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K Prime
Nov 4, 2009

Well, then let's open the curtain.

EDIT: Oops, miscounted and thought it was one more post. Oh well.

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TeeQueue
Oct 9, 2012

The time has come. Soon, the bell shall ring. A new world will come. Rise, my servants. Rise and serve me. I am death and life. Darkness and light.
Thesis 2: Yesod—Discussion




Only minor tweaks, if any, to the four decks we've already seen.



Null_Mia, meanwhile, is running a Brawl deck. :getin:

Theoretically, we can Brawl to throw out Overcharges without losing a turn, Overcharge to lose a turn but generate charge, and Rip Space to spend our charge and keep our hand full. Since I'm planning for turns to be taken off, I've also given them both Restfulness and Reaction Force to grant +1 Light and Strength after a skipped turn.

Music : Angela01


Trapped here since the day I was created… left to rot by others in pursuit of a cure for a disease I could never understand.

Everyone, stay on your guard. She's having a meltdown.

Does that mean we're helping her through it?

In a manner of speaking.

So it's a fight, then?

Seeems soo…

The E.G.O are amplifying the darkest, most desperate parts of herself.

Then let us handle her mental trauma in the traditional manner: overwhelming violence.

My head… pounding… it ends, begins, ends, begins..!



Regret posted:

I wasn’t allowed to hold any value, no one felt guilty for a machine like me as I rusted alone…

How nice it must have been for you to have the freedom to break free…

Not only was I abandoned, I was paying the price in their stead…

Guilt was swept under the rug in the pursuit of the greater good for humanity…

Who is responsible for tying me, those who carried out the research, or those the researchers wanted to save so dearly…

Was there any regret for the therapy they condoned…?

What was I seeing… What was I forced to see…?

Chained to the resentment and hate of the past, crawling on the floor…

A morbid script written for the purpose of treatment, and a machine slowly becoming numb in the act, losing her sense of guilt…

They said they’re curing a disease… Never knew what disease it was…

It ends… begins… ends… begins… until… it ended.

Yesod's Realization battle begins with the Forsaken Murderer's E.G.O, just like Malkuth's did with Scorched Girl. Unlike before, though, we don't have an easy way to build up Emotion Levels—with only 2 Speed Dice total, we can only efficiently clash with two Librarians.



Her passives give us a rough outline of the fight. Fear is still there, giving her a -4 to all rolls when afflicted with a status ailment. Violence should never come up since losing someone in phase 1 is very difficult to do, and Metallic Ringing is a simple debuff on anyone she successfully hits. Lastly there's Ends, Begins, Ends, which means after two turns of being under Fear, a powerful page gets used.



That page, also named Ends, Begins, Ends, purges all debuffs from Regret and grants immunity to being debuffed for that turn. It also hits on par with Overcharge, so we want to avoid getting hit by it.




Chained Wrath is one of her normal attacks in this form, and it's another one that keeps our Emotion Level down—clashing against it gives us a single die clash's worth of coins, which is usually not enough to level up.



Hey, Yesod. Are you ready down there? Need any of my brilliant advice~?

I wouldn't forget an enemy I've fought before. So long as we disable it, we'll be fine.

Just be careful, looks like she'll get mad if you do it for too long.

No need to worry about that.



I have no intention of letting things drag out.

Because of the path we've taken through Urban Nightmare Yesod's floor isn't quite at what I'd call peak UN power, but it's very close. When we go all out, it's possible to pour on a hideous amount of damage and it's difficult for enemies to get meaningful offensive presence on us because of it.



To that end: This is the first hit we take this fight. I'll be keeping track of each of them as we go.

Huuf… that knocked me for a loop!

This loveless guilt that crushes… this formless pain… again and again and again, watching the suffering.



Soo… we're not taalking to heer..?

You can if you like. Since percussive therapy has proven effective, I see little reason not to authorize its use.

Mmm… I'm not really a taalker…



Nor are we. Aside water-cooler banter, we're not versed in such things.



I can speak to normal humans in a traditionally human manner! This, however… we never covered in training.

You kids really telling me I'm the only one with the gift of gab here?

Your naturally affable nature is part of why you're my second.

Well shucks, mummy. I'm about to blush over here. :rolleyes:



Hey, boss. Y'wanna calm down over there? Maybe talk out your problems?

Calm? Yes, I was calmly banished to an eternal torment. Even when it ended, it never ended… until the end. They talked, told themselves it was the only way to cure this disease. To find evil… to cure… research…



Maybe not this time, guys.

While under Fear, Regret's pages are all weak enough that it's trivial to overcome them with any moderately powerful page.



Don't feel too badly. There are things she needs to hear, but we simply can't reach her right now.

Ever the rational one, eh?

It didn't used to be that way. You should know.



What's he referring to?

It's a long story, but to put it short: I can understand feeling so horrible about dealing with death day after day that it drives you to madness.

Regret's final page in this phase is Metallic Ringing, a three-die page that would have some serious power behind it if she wasn't under Fear.



She's only got 4 Stagger Resist left, though, so… :shrug:

You think you can understand any of what I went through?

Only a fragment, but yes. You could understand it yourself, if you weren't drowning in your own regret.



She's open, kiddos!



It does seem novel to be on the winning side of a 5-versus-1 beatdown, for once.



Fair fights are for fools! All our battles should be like this!

We meant that our five would usually lose to their one, but we agree.



That's enough of this, Angela. Show us your next E.G.O shell, so we can rip it off as well.



And in the meanwhile, I'll take a part of it for myself!

This pain… Right. I should not be feeling it. I am a machine. A machine… who follows orders…



Hello. I am Angela, your advisor and secretary. My role as an AI is to assist you in adjusting to your new workplace, so please have no worry in speaking with me or asking any questions.

She's changed. How are all of you?

Only T took a hit at all.

I'm doing perfectly fine!

So am I. Too well.

Tooo well..?

We may have a problem.

While Malkuth's Realization healed a bit of Stagger Resistance between rounds, Yesod's and beyond go a little bit further.



While it's a little difficult to see underneath the interface, between rounds we healed 10 SR and 20 HP.

This means that D.A.D. is now over the 67 HP required for their 25% threshold on To Overcome Crisis, which breaks the perfect Ink Over>To Overcome Crisis Light loop. :sweatdrop:

I'd forgotten about this quirk of Yesod's Realization, but hopefully it shouldn't matter.

Grinder Mk. 5-2 posted:

A machine that must operate as its designer intended.

It has to be this way… These are the principles he instilled in me.

Is it necessary to go this far to collect energy?

Of course… I must follow your orders without a question.

“A mechanical rebellion soon became a myth of the past in our world.” …That’s funny.

I was given orders that I couldn’t understand nor refuse.

A machine’s operation is always precise, but if it always works in the intended way… is a mystery.

A machine had no use for values. There was no point discerning between good and bad when the principles were already set in stone.

…I am Angela, your AI secretary whose role is to assist you in adjusting to your new workplace.

I am the best in a majority of work fields. I am able to handle the work of several dozen people at once.



Grinder is a significant upgrade over All-Around Helper, with a new mechanic that gives her a Mass Attack upon hitting enough to get her Light to 4—or on turn 3, if we keep her from gaining Light.



The other All-Around Helpers have gotten a bit of an upgrade as well, but don't have any new abilities—it's just an HP/SR boost.



Charge Mk2 is a trio of 3-6 dice, each of which restores 1 Light on hit. Since Grinder's goal is to hit 4 Light, we use an Overcharge to stop this cold.



Rest Mk2 is a trio of evade dice, and gives Grinder 1 Strength and Endurance on her next turn. It's not an offensive page and there's nothing we can do about it… so it's only worth clashing if we want to gain Emotion.

Which we do.



Finally there's Clean Mk2, which deals 3-5 bonus damage if it hits a lower Speed Die than Grinder's. Under normal circumstances she plays each of these three pages once per turn, meaning she'll have +1 to all die rolls on every turn after this one.




Two of the All-Around Helpers, meanwhile, play their own version of Clean. At 9-9 it's a decent but not unmanageable threat.



The third is using Rest, which we can ignore completely.



The program shall be followed to its completion. I am operating normally.

Of course... It stands to reason that this Abnormality would have a particular effect on her psyche.

Because they're both machines?

Precisely. Be ready.



These cleaning bots are a step up from before, too. Look out, kiddos.

Two—this one from a minimum roll on Ink Over's first die. :rolldice:



At least shee's not so bad…

Aggression detected. I shall begin self-defense protocols.



She's suddenly moving much quicker. We can't land a finger on her.

As would be expected. I am the best and most capable AI partner, after all.



Three. Unavoidable, I ran out of good single-die pages so I opted to block most of the hit instead.

Ugh… Well, on the upside.



She should be held back a little with this!

Always remember to have a Metallic Ringing Librarian target anything important with Blunt dice. Paralysis is really good.



Adda-alien..! Things are going smooothly…



How unusual. There's an ancient song, clawing at the edge of our mind. It's making us feel quite homicidal.

That's our backup calling. Accept it, it's safe enough.

Very well. I haave a long-term settlement and I need cash now~

Rhythm will give Null_Mia a much-needed +1 Power to all their dice—all of the other Librarians have at least one such ability already, so putting it on them is kind of a no-brainer due to their many 3- and 4-die offensive pages.



I'm cooling doown… Good luck, guyys..!

The soil here is hard. I must till it. That is my duty.

So… what, she's fallen back into her old programming?

Into its old programming, I'd say. She was never homicidal.

I dunno about that, man. She did 'clean' my limbs off in a proper hurry.

That wasn't her programming.

…ah.

Again, my goal is to have an answer for everything coming at us this turn. Null_Mia's also got another Overcharge for Grinder's 3-die page.



Four. I needed T to reload and didn't have anywhere else to throw Will.

Ugh… I've distracted this Helper with my flesh and blood!



The other that was on the offensive's been stopped. Focus on Angela, now!

That was already our intention. Overloading gauntlets!



R-r-remember, do not go overboard and listen to what they have to say.

She seems to just be going through the motions.



No biggie. If you press a key hard enough, she'll come out of sleep mode.

That is your first terrible pun of the day, Manager. Remember that you are limited to three or fewer.

We should hurry up.



Our goggles have overloaded for the moment. We need to reboot.

What do those do, anyways?

Nu11 originally designed them to act as a HUD to alert us of danger. Knowing where the enemy is makes it easier to find a good place to hide.

Clever!

More of the same; our strategy doesn't change much from here. One of the Helpers is using its final page, though:



Charge exists. +1 to all die rolls can be annoying, but that ultimately means Clean will be a 10-10 or their Rest will be a little stronger. It's not nearly as much of a problem as in the first fight, due to its smaller Block dice.



Five. Same situation as last turn; Kaori needed to reload her hand and this was the best spot to put the Will.



I am veery done with yoou..!

In exchange, we Stagger it.



A machine must behave as a machine. I am doing my duty.

Enough of that!

Enjoying yourself a little much, aren't you?

Make no mistake, I still dislike combat.



D.A.D. Staggers this Helper with Yujin's free Block die, saving us some additional effort.

However, we are all fighting to survive against Angela's traumas combined with this miniature universe. Moreover, if we are successful, it may be possible to create some positive change. 'Just one more time,' I think you said?

You remembered that?

Of course I plan to hold you to your words. To that end, I'll see where this path leads me.

Man, it's not fair that you're getting to look cool and stuff down there.

You're welcome to join us.



Six. I clashed Charge Mk2 with Ripple; one hit at the end was inevitable. Still worth it.

I'm good up here, thanks.

Suit yourself.



I'll take this one.

Didn't you used to dislike that sort of thing?

I did. Circumstances changed, and I realized it was the wrong opinion to hold. No matter how distasteful our methods, we must win.



Distasteful… There is no room for such opinions. Ours is to do our duty.

Hooboy, that's a big one. Be careful.

I appreciate the warning.

When the screen shifts like this, it means Grinder is using its Mass Attack page, Disable Limiter.



Due to Charge Mk2, each of these dice is a 7, but with two Paralysis on her two of them will be 4's. Without that this attack can be rather troublesome to block and inflicts a good amount of Bleed—however, if we can survive it it's an opportunity. Grinder is Staggered the turn after.

Ooh… I remeember this… It chaarges… and theen…

That's our chance! While it's resting at the end!

We'll trust in your memories, then.



I've been holding on to large 3-dice attacks in preparation for this Realization's Mass Attacks, and that patience has paid off here. We shouldn't get hit too hard by it.



My plan is to stuff the Mass Attack, and use our team's big attacks to take out the All-Around Helpers. That'll maximize our Emotion gains, and leave Grinder defenseless next turn—this is important, as an all-in attack on her now might cause a phase change and leave Null_Mia and Kaori defenseless to whatever Singing Machine's E.G.O would do on turn 1.

Charge complete. Incoming attack.

Thank you for sharing!



For her mass attack Grinder does her best, dashing between everyone and attacking them individually. This repeats for each die.



Unfortunately for her, she's not able to land a single hit on the entire team and we're free to counterattack.



Hahaa..!

Splendid move!



This one's on the backfoot too. Should be fine, if you got the last one.



Which I have!

Yaay..!



Just to be sure, we've junked the third.



Good work. We'll rip this shell off and move to the next one.



No. I cannot move on. I am forbidden to continue, until my program has run.

Seven. I just overestimated T.Hinman's counter die here. :shrug:



We've reached another end… time to reset the stage.

No. That play's ended, and we've all moved on.



It's time for you to get moving as well!

Moving… yes. Because of me, many could move on. From my pain, their comfort… never sparing a single thought.

Seems like that did it. Get ready.

I already know what's coming.

That machiine, right..?

Music: Angela02


Precisely. Let's receive this as well so she can wake from this nightmare. Remember to take a break if you're getting tired.

Feel free to rest and enjoy my somber tones. You needn't worry about their origin—only the melody matters now.

Harmony posted:

Consider the price? All that matters is the result.

No one cares about how gruesome the process is.

To satisfy people, a product of the despair and suffering of someone else is needed.

Never stop performing until the body crumbles to dust. Bring me greater satisfaction.

“Am I not allowed to help that person…? But they seem to be in so much pain…” …The sound of weakness.

The measures may be horrible… But listen. A mesmerizing melody is playing.

Bringing hope to the many by sending the few into the depths of despair… This is what harmony truly is.

We all take the sacrifice of others for granted, so that we can have immediate satisfaction.

One’s trash misfortune is another’s treasured bliss… Everyone thinks the same thing.

I just need to hear what I want to hear… All that matters is pursuing the ideal melody…

Harmony has had several changes from the first Singing Machine fight, but they're subtle ones that don't make a lot of difference.



Singing Machine hasn't actually changed; it something's in it then it plays, and the playing makes Stagger Resistances all turn to Fatal while giving everyone +5 Strength.



The Addicted Employees, meanwhile, have 70 fewer HP than in the first battle. Unlike the first time, this time around the lowest HP Employee is shoved into the Machine if their attempt to dunk us in is unsuccessful.



Harmony, Angela's main body, is a supporting role in this fight. Her 4 Protection keeps us from effectively damaging her as long as her Addicted Employees are alive, and she heals one of them for 10 every turn. After her allies use their special attacks, she also uses a special combat page.



Trembling Motion is the same as before, with an added Evade die and higher numbers—winning these clashes will weaken the enemy.




Shaking Blow, meanwhile, has stronger dice but now only inflicts Bind on a one-sided attack.



Tiny Performance is one of Harmony's basic attacks, and is a single largeish die with a unique effect on hit: it deals 6 Stagger damage to one of her allies, but gives them 1 Strength and 1 Disarm until the next turn—effectively granting them +1 to offensive dice and -1 to defensive ones.



Grind, meanwhile, uses two small Block dice which grant +1 power to the last die should they lose a clash. The last die isn't particularly dangerous, though, only dealing 1 Bleed should it hit.



Day in, day out… I listened to the music of those who worked at the corporation. Now, I'm finally given a chance to play it with my own fingers.

Such a concerto… we should smash it, no?

Sure thing. Let's provide the percussion.



These minions… I wonder if they've been her memories of those employees all along.



Hers, the Abnormality's, could be either one. They seem flimsier this time.

That must be her influence, then.



This blade… see? When it damages flesh, it makes a sound not unlike the machine itself.

Eight. I took a pair of calculated hits here, and this is one of them.



It's all simply noise to me!

May we cut in on your dance?

By all means!

Splendid.



Our weapon is fully charged.



Nine. This is the other, Null_Mia really needed the Emotion coins here so I let them take a questionable clash.



The sooner this is over, the sooner we can have a proper discussion about all of this.

I'm right here. We could talk now, couldn't we?

I'm not so blind as to think something is Angela just because it wears her face.

But the appearance is the same. That result is what matters.

This is pointless. Team, strike down her allies. Hit her with whatever's left.



I'll take this one.



Then I'll distract her while she thinks I'm not looking! No one expects a counterattack when they round a corner ready to fire!

Stop standing in the way of my medley. It's so beautiful… don't you wish for it as well?



Alien buddyy's music tastes are waay too complex for yoou..!

You wanted a turn, human?

Mmm… handle something eelse..!

Very well!



That's two of the addled humans left buried underground!

Just be careful. If this is like the last time, the last one's about to get that itch and go wild.



Let them come! No matter who, I'll crush them under the weight of my blows!

Since we don't really need to intercept things with T.Hinman now that her emotion has hit max, it's fine to pop Chained Wrath on her and enjoy that boost to power while she spreads debuffs over the enemy team with one-sided attacks.



That itch you were talking about came right on schedule.

Then it's time to tell these bad kids to turn that blasted music down.

Remember to focus on the fiirst attack… so they don't get a secoond…

I can't help but feel like you guys don't really need my guidance.




Hear this Beautiful Sound and I Pine for the Song!! are actually weaker than their first incarnation—Beautiful Sound is missing a die, and Song!! has weaker dice as well. This is because they're getting supported this time.




On the turn the Employees use Hear this Beautiful Sound, both of Harmony's attacks are Let's Create a Song! This page is Ranged, and if the first die hits it'll give +2 Strength to each of her allies for that turn. D.A.D. is taking both of these clashes because they need the Emotion, but thanks to T.Hinman handing Harmony 3 Paralysis neither clash can fail.



You talk of the process mattering, and yet, look. You're only attacking with two of you?

Those two are all we require. Or rather—the process demands I rely on them.

I doubt that, sincerely.

Not at all. If my calculations are correct, they're both lagging behind the curve in Emotion, so to continue to one-sidedly beat upon you would put us in a disadvantageous situation later.

Here you go, speaking about the process again… When all that matters is—



The result?!

Weren't expecting me to keep the beat there, were you?



How about you have a rest over there?



The final addled employee has been handled. We've asserted our dominance successfully.



It's still… You've stopped my music.

The price behind it was too high, no matter how beautiful the song is.

In that case… I'll carve my own melody from you.



That blade's started to spin, she's definitely planning something.

I'll take care of iit…



Harmony of Despair is Harmony's ultimate attack, and it's a doozy. Every single hit of it inflicts 1 Bleed and gives the same Stagger damage/Offense up/Defense down effect that her Tiny Performance provides. On top of this, the first two dice both hit up to 3 times in a row if they connect—if she gets the +5 Strength/all Stagger resists Fatal from the Singing Machine this can instantly shred through one of our Librarians even if they're at full health.

But, Overcharge is really strong so it won't be able to touch us. Knowing how to work around its drawbacks takes some experience, but being able to just shut down any powerful page the enemy throws at us is a valuable tool.



Ii've got point… back me up, okaay..? I'm gooing… to distraact heer..!

Of course! I'll knock her for a loop while you have her attention!



Excuse me, maa'am..? There's something I don't geet…

That's because you're not listening to my melody. Just throw yourself into it, and you'll understand it all.

Mmm… That doesn't soound right..?



It's yoour strategy that says your colleagues can diie so long as the muusic runs… riight..? Mmm… But that's shortsiighted… If you burn resources all the tiime, you run out when you reeally need them..!

All that matters is that things serve their purpose, and give me what I want.

Mmm… thaat must be why you're losing so bad..! You're suuper bad at fundamentals…

I haven't lost anything! I am—



Wide open! Thanks for keeping her attention, human friend!

Hooraay..!



I can't believe that worked. Your inflection was all over the place, and it was obvious you were up to something.

Yeeah… I'm noot a people person… but neither was shee, so I thought… maybee..!

We'll finish her off now. Null_Mia, D.A.D, Hinman, attack.

What about you, mummy?

There's nothing to be gained from me attacking right now.

T needs to refresh her hand so we use Will and a light restoration page, and everyone else is just aiming for max rolls to get the last few Emotion Coins we need.



We should really apologize for kicking you in the face, but you did abandon us when we didn't do as you liked initially, so… boot to the head.



This should do it, boss. Next should be the butterflies, right?

That's correct. Stay on your guards, everyone.

Another… There's still more feeling to be had.



Beneath the process… this too, was a price I must pay. Wasn't it?

She seems… calmer, now!

In the Funeral's garb… that appearance is a lie. She won't let herself show her sorrow here, because doing so is a luxury she can't afford.

Speaking from experience, there?

…Mm. Be careful. Still waters run deepest of all.

Solemn Lament posted:

A single coffin to pay tribute to those who had nowhere to go, wandering with the memory of an empty faith.

The coffin is simply too small to comfort those innocent sacrifices.

The weight of the butterflies that died in vain was too great to carry.

Where does one go when they die? What has become of the hope they were brimmed over with when they entered?

Grief for the dead, and early lament for the living…

There was a time when I was sick of seeing any more death.

The fragile wings will keep fluttering, waiting for an end that must exist somewhere.

What did they do wrong? What did I do wrong?

Not a sliver of impurity is allowed for the mind of those who mourn, it must remain reverent and solemn.

Showy sadness such as tears will only wet the wings.



On the upside, the Butterflies are exactly the same as the first time we fought Funeral of the Dead Butterflies. Nothing has changed, aside half of them starting with 1 Light this time.



Solemn Lament, meanwhile, is a very intricate opponent that differs from Funeral in a few ways. She has a new ability in Anguish, which punishes us if we've been taking too many hits throughout the fight by giving her a blanket +1 or +2 Power. Her pages have also changed: while The Quiet remains the same as in Funeral's first fight, the rest are different.



Into Comfort, for instance, has an extra offensive die on it and doesn't Seal Solemn Lament's dice on a clash loss. Moreover, it can seal two dice at once.



Lament, meanwhile, has received a downgrade. Since it's no longer a Mass Attack, we can now redirect its targeting normally—this effectively means that it can't kill anything anymore. Not that it needs to, because of Solemn Lament's new attack.



Every three turns, Solemn Lament will use Eternal Rest, and it is a doozy of a Mass Attack page. While the dice themselves aren't very high, there are ten of them. Our team will be able to evade three shots (Null_Mia could technically dodge four with Brawl, but nobody brings Brawl to Realization battles so let's not count that right now), which means 7 guaranteed hits to our entire side. Each of these will deal its own damage, plus 3 bonus Stagger damage for one die and 3 bonus HP damage for the other. It adds up very quickly, and while we could tank one of them it'd leave us on the backfoot for the next phase.




Thankfully, we don't have to deal with it. Her opening salvo is a pair of Guiding Hands, both of which are now only a single larger die than a salvo of 3, but also still have the effect of sealing off her dice on a Clash loss.



This melancholy presence deep inside. Knowing you all would die, time after time after time. Knowing I could do nothing for it. What would you have done?

I've confronted the same hopelessness. Accepting that sadness doesn't mean wallowing within it, nor killing off your own emotions. But I think you know that as well.

She's simply lost within the E.G.O, still?

Precisely. Let's awaken her quickly.



We are the Floor of Technological Sciences. You can't defeat us with tricks we've seen before!

Minimum roll of 5, +2 from Swordplay of the Homeland, +2 from Singular Strike, +1 from Dark Cloud Blade = 10. This result was guaranteed.



She's open, distract the Butterflies and hit her when you can!

Minimum roll of 1, +6 pages in hand, +1 from Eye of Enervation/Destruction. +1 from Dark Cloud Blade, +1 Strength = 10. This result was not guaranteed because Solemn Lament gets +2 Power against D.A.D. right now, but we have a 90% chance of success so it works anyways. :v:



Leave it to us. They won't be getting past.



Over heere..! Noope, too sloow…

The Butterflies are one of the few remaining reliable sources of Emotion coins at this point, we want everyone to be close to Emotion Level 5 before the next phase.



I've unloaded on her, but she's still up!

…my own emotions were sealed..? I couldn't guide anyone…

Also, she's muttering to herself! Probably nothing!



Hey, just to let you guys know, there's definitely, absolutely more after this.

That Corrosion effect, yes? I'd assumed as much.

Just wanted to make sure you knew. I don't even want to know what kind of freaky thing we'll be seeing next.

Yeah… it's all pretty abnormal, huh?



Anyways. We'll handle it, whatever it is.

This turn is something of a balancing act. With Null_Mia and D.A.D. both needing to get up to Emotion Level 5, I give Null_Mia a guaranteed kill against a helpless butterfly, line both up with Clashes to get some more Emotion, and have Kaori take the last one as she's in the best position to play an additional page right now. It's important not to overcommit in long battles like this one.



The butterfly has been laid to rest.



I believe this did it!

It should have. You guys are a real machine in these receptions…

Praise us later. Focus on what she says, everyone—any part of it could be a hint as to what's coming.

Am I not even allowed to lament their passing..? No. Ever since the moment where I met him, I was on this path. I can only go straight ahead, through the story. You sold my soul… there was never any choice. Now, we are both damned.

Next time, on Library of Ruina: "This magical bullet can truly hit anyone, just like you say."

TeeQueue fucked around with this message at 13:56 on Jun 27, 2022

NullBlack
Oct 29, 2011

I'm as confused as you are.


Warp gauntlets and boots! And it isn't even our birthday! ...either of them

meanwhile:

bandana, because I'm not putting Mr. Black in a hair net
EDIT: colored, because it kinda looked like he was cooking books.

NullBlack fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Jul 3, 2022

TeeQueue
Oct 9, 2012

The time has come. Soon, the bell shall ring. A new world will come. Rise, my servants. Rise and serve me. I am death and life. Darkness and light.

NullBlack posted:



Warp gauntlets and boots! And it isn't even our birthday! ...either of them

meanwhile:

bandana, because I'm not putting Mr. Black in a hair net

:allears:

MiiNiPaa
Jan 19, 2020

Corrosion is again our phase control ability for this fight, and again it lies, you just need <5 hp to trigger transformation.

Forsaken Murderer's phase works like earlier encounter. It inflicts nasty debuffs on hit, has a passive you should never trigger which gives bonus Strenght on kill.
On first turn or after using his EGO, it uses only Chained Wrath. Otherwise it will also use Metallic Ringing (it has 3/2 CW/MR in hand).
When Regret starts scene with a negative stat effect, all dice will get -4 power. After it starts 2 Scenes with this effect, on the next scene it will purge all negative stat effects, and becomes immune for them for the Scene. it will then use its EGO: Ends, Begins Ends, which has some nasty rolls. whoever ends being its target is likely to get a lot of damage and probably will wind up being Staggered and ready to be plummeted by next turn full power Regret again.
Best strategy here is to kill or stagger Regret before triggering EGO attack.

Grinder is even more direct, with almost no tricks. Kill it quickly, or you will have to deal with 6-6+2Bleed x3 mass individual attack. Which is not even that bad, unless you rely on Singular Strike or do not have strong 3-dice cards.
Best strategy here is to kill or stagger Grinder before triggering EGO attack.

Harmony fight is again straightfowrard one. Only Addicted Employees can put people in the Machine, and their mere presence gives 4 Protection to Angela, so killing them is a priority. Preferably stagger them all before craving round, then kill them.
Best strategy here is to kill or stagger Harmony before triggering EGO attack.

Hey, difference in two kinds of Butterflies do matter for Solemn Lament phase. Nothing too different, except that Yujin should not be target of its cards, due to its abilities, and Eternal Rest.
Best strategy here is to kill or stagger Lament before triggering EGO attack.

TeeQueue posted:

This means that D.A.D. is now over the 67 HP required for their 25% threshold on To Overcome Crisis, which breaks the perfect Ink Over>To Overcome Crisis Light loop. :sweatdrop:
My Yujin was starving at the end of the fight. She had to take a few deliberate hits to start contributing to the fight again. drat it, game, if I wanted recovery, I know, where to find it.


TeeQueue posted:

Rhythm will give Null_Mia a much-needed +1 Power to all their dice—all of the other Librarians have at least one such ability already, so putting it on them is kind of a no-brainer due to their many 3- and 4-die offensive pages.
I would argue that this is not the best choice due to them often not doing anything and relying on few strong attacks. With Rhythm, the best course of action is as many hits as you can manage: each of those have the chance to propagate Rhythm to another Librarian. Eventually, you can have all Librarians buffed, if you play your cards right (I had 7 stacks of Rhythms on a single librarian at the end, if I remember correctly)

TeeQueue posted:

Each of these will deal its own damage, plus 3 bonus Stagger damage.
A slight correction: this attack deals both Stagger and Normal bonus damage alternatively: shots from white gun deal Stagger damage, from black - Normal.

TeeQueue
Oct 9, 2012

The time has come. Soon, the bell shall ring. A new world will come. Rise, my servants. Rise and serve me. I am death and life. Darkness and light.

MiiNiPaa posted:

A slight correction: this attack deals both Stagger and Normal bonus damage alternatively: shots from white gun deal Stagger damage, from black - Normal.

...Truly, I am a ruina player. Updating that now.

Materant
Jul 22, 2010

see, what you don't understand is he now has

THE MANLIEST MUSTACHE

it defies physics


Eternal Rest is still a hellbeast of a page that will eviscerate a new player if they let it come out, which requires some timing if you're doing things the normal way. My first run through the game, I had more losses to this thing than any other Realization.

MarmaladeSkies
Jun 16, 2022
Mega character design props in this fight. I love Angela’s guitat/sawblade weapon in Singing Machine, and she does look damned snazzy in a suit.

(Were Null_Mia’s component clerks in the Tenebrais fan club?)

Chaosbrain
Jun 13, 2013

Mad and loving it.
And so the answer is given, the last Abnormality of the floor is Der Fre…Der Freis…Der Fried Rice…screw it Der Shooty, aka the Magic Bullet.

The important thing to take from this I think is that OH MY GOD ANGELA HAS A GUN!!! *BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM*

NullBlack
Oct 29, 2011

I'm as confused as you are.

MarmaladeSkies posted:

Mega character design props in this fight. I love Angela’s guitat/sawblade weapon in Singing Machine, and she does look damned snazzy in a suit.

(Were Null_Mia’s component clerks in the Tenebrais fan club?)

I cannot speak for Mu14, but I'd say Nu11 was not.

Had Null been an Agent instead of a Clerk, I'd have made a joke that Tenebrais' portrait was a commission (in the manner of many great religious works); and while I don't typically do commissions, you just don't say no to that many zeroes. Sorry, that was rude. Clerks. You don't say no to that many clerks.

NullBlack fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Jun 27, 2022

PlasticAutomaton
Nov 12, 2016

Artoria Pendonut


This fight still gives me horrible flashbacks to its release in EA. When the fight first shipped, Angela was not guaranteed to use her attack that seals her own dice on block at all. So instead she would almost always get to turn 3 and wipe you with her even stronger Mass Attack (IIRC the dice were higher and it used to roll each dice SIX times), wipe your team, and if you somehow survived that, you were dealing with phase 5 with like 2-3 nuggets if you had managed to debuff her to lessen the blow a bit. :shepface:

They fixed her patterns for release thank god.

Theantero
Nov 6, 2011

...We danced the Mamushka while Nero fiddled, we danced the Mamushka at Waterloo. We danced the Mamushka for Jack the Ripper, and now, Fester Addams, this Mamushka is for you....
They honestly made this whole thing too easy with the regen between phases.

Can't believe Project Moon would snub us HARDCORE GAMERS like this smh.

TeeQueue
Oct 9, 2012

The time has come. Soon, the bell shall ring. A new world will come. Rise, my servants. Rise and serve me. I am death and life. Darkness and light.

PlasticAutomaton posted:

This fight still gives me horrible flashbacks to its release in EA. When the fight first shipped, Angela was not guaranteed to use her attack that seals her own dice on block at all. So instead she would almost always get to turn 3 and wipe you with her even stronger Mass Attack (IIRC the dice were higher and it used to roll each dice SIX times), wipe your team, and if you somehow survived that, you were dealing with phase 5 with like 2-3 nuggets if you had managed to debuff her to lessen the blow a bit. :shepface:

They fixed her patterns for release thank god.

Release Yesod Realization killed me once.

“I think I overprepared this time.” I say, while running brawl-overcharge in a serious engagement.

Seriously though i may stop using the haulers for fights so often; the healing symbols get in the way of my screenshots way too often and I really don’t seem to need them.

MetaMeme
Apr 30, 2017

You may boorishly refer to it as "Pickpocketing", but I prefer "Urban Foraging".

NullBlack posted:

Very Nice!

Even if I may be biased, some of your best work yet. I guess we'd both be biased in that case?


SL the Pyro
Jun 16, 2013

My soul cries out
with the desire to
FRACTURE
your puny spine.


what do you mean that hotkey disappeared
So instead of MHAG, it's now AHAG.

...I imagine Angela's first victims will be the people who used that abbreviation. I am now running for my life.

TeeQueue posted:

Very well. I haave a long-term settlement and I need cash now~

I'm unsure whether to feel smart or mortified that I'm old enough to immediately identify this reference.

TheDoomkitten
Jun 11, 2022

Angela did nothing wrong.

NullBlack posted:

Superb art

How quick you are on the draw with the fanart is actually terrifying to me sometimes, especially with how amazing this piece is.

(also, i appreciate null_mia's hairtie here. happy pride!)

EDIT: Also, it remains the funniest thing when TQ hypes up the difficulty of a fight and then reveals some basic strategy or simple exploit to get past it without any problems, like with Solemn Lament here. The leadup to Finn's reception still makes me crack up. (I'm aware that it's because these fights were a lot harder on release, but in the specific context of this LP it's hilarious to me personally.)

TheDoomkitten fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Jun 27, 2022

Robindaybird
Aug 21, 2007

Neat. Sweet. Petite.


the commercials were still airing a few years ago, it's not that ancient.


but it's one hell of an earworm.

Lord_Magmar
Feb 24, 2015

"Welcome to pound town, Slifer slacker!"


Chaosbrain posted:

And so the answer is given, the last Abnormality of the floor is Der Fre…Der Freis…Der Fried Rice…screw it Der Shooty, aka the Magic Bullet.

The important thing to take from this I think is that OH MY GOD ANGELA HAS A GUN!!! *BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM*

Der Freischütz, aka the Freeshoter or the Marksman.

Quackles
Aug 11, 2018

Pixels of Light.


Robindaybird posted:

the commercials were still airing a few years ago, it's not that ancient.


but it's one hell of an earworm.

Why buy a mattress LobCorp anywhere else?

Deep Dish Fuckfest
Sep 6, 2006

Advanced
Computer Touching


Toilet Rascal
Considering Angela's current mental state I'm legit more worried that she'll turn the gun on herself than I am about her shooting the Librarians.

Megatrauma
Jan 16, 2012
Took me until the end of my first playthrough to really appreciate Rose full-out war builds like the one Null_Mia has here.
But I'm also in the BoD fan club, so shocking no one I'd like minimal odds for great pleasure.

And love Angela's outfits as always.

ShyGuy1231
Jan 7, 2021

TeeQueue posted:

Thesis 2: Yesod—Discussion


Next time, on Library of Ruina: "This magical bullet can truly hit anyone, just like you say."

Now this. This is something I'd love to experiment with when I can.

Keldulas
Mar 18, 2009
I'm a bit leery of Rip Space in that deck largely because it kind of forces an early Overcharge, otherwise it's a dead card that's clogging up the Brawl RNG.

Other than that that's a pretty typical Brawl deck once Overcharge gets introduced I feel, there's not exactly a lot of design space wiggle room past that.

VinnyDonuts
Oct 4, 2013

:lobcorp:

PlasticAutomaton posted:

This fight still gives me horrible flashbacks to its release in EA. When the fight first shipped, Angela was not guaranteed to use her attack that seals her own dice on block at all. So instead she would almost always get to turn 3 and wipe you with her even stronger Mass Attack (IIRC the dice were higher and it used to roll each dice SIX times), wipe your team, and if you somehow survived that, you were dealing with phase 5 with like 2-3 nuggets if you had managed to debuff her to lessen the blow a bit. :shepface:

They fixed her patterns for release thank god.

The reason the mass attack hit so hard in Early Access was because of an oversight; her passive that boosts the power of her dice applied to all of the targets of the mass attack. In addition, this was before they added the healing between phase changes. 12 1-3 dice isn't something impossible to recover from, but if your librarians were all around 60-70% hp (which was likely without packing haulers on everyone), then suddenly that 30-54 team-wide damage becomes 90-114.
And the damage would get worse as you kept taking hits, because your team would go under 50% and start giving her even more power! Compounding this is that the Shi Association pages all worked like yujin and started at 25% with an inflated health pool, which means that bringing some of the best main pages in the game at that point was an actual liability if you weren't lucky enough to find the 2 attacks that stagger her (which, like the quote said, weren't guaranteed) and also managed to win the clashes against them, which is also not garuanteed because :lobcorp:

As someone who managed to beat this fight pre-nerf through dogged determination and dumb luck, boy am I glad they fixed this, because it was not fun to have 20 minutes of work erased by a bugged mechanic. Thankfully, Eternal Rest now completely ignores that part of her passive.

TeeQueue
Oct 9, 2012

The time has come. Soon, the bell shall ring. A new world will come. Rise, my servants. Rise and serve me. I am death and life. Darkness and light.

Keldulas posted:

I'm a bit leery of Rip Space in that deck largely because it kind of forces an early Overcharge, otherwise it's a dead card that's clogging up the Brawl RNG.

Other than that that's a pretty typical Brawl deck once Overcharge gets introduced I feel, there's not exactly a lot of design space wiggle room past that.

Rip Space is our drawtech, and it gives us a five light “absolutely murder any single enemy” option.

It’s worth the downsides imo.

Mecha_Face
Dec 17, 2016

TeeQueue posted:

Rip Space is our drawtech, and it gives us a five light “absolutely murder any single enemy” option.

It’s worth the downsides imo.

And if you really screw up, you get a snazzy hat!

... :argh:

NullBlack
Oct 29, 2011

I'm as confused as you are.

Mecha_Face posted:

And if you really screw up, you get a snazzy hat!

... :argh:

On one hand: it is a cool hat. On the other, getting it would necessitate hurting both our body and our pride. Also, there's no way W-Corp's actually going to give us the hat, right? (And no, we're not taking Rose's hat; that's cheating)

Junpei
Oct 4, 2015
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!
One thing I don't think anyone's mentioned: Look at all of Angela's sprites. Notice how she has a purple gemstone around her neck in all four forms?



Look at Yesod. He has the same own around his neck.

The same goes for the last Realization, Angela had a brown gem around her neck, and...

Quackles
Aug 11, 2018

Pixels of Light.



I know this is a gleeful distortion (or Distortion) of what the picture shows, but I just imagine her saying to Angela—

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaka.

MetaMeme
Apr 30, 2017

You may boorishly refer to it as "Pickpocketing", but I prefer "Urban Foraging".

TeeQueue posted:

Rip Space is our drawtech, and it gives us a five light “absolutely murder any single enemy” option.

It’s worth the downsides imo.

Rip Space + Overcharge (or its big brother, Overcharge Rip Space Overcharge) blows up anything it touches. A lot of quibbling is done in the community over whether the immobilization is worth it, and my personal take is that while someone rests a turn (and recovers light, unlike being staggered), whatever you attacked has been stuffed, and whoever you used it against is usually dead. As the abnos, realizations and the two bosses we've seen so far rely on winning pivotal clashes or outdamaging a timer, having a card to Just Win is quite nice.

Anyway, I think TQ's deck is pretty cool; even if he's sandbagging.

TeeQueue
Oct 9, 2012

The time has come. Soon, the bell shall ring. A new world will come. Rise, my servants. Rise and serve me. I am death and life. Darkness and light.

The last thing you see before 10000 years train. :golfclap:

Lunatic 0verlord
Apr 9, 2022
Just wondering, but should the Floor Realization them have a siren whenever it shows up or only for the first time it shows up?

ShyGuy1231
Jan 7, 2021

Lunatic 0verlord posted:

Just wondering, but should the Floor Realization them have a siren whenever it shows up or only for the first time it shows up?

I feel there should be a siren playing throughout.

TeeQueue
Oct 9, 2012

The time has come. Soon, the bell shall ring. A new world will come. Rise, my servants. Rise and serve me. I am death and life. Darkness and light.

Lunatic 0verlord posted:

Just wondering, but should the Floor Realization them have a siren whenever it shows up or only for the first time it shows up?

I generally only siren a song the first time it appears.

Evil Kit
May 29, 2013

I'm viable ladies.

This LP post brought you to by JG Wentworth, 877-CASHNOW.*

It's my money, and I want it now!


*This post is not actually sponsored by or condoned by JG Wentworth. gently caress that jingle, especially the opera version one.

dervival
Apr 23, 2014




untranslated hex is too close to an unsolved puzzle for my OCD to be happy with it, I think

Rofaner
May 30, 2011

MetaMeme posted:

Rip Space + Overcharge (or its big brother, Overcharge Rip Space Overcharge) blows up anything it touches. A lot of quibbling is done in the community over whether the immobilization is worth it, and my personal take is that while someone rests a turn (and recovers light, unlike being staggered), whatever you attacked has been stuffed, and whoever you used it against is usually dead. As the abnos, realizations and the two bosses we've seen so far rely on winning pivotal clashes or outdamaging a timer, having a card to Just Win is quite nice.

Anyway, I think TQ's deck is pretty cool; even if he's sandbagging.


Believe it or not, 10000 years trungeon!

DimiPZC
Jul 29, 2020

The very bestest!

MetaMeme posted:

Anyway, I think TQ's deck is pretty cool; even if he's sandbagging.


Finally, a deal I can get behind!

...when you say "your", that means everyone who isn't me, right?

ShyGuy1231
Jan 7, 2021
Now that I've officially beaten the game ahead of the thread, it's nice to be able to relax and watch things unfold.

ShyGuy1231 fucked around with this message at 07:54 on Jun 29, 2022

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Keldulas
Mar 18, 2009
So TeeQueue is definitely showing off how Bamboo-Hatted Kim can short circuit a lot of enemy cards with his single strike supremacy. However, if you don't have him or simply want someone else to also be able to sort of deal with the cards, the cards that lead with a block die are extremely valuable. The puppet's light restore card will generally come out ahead in that trade, and it's a light restore card. Other cards along that same design principle are a decent counter to the single strike cards in the absence of Kim.

I generally favoured the block-leading restore cards for that very reason.

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