’ve decided on whether or not we like her. Oh, how I’d like to see that! …Enough, Meline. Please ignore my sister. Let’s go, Meline. If you say so, Cynth. Bye-bye, trash.*The girl and the jackass both leave back up the stairs* What a strange girl. It appeared as though she could see me. Such a treacherous tongue on one so young. It makes me a bit sad to see. But we can’t let it get to us. Should we head for the inn?We actually don’t know how old Meline and Cynthia are. The manual lists their ages as “?”, so make of that what you will. They are the shortest characters we’ve met so far, though (outside Yuni of course). Meline and Cynthia are only 4’9”. Both of them are new characters made for Over Reloaded, just like Pamela, Magnus, Tricia, and Yuni (Type D-MD).  Yes, and we’ll be serving as security. It should be easy, if nothing happens.That’s it for Trockmere (again), so let’s get to bed and rest up for tomorrow. Well, I’ll see you in the morning.We can run around our hotel room, but there’s nothing to find or do, so just check the bed and catch some Z’s.  Another vision/dream sequence! Yay! [Valkanian Researcher #2]: But how do you square that with this reference to “wings”? It doesn’t make any sense to “neutralize” wings. [Valkanian Researcher #1]: No, I see your point… It’s not easy deciphering these ancient texts. We have plenty of material to reference, but what we really need is an able linguist. [Valkanian Researcher #2]: But we’re the elite research team. We all came here from all over the country. If we wanted more members, we’d have to look outside our borders. [Valkanian Researcher #1]: Which is a problem, since this is classified information…  [Valkanian Researcher #1]: Ah, Sir Muntzer! Have you come to an impasse?[Valkanian Researcher #2]: No, not at all. Thanks to the Ruin Child you brought back, we have much more to work with. It hasn’t taken shape yet, but we should have a clearer idea of the ancient weapon in the near future. I see… Very well.*Muntzer starts to leave, but pauses and looks back at the researchers* I’m glad to see your work proceeding apace, but it’s important to take rests. Don’t neglect your own health.[Valkanian Researcher #1]: Yes, sir! We appreciate your concern. *Muntzer leaves* An ancient weapon… It would be no exaggeration to say that the fate of this country, perhaps even this world, is in your hands. Luck be with you all.[Valkanian Researcher #2]: Yes, ma’am!   We’re inside the castle. Call me General or Dame Silverneil. You can be so stuffy. Seriously, though, what’s wrong? I just visited the ancient technology research lab, and… it’s left me with some things to consider. Ah. This ancient weapon we don’t quite understand yet… I’ve heard it’s a weapon for fighting the Angels. You’re concerned whether we’ll be able to use such a weapon strictly for peace? Is that it?The answer is no. That’s never how those things work out. …Indeed. I am a Royal Guard, sworn to give my life for this kingdom. But what can I do for this world…?*These riveting discussions are mercifully cut short by some weird noises and shaking*   I’ve been waiting here for the major general’s orders, but there’s been no messenger yet… What should we do?Maybe check it out and see what’s going on? Unfortunately, Remus will chicken out and just say that he’ll wait at the inn for Crevanille to come back. Thanks, man. Well, whatever. I guess we’re flying solo.  All the townspeople are scurrying around with little sweat drops flying off their heads, so I suppose that means whatever is going on is not good.  The Dulkheim soldiers are also freaking out and don’t seem to even know who we are. The upper path is blocked off by two other soldiers, so we’ve got no choice but to scope out the situation from the top of this stairway.  A man runs by us when we enter this part of town. I catch a woman coming up the stairs and talk to her, but she keeps running by us. Her dialog box can’t even spit out her whole line before she’s off screen. I assume she was screaming some variation of “I don’t want to die.” What the hell is scaring the poo poo out of everyone?   What the gently caress is that thing?! Ngh… it’s strong… Welp, I guess that’s all we’ll be contributing to this fight. Ugh… it’s too much to stand… Hm…? That’s— And it all keeps getting better… I can’t do this alone… I must regroup.The camera pans down to Crevanille, at which point the graphics go haywire as another ripple/vision transition happens.  You are too lenient. It has ever been your failing… But…We are given names for both the male and female angels here. The man is named Akyel and the woman is named Uriel. To clarify: The woman angel with white wings and a golden energy halo is named Uriel. In case you haven't noticed, there’s actually two lady angels, not one. The one currently hovering over Trockmere has black wings and a purple energy halo. We don’t know what her deal is yet. Have you not seen them? Centuries pass, and humans remain unchanged. There is only one recourse: punishment.  Uhhh… does that count as waking up? [???]: What…!?  The big-rear end monster suddenly turns and rams the wall for some reason.  The monster then turns and flies off. The mystery lady angel chases after it.  Check out the cutscene: Levee Break And then we’re pulled into 3D cutscene zone. Looks like the levee is collapsing.   *The screen then goes black as Magnus climbs the stairs* Ahhh![???]: Don’t worry! Over here!  Be careful carrying this one.[Valkanian Soldier #1]: Yes, sir. [Valkanian Soldier #2]: We can’t see anyone else from here. The rest must have been swept out to sea. We’ll have to use ships to rescue them.[Valkanian Soldier #2]: Floods are a race against time… If only we had our ships, we could help you. Indeed. I pray as many people as possible are saved… What’s the matter?[Valkanian Soldier #3]: There’s a nasty rumor being spread around town! What sort of rumor? Ngh… That’s preposterous! Gather the men at once. We must hurry back to our country. If we linger here, they’ll seal the border on us![Valkanian Soldier #3]: Understood, sir! I knew the Dulkheimers didn’t think much of us, but this is a rather unsettling way to drive the point home… What was that beast, anyway? [Dulkheim Soldier #2]: Only two percent of the nearby coast has been checked. The currents have swept a few further out to sea… [Dulkheim Soldier #1]: This is a nightmare…  *Dulkheim Soldier #2 leaves room* Give me a brief report. What are the Valkanian soldiers doing?[Dulkheim Soldier #1]: They were in the town shortly after the monster appeared, but they seem to have escaped in all the chaos. We ordered the borders to be closed at once, but we haven’t caught them yet. All this commotion was bound to slow us down… What of the legislators?[Dulkheim Soldier #1]: President Deringer and the other legislators were due to arrive tomorrow, so they’re safe.  Well isn’t that convenient for certain individuals? I see… Keep trying to rescue the civilians.[Dulkheim Soldier #1]: Yes, sir! We’ll do what we can! And I wish to speak to Cargill. Send a messenger.[Dulkheim Soldier #1]: Cargill? That’s right. Get on with it.[Dulkheim Soldier #1]: Right away, sir! *Dulkheim Soldier #1 leaves*   Oh, hey! Crevanille isn’t dead! Master! It is a relief to see you awake. It has been four days since your collapse.drat. We were out for a while. I’m coming in… Remus, Master has awoken. Really? Excellent news. Are you feeling all right? Yeah, thanks. It’s nothing. You’ve saved me before, too, so we’re even. You seem to be recovering nicely. I’m sorry to bring it up when you’ve only just awakened, but the fort has sent an immediate summons to return. Yeah, that figures. What caused that? The investigative committee’s report said that the monster that destroyed the levee did so under Valkania’s control. After that, legislature voted unanimously to declare war. That’s why we must return to the fort. But we can’t put your health at risk, so let’s take our time getting there.Great. Looks like we’re about to get some marching orders. Well, before we go back, let’s survey the aftermath of the attack.  All these people, just trying to live their lives in this beautiful city… Gone. Just like all the rest. And how many more? How many more people are going to die next? How many!? It’s all… We’re all so fragile…You uhh… you didn’t happen to befriend any parental figures in Trockmere, did you? Just asking. In the case of this disaster, I believe that the evidence against Valkania is insufficient for now. Recall the actions of the Royal Guard, who fought to protect the town from the monster’s rampage. Someone’s playing both sides. One country can have many motivations. So there are two sides: those who want an alliance, and those who don’t.Obviously. If that’s the case, where do we even begin to figure out what to do next? Well, we can think while we walk. We should head back to base.Yeah, there’s nothing more we can do here. Magnus has disappeared and everyone else of importance has cleared out. Might as well get back to base and find out what the war situation is.  Thankfully, it looks like Tricia managed to survive the attack unscathed. Sorry I worried you. Oh, it’s fine. You’re better now, and that’s what matters! Trockmere is in really bad shape after the incident, you know…Yeah, we know. It was a little hard to not notice.  Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring you down. I’m glad you’re safe. I’ll give you instructions for the next operation tomorrow morning.*Lumis leaves and we’ve got nothing to do except head to bed* So, just a heads up: This section (Trockmere until returning to base) is going to be one of your last chances to grind levels for a little bit. By the end of this update, we’re going to be on a straight road to the next mission. Make sure you are up in the 15-17 range.  There’s thankfully no dream visions this time. Crevanille heads to bed and then wakes up the next morning, ready to receive his new assignment. Head out to the main hall and take your seat.  You will be treated as valuable assets within a unit and will be organized into corps assigned to various theaters. As I call your team, head to the specified room. You’ll be informed there about the makeup of your corps. Blue 1, 2, and 3 are to report to the 3rd Officer’s room. Red 1, 2, and 3, head to…*After a brief fade out*  He didn’t call our team. I wonder where we’ll be sent…Oh, Remus. You’re still here? Er, yes. My team wasn’t called… You’ll be on a new team starting now. Head to the barracks along with Green 2.Oh, poo poo. The dream team is being split up. …Yes, sir. Don’t make the others wait, Remus. You can say your farewells later. ……..*Remus leaves*  You will be reorganized into a unit specializing in top secret missions under Major General Ludwig’s direct command. I don’t know the details myself, but I wish you well. Now, come see me for your assignments.*Lumis makes the rounds to the other soldiers before arriving at Crevanille*  Your orders are to go to the port town of Trockmere. Stop sending us back there! At the inn, meet a man named Cargill and receive further instructions from him. You must tell no one of this mission, your destination, or the man you’re meeting. Understood. Good luck. That said, team assignments took longer than I thought… Probably best if you rest for the day and leave tomorrow.Everyone else gets up and either leaves or starts milling around. Since we have a little time, let’s head back to our room and see if Remus comes back for a chat.  If we try and sleep, Remus will return. Remus… We’ve always been together, but now we must go our separate ways… I always thought if we were to part, it would be far in the future. I never expected this day to come so soon… I leave tomorrow morning. You? Master is also departing in the morning. Then… this is our last night together. I didn’t want to think about it, but this may be the last time we see each other… It’s all right, Remus.You know what? Props to Remus for taking this in a mature manner. He’s expressing that he has regrets and doesn’t like that this is happening, but he understands that it’s something he has to do and isn’t pitching a fit or trying to fight against it. It seems I’m a burden on you to the last. But I’ll have to fend for myself from now on. Okay… Memories from before I was hatched? Interesting. Mmm-hmm. Where should we start? We first met when you and Regina found me collapsed in the forest, yes? You saved me from a shopping trip. Haha! You really didn’t want to go shopping, did you? Say, do you remember my first stab at combat? Back then, you…*And the conversations continued into the night*  It’s because of you that I’m the man I am today. You’ve really grown up. Oh, no, no, I’ve still got a long way to go.Yeah, but you’ve also come a hell of a long way. Oh, look at the time. I didn’t realize it was so late. I’ll be leaving pretty early, so I should get to bed now. *Remus climbs into bed* Remus…We’d better get to sleep too. There’s nothing to do and no one else to see. Let’s not drag out our goodbyes—  AAAHHHH! Why do you do this to me, game?! Do you… have a plan for the campaign against Iglesias?[Commander Dranguss]: Bah, “plan.” We’ll overpower them with sheer force before they can blink! Ah, I see someone has been studying Zapp Brannigan’s Big Book of War. Uh, still, I believe you should be careful when carrying this out…[Commander Dranguss]: Oh, shut up! You might think you know everything, but don’t get cocky. You’re accomplished enough in individual battles, but a great tactician knows that large-scale victory depends on advanced planning on a macro level. Didn’t they teach you that in training? Advanced planning on a macro level is not the job of a tactician, though. That’s the job of a strategist. Unless he’s saying that a great tactician recognizes a job they aren’t suited for. That’s probably giving him too much credit, though. [Commander Dranguss]: A newly minted major general knows nothing about that kind of thing! Go and play with your Valkanian friends. *Commander Dranguss leaves* As explosive as ever. But then, one doesn’t become the supreme commander without passion… Mr. President… Yes, Major General? I’d like to divert about 1,000 of my soldiers to Iglesias, with your approval. Just in case the commander’s operation fails. Do you think that’s likely? I hope my worries are unwarranted, but the commander seems somewhat unhinged. I’d like to have a fallback in place so that if anything does go awry, we can correct it immediately. I don’t doubt your skills, but this makes me very nervous. Please, if you have any questions, let me answer them and easy your worries. Valkania is a lot more dangerous than Iglesias. They’re a powerful enemy who’s been ready for war all this time. My mission, as I understand it, is not to invade Valkania, but to defend a position. 4,000 soldiers will be enough to do that for some time. One more question, then. Even if 4,000 will be sufficient for your purposes, if Dranguss’s force of 50,000 fails, how will an extra 1,000 soldiers diverted to Iglesias help? It’ll be a drop in the bucket. How is that a crushing defeat? An operation that can succeed with 50,000 cannot work with 40,000. The moment the plan can no longer be put into effect, the operation has failed.That is very wrong. WWII Soviet Union basically embodied that concept during the Winter Campaign (especially in Stalingrad). Normally, one would have countermeasures ready in case… but since no one in this situation is thinking of defeat, I doubt there are any in place. Yet if the operation were to fail, we must devise an alternate method that would be possible with our remaining force. We will need time to draft such a plan and regroup. All we need to buy that time is 1,000 soldiers under a skilled commander. I assume by that last part that you have such a commander in mind? I know the very one. He should bring great results without needing me there to supervise. If you’re certain, then you have my approval. But tell me, just in case. This man you have in mind for the job… what are his credentials? But don’t worry about that. I have high expectations for him. He must be talented if you’re this keen on him. I’m glad to hear it. I’ll leave this in your hands. Thank you. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll begin organizing the soldiers. Oh thank god we’re done. Do not forget the Dollhouse. We’re saying goodbye to the Team Black 4 barracks, so we need to follow Yuni’s advice and collect the Dollhouse. We can’t go forgetting Yuni’s house. She needs it for training and recharging and whatever else Familiar’s do inside that thing.  We also need to say our goodbyes to Tricia. Correct. Where are you posted, Tricia? They actually haven’t told me the details yet. Supposedly, they’re looking at my record to decide where to assign me. But the actual transfer won’t happen for a little longer, so it probably won’t be where you’re going. It’ll be lonely without you. Yeah… same here. Hehehe, sorry. I didn’t mean to spoil the mood. ……*Tricia knocks on the table*  Don’t forget it while we’re apart! It’s our own special secret code. Well, take care! I’m sure you’ll do fine no matter where they send you!With all of our goodbyes said, we set out for Trockmere. Crevanille is on his own now, but the monsters along the way should be easy to handle on his own. Nothing can really threaten him at this point.  Don’t remind me. It’s sad to look at… I agree. If only that hadn’t happened… We’re supposed to meet Cargill at the inn, right? Let’s go. There’s a soldier waiting for us in the inn, so let’s check in with him and finally meet this mysterious Cargill person that Ludwig is so enamoured with. Yes.[Dulkheim Soldier #1]: Captain Cargill is waiting for you. Follow me.   There’s nothing for it. I’ll talk to Major General Ludwig and borrow some soldiers. We’ll need spells against this one. I’ll contact you again later. Just stall for now.[Some Dude]: There’s one other thing you should know… The rat that’s been snooping around about you is in this city. I believe it’s that man… Him, eh? He’s dangerous, but I don’t see a problem unless I’m drawn into a direct confrontation. Leave him. We need to prioritize keeping that other one from crossing the border for now. If we can’t…[Some Dude]: I understand. *Some Dude then leaves. The Dulkheim Soldier and Crevanille enter a few seconds later* [Dulkheim Soldier #1]: Captain Cargill! Your visitor has arrived. Thank you. You may leave.[Dulkheim Soldier #1]: Yes, sir. *Dulkheim Soldier #1 leaves*  I’m sorry, sir. Don’t worry, I’m not angry with you. Then we can get to business.Ah, crap. Okay, so before anyone pipes up: No, we can’t get out of this without drinking the water. Talking to Cargill just has him insist on you drinking some water. He’ll also stop us if we try and leave the room. We all know this is a bad idea. Any time some mysterious new person greets you and is weirdly insistent that you drink something, it’s bad news. I mean, look at that dude. That is the poster boy for “dude at the bar that will spike your drink while you’re not looking.”  So delicious that I bet it makes you a little dizzy…*The screen flashes technicolour and the ripple/vision effect happens, which means we see a shot of Crevanille standing in front of the save point back at the barracks* Master!? We’ll be transferring you to a certain location. I trust that your days there will be fruitful…So yeah, that happened. But guess what? Things are going to get much much worse! Doesn’t that sound fun?! Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Jun 21, 2021 |
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Jun 21, 2021 14:48
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McTimmy posted:Yeesh that is one evil-looking guy. He's actually super nice once you get to know him, at least until the drugs wear off. Seraphic Neoman posted:Are we done taking Ls yet or does the game still gotta keep going We've still got at least one more update of gut-punching left before the game will let us breathe. MythosDragon posted:Ludwig is probably right, Medieval War and Modern War are two extremely different concepts with very little in common at the end of the day beyond being meat grinders. Forgive my awful wording in advance since I'm not exactly an expert, but basically Medieval armies are always primarily made up of conscripts, people with minimal training mostly just there because war is a numbers game and mercenaries with minimal loyalty, so when they, the larger force lose, they uh get ROUTED, a huge portion of the army just starts fleeing and recovering from that is a difficult ask even with a backup plan, without one? Impossible. Triply so when advancing into a foreign country, much less one primarily made of snow. This world is very much medieval, though it never really addresses the standing army and conscript stuff, but the existence of Alten Schwartz implies it works the same. No, he's definitely wrong. A force still succeeding despite suffering massive losses has a dedicated term: Pyrrhic Victory, which got its name from the Battle of Asculum in 279BC. In terms of conscripts not matching a professional or standing army, that is generally true, but still doesn't mean anything in terms of overall success or failure. The Roman Republic's seasonal soldiers were smeared across Italy/Africa by Hannibal Barca and the mercenary armies of Carthage in the Second Punic War. Rome still won that war and defeated Hannibal in Africa. This was 100 years before the Marian reforms would create a professional Roman army to replace the militia-like system they had been using up until then. Edit: I almost forgot the one of the most famous parts of this. From the flip-side: Hannibal lost all his war elephants and a large number of soldiers crossing the Alps, but still went on to win every battle against Rome in Italy. Don't get me wrong, a Pyrrhic Victory is not good for the long-term health of a prolonged war, but Ludwig saying "An operation we can win with 50,000 soldiers can't be with 40,000" is not true. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Jun 21, 2021 |
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Jun 21, 2021 22:34
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SIGSEGV posted:It can be, if you have specific requirements such as garrison duties and infrastructure work to do, if you need to get a road built before winter rolls around in the northern mountains, keep a respectable garrison to deter incursions near your road building and also mobile forces to enforce your presence to the local population. Getting that bridgehead set up for the following spring is suddenly not doable anymore, and neither is any campaign that gains ground next spring, because you can't set up a line of operations that is different than the one you had last year, you win the battle and then you start from zero. It's not a Pyrrhic victory, it's an operational defeat, and given a two front war, it's probably going to be a strategic defeat as well. That depends on allocations though. Redeployments can be made to adapt to losses or shortfalls while still carrying out the original plan. I'm not disagreeing with you or Mythos on the idea of it being a reasonable outcome. You are right, a loss like that can make it difficult. What I take umbrage with is Ludwig saying it can't be done. He's planning on doing it himself against Valkania. He had 5,000 soldiers and sent 1,000 away (20% loss), but still says that defending against Valkania can be done with only 4,000. Now, whether he's right about that is a different matter entirely. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Jun 21, 2021 |
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Jun 21, 2021 23:18
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SIGSEGV posted:I guess his planned operation is far less seat of the pants than what Luigi Cadorna vibes dude has planned up north. If he's on the defensive all he needs is a good fort or two to actually hold out a siege in, because if he is left to have that fort and the enemy proceeds past it he'll just raid supply lines. I guess he wants that spare thousand acting independently to salvage fuckups up north and going by the somewhat black and silver officer uniforms of the somewhat Germanic themed nation, it's probably not too pretty. He's supposedly trying to hold two bridges. I can't remember if there is a fort at those bridges though. Granted they definitely have some form of fortifications there. Melomane Mallet posted:Cargill: 28 Now, I know the art book is official and everything, but I still call complete bullshit on them being 12. Meline certainly acts like a 12-year old, but neither of them look it.
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Jun 21, 2021 23:34
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Update 10: Love Me When I’m Gone This is a fourth wall breaking scene, not a foresight thing. If you recall, Crevanille got knocked out cold at the end of the last update and shipped off to god knows where by some guy named Cargill.  Yes, sir. Though Dulkheim has declared war on us, their main forces are still committed to the attack on Iglesias. Then we’ll be facing a unit other than their main force? Our intelligence states that Major General Ludwig will be commanding the unit attacking Valkania. Ludwig the hero… You’ve met him before, haven’t you? If you say it, this Ludwig’s skills must be genuine. Dame Silverneil, how do you weigh our chances of victory? It will be a hard fight, if Major General Ludwig is all they say he is. But the battle will not be fought by him alone. So, there is always a chance. By the name of the Royal Guard, I swear to win victory for you, Your Majesty. I expect much from all of you. Excuse me. I’ve come to report that all Ruin Children have been transferred. Well done. The preparations are complete then. Then carry on as I outlined. Understood. But what will you gain by researching Ruin Children now? I cannot say what, but we may discover a new and undreamt-of power… You really think so? It’s only conjecture for now. But if it’s real… Oh, this looks wonderful. Where are we?[Robert]: It’s a Dulkheim Army prison.  [Pettan]: Are you all right, Raoul? [Raoul]: drat it… those bastards… They’ve finally done it… [Robert]: What happened?  [Pettan]: Wh-What…!? I wonder if Kane’s all right… [Raoul]: Don’t know. Either he passed out, or he was already… [Robert]: Anyway. I’m glad you’re okay.  [Raoul]: Yeah. *There’s a knocking sound*  Just so I don’t have to repeat this over and over: Any time Raoul/Crevanille/Elena/Anyone else is talking through the wall, they are mostly using their knocking codes. [Raoul]: I’m okay, Elena. I’ll be okay as long as I have you. We’ll get a chance to escape sometime. We only have to hold out until then. [Elena]: Right. [Pettan]: How much longer are we supposed to stay here like this? We’re not lab rats!  What’s going on here?[Robert]: Right, you only just got here… You won’t believe this. [Raoul]: They brought us here about a week ago. Ever since, they’ve forced us to take weird drugs and exposed us to spell energy every day. And then… Kane… [Robert]: Judging by what they’re doing to us and bits of conversation we picked up on, the army thinks we have special powers. They must want something stronger than spells now that they’ve found out Valkania has them, too.  They kidnapped Vallery.[Robert]: Oh, that’s right, Vallery… He’s probably going through something similar in Valkania right now… [Pettan]: But that aside, we need to figure out how to get away from all this!  We’re now free to walk around, although we can’t access our menu and can’t save. All we can really do is roam around and talk with everyone. [Robert]: Keep your eyes peeled. We’ll get our chance to escape. If not today, then tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then the day after. Sooner or later, they’ll let down their guard. We just have to be ready. [Pettan]: Escape? Forget it. The only way out of here is through the lab and down to the grave! Look at Kane… Way to keep it positive, Pettan. [Robert]: Maybe you’re right. Maybe we can’t get out. But what we can do is save our strength and look for any chance we have! [Raoul]: Kane… This isn’t science. It’s torture! That monster in there with Kane, his name was Cargill. He didn’t look military. Who the hell could he be? If he does anything to Elena…! *sigh* I don’t know what I can do.  [Pettan]: And the Escape spell doesn’t work here either. They’re blocking it somehow. Anything you could think of, they’ve thought of it first. You don’t need to explode the loving load-bearing walls. Just have someone cast Fire Arrow on the metal bars to melt them.  [Elena]: …Oh, it’s you, Crevanille. So, they got you, too. Don’t worry. Raoul will think of something. After chatting with everyone, we go and nag Robert until he points out which cot is ours. [Robert]: Just keep aware and alert. When the opportunity comes, we need to be ready for it. Don’t waste your strength. If you get tired, take a rest. Your cot’s next to mine, three down from the door. In other words, it’s the one that we woke up in. Head over to it and click to be given the option to sleep. Nothing else we can do, so we might as well. [Robert]: Yeah, save your strength. Have a nice rest…  Now it’s time to see how the whole “war on two fronts” thing is working out for Dulkheim. [Narration]: Dulkheim finally opened hostilities not only against Iglesias in the north, but also Valkania in the east.  [Narration]: Iglesias, for their part, deemed their own forces too few to win with, and hired the Death Wing Brigade as a last resort. Upon learning this, the Dulkheim force sent to invade Iglesias held an emergency meeting. ---Iglesias Invasion HQ---  [Dulkheim General]: They’re tough, but they mostly plunder their targets. They might attack cities directly instead of going to the front. [Commander Dranguss]: Hm, that makes sense. [Major General Guster]: Someone must watch the cities…   [Dulkheim Soldier]: General Ludwig’s reinforcements seem to have arrived. [Commander Dranguss]: That green buffoon won’t mind his own business… But this is perfect. Allocate those soldiers to protecting the villages and towns in the rear! [Dulkheim Soldier]: Understood. *The soldier leaves* [Dulkheim General]: Good thinking. We can’t have them stealing our thunder.  [Elena]: Don’t… give… up… To only be able to talk to you through the wall like this… *More knocking* [Elena]: Want… to… see… you… Oh, Raoul. Me… too…  [Elena]: Yes… if we ever get out of here, we’ll head for the paradise kingdom… I… want… to… live… with… you… *Knocking from Raoul* [Elena]: Fruit… farm… get… rich… Aww, you don’t have to push yourself that hard. I’d be…  *Raoul knocking* [Elena]: Want… you… to… have… good… life… Oh, Raoul. Just the fact that you’re thinking about that… Makes… me… happy… *Raoul knocking* [Elena]: Promise… Yes. It’s a promise… Promise… *Raoul knocking*  [Elena]: Me, too… Love… you… too…  And this mist only makes it worse. It’ll be hard to see the enemy approaching… Hey, it’s Bauer! Haven’t seen you in a while. Yes, I am. And you are…? Name’s Bauer, of the mercenary brigade Alten Schwart. We were hired to protect this city. It’s nice to meet you. Major Lumis Lichtmann. I’m actually here on Major General Ludwig’s orders, though. Isn’t he commanding the army headed to Valkania? Why’re you here with the Iglesias invasion force? Call us the insurance policy. Though one hopes we won’t be needed… Huh? Forget it. Well then, let’s get you in command of the defenses. I made a few preparations before your arrival, Major. Wait, what’s the hurry? Don’t you know? Iglesias hired the Death Wing Brigade. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of them. Oh, I know of them, but I wasn’t told that they were in Iglesias’s employ. Why didn’t they tell you about something this important? Supreme Commander Dranguss has no great love for General Ludwig. It seems I’ve been caught in the middle of their feud. Ah well, at least you told me. The same is true for us. Whatever orders we issue are meaningless if your brigade doesn’t follow them.Um, yeah, but Bauer and his mercenaries aren’t the ones who are woefully unprepared and uninformed. It’s kind of a dick move to show up without any idea of what’s going on and be like “Hey, we’ll fail if you guys don’t follow orders. Hmph… Anyway, let’s hop to it. We’re already at a huge disadvantage, going up against the Death Wing Brigade. We have to at least be able to hold out until reinforcements arrive. No need to be so hasty, though. Let’s take this slow. Take it slow…? It’s simple. This city is a little too far from the front line. If the Death Wings were to come plunder this town, Iglesias would lose the battle while they were gone. I see. They’re mercenaries, too, so if they abandon their employer, they’ll have trouble finding work afterword. Exactly. So let’s take it easy for now.Let me just say that there’s a lot of assumptions being made here about the rationality of the Death Wing Brigade, as we’ll soon see.  Meanwhile, back in the Shawshank Redemption. Only a month…?[Robert]: Yeah. We’re finally starting to figure out the guards’ shifts… [Pettan]: But still! [Robert]: Shhh! Quiet! [Pettan]: Security’s so tight that our escape plan looks hopeless… [Robert]: But we can’t give up! It’ll be all over if we do. I promised Raoul that I’d help Elena escape in his absence…  [Robert]: That’s… Look, Raoul is what’s keeping her alive. We can’t let her know. [Pettan]: …Okay… Still, what are we supposed to do? We know the guard’s shift schedule, but there’s no opening to exploit. [Robert]: We have to wait… We just need to wait for an opening… We’re free to walk around for a bit again. If we talk to Robert, he’ll mention that his legs have gone numb from the experiments (which is why he’s propped up against the wall). He’s not doing so hot right now. As for Elena…  [Elena]: Did… something… happen…?  Now, the Psycho Knight move would be to get this bandage ripped off. Lying to people about their loved ones still being alive tends to cause more damage in the long run and results in a lot of resentment and hatred. That said, we’ll go along with this for reasons that will become apparent later. *pretending to be Raoul*[Elena]: Ah, Raoul… I… was… worried… Do you remember our promise? [Elena]: What… promise…? The move.[Elena]: Aha. I… know… We’re going to get out of here alive, no matter what. Hang… in… there… I… love… you… Now, before we head back to bed, we need to make sure that we talk to Elena a second time. [Elena]: Hahaha… *A little pink heart floats above her head* I love you.[Elena]: Mmm-hmm… I know, Raoul… There we are. Now we can get some sleep and head back to our game of Civ 6.  [Narration]: Though Dulkheim initiated hostilities, they continued to stay on the defensive. With the hero Ludwig in command of their forces, the Valkania Army grew suspicious and refrained from taking any major action. Thus, despite a month passing since the start of the war, both armies did little but glare at one another across the border.  Looks like things are going just swell for Dulkheim. This is one of those situations where you try and surprise war another player that’s been constantly stealing poo poo from you with spies, while assuming that the other person you’re at war with will have finally had enough and you can just quickly peace out to pivot. But then that other person completes a Giant Death Robot and is like “Oh no you don’t, motherfucker. Where do you think you’re going?”  All right, I’ll go report to the major. Tell everyone to be ready.[Mercenary]: Will do!  Ah, Bauer! Perfect timing. We need to line up tables, chairs, barrels, any obstacles we can find, in that plain in front of the city. They don’t have to be adjacent. It’s actually better for us if they’re strewn about randomly. …Major? Also, we’ll need a few soldiers to fire a volley of arrows from behind them. Just to scare the opponent a little. That’ll make them think our soldiers are lurking behind the barricades, slowing down their advance considerably. What with all this mist, they may even mistake the barricades for our soldiers! And while we’re buying time… Major Lichtmann! Our informants say the Death Wing Brigade is already on its way here. They’ll arrive in less than five hours and… That’s right. The infamous Death Wing Brigade… There’ll be nothing left of Solcorina. Right. They’re much, much too powerful for anyone to stand up to them. That’s why command has ordered the ENTIRE army to retreat! I know. And that’s why I can’t abandon this position. But… orders! Of course, and I understand that. But I want to save the people of this city. Are you out of your mind!? The Death Wing Brigade is coming here! I’m under no delusion that we can beat them. But if I can buy enough time for the civilians to escape, that’ll be enough… …. I should mention again that we mercenaries make our living by following orders. …… ……[Mercenary]: Boss, what’s the holdup? We’re all ready to go. …..[Mercenary]: Boss…? …Listen. Go get five or six fast runners with good aim.[Mercenary]: Huh?  [Mercenary]: G-Got it! *The mercenary leaves* Bauer… I need your troops to send an evacuation notice to the civilians. You can be the one to tell them we’ll need their dinner tables, too. Thank you, Bauer! Time is short, right? We’d better hurry. Bauer can’t help being a big ol’ softie at heart. Agreed! Thank you so much! Dixon made the right choice with that one.  Now for something much less heartwarming. Here, take my hand.[Robert]: Your hands are still warm… There’s life in you yet… I’m grateful for what you’ve done… Thank you for keeping Elena going… I’m sure Raoul and Pettan both appreciate it… Even if you’re the last one standing, never give up… You have to survive… we’re all counting on it… You’ll get… your… chance…   I want to see you.[Elena]: I want to see you, too, Raoul. If this wall wasn’t here… if I could see your face… I could keep going… Let’s… keep… going… a… little… longer… I’m sorry. I’m a little tired, so I’m going to get some sleep. Things are looking pretty dire. Numbers are dwindling fast and Elena doesn’t sound like she can last much longer. As usual, there’s nothing else we can do once we’ve talked to everyone. Back to bed we go.  [Dulkheim Soldier #2]: I don’t know! Sounded like it came from outside! [Dulkheim Soldier #1]: We’d better hurry and see what it was! *Crevanille then wakes up*  Remus to the rescue! Are you all right? I’ll open the door! You have to save the others! Yes, of course. I found your things on my way here. You must change into them at once! I’ll open the other cells!*Remus heads back out and opens the cell with Elena and the other girl. Crevanille gets changed and loads up with all his gear* Payback time, bitches. But first, we might want to tend to Crevanille. The two or three months he has spent in prison has taken a toll on his health. This toll is actually reflected in-game, as his HP will have dropped by half and his MP will be nearly gone. There’s nothing you can do about his MP (unless you’re in NG+ and brought items along), but you should be able to heal his HP with Vulnerary (that I told you to restock on a while ago). Alternatively, you can quickly equip Chemist’s Art and use Cure once or twice. All of our spellstones are still in the right place, so we won’t need to fiddle with that. There’s a save point right outside the jail cell that I recommend you hit up, as we’re about to go into a mission.  *Remus rejoins the party* After Remus rejoins, we advance a little further up the hallway. Once we hit the stairs, a scene triggers.  Elena and some of the other prisoners have managed to slip out, but now the off-duty guards have finally been alerted.  [Prisoner of War]: D-drat it! [Dulkheim Captain]: Hey… are these the ones we’ve done tests on already? [Dulkheim Soldier #1]: Yes, sir. All of them have been tested except for the prisoners currently in the lab. [Dulkheim Captain]: Then the higher-ups won’t mind if we kill them. [Prisoner of War]: Wh-What!? [Dulkheim Captain]: The fewer there are, the easier it’ll be for us. Kill them all! *The prisoner gets shanked* [Prisoner of War]: Aghhh! [Dulkheim Captain]: Move the prisoners in the testing lab and kill the rest!  It’s Frayne! …Must… rebuild… party. Did you hear that? We have to save them, too. Yes! We must try! So here’s the layout. Just ahead of Crevanille and Remus, there are 3 Soldiers that will attempt to escort the prisoners up and around to the front entrance. The mission is only failed if Frayne gets taken away, but rescuing the other two prisoners is necessary for a Mission Complete. Rescuing them will also cause them to join in the fight on our side, so it’s heavily recommended you do it anyway.  This is the main obstacle to that. There’s two archers at the end of the hallway, along with a Level 13 soldier and the Level 16 captain. One archer will typically run over to the other hallway and start attacking the prisoners once you’ve freed them (it’s nearly impossible to free them before they are led around the first corner). The other archer will likely harass Remus and Crevanille. The soldier will start heading towards you for melee attacks. The captain will mostly just be a gigantic pain in the rear end. He is constantly casting spells like Cure and Silence. You likely won’t be able to kill any of the guard soldiers with Remus alone. Crevanille’s higher attack speed will be needed to overpower the captain’s healing.  Ahh! Please have mercy![Dulkheim Soldier #2]: Hurry up and move! You’re all the test subjects we need! No… They’ve got Yuni locked up in here too, apparently. Unfortunately, we’ll have to save her rescue for after the battle. We can’t afford to have Crevanille taking time to move into and back out of the lab.  I’ll try and help out a little! Killing the guard near Frayne will free her. She’ll immediately join our party to help out in battle. We also obtain a spellstone: Wisdom Blade +1. That will have to wait until later, though. Frayne is a little worse for wear, just like Crevanille was. She has retained more of her MP, however. To go along with that, she comes pre-equipped with several spells: Ice, Wind, Attack Up, and Cure. Before anything else, have Frayne charge attack spells and focus on helping Crevanille/Remus kill the remaining two prisoner guards.  Between her and Remus, you should be able to kill off the lead guard. Crevanille should have nearly caught the remaining guard by that point, so you can turn Frayne and Remus’ focus elsewhere. I recommend having Frayne focus on healing. By this stage of the fight, Remus (or the NPC prisoners) have likely taken a beating and will need the HP. The melee soldier will have probably gotten to Remus by now, so that should be his focus.  This prisoner will most likely start casting cure to heal herself and the other guy back up. The archer at the end of the hallway will probably aim at Crevanille, so the prisoners should have a chance to heal up. Crevanille should be sent back towards the hallway where Remus is. We need him to deal with that Captain. Since we have a secondary healer in the group, have Frayne quickly fire out some Attack Up spells on Remus and Crevanille. Attack Up takes very little time to charge and only 2MP, so it’s easy to get them applied for some extra damage. You can also stack them, so if you cast it multiple times on Crevanille, for example, he can get Attack Up Level 2 and 3 as well. Frayne’s MP will likely be running out at this point, so you may have to stick her on item duty. She’s not much of a frontline fighter.  When the captain is dead, two more soldiers will appear from this room. It’ll take a little bit before they reach you, though, so you should be able to do some item healing if need be. Remus should be attacking the archers by now in order to whittle them down and stop their harassment. The one in the top corner is especially bothersome, as he keeps attacking the NPC prisoners. A level 3 spell should be good enough to put him down quickly.  This is a hectic mission and you don’t have a lot of wiggle room for a Mission Complete. Saving the prisoners is fairly easy, but keeping the Bonus Gauge above 0 is a little harder. I finished this mission with only a +7. I had some bad luck with blocked attacks and the Captain constantly healing people. Looks like that’s all of them.[Prisoner of War #1]: If we don’t hurry, the soldiers on the next shift will show up! [Prisoner of War #2]: Let’s hurry and leave! *Both of the prisoners leave at this point. Assuming you saved them, of course* Come, we should get away from here at once. I have a ship ready in Trockmere. Um… could you take me with you? Please, I have nowhere to go… Of course we will. Won’t we? Right.Of course we’re not going to leave her here. We need to refill our ranks, after all. A dedicated spellcaster would also really help round out our current lineup. Remus has been pulling double duty on that for a while now. Thank you… Before we escape, we need to make sure we rescue Yuni as well. I am glad you are safe, Master. I had worried. Also before we leave, there’s a new costume for Yuni up in this room that the guards came out of. It’s going to be a little while before we can change it, but I’ll show what it looks like now so that the thread can decide in advance.  It’s very Victorian. Well, what does the thread think? Should we swap Yuni out of her purple biker jacket and dress her up like one of those creepy dolls that your grandmother has? Alternatively, we could also put her back into her default/colour-swap default outfit.  Despite the urgency of our escape, we can still use these beds in the guard’s barracks to rest up. We’re only going to Trockmere (again), but I do recommend healing up anyway. There are still enemies along the way that we’ll likely get caught up in fighting. Also make sure you do a little work on Frayne in terms of equipment. I give her Vallery’s Thunder Imbuing, a MOV Up+1, and Fire Imbuing. She already has a good variety of spells, but they are mostly Level 1. She does have a Level 2 Cure spell right out of the gate, though, so I leave the Chemist’s Art on Remus. Unfortunately, we don’t have any better armour for Frayne at this point. I didn’t buy an extra Buff Coat for Remus because we had Vallery’s already on us at the time. It’s not a big deal, though. We’ll be upgrading armour again soon enough. As for Limit Ability, Frayne starts with Hasten. Hasten has a 25% chance of activating when she is attacked by a weapon while casting. It gives Frayne Cycle Up when activated. Cycle Up speeds up casting time and is a very useful spell that we can’t freely cast yet, so this is nice. The only downside to this Limit Ability on Frayne is the fact that she isn’t likely to take a lot of weapon hits since she’s not a frontline fighter.  There’s a little courtyard area just outside of the prison that leads to the front gate. It’s our only option for escape, so let’s take it.  As soon as we exit, we’re greeted by a collection of monsters new and old. There’s a Garuga here, along with an Imp and some kind of slime monster. These colour-swapped Imps (the ones back in the tower were red) are right assholes because they can steal items from you. You need to kill them quickly if they do this in order to get back what they took.  You may have heard me mention Death Curse back when we fought against Abram. Death Curse is the Growlanser equivalent to the Doom status in Final Fantasy. Well, Garuga now has an ability that can inflict that on you. I think it has a chance to trigger when you attack an enemy that isn’t Garuga. Death Curse will stick a timer above the character that’s inflicted. If that timer hits 0 before you cure the status or finish the battle, then the character is instantly KO’d. We don’t yet have the means to cure Death Curse at this early stage of the game, so you’ll need to make sure to finish the battle quickly. The timer runs down pretty quickly, but this is a very small battle area, so you shouldn’t be in any danger of having a character die. I think this is meant as something of a tutorial on this status effect. Other than that, the slime monster can be easily taken down with a Level 1 spell. The slime monster is similar to the Will-o-wisps, in that it is resistant to physical attacks and weak to magic.  Sadly, this is now the norm. Not just in Dulkheim, either. The same is happening in Valkania. It’s strange… Valkania seems to have had no ties to the monsters, after all, but it’s a little late to be wondering about that now… South of Trockmere. We should hurry to the city. I have ships there waiting. Ships… for what? We can’t stay in this country any longer. That’s why we’re escaping elsewhere. …I see. I’ll leave this to you, sir. Come now, you can call me Remus. All right, Remus. Please call me Frayne, too. Naturally. We must hurry. You may remember this area from when we first arrived in Trockmere with Dixon and the gang. At the time, the gate to that prison was closed and there was nothing we could do there. Also at the time, the monsters were way weaker. Both of those things have clearly changed. There are some colour swapped salamander enemies here that can inflict poison, so watch for those. Other than that, there are more slime monsters, Imps, Timber Wolves, and the occasional Garuga. They range in level from 10-17, so they’ll be worth some decent experience. That said, I wouldn’t worry about grinding here. We’ll get another opportunity to do that before the next major mission (so long as you’re careful about it anyway).  When you reach the signpost, hang a right into Trockmere. What will you do about your position in the army, Remus? I’m leaving the army, of course. I have no love for the Dulkheim Army, a group that did such terrible things to you. Now, let’s go!There’s also the fact that there is no way that the Dulkheim Army welcomes Remus back after he organized a jail break. Actually, now that I mention it… we didn’t see anyone else with Remus, did we? Did he single-handedly raid a military prison/research facility? Not only that, but he somehow managed to track down where the Ruin Children had been taken, even though the operation to imprison them was carried out in total secrecy. You know what, Remus…?  That’s some good work. It’s Hobson! Remember Hobson? Hobson! Are the ships ready?[Hobson]: Here it is. Just the one?[Hobson]: Sorry, Remus. The army seized most of the ships for the war effort against Valkania. It’s fine. I’m sorry for making such an unreasonable request.[Hobson]: Don’t worry about it. We’re allies, aren’t we? Boy, though, Crevanille, you must have been through hell. How’s the job?[Hobson]: It’s not easy, but it’s going well. Though the war means that it’ll be a while till I get my own ship… We should be going, Hobson…[Hobson]: Sure, hop on in. I loaded it with extra food and water. There should be more than enough for you three.  [Hobson]: Ten people on one ship would be a tight squeeze. I’m sorry… If only I could have prepared three ships like you asked… What should we do?Oh… uh… well, you see guys, there’s only enough supplies for three people and it’s not a very big ship, so— They come with us.…Well, the people demanded a hero, so I guess our hands are tied on this. Also, they would be screwed if we left them behind. I doubt they’d be able to escape Dulkheim without getting recaptured, especially given the condition most of them are in. Here, come with us! We’ll make it work![Carnos]: Thank you! *As everyone starts to board the ship*  Oh, right… Elena. We were sort of pretending to be Raoul so that she wouldn’t find out he was dead. Uh… [Elena]: Please, Crevanille! Tell me where he is! No way out of this now. We’ll have to come clean. *tell her the truth**Crevanille told Elena the truth about Raoul* [Elena]: So, that’s what happened… Raoul’s gone… I had an inkling a while ago that he might have passed already… Thank you, Crevanille. I wouldn’t have been able to endure without your encouragement. If I’d been alone, I couldn’t have taken the despair. Thank you so much.  [Elena]: Good luck to you all! Elena starts slowly walking back up the stairs at this point. We’re given the option to either call out to her or watch her go. *call to her*[Elena]: I’m going to remain in Dulkheim. Don’t worry, I grew up around here. I can escape on my own. Look after the others, won’t you? *Elena then runs up the stairs and quickly off the screen into Trockmere*  You changed her fate, Master. My unique abilities as a Familiar have detected that her destiny is different. It is a type of foresight that allows me to sense when you change someone’s destiny. Later, when there is time, I will inform you of the fate she was meant to have.So this is the reason why we were pretending to be Raoul. Elena’s fate is the first one that we are able to change, which will serve as the introduction of a new gameplay mechanic.  The Fate System allows us to change the fate of a handful of characters throughout the game. Some of these characters are only minor ones (like Elena), but some other characters are major ones (as in, characters important enough to get a character portrait). Over Reloaded added the ability to change the fate of more characters who would otherwise have unavoidably died in the PS2 versions. To change her fate, we needed to pretend to be Raoul, correctly remember what promise the two of them made, talk to her as much as we can (until she stops giving new dialog, basically), and also choose responses that support or reassure her that the two of them will escape someday. If you don’t do those things, then this happens on the day that Robert passes away:  [Elena’s Friend]: Ever since Pettan told her of Raoul’s death, she had no will to live. Pettan must have gotten tired of keeping Raoul’s death a secret, as well…  [Elena’s Friend]: I may not… have too long to wait… Depressing stuff. Thankfully (for me, mostly), Yuni will allow us to see what the original fates are from the Dollhouse. That means you don’t have to do a bunch of save scumming or a second playthrough in order to see what could have happened.  Anyway, we’ll talk more about it later. For now, let’s focus on getting our asses away from Trockmere. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 13:17 on Jul 13, 2021 |
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Jun 23, 2021 16:53
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I have heard the calls and I guess we'll be sticking with biker jacket Yuni for a bit longer. For people who wanted to change things up a bit, I have a bit of good news. Costumes F and E are the ones that I figured the thread would be most likely to turn down, especially when compared to the purple jacket. One of the costumes is a joke costume that I could honestly see people voting for purely for laughs. All of the remaining costumes (C, D, G, J) are ones that I think the thread will really like, so there's a good chance that at least one of those gets a vote to override purple biker jacket. Omobono posted:Remus was badass there. From what we just saw of him, I don't think our boy needs any help with that at this point. Obligatum VII posted:I'm astounded at how much of a badass Remus apparently is. He's definitely come a long way from the start of the game, where he could barely figure out how to work his ring weapon and had an emotional crisis after killing a dude. cardinale posted:This game is really cool. The prison scenes were legitimately quite moving. FalloutFan56 posted:Man that prison stuff got way darker than I thought it would. I didn't think we would see them waste away and die in their cells. Dulkheim, these guys were on your side and now the magic wielding guys are going to be fighting you on top of your two sided war. Also I like the purple biker jacket more but switching it up once in a while seems fine. The prison scene is pretty heavy. Usually in these kinds of "protagonist in a jail cell" scenes the hero(es) is only there for maybe a few days. Alternatively, there's just one big time skip from the moment they are locked up to the moment they escape. It's not very often that the game will have you check in as time is passing. It helps to lend a bit more emotional impact to the scene when you are watching people who start out healthy and feisty, but then slowly grow tired and weak until finally just giving up. Although it's a little "haha, we got you! Should have checked your stats before the mission!" from the developers, I also appreciate that Crevanille and Frayne's incarceration has in-game consequences in the form of lowered HP and MP.
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Update 11: Paradise City After we board the boat, we check in on the war effort over in Iglesias.  More specifically, we’re checking in with the infamous Death Wing Brigade.  *The archers kill a bunch of the remaining soldiers*  Pathetic… [Dulkheim Soldier #1]: No…! *Dies* [Dulkheim Soldier #2]: They’re too strong…! *Dies* We’ll build our name on your corpses![Daughter]: No! *The archers open fire on the civilians* [Mother]: Nooo! *Dies* [Father]: I… I… *Dies*  *Dies* Another notch on our belts… So that was pretty hosed up! Now we see how Iglesias was able to turn the tables. It also shows us why hiring the Death Wing Brigade is seen as some kind of desperation/last resort move instead of standard procedure for a country: they are bloodthirsty animals apparently led by Skeletor.  [Narration]: The reprieve allowed the Iglesias Army to hire new soldiers and reinforce their military might. Lumis ignored the order to withdraw, instead implementing a bold plan that kept damage and casualties in Solcorina to a minimum.  [Narration]: Not only was Lumis’s insubordination pardoned, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and allowed a seat at operational meetings. When Dranguss’s forces regrouped, ready to counterattack and restore their honor, they were at a loss how to invade Fort Rheoslock. So mistakes were made in Dulkheim and things are quickly going tits up. The man that was mostly responsible for turning the war in their favour (Ludwig) is currently playing scarecrow against Valkania, hoping that they don’t call his bluff and decide to run roughshod over his measly 4,000 soldiers. Meanwhile, Iglesias has managed to hold off the incompetent supreme commander of Dulkheim, which has given them time to call up more conscripts and rearm themselves. Dulkheim’s 50,000 strong invasion force has also been broken which, given the glory-seeking nature of the top commanders, will likely lead to them attempting an incredibly reckless counterattack in the name of regaining their honour or some crap. But you know what? Good. After what we saw them do to Crevanille and the other Ruin Children, they can all go burn in hell. gently caress Dulkheim.  Oh, look. The background image has changed to Crevanille in the prison. I really wish I could find out how this happens. I’m more curious than frustrated at this point. [Guster]: But the Death Wing Brigade’s stronger than they look. They come from nowhere… [Commander Dranguss]: We need a way to handle them…  It would be a relatively easy--[Commander Dranguss]: We can’t withdraw after our reputation’s been ruined! And I can’t split my forces! Well, my unit could go after Fort Fandelcia. As is, they’re only on the rear guard.[Commander Dranguss]: Hmph! If you think you can pull it off with less than a thousand soldiers, be my guest. Thank you. [Commander Dranguss]: I’ve never heard of this Bauer. Was his group on the front line? [Guster]: According to the list, he leads a small unit that was on patrol duty in the rear.  …Thank you, sir.*Lumis leaves* [Commander Dranguss]: That fame-bloated fussbudget! He has one minor success and now look at him! [Guster]: Lichtmann and Ludwig have an overinflated idea of their own strengths. [Commander Dranguss]: He was Ludwig’s man to begin with. If Lumis falls with Fandelcia, it’ll be a black spot on Ludwig’s reputation. [Guster]: …While not affecting the war effort at all. [Commander Dranguss]: Exactly! Tune in next time when we find out that Lumis somehow won the entire war with 100 soldiers and a whiffle bat. Meanwhile Dranguss will have died after being tricked by Iglesias into stabbing himself.  Back on board the S.S. Hobson, things are looking pretty bleak. [Carnos]: Hey, hang in there! We finally got our freedom! You can’t give up now! [Prisoner of War #1]: I’m sorry, Carnos… I… can’t…  Well the simple explanation is that the adrenaline from the escape has worn off and now everyone’s body is remembering “Oh, right. We were barely clinging to life before.”  Yuni, should you really be flying around like that in a storm? I think it might be safer for you if you tucked yourself into Crevanille’s pocket or something. Is everyone all right? I-I’m… fine… Agh…*Frayne collapses* Frayne! I-I’m sorry… Everyone else collapsed, and now me, too… It’s not your fault. Leave this to me and go get some rest. …..*Frayne slowly gets up and staggers inside* We should go back inside…When we try to head into the ship, we get a few choices of what to say. Let’s see if Remus knows where exactly we are right now. What’s our bearing? We should be heading due south, but this rain is preventing us from seeing any of the landmarks… I want to weigh anchor somewhere to avoid getting lost, but we keep getting pushed farther and farther out to sea. But that aside, are you all right? You don’t look well. We’ll keep our promise to Dixon. You mean to explore ruins and find a way to defeat Angels, right? For Grizzled Anime Dad! I understand your commitment, but I’m worried about your health. Please don’t push yourself too hard…We’re fine! I healed us up with Vulnerary and then we had that little nap in those beds. Crevanille can tough this out. Master!*Crevanille collapses*  Oh, never mind then. *Remus brings Crevanille inside and then heads back out on deck* These are horrible circumstance, though… We have to hurry and do something. But what…? And now we’re back to more war games. Valkania finally had enough of the staring contest and have decided to kick their way into Dulkheim’s territory. [Narration]: Ludwig’s forces, divided between Valkania and Iglesias, were insufficient to counter the move and had to endure a hard battle. Yet he continued to refrain from committing to an invasion, arousing Dame Silverneil’s suspicions…  [Valkanian Soldier #1]: Dame? They told me Major General Ludwig was the sharpest man in Dulkheim, but he’s been no challenge at all. Why is that?[Valkanian Soldier #1]: True. We’ve made our move, and yet… Maybe he’s only buying time to join with the soldiers in Iglesias. The thought had crossed my mind. But this is the esteemed Ludwig… It’s possible he has something else up his sleeve. Well, let him buy time. The war in Iglesias won’t end soon. We can wait a while longer to see what happens.So the Valkanians waltzed on in to Dulkheim with barely any resistance and that has left them feeling a little unsettled, even though that’s exactly what they should have expected since Dulkheim is busy with Iglesias. Diana is thankfully smart enough to realize that Ludwig is definitely planning something sneaky. What could it be, though?  Oh, okay. Forget about that for a bit, I guess. We’re in flashback land now. Thankfully there’s no graphics weirdness this time. [Younger Dixon]: Chief… I will guard this child with my life. [Old Man]: Now, go! We’ll keep him occupied!  *Dixon runs off with little boy Crevanille*  Also, Vester is here… Huh… Here’s the thing. The artbook lists Vester as being 30 years old, but this event took place 15 years ago (Regina says that Dixon brought Crevanille home that many years ago). Either Vester was only 15 years old during this event, he’s an immortal, he’s not human, or he has access to one of those Ruin Child stasis pods. Or I guess it could be some combination of those things. Point is, something is weird here. Well, no matter. Finding that book is more important for now.*Vester attacks the guy in front of him* [Young Man]: Ngh… He’s strong… *Dies* It’s time we ended this game![Old Man]: The rest is up to you, Dixon… Haaa! *The old man charges at Vester*  Oh, cool. We somehow survived being lost at sea and ended up at a Holiday Inn.   Where am I? This is my house, the Mayfield family villa in Marquelay. Your ship washed ashore on a nearby beach. That’s why I brought you all here.”All”? Well, that’s good news. At least we weren’t the only ones that managed to survive. Remus and Frayne probably made it, but you are free to place your bets on the others. But I haven’t introduced myself, have I? I’m Eliza Mayfield. It’s a pleasure to meet you. This little one and your friend Remus told me more or less what happened. You’re far from Dulkheim now, though. They can’t get at you here. I’ll be returning downstairs, but you should rest a little longer. I hope you recover soon.*Eliza leaves*  All things considered; I think we’re doing pretty good. This is a hell of a lot better than the war crime prison and the boat. Now that we have a moment to breathe, let’s take stock of a few things.  Using the Dollhouse, we find a new option has been added. View Fate will allow you to replay the alternate fate of any character you’ve unlocked it for. This is a godsend for me, because it means I can show you the original PS2 fates of the characters without having to juggle saves or do multiple playthroughs.  We also have a look at the spellstone we got during that prisoner escape mission. Wisdom Blade+1 is pretty good if the character you have it equipped to is not planning on making use of their MP very much. +10% damage for 1MP per attack is a good trade off. It also teaches Analyze, although Remus is already leveling that up for us. I won’t bother with this for now.  Wow, this place is ritzy. We can run round this floor, but all the doors are closed. Yuni will tell us that Remus’ room is next to ours and Frayne’s is just around the corner. The other rooms are either locked or unoccupied. When we head towards the stairs…  [Levan]: My, my, so you’re awake. I am Levan, butler to the Mayfield family. Good to meet you. Hi, I’m Crevanille.[Levan]: I have urgent matters to attend to. If you’ll please excuse me… *Levan then leaves up the next set of stairs* Hm, I wonder what the urgent matter is? Let’s follow him.  On the next floor up, this door will open and let us go inside.  [Levan]: One hopes he’ll soon awaken and eat on his own. [Carnos]: Ugh… Urgh… He’s in pain.[Levan]: He’s in far better shape than before. When he first arrived, I feared he was beyond help. Levan then leaves the room and we are unable to talk to Carnos any further. Well, the good news is that at least one other person survived the trip. Maybe there’s still hope for the others. We can’t do anything else on any of the other floors, so let’s head to the bottom.  Where is everyone? Ah, yes. Allow me to explain. After leaving Dulkheim, we lost our way in the storm, but managed to reach Marquelay. The owner of this villa, Eliza Mayfield, saved us. She’s an Iglesian noble who fled her country for this villa because of the war. It’s because of her that you, Frayne, Carnos, and myself are still alive. Were we the only…? …I’m sad to say that we four were the only survivors. Their prison stay must have taken its toll on them… Even you slept for a long time. Carnos is still bedridden. Frayne, though, seems to have gotten off comparatively light, and has been up and about for some time. Would you like to see them?Remus rejoins the party and we’re free to move about 30 feet down the hall before being stopped again.  I agree. Shouldn’t you be resting? I’ll sleep more later.Yeah. We want to do some exploring. That would be best. You mustn’t overexert yourself. So, what will you do now? It doesn’t seem as though your friend can stand yet… That’s right. We were planning to discuss that once Crevanille awakened. Um, well… Ahaha! See? So precious! Well, you’ve heard from Eliza… What do you think? We should accept her offer.We’ve been through a lot of poo poo lately. I think the best thing for us right now is to take a moment so we can catch our breath and get our bearings. More importantly, we have a lot of money to spend and a lot of shopping to do. That’s that, then. I’m sorry, Eliza, but we’ll be imposing on your kindness until we figure out where to go next. U-Um, I… You can come with us.We need a mage, damnit. Not to mention that it would be nice to have a full party someday. The battle party size is 4 characters, which we’ve only had at one brief point so far (that time Lumis was tagging along with us). I’ll go wherever you go. Chris!? Oh, sorry. You had guests… Never mind them. What do you want? Come on, that’s all you have to say to a strikingly handsome man like me? Must you be so cold? Kindly refrain from such impudence. You can try as often as you like, but I remain uninterested. And what’s with the highfalutin’ language? Talk like you normally do! Pfft, okay. That reminds me, that lady over there… Don’t you remember? We met near Saudrick in Dulkheim.This is the same Chris that was hitting on Frayne. The one Vallery told us about. Um… Chris! Even you didn’t stoop so low as to prey on Frayne, did you!? “Prey”…!? Hey, is that the kind of guy you think I am? Well, it’s the kind of man you appear to be. Do you not realize how you come across to others? How naïve…She’s not wrong.  Just look at this official character art for him. He’s sort of a womanizer, or at the very least a Casanova wannabe. *sigh* Those jagged words, like darts piercing my fair skin. I’ve always thought only of you… More hot air from an inveterate windbag… Oh, yes, I actually forgot that wooing you wasn’t why I came here today. I needed to talk to you about your home country. Yeah… I don’t know how to tell you this, but… Stop dilly-dallying and say it! All right… here goes. ! …No… Father… Mother… Eliza…*Eliza walks slowly over to a… planter box… or something? I don’t know. It’s this concrete divider thing in the upper hallway that has shrubs and stuff in it*  I’ll handle this. Why not go take a walk around the city? All right…Frayne rejoins the party and we’re given our freedom. Eliza is… dealing with some personal stuff right now… we probably should take Chris’s advice and give her some space.  There’s not much to see on the first floor of the mansion. We can head into this dining room area, which is a separate room, but there’s nothing there at the moment. Let’s go see what’s available to us outside.   Just past the Mayfield’s front gate, there’s this huge empty field screen. There are no monsters here and no items to find. Weird. Let’s keep going South.  On the next screen, we can continue South a little bit to reach a road sign. We’re right outside Marquelia and near some place called Ordinale. We’re actually free to go all the way to Ordinale right now if we wanted, but we won’t be able to enter the city itself. We’ll talk more about that possibility in a little bit. For the time being, let’s go back to Marquelia and do some prep work.  Oh, god. This rear end in a top hat again. User Melomane Mallet tells us that the official artbook does list the ages for Meline and Cynthia. They are supposedly 12. I call bullshit on that. Meline might act like a 12-year old, but neither her nor Cynthia look like they’re 12. Well, I’ll be going now… Be a good girl and wait here for me, Meline. Of course!*Cynthia leaves* Though it’ll be boring, just sitting here and doing nothing… I’m sure Cynthia won’t mind if I leave, as long as I’m here when she gets back! Time to check out the city!*Meline then leaves*  This is a slight mistranslation which can conflict with a different line from earlier. In the Japanese versions, Remus says “半年以上”, which means “over/more than half a year”. This is more appropriate a saying, because it’s probably been more than 6 months since Lamplast given just the time skips we are aware of. The problem here is, despite no other major time skips happening, Remus will say “It’s already been half a year since we were here last” when returning to Trockmere during the mission to meet Lumis. What happened? We were mercenaries fighting in a battle on Lamplast Island. During the fray, an Angel appeared and began indiscriminate slaughter… An Angel… After we escaped the island, this is where we found ourselves. Hmm… It’s because of the currents. That’s probably it, in truth. …That’s not very interesting…Sorry to ruin the romanticism of this place for you, Frayne.  What was his name again? Porak. Oh, yes, that’s it. Porak.Right, I nearly forgot about that. We’ll track him down eventually. He runs the general store, after all.  As for the armour shop, we’ve got a big selection to choose from. Battle Jacket, Leather Guard and Protector Robe are all new and all very expensive. Leather Guard can only be used by Crevanille and it carries a hefty strength requirement. Our Crevanille is 2 strength shy of being able to wear it without suffering a stat penalty. We could use a Life Apple to get him those two points, but I’d rather just wait until we’ve done some level grinding. Battle Jacket gives a boost of 12 over the Buff Coat, but Frayne is unable to wear it. I don’t bother with this for Remus, because I don’t feel like a bump of 12 is worth it for a ranged fighter. Not at a cost of 2,200, anyway. Protector Robe can be equipped by anyone and is +9 compared to Buff Coat. Not worth it for Remus or Crevanille, but I would recommend getting one for Frayne. Her range isn’t as good as Vallery’s was, so she will be getting up in the face of enemies a little more often. She could use whatever defence we can get her right now.  On the next screen, we’re going to ignore the obvious event trigger and go to the item store first. I’d prefer to get my shopping done before engaging with the little rear end in a top hat known as Meline.  [Shopkeeper]: It’s just that my boss isn’t here right now… [Strange Person]: Then when’s he gonna be back? [Shopkeeper]: Um, well… Ah, welcome! Er, hello. We’re looking for someone named Porak…[Shopkeeper]: Oh, the boss is out just at the moment… [Strange Person]: I get that already! Just tell me when he’s gonna come back! [Shopkeeper]: Like I said, it’ll take some time. Looks like we’ll have to come back later. But I wanted to shop…Ugh, fine. Since there’s some new jerk that’s holding up the line at the general store, I guess we’ll have to go and deal with the other jerk.  [Fruit Vendor]: Welcome, miss. Do you like our selection of rare imported fruits? Here, smell one. Fragrant, isn’t it? Ooh, you’re right. It’s all spiky, but it smells so nice! I like it! Unfortunately. Ah, so you didn’t sink to the bottom of the ocean. The city got completely wiped out, but it was still boring!We could be outraged, but I think we’d be better off taking Cynthia’s advice. People like her are just looking for a reaction, so let’s deny her that. *ignore her* Hey, you have some nerve, ignoring me!  Too slow![Fruit Vendor]: What are you doing!? Isn’t it obvious? I threw it at him. Oh, I see. I need to pay for it, don’t I? Here, then, take this. Apologize. Now. Wh-- Apologize!? Why!? Who am I supposed to apologize TO? To the shopkeeper. Affirmative. Your actions were extremely rude to the shopkeeper. Hrgh… Fine! I hate you!*Meline storms off*  [Fruit Vendor]: You got the worst of it, too. Please, I’d like you to have this. *Tropical fruit obtained* Really? Thank you.[Fruit Vendor]: I actually wanted that girl to have it… She seemed to really like it. If you happen to find her, please give some to her, too. You’re quit tolerant for a grocer who’s just been embarrassed like that.[Fruit Vendor]: Well, I don’t condone what she did, but I’ve seen kids like her before. And come on. If I let every little thing get to me, I couldn’t do my job! So now we have to track down Meline and share the Paopu Fruit with her or whatever stupid Kingdom Hearts poo poo this is. Might as well get this over with so we can be free to actually do things.  Meline is pouting down near the entrance gate, just across from the armour shop. Similar to the Dollhouse, we need to go to our inventory and then use the “Tropical Fruit” key item in order to give it to her. Talking to her just has her constantly repeating the same “What the hell do you want?” line. Huh? Is this for me? The shopkeeper said she wanted you to have it. ….. It’s more than you deserve. I don’t understand. Why did she give me this? Why did you bring it to me?In her case? No idea. In our case? It’s because the game is making us do it. Well… can’t it just be that we wanted to share it with you? Is that it…? That’s right.You have no idea how much this is killing me inside. Meline is a perfect example of why I automatically hate child characters in video games. Then I’ll make an exception and let you stay here with me. Hehe, thank you.*Frayne tries some of the fruit* Mmm… this fruit really is good. You should try some. Meh… Huh!? I-Is it time already? ….. Uh-oh, Cynthia’s mad! Well, time for me to go. Bye-bye, guys! You told me you’d be a good girl and wait. I keep telling you I’m sorry!*Meline and Cynthia leave*  You don’t, eh? She struck me as an extremely spoiled child.Siding with Remus on this. Ahaha…With that out of the way, we’re finally free to check out Porak’s Shop. That strange person who was all “Let me talk to your manager!” has finally given up and left.  Porak’s has gotten in some new inventory since we were here last. Nectar are your revival items. They are expensive, but I would recommend grabbing a few. Likewise, Antidote Herbs are going to start being very useful, so stock up. You may also want to stock up on Vulnerary again.  Now, I probably should have mentioned this immediately, but I’m an rear end in a top hat like that: Do not go near the docks in Marquelay until you are ready to progress the story. Get all of your level grinding and item shopping done before going to investigate that area.  The next mission is a gigantic pain in the rear end, so I recommend doing a lot of leveling and ability learning. I get Crevanille and Remus up to 19, while Frayne makes it to 17. As you start grinding, make sure to keep in mind that you should be rotating your spellstones as their Knacks level up. The nearby area is great for Knack/Spell leveling, so take advantage of that.  All of our party members wound up leveling quite a few abilities during the grinding process. Crevanille ended up mastering Critical Rate Up, which is amazing for him.  There are also some new spellstones that can drop from enemies or be found laying around on the ground if you are lucky enough. During my leveling session, we quickly nabbed Holy Imbuing for Frayne which teaches Attack Up. She already knows the Level 1 version, but we want to level this up so she’s able to eventually throw on the Level 3 version with a single cast (instead of casting multiple Level 1 spells to stack them up to 3).  To the right and around the corner from the signpost outside Marquelay, there’s a really good, albeit risky, spot for grinding. The group of enemies that spawn in this little field is usually pretty big, so there’s a good chunk of experience to be earned here at once and it’s not far from the Inn in Marquelay. Normally there are Garugas, but in this case none happened to spawn in. Garugas have access to the Death spell now, by the way. They enjoy trying to cast it, although it takes a long time and doesn’t have very good accuracy. Still, this is one reason why you want to make sure to carry some Nectar with you. Those snake enemies you see are Vipers. They, along with the purple salamander things we briefly saw during our escape to Trockmere, can inflict Venom and Poison with their basic attacks.  The icon you see in this screenshot is Venom. The icon for poison is similar, but the person in that icon is white from the waist down instead of all purple like you see above. Poison is irritating, but not crippling by this point in the game. Poison causes -5 HP every so often in battle and -5 HP every 10 steps outside of battle. Venom, on the other hand, is devastating at this point in the game. Venom causes -25 HP every so often in battle and -25 HP every 10 steps outside of battle. In battle, I find that Poison/Venom will hit roughly every time your character gets a turn to attack (so whenever your Wait Gauge is about to empty, expect to eat some damage).  Outside of battle, those status conditions will ruin you. A character can’t be killed by poison outside of battle, but it can take them down to 1 HP. Poison/Venom doesn’t auto-heal in Growlanser IV, so you need to cure it through spells or items or resting. This is why I recommended grabbing plenty of Antidote Herbs.  One screen up from the previous, there’s a lot of forested area and a big mountain/rock along the main road. You can see that enemies love to hide out in this place, so be careful with exploring off the main path.  One more screen up, we reach another signpost. The path to the left leads to somewhere called Sunail, but that road is currently blocked by some trees that were knocked down during the storm. To the right, through the trees, is a path to some ruins. Unfortunately there are some guards from Marquelay blocking access to them. The other path open to us is that cave you see up there. That cave leads to Ordinale.  Now, a word of caution about this place. We are going to have to come through this cave pretty soon as part of the main story. There’s no harm in avoiding this place while you do your current training. This cave is confusingly laid out and it is easy to get turned around because your vision range is limited. There are also a different set of enemies in here that are higher level than what is outside, including Gargoyles, Zombies, Diamond Wolves, and Will-o-wisps. Zombies can inflict poison, by the way. With all of that said, however, there is some reward involved if you want to risk exploring this place early. You can get stuff like Holy Imbuing and Knack Lv+1 from treasure chests. If you are very lucky, you can also get…  This handy little stone. Dispel has a chance to drop from enemies in here. Yes, that description is correct. Dispel provides a 75% chance to nullify spells on the wearer. Now, the downside of course is that little bit of wording at the end: includes enemies and allies. That means if you try and use healing or support spells on the person wearing this, there is a 75% chance that it won’t work. Still, this stone can be incredibly useful for certain fights and situations. But there’s more!  Dispel also teaches the skill “Remedy.” Remedy is what you would expect from the name. It allows you to cure most status conditions. Very very handy to have right now considering that the only status curing items we can currently buy are for Poison/Venom and Stun. Anyway, it’s your call if you want to risk that little expedition. Like I said, we’ll be going through that cave soon enough anyway.  Whenever you feel comfortable enough to proceed, head towards the docks in Marquelay. When you move down the stairs, this guy will run up towards the castle screaming about Dulkheim battleships heading our way. The Dulkheim Army!? Are they after us!?That’s doubtful, but now isn’t the time to discuss it. We need to act. We need to engage them. Right! I’ll help, too! A timer appears on the screen to hurry us to the port. Before you advance, though, here's a tip: You can cast buff spells like Attack Up while outside of battle. Frayne already knows Attack Up Level 1, so have her cast that 3 times on Crevanille and Remus (at least) to give them Attack Up 3. You can do it for Frayne as well if you feel like it. This will let you start the upcoming mission with Attack Up already applied. It's kind of like playing Nioh, where you stand outside of the boss room and spend 30 seconds or so just applying every buff you have in advance.  Also keep in mind where you enter the port from. If you approach from the top in the previous screen (closer to the boat), then you will start the mission here.  But if you approach from the bottom (closer to the wall/house), then you start the battle here. Both positions have their benefits and disadvantages. Starting position 1 is further away from the docks, but it more easily allows you to position Crevanille and Remus to cover one stairway each. Position 2 is closer, but it leaves the stairway on the left completely open. The ships have just docked. Now is the time! [Captain Marler]: Are they Marquelay Army? [Dulkheim Captain]: No, they look like civilians… What are your orders, sir?  [Captain Marler]: We must capture the city and control Valkania’s revenue! [Dulkheim Captain]: Yes, sir! Well, there’s your motivation for this invasion by Dulkheim. Marquelay is a small kingdom, but they are a very wealthy trade/resort country. We’ll find out later that they actually pay Valkania to lease some of their soldiers for personal defence. Dulkheim wants to cut Valkania off from that sort of cashflow.  Here’s the deal: This mission is a pain. There are four of these ships docked at the port and Dulkheim soldiers will constantly spawn from them. Meanwhile, Captain Marler will spend the battle casting support spells like Attack Up Level 3. Master, I suggest we remove the plank leading to the dock, thereby stopping soldiers from coming ashore. That’s a great idea! We can prevent them from getting any reinforcements by removing just a few planks.As Yuni explained, we can cut off enemy reinforcements by destroying those boarding ramps. We don’t need to destroy all four ramps, mind you. We just need to destroy enough to reduce the number of enemies on the field at one time. The Mission Complete objectives center around killing all enemies (except Marler) and not allowing any Dulkheim soldiers into the city (while also getting a Bonus Gauge above 0, of course).   Hm? Who are you? I’m a little busy here. Hm, I can see that. All right, let’s work together to put these guys down!A few seconds into the battle, this guy will arrive with soldiers from the Marquelay Army to help you. He shows up with 1 archer and 3 swordsmen. They are capable of holding their own against the Dulkheim soldiers, but do not assume that they will be able to kill an enemy off before they can escape into the city. You’ll need to help them if you want to hold the line. There's also no guarantee that they will defend the top of the stairs. In this battle they all decided to bumrush the docks and abandoned the left stairway to Frayne. Have Frayne stick to casting offensive spells in the back. At Level 17, her Level 3 Fire Arrow was enough to one shot a standard soldier. You can also have her use Level 2 spells to weaken soldiers for Crevanille/Remus/Baker/NPCs to kill off more easily. Her main job should be to deal with soldiers that look like they are going to slip through your defences and get to the city.  Remus and Crevanille’s jobs are to move (manually) to the boarding ramps. You need to get them to the ramps in order for them to destroy them (which is weird for Remus since he uses a bow, but whatever). And that’s really all there is to tell you about this fight. There’s not much strategizing you can do here. It’s just going to come down to how efficiently you can kill guys. Once Remus and Crevanille get onto a dock, there’s no way for you to run around the approaching enemies. You’ll have no choice but to carve through them on the way to the ramps. The only real tip I can give is that the boarding ramps on docks 3 and 4 are closer to you than dock 2. Dock 2's ramp is very far back, so it will generally take longer to reach. Ramp 1 is the closest, but destroying it will aggro Marler and force you to waste time fighting him. Marler is not crazy strong (Level 22), but he isn’t worth fighting. Beating him just results in him retreating from the fight rather than dying. The battle conditions still remain the same, so you’ll only waste your time by going after him.  Once Remus has destroyed a ramp, you should have him attack whatever enemies are in his range. He won’t move fast enough to destroy a second ramp anyway. Once both Crevanille and Remus have destroyed a ramp, then you should be able to kill off every enemy on the screen faster than they can respawn from the remaining two ramps.  When all enemies other than Marler are dead, he’ll call for a full retreat. The enemy has suffered a critical morale failure. Victory is ours. Ah, Lord Ordinale. You’re just a little late. We drove off the Dulkheimers with the help of these three. Awww, I missed the fun? The fight would’ve been over much quicker with me pitching in. You’re really late.Whatever, we handled things just fine. I came as fast as I could from Eliza’s villa, you know. There’ll be another chance for me to show my skills.*Chris leaves* Thanks to you three, we drove off the Dulkheim Army. I don’t know how to thank you… Oh, I need to report this to the princess! Could you please come by the castle later? Um… I’ll tell the guards to let you in. Come as soon as you can.*Baker and the soldiers leave* The castle…Well let’s not waste any time. Maybe she’ll give us a reward!  The castle is just up the stairs near Porak’s shop.  There’s nothing to find in the castle, so we just follow the red carpet to the throne room.  Hmmm… curious.  As a reward, I’d like to give you some land just east of Marquelia. gently caress yeah! We land owners now! Oh, wow… We won’t have to impose on Eliza’s hospitality anymore. Eliza? You know her? Interesting, though… I didn’t know you were Eliza’s guests. We’re not exactly her guests.We’re more like freeloaders. Is there more to this, then…? Eliza saved us when our ship ran aground. Before that, we were in the Dulkheim Army, but we had good reasons for deserting them. I see. Ah, so that’s why you can use spells.Baker will always see spells being used because Marler is constantly casting them. I’m curious to know what happens with this line if you don’t use any spells though. I should test that. I was surprised to hear Baker’s report. So, spells really exist… I thought there were mere fairy tales until today. But that means the other countries have a military advantage over us now. I’m ashamed to say so, but Marquelay’s relatively weak in that regard. But now Valkania has withdrawn all their soldiers to execute that war against Dulkheim. We were caught off guard by the Dulkheimers’ attack today. But we’ll let Valkania know what they’re up to and have them send at least a few soldiers to keep us safe. Good. We’re going to stop there for now. We’ll start the next update by chatting up the Princess a little bit and investigating our newly acquired real estate. And speaking of real estate, we need a name for it! We’ll be allowed to name this little fiefdom we’ve been granted, so I want the thread to throw out suggestions. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Jun 26, 2021 |
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Jun 25, 2021 14:14
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