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.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!
~Update 5: I'm in love with my Lust; Burning Asmodeus to dust~

This is it. We're leaving Chapter 1 behind this update. The intro will finally be put behind us and we can start making actual progress on the whole 'saving the world' deal.



Team A(wful) has been training hard and is now up to level 9. They're only 1 level behind the Tutorial Team, except that Jacob, Elley, and Esther have reached their natural limit at level 10. Every member of Team A(wful) has a level cap somewhere in the 20's, so their potential has yet to be realized.

Their stats have gotten a bump. They are more of a Tanky group than I originally would have thought when these classes were chosen. They hit hard and can take a hard hit, but their speed leaves a lot to be desired. This is likely due to the inclusion of Luna, since the Merchant class is more of a Tank type.



This is the Tutorial Team for comparison. Keep in mind that they do have 1 level on Team A(wful). They are a much faster group and have a better balance of stats, but they don't pack the same punch. They also can't compete in terms of HP or MP. In terms of their individual members, they are about the same. Neither team has a weaker link than the other.



Enough of that. Let's get this done. Narika will be accompanying Wake for this dungeon, after receiving votes from the thread who thought she kind of got the shaft on her transformation scene and could use a little confidence booster.

The other highlight from voting is that Chloe's costume basically tanked her chances. The unfortunate part is that we have no way of rectifying this. Wake gets to unlock a 'School Uniform' dungeon costume later that is just his regular school outfit we see him in all the time. Chloe (and the other heroines) don't get that, they get Swimsuits. This should surprise absolutely nobody. No teacher outfit for Chloe in dungeons, it's stripper-chic or bust.


-Lust Labyrinth-



Wake's costume vote was for his Alternate suit, so he's rocking the regal white. Narika's vote was for her normal suit, Ellie and Fuuko will be in their Alternate suits, and Chloe... the jury is out on Chloe. There's currently a tie between her regular and alternate. We'll sort that out eventually.

(Still can't think of anything... I'll need to buckle down and do some research before the next Labyrinth mission.)

Umm, Wake? I heard from Fuuko that you and Chief Ruby got into a fight after the last trip here... Are we going to be okay?

Hm? Oh, don't worry about that. We're fine now. Water under the bridge. I'll be taking her advice into account from now on, so she will still be with us.

That's wonderful news. I'm happy that the two of you could make up. Does that mean that you apologize to her?

Oh, no. That implies that I felt I was wrong. She definitely still deserves her share of blame. We just reached a deal and agreed to move on, that's all.

A deal? What is she doing for you?

...


-Laboratory-

Jacob! Stay out of Renda!

I want to get stronger! You're not my mom!

You can't get stronger! Star Children have natural-- Elley! Stop scattering those documents on the floor!

Why don't you have magic research? I want to learn a new healing spell!

We don't do spell research here!

*gunshots and glass shattering*

Heh, ten outta ten.

Esther! Stop using those beakers as target practice! Those are expensive! Dammit, why won't any of you listen to me!?


-Lust Labyrinth-

Let's just say that I'm happy with it.



Now that we have free reign over dungeons, let's talk a little about what we've been picking up.

Most of the items are basic. Potions restore HP, Potion+ restores more HP than Potions, Mana Stones are the same thing except for MP. Here are the less obvious ones:

Star Drop/Star Drop + - HP and MP recovery. Roughly equal to using 1 Potion and 1 Mana Stone at the same time.
Bond Powder - Revives a downed Star Child team. Also recovers 500HP. You can use it as kind of emergency healing, or when only one or two Star Children in the Team are KO'ed.
Star Bomb - Instant escape from battle
Escape Hatch - Let's you leave the dungeon whenever you want
Enemy Search - Let's you see what the enemies are on the dungeon map before battling them. Wears off over time. Handy for quests, except for one small detail...



Wake gets a skill almost immediately that does the same thing as Enemy Search. It only costs 60MP, which even at this early stage of the game is nothing (Mana Stones are everywhere in dungeons and restore 400MP minimum). There's also the fact that at this point in the game there are only about 4 or 5 types of enemies we can run in to.




Here are the monsters we've been fighting so far. These guys are called Bootes, while their stronger palette swapped cousins are Booteles. Neither are of any threat. They only have two basic skills and they rarely use them. They prefer to just attack physically when able.




Then there's Wimp and Wimpus. The creepy nightmare bats with very appropriate names. They also just attack physically whenever able. They don't have the Obliteration skill attack that the Bootes do, but Wimpus is able to boost magic attack.



Garamus are the big hammer bros. They can lower ATK and boost their own ATK, but they rarely do either. Again, they will usually just attack physically.




The roadrunner dudes with spears are reckless. Also that's their name. They can lower SPD and boost their own, but likely won't get the chance to do either.



Finally, we've got the weird spider cannon things. These aren't particularly common, are usually on their own in this dungeon, and only have the one attack skill. They are weird in every way.



There isn't a whole lot I can say about this dungeon. I can't give you any kind of guide since the layout is randomized. It technically has 5 floors, but it's really only 4 (Asmodeus is on floor 5 and you go straight into the boss battle when enter the portal on F4).

You can blow through the entire dungeon while killing every enemy and picking up all the items in roughly 20 or 30 minutes. There's nothing here that could be considered a threat to you. Treasure Chests are very frequent in these dungeons, so you can easily offset any drop in HP or MP by just popping a Mana Stone or Potion (so even if you don't bring a Cleric, you'll be fine).



Not to mention that you really have to speed run this place to encounter anything approaching a challenge. Wake and Narika here can obliterate anything in this dungeon by themselves, and the Star Children would probably be able to manage just fine on their own.

I want to point out something here. A lot of you might look at this and say "Well obviously it's easy, you're incredibly over leveled for what amounts to a glorified training dungeon". You would be correct.

However, as a counter point to that, I want to mention that my total play time for this save file is 5 hours. At least an hour of that was spent leisurely reading through story segments. A half hour or so was spent farting around and getting screenshots of city functions and Star Children. And I'm pretty sure another half an hour was spent poking at miscellaneous things like the Database, Tutorial Cards, equipment, etc.

My total time in dungeon has been about 2.5 hours, tops. Keep in mind that I was training all four heroines. In actual practice, unless you're one of those types that aims for 100% on the first run, most players would settle on one or maybe two favourite heroines and exclusively train them.



Yes, Wake and Narika are grossly over leveled for this. Wake is Lv16 and Narika is Lv14 due to a weird exp...thing that I spent time trying to replicate. I was going to call it a glitch, but I need to do more testing to make sure it's not just a feature. Basically what was happening was that every so often when God's Poking a weak enemy, Wake and Narika would shoot up by 1000exp (a complete level). This happened 3 times with Narika (once for me to notice it, twice for me to try and test it), twice in the same dungeon run. I could not repeat this when trying with Fuuko or Chloe.

More testing needs to be done on that to be sure, since it really looks like some kind of Narika related glitch to me (for comparison, beating Asmodeus here will only net us 180 exp. Regular battles range between 17-50).



My point is, I am not spending an extrordinary amount of time grinding. I have rarely seen a player start a JRPG for the first time, sit through an hour of tutorials and story setup, then rush the end of chapter boss as fast as possible while ignoring shops and other functions that open up. Most players would stop for a moment, enjoy the freedom the game has finally given them, and start fiddling around with things. Experimenting without the hand holding of the tutorial. You know, playing the actual game.



I did a bit of grinding for LP purposes, but this is still within bounds of a normal player. The difficulty of this game is just sooo low. There's no difficulty options either, not sure if I mentioned that already or not. It's like the game was set to 'Easy' while the devs were testing it, then they forgot to change things back before it got sent off for printing.



What was I getting at again? Oh... Asmodeus is already dead. Uhhh....hang on.



Let's try that again. This time deliberately holding back Wake and Narika so that they do not contribute to the battle at all.

Finally. Figures it would go cower in the deepest part of the Labyrinth rather than hang out where we found it last time.



Be careful, it'll most likely be more formidable than before.

Good job on that by the way.

You're just as much to blame as I am.

Listen carefully, Wake. That monster will use a skill that will decrease your attack power. It also has a high offense power, so be cautious while you fight it.

Yeah, yeah. Everyone ready?

I-I'm a little scared, but--



That's the spirit, Narika.

Buuuut, we're gonna hang back for this one.

What? But, but...

Listen, you dug in your heels and showed a lot of courage there just now. I'm proud of you.

But the Star Children are getting kind of restless. They also worked really hard during their training, so I think they deserve a little treat.

You kids have fun. Go wild.

Yaay!



Okay, so I went a little overboard there. Wake and Narika are going to sit things out this time and let the Star Children have a turn. I make Wake and Narika defend every turn and just sit there. I keep Team A(wful) in place to avoid having Asmodeus split his attacks between them and Wake/Narika.



Ruby once again proves that she's a loving moron. Do not listen to her. Asmodues' stats are still pathetic. The only thing Asmo has going for it is a high defense and decent speed.

Ruby is also apparently blind, because Asmodeus most certainly does not have 'high offense'. It has ATK Sapper, MAT Sapper, and Stare of Death. The database said it had Dusk Release as well, but that doesn't appear to be the case here.

ATK Sapper - Lowers target's attack (I have rarely seen Asmodeus use this)
MAT Sapper - Lowers target's Magic Attack (Again, rarely seen it use this. Team A(wful) doesn't even have any magic attacks going for it, so this is useless to Asmodeus.)
Stare of Death - Bosses have this skill. It just means we can't run from it. So scary.
Dusk Release - Opposite of Wake's 'Ether Release'. Reduces the Ether Density level. It's an annoying skill that I think every boss in this game has. Asmodeus has this at some point, but maybe it's during a Rematch Quest later on.

Also, notice that it's sitting at a supposed level of 18. Team A(wful) is 8 levels below that, sitting at level 10. They are about to crush this thing.



Asmodeus still hits for roughly 60-90 damage, same as before. The only way it would be hitting harder is if you took the Tutorial Team straight back to this dungeon and dodged all the enemies you could so that they were still sitting at level 3 or 4. Remember, Team A(wful) is only level 10, which is the same level that the Tutorial Team caps at.



The thread team has picked up some skills during training. Let's have a look:

Blinding Slash - Basic attack skill. Might lower accuracy.
Armor Break - You can probably guess. Attack skill that might lower Defense.
Pickpocket - Felicia realizes her inner thief and tries to steal items from enemies. Does some damage too.
Heal - It heals.
Divine Aegis - Raises team defense.



Blinding Slash is mostly what I stick with. It does about 1000 damage and hits from two directions (one of which is Asmodeus' weak spot). This entire battle boils down to a back and forth between Team A(wful) hitting with Blinding Slash and Asmodeus just kind of swiping at them half-hearterdly. Wake and Narika just hang out and defend every turn.



Aww, everyone is all tuckered out. Time to put Asmodeus to bed and take the Star Children home.

Without doing any healing whatsoever, including MP restoring, Team A(wful) only hits 270 HP before Asmodeus bites it. They could have taken another two hits, easy.



Good job, guys. You made dad and your various moms proud. We get another Potion+ as well as a Heavenly Fruit, which is a permanent increase to Luck. I either dumped these all on Wake or dumped them into whatever heroine I decided on. You can save them all for the end game, or give them to whomever. Doesn't really matter. Not a good idea to use them on Star Children though, since they get swapped out a lot.

Another option is to horde them for when you go to make Star Children. That way if the heroines are coming up just shy of a new class you can fill in the missing stat quick and easy.



Shut up, Ruby. Just shut up and stop pretending that you're helping.



Everyone, now! Do the thing I told you!




Let our powers combine!




And that's it. Easy. If only someone had given us the means to do this the first time we encountered this loser.



Woooo! Party time! Let's get hammered! Maybe you're not so bad after all Ruby.

Uh, Chief... they're underage.

Don't be a buzzkill, Mark.

Come on, a little bit won't hurt.

No.

I thought you were cool.

Wake, we'd like to retrieve the Sealing Matryoshka. Come back at once.


-E.S. Savage-



Announcement: Well done on your mission. We are now passing near the Rootstone. It will be visible on the left side.



I showed off this shot in a previous update. I just want to include it again because it looks really pretty.

Announcement: The Church prays to this stone, and the oracles speak to the Star God through it. The Aterra Church has made its headquarters directly beneath the Rootstone, as well.

...

Yeah, that's great. I'd appreciate it if you shut up though. We're trying to catch a nap on the way back. Save the history for school.


-Laboratory-

Here you go. Have fun with it, I guess.



Look at this data! The amount of Dusk Energy coming off of the sterilized Dusk Circle has decreased!

Why are you bringing that up now? Enzea's already predicted that result.

That was only a simulation, though. There was no way to know if it would actually happen until we saw it in reality.

That's not very scientific of you, Mark. The calculations we make allow us to make conclusions that put food on the table.

How is that unscientific? Your 'conclusions' were tested under real world conditions and--

You know what, never mind. The Star Children are tired, Narika is tired, I'm tired. Not in the mood for this. I'm out.

Wake, you did well today. Make sure you get some rest and prepare for the next one. Oh, and...

Yeah?



Thanks for the advice grandma. I'll make sure to put on a sweater too.

Such an rear end.

That's a wrap for the Lust Labyrinth. How about we unwind a little before Chapter 1 finishes up?


-School Store-



Get me a cider I guess.

Wake does ask for a cider in official dialogue. He is obviously talking about the non-alcoholic variety of cider, but I like to pretend that this school is just cool enough to sell the hard stuff to students, like they're in anime Denmark or something.

Okay. Here ya go.

Look, Narika, it's Wake and Chlotz.

Oh, you're right.

Hey, you two.

Are you getting drinks? Narika, should we get something too?

That sounds nice. I'm thirsty. Which one are you going to get, Fuuko?

I think I'll get the berry juice. What about you?

Well... There's such a selection that I can't make up my mind. What should I get...?

You strike me as a tea kind of girl, but then again I was way off base on the elemental stuff with you girls, so I have no idea anymore.




Standard Disciple B: You're right. Even the Elites buy things from vending machines! Either they don't know what they want, or she doesn't know how to use a soda machine.


Standard Disciple A: Man, the S Rank girls look so cool, even when they're failing at simple tasks!

I feel like everyone's staring at us. Or is it just my imagination...?

Beats me. I always feel like there are eyes on me.

I don't think you're imagining it. To the normal Disciples here, being an S Rank or a God's Gift is a celebrity.

I just want to point out the big difference between Elite and Standard Disciples, since we haven't heard much about what Standard Disciples even do. The database says that they mostly learn support skills and and fill support roles. Elite students are the ones with actual combat skill that go out and fight the monsters. We'll see a shot later in the game where Standard class Disciples are wielding guns, which will raise an odd question about this whole setup. For now though, all you need to know is that they are complete jobbers.

Really? Could have fooled me. I haven't exactly been feeling the love and respect around here.

It's tough being as popular as we are, huh?




Standard Disciple B: I'm pretty sure he's Ms. Chloe's little brother.


Standard Disciple A: Ohhh... That's why he's hanging around with them.

Ow. That stings more than I thought it would... Now I feel really awkward here.

Not so fun getting ogled and judged is it?

I know what you're trying to do, and I'm not going to engage.

I don't like it here, either...

Let's get out of here then. Anyone have a good alternative?

Um... I know of a good place.


-Grassy Path-



It's so quiet on this path, too. It's hard to believe that we're still in the Academy.

I admit, it is pretty relaxing out here. Nice smell, nice breeze, really peaceful.

By the way, Wake, have you decided on which club to join?

Dude, where am I going to find time for club stuff? I'm not exactly made of free time. What about you? Have you decided on joining one?

I did decide. I'm not joining any of 'em! Instead, I'm going to help out at the lab.

You mean AngelMarker?

So Ruby finally acquired a new toy, huh? Gotta admit, that took longer than I thought.

Yeah, I'm going to assist Mark. I love cool gadgets, and I know a lot more than I look. I can't go into the Labyrinths and fight, but I'll be able to help you that way.

So be nice for once, man.

Fine, fine. That's going to be at least some benefit to me, so I suppose I should be thankful.

There's the old schoolhouse.


-Old Schoolhouse-



This schoolhouse was here before the Academy was founded. It hasn't been in use since the Dusk Circles appeared and the Academy was built.

I... come here a lot during lunchtime to read.

Ah, this is where you disappear to. So this entire building is unused?

Right. But I believe the other rooms can still be used if it was cleaned up.

Alright! I just need to come here when I want to skip classes!

Chlotz, you shouldn't say things like that right in front of the vice president.

Seriously. Think before you speak. This is a primo spot, and you're going to ruin it saying things like that.

Um... I'll just pretend I didn't hear that.

You're lucky she's too kind for her own good.

I'm sorry, okay? It just slipped out.

Hey, isn't that... Ellie out there? You know, the first-year?

I wonder what she's doing in a deserted place like here.



Hm...!?

Leave our forrreessst or we will haunt you foreevveerr! OoooOoOoOOO!

Would you knock that off?

It was a joke, don't be such a killjoy. It's just us Ellie!

Ah... Hello, everyone. Is Wake there with you?

Unfortunately.

What're you doing over there?

Oh... Um, nothing much.

It feels so nice and warm outside, so I was looking at the flowers...

Then come over here and join us! Let's share some drinks!

I'll take you up on that offer.



What's yours, Ellie?

It's Erenge fruit juice that Chlotz gave me. What about you, Narika?

It's iced herb tea.

What does it taste like? Can I try some of what everyone has?

Sure.

Here, I'll let you try mine too.

Haha... This is fun.



(drat, had to stop myself there for a second. I was about to say something that I have a feeling I would regret in a room with three girls present. Mental filter, Wake. Just be an rear end instead.)

I'm not sharing your spit.

... Thought you'd say that.

Um, if you like, won't you try tasting mine? This is really delicious.

Do you want to drink mine too?

Oh, you can try mine too, if you'd like.



I've never checked, but I'm sure this gives a boost to the bond gauge of whomever you choose. I mean, it has to, right?

Anyway, we go with Narika since she was voted as the dungeon companion. Wake seems like an iced tea kinda man. Berry juice seems a little too kiddish and who the hell knows what Erenge is, but it sounds a little too fancy-pants. Iced tea is a nice middle ground.

Let me try the iced herb tea then.

Oh... Mine then. Here you are.

Mm, that's a refreshing herbal taste right there...

(Hm, maybe I could roll this God's Gift thing into a marketing gig when this is all over with...)

Oooh, the vice president and God's Gift are trading cooties now.

Chlotz, are you in fifth grade or something? Cooties? Really?

Hm? Wh-What...?

Um... That's not why I offered it to him. I-It's not like that.

Narika, it's okay. We know.

C-Cooties...

Don't tease them like that, Chlotz. You're going to make things all awkward and difficult for me.

Sorry, I didn't think you'd get all flustered like that.



......

What? Why is everyone looking at me like that?

I love hanging out with you guys. So many priceless moments.

What...!? Seriously...?

Ah, this game really does have its moments. Speaking of moments--

*velvety smooth voice* And now, for a very special segment of:





I didn't notice until the others left, but this is a very quiet place.

Yes. Also, when I'm here, I can forget about my worries. I can even forget that I'm a Disciple...

Oh...I shouldn't be saying such things.

Nah, to be honest, I feel the same too... It still hasn't hit me that I have a duty to slay monsters. I mean, look at me. I'm just an ordinary girl who's a little good at swimming. I can't just gain confidence in myself simply because someone suddenly told me so.

...I have to agree. I feel the same way.

So I can understand how you feel, Fuuko.

Thank goodness. It's a relief that I have someone close who shares the same feelings.

...Me too.

Hmm... But aside from that...

...What is it? It's... embarrassing if you stare at me like that.

Well, we're alone right now, so I'm gonna take the plunge and say it.



Huh!?

I mean, look at me. I'm so jealous of you! I'm pathetic!

Th-That's not true!

I think your breasts are very lovely.

Really? How?

Um, well... Their shape is... I think boys would like them.

Huh? What kind of shape is that?

Huh? I-I don't know!

I'm sorry, I don't even know what I'm saying right now.

I-Isn't size more important than shape?

I don't think so. There must be some who like smaller girls...I mean, what am I saying?

Ahaha... I'm sorry that I got all excited too.

I'm not going to blanket statement this whole thing, but anecdotally, I heard a similar conversation to this happen when I was in high school, and it most certainly did not end this amicably.



...Aah! I-It's nothing! Right, Fuuko!?

Th-That's right! Nobody is talking about breasts here!

F-Fuuko! Why!?

Chlotz, why the hell did-- Oh, what are you guys still doing here?

Wh-Why did you come back?

Ask him. We were walking back and suddenly Chlotz' eyes widen and he takes off like a bat out of hell back towards the schoolhouse. I thought he might have heard a monster, so I chased after him.

I was hoping to kill the monster after it was done thrashing him around.

Oho... I think we're intruding on them. It seems we've put a damper on a secret discussion about lady lumps.

That's why you ran back here? Do you have a sixth sense for perverted-ness or something? Come on you weirdo. We're heading back for real this time.

Well, have fun, you two!

H-Hey!

...Hrgh, those two got the completely wrong idea.

I don't actually think there was much of a misunderstanding here...

Now that you mention it, you're right...

Haha...

Ahaha...

Fuuko.

Hm?



Of course. And you'll be my friend too, right?

Yes...!

Well, that started off weird, but it eventually hooked back around to be pretty heartwarming. What a perfect place to end the update...

Let's ruin that.


-Heroes' Grave-



Yeah. Supposedly it's a graveyard for Disciples who don't have a hometown to be sent to.

It's sad that they have no place to return to...

My hometown was destroyed by a Nest. If I die, I'll be buried here, too.

What about your parents?

Monsters got my parents and friends. My only sister died the night before her wedding trying to protect me from a monster.



I include this shot of official dialogue because I honestly can't desecrate such a fine piece of complete Narm. This is hilariously poorly executed, even for me. I'm a huge Devil May Cry fan, and this is up there with 'fill your dark soul with LIGHT' for me. If this was voice acted, I think it may have managed to pass that.

I still can't get that moment out of my head.

I will not allow monsters to exist, Chlotz.

I see... I'm sorry for asking.

No, it's fine. I'm sorry. I've had my time to grieve, time to cry, time to move on, but it still gets me worked up. I want to make the world peaceful again, and I like to believe that's why I was chosen as God's Gift. He heard my prayers.

...You mean your vengeance prayers?

Star God is kind of a shitstarter.

Yeah, that must be why...

With that, we bring Chapter 1 to a close. Congratulations to user Dance Officer who hit 3 out of 4 on the 'possible tragic backstory motivation' card for the hero. You were so close, but the dead love interest just didn't materialize. At least you've got a bunch of cringe as a consolation prize!

Next update, we start on Chapter 2. We'll be introduced to a new heroine that I'm sure goons will love. We'll also catch up on a few developments in Fort City, including a challenge from a very special guest...


Bonus!
-------------------------------

I've got some image room left, so let's get a few database entries in here. This time while check out the heroines stat spreads.



Ellie uses the Fire element. Her best stat is Magic Defense, and she has solid Magic Attack to go with it. She's on the slower side though, and her attack is her worst attribute.



Narika uses Earth element and her best stat is TEC, which is accuracy. TEC isn't really overly useful, since attacks rarely miss anyway, but there are a few Star Child classes (like Grappler for example) that have a high TEC requirement, so it is helpful in that regard. Her Speed and Magic Attack are her worst stats, but she has a good balance of Luck, Attack, Defense, and Magic Defense.



Chloe uses Wind and favours the Luck stat. Luck is useful for scoring Criticals and other random chance garbage like that. Her Attack isn't great, but she's very well-rounded for all the others. Defense is a little on the low side however.



Fuuko uses the Water element, or Aqua as the game refers to it. Like Chloe, Fuuko leans towards the Luck stat. Her Attack isn't great and her worst stat is Magic Attack, but everything else is pretty good. It kind of fits with the whole "I'm so average" shtick she has going on.

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Oct 27, 2018

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Drakenel
Dec 2, 2008

The glow is a guide, my friend. Though it falls to you to avert catastrophe, you will never fight alone.
This game is tone deaf to some ridiculous levels. "Haha, anime hijinks, now HERES THE MASS GRAVE WHERE WE BURY CHILDREN TORN APART BY MONSTERS"

Omobono
Feb 19, 2013

That's it! No more hiding in tomato crates! It's time to show that idiota Germany how a real nation fights!

For pasta~! CHARGE!

Drakenel posted:

This game is tone deaf to some ridiculous levels. "Haha, anime hijinks, now HERES THE MASS GRAVE WHERE WE BURY CHILDREN TORN APART BY MONSTERS"

"And the older sister was torn apart on the day before her wedding"

Although as far as motivations go that one is fairly sensible and a recipe for deliciously stupid drama.

Ratoslov
Feb 15, 2012

Now prepare yourselves! You're the guests of honor at the Greatest Kung Fu Cannibal BBQ Ever!

You'd think that pretty much everyone would know about the memorial site like that. Organizations like this like to let everyone know that they can grieve their losses.

MythosDragon
Jan 3, 2016

I'm not sure about goons and 5th, but the last 2 are part of my choice bingo card.

Man I did not remember any of those lines.

Dance Officer
May 4, 2017

It would be awesome if we could dance!
This update sure is anime as gently caress. If there were panty shots (I'm sure there were panty shots in the game) the little bingo card of anime hell would be full.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

Drakenel posted:

This game is tone deaf to some ridiculous levels. "Haha, anime hijinks, now HERES THE MASS GRAVE WHERE WE BURY CHILDREN TORN APART BY MONSTERS"

I don't think it ever pulls tone inconsistency like this again (in story anyway). There's no way to really avoid the tone shifts when it comes to Bonding Events. You're supposed to be able to tackle those whenever you feel like it, so there are always going to be weird moments where the story gets really serious and sad and then you turn around and do Chloe's bonding event where "lol, she has an obsessive fan club and Chlotz is really protective".

Not really spoiler material, but you can only advance bonding events up to Chapter 7. Chapter 8 is where the end of game stuff starts, so they lock you off from being able to do optional wacky anime hijinks at that point and stop you from making everything really tonally weird.

Omobono posted:

"And the older sister was torn apart on the day before her wedding"

Although as far as motivations go that one is fairly sensible and a recipe for deliciously stupid drama.

As I said before, I don't fault games for using this motivation. Sure, it's overused and not exciting, but it works well and is relatively easy to pull off.

Wake doesn't harp on it constantly, which is why I'm fine with it in this game. This moment is prompted entirely by the fact that Chlotz asks him what happened to his parents while the two of them are having a solemn moment at what is basically The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I think the moment works well, even if the tragic backstory is nothing fancy.

The only thing that ruins it is that weird outburst of Wake talking about his sister's wedding dress being stained red, because not only is that hammy as hell, it can also take on entirely different connotations if read out of context.


Ratoslov posted:

You'd think that pretty much everyone would know about the memorial site like that. Organizations like this like to let everyone know that they can grieve their losses.

It is kind of strange that Chlotz doesn't seem to know that a place like this exists at the Academy. You would think that Wake/Chlotz/Fuuko would have received an orientation of some sort off-screen, and a place like this (with a High Priest as the Headmaster no less) would most definitely make sure everyone was aware of it.

There isn't a solid indication of how much time has passed since Wake and co. arrived, but at minimum it has to have been 3 days. I'd put it closer to a week or more personally, based on everyday life no doubt happening off-screen. That's more than enough time to completely familiarize yourself with the Academy grounds. The only reason I see for it is so that Chlotz can be the viewer stand-in and prompt the discussion through ignorance.

Dance Officer posted:

This update sure is anime as gently caress. If there were panty shots (I'm sure there were panty shots in the game) the little bingo card of anime hell would be full.

As surprising as it is, no, there have been none so far. Even the scene where Fuuko is sitting and facing the camera in the forest cutscene has no panty shot. I haven't had to edit any CG's yet.

That will change, I assure you. I give this game credit for restraining itself on some things, but it's still an M-rated (15+ in Japan) anime JRPG dating sim visual novel. No-one reading this LP should be under any illusions that we will be getting through this game without liberal use of the 'Don't be a Creep' pic.

MythosDragon posted:

I'm not sure about goons and 5th, but the last 2 are part of my choice bingo card.

I can't discuss it in detail, but I already have a set of odds down on who the thread will end up voting for. I can pretty much pinpoint the order too. That being said, I admit that I have not been a part of this forum community for long enough to tell for sure if the readers will surprise me or not. Time will tell.

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 14:45 on Oct 16, 2018

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


Dance Officer posted:

This update sure is anime as gently caress. If there were panty shots (I'm sure there were panty shots in the game) the little bingo card of anime hell would be full.

A lot of it is just lazy writing. It's the A-1 pictures technomagical high school anime approach to scripts. It's why OP said that the game never feels like it has a coherent world and that it only justifies things immediately necessary to the story.

namehereguy
Nov 24, 2017

SSNeoman posted:

A lot of it is just lazy writing. It's the A-1 pictures technomagical high school anime approach to scripts. It's why OP said that the game never feels like it has a coherent world and that it only justifies things immediately necessary to the story.

I do think some of that is lost in translation/us not being familiar with Shinto.

Like the whole question about what's caused dusk energy to become a problem like this. There may be a specific answer, but the basic answer with kegare is that more humans = more kegare and it doesn't just dissapate. So probably people dropped the ball on purification until enough built up to form the dusk circles, and now they hedge out the energies needed to purify them so it's just going to keep getting worse until Wake shows up with the power of the Star God behind him to purify even the densest concentrations of dusk energy.

Why isn't Star God acting more directly? Well, with kegare as "impurity" gods are "pure" beings. Bringing them into contact with impurity is, uh, bad. In actual Shinto like half the point of a shrine and everything people do there is to provide a pure sanctuary for the god. There's a basin of water to ritually cleanse yourself to various extents prior to entering so you don't bring any with you. In video games based on it, bringing them into contact is how you get bossfights. I mean, there's lots of ways impurity can get you bossfights, but corrupted gods are usually some of the nastiest. In Tales of Zestria/Berseria it's specifically how you get dragons.

There may be further specific answers involving some evil force of pure dusk energy that has arranged this, or a human with more ambition than sense, but that's not necessary for this plot format.

namehereguy fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Oct 16, 2018

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

SSNeoman posted:

A lot of it is just lazy writing. It's the A-1 pictures technomagical high school anime approach to scripts. It's why OP said that the game never feels like it has a coherent world and that it only justifies things immediately necessary to the story.

Like I mentioned briefly in the OP, the running problem with Conception 2 is wasted potential in its world. I personally think it's the biggest criticism of the title.

For instance, consider this topic:

In a world where God is verified to be real and apparently very caring of humanity, how much weight does the Church carry as an organization? In most JRPG's (or just games in general) God is a mysterious force that people believe in, but the actual existence of God is typically ambiguous. God usually serves as some kind of True Neutral or Lawful Evil end boss for the heroes and usually rambles philosophy at you to try and sound all knowing. Either that, or God is a power up that the main villain is hoping to get their hands on/achieve.

God exists in Conception 2's world and He appears to be completely benevolent. How does a technological/scientific company like AngelMarker deal with that knowledge?

Sure, this is getting way too in depth for an anime game where we just watched one girl talk about how big another girls tits are. A game where a main mechanic is the hero having mind sex to make child spirit warriors. That's a valid point. This game is just bare bones anime shenanigans. But the fact that it does have flashes of really interesting ideas is why it's so disappointing.

namehereguy posted:

I do think some of that is lost in translation/us not being familiar with Shinto.

Like the whole question about what's caused dusk energy to become a problem like this. There may be a specific answer, but the basic answer with kegare is that more humans = more kegare and it doesn't just dissapate. So probably people dropped the ball on purification until enough built up to form the dusk circles, and now they hedge out the energies needed to purify them so it's just going to keep getting worse until Wake shows up with the power of the Star God behind him to purify even the densest concentrations of dusk energy.

Even this angle is a little bit shaky. 'Impurity' might be a little bit too strong a word I think. Remember, Dusk gives people their desires, and not all desires are bad or wrong. Humans desire to keep living is stated to be given by the Dusk element. That's not something you can just get rid of or necessarily purify.

The issue seems to be concentration. Why are desires getting stronger in the world? Is there a particular desire that is outpacing others? Is Dusk pooling in particular spots for a certain reason, like maybe population density or something? The game only answers some of these questions from what I recall. We don't even know if the Star God can be corrupted by Dusk. It is a natural element of the world after all. We haven't had anyone directly tell us that there is a Star Devil or some poo poo.

The bottom line is, humanity needs Dusk, and they already mostly realize this. Their goal right now seems to be more about dissipating it or collecting it to seal away and reduce the levels.


Anyway, that's getting way too involved for a game like this. I will say that at the very least the game doesn't really pretend to be something its not. We haven't had any characters ramble at us about human nature, humanity being a plague, 'I know how to fix the world', Star God must be stopped, the world will be remade in my image/perfect/as it should be, etc etc. Not yet anyway.

As a side note, Update 6 might take a little longer than the ones I've been putting out so far. I haven't taken a good look at it just yet, and I know the story segment that starts Chapter 2 isn't as long as the Intro, but I DO know that I have to put together at least five more character portraits. I need four of the shop owner people and a heroine. Not sure how long those will take to sort out. I also have something important to do over the next few days.

With the rate I've been putting out updates so far though, I expect it will still be out by the weekend at the latest.

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Oct 16, 2018

namehereguy
Nov 24, 2017

Psycho Knight posted:



Even this angle is a little bit shaky. 'Impurity' might be a little bit too strong a word I think. Remember, Dusk isn't something humanity can just get rid of or even 'purify'. Dusk gives people their desires, and not all desires are bad or wrong. Humans desire to keep living is stated to be given by the Dusk element. That's not something you can just get rid of or purify.

The issue seems to be concentration. Why are desires getting stronger in the world? Is there a particular desire that is outpacing others? Is Dusk pooling in particular spots for a certain reason, like maybe population density or something? The game only answers some of these questions from what I recall.

The bottom line is, humanity needs Dusk, and they already realize this from what I remember.

That's a translation shakiness, more or less. The reason I like "impurity" over other translations like "malevolence" is because it lines up with some of the negative connotations about purity in English. For reference, here's a cutscene from Tales Of Berseria, which I've played with Japanese VO so I can confirm it uses Kegare. This is what happens when the main villain attempts to eliminate it from the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz8FQpYtnCQ

As you might guess from that, protagonists generally don't try. It's actually even worse in the game because you get to walk around and talk to purified people; it's one of the creepiest things I've ever seen.

I'm also pretty confident though not 100% that it corresponds to Chaos in SMT and getting rid of it it how you get the Law ending. And in Touhou it's brought in pretty directly, and the residents of the Pure Land of the Moon can never die because they aren't truly living humans in a fundamental sense, and intermittently attempt to render Gensokyo into a Pure Land, which would inherently involve obliterating most of the population. Meanwhile Reimu is running around wielding a purification rod so she can purify places because she's a shrine maiden and that's what they do. Like, you could straight-up slot her in as one of the girls and the only major plot change would be that when you first fight Asmodeus she'd just coat the room with sealing talismans and that would be that.

The reason this doesn't come across in game is that everyone in Japan is at least mildly familiar with Shinto and most of them literally do a purification ritual at least once a year for the New Year's shrine visit; this doesn't require any more explanation than the four classical elements do to us. I mean, the whole mystic symbolism of those and their relation to alchemy is pretty obscure but we're still familiar enough that we all get that having a redheaded air mage and a green-haired fire mage is weird. Also that in Avatar The Last Airbender killing the moon to depower water benders was the act of a madman even though it 100% worked.

namehereguy fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Oct 16, 2018

Dr. Snark
Oct 15, 2012

I'M SORRY, OK!? I admit I've made some mistakes, and Jones has clearly paid for them.
...
But ma'am! Jones' only crime was looking at the wrong files!
...
I beg of you, don't ship away Jones, he has a wife and kids!

-United Nations Intelligence Service

namehereguy posted:

I'm also pretty confident though not 100% that it corresponds to Chaos in SMT and getting rid of it it how you get the Law ending.

Oh that's definitely a running theme with Law in SMT - the idea that to become "pure," you must first purge everything that is "impure."

Easiest examples to explain would be Strange Journey and SMT4. In the former, if you go Law you're working with an insane angel to use a ritual that will strip the world of its free will in its entirety, but in-game the crew around you get affected early so you can fully understand what it is you're about to do. They end up starting to mindlessly praise God and are little more than automatons, and while one seems like he's unaffected it turns out he was just faking sanity, you're the one who wanted to do this so here's your prize. Tellingly in the remake you have the option of reducing the effects of the ritual so that it only reduces hostility, and that's treated as a much more preferable outcome for obvious reasons.

In SMT4 the angel's solution to "purifying" a kingdom they're taking over is to slaughter everyone who has ever read a book of any kind to "cleanse" it. If you learn things that God does not approve of, then you have the potential to sin - and in their eyes that's enough to mark you for death.

Those games love to play the "pure/holy does not automatically mean righteous" card.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


I find a lot of PSP games have the issue of being very barebones or otherwise lacking polish

BlazeEmblem
Jun 8, 2013

Uh oh. Do I use Ariadne thread or Goho-M?

Psycho Knight posted:

The only thing that ruins it is that weird outburst of Wake talking about his sister's wedding dress being stained red, because not only is that hammy as hell, it can also take on entirely different connotations if read out of context.

I'm pretty sure the only reason that line exists is so that it sounds like a sex joke out of context.

SimplyUnknown1
Aug 18, 2017

Cat Cat Cat

Psycho Knight posted:


The only thing that ruins it is that weird outburst of Wake talking about his sister's wedding dress being stained red, because not only is that hammy as hell, it can also take on entirely different connotations if read out of context.

Technically, all Wake said was that it wasn't white anymore. So my head-canon is that right before her wedding, Wake's sister decided to dye her dress blue instead. And Wake just can't understand that.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

SimplyUnknown1 posted:

Technically, all Wake said was that it wasn't white anymore. So my head-canon is that right before her wedding, Wake's sister decided to dye her dress blue instead. And Wake just can't understand that.

Wake is really passionate about proper wedding decorum. You're supposed to wear something blue, but that doesn't mean the entire drat dress! Blue is for the bridesmaids! The hell you thinking sis?


BlazeEmblem posted:

I'm pretty sure the only reason that line exists is so that it sounds like a sex joke out of context.

I mean, it's possible. Seems odd for the writers to go for a drama scene in a graveyard and make a 'hehe, get it?' joke intentionally. I prefer to think they just screwed it all up and then someone read it after launch and went 'uhh, guys? Did you...you know, read that out loud at all?'

SSNeoman posted:

I find a lot of PSP games have the issue of being very barebones or otherwise lacking polish

Technically this is a Vita title, although the first Conception was PSP, and everything basically looks the same as this except slightly less polygons in 3D stuff.

The PS4 remaster of the first game does look like it got a pretty good upgrade in terms of the 3D graphics though. I have no idea if they addressed issues from Conception 2 like the lack of difficulty or heavy grinding.



Ughhh....now that I brought that to mind, do I dare make the promise? Odds are low, but Spike Chunsoft does have their own localization studio in North America now. What else are they going to do? Dammit.

Since I had to go and bring it up, if the Conception 1 PS4 Remaster gets localized and this LP goes well and finishes. Then pending any major life changes, I will LP that game as well. If people would want to see that. :colbert: That should be a good conditional approach.

Anyway, I didn't drop in to make ill-advised pledges that could backfire on me. I edited the Don't Be a Creep logo to include someone with a more disapproving look.



I haven't shown him off yet, but this is the guy that runs the Training Center. He doesn't really get any dialogue, he's just there to act as a 'shopkeeper' NPC. Chlotz is a creeper himself, so I thought this would work better.

namehereguy
Nov 24, 2017

Dr. Snark posted:

Oh that's definitely a running theme with Law in SMT - the idea that to become "pure," you must first purge everything that is "impure."

Easiest examples to explain would be Strange Journey and SMT4. In the former, if you go Law you're working with an insane angel to use a ritual that will strip the world of its free will in its entirety, but in-game the crew around you get affected early so you can fully understand what it is you're about to do. They end up starting to mindlessly praise God and are little more than automatons, and while one seems like he's unaffected it turns out he was just faking sanity, you're the one who wanted to do this so here's your prize. Tellingly in the remake you have the option of reducing the effects of the ritual so that it only reduces hostility, and that's treated as a much more preferable outcome for obvious reasons.

In SMT4 the angel's solution to "purifying" a kingdom they're taking over is to slaughter everyone who has ever read a book of any kind to "cleanse" it. If you learn things that God does not approve of, then you have the potential to sin - and in their eyes that's enough to mark you for death.

Those games love to play the "pure/holy does not automatically mean righteous" card.

Yeah, that's a general theme in Japanese works, and it gets more explicit in the ones which are actually specifically Shinto based.

The anime where I first learned about it specifically was Noragami, which is about a Shinto god going around being a minor god looking for worshippers and fighting manifestations of impurity. There's a good deal of artistic license on actual metaphysical mechanics relative to Shinto, with the gods picking up the souls of dead humans to bond with and have them transform into weapons (I'm pretty sure this part is 90% made up for the show and is only very loosely connected to Shinto beliefs about ghosts) and they tend to be very picky about it because when the spirits have impure thoughts like greed or jealously or anger, etc. it "stings" the god and most of them just kick out souls that cause that right away. So when this part is first introduced my immediate reaction is to think they're a bunch of selfish assholes, I mean how bad could it be?

*three episodes pass*



It's worse than it looks. Meanwhile the human protagonist is basically astrally projecting a bunch inadvertently and as such when she gets in a fight with a manifestation of impurity she can just punch it right in the face because as a living human soul it takes a hell of a lot of the stuff to actually harm her.

I am vague on the actual real-world Shinto details, but there's a hell of a lot of Japanese games where you have bossfights against corrupted spirits or gods and they pretty much look like that. That hasn't been referenced so far or apparently later on here, but on the other hand no one has even suggested sending Star Children out completely solo.

Obviously any particular game is going to have its own metaphysics to serve the plot; this is just the shared cultural background they have on hand to mine for ideas. So it's quite possible the exact mechanics of what would happen if we chilled out at the Academy and just sent the Star Children into Dusk Circles would be very different. But given the plot so far I doubt it's going to be directly addressed beyond the inference that it wouldn't be a good idea, much like they're not explaining why we don't just use Dusk Energy to fight monsters in the Dusk Circles.

Wait a sec. We have six elements, and each heroine has an element, and we have seven heroines. I'm gonna guess #6 or #7 has the Dusk element.

namehereguy fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Oct 17, 2018

MythosDragon
Jan 3, 2016

Dual Elements.

namehereguy
Nov 24, 2017

MythosDragon posted:

Dual Elements.

Oh, I'd missed that in the terrifying wall of tutorial text.

That makes guessing elemental affinities for later heroines pretty difficult, but on the other hand it means a heroine can have both light and dark affinities so it'll make more sense to be able to Classmate with her and have her lead a team rather than deal with the mechanical screwiness of having her just run around solo throwing Dusk Energy bolts at monsters and not needing to care about Ether charge.

A more ambitious game might run with that and have her run around with Dusk Children, but that seems a bit :effort: for this game.

namehereguy fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Oct 17, 2018

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!
~Update 6: Everyone is so fake when they shake you hand; And they kiss your rear end 'cause they're makin' cash~

Welcome to Chapter 2 everybody. We wrapped the last update, and Chapter 1 as well, by watching the Star Children beat up Asmodeus while Wake and Narika just kind of stood around and talked a bit. It was kinda sad actually. So we sealed Asmodeus away to end its embarrassment and then tossed the Matryoshka off to Ruby and Mark while everyone celebrated a job well done.

We also found out one of Wake's driving motivations for his weird monster blood lust. Then the writing and/or translation team proceeded to completely botch the entire scene with hammy dialogue. Good stuff.

So what's happening here in Chapter 2? We'll get to meet the next party member, maybe bond with her a little bit, and we'll go over some of the additional features of Fort City.


-School Route-

Dammit I'm tired. Shouldn't have stayed up so late working on phrases. Hm?


Punk: Yo, hold up, little lady!




Punk: C'mon, don't be like that. Isn't that they Academy uniform? Hahaha, it's so cute. Just hang out with me for a while. A cute little first-year like you...


(Again? I'm not nearly awake enough for this crap, but Zorro is still asleep. Ughh....)

What was that?


Punk: I was saying, why don't you and me have some fun and--


Not that part!


Punk: ...Huh?


I'm...

I'm a third-year, dammit!

*Bruce Lee/Saitama up in here (I don't know when you're reading this, take your pick based on One Punch Man's current Meme level)*



Hmph.

*Female Disciple leaves*

(Huh, what do you know? Problem solved itself. Took him out in one punch too. Wish I could get Narika to swing like that.)


-Headmaster's Office-

Hey, you wanted to see me?



I don't like the sound of that. What's going on?

The fact of the matter is... the President of AngelMarker wishes to meet you. It seems he wants to see the hero that sterilized a Dusk Circle.

The broadcast stations will be filming the meeting. He'll want a big to-do.

That man always tries to connect everything he does with his business. I'm sure this meeting is part of another one of his corporation's publicity stunts.

And the Church is okay with this because....?

We... sort of need a publicity stunt of our own. We got wrapped up in the whole 'God's Gift prophecy', then it ended up taking years for it to actually come true. The Church really wants to rub this in the face of all the naysayers.

It's all about vested interests. I'm sorry, but you're dragged into it this time.

Can't say I'm excited about it, but who am I to pass up a good networking opportunity? Alright, I'll do that whole song and dance then.

I'm glad to hear that. Well, then, my boy. I'll be counting on you.


-2nd-Year Classroom-



Figures you'd be excited about that. I'm the one that has to go up there and plaster on the fake smile.

Think about it! AngelMarker Industries is the megacorporation that built Fort City. Rumor says that all the Academy's funding comes from AngelMarker.

This is a little bit strange by the way. Why would AngelMarker be the only one financing this? You'd think both the Church and the Government would be dumping money into this place considering its global importance. It trains God's chosen disciples and also acts as a defensive line against the oldest and most dangerous Dusk Circle in the world.

Oh trust me, I'm not letting the opportunity pass me by. I'm just saying I'm not stoked about being used as a prop for AngelMarker's marketing division.

At least, not when I'm not getting paid for it anyway.

So how did you hear all about that stuff?

Hey, I'm not a part-timer at an AngelMarker lab for nothing.

I've never met President Rhiod Marker myself. So, when's that meeting going to be?

It's happening tomorrow. They're kind of fast-tracking it. Not that I mind, the sooner it's done with the sooner I can get back to actual important things.

You mean monster killing?

Well not only that, but yeah, that's a big one.


-President's Office-

*cameras flashing during this scene*



This is the wish of all the people of the world, and the duty of the Aterra Church. AngelMarker Industries will continue to strive to develop technology to aid you.

I ask that you Disciples, in turn, do your best to put our breakthroughs to use.

(Assuming your drat employees will give them to me. drat Ruby, you better be counting your blessings. I could get your rear end fired right now if I wanted to.)

I have high hopes for your continued efforts.




-Outside AngelMarker-

Glad that's over with. I don't like having to suppress my inner jackass for so long.

(Hm? What's Alec doing over there with the President?)

I'll be returning to the Academy now.



I understand.

Alec, do not let me down.

There's no need to worry, Father. Please, excuse me.

:aaa: Alec is President of AngelMarker's son!?

I'm kidding, that shouldn't really surprise anyone. I didn't mention Alec's last name when he was introduced because it would have confirmed it a chapter early, but it's 'Marker'.

So we get to see another reason why Alec is such a hard rear end. On top of managing defensive lines, seeing other Disciples get ripped apart by monsters, and having everyone in the school dumping expectations on him; he also has to deal with his father being the President of AngelMarker and all of those expectations.

Alec's entire life is under a suffocating amount of pressure.

(So Alec is the son of President Marker? drat, that cannot be good for his stress levels. Make no wonder he acts like a machine.)


-2nd-Year Classroom-



It's amazing that you got to meet the president of AngelMarker! I'm so jealous!

I can't wait to be an S Rank and make a name for myself so I can be famous, too!

Listen guys, fame isn't all it's cracked up to be. That was the first time anyone around here has treated me with anything resembling genuine respect, and even then I was still being used by people. I've been treated more as a weapon than a person. You would think--



What the hell, Chlotz! Can't you see we're having a conversation here?

(Yeah, that figures. See Chloe? This is why I don't tell other people about my problems or worries. Just wasting breath.)

Sorry, but I've got urgent business with him.

What 'urgent business' could you possibly have to discuss with me?

Wait, is it monsters? Are monsters attacking? I could really use an outlet right about now.

I'll tell you about it over there.

*Wake and Chlotz leave*

Well, tell more about what you thought about the meeting later, Wake!


-Hallway-

So, what's the urgent business?

I saw the meeting! You looked so nervous!

That's what you wanted to talk about? Why didn't you just join the conversation?

No, it's not about that. The Qualifying Exam for the third-year Elites was held yesterday. And lo and behold, one of the female Disciples was promoted to S Rank! Aren't you curious about what kind of girl she is? Why don't we go see her right now?

That's what this is about? Go and check her out yourself Chlotz. If she's an S Rank then I'm sure I'll be meeting her soon enough anyway.



Hmm...

C'mon man, stop being an rear end. You know you like hanging out with me.

I'll admit, you are a consistent source of entertainment. Alright, I'll go with you, if only because I don't want to miss you potentially embarrass yourself.

Awesome! To the third-years' classroom, then!


-3rd-Year Classroom-

So, who are we supposed to be looking for exactly?

It's supposedly a girl named Serina...



Gonna stop you right there, sport. I don't want to be accidentally associated with you if someone hears you say that.

Well, I don't see anyone like that around here, anyway... Could she have gone home already?


3rd-Year Disciple A: Oh, are you...?


No, I'm not openly perverted like he is. Don't get the wrong idea.

Why did you say 'openly'?

I have a libido Chlotz. I just know how to control it. You should learn sometime.



Oh, that. Yeah, that's me. Chlotz here dragged me up so we could meet the new S Rank.


3rd-Year Disciple A: Ah, you mean Serina. Serina! God's Gift is here to see you! ...Hm? She was here a moment ago.




The library, huh? If we hurry, we might be able to catch her. Let's go there!

Slow down, Chlotz. Do you even know where the library is?

Haha, very funny. Come on, already.


-Library-

I wonder if Serina's here. Let's split up. I'll try looking in the back!

How do I even know who she is? All we've got is a name.

Didn't I tell you already? Look for a cutie with a huge rack!

*Chlotz leaves*

Starting to regret following him. Maybe if I leave I can--

Hm?

:siren: There's technically a panty shot here, but I think the text box overlay obscures it well enough. Not bad though, took us until Chapter 2 for the game to bust one out. That's some restraint. Unless you count Chloe's transformation I suppose.

Also, typical warning about clicking these music tracks. Possible spoilers and NSFW, all that stuff.
Music: Opposite Bank of the Heart (Serina's Theme)



Need a hand there?

...Huh?

I asked if you wanted a hand reaching that book. You're gonna pull something if you keep stretching like that.

Oh... Thanks for you concern. It's okay. I'll get it myself.

C'monnnn... Dammit, I'm so close!

(Oh for God's sake.)

Here, just let me get it for you. I'm serious, you're going to hurt yourself.

Ah... Hey, don't get in my way--

I wouldn't be getting in your way if you would just let me reach the drat book.

Eek!

*crashing sounds*

:siren: Wacky anime hijinks are afoot. You all know what's coming next. :siren:

Owwwww...

*sighs* Sorry. You okay? Didn't club your head or anything did you?



Get your body off my hand. I'm the one trying to stop you from busting your forehead off my nose.

*Wacky anime misunderstanding slap*

You pervert!

(So it's gonna be one of those days, huh? gently caress you Star God.)

That wasn't on purpose, okay?

Like hell it wasn't!

Oh piss off with that. What, you think I regularly roam the library waiting for girls to overextend themselves and fall from book stacks?

Yikes... She slapped the God's Gift. That's one hell of a girl!

Huh? He's the God's Gift? Oh... Now that you mention it, he does look familiar...

It was an accident, okay? Sorry I tried to offer you assistance.

H-Hrgh... I know. I'm sorry I slapped you so hard.

But not sorry you slapped me in general?

Don't get carried away.

Whatever. Here's the book you were trying to get. Next time, just ask the librarian or use a ladder.



Y-You... You moron!

That's not the book I was looking for!

*Serina loving books it* :downsrim:

Why the hell is an academic library even stocking this kind of tabloid garbage? I've got my doubts this is peer-reviewed.

*sigh* I guess we couldn't find our beautiful new teammate after all.

Yeah, that sure is a shame. Anyway, I've got stuff to do. I'm out.

So that went exactly the way that anyone could have guessed. You didn't really think we were going to get through a JRPG/Visual Novel without the classic 'guy and girl fall over and guy ends up touching boob' routine, did you? Don't be silly.



With that incredibly dumb rear end trope out of the way, we are thrown back to the Fort City map. There are a lot of random ramblings to hear from Ruby and Mark, and Chlotz has some more dating wisdom to impart, but we're going to save those for the upcoming half update. For now, let's keep the story moving. We still don't have our new teammate or access to the next dungeon yet.


-Laboratory-

There's a scene before this where Wake gets a message from Ruby while he's downtown. It's literally a single screen with one line of dialogue of Wake going "Huh, what's this about?", there is no need to show that. Let's just get to the important bit.

I'm here. What's going on? Monster attack?

No, it's not a monster attack. Stop opening up with that question.

You're the first one here, God's Gift. Enzea, he's the one people are talking about.



So, you're Wake. I'm Enzea Marker.

This gentleman is a VIP from AngelMarker Industries.

Yeah, I gathered as much from the fact his last name is Marker. Thanks Ruby.

That being said, I don't have to introduce him anymore, since that sums up everything nicely. Thanks Ruby. I still hate you though.

I'm sure my father's request to meet you must have been an inconvenience. I apologize on his behalf.

It's cool. Not like I wasn't using it to my advantage either.

You're a sly one aren't you? I like that.

Enzea is the son of Mr. Marker, AngelMarker's President. A few years ago, he took over the Fort City project for his father. That's around the time I joined the lab here... at his request.

I still believe I made the right choice. I think hiring you was still the most beneficial decision I've made until now.

*chuckle* Of course it was.

Oh god, just gently caress already. Did you call me here for a reason other than to disgust me?

Ah, right. I wanted to introduce everyone to a new member of the team.



Slipped away from you, huh?

That's nothing unusual for her, actually. She slipped away while the High Priest was greeting us, and now we can't find her.

I knew forgoing that baby leash was a bad decision, yet here we are.

Nevertheless, my men are searching for her, so they should return her in no time.

I might as well go and help search then.

Is that so? That'll be helpful.

Beats standing here listening to you two drool over each other. Would you let me know what this girl looks like?

Let me send a picture of Torri over to your Vis-o-matic. There you go. Cute, huh?

Sure, whatever you say. I'm out. Oh, and I swear to Star God, I better not come back here and find you two going at it in the middle of the lab.

*Wake leaves*

He is certainly more of an rear end than I anticipated.

Right?


-Downtown-

Oh, hi Mark.



I was already there. When I heard about Torri I figured I might as well help look.

Oh, you're part of the search party now? Seriously, she's such a pain.

Torri's supposedly a little strange. She'd been at a different research lab until now.

Three guesses what Torri's character archetype is. First two don't count.

Lab? She's a researcher?

Oh, uh... Never mind. In any case, it doesn't look like she's around here.

Any idea where she might be?

Enzea's men are searching around the Church and Chlotz is checking the base... Can you search the Academy?

Sure. No problem.

Oh, and... If you went to the lab, then you must have met Enzea, right?

I did actually. Why?



Uhh... I guess? I dunno, he seems nice enough. Grosses me out a little when Ruby is around though.

Well, everybody's got their own tastes.

Right. I'm going to go search for Torri now, okay?

O-Oh, right. Yes, of course.


-Hallway-

Torrrriii! Here, kitty kitty kitty!

(Maybe I should try clapping instead?)


-School Store-

Where is.... Oh, there we go.



Hm...? Did someone say my name?

That would be me.

Who are you? I think that I don't believe that I'm aware of who you are.

...Right.

My name is Wake. I'm a student at the Academy. I came looking for you.

You're looking for me? Why are you looking for me?

Pretty sure you already know the answer to that one. Look, they gave me your picture.

...Was Mr. Enzea angry?

Nah, he wasn't angry. I think he blames himself more than you.

I was told that I'm not supposed to follow strangers...

They keep treating me like a child. Do I come across as childish?

Don't really know enough about you to tell. You did kind of wander off without telling anyone though. That's a pretty childish thing to do.

....

Torri?

....

You hungry?



(Oh for god's sake, I can't believe I'm actually going to have to do this. I'm going to have my face plastered on the evening news.)

Excuse me? Could I get one of those, please?


[Store Lady]: Thank you.


This is what you wanted, right?

Huh...? You... You're giving it to me?

On the condition that you go with me back to the lab.

Thank you... You're a nice person.

Well, at least someone thinks so. C'mon, back to the lab.

Oh, and we need to have a chat about this whole 'instantly following a stranger because they gave you candy' thing. Enzea kind of missed a step in his legal guardian advice.


-Laboratory-

We're back. I found her.



Torri, you suddenly disappeared. You had me worried.

I'm sorry...

Well, the Fort City is filled with all kinds of interesting stuff. I can understand why she'd want to do a little sightseeing now that she's here.

Am I going to be going to the Academy here from now on?

That's right. Starting tomorrow, you'll be a Disciple at the Aterra Academy.

I see. I'm looking forward to it...

Well then, it's about time I returned to my company. Ruby, I'll leave her to you.

I understand.

Wake, your cooperation as a God's Gift is essential in exterminating the monsters. I'm granting you as much access to our company as you need to attain that goal. Now, if you'll excuse me.

*Enzea leaves*

As much access to the company as I need to attain my goal, huh? Well how about that.

Do not start with me. We have an agreement.

I didn't say anything about any previous events. I just want to make sure you understand that I've got you by the ovaries now, Ruby. I've met with both the President and his heir apparent, so let's make sure we don't have any more repeats of that thing we both agreed never happened.

(Dammit, this is all going pear-shaped on me very quickly.)


-Showers-

Awww, yeah. It's time for a steamy shower scene. :pervert:

I never gave it much thought until now, but what is with this dorm? My room has everything, but I've got to go a locker room in order to get a shower?

A steamy shower scene for the ladies, that is. And also dudes who like dudes, not gonna judge.



Does this warrant a DBAC banner? Seems like a double-standard not to, but I don't know of anyone who would lose their poo poo about this. Maybe I should make a version with a '?' at the end.

Kinda young to be running Fort City. Then again, at least he's an authority figure that doesn't seem to be creeping on the students. That alone makes him qualified in my opinion.

*Vis-o-matic beeping*

Dammit, Ruby! That better not be you spying on me through that thing! I warned Mark about what would happen!


-Downtown-

Damnit, calling me out in the middle of the night. This better be important Ruby.



Unfortunately.

They really work us hard, don't they? They even had me looking for someone earlier. That's not in my job description!

You should have known what you were getting in to when you signed up. Maybe if you had looked at the application instead of Ruby...

Yeah, yeah... Let's just go. We need to hurry.


-Laboratory-

Alright, we're here. What do you want at this hour?

Oh! You're...

It's the slapping girl.



But an hour ago, the government approved the plan to infiltrate the second Circle.

The Dusk Circle is in a location with much stronger Dusk Energy than the previous one. Right now, there is a land unit deployed to the area around it. An S Rank Disciple who knows the area is part of that combat unit.

If this Circle can be sterilized, she'll then join your team in fighting monsters.

That's why you called me here at this hour? Ugghhh... Wasting my drat time.

I heard about her. She's really distinguished.



Huh? She's even stronger than Ms. Chloe?

She's very strong in combat. And, as it happens, her figure's a knockout, too!

Ohhh dammit.... Can we please not do this right now? I'm--

It's not as great as mine, though.

Hm... I think Narika's got a bigger bust than her, though.

O-Oh no, mine is nothing...

If you're calling yourself nothing, how do you think that makes us feel?

Huh? Huh!?

Hey, uh, aren't you ladies forgetting that we guys are here, too?

Girls, girls, you're all pretty. Can we please get back on subject? I'd like to get to bed at some point tonight.



By the way... Who's that tiny girl over there?

Wh-Who're you calling tiny!?

S-Sorry! I apologize! Please don't slap me!

Ah, sorry about that. I should've introduced her earlier. This is Serina, the third-year that was promoted to S Rank the other day.

WHAT!? Are you kidding me!?

Wasn't the new S Rank supposed to be a big-busted, beautiful older girl!?

Well, sorry that I wasn't some big-busted, beautiful older girl.

Everyone stop talking about boobs! Knock it off!

Come on now, the strength of your bonds is important to make strong Star Children. Make sure you get along with each other.

That reminds me, what about Torri? Isn't she part of our team now, too?



She should be ready to fight alongside you by the time summer comes along. In any case, we will be able to move into the second Dusk Circle at 10:00AM tomorrow.

Get plenty of rest tonight and build up your energy for tomorrow's assault.

Haha, funny. Nah, we're not going out at the crack of dawn tomorrow. I only agreed to take your advice into account inside of Labyrinths. I call all the shots outside of them. I'll go when I'm goddamn ready.

Fine, fine. Just let it go already.

Also, regarding the Dusk Circle that you have already sterilized... Although it has been sterilized, there are still monsters living within the Labyrinth. It would be helpful if you could slay those monsters when you have the time to spare.

I believe that would be a good training ground for those of you who need it. Well, if there are no other questions, you're dismissed. Thanks for your time!

To finish off this update, we've got a few aspects of Fort City to go over that I've been procrastinating on. Let's take a tour.



As you can see, there have been some updates to Fort City. Before we check those out though, we need to talk about the Fort City Level that you see in the bottom right, there.

How do you level that up and what does it do? To explain that we have to look into the Independence feature.



At Wake's dorm room, go to the Team Edit option. Under that you'll find Independence.



Here's the rundown. It's all pretty straight forward. You essentially remove Star Children from your roster permanently in order to build the Fort City experience bar. When the bar maxes out then the City levels up. As Fort City levels up, you get access to new quests, facilities, and enhancements.

Note: Although that tutorial card says "When a Star Child reaches their maximum level", you can give Independence to a Star Child whenever you want. The difference is a level capped Star Child will obviously give better experience for the city.



To provide an example, let's let our Tutorial Team have their freedom and become productive members of society. We say goodbye to Esther, Jacob, and Elly.




Esther gives us almost enough for a full level.



Jacob bumps the level to 2 and almost gets us to 3.



Elly brings us to 3 and just shy of 4. You can probably tell that the required Exp to level the city up increases every level. You can't just keep dumping level 10's in and maxing out the city in Chapter 2. Or I guess you technically could, if you were some type of crazy person, like that dude who got Cloud in FFVII to Level 99 on the opening train platform. Said crazy person is actually a member of the forums. User mateo360 was nice enough to point out that user CirclMastr was the one behind that stunt. Good stuff. That's some dedication.



While I'm here, I put together Team B using Baki the Grappler (name suggested by user Zanzibar Ham. It was too good not to use), Meryl the Swordis (Mother:Fuuko), and Yumi the Grappler (Mother:Narika). These are just classes I ended up with while trying to assemble Team A(wful).



They're gonna hit real loving hard. Just a side note in case you're noticing anything weird with that stat graph: You can press 'X' (Square on PS) to change the scale's range. The stats will reach well past 1000, so you'll need to be able to zoom out a bit to get a good look at the graph.



With that done, we take a look at what has happened to Fort City. We now have access to the Guild and the Gift Shop. Whenever anything new happens with a facility, the icon will turn Purple. This happens when new Items become available as well, in case you missed the little pop-up.

Let's make the rounds and check out what we can work with. We'll start with the Training Center.



This burly dude is now our point of contact for the Training Facility. He isn't given a name, and he doesn't talk much other than his standard shopkeeper dialogue. This is a shame, because he looks really loving cool.

What is this guy's story? He looks like he kicked some rear end back when he was, presumably, a Disciple. Judging by the logo on his hat and the violet shirt, he is specifically an AngelMarker employee, but he rolls with his own dress code. He is apparently not a suit or lab coat kind of man, and AngelMarker is totally okay with that.



Anyway, since the Lust Labyrinth has been cleared, we can access it in the Training Facility. The enemies are tougher in TF dungeons and experience rewards are higher, but you don't collect any items.



Next up is the Item Shop. We've been here before with Mark, and this shop has always been accessible, but I've been saving it until now because there was really no reason at all to come here in Chapter 1. You could collect every item you needed by just going through the dungeon while training.



Item selection is basic right now. The only thing worth pointing out is Escape Hatch. These let you instantly teleport out of a dungeon no matter where you are. Exit portals aren't really hard to find, but it's still a good idea to have these on hand in case you reach a point where you just really don't want to run around looking for one.



There are a couple of options for Equipment. Wake has a few choices, but none of them are any better than the freely included DLC sword. The Star Children have some okay upgrades to Armor and Weapons available, but you might have already picked up better options while going through the dungeon. No need to go spending money on that yet.

One thing to note here. I had to cut it due to word limits, but there is a small skit in Chapter 1 where Chlotz passes on a message from Ruby about the Heroines weapons. The gist of it is that the girls weapons cannot be upgraded through the shop. You need to collect 'Upgrade Parts' in order to make them better. These parts are typically dropped in certain quests.



Other than that, you also have the options to try before you buy, or buy stuff in Bulk. Bulk buying isn't that useful right now since your teams are likely pretty thin. Once you have to start outfitting 9+ Star Children at a time though it actually does get pretty useful. A lot of Armor and Accessories are the same across classes. Weapons are really the only thing that need to be purchased based on specific class.



I've mentioned giving gifts in previous updates. This is where you can buy them. You can also get appearance accessories here as well, such as Earrings, brooches, or weird bat wings that you can equip to the heroine.




Why is the only option to buy in bulk?

Daddy wants to make ALL mommies happy, right?

Crafty little devil, aren't you?

Well, let's see what you've got then.



What is with these prices? 1000 glow for a pillow? 500 for a cup of instant curry?

Hold on a second... Why exactly are you selling lingerie?

Fufufu, I think daddy knows the answer to that. Mommy would certainly enjoy it, wouldn't she?

First of all, you don't know much about women. I've got a feeling mommy would knock me out if I gave this to her. At least at this stage of the relation--It's complicated, never mind. Second of all, exactly which one is your 'mommy'? I think we should have a chat.

...That's a trade secret. Twenty percent off if you agree not to ask any of them.

Make it 30 percent and I'll buy one of everything.

Just this once for the discount. Deal?

Deal.

Wake buys one of everything from his exortionist little mystery Child that preys on sentimentality. drat money grubbing merchants.



Next up is the Guild. Guild quests are general ones from Disciples and random citizens. Doing these will help expand the Item Shop inventory.




You can accept new quests, submit ones you have fulfilled to get the reward, or view ones you currently have in order to cancel the ones you don't want.

You can only accept a certain number at a time, but this goes up as the game goes on. Also note that these quests stick around and repeat, so if you cancel one you can just pick it up again later, which is nice.

Quests you have previously completed will have a little check mark in the yellow box next to their name. That way you can tell if you have already done it once before. A lot of the quests here are based on Item Collection. So where do we go for Wake's favourite type of quest?



Research Lab quests reward with you weapons and armor. They also expand the Item Shop inventory for the same things. This place works pretty much the same as the Guild, although it deals with Monster Extermination.



It has all the same options as the Guild in terms of Accepting/Submitting/Viewing. We have a bunch of them available at the moment, mostly centering on enemies we dealt with in Lust and enemies in the upcoming dungeon.

This is where we can get access to the EXP grinding quests as well. These quests were DLC in the original game, but are included in the Steam version for free.



You hunt different variations of these little puff balls for good chunks of EXP. There is no reason at all to avoid exploiting this. It really shaves off a lot of time spent grinding, especially if you are trying to level up a Star Child team from scratch (which you will have to do A LOT). It's not like--

Hey, what's the deal with that one?

You mean this one? Hm, I'm... not quite sure. I don't recall approving this submission.




Son of a...

I'm accepting that quest.

What? But I don't even know where it came from. I can't verify the--

That's fine. I know what it is.

It's bear hunting season.

This is part 1 of a DLC Crossover boss fight. Monokuma is the mascot of the Dangonranpa franchise, which Spike Chunsoft also produces. Danganronpa is a franchise I missed the boat on, so I can't give much backstory on it.

As for this quest, we're going to accept it without question. I'm not 100% where he shows up, but I do know it's in the next Labyrinth. I'm just not positive of whether it's the main Labyrinth or a Sub-Labyrinth. Either way, we'll be keeping an eye out for the little bastard.


Next time, we'll spend another half update getting caught up on Serina's bonding events and all that nonsense. Ruby and Mark also get real drat chatty for some reason, so we'll be sitting down for a while to listen to them blather on about various crap.

It will also be time for The Big Vote: Round 1. Once we've seen Serina's events up to her first full gauge, it will be time for the thread to narrow the field. We've got to cut at least two candidates, so will it be Narika, Fuuko, Ellie, Chloe, or Serina? You can read through Fuuko/Ellie/Narika/Chloe events here and here, in case you want a refresher. I will be providing a very brief overview of what their respective arcs have been about so far, though.

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Feb 23, 2019

namehereguy
Nov 24, 2017
Huh, so Torri isn't with us yet.

She is totally some kind of artificial life form. I would also bet on her being our light/dark combo heroine, except all the hair colors so far are mixed up so it'd be strange for her to be the only one to have matching hair.

Zanzibar Ham
Mar 17, 2009

You giving me the cold shoulder? How cruel.


Grimey Drawer
Kinda funny Torii is some lab experiment(?), because Alec Marker made me think of Alex Mercer, so I was wondering if maybe he was going to end up being an artificial God's Gift Prototype (:rimshot:)

Anyway no thanks to ever interacting with Serina, so 2 votes against her. If I have to choose someone else to cut then Fuuko because Average+Swimming=Boring

megane
Jun 20, 2008



"She only looks twelve, dude,"

no thanks

Not Serina please thanks

mateo360
Mar 20, 2012

TOO MANY PEOPLE MERLOCK!
ONLY ONE DIJON!

Psycho Knight posted:


Or I guess you technically could, if you were some type of crazy person, like that dude who got Cloud in FFVII to Level 99 on the opening train platform.

Said person is actually a member here: CirclMastr who is currently doing Detroit: Become Human since his sister is the actress who plays Kara in it and Hand of Fate 2 with Goon participation.

Mokinokaro
Sep 11, 2001

At the end of everything, hold onto anything



Fun Shoe

Zanzibar Ham posted:

Anyway no thanks to ever interacting with Serina, so 2 votes against her. If I have to choose someone else to cut then Fuuko because Average+Swimming=Boring

Same votes here.

Fuuko isn't terrible but it doesn't feel like she's going anywhere interesting either and Serina is just pure creepy territory.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

mateo360 posted:

Said person is actually a member here: CirclMastr who is currently doing Detroit: Become Human since his sister is the actress who plays Kara in it and Hand of Fate 2 with Goon participation.

Oh, that's cool actually. Thanks for highlighting that. I should add that into the update.

I want to point out that thinking they are crazy doesn't mean I think less of them. I'm a crazy person myself for SSLP'ing a dungeon crawler/visual novel as my very first LP while also attending university.

That poo poo takes dedication, and I do love FFVII, so rock on CirclMastr.


Everyone pump the brakes on crapping all over Serina. Voting happens after the next update. Every character gets at least their first bonding.

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Oct 19, 2018

Commander Keene
Dec 21, 2016

Faster than the others



Zanzibar Ham posted:

Kinda funny Torii is some lab experiment(?), because Alec Marker made me think of Alex Mercer, so I was wondering if maybe he was going to end up being an artificial God's Gift Prototype (:rimshot:)

Anyway no thanks to ever interacting with Serina, so 2 votes against her. If I have to choose someone else to cut then Fuuko because Average+Swimming=Boring
As long as they don't go full-perv on her battle costume like Chloe's fetish gear or Nowi from FE: Awakening, putting her in the party doesn't seem too bad. There's just the problem of another major game mechanic suddenly becoming creepier than usual when she's involved.

I think this is about the point I stopped playing on 3DS. Not from any objection to the content; I expected this game to be pure, distilled anime from the title and concept. I think something else came out that I was more interested in. I may try to start up a game and play along from here on.

Dance Officer
May 4, 2017

It would be awesome if we could dance!
I think the thread has already made up its mind about Serina.

Mokinokaro
Sep 11, 2001

At the end of everything, hold onto anything



Fun Shoe

Dance Officer posted:

I think the thread has already made up its mind about Serina.

We already have one character who looks like a kid with Ellie (who appears to definitely be written as mature, she's just small) and the game doesn't appear to be going creepy with her at least.

Mokinokaro fucked around with this message at 13:34 on Oct 19, 2018

Zanzibar Ham
Mar 17, 2009

You giving me the cold shoulder? How cruel.


Grimey Drawer

Commander Keene posted:

As long as they don't go full-perv on her battle costume like Chloe's fetish gear or Nowi from FE: Awakening, putting her in the party doesn't seem too bad. There's just the problem of another major game mechanic suddenly becoming creepier than usual when she's involved.

Besides the creep factor considering that mechanic (which is more than enough on its own), there's the fact she's the bundle of anime cliches I hated the most. If I knew the names of Japanese VAs I could have told you exactly which one she'd have gotten.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

Dance Officer posted:

I think the thread has already made up its mind about Serina.

Listen man, I can't show bias. I have to at least force you guys to give her a fair chance.

Commander Keene posted:

As long as they don't go full-perv on her battle costume like Chloe's fetish gear or Nowi from FE: Awakening, putting her in the party doesn't seem too bad. There's just the problem of another major game mechanic suddenly becoming creepier than usual when she's involved.

I think this is about the point I stopped playing on 3DS. Not from any objection to the content; I expected this game to be pure, distilled anime from the title and concept. I think something else came out that I was more interested in. I may try to start up a game and play along from here on.

Chloe's is the worst it gets. The three remaining heroines actually have pretty tasteful transformation sequences, which is kind of surprising since two of those three are Serina and Torri. The thread is eagerly trying to pass their judgement on Serina already, so I don't need to say any more about that. Torri's character on the other hand I would assume most people have figured out based purely on introduction (but I will avoid specifying it anyway).

Regardless, characters like Torri and Serina almost always get creepy fixation by the game/show/VN/fans, so it's nice that Conception 2 avoids that (or at least tries to, in the case of fans). We'll see Serina's transformation next update as an example, but suffice it to say, there will be no close up lingering shots on her the way the game has been doing with Narika/Chloe/Ellie/Fuuko.

Zanzibar Ham posted:

Besides the creep factor considering that mechanic (which is more than enough on its own), there's the fact she's the bundle of anime cliches I hated the most. If I knew the names of Japanese VAs I could have told you exactly which one she'd have gotten.

Here is the full voice cast (English and Japanese) for anyone who is interested. I haven't followed anime shows in detail for over 5 years, so I wouldn't be able to tell you if any of those Japanese VA's are recognizable. I do see English VA's that I'm familiar with though. I'll add in more as I manage to track them down.

English (This is just the cast we've seen so far. Not sure where Ruby's VA is Never mind, I see her)
Keith Silverstein - English Voice: Mattero
David Vincent - English Voice: Alec
Cristina Valenzuela - English Voice: Serina
Erin Fitzgerald - English Voice: Feene
Sam Riegel - English Voice: Protagonist
Wendee Lee - English Voice: Chloe
Eden Riegel - English Voice: Ellie
Bryce Papenbrook - English Voice: Mark
Karen Strassman - English Voice: Narika
Steve Staley - English Voice: Chlotz
Kate Higgens - English Voice: Fuuko
Cindy Robinson - English Voice: Ruby
Dave Mellow - Voice: Rhiod Marker
Michael Sinterniklaas - Voice: Enzea
Janice Kawaye - Voice: Torri

(FYI, of course Yuri Lowenthal is in this. We just haven't met his character. Or at least I haven't pinpointed his characters yet. I haven't been letting the voice clips play fully, I've just been speed reading.)


Japanese (Same as above. Still not sure about Ruby Never mind. Found her too.)
Kaori Mizuhashi - Voice: Serina
Saori Gotou - Voice: Narika
Lynn - Voice: Fuuko
Noriaki Sugiyama Voice: Alec
Mai Kadowaki - Voice: Tori
Toshiyuki Toyonaga - Voice: Protagonist
Satomi Sato - Voice: Chloe
Chihiro Ishiguro - Voice: Phine (Feene)
Ryouhei Kimura - Voice: Kurotsugu (Chlotz)
Mariya Ise - Voice: Eri (Ellie, I think)
Yuko Kaida - Voice: Ruby
Keiichi Sonobe - Voice: Mattero
Hiroki Yasumoto - Voice: Rhiod Marker
Hiroki Takahashi - Voice: Enzea
Tomoaki Maeno - Voice: Mark


Edit: I probably should do some kind of Voice Actor breakdown for these characters. Some of them have been in stuff I remember, and some stuff I remember fondly: Janice Kawaye did Mimi in Duel Masters and some side characters in Megas XLR (hell yeah).

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 14:39 on Oct 19, 2018

Commander Keene
Dec 21, 2016

Faster than the others



Chlotz is so Yosuke that I keep expecting him to be voiced by Lowenthal, but he isn't.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

Commander Keene posted:

Chlotz is so Yosuke that I keep expecting him to be voiced by Lowenthal, but he isn't.

When I was writing his character intro and was comparing him to Yosuke, I had to double check the voice actor, and even then I couldn't believe it wasn't Lowenthal. My only guess is that either Lowenthal was too expensive to voice all of Chlotz' lines, or the translation team saw the obvious parallels and wanted to specifically avoid casting him in that role, so they gave him some of the additional voices instead.

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 14:36 on Oct 19, 2018

namehereguy
Nov 24, 2017
Well, I don't know many Japanese VA names on sight, but I do know characters, so let me google Kaori Mizuhashi

Wikipedia posted:


Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha – Yūno Scrya
Library boy who turns into a ferret? :psyduck:

Wikipedia posted:

Puella Magi Madoka Magica – Mami Tomoe
Busty gun senpai who loves cake? :psyduck:

Wikipedia posted:

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness – Laharl

That's more like it.

This has been your periodic reminder that voice actors aren't necessarily typecast. Also that Japan often casts female VAs for boys.

namehereguy fucked around with this message at 15:57 on Oct 19, 2018

Commander Keene
Dec 21, 2016

Faster than the others



namehereguy posted:

Japan often casts female VAs for boys.
That's not that uncommon here in the USA, either. Laharl in the NA version of Disgaea is voiced by the woman who dubbed Rita Repulsa in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I think there was an early dub of Dragon Ball (or a couple of the movies) where she voiced Kid Goku, too. And all of the listed English dubs of Pokemon I could find on a cursory inspection had women playing Ash.

Zurai
Feb 13, 2012


Wait -- I haven't even voted in this game yet!

Commander Keene posted:

That's not that uncommon here in the USA, either. Laharl in the NA version of Disgaea is voiced by the woman who dubbed Rita Repulsa in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I think there was an early dub of Dragon Ball (or a couple of the movies) where she voiced Kid Goku, too. And all of the listed English dubs of Pokemon I could find on a cursory inspection had women playing Ash.

Bart Simpson is voiced by a lady. It's pretty common for children of either gender.

Sword_of_Dusk
Sep 30, 2018

Legendary Luminary

Commander Keene posted:

Chlotz is so Yosuke that I keep expecting him to be voiced by Lowenthal, but he isn't.

Yosuke is a better character, for sure. He is a perv on many occasions, but he definitely has his great moments.

Incidentally, I don't think I can hear Lowenthal again and not picture Spider-Man every single time. Dude did good.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

Sword_of_Dusk posted:

Yosuke is a better character, for sure. He is a perv on many occasions, but he definitely has his great moments.

Incidentally, I don't think I can hear Lowenthal again and not picture Spider-Man every single time. Dude did good.

To be fair to Chlotz, this is still early game. Also like Yosuke, Chlotz will get his moment where he really starts growing up. We're already starting to see the beginnings of it (ie. Him putting his ability with gadgets to use by working at the AngelMarker lab).

As much as I love ripping on the guy, I don't believe he ever states that going to work at AngelMarker was because of his Ruby crush. He genuinely wants to help and believes this is the best way he can. He has already fully admitted that he can't fight monsters like Wake and the girls can.

Not to derail, but yes, Yuri was awesome as Spider-Man. The fact that Tara Platt was the police captain made their interactions even better. There may be some annoyances with certain game play elements, but dammit that was some good banter.


I just thought I would point something out regarding the voice casting as well. For those that aren't familiar with Sam and Eden Riegel, yes, those two are related. Specifically Sam Riegel is Eden Riegel's older brother.

That is an....unfortunate choice of casting for a game like this, and I'd like to know the story behind who made that decision.

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Oct 19, 2018

namehereguy
Nov 24, 2017
Assuming she's not like his mirror duplicate or something, probably their entire thought process was that Sam was a good choice for Wake and completely unrelatedly Eden was a good choice for Ellie. It's a dub of a niche game, they probably didn't have that deep a bench and generally game audio gets recorded separately for each character so it probably wasn't that awkward for them to do.

If Ellie is Wake's mirror duplicate or something then that's probably why.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Commander Keene
Dec 21, 2016

Faster than the others



namehereguy posted:

Assuming she's not like his mirror duplicate or something, probably their entire thought process was that Sam was a good choice for Wake and completely unrelatedly Eden was a good choice for Ellie. It's a dub of a niche game, they probably didn't have that deep a bench and generally game audio gets recorded separately for each character so it probably wasn't that awkward for them to do.

If Ellie is Wake's mirror duplicate or something then that's probably why.
Atlus tends to use a bunch of the same voice actors for everything they do. That's why it's almost impossible to find a voiced Atlus game without Yuri Lowenthal in it. They use Liam O'Brien and Laura Bailey a bunch, too.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply