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What is that thing on Veronica's left eye?
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Jul 25, 2019 04:37
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:What is that thing on Veronica's left eye? what have you never seen eyelashes before?
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Jul 25, 2019 04:49
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Junpei posted:It's a little subtle, but over the course of the first game and this one, we've slowly been moving from Idiot!Yuri to Snarky!Yuri. He looked outside the church at the start, saw the possessed children's toys, and decided to just roll with it. I think at this point the final boss of No More Heroes 2 could drop in and Yuri wouldn't even bat an eye.
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Jul 25, 2019 05:20
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:What is that thing on Veronica's left eye? It looks like she's wearing half a domino mask.
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Jul 25, 2019 06:45
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:What is that thing on Veronica's left eye? JRPG fashion.
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Jul 25, 2019 08:22
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I've never understood why Japan has such a fascination with weird, strange outfits with random buttons and odd colors and zippers. The JRPG with the most sensible clothing I can remember is The World Ends With You, and that's because it's set in modern-day Japan.
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Jul 25, 2019 08:36
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Junpei posted:I've never understood why Japan has such a fascination with weird, strange outfits with random buttons and odd colors and zippers. They have the right of it, reality is boring and weird & strange is cool.
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Jul 25, 2019 08:54
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:What is that thing on Veronica's left eye? Best I can figure she cut apart a Mardi Gras mask and then super glued half of it to her face.
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Jul 25, 2019 10:18
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We definitely traded up for the better vampire brother in this game. 
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Jul 25, 2019 10:40
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Joachim is just so goddamn stupid, I love him
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Jul 25, 2019 10:40
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Junpei posted:I've never understood why Japan has such a fascination with weird, strange outfits with random buttons and odd colors and zippers. Also, I've saw a guy who claimed to be Japanese comment once that "we do all look pretty similar compared to some other ethnicities, so it helps make important characters noticeable", so I guess that might also have something to do with. Not my words, though.
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Jul 25, 2019 12:13
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Junpei posted:I've never understood why Japan has such a fascination with weird, strange outfits with random buttons and odd colors and zippers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2bPuEmTYh8 This actually pretty good video from Polygon goes into it in far more detail, and specifically discusses Final Fantasy designs, but the jist of it is that many JRPG character designs, particularly from the PS1 era and onward, take a lot of inspiration from prominent Japanese Street wear designers, who themselves incorporated lots of more Western elements into their own fashion 'brands', resulting in really unique, if heavily accessorized or distracting, outfits. The more 'out-there' designs tend to take those already intense outfits, and make them into something less practical to wear, and more evocative of the character's personality or desired intent from the player. Of course, this is all from a non-Japanese person, so take this with a pinch of salt.
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Jul 25, 2019 15:10
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quote:the jist of it is that many JRPG character designs, particularly from the PS1 era and onward, take a lot of inspiration from prominent Japanese Street wear designers
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Jul 25, 2019 15:18
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The Dark Id posted:Within we discover the Mayor, Cole and a pair of out of control evil anime boobs.
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Jul 25, 2019 17:11
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Junpei posted:I've never understood why Japan has such a fascination with weird, strange outfits with random buttons and odd colors and zippers. As long as it doesn’t shift into Nomura Fetish territory what with the belts and the zippers, I’m good. Also welcome back TDI.
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Jul 25, 2019 17:41
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slink_bot posted:something less practical to wear, and more evocative of the character's personality or desired intent from the player. This is also how you get a lot of shounen fighting serials where the characters stop to explain their abilities, because it's important the audience understand what these people are capable of. You might argue there are better ways to convey that information, but that's the intent, and among those who understand the intent it's usually enough. It's not detrimental. Those who don't understand make inane jokes on Youtube like "Lol why doesn't anybody just shoot Goku." Because guns are boring and kung fu superpowers are cool. Also, Goku is immune to bullets. For an American equivalent, a lot of professional wrestling is rooted in theater as well, specifically sideshows, the traveling circus. Those guys spend a lot of time and energy cultivating larger than life personas and wardrobes as well because when two dudes are hashing it out in the squared circle and you're back in the nosebleeds, you still wanna be able to track who's punching who. Enter also the announcer, whose observations and enthusiasm can help connect the dots. But anyway, yeah, that's another influence behind these "Outlandish" character designs, and sometimes behaviors. You're already playing a video game, complicit in the artifice. The enemies wait their turn in combat, and you can save and reload as many times as it takes. Joachim's big and strong and good at heart and likes to perform, and a lot of that is communicated immediately by his character design the minute you lay eyes on him.
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Jul 25, 2019 17:54
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That would also fit in with the tendency in anime to put us inside a character's head to hear their thoughts. You don't usually get that outside of text media. The spider man cartoons are the only ones that come to mind in American media, aside from the Noire detective genre, since thoughts in voiceover is a bit of a staple there. The preference is usually to add someone to talk to, instead.The Dark Id posted:With hope, this time they won't turn out to practice necromancy Looks like the first should be "With luck" or "Hopefully" and the second/third is missing some "the"s.
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Jul 25, 2019 22:50
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Basically, if you actually removed a lot of the stuff people like to complain about in anime and video games, they'd probably end up actually *really boring*. "Why are we always the chosen one?" Because a game about the life of a random mundane townsperson isn't a story, it's the Sims without any of the wacky bullshit that makes the Sims fun.
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Jul 26, 2019 00:56
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Sgt Thud posted:Basically, if you actually removed a lot of the stuff people like to complain about in anime and video games, they'd probably end up actually *really boring*. Not necessarily. There is no reason the player character can't just be a dude(tte) who decided that whatever was going on was unacceptable and resolved to do something about it. The choices they make over the course of the tale shape them into a person who can deal with the BadThing, not destiny.
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Jul 26, 2019 01:08
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They don't have to be chosen ones, but a video game protagonist is somewhat by definition exceptional. It takes a special kind of person to look at something, decide "not on my loving watch" and go on an Epic Journey Of Epicness to fix-and-or-save the world, or they wouldn't be so rare.
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Jul 26, 2019 01:17
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Honestly that's one of the brilliant things about Chrono Trigger. Crono isn't anyone special, but he still says "not on my loving watch" (to a problem that won't come up until about a thousand years after he dies no less).
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Jul 26, 2019 02:47
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Crono doesn't say anything though, he's a silent protagonist
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Jul 26, 2019 02:51
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Even 'average' video game protagonists are still absurdly skilled and talented singular people who are above and beyond everyone around them in every way,
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Jul 26, 2019 02:55
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Junpei posted:Crono doesn't say anything though, he's a silent protagonist Alright, fine! He meaningfully shook his head no while epic music played. Happy now?
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Jul 26, 2019 03:01
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Jagged Jim posted:Alright, fine! He meaningfully shook his head no while epic music played. Happy now? I was joking, man, chill
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Jul 26, 2019 03:03
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Kemix posted:As long as it doesn’t shift into Nomura Fetish territory what with the belts and the zippers, I’m good. Also welcome back TDI. Nomura's interesting because he's exactly as a reflection of fashion trends, if not moreso. His heavy belts and zippers phase is heavily rooted in Visual Kei, when he was basically completely engulfed within the culture. His more modern designs move away from it because he's moved away from it. Like as funny as "Belts and Zippers and Jockstraps" is it wasn't born from any craziness. It was born from a fashion/music culture   Which specifically has its roots in Glam Rock, Heavy Metal and Punk. That's why modern Nomura designs don't really emphasize the belts or zippers. Not that they aren't there, but that they don't... we're long past the days of DoC 
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Jul 26, 2019 10:47
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CmdrKing posted:Honestly that's one of the brilliant things about Chrono Trigger. Crono isn't anyone special, but he still says "not on my loving watch" (to a problem that won't come up until about a thousand years after he dies no less).
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Jul 26, 2019 12:48
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Anyone could have made the same decision. Most don't, yes, but anyone could. Insofar as Chrono Trigger has a point (obviously SNES writing is not exactly overflowing with theme and purpose) that is the point really. "A horrible looming disaster that has haunted all of human history may not destroy the world until long after you die. Be like Crono and fight it in spite of all that."
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Jul 26, 2019 13:18
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The Chrono Trigger defenders have logged on. Let no one utter a single word disparaging this holy title.
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Jul 26, 2019 14:11
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I like Chrono Trigger and I'm certainly not disparaging it, but I do think people have a point when they point out that a game about heroic individuals who go out and right cosmic wrong is really not one about average people. It can be a game about people who weren't singled out for importance or success by some kind of birthright or destiny, though, and personally I don't like that type either. No argument there. VVV I can certainly agree with that. Cardiovorax fucked around with this message at 15:37 on Jul 26, 2019 |
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Jul 26, 2019 14:29
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"Average people" choose every day to suck instead of making the world a better place, yes. But it's a choice they are making and a choice they could reverse at any time.
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Jul 26, 2019 15:09
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Onmi posted:we're long past the days of DoC I think we can all be thankful for that
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Jul 26, 2019 17:41
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Onmi posted:Visual Kei The day Visual Kei finally, truly, dies will be a sad day indeed.
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Jul 28, 2019 04:13
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CmdrKing posted:"Average people" choose every day to suck instead of making the world a better place, yes. But it's a choice they are making and a choice they could reverse at any time. How is an average person supposed to fight a being capable of raining fire and death upon the world?
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Jul 28, 2019 05:57
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:How is an average person supposed to fight a being capable of raining fire and death upon the world? You start by beating up rats and slimes in a sewer and work your way up from there like everyone else.
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Jul 28, 2019 06:05
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Neddy Seagoon posted:You start by beating up rats and slimes in a sewer and work your way up from there like everyone else. When the entire world is filled with aggressive monsters that make every grocery run a matter of life and death, you really have no excuse to not learn adventuring at a basic level at least.
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Jul 28, 2019 09:55
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Episode XIX: Solomon.jpg)  Music: Glint of Light ~ Mid Boss in Europe .jpg) On to the title card match of the night. It wouldn't be appropriate if the rest of the party charged into the ring for the main event. As such, this is a solo fight between .jpg) There isn't a lot to this battle. It is mostly a damage race between Veronica and Joachim. Veronica is a Water element affiliated dominatrix with a none too impressive 220 HP. But we can stack things in our favor a little bit. I'd earlier slapped on all the physical damage/defense buff related Magic Crests on the big boy here. So he has access to Barrier which will mitigate Veronica's damage. This turned out to be a waste of time since she... never bothered to use her magic attack. She has access to Hail Break which without Barrier does 45-50 damage which... that's a lot right now. But again, she didn't bother to use it this fight for whatever reason despite completely wiping me with it back when I played the first few hours of this game before the LP began. .jpg) .jpg) Veronica mostly attacks with a three-hit combo using her whip. This does between 25-30 HP of damage each turn. Given Grand Papillon is a bit of a glass cannon at this point with only 105 HP that is... kind of a sizable amount of damage to absorb flying solo. Veronica's whip also has the potential to lower Joachim's Special Attack by 30%. But that's not of great concern. .jpg) Since we're just going to buff Grand Papillon's Physical Attack using Rage. Let's see, +36% to the highest physical damage output character currently in our party. What's that work out to...? .jpg) .jpg) Ah yes, completely destroying Veronica in two turns. Gotcha. Music: Result ~ Victory .jpg)  The final battle is still to come!.jpg) Alright, then. That seemed a little too easy after all that build-up. But hey, a win is a win. Music: ENDS .jpg)  Hmph! Not too shabby, Masked Wonder!.jpg) Ha ha ha! No evildoer can stand against my RIPPLING MUSCLES! Music: Flame of Strain to Blaze ~ Tension .jpg) Well, I hate to get myself all sweaty. <whips the air> Here... I've got a present for you.  Boooo! She's just summoning a monster of the week! I told you this was gonna happen. Fire that hack writing staff!Veronica backs up into the smoke machine cloud and vanishes, leaving behind... .jpg) .jpg) .jpg)  <gasp>.jpg)  Woah... That thing looks pretty tough! <bark> It reeks of booze too. What's that all about?.jpg)  C'mon! We've got to help <runs toward the monster> <puts hands on hips> Do we really have to get in the middle of this one...? ...We can just leave. The thing couldn't even fit through the door. Yuri, get moving! <sigh> Yeah, yeah... Guess I do need the experience points..jpg) Music: Glint of Light ~ Mid Boss in Europe .jpg) Time for the real match of the Wine Cellar -- Meursault. The gang is all here for this rumble. Which is good because I don't think Joachim could handle this one solo. Especially, given he's still injured from the first against Veronica. .jpg) Our first order of business is getting him back up to snuff. A Thera Leaf is enough to do the trick. May as well use them now before they get completely outclassed by Thera Seeds in the near future. .jpg) Next up, Yuri needs a suitable Fusion. This four-armed frog demon, Meursault (named after the French town of the same name known for its vineyards and wine production) is an Earth element creature with 666 HP. Very edgy. So Vastitas our Earth Fusion fits the bill here. .jpg) And once more Joachim and Rage are a nice combo since hell if he's doing more than hitting things. .jpg) .jpg) Early battle prep aside, it's worth mentioning that Meursault brought in its own posse of a Centipede and a Gregor. We want to prioritize getting rid of them before focusing on the boss. Gregor isn't a threat but that Centipede can and will cause Poison if it attacks and that's not a headache we need. .jpg) Especially, when this PS2 era Mortal Kombat reject of a boss has the potential to cause Paralysis on its physical attacks. Thankfully, it only seemed to do physicals against Joachim, who has an accessory to negate that. Nice work, ya dumbass frog. .jpg) .jpg) Indeed, Meursault only has two attacks to its name bucking the usual expansive move list of THREE whole attacks most bosses come equipped with these days. Howling is basically that one attack in Dragon Ball Z where someone gets frustrated and fires a hundred bullshit fireballs at their enemy. You know, that one attack that literally has NEVER worked or even done more damage than causing a pile of smoke to slowly clear revealing the opponent is unharmed. Yeah, Frog Goro here can do that. It does a respectable 35-40 HP of damage but meh... .jpg) Meursault's major problem is it is an INSANELY slow enemy. It is trivial to set up a 3-person or even 4-person Combo and execute it before it even thinks of getting its turn in to stop the team attack. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) To say the least, that does not work in Veronica's pet frog's favor. You hate to see stomp matches get top billing at an event. But sometimes them pay-per-view specials are just disappointing like that. .jpg) .jpg) In any event, looks like cuisses de grenouille is on the menu tonight. Music: Result ~ Victory .jpg) If that's all they got, no problem!.jpg) We get the usual healthy infusion of Cash, Experience, and Souls. It's not come to this point, but you may notice Gepetto received a boss fight experience despite sitting out this dungeon. Shadow Hearts: Covenant is nice enough to dole out major boss experience points to everyone currently available in the party, whether they participate or not. They have to be an active member of the party (i.e. if they temporarily leave and couldn't be selected at the time, they don't get it) but this game is WAY better about not doing that for extended periods of time. It is not like the first game where Zhuzhen started lagging behind 20 levels because you had to have Yuri and Alice may as well have been mandatory as well. Plus the third character slot was taken and non-negotiable for stretches long enough that it was laughable to ever use the bench warmers again. Having the fourth character slot helps, but so does giving everyone the biggest payout of EXP in a given chapter of the game. We've come a long way from Koudelka and its mechanics madness. .jpg) Meursault also dropped a new Crest. Gale Spin seems kind of eh, whatever. But Gale on its own is basically Haste and that ain't nothing to thumb your nose at... We'll find a good home for this later. .jpg) It's not directly mentioned, but Yuma's Hairclip/Grand Papillon's mask has quietly been slipped into our Key Items as well. I literally didn't notice until I was capturing screenshots for another Key Item and saw it was there in the video. Post-boss battle looting aside, the party is instantly and rather abruptly transported straight back to Le Havre and the Mayor's Mansion. That's fine. I wasn't remarkably eager to have to trot all the way through that boring brown dungeon anyway. Especially, since I'm going to have to do just that for some sidequests in the next update. Music: Town of Twilight ~ European Town .jpg) Yeah? What do I see? Cuz the last time I had to deal with some jag-off that kidnapped orphans, I punched them to death and then I punched their mom to death. Granted, she was kind of an unholy abomination. Also maybe... made out of ground up orphan slime. It was gross. Whatever! You get my point!  ...Can we back-up for just a second? What?! Ahh... long story... We gotta talk to these guys. <cracks knuckes>The mayor and his flunky cower in fear. .jpg) And you're to stay away from the Sea Gull from now on, you hear? Yes, ma'am! Anything! I owe my life to all of you! I'll never let my greed get the better of me or bother anyone ever again! I promise! From now on I'll only exploit anyone completely through legal local governmental means..jpg) <nods> A c-condition? I hope it's nothing too difficult... I am only a humble public servant with alleged organized crime connections that cannot be proven in a court of law... <leaps in front of the mayor and growls> Awroo, awroo!! Yeah, you tell him, boy! Yikes! Mayor! We need to take a ship to England. You don't need me to spell it out for you, do you? <shakes head> N-no, sir! I'll make all the arrangements. Just leave them to me!.jpg) <nods> He he he. Thanks again for saving us. Yeah... you two need to stop creepily laughing during statements or I will punch you and possibly your mothers should they turn out to be monsters of the punchable variety. <frown> My mom's been dead for fifteen years. ...Yeah, that doesn't change what I said..jpg) Despite what Mayor Leonard said, we cannot actually take off for England JUST yet. We need to head over to the Seagull bar and tell Granny Lot we saved the kids and have a general Le Havre debriefing. .jpg) All the NPCs in town have new dialogue but it's all literally just variations of "yay the vigilante group is through and crime is solved in town forever." Career criminals and corrupt politicians never backslide into being shitheads a few months after the heat dies down. That is unheard of! The party heads for the Seagull Bar. .jpg)  Welcome home! ...I'm not Joachim, but OK..jpg) .jpg)  He promised to leave the shop alone from now on! I feel so much better now! Did he really?! Considering we walked back to town with him and his goon then went straight to the mayor's mansion....jpg) We're so glad, Granny Lot! And we're getting that ship ride we wanted too. It all worked out great. Y'all going on you can't just punch and kick all your problems away. Pfft... Thank you for everything you've done! I'll be praying for your safe travel. As long as there's no ghosts or wizards this time, I'm sure it'll be fine. Yuri... You cannot just keep throwing stuff like that out there and letting it hang. Ehh... you get used to it. Stop by if you ever come back this way again. Joachim, the children and I would all love to see you again. Granny, I want to talk to you... ...What is it? I'm going on that ship with them!.jpg) WHAT?! Awroo!? (What!?).jpg) Are you really sure you want to come along?! You should really know about us first. Yuri is cursed. There's a secret cult after us. I'm AWOL from the German army. We're going to Wales which is evil as heck from what I hear. <nods> Can confirm..jpg) Granny here rescued me once when I was left for dead by the side of the road... I'm grateful, but now it's time to go. <nods> ...All right, Joachim. I remember you when you were just a dying bat, but you've certainly turned out fine. Off with you, then! Build up your skills then come back and show me how strong you've become! Thank you, Granny! Thank you! You're kidding, right? Coming along with us won't be any fun, you know! Fighting giant bugs in drab corridors is like half of what we do during the week. Yuri, you do want to know who I really am, don't you? Well, yeah, I do, but... Tch... Were you on the Trans-Siberian Railroad? Like a passenger or something? Naw... I would have noticed a guy as big as you... <folds arms> If you let me come along, maybe I'll tell you someday. Son of a...! ...Fine. Do whatever you want..jpg) And with that, Joachim Valentine has formally joined the party. You would think the surname Valentine and the fact he can turn into a bat would tip off Yuri. But then I remembered Yuri and Keith exchanged like maybe five lines of dialogue the whole journey and... well, Yuri is kind of dense. Granny Lott wanders up to Yuri and stares at him. .jpg) Here you are. This is for all of you..jpg) .jpg) ...This is clearly a scroll, which is neither a book nor a ring. .jpg) Granny Lott has handed us a new mechanic. We'll go over this in-depth next time. It's a little more complicated than this blurb would suggest. It's more of a completionist nightmare kind of thing than anything. .jpg) I did some digging on my own, you see! And that's when I found that book. ...It's a rolled-up scroll. Does book mean something different in French?.jpg) Hee hee hee! I just had to find out what was down there! But the only thing I found was that old, rotting book. I wish it were something more valuable. <sigh> I guess it'll just be serving watered-down drinks to local winos for the rest of my days..jpg) You mean you know what that book is, Gepetto? It's a rolled-up piece of paper. That ain't a book! Stop dwelling on details and listen. No question about it! It's "King Solomon's Key," one of the lost, great black books! This book contains a map of where the 72 demons that were controlled by King Solomon lived. You know those crests we've been collecting along our travels? <looks down> ...Crests? Oh! You mean those things I've got absolutely no use for? Those the crests you mean? Stupid dumb crests for idiots that can't do fusion? Those crappy crests? <nods> Hee hee hee! You don't have to pout, just because you can't equip them, you know. You're just a big baby! <turns away and looks at the ceiling> Hmph. Shaddup. Excuse me, I'm talking here, folks! And I'm about to say something very important, kiddos, so listen up. They say that if we place the demons that dwell in these crests properly, we can unleash great magical power! Yeah, terrific. Unleash great magical power. THAT has never gone wrong. Stupid crests... Awroo! Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. Nothing but trouble. Oh, I get it. We place the crests on this old map, right? But how do we know where to place each crest? That's the question, isn't it? Maybe we could guess, based on each demon's preferences and characteristics... But the trip ahead is long. I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually! Granny Lot, this is a true treasure, indeed. Thank you very much! You're certainly welcome. I hope it'll be useful to you. Is it actually that valuable...? Oh, more valuable than you can imagine! That... that's great... You hold onto it. I did gift it to you, after all. I'll just... stay here in a failing business raising two orphans. Alone. That's fine....jpg) Alright, then. Our time in Le Harve is nearly at its end. However, we're not quite ready to get on a boat and sail to England just yet. You know long boat arcs can last. Best to put it off until we're drat good and ready. .jpg) And this chapter IS about the Wine Cellar. Tune in next time as we revisit the only active vineyard in France to see a few new items of interest as Shadow Hearts: Covenant continues.    Video: Episode 19 Highlight Reel    Le Havre Concept Art - Very quaint.
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Jul 30, 2019 21:16
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Solomon's Key is the one part of this game I never actually did everything with. Too much completionism for me, and not nearly as fun as all the other completionism in Shadow Hearts. For starters there's no amazingly camp vampires.
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Jul 30, 2019 22:08
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On the contrary, I loved Solomon's Key, because it made me feel like an occult badass. Albert Simon, eat your heart out, I can match crests!!!! (Also I was going to 100% completion anyway, so no big loss there)
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Jul 30, 2019 22:17
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Doesn't it have practical benefits too? I think I remember something about your crests getting better if you can complete a full set.quote:
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Jul 30, 2019 22:19
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