Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
Bad Seafood
Dec 10, 2010


If you must blink, do it now.

Hobgoblin2099 posted:

Attendant: "Belna's on top right now. He's Lindblum Castle's head chef. He's out there with his knife, chopping away. Good hunting!"

Attendant: "Ivan's in the lead right now. He's a fisherman who works off the coast of Lindblum. He's hunting with a fishing rod. He claims that he can catch anything with it. Good hunting!"
Man I remember both these names coming up in the leader's rotation but I never thought there was anything more to them than just names.

I like how in three-to-four sentences these two faceless NPCs who never show up are more interesting than some main characters in other JRPGs.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Fister Roboto
Feb 21, 2008

FinalGamer posted:


naaaaaaah that dude was just one of TWO brothers soooo I dunno :confused:

If Mega plans on making this a completionist run, you will become intimately familiar with the Nero siblings.

Dastardly
Jun 14, 2011

Fresh outta hecks.
There's also a guy called Scarlet Hair that participates in the Festival.

Blueberry Pancakes
Aug 18, 2012

Jack in!! MegaMan, Execute!

Dastardly posted:

There's also a guy called Scarlet Hair that participates in the Festival.

Yeah, I was looking for his dialogue but I couldn't find it. :(

TravelLog
Jul 22, 2013

He's a mean one, Mr. Roy.

Fister Roboto posted:

If Mega plans on making this a completionist run, you will become intimately familiar with the Nero siblings.

So not worth it. I love the idea, but boy is it tedious.

Xander77
Apr 6, 2009

Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.



This was an exceptionally adorable update.

FinalGamer
Aug 30, 2012

So the mystic script says.

Bad Seafood posted:

Man I remember both these names coming up in the leader's rotation but I never thought there was anything more to them than just names.

I like how in three-to-four sentences these two faceless NPCs who never show up are more interesting than some main characters in other JRPGs.
Just yet another point of quality for how much care this game makes in his details.

It really is no wonder that both Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu have both stated this as their favourite Final Fantasy game to work on, with Sakaguchi saying that 9 best encapsulated all the qualities of the series. Take that as you will.

Winklebottom
Dec 19, 2007

The nerdiest thing I've ever done was attending the Distant Worlds II concert in Stockholm with Nobuo Uematsu in attendance and they played Prima Vista Orchestra and it was just :allears:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfT6iQzC6Io

Could've done with a few more FF9 tracks though.

McDragon
Sep 11, 2007

Ha, I just remembered we've met the Strange Gourmand already.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
Those NPC descriptions are wonderful little bits of detail. Thank you for pointing them out!

Wortpine
Oct 4, 2013

Kemix posted:

Actually, you can lose while someone else is in the front header, 'die' and then get jack poo poo for the entire thing :v:

If I remember correctly, you can get the prize if one of the playable characters are in lead at the time when you lose a battle as Zidane. At least I think I got the add-on when I wiped and Freya was in lead while trying the under 12 hour challenge and wanted to save time. That challenge went straight out of the window when I reached the point when you can access a certain mini game. :v:

edit: And after reading the post again I realized that "someone else" probably meant non playable characters...

:allears:

Wortpine fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Aug 25, 2015

VibrantPareidolia
Oct 12, 2012

Winklebottom posted:

The nerdiest thing I've ever done was attending the Distant Worlds II concert in Stockholm with Nobuo Uematsu in attendance and they played Prima Vista Orchestra and it was just :allears:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfT6iQzC6Io

Could've done with a few more FF9 tracks though.

Watching this kinda makes me wish there was an official Final Fantasy theatre production, especially with how theatre influenced FF9 is.
I'm actually kind of surprised there's never been some kind of stage adaptation of one of the games, considering plenty of anime have done the same

Bufuman
Jun 15, 2013

Sleep in the briefing room.
At your own peril.

Winklebottom posted:

The nerdiest thing I've ever done was attending the Distant Worlds II concert in Stockholm with Nobuo Uematsu in attendance and they played Prima Vista Orchestra and it was just :allears:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfT6iQzC6Io

Could've done with a few more FF9 tracks though.

poo poo, I went to the one in Omaha (which is like 2 1/2 hours away from me) a couple years ago, the one that happened to fall on Uematsu's 54th birthday, so he was there too. I don't remember if they played a lot of FF9 songs, but they did play Vamo' alla Flamenco, which was awesome.

This was probably the highlight of the evening though. Dude was clearly enjoying himself. :)

I'm pretty sure I caught something there, given that I spent the next day in bed and sick off my rear end. Still totally worth the trip.

Bifauxnen
Aug 12, 2010

Curses! Foiled again!



Nobuo Uematsu is such a happy, wonderful man. :3:

Dastardly
Jun 14, 2011

Fresh outta hecks.
I think the latest Distant Worlds has a few more IX songs.

FinalGamer
Aug 30, 2012

So the mystic script says.
Awwwwwwwwww that is just precious :3: I know the one song that appears most during concerts from FFIX is Vamo'alla Flamenco which Uematsu says he absolutely loves as one of his fave pieces. And fair enough cuz it's a hella-fun flamenco song to listen to.

Winklebottom
Dec 19, 2007


In Stockholm he joined the choir for One Winged Angel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9TVKsGHCIc

Great guy.

Dastardly posted:

I think the latest Distant Worlds has a few more IX songs.

Ooh, didn't even realise there was a third one out!

Rigged Death Trap
Feb 13, 2012

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Nobuo loving loves his job.

W.T. Fits
Apr 21, 2010

Ready to Poyozo Dance all over your face.

I think my favorite part is after they finish the birthday song, they fire off the Final Fantasy Victory fanfare. :allears: :3:

Rigged Death Trap
Feb 13, 2012

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

W.T. Fits posted:

I think my favorite part is after they finish the birthday song, they fire off the Final Fantasy Victory fanfare. :allears: :3:

They should have gone whole hog and had a little animated victory screen where he levels up.

Obtained:
Flower Bouquet x1

ziasquinn
Jan 1, 2006

Fallen Rib
That dude in front of nobou is loving jazzed

Panic! at Nabisco
Jun 6, 2007

it seemed like a good idea at the time

Dastardly posted:

I think the latest Distant Worlds has a few more IX songs.
You're right! I went to it in Seattle last month, and they played Roses of May and You're Not Alone, two of my favorites. :3: Vamo' alla Flamenco would have been appreciated, though.

Mega64
May 23, 2008

I took the octopath less travelered,

And it made one-eighth the difference.
Still doing moving stuff so updates will be slower the next couple weeks.

And after that updates will still be slow because of Super Mario Maker. :unsmigghh:

Kheldarn
Feb 17, 2011



Mega64 posted:

Still doing moving stuff so updates will be slower the next couple weeks.

And after that updates will still be slow because of Super Mario Maker. :unsmigghh:

Next LP?

AlphaKretin
Dec 25, 2014

A vase to face encounter.

...Vase to meet you?

...

GARVASE DAY!


Well he does have a pretty much dead X Maker megathread... Hopefully this means it's reviving!

Bufuman
Jun 15, 2013

Sleep in the briefing room.
At your own peril.

AlphaKretin posted:

Well he does have a pretty much dead X Maker megathread... Hopefully this means it's reviving!

And don't forget his dead Harvest Moon LP! I was kinda enjoying that one, since I'd never played a HM game before.

Mega64
May 23, 2008

I took the octopath less travelered,

And it made one-eighth the difference.






105 points! Congratulations!
We grant you the "Master Hunter" and your reward.



This is Freya's reward. It absorbs Thunder, which is very handy, and teaches some really handy abilities that I'll show off in a bit.

Zidane would've gotten 5000 gil, and Vivi a Theater Ship card, which you can get later anyway except it doesn't matter regardless because Tetra Master sucks.



If any of the three party members win, you get the Master Hunter key item, which means you're a master hunter. Great job!



The fruits of my training, I suppose.







I bring urgent news...from our king.



(Sire, you must not let him see you like this!)
(Take a god look at him. An injury has blinded him.)

Then how did he crawl his way into the chamber unassisted?



Our kingdom is being attacked by some unknown force! We are severely outmatched! Please send reinforcements immediately!





The king and I are old friends. We will send reinforcements to Burmecia immediately.
Thank you, Regent! The king...and all of Burmecia will be most grateful!



...Ugh.



It's too late. He's gone... It's a miracle he even made it this far.



-----



Because of the festival, there are hardly any men left in the castle. It will take time to mobilize.
We have no choice... Call back the 4th aerial division patrolling the border.
But if we recall the 4th, we will lose our eyes over Alexandria.
<Gwok-gwok> Burmecia is our ally. We must help them.



It can't be...
Could it be Mother...!?
I must go now. I cannot sit and wait for the reinforcements.



No. This doesn't concern you.



I'm not gonna sit back and watch your home get destroyed, alright?
...Thank you, Zidane.



Sure.
Alright then. Let's go to Burmecia.
Princess! This is a foreign matter! It has nothing to do with us!
Steiner is right. We don't know if Alexandria is involved.
But if black mages are involved... Zidane, you know what I'm talking about.



If Mother is behind this, I'll make her stop! I promise!





We don't know what to expect there.



Dagger, this is war. A lot of people are gonna die.
I know that!
...How did you feel when you saw that Burmecian soldier die, just now?
...I felt sad, of course.
Just sad? Weren't you scared, too? Obviously, you haven't realized how dangerous it's gonna be... You could get killed.



But...



He's right. We must head to Burmecia at once.



Of course. If you're going by foot, leaving from the gate is the best way.



-----





The Festival of the Hunt feast is one of our oldest traditions. It began well over five centuries ago. It is customary to eat everything with your hands, so go on, before it gets cold.
Thank you, Uncle.



Steiner's eating animation is the best. I just hope he washed his gauntlets before he began eating.



Let's just eat. We can't do anything until the gate opens.
...You're right.



This is wonderful! Princess, how is everything?





Oh... I'm sorry.



Indeed, it is. Especially this beef. It is superb!







F-Forgive me, Princess. I should have tasted it for poison...







Princess! You didn't!

That's right. The "helpless" princess just drugged everyone.



Steiner, I have to make my own decisions... I had no choice. Uncle Cid would never let me leave the castle.
That is because he is concerned about you!
I understand, but-



I'm sorry, Princess. I cannot follow any orders that might put your life in danger.



It could lead to war between the three great nations. Many innocent people will die... As the princess of Alexandria, there must be something I can do. I have to help Mother... I don't want to see anything happen to her...



...Very well.



Thank you. Let's go before everyone wakes up.



Come on.





-----





It was sleeping weed.
We've been had...
I gave her some because she said she was having problems sleeping.
I'm impressed. There's more to her than meets the eye.



Then you might still be able to catch up with her.





You can leave from the Dragon's Gate, located on the Base Level <gwok>.

That's it for story. The rest of this update will be equipment stuff and revisiting a post-festival town if you're the kind not into town dialogue.



So, the Coral Ring. It gives Insomniac (Sleep immunity), Man Eater (extra damage to humans), and Dragoon staple Lancer, which deals 20% more damage than a physical attack and drains MP on top of that.



Freya is the only other character besides Steiner that can wear heavy armor. Since we won't be doing much with Steiner for awhile, it's a good idea to unequip him before you talk to Cid when you first reach Lindblum so Freya can make use of his gear.

Freya's Javelin teaches Dragon Killer, which deals extra damage to dragons. Appropriate for a Dragoon.



We've got mostly free reign now, though a few areas are still out-of-bounds.



You've gotta take pride in whatever you do, know what I'm sayin'?



I imagine.



The Base Level takes us to the Dragon Gate and out of Lindblum. We've got stuff to do first, though.







The big thing to do is some shopping. Of course, there's also some new dialogue now.





I pulled some crazy stunts in my early days. My buddies and I used to go to this forest northeast of here all the time to catch wild chocobos. And we raced through the plains, like the wind, with the girls cheering us on. Those were the happiest days of my life. I wonder if there are chocobos still living in that forest...

HINT HINT.





As you may expect, things are a bit hectic now with the whole Burmecia thing and all.





I've only had one customer so far. Only one.





I somehow missed these last time. Polom is probably a reference to twins Palom and Porom from FF4, a reference SE really likes for some reason since the names even pop up in freaking FF13 as a major city. Don't ask me.

Pepe is obviously a reference to the meme frog even though this game came out before the meme. Truly ahead of its time.



(Dammit!)



How about you? Are you enjoying what you're doing?



No, this game sucks:

Maybe you should go buy another game.

Yeah, I'm havin' fun:

That's what I thought.

It's really surprising how much stuff is hidden in this game.



Buying a bunch of Steepled Hats because It's Time.



I think the bottom line is he doesn't want me to take over the shop.

Also I forgot to talk to this guy behind the counter earlier so I'm doing so now.



Wrist + Steepled Hat + 1000 gil = Cotton Robe.



Steepled Hat costs 260. Wrist costs 130. The Cotton Robe sells for 2000 gil. That's roughly 600 gil profit per robe sold.



I burn through all my wrists and eventually come out with 72k gil. I keep a couple of robes for Vivi and Dagger and proceed to craft one of everything. To go over things quickly:

Butterfly Sword: Dagger + Mage Masher. The first Thief Sword, which are generally stronger than regular daggers. Teaches Protect Girls and What's That!?, the latter being an ability that turns enemies around as if they're being back attacked. Would be a good weapon upgrade if it weren't alongside...

The Ogre: Mage Masher + Mage Masher. Zidane's strongest available weapon currently. Teaches Soul Blade, which hits an enemy with the status of the currently-equipped Thief Sword at 100% accuracy. Doesn't apply to daggers, but on the other hand Thief Swords don't work with the Add Status passive. The Butterfly Sword inflicts Silence, and The Ogre inflicts Darkness.

Cotton Robe: Wrist + Steepled Hat. Teaches Shell and Chemist, a passive that doubles healing from Potions, Hi-Potions, and Ethers. Also grants Fire weakness, like most robes.

Desert Boots: Leather Hat + Leather Shirt. Halves Earth Damage and teaches Flee-Gil, Protect, and Scan. Scan is the new one, teachable to Dagger and of course gives enemy HP, MP, and elemental weaknesses. Not too effective on bosses.

Yellow Scarf: Feather Hat + Steepled Hat. Teaches Bird Killer, Steal Gil, and Millionaire. Steal Gil nets a bit of gil when you steal, while Millionaire increases gil from battles by 50%. That said, no one we've met yet can learn Millionaire, not even Zidane.

Glass Buckle: Leather Wrist + Glass Armlet. Teaches Add Status, Antibody, and Thunder. Nothing new here.

I forget how exactly I geared up my characters because I played almost three weeks ago and don't really care to go through the footage yet again for specifics. It's definitely to maximize abilities of course.



Enough item chat, here's a loving dog.







Yeah whatever.



I can't wait to tell my kids back home.



It's such a pain repairing everything afterwards.



Also forgot to capture this earlier. From thread chat, this changes during the game and the various dishes are based on negative status effects because this is The Doom Pub.

I don't think it'd go well for me if I opened a bar and tried to sell people poisoned drinks.



Moving on to the theater district.



I heard there are traditional Festival of the Hunt dishes. Do you know where they serve them?

Try The Doom Pub. Their Instant Death Delectables are to die for.



<Thump-Thump, Thump-Thump...>





I was cheering so hard, I completely forgot about the painting.





That's it for Lindblum, pretty much. We've been here several weeks now, so let's leave.





Just gotta ride this thing...



It's not a good idea to go out. The Mist is bad for you.

And check out this brief stop along the way.



Since we have airships running on the Mist, I guess we don't need normal ships anymore.



Quite the view, honestly.



I think it's a waste of time to watch over this place.

Probably harder to appreciate when you're stuck standing in poisonous gas for hours at a time though.



Alright FINALLY we're going to Dragon's Gate.



The best way to get to the grotto is by following the roots popping out of the ground, which extend all the way to the grotto.

That's the fastest way, not the best way. The best way is to explore everything first as there's two major things to check out before we do the next dungeon.



This guy just sells consumables if you forgot to buy them earlier. Convenient, at least.





He went to Burmecia? It might be dangerous there! Kupo!

Maybe one of these days we'll actually run into Stiltzkin. Kupo.

Next time, we're finally done with Lindblum! We meet some new faces and maybe get started on some interesting sidequests.

Blueberry Pancakes
Aug 18, 2012

Jack in!! MegaMan, Execute!
In my last playthrough of IX, I collected all of the Tetra Master cards.

Don't ever do this. There is no point to it. You will hate yourself.

On the topic of Story, Steiner is a good and an incredible character. Him flipping out about the poison is fantastic. It's also neat to see him and Zidane agree on something for once.

Cerebral Bore
Apr 21, 2010


Fun Shoe
Dagger freakin' owns.

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.

Cerebral Bore posted:

Dagger freakin' owns.

She truly deserves the name of "Shank".

KataraniSword
Apr 22, 2008

but at least I don't have
a MLP or MSPA avatar.
I am my own man.

People can be blinded and still make out shapes and objects well enough to not run into things sometimes; blindness isn't just a complete inability to see all the time.

That said, I think what Cid was really saying was metaphorical, more of a "man, the guy's dying I don't think he loving cares if I'm some sort of bugman."

Bad Seafood
Dec 10, 2010


If you must blink, do it now.
Interesting that there's so much new NPC dialogue between winning the festival and leaving Dragon's Gate. Most people (myself included) would just head out immediately after waking up, with maybe a quick pit stop to gear up. I've never thought to head back to the theater or industrial district to see if anyone had anything new to say.

You can tell this game had a lot of love put into it.

Waffleman_
Jan 20, 2011


I don't wanna I don't wanna I don't wanna I don't wanna!!!

I like that this game has the cast being drugged with weed as a thing that happens.

Bufuman
Jun 15, 2013

Sleep in the briefing room.
At your own peril.
One neat thing I noticed about What's That!? in one of my playthroughs: if you get Back Attacked and have Zidane use it, it'll flip your party members back to their normal rows. Very handy since it only wastes one turn instead of four.

Not sure how it works with people who switch rows mid-battle though. I should go and test that a bit. I'm guessing it only works at the start of a back-attack.

TheFattestPat
Dec 28, 2012

Santa Cat Says: Good deeds are the things to always do, just make sure someone is watching you
Can all three of them actually lose the festival? I never thought about it or heard anyone mention it as a possibility until this LP.

Rigged Death Trap
Feb 13, 2012

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

MonsieurChoc posted:

She truly deserves the name of "Shank".

Who's the young royal chick
That's a sass machine to all the pricks?
Shank!
Ya drat right.
Who is the gal who drugs her friends and then runs outta town?
Shank!
Can ya dig it?

Rigged Death Trap fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Aug 29, 2015

Bad Seafood
Dec 10, 2010


If you must blink, do it now.

TheFattestPat posted:

Can all three of them actually lose the festival? I never thought about it or heard anyone mention it as a possibility until this LP.
Pretty sure you can't. Freya wins by default, Zidane only wins if you take down the beast, and if both of them lose then Vivi comes in first.

I am not aware of any methods to sabotage Vivi's performance.

EponymousMrYar
Jan 4, 2015

The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.

Bad Seafood posted:

Pretty sure you can't. Freya wins by default, Zidane only wins if you take down the beast, and if both of them lose then Vivi comes in first.

I am not aware of any methods to sabotage Vivi's performance.
It came up earlier in the thread but if you have Zidane die/run down the clock in battle when one of the NPC's is in the lead then they win.

Bad Seafood
Dec 10, 2010


If you must blink, do it now.
Huh. Might have to try that next time just to see what happens.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Fister Roboto
Feb 21, 2008

Lancer is actually a bit better than a 20% damage increase, because the multiplier gets applied to the attack value before subtracting defense. Remember that most enemies have 10 defense. Freya has 18 attack with her current spear, so her base damage before multipliers against most enemies is 8. Lancer increases the 18 to 21, so now her base damage is 11, or a 37% damage increase. The percentage multiplier will decrease as her weapon improves, but it will always be slightly higher than 20%.

That being said, it's still worse than the Attack command with a killer ability, or Jump, which are both a flat 50% damage increase.

  • Locked thread