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Part 37: “You are now part of the Crossbell Guardian Force!” Scene of a Street Corner  I think it’s about time that I cashed in all the sepith overflowing from my pockets. It’s been a while since I visited the IBC, anyway.  Sooooo I’m going exchange 1800 pieces of sepith for 42,200. Barring medical supplies I’m going to need to stock back up on eventually, I’m set for a while. And I have plenty left over to unlock the remainder of the slots on everyone’s orbment devices, and enough to stock everyone up with the new quartz over at Genten. Keep in mind that this is partly because I’ve been abusing the Sepith Bonus + Lloyd’s Tiger Charge trick at every opportunity I can get. I’ve been getting a lot of those on this playthrough.  Since this is a new chapter, the weapon shop right next to the SSS has stocked new weapon and armor upgrades. The weapon upgrades alone (Elaphure + Rusty Nail + Singing Chorus + Riot Buster) only cost me 7800.  The pair of Engineer Boots that Tio got back in Chapter 1 are now being sold here as well. After a moment of deliberation, I ended up getting two - one for Randy, and the other for Elie. Lloyd is still wearing those boots that give him movement all the way across the battlefield, so he’s fine for now. Plus… you know, I’m trying to build him as an Evasion Tank, and that extra Agility always helps. He doesn’t quite need the defense yet.  We also have an armor upgrade here. The Fiber Coat (which Randy already has equipped) is pretty much just a straight up upgrade to what our party is already wearing. I mean, the only downside to this is that Tio’s ADF goes down, but when you’re the party’s spellcaster and your ADF is already one of the highest in the party, trying to… I dunno, min-max it is the last thing you should do.  So, all together, that only brought me down to 31,248 mira. I am still loving rich. With the sepith gains I’ll be gaining from each chapter, I estimate that I won’t have to worry about money for the rest of the game. I could buy out that whole stock of KILL - NIGHTMARE and BECOME the loving nightmare if I so wished now.  But no… no! That’s not enough! Let’s break the game even further (not like it’s THAT hard in the first place). We’re going to hit up Genten for some quartz next. And we’re going to turn Tio into some bastion of competence for the rest of the game with one spell. Really, there are a few more spells I’d like on Tio before I feel FULLY confident in declaring that. But this is one of the main spells.   ”High Rank Quartz”...? Yeah, basically it’s quartz that can’t be set in a normal slot. In order to be able to use them, you need to tweak the slot so that it can handle the power. I haven’t really handled High Rank Quartz, though… Well, in any case, I can strengthen your device’s slots whenever you want! Like Wendy said, we can now upgrade our ENIGMA’s slots so they can fit High-Rank quartz, like the Libra Gem we got from the previous request. As nice as that would be… I decided to refrain from now. Just look at the costs on the left. Right now, that eats a TON of sepith out of my wallet. Plus… I literally just opened up every slot on the SSS’s ENIGMAs. Enhancing slots can wait another day.  Genten now stocks a straight upgrade to the stat-altering quartz we have currently installed. So it’s definitely not a bad idea to stop by at some point during this chapter to upgrade your line up. No other quartz, though. Just a straight-up upgrade. That said, I did shuffle my quartz configuration around a little. Here’s what everyone has now: Lloyd Bannings
Elie MacDowell
Randy Orlando
As for Tio…  I threw out her Defense quartz in favor of more Space quartz… at least for now. The important thing is that she has a load of Space quartz on her orbment line now, not necessarily the fact that she can hit more accurately or see enemies on the mini-map now.  Having Space x6 on her ENIGMA gives us the Dark Matter arte - What I would consider to be one of the best attack artes in the game. It covers a rather large area, reduces the enemy’s movement, and well… I’ll keep the last one a secret for now. There are definitely stronger spells out there, but Dark Matter’s little characteristic makes it a favorite spell of mine.  With the abundance of Space quartz comes a variety of other useful artes, as well. A-Reflex is basically your generic Reflect spell from any other JRPG. Fortuna, on the other hand, buffs ATS/ADF by 25% in a large area, which is pretty useful if you want to buff Tio and Elie’s artes output during a boss battle.  On the other hand, Elie has Holy Bless now… which WOULD be a really good spell if Holy Bullet wasn’t in the same game. But it’s nice to have a backup just in case Elie runs out of CP if I have to press the panic button with her S-Craft. She also picked up Aerial, which is a medium area Wind attack. It’s practically guaranteed she picks that up at least, since her ENIGMA is geared towards equipping Wind quartz. On the Green Road On the Green Road (Evolution) On the Green Road (Falcom Field Zanmai) Note: The Field Zanmai version has a really nice kazoo if you’re into that. Really, all the remixes of this track are very good.  Anyway, that’s enough quartz talk for now. I mentioned last update that we’ll be tackling the CGF’s Support Request next, and we’re going to do that. Apparently, Ms. Vice Commander wants us to… help out with a few drills? So we’ll get right on that. To get to Tangram Gate, we need to leave Crossbell through the east exit. We can actually just ride the bus all the way to the gate, but… let’s explore a bit. We’ll hop off at the stop near the fork and walk the rest of the way there. I know I said that I was tired of overworld areas, but eh… loot is more important than my comfort.   Selecting the Bus Stop (Fork in the Road) fast travels us all the way here. Remember this place? This was where Elie and Tio almost keeled over on our way to Armorica. Now, if you remember, north was the path that we had to take to get to the village. Tangram Gate is where the CGF guards the border between Crossbell and the Republic of Calvard. And following that train of thought, Calvard’s in the east… so we have to go east as well.  Surprise, it’s another part of the overworld! I’m… really starting to run out of ways to say “Just follow the straight road to your destination, numbnuts!”. Just… well, you get the idea at this point. I shouldn’t have to illustrate it. And it’s not like there’s any pretty scenery here like the Mainz Mountain Path. Just… endless plains, as far as the eye can see.  Of course, we do have new enemies to contend with! ...Except that they pretty much only appear in this area, and in an optional area no less, so I’m not quite as inclined to cover them as I have in other areas. We have some variant of a gigantic horned toad and beetroots that attack by farting and putting you to sleep.  They’ll occasionally be joined by the stationary plants and the flying alligators from the Mainz Mountain Path. That’s… pretty much it. Yeah. I’m not going to cover them all that much, since they aren’t the main focal point of this update. Just bash their faces in, or the equivalent of their faces. I know I’m rushing a little here, but I just want to show off the loot and get to the good part of the update. After Chapter 1, I’m a little sick of covering Crossbell’s overworld maps…  So with that in mind, let’s get to what I came all the way out here for: Loot. We’ve been on this path before, but we haven’t gone on this specific part yet. So that means there’s plenty of new items for me to pick up here. We can pick up an EP Charge here right near a fork in the road. Going up leads us further down the road to Tangram Gate, while going south…   ...Well, going south leads us to a chest containing a Heaven’s Eye quartz, which is yet again Space-elemental. Heaven’s Eye is a quartz that grants two simultaneous effects: Eagle Eye (Displays enemy locations on the mini-map) and Information (Allows user to perceive enemy stats). More importantly, it grants Fire x2, Space x3, and x1 to the orbment device. I immediately exchanged Tio’s Eagle Eye for it. I mean, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t.  When we’re done, we can head up toward the next screen transition to the east. I-Is this what Fire Emblem screenshot LPers experience when they don’t have anything more to say about the map?  On the next map… surprises of surprises. We get more roads. Again, we just need to head east toward Tangram gate.    We can find a chest containing a bundle of sepith, a monster chest with a Range quartz in it (Artes Range +1), and another monster chest near the exit that contains a monster that will pop out like some demented, nightmarish Jack-in-the-Box, cry out “BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!” and slaughter me in one hit. We’ve… seen what these monster chests can do to me back in Chapter 1, so I’ll refrain from now. Or, at the very least, I’ll come back for this chest when the SSS is strong enough to break the shoddy wooden craftsmanship over their knee and be able to bash a motherfucker with another motherfucker. ...I miss the chest puns from Trails in the Sky.   Well, in any case, we just need to head further east to reach Tangram now. There’s even a helpful sign that points toward it in addition to Crossbell and Armorica! That’s it for the overworld areas! I’m freeee! Free forever! At least until the Wanted Monster subquest, where I have to cover everything west of Crossbell up to Bellguard Gate. End me now.  Caught Between Major Powers   Well, that’s certainly a grand building. It was kind of hinted before in the previous update, but the CGF is NOT considered to be a military. Tangram Gate guards the border between Crossbell and the Republic of Calvard. So while they’re the closest thing to Crossbell’s military force, they are more along the lines of border guard. Presumably because of the political climate, since Crossbell is wedged between Calvard and Erebonia.  ...I say that, but you can see military vehicles peeking out from the top. So I should say that the CGF “formally” aren’t recognized as Crossbell’s military. But, I mean… come on. They’re Crossbell’s military.    A lot of the soldiers here spout short generic lines, so I won’t be talking to them much. But that’s not to say that everyone is boring…   Sometimes, they even spend HOURS talking to each other on the phone… Wait, do you think they’re in THAT kind of a relationship?*clears throat* I mean, uh, there’s nothing to report here! Just forget what I said.In one of the rooms on the second floor, we can find a soldier (...who names their kid “Flammie”?) with some workplace ~~GOSSIP~~. She has an interesting tidbit on Sergei and Sonya, but don’t expect this to be elaborated until Azure. Just keep this in the back of your head for now...   And on the rooftop, there’s a very nice view of Altair City, Calvard. As far as you can see, anyway. The guy on our right actually has quite a bit to say to us, so let’s chill with him for a bit.   Nice work with those monster attacks last month! Ha ha… I mean, it was really nothing. We barely managed to pull through, so… ...I don’t want to think about what would have happened if Zeit didn’t intervene.Hey now, don’t be too hard on yourselves. Vice Commander Sonya actually has a pretty high opinion of your group. Just do your best, alright?  It’s also worth noting that there’s a cafeteria on the first floor. And a chef, of course. If we talk to the chef…  We can buy Firmly Boiled Fish Hot Pot from him for 2000 mira. Welp, I guess we know how nutritionally balanced the CGF stationed at Tangram Gate are. Mmmm… Hot Pot. That stuff’s delicious. Did you know that there’s also a Dry Pot? I just found that out last summer. That stuff is WILD, let me tell you.  Hot Pot is good and all. But that’s not what I really came here for. If we go ahead and talk to the chef two times…   Fish is a delicacy, so I think I’ll serve some up for the soldiers tonight! Here, I’ll give you guys the recipe too. ...Yeah, if we talk to him, he’s nice enough to give us the recipe for the Hot Pot! That’s nice of him. The Special Support Section is eating well tonight! .png) Just pointing this out, but one of the variants for this recipe is a Hot Pot that drives you INSANE or something. I don’t even want to know how that works. But I’m sure it’s legal to plead insanity in Crossbell court if you fell victim to Dark Hot Pot. The most dreaded meal of all…   One last thing I want to note… well, one of two last things I want to note. If we go through the door in the back of the cafeteria, there’s an inn where we can take a load off and fully recover the party. I went ahead and took a rest. I might need it in a moment. Call it a hunch.   To progress the Support Request, we need to talk to Sonya, who’s in her office to the left of her party there. But we’re going to gloss over her office in favor of this door leading outside here.   Following the winding road outside leads us to a Soldier Suit (DEF +32, STR +2, ADF+16), that I immediately equipped on Randy. It was basically meant for him. All of those defense buffs are helpful for Tio, but she’d lose out on Strength, since her Orbal Staff uses her ATS for power. Not to mention the fact that Randy benefits from all those stats: His ADF is poo poo, so he needs that, and more Strength never hurts. So Randy it is.  In any case, enough screwing around for now. We’ve held this off long enough. So let’s get down to it.   I have been waiting for you, ladies and gentlemen of the Special Support Section. Thank you for taking time out of your day to be here. No, the honor is all ours. We are here to ask about the Support Request you posted… I didn’t want to be here, though… But you came here to see me, did you not? My, what dedication, Orlando. Wha- you heard that!? I mean, uh…All I had to do was look at the expression on your face....Let’s get down to business then, shall we? I’ll explain what the request is about if you’re ready. Go ahead.Hmph, very well. Noël? Yes, ma’am!Here is your briefing: Today, we will be conducting combat exercises for the new recruits. We want you to serve as their mock opponents.Combat exercises against the CGF…...They may be new recruits, but they’re still dangerous… the CGF is made up of elites, after all.Ha, I see you’ve grasped the situation already. By training with them, you’ll get a feel for your own power as well… not a bad idea, is it? ...Why did you pick us for this Support Request? I don’t want to say this, but there are people out there who are better than us.  H-Hey, Tio… I’ve gotta agree with her. If it’s about trainin’, then goin’ up against smarter, more powerful opponents would be more beneficial. ...Hey, why don’t you go to the Bracers? It ain’t too late for that, you know?All I heard was: “I’m a coward! Don’t beat me up!”Ah ha ha… that didn’t work either, huh?...Well, I won’t deny it. Veteran Bracers are much stronger than the Special Support Section… especially since you’ve only been formed for a few months....However, you managed to solve that case where the CGF couldn’t. I don’t believe it was solved merely through brute strength either… you all have capabilities that led to the resolution of that incident.And that’s not even counting Mr. Orlando, whose prowess in combat is widely known within Bellguard Gate. If the rumors are correct, his abilities are on par with that of a Bracer.(!) S-Seriously!? (!) ...This is the first I have ever heard of it. I am SHOCKED right now. Why didn’t you ever tell us about it?It’s… a long story goin’ way back....Look, I really don’t want to participate in this.I don’t mind that you want to sit out of this… but do you remember who got you into the Special Support Section in the first place?(sweatdrop) Oh, come on! You really playin’ up the guilt trip game? Now!? I-I got it, I got it! I-I just have to do this, and then I’m free, right!?...You’d better.(Poor Randy gets all the abuse.) W-Well, anyway, I think we get it now.When does training start?We can begin immediately once I’ve called the troops. Are you ready?Begin the exercise.Very well… Noël, show them to the parking lot. We’ll hold our training exercise there.Yes, ma’am.If you’ll follow me this way…  So, our sidequest for today is to fight a group of CGF soldiers. It’s 4-on-4, police brutality vs. police brutality (the CGF are technically part of the CSPD. It’s on their badge)! Alright, let’s police this parking lot up…   The format of this battle is a 4-vs-4 team battle. If you want to win this battle, you will need to know each other’s strengths and be able to cover your team member’s weaknesses? Understood?(Right): The Special Support Section, huh…? I’ve heard of them lately… We’ll have our hands full if we take them lightly.(Middle-Right): It looks like the infamous Randy Orlando is with them as well.(Right): U-Um, will we really be alright?(Middle-Left): Ha, lose to THAT guy!? I heard he put his dirty hands on some woman and got fired because of that! Do you really think a playboy like that knows how to fight!?(Left): Come on, let’s bring him down a peg or two!...Or so they say. Heh, they’re pretty hot-blooded for a buncha newbs. I guess I can be their punchin’ bag for a minute or two before I curbstomp them.Orlando, comments to yourself.But why!?FORWARD, MARCH!!Both sides pull out their weapons. Formidable Enemy Formidable Enemy (Evolution)   Even if they’re recruits, we shouldn’t take them lightly. ...FIGHT!!  Alright, it’s time to take on the CGF’s new recruits. This time, we’re up against three blonde soldiers equipped with stun halberds, and a brunette who has an (orbal) laser gun. Like the last couple of battles, this battle is… pretty easy. At the very least, I didn’t have any problems getting by this fight. Even if you don’t know what the hell you’re doing in this battle, you can still manage to scrape by lightly if you have some healing resources in your pack.  Well… I think we should start by talking about the two different enemies, first. The guy with the   The assault rifle soldier also pulls double-duty as a spellcaster. In particular, he’s able to use Aerial, which is a Wind attack that covers a medium-sized area. If you remember, we got Elie this arte earlier in the update. It’s not quite as damaging when the enemy uses it, thankfully. Of course, the assault rifle soldier CAN actually use his gun to spray bullets at a party member. I failed to get a screenshot of it, but rest assured it’s thrilling stuff. Just imagine him pointing his gun at the party and making rapid tongue clicking sounds, and you get the idea.  But that’s enough out of that poser. It’s cute that he thinks that guns are worth anything in a JRPG. Well, besides an SMT game. Let’s talk about the REAL threat in this battle: the stun halberd soldiers. They have an attack that’s actually somewhat threatening to the party in this battle. Namely, this attack:  Heavy Axe Cut is an attack in which the soldier in question slams his halberd down on the ground and generates a shockwave, hitting everyone in the area. This is the more dangerous attack of the two, more or less because the other alternative is a simple whack to the noggin.  Your formation is actually the most dangerous enemy the opponent possesses in this fight. If you just clumped your party together like a freaking dingus like I did, you ARE gonna get lumped on by a multitude of Heavy Axe Cuts from the stun halberd guys. I think my party actually went past half health for the first time since I fought… the lambs. Well, forget them! They’re silent now anyway.  Of course, all this damage is easily neutered by Elie’s Holy Bullet. I keep telling you guys this, and I’ll keep saying it: Holy Bullet is and will always be balls-off-the-wall broken in Zero.   Speaking of broken, what do you guys think about pulling out Tio’s new shiny arte? You know how the CGF has been using our formation against us? Well let’s see how they like this! Dark Matter is a Space-elemental arte that costs 57 EP to use and covers a ridiculous area. Let’s break the difficulty of this battle in half!  Dark Matter is an arte that sucks all targeted enemies to the center of the spell. Or in this case, lumping all the CGF in one place so we can get at ‘em. Dark Matter is great because it’s fairly damaging for this part of the game in addition to making it so that we have a really easy set-up for Crafts that target an area, like any of Randy’s Crafts or Lloyd’s Accel Rush.   If you REALLY want to gently caress with them and turn them into the laughingstocks of Crossbell State, you just need to toss a Crash Bomb. The CGF in this battle have awful accuracy in the first place, and Crash Bomb will make it so that they can’t hit anything. Ever.   And… hell. If you really want to kick them while you’re down, just summon Zeit and watch them get neutralized completely. This battle can be hard if you don’t know what you’re doing. But given the sheer amount of options available to you, you’d be hard-pressed NOT to find an option to completely humiliate these poor bastards. I went with the Crash Bomb strategy my first time through this fight, and I came out of it fine.   From there, it’s just a matter of buffing ourselves with Inspiration and going at it with Lloyd’s Accel Rush and Randy’s Power Smash/Salamander. Yes, that man on the left there in the second screenshot is now blind, poisoned, on fire, and has ridiculously low defenses now. He retired from the CGF at the ripe age of 23.  And we robbed them. This is just sad at this point. Wasn’t this supposed to be a mock combat thing, anyway…? Caught Between Major Powers  Yeah, seriously! Way to beat them while they’re down, Special Support Section. You don’t do that to a man. …  (Middle-Left): It looks like Randy Orlando isn’t all talk, after all…Quick and easy… just how I like it. You guys did pretty good for recruits, but right now we’re a little too strong for you, huh?(Middle-Left): Dammit…!You guys are in really good shape… That’s to be expected of the CGF, though.That’s right… if we’d let our guard down even for a minute, we would have been overwhelmed....The request is over.Oh, right, riiiiight. Later, Vice Commander. We’ll catch you on the flip side, alright? Come on team, let’s g-Who said that it would end after one bout? ...What do you mean by that?...Sergeant! You’re up.YES, MA’AM!Noël pulls out two submachine guns and takes command of the soldiers.  Y-YES MA’AM!The troopers stand up.  ...As you can see here, I want you to fight the troops again while they’re under command of Sergeant Noël.W-What the hell!? You never said anythin’ about consecutive battles!And hell… it’s 4-on-5 too! We’re freakin’ outnumbered!Our Support Request was to attend our “training”. This is part of it, I’m afraid....Oh.You beat our recruits soundly in the previous battle. But with the addition of Sergeant Noël, I think the playing field is a little more even now. ...Great....It looks like the Vice Commander was a lot more craftier than we gave her credit for.I-I’m sorry this came out of nowhere like this… but in order to measure my own strength, I’ll fight with everything I’ve got! ...I thank you for accepting this challenge.Aw man, alright, alright! I got it!It looks like we don’t have a choice, now.Yeah, if it’s going to turn out like this, let’s give it everything we’ve got!...Well, since you so gratefully accepted, I’ll act as the referee this time.PREPARE FOR COMBAT!Formidable Enemy (Super Arrange)  I-If Sergeant Noël is with us, then I think we’ll be able to pull through this time!Yeah, let’s do this! Our opponents are the CGF… don’t forget that they’re experts at combat! They don’t look tired anymore, so let’s go all out too! Yeah…!...FIGHT!  Alright! Everyone knows that Round 1 is just the warm-up. Round 2 is where it really matters! ...Except not really, because you can employ the same strategy from the last battle in this one and win without much more difficulty. The main difference here is, of course, Noël.   As befitting of a Sergeant in the Crossbell  She can also extend her arms out in front of her like some kind of military zombie, and just loving riddle someone with holes until they turn into swiss cheese. Again… isn’t this a military exercise!? What’s with the live ammunition?   Finally, Noël can just straight up pull out a loving grenade launcher and shoot a sleep grenade in someone’s face. Now THAT’S how you get things done. There’s no “chill” in “Crossbell”, after all. Noël’s kind of awesome.  No matter how long I waited, the one thing I couldn’t get during this battle was Noël’s S-Craft. For some reason, her AI just didn’t want to use it. I don’t know why. I… could have sworn she used it in this battle. Maybe I ended this fight too quickly before she could use it or something. Or maybe it’s only on higher difficulties where she uses it. It’s odd. It’s also fine either way because we’ll be seeing it later in the chapter.    Still though, this fight is pretty much the same other than Noël’s inclusion. Crash Bomb + Zeit + Dark Matter + Inspiration is still the go to strategy for this fight. Pitch in Elie’s Holy Bullet if you’re having a hard time for some reason. Finish them off with group artes/Crafts. The only difference is that you may or may not want to use S-Crafts on Noël to speed things up a little.  Sorry, Sergeant. But that’s what happens when you bring dual SMGs to a police fight. You probably should have gotten the message when our 14-year-old party member started tossing black holes everywhere.  What if we pocketed their stuff… TWICE? Yeah… yeah! I like the sound of that! Take that Battle Scope with us too. It’s not like any of these jokers need it.  (Right): drat… We couldn’t do it after all, huh?(Left): Even though the Sergeant was fighting with us this time, we still lost…? Dammit, we’re pathetic!  It looks like I’m still inexperienced…Hey, don’t be so modest. I honestly thought we were going to lose this time.When you took over, the soldiers became much better organized. But I guess that’s what I’d expect from the new rising star of the CGF, or whatever.Ahaha… Thank you for your kind comments. At any rate, you don’t have enough experience right now. Unfortunately, the CGF can’t participate in large-scale combat training… But there are other ways for you to acquire experience outside of our exercises.You are now part of the Crossbell Guardian Force! Our job is to protect the citizens! And to do so, you must improve on yourself at all waking times.The CGF (and Noël) stand to attention.  Hmph… a good reply. As a reward, you’ll receive a special training course when your return to your posts. Until it’s been decided where you will be assigned, you will train every day… do you understand me?(N-Nooooooooo…)Ha ha… it looks like they’re no match for the Vice Commander....Good work, Special Support Section. Thanks to your efforts, this was a worthwhile training session.Ha ha, we’re really tired, though.I see that you can still stand and talk, though. Let’s head back to my office, shall we?  Your participation in our combat exercises was a great boon to us today.Not at all. Honestly, it was a great experience for us. We don’t normally get a chance to fight against the CGF, so… That’s right. We learned a lot from this as well....I just like winnin’....If we let you become their “punching bag”, as you put it, and then proceeded to overwhelm them completely, I’m afraid our reputation would sink even lower…Would you be fine with that, Mr. Orlando?...Petiote, ONE of these days…Ahaha, you lost out on that one.Heh… We’d like you to continue working hard as well. If we need you again, we’ll submit a Support Request. You have the CGF’s backing from shadows should you need it!Thanks a lot! We look forward to working with you in the future! And that’s a wrap! I just had to beat up some dudes and then had to beat up even more dudes. With this, Lloyd Bannings is a few levels away from being able to change his class from detective to beat-’em-up character. And if you think about it, Final Fight isn’t too far away from what Crossbell is. I don’t know about you, but I’d TOTALLY have Mike Haggar in my party for this game.  Our reward for clearing this Support Request is 3000 mira and 7 DP. The walkthrough I’m referring to doesn’t say anything about Bonus DP, but I’m assuming we got it from defeating the second battle against Noël. That’s it for now, I suppose. Next time we go back to Armorica Village as the Special Support Section gets hired as exterminators… again. Armorica Village is that one place in Crossbell where the monster-of-the-week attacks every time, isn’t it…?
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Aug 13, 2019 20:49
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Pyre of Word Salsa posted:...I miss the chest puns from Trails in the Sky. quote:
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Aug 13, 2019 22:29
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Man, Dark Matter's range got nerfed hard for Cold Steel.
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Aug 13, 2019 22:48
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I think the only time I've traded Sepith in was in Sky 3. You gotta outfit 16 people at the end, after all
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Aug 14, 2019 02:48
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I did a lot of Sepith trading in Cold Steel, because you end up being quite cash poor in those games.
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Aug 14, 2019 03:36
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I sold ingredients because real men starve on the battlefield
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Aug 14, 2019 03:53
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https://geofront.esterior.net/2019/08/14/trails-from-zero-90/ Editing at 90%, should hit 100% in the next month, QA after that. I’m guessing the patch will be ready to go by Christmas.
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Aug 14, 2019 17:55
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Good to hear. If it really comes to that, I'll put the LP on hiatus after the Intermission, which I should be getting around to at that point. I want to at least show off some of the patch during Chapter 4 and the Epilogue.
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Aug 14, 2019 20:17
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Some of the Evolution tracks can be worse than the originals, but I think this one really works.
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Aug 15, 2019 19:07
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Bonus Update: Lloyd Bannings vs. The World! Trails From Zero  Here we go again… another day for another update. Today in Trails From Zero, we’ll be exterminating the monster-of-the-week that Almorica Village wanted the Special Support Section to handle. So on the bus w… g… ...to…  ...rmoric…?  Okay, so gently caress that idea. We’re not going to Armorica. It’s a silly place. I ended up recording up to the Wanted Monster request, and I could use a little break. Though it’s more like I just want to put off describing the final overworld area as much as possible. So instead, I’m going to show off something very different than what we’ve done so far. ...Okay, and when I said “something very different”, I meant “something a little different. D.A.Y./BREAK  Instead of Trails From Zero, I’m going to show off Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga! This was a game released on the PSP all the way back in July 2010, about two months before Trails From Zero got released in Japan. As you can probably tell from the title, it’s a Japanese-only game, but you can find a partial translation patch in some places.  As to what the game is about… Well, I mean, it’s in the title. Ys vs. Trails in the Sky is a crossover game between Falcom’s two titular franchises. It’s pretty much Falcom’s answer to Dissidia, except that the battle system is based off of Ys 7. Have you ever wanted to beat the poo poo out of Olivier Lenheim with Dogi the Wallcrusher? Well, I got your back fam! “Okay… Why are you showing us this, Pyre of Word Salsa?” You might be wondering, “I mean, this is cool and all, but what’s the point?”.  The point is that Lloyd Bannings actually made his debut here! Apparently, he got into this game as a sort of promotional thing for Trails From Zero. You unlock him by gaining 25,500 BP (your total “score” for the save), which… is kinda ridiculous, since while you get a good chunk from beating the Story mode, you get very little from everything else. So yeah, good luck unlocking him legit if you were playing this game yourself. Or you could just be like me and download a 100% save off of GameFAQs.   In Ys vs. Trails in the Sky, Free Mode is basically the “versus” mode of this game. There IS an Ad Hoc mode where players can connect to each other’s PSPs, but unfortunately PPSSPP doesn’t support ad hoc in this game currently. I was going to pick Olivier as my punching bag, since everyone likes Olivier. But then I remembered a much more cathartic punching bag in this game’s roster… MUCH more cathartic.  Yes. You. You bastard. What was that BULLSHIT on Oath in Felghana’s Inferno difficulty!? If I existed in the universe where this game was taking place, I’d just send a Support Request to the SSS to arrest your rear end. Yes, you’ll do nicely…  Remember how I said this was sorta like Dissidia: Final Fantasy? It’s sorta the same thing here. You can put on equipment that you buy from the game’s shop, as well as deciding what character you want as support. Elie here joined in for the ride and I’ll be calling on her in combat, but you can mix-and-match however you like. Despite the fact that it’s… you know, Ys vs. Trails in the Sky, there are a bunch of Support characters from other Falcom games. Anyone from Chris and Julio (Legend of Heroes III) to Dela Delon (Brandish), or even Anelace if you want cuteness and justice, I guess. So THIS is where Anelace went after falling into non-existence after Trails in the Sky. I’ve gotta say, though… I think I like Elie’s portrait here a lot more than in Trails From Zero. It just feels like it has a lot more… style to it, I guess?  Like any other fighting game out there, once we’ve selected our characters, we can then pick a stage from a variety of Falcom games.  Hell, we can even ascend beyond space and time and fight in Nihon Falcom Corporation itself! I’m pretty sure that middle poster is of Trails in the Sky the 3rd, and I’d just like to think that Falcom’s managers or whatever just hung it up so soulless Kevin could stare at their employees all day long. That’s my personal canon, now.  Of course, since we have Lloyd and Elie, we have to have Crossbell. Or at least, Central Square of Crossbell. Unfortunately, we can’t just break the arena boundaries and go enact some police brutality on Revache. Go buy Trails From Zero back in 2010 to see what happens, you jerk.  Once we’ve selected our stage of choice, we can also set a time limit, the level of the CPU (as in levels that affect your stats), the occurrence of any items around the stage, and whether or not it’s in Training mode. I chose not to go on Training mode, so I could beat the poo poo out of Chester to my leisure. Childlike Eyes (No, this isn’t the stage theme. The stage theme is a song that only plays two times between Zero and Azure. I’ll post this for now.)    All characters participating in the battle will do a little pose and poo poo talk each other in Japanese during the intro. Hey, these polygons look familiar… well, if you played Ys 7, that is. That’s right, the Trails franchise briefly dipped into 3D before Trails of Cold Steel even ever existed. Man… I’d be down to explore Crossbell like this.   In any case, like any other fighting video game out there, we get an announcer initiating the beginning of the fight… somewhere. Maybe it’s Grace Lynn’s coffee boy doing the announcements. I can see him hamming it up in this Engrishy voice from some guy that Falcom picked up off the streets of Tachikawa, Tokyo.  Well, let’s talk about actual gameplay here. As I’ve mentioned before, Ys vs. Trails in the Sky is based off of the Ys 7 engine. So instead of an RPG, it’s an Action RPG. Big difference. Mashing the Cross button here multiple times will allow Lloyd to start a string of attacks.  The Square button, on the other hand, will allow Lloyd to perform evasive maneuvers. What this means in non-Ys speak is it will allow us to dash out of the way and give us a bit of breathing room. It… actually isn’t very useful for evading attacks in this game, given its nature. In an Ys game, it’s useful for dodging projectile attacks, but when you’re up against a melee fighter with attacks that can sorta track you… not as useful.  Pressing the Circle button lets Lloyd jump in the air, which is a distinct difference from Ys 7. While in the air, we can dash a greater distance, or attack. We can even sort of combo attack in the air, which is pretty useful.  Triangle allows us to block incoming attacks (although some damage may bypass the block). If we guard right before an attack hits us, we end up parrying them in a move called a Flash Guard and we get a brief moment of time where all of our attacks become critical hits. In addition, it also fills up our EXTRA gauge by a decent amount (indicated by the diamond right next to our portrait). The timing for Flash Guards in Ys vs. Trails in the Sky is… really difficult. Mostly because everyone’s attacks aren’t very well telegraphed and you don’t really know when an attack is coming up.  Of course, that isn’t the entirety of the gameplay. As funny as it would be, the game isn’t all about waiting for the other guy to attack and then Flash Guarding him before baiting him out again. Each character also has Crafts/Artes/Skills that they use. As you can probably guess, Lloyd has his Crafts from Trails From Zero, as well as two artes that he can use.  Skills requires SP to use in the first place. While SP can be gained naturally just by hitting the opponent, you can gain a lot more if you charge up by holding the Cross button before unleashing an attack.  Lloyd’s first skill, Stun Break, works just like his Craft in Trails From Zero… Except not really. It’s just an attack that shoots out some electricity. Taser tonfas are kind of a no go, I’m afraid.  Accel Rush, on the other hand, acts exactly like it does in Trails From Zero. You’re supposed to charge in the middle of three other enemies and whack them a bunch. The downside is that it’s less powerful than Stun Break.   Brave Smash is a Craft that we haven’t seen yet in Zero. It’s an attack where Lloyd sorta limbers up before charging all the way across the map in a fiery inferno. It’s… pretty powerful, and it’s probably the one Skill that you want to use in tandem with the next one on our list.  ...Which is this. Burning Heart is ridiculously good. It buffs Lloyd’s strength AND speed by a lot. To the point where using Brave Smash takes off a large chunk of an opponent’s health. Around… 3300 a hit at my current level and equipment, I’d say? Something like that. The point is that it does a lot.  In addition, Lloyd is now SUPER fast. It’s what happens when you invoke the hot-bloodedness of a shonen protagonist, you know? The big downside to Burning Heart is that after a set amount of time, Lloyd enters a “Faint” state where he can’t move, and all attacks dealt to him do much more damage. If you’re careful, you can actually reset the timer by reapplying Burning Heart again.  Finally, we have his two artes. The first one is where he invokes a very basic Stone Spike, which launches his opponent in the air and destroys Crossbell City’s infrastructure. Dammit Lloyd, City Hall has warned you about this sort of hooligan behavior.  Last but definitely not least, we have Crimson Ray, which is an attack in which Lloyd summons the power of his ENIGMA to send down a searing ray of light from the sun. From Crossbell with love, they say.  But we can’t forget about Elie, can we? By pressing L & R simultaneously, we can summon Elie to shoot bullets and heal us. Look, no one ever told her about how guns actually work between this game and Zero. They just work like that now. Don’t try that at home.  Once our EXTRA gauge has charged up (the diamond thing near our portrait), we can unleash Lloyd’s S-Craft, Tiger Charge. I mean… you’ve seen it plenty of times already in Zero. I think it’s self-explanatory, isn’t it?   Anyway, that’s pretty much it for Lloyd Bannings and Ys vs. Trails in the Sky in general. You just gotta lay out Chester like a loving rug, that’s all. Lloyd is a character that focuses a lot on power and speed, and dominates the field when everything is working for him (Read: Burning Heart). And that’s not including the fact that he has one of the highest, if not THE highest combo count in the game. The big downside to Lloyd is that he’s kind of poo poo at everything else: He can dodge and block for a little while, but due to his low stamina stat, he can’t do any of those for an extended period of time. So if you’re the type of player who blocks all the time, he is NOT the type of character for you. In essence, he’s sorta high-risk, high-reward. Are you good at getting away, buffing yourself, and MAYBE doing the occasional Flash Guard? Yes? Play as him. No? Go play as Adol or something. But enough of that! We’ve gone over the general gameplay now, as well as Lloyd and Elie. Let’s go ahead and take a look at Crossbell itself properly.    Well, we’ve all seen Crossbell before. I think this is pretty accurate. Over on the left side of Central Square, we can see a restaurant and the department store, as well as Back Alley. I… don’t think I’ve ever noticed that Back Alley sign before. I think it’s kinda funny that there’s a sign there that pretty much implies “Don’t go here unless if you want to be mugged!”  And… holy poo poo, Lloyd has some mad hops. I wasn’t expecting that, but here we are. He could practically just jump up and take that sign down if he needed to.   We can also just climb down the stairs leading to the SSS and find the building there. Chief Sergei’s probably drinking in there and wondering what the flying gently caress is going on out there. Interestingly enough, if you look at the sign there, you may notice that it looks completely different than our sign in Zero. The Special Support Section sign in Zero looks like this:  Completely different, right? My theory is that they changed the graphic for the final version for whatever, and what we got was this instead. Which is kind of a shame, since I like the sign in Ys vs. Trails in the Sky better.  In any case, that’s pretty much it. I don’t have much more to say. But as an aside, I did record a challenge video for myself… sorta. I had to redo the footage a few times until I was satisfied with the amount of action in it (especially the first battle), but here, take a look!  A 1-v-3 match. 2 out of 3! Live or let die! No items, Lloyd only, Crossbell City!
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Aug 16, 2019 02:16
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"I want to hire the Bright Family." "We have Bright Family at home." Bright Family at home: 
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Aug 16, 2019 20:40
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I can't find the Falcom thread, so I thought I'd ask this here, even if it's from the Sky games. Did anyone else notice that the manager of the Anterose in Bose is named Lechter? If that place wasn't pivotal to Olivier joining the party I probably wouldn't think anything of it, but Falcom has pulled off subtler things than that
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Aug 19, 2019 19:24
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:I can't find the Falcom thread, so I thought I'd ask this here, even if it's from the Sky games. I'd be surprised if it's who you're thinking of, because he was a student at Jenis just a year or so before that.
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Aug 20, 2019 02:36
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Part 38: “...Says the man who brags about himself all the time.” Armorica Village (Evolution)  Private Property Extermination! posted:Client: Mayor Tolta Alright, let’s head back on track. Our request for today takes us back to the quiet village of Armorica where the mafia’s attack dogs first attacked. And now they are being attacked by monsters. Sheesh, you guys really need to beef up your security around this place if a monster-of-the-week is attacking every time you go out for a tea party.   But first, we’re going to hit up one of the homes on the left for a Satisfying Carbonara. If a successful carbonara is satisfying, then does that mean a flop would make an UNsatisfying carbonara…? Something to think about. Either way, Satisfying Carbonara heals 20% HP and cures petrification. Even statues need to eat sometime.  Anyway, let’s talk to the mayor and get this Support Request started. Better now than later, I suppose…   Oh, if it isn’t the Special Support Section! You’re finally here! Thank you for accepting our request!News about your subjugation of the wolves have reached our ears as well! I was talking with the people around the village, and we decided to leave this request in your hands. We have great faith in your skills!Nah, we ain’t that good....Anyway, is this really the time to sit around and chit-chat?We’d like you to go over your request in more detail, if that’s possible.Yes, yes, allow me to give you a brief explanation on your task…According to your request… monsters have encroached on private property, correct?Yes, that’s the gist of it. I think you’ve seen it on your way to our village, but on the Old Path to Armorica, there is a storehouse on a patch of land that’s been fenced off. Recently, a gaggle of monsters have made their nest there, and are giving us no end of trouble. A monster nest… that IS a problem.Did anyone get hurt?No… at least, not yet. But because our tools are stored there, we can’t just stand by and let them have everything.Our confidence was bolstered by the results you brought in your last case, so we decided to send our request to you instead of the Bracers.Heh heh… alright! Score!You can be happy about it, but save it for later, OK?Sheesh, yeah, yeah… Come on, let’s go bust some monster heads!Yeah… we need to hurry. If we wait too long, their numbers will multiply and we’ll be overwhelmed.I take it you are accepting our request, then? ...Thank you very much. I’d like you to borrow this. With that key, you will be able to unlock the gate to the land. You can find it alongside the Old Path to Armorica to the South-East. It would be much more convenient for you if you took the bus down to the fork. Feel free to make use of anything you find in our storehouse. All that we ask is you exterminate the monsters.Yeah… Just leave it to us! Lemonade in Hand (Evolution)  If we leave Armorica, we can find the property alongside the northeast part of the road. It’s actually easier if we walk down to the storehouse on foot rather than by bus, like the mayor suggested. Looking at it now… I can see how the monsters got in. What’s the point of a gate if you can just hop onto one of those ledges in the back…? I bet the Special Support Section could even do it.  Welp, it’s not my place to quibble over semantics, I guess. Let’s just crack this thing open and get started. Honestly, if there was a jump button in this game, you could probably hop over this thing as well.     ...Okay, yeah. I’m with Lloyd on this one. What the gently caress ARE those things!?  Even then, I find it hard to imagine that monsters like these are inhabiting here.And it looks like the monsters gathered here are a lot more trouble than the ones we’ve seen on the other paths....I’m thinkin’ it was because of last month’s monster attacks. The monsters migrated down here to find feedin’ grounds or somethin’. So in a way, this was all due to Revache… Alright, let’s talk about this later. For now, let’s focus on the job. I’m opening the lock. ...Alright, let’s go, guys!  You heard the man. There are 6-7 groups of these… things that we need to tackle. And in order to complete the request, we need to wipe out each and every one of them. Either way, we’re doing the world a favor, since these jerks are an invasive species. At least on this side of Crossbell.  Over on the right side of the property, we can find the aforementioned storehouse containing a new fishing rod for us! I’ll just yoink that real quick. I’m pretty sure I’ve exhausted all the different kinds of fish with the basic rod alone by now.  Anyway, to prep for this sidequest, I ended up investing in Steel Wrists for the entire party. It might make the next string of battles go a lot easier for us. Arrest the Criminal (Evolution)   Enough of that, though. Let’s talk about the monster extermination itself. For all intent and purpose, this is basically a monster chest battle. Every monster group that we fight in this segment has the same formation and numbers. The one thing all of these battles have in common is that they can go south very quickly depending on what you do, and how fast they swarm you… if you don’t have Steel Wrists equipped, at least.  You see, these guys have a little attack called “Fragrant Aroma”, where they spew a bunch of fart gas at the Special Support Section. Fragrant Aroma covers a fairly decent area, but more importantly it has a high chance of inflicting Faint on someone for up to 4 turns. If no one has a Steel Wrist equipped (especially Elie), any one of these battles can go very badly for us very quickly, since there are eight of them and only four of us. What that means is that they can and will stunlock the party if they get a chance to.    But if you’re like me and you got Dark Matter early, well… Dark Matter neuters anything that attacks in a group in this game. Dark Matter, Zeit, Randy’s Crafts (to inflict burn), and Inspiration to make this go faster. Really, that’s all you need to defeat anything attacking in a group in Zero.   If you’re not like me and you don’t have Dark Matter at this point, Crash Bomb is your best Craft, like usual. These things can’t hit for poo poo while blind, so you can just pick them off at your leisure and reapply Crash Bomb when necessary. It’s the longer way of doing this, but it’s still very reliable. And hell, just have Tio start using her S-Craft whenever her CP hits 100 to make things go faster with this method.  Aside from that little Faint inflicting snag, that’s pretty much all there is to talk about. Repeat five or six more times across the entire area. That wasn’t too bad once you got the strategy down, right? I know I made it look easy, but it’s definitely a hard gauntlet to go through if you went into this request blind. It definitely was for me when I ran through my initial playthrough of Zero… Lemonade in Hand (Evolution)  Once we’ve cleared the entire place of monsters, we automatically get into a cutscene. That’s your little indicator that you’ve exterminated all of them, just in case you were wondering when to stop.  *sigh* Man, I’m tired. That was pretty tough. We were able to do it, though… I think that counts as our good deed for the day....Alright, shall we go report this to the mayor?Yeah, let’s go talk to him right away. When the cutscene ends, we can head back out through the gate. The game is nice enough to whisk us back to Armorica Village instantly here. I don’t see anything worth fighting on the way back, so we’ll just take the game up on its offer. Armorica Village (Evolution)  ...It looks like we’ll be back to tending the farms again in no time. Allow an old man to thank you, Special Support Section.Nah, you don’t need to! We were just doin’ our duty, that’s all. ...Says the man who brags about himself all the time.That said, you need to be more careful in the future. Since the property is located on the highway, it’s easy for monsters to slip through.Yes, I know… you’re right. I’ll tell the townsfolk to only go there when necessary… But to think that this was all because of the monster attacks.It’s been one month, and yet…There isn’t any proof, but it seems highly likely that is the case. But with the extermination on the property, I don’t think any monsters will go near it… for a time, at least.I see… Well, that’s a relief. Thank you. I’ll contact you if anything else happens.Just call and we’ll be there.If you’ll excuse us… Short and simple. Just how I like it.  For our efforts in this request, we receive 5 DP and 2500 mira. More importantly though, we gain a promotion to Detective Rank 10 and we receive the In any case, next time we’ll wrap up the remaining Support Request for today, explore yet another overworld area, and take a quick look at some optional areas. Look forward to more straight roads and the CGF Commander’s china collection. Pyre of Word Salsa fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Aug 23, 2019 |
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Aug 22, 2019 23:50
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Even after reading through the entire update, I still can't tell what those monster sprites are supposed to be.
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Aug 23, 2019 10:34
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They're anteaters standing on their front legs.
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Aug 23, 2019 10:42
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Hwurmp posted:They're anteaters standing on their front legs. I think those are tails, so more like Porcupines standing on their legs to expose the quills.
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Aug 23, 2019 17:42
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That's a Gladiator's Headband, not a Belt, right? It seems a bit early in the game to give out a Belt, which gives CP every round.
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Aug 23, 2019 17:55
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It's a Gladiator's Headband. I'll go back and edit the update to elaborate a little more on it. I forgot to edit in the music tracks, anyway. Update tomorrow, by the way. We're finally ending the last Support Request and getting back on track with the plot. 
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Aug 23, 2019 19:51
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These games have me so paranoid, I'm trying to figure out if we've met an Enforcer, Anguish, or Gralsritter yet
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Aug 23, 2019 22:51
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:These games have me so paranoid, I'm trying to figure out if we've met an Enforcer, Anguish, or Gralsritter yet Renne was literally on screen dude.
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Aug 23, 2019 23:48
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:These games have me so paranoid, I'm trying to figure out if we've met an Enforcer, Anguish, or Gralsritter yet literally everybody
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Aug 23, 2019 23:57
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Some Numbers posted:Renne was literally on screen dude. Oh right. Besides her
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Aug 24, 2019 00:12
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Part 39: “Don’t just address me like we’re equals, idiot!” Scene of a Street Corner Scene of a Street Corner (Evolution)  Wanted Monster: West Crossbell Road posted:Client: City Hall Alright, our last request for today is a Wanted Monster on a stretch of road that we haven’t been down before. So… you probably know what that means. If you guessed “overworld map”, give yourself a pat on the back. Crossing the Iron Bridge   *sigh* Welp, here we go, I guess. Welcome to West Crossbell Highway! Home to Bellguard Gate and… not much else, to be honest. Unlike the previous areas, which had Mainz and Armorica scattered throughout, West Crossbell Highway is honestly just kinda… barren, to be honest. If you didn’t pick up on it, we got here through West Street. We’ve gone north, south, and east, so it’s only natural that we go west, right?   ...I say that, but then I immediately remembered something important at this point: Madame Imelda sells end-game accessories that I can afford and make my life a lot easier. So I turned around, exchanged some sepith at the IBC, and then purchased a Silence Blue (ATS +25, SPD +5, Prevents Poison, Blind, and Burn) and a Passion Rouge (STR +25, SPD +5, Prevents Freeze and Petrify), which are accessories that give out some pretty good buffs! Normally, you don’t get them until… some treasure chests in Chapter 4, I think. Or, if you’ve been saving up, you should be able to get them in the Intermission chapter or Chapter 3 at the earliest. Right now, it isn’t very impressive. But Silence Blue and Passion Rouge are pretty straightforward end-game accessories that buff our party, and frankly, it won’t be THAT impressive until we get the next tier of Attack/Mind quartz. But… why not, really? It’s a long term investment.  So now Tio and Randy have stepped up from “fairly strong” to “slightly stronger than usual”. Good to know.    I’m not going to go too in-depth with the West Crossbell Highway, since you’ve seen everything Crossbell’s overworld maps have to offer. Once again, it’s just a matter of following the gray-bricked road until we reach our destination, following the occasional detour if you want treasure. Frankly, I’m more curious about how much funding gets allocated to maintaining these roads each year. Get Over the Barrier! (Evolution)   So, let’s just get into it then. Unlike the previous overworld areas, West Crossbell Highway boasts an impressive selection of monsters that we haven’t seen yet. It’s a lot like the Path to Armorica where there were a huge number of monsters that I had to cover, even though they only appeared on a few screens at a time. First up, we have these… lobster-insect monsters? They look more like lobsters than insects to me at any rate. Well, in any case, the lobster-insects here have a basic attack where they pinch someone for a small chunk of damage.  They can also use String Shot. Which, much like the move in Pokemon, can slow down the target for a couple of turns. Boy, am I glad that Randy has that Passion Rouge equipped now.  We also have their pink palette swap here as well. Functionally, they’re the same, but the pink bugs are much likelier to shoot out spider webs than their black variants are.  Next, we have the Ebony Drome, a slightly darker palette swap of the Grass Drome from earlier. Like the bugs, the Ebony Drome is functionally identical to the other Dromes we’ve bumped into so far. The only difference is that it uses Time artes instead.  We also have some overgrown beetles here, who will barf on anyone it feels threatened by. Or, in this case, Tio. It does the same thing as String Shot from earlier, except with a different animation. Bugs in this area are gross.  Zeit’s pack also makes an appearance. Well, it probably isn’t his pack… just some wild wolves trying to snack on the party for a bit. No, bad! Bad dogs! That sprite belongs to Good Boy only!  Anyway, the wolves attack by biting someone, and that’s all they will ever do. Color me unimpressed… Okay, unless if they’ve gone rabid and have rabies. Randy might be in trouble, then.  Finally, we have the mini-dinosaurs we saw back on the Old Path to Armorica. They’re pretty much just a stronger variant of the ones we saw back then. Bisection has a chance of causing faint, but not to a ludicrous extent, like we saw back near the private property. Easily handled, if a little bit obnoxious sometimes.  It’s worth mentioning that these midnight-blue bees start popping up later. Their stings have a chance of poisoning someone. Not very threatening either way.   Like usual, there is treasure that we need to cover. While there isn’t anything worth mentioning on the first screen (an EP Charge and a Reviving Balm, respectively), on the second screen, there’s a powerful monster chest just sitting near the bend. Obviously, we’re not tackle it right now given my current level. Even if I have Passion Rouge and Silence Blue, that doesn’t mean I’m going to pick a fight with whatever abomination that comes out of this chest… yet.   If we follow the path until a fork splits, we can find a Move 2 quartz and Tear Balm near a fence to the north. If I remember correctly that NO TRESPASSING fence leads to the railroad tracks that Bellguard Gate runs off on. Probably for the best… I can see one of those kids from Downtown walking on those tracks after their buddy dared them to. And probably turning into a bloody splat on the tracks once the train rolled by.  Finally, we can find a Proxy Puppet further down the road. Proxy Puppet is a unique and very situational item that probably won’t get used on a regular game of Zero. Whenever the equipped user dies, the Proxy Puppet breaks and prevents their death. Not that useful on lower difficulties, but I’ll keep it around, just in case.   Once we’re done exploring the highway, we can find our Wanted Monster jaywalking in the middle of the road like some jerk. Or my fellow suicidal college students who decide that it’s a good idea to look at their phones while jaywalking across the road. NO ONE would ever run them over, right!? I kinda always hope my car brakes give out when I see one of them crossing the road. I ALMOST ran over you, you gently caress. Or rather, you almost ran into the side of my car when I was moving at high speeds. Have some preservation for your own life, at least…  Uh, sorry about that? I went on a tangent there. Anyway, let’s kick this plant’s rear end. If it had one, I mean. Look, you know what I’m trying to say… Arrest the Criminal (Evolution)   Alright, it’s time to take on the bigger variant of the plants that we fought on the Mainz Mountain Path. Do you remember the plants that cause localized earthquakes in the area? Yeah, we’re fighting bosses of THOSE guys. As it turns out, the boss plants are much beefier than their smaller varieties. Maybe the small plants got sick of the SSS shoving them in a locker, and they decided to sic their older brothers on us. Summon Bigger Plant, so to speak.   Much like their younger brothers, Big Plant can summon up a huge loving earthquake to smash the party with. Unlike their smaller variants, the earthquake hits everyone for a huge chunk of damage. Previously, the earthquake only targeted one member of the SSS consistently every time it was used.  This becomes a HUGE issue, since there are three of them on the field. And it doesn’t help that all of them are damage sponges. Even Randy or Tio can’t do much to them. At most, they’ll do twice the amount of damage that Lloyd is doing right now.  Big Plant’s other attack is to send a huge wad of pollen to blind someone. Bleh, I can feel my sinuses acting up as I’m typing this right now.  There isn’t any real strategy with this fight. The bosses here resist Crash Bomb completely, and even beyond that, it’s a terrible idea to use any attacks that target foes simultaneously, like Accel Rush or Dark Matter. Do you remember what the request said about attacking the bosses together? Or rather, how the request told us NOT to do that? This would be why! Stand Up Battle Formation Again! Stand Up Battle Formation Again! (Evolution) Note: The Evolution version is kinda ehhh…? I’m not a big fan of it at any rate.  With three of the plants on the field, attacking them simultaneously will result in three earthquakes on their next turns. That’s nothing to brush off. Elie and Tio were taken out at the end here from an unfortunate quake. ...Of course, if I actually remembered what the Support Request actually said, this wouldn’t have happened.   So the strategy here is the opposite of what we’ve been doing the last few battles. Instead of attacking them in a group, we need to attack and defeat each plant individually. So no Dark Matter, no Zeit, and definitely no Crash Bomb. On the other hand, we definitely want Elie on Holy Bullet duty every turn, just to keep up our HP and CP. Remember: Bullets don’t heal people. People heal people.  It’s worth mentioning that while the plants can’t be blinded, they CAN be burned. So Randy should be using his Salamander Craft to try and light the plants on fire. I like to have Lloyd pitch in with Inspiration to make this go faster as well. ...Of course, YOU should do that. I’m going to do my own thing, because that’s how the Special Support Section on my save file rolls.  Once their HP has been lowered enough, the SSS should go all out with their S-Crafts. Is it kind of a waste of CP? Sure, but I think it’s worth burning through your S-Crafts on these jerks.   And that’s pretty much it for the battle! It’s rough if you did it like I chose to and attacked all three of them at any given time. But hey, I managed to get through it. And they even dropped some Diligence for us here! No wonder there were so many earthquakes in this area.  Our reward this time is 4 DP and 2000 mira. Hey, we’re getting pretty close to breaking 100 total DP, aren’t we…? Nice! Crossing the Iron Bridge  Yeah, pretty unusual if you ask me. When I was in the CGF, I passed by this area a buncha times, but I never saw anythin’ like that. ...Honestly, it’s kind of worrying that it was in the middle of the road. I mean, there’s even a bus stop right there.It looks like it was a huge obstacle for the buses, as well. I think we should report this to City Hall.Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. They were told that the bus service would resume immediately.  At least we can fast travel here now. We’re going to travel the rest of the way on foot, but it’s nice to have the option. Alright, now that we’ve opened the path back up, we are granted two options here: Going up north or heading down south. If you guys can see the signpost right there, Bellguard Gate is to the north. Vice versa, going to the south leads to…   ...The Crossbell Police Academy! Yes, this is the place Lloyd and his two cop buddy NPCs were trained. Unfortunately, we can’t get into the police academy right now… at least in Zero. But if we want Lloyd to go back and hit the books and run laps, we know where to go to now. He needs to burn off all those calories gained from munching on donuts, anyway.   Yeah, it’s uh… pretty high security here. I don’t think they tell you this anywhere in Zero, but the huge gate is here because the prison is right next to the academy. Which kinda falls flat, since any escaping prisoners can escape through the woods past that gate. Oh, well. It’s the thought that counts?   This was where Mr. Bannings was enrolled, right? Apparently, they have a wide selection of equipment used to train recruits.Yeah, but it’s also where the police and the CGF can run joint exercises together. Past the gate here is a winding path through the forest. You can reach the training facilities at the end of it....Well, I say that, but it’s not like I’ve seen much past this gate either. ...Huh?What do you mean by that?I was directly transported here from the station in a railroad car. I confined myself to the dorms for the next few months after that in order to study for the Detective Exam.Oh, I see. So that’s what happened.Hey, the hell is this? You can’t just waste your youth like that! If you got all that free time, you shoulda spent it gamblin’ away your money and enjoyin’ the nightlife!Projecting much, Mr. Orlando?Ha ha…(...I swore to myself that I wouldn’t return to Crossbell until I passed the exam. What was I thinking…? I really was too obsessed about becoming a detective back then.) Warning: This is canon. Lloyd Bannings was that one guy who shut himself in his room all day long in order to get that 4.0 GPA. He doesn’t even have real books on his bookshelf… just textbooks. They’re all textbooks. Just… I don’t know, The Art of Handcuffing? Criminal Psychology and You? Or maybe Police Brutality for Dummies.   In any case, once we’re done exploring the area around the police academy gates, we can mosey on back north in the direction of Bellguard Gate. Notably, there is a monster chest on the way here that contains something very special and important to Estelle Bright.  Namely, Strega Σ (DEF +24, MOV +2). Somewhere out there in the wild wilderness, Estelle Bright has shed a single tear at the recovery of a precious artifact. I ended up giving it to Randy, becaaaause I don’t know! In hindsight, it would have been better to give it to Tio. But I think I gave it to Randy, since I saw that his movement range would be boosted to 9, and I was on board with that.  It’s also worth mentioning that there is a fishing spot right next to the chest.  Despite the fact that I wanted to break in my new rod… I couldn’t catch anything here with the Feather Tackle. This spot just doesn’t like my choice of bait right now, apparently.  But hey, we can still catch fish with the beginner rod and an earthworm. Eels infest the waters here. This is making me think of those giant eel inhabited waters near that one cliff in the Princess Bride, and it would be very unfortunate if someone just fell in this lake.    We can head north for another map or so until we reach Bellguard Gate. It says it right there on that signpost. Well… what’s the worst that could possibly happen? Besides getting chewed out by the CGF Commander for intruding on his dinner or “CGF business” or however he wants to call it. Caught Between Major Powers Caught Between Major Powers (Evolution)   If Tangram Gate guards the border between the Crossbell and the Republic Calvard, then it stands to reason that Bellguard Gate has the same exact function. Except for the fact that it guards the border between Crossbell and the Erebonian Empire instead. I can see why the CGF Commander may have been swayed to the Empire’s politicians given Crossbell’s inherent corrupt nature and the fact that he’s probably taken numerous bribes here. Especially if Revache had a smuggling operation going around here before Heiyue moved in.  Bellguard Gate is pretty much just Tangram Gate, except flipped around and angled in a different way.  In fact, the only difference between the two is this foreboding tunnel (called Garrelia Fortress) leading to The Bridge of Twin Dragon and Celdic, the Market Town, by extension. See those pillars on either side? If I remember correctly, those contain revolving doors that contain cannons pointed at Bellguard all the time. This is actually a pretty nice contrast with Calvard in some ways. While the Republic of Calvard has good relations with their neighboring countries and is relatively open, the Erebonian Empire is closed off, has strained relations with their neighbors, and isn’t as friendly. And it shows between how the two countries handle their borders. Anyway, let’s go talk to some of the CGF around here and get a feel for what’s going on around here.  ...Well, it’s probably better to say that he’s absent all the time. Day in, day out, he’s always busy dining with those Empire politicians.(Tch… he hasn’t changed at all.) (notices Randy) Hey, aren’t you… Randy? Randy! It’s been a while!...Hey.Man, am I glad to see you again! I never thought you’d show your face here. Take it easy, man. We need to maintain neutrality so that the Empire and the Republic won’t wage war on us. That’s why we’re the “Guardian Force” instead of the “military”.  Hey, do you guys remember how we got that one recipe from the cafeteria in Tangram? If we talk to the lunch lady twice here, we can get something as well.   Or you can just hop on a bus to Bellguard Gate and purchase it from the lunch lady for 2800 mira. There’s that too.  On the second floor, we can find… a certain individual of interest here. She’s the third and last of the three characters (Michel, Abbas) that don’t have a portrait in Zero, but DOES have a portrait in Azure. That probably indicates that she’s a little important at least, so let’s go talk to her...  Yo, Mireille! You doing okay, sarge? R-Rude like usual… Listen up, okay!? I’m a Warrant Officer now! Don’t just address me like we’re equals, idiot!Welp, my bad.Hey, then again… I’m not in the CGF anymore, am I? So I’ll just call you whatever I like, alright Mireille?...D-Do what you want! It’s not like I care… : “B-Baka, it’s not like I care about you or anything, you idiot (x2)!” : *snaps fingers*That sums up their relationship pretty well, I think. Don’t expect to see Mireille too much. She doesn’t have much presence in Zero, but given that she’s the only one keeping the command structure at Bellguard, I think we can give her a pass.    This is the great, all-mighty Commander’s room.It doesn’t look like he’s here, though. Where did he go…?Probably havin’ a drink with some hotshots over in the Empire Faction… He’s always leaves everythin’ to the little people under him.In that case, we probably shouldn’t meet him then....Huh? Why do you wanna do that for?Look, Lloyd. Even if you wanna pay him a visit, don’t drag me into it, okay? It would be REALLY awkward if him and me saw each other right now.Y-Yeah, you do have a point there. Really though, this room is in poor taste. It would take tens of thousands of mira alone to buy those antiques on the shelves.It’s hard to believe that this is the Commander’s room…...To be fair, he probably got them from whoever bribed him.Geez, this is a gigantic waste, though. If it were up to me, I’d take all that money and start throwing it at the Entertainment District. Getting some babes and spending the night at the casino… now THAT would be heaven. ...I regret to inform you that you and the Commander are kindred spirits. You could be spending that money on powerful quartz or end game equipment, Commander. What are you even doing with your life…? Come on, get it together.  Before we leave and end this update, we can head past the Commander’s room to pick up an Iron Leggings from a chest. Iron Leggings give DEF +16, MOV +1, and ADF +8. That’s going right on Tio, since she doesn’t move much from her starting position.  Anyway, that concludes our Support Request for today. More importantly, this was the final overworld area I had to explore! So, high-fives all around. Next time, we get back on track as threats, Broadway, the Chinese Triad, and the sewer 4Chan Hackerman begin spicing up the plot as Chapter 2 of Trails From Zero continues.
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Aug 25, 2019 00:04
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I want an RPG where a main character is just average. No tragic backstory, no great destiny for them, it's just a normal, average person. Pleasant childhood, happy family, no underlying trauma or big secrets that lead to Drama Bombs
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Aug 25, 2019 00:31
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:I want an RPG where a main character is just average. No tragic backstory, no great destiny for them, it's just a normal, average person. Pleasant childhood, happy family, no underlying trauma or big secrets that lead to Drama Bombs Skies of Arcadia. Both parents are alive, not a chosen one, just a pretty normal kid.
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Aug 25, 2019 00:47
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quote:
I think this is the first time Tio's snark has jumped out at me. Good, good.
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Aug 25, 2019 00:48
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- Evolution "Arrest the Criminal" isn't really worse than the normal version, but it isn't much better than it either. - I like the normal "Stand up Battle Formation Again" a lot, but the evolution version sucks. - Here, they're called "Nepenthes G", but players of Sky SC or CS 2 would immediately go "Friggin' Abyss Worms". I hate those assholes. - I've already forgotten what the "Diligence" item is.
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Aug 25, 2019 04:59
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Pyre of Word Salsa posted:Pyre of Word Salsa posted:Pyre of Word Salsa posted:
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Aug 25, 2019 06:59
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You really remember the Cliffs of Insanity as just "that one cliff"? It was quite a setpiece.
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Aug 25, 2019 07:10
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I mean, hell if I remember what it was called. I liked the Princess Bride and all, and I can recall the basic plot and the lines, but not the location names. I usually type these updates through stream of consciousness anyway, and frankly I didn't even remember that the cliff even HAD a name until you mentioned it. I just know it as that one really good setpiece where Dread Pirate Roberts/Wesley climbed his way up and dueled with Inigo Montoya. And the whole wine switcharoo, if you even count that as part of the cliff.Commander Keene posted:I feel like Crossbell is supposed to be Japan. Their government changed radically in the relatively recent past, they're not allowed to have a traditional standing army (Japan's military is called the Self-Defense Force, IIRC, and isn't allowed to do much outside the country's borders), and they're an economic power with a specialization in the technology sector. Yeah, it does have that feel, doesn't it? Pyre of Word Salsa fucked around with this message at 13:19 on Aug 25, 2019 |
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Aug 25, 2019 13:17
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Part 40: “No, it’s fine! We’re… kind of used to it at this point.” Scene of a Street Corner  Back to the plot at last. So, I never mentioned this until now, but I did make one factual error a few updates ago. I believed that we got this scene after the Wanted Monster request, but in order to progress the plot we actually had to do the Armorica Village request. Whoops! None of you noticed anyway, but if you’re wondering why we’re entering back through the East Street… well, this would be why. Lloyd’s communicator rings.   Mr. Bannings, sir! Oh good, it looks like it’s connected now!Fran…? You don’t usually contact us directly. What’s up? Did something happen?Um… well, you see, there’s someone at the office waiting to see you. Can you head down and meet with her right now?Sure. But shouldn’t you just send us the request through the terminal like usual?I-I would, but apparently it’s a very serious matter. N-Not to mention that they came to see the SSS in person… I thought you might have wanted to meet up with them.O-OK… I get it. So you want us to return to the Special Support Section?That’s right. I’ll tell her to meet you there. How long will it take for you to get there?Hmmm… well, we might be a little late. Can you tell her to wait inside if she gets there first?OK… Thanks for your cooperation in this, Lloyd!Fran hangs up the phone.  Yeah, apparently it’s pretty serious. Let’s wrap up any remaining Support Requests before heading back....Okay.Yo, Lloyd! Did Fran say anythin’ about her looks!?...How should I know?One fast travel later…  Hello?It looks like she got here before we could. (notices SSS) A-Ah! Sorry, I didn’t know you were there! I just entered by myself, um, y-you see-No, no, it’s fine. HQ told us about you ahead of time. You were the one that wanted to consult with us, right? Welcome to the Special Support Section.O-Oh, in that case...  Thank you for accepting my request! (Lloyd, you bastard! Hoggin’ all the chicks to yourself!)(Her beauty is… blinding.)(*sigh* Men… don’t just STARE!)(Right Lloyd!?)(H-Hey, why me?) *cough* Anyway, please have a seat here. You can tell us your story when you’re ready.C.S.P.D. −Crossbell State Police Department− C.S.P.D. −Crossbell State Police Department− (Evolution)    Ms. Platiere received a letter from an unknown sender. Oh, um, Ms. Platiere is th--The “Fiery Dancer”, the international sensation, the star of the Arc-en-Ciel herself… Ilya Platiere!Heeeeell yeeeeeeah! I never thought we’d get a request concerning her!...You’re a child.Even I know who she is… But you say a threat was sent to her?That’s right. She was convinced it was a prank, but the contents of the letter was… ominous, so to speak. I didn’t think it was a prank....So I talked to the Director, and he told me to try consulting with the police....Who is in possession of the letter?Ms. Platiere has it right now. I just managed to stop her from tossing it away.In that case, our first objective is to have her show us the letter.You said your name was “Rixia”? If you’re coming to us with this request, that means you have some sort of connection with Arc-en-Ciel too, right?Oh, um, yes. I’m just one of the actresses. I’m still a complete amateur, so… W-What’s with the shouting all of a sudden!?I knew I’d seen your face somewhere before… you were in that one article about the new play! You’re the actress that plays the “Moon Princess” that complements Ilya’s “Sun Princess”! They say that you’re a prodigy actress that was hand picked by Ilya Platiere herself!(sweating) N-No, I’m not THAT good… I still need a lot of training. I haven’t done anything except to get in the way. Honestly, it’s probably still too early for me to debut on the stage.*giggle* Even then, it’s pretty amazing that you’ve managed to do all of this. If you were picked by the Arc-en-Ciel, you WILL debut, whether you like it or not.B-But…Ha ha… anyway, from what you’ve implied, it seems that Ms. Platiere isn’t concerned about any of this?T-That’s right. She doesn’t anyone entering the theatre, since it would distract us from performing to the level of perfection. “ESPECIALLY not those clowns in the police”, were her exact words. I… have no words.Then why are we talking about this? We’re not wanted there, right? I saw you in that one article a month back, and you feel a little bit friendlier than your regular police… And, you know, I thought Ms. Platiere would agree if it was you guys....It’s not like I want to advertise them or anything, but what about the Bracers? Ilya Platiere IS a citizen of Crossbell… if you consult with them, I’m sure they could lend a few bodyguards....Well, you see, the Bracer’s Guild are popular in Crossbell. If they were to go in and out of the theatre before the performance, there would be a lot of rumors going around, and we wouldn’t get as good of a turnout.Since the Special Support Section isn’t as well known as the Bracers, I went to the police instead… N-No, it’s fine! We’re… kind of used to it at this point.I think we have an understanding of the general situation now, though....I’d like to accept this case, but what do you guys think?I agree, of course.There are no objections here.’Course I’m in! How could I NOT be in! This is the chance of a lifetime!Well, there you have it, Ms. Mao. You can leave the threat in our safe hands.T-Thank you SO much! In that case, I’ll head back to the theatre first and tell them you’ll be arriving soon! Feel free to enter when you’re ready!See you later, sweet Rixia!  We can’t start anywhere if we don’t see the letter.Right… there is the possibility that it IS a prank.Aw yeah! I am SO stoked! This is the best day of my life! Woooooooo! We get to see Ilya in person!You might be happy, but I only feel nervous about this. It isn’t everyday you meet a celebrity like Ilya Platiere, after all…Really? I guess I can see that… she looked like a beauty when I saw her in a magazine, after all....I’m looking forward to this. Arc-en-Ciel (Evolution)  Alright, off to the Arc-en-Ciel we go. The last time we were here was… back in the Prologue? Something like that. Barring the casino we visited in Chapter 1, of course. That doesn’t count. In any case, we need to hit up that really big building in the back there.   Of course, now that we’re SUPPOSED to enter Broadway as the plot dictates, the game now gives us a pretty clear overview of the whole building. Is it just me or does that poster over there invoke Wicked vibes in anyone…? I think I might have asked that already.  It almost feels… new.The Arc-en-Ciel is only 20 years old. Compared to City Hall, it isn’t very old.(The Arc-en-Ciel, huh…?)(When I was younger, Guy and Cecile usually took me here…)(notices Lloyd’s introspection) Hey, somethin’ wrong? ...No, it’s nothing. Let’s head inside. We don’t want to keep them waiting. Daybreak (Note: Muffle your speakers if you want to know how it sounds right now.)   *giggle* The entrance has a lot of atmosphere, doesn’t it?The old man by the counter blocks the SSS’s way.  My apologies, ladies and gentlemen. Currently, our theatre is off-limits to unauthorized personnel.No, uh… we’re actually the police. We received a request from one of your actresses…Ah, are you from the Special Support Section? Then I bid you welcome to the Arc-en-Ciel. Ms. Mao has already informed of what she’s done. You are here to talk to Ms. Platiere and the Director, I assume?That’s right. Can they talk to us right now?Of course they can! Please enter the theatre through the front door. The Director and Ms. Mao are currently overseeing her practice session.Would that really be alright? We wouldn’t want to interrupt anything…No, no, she isn’t one to be trifled about such trivial matters. In fact, she would be happy to grace you with a performance. I-I get it… I think.Alright, c’mon! What are we waitin’ for!  Please proceed to our doors in the front to reach the theatre. Now that we’re in the Arc-en-Ciel, well… the railroad tracks have taken hold. Lloyd won’t let us in the other rooms and bug the cast members while they’re changing into their costumes or whatever. It’s unfortunate, but I’ll have hold that off on that until the end of Chapter 2.  I guess we don’t have any other choice, then. Daybreak  (...Wow…)(That’s… breathtaking…)   ...Hm?Arc-en-Ciel (Evolution)  W-We’re so sorry for interrupting you!But… how should I put this… That was amazing!Man, I think I died and went up to heaven for a moment there!*giggle* Thanks!Ilya hops off the stage.  Wait, what!?There’s still room for improvement…?Of course! This is merely only MY role in this scene. Once the “Moon Princess” joins in… well, you’ll just have to see how well we synergize ourselves! And I haven’t even talked about how impressive the ending is!W-Wow…I can’t even picture it, if I’m being honest…Heh heh… Anyway. Rixia, are these the guys you were talking about?That’s right! They’re the ones from the Special Support Section.Hmmm, well you don’t give out those tin man vibes that the other coppers give out, at least. But still… you’re going to perform an investigation, right? I don’t want you doing that just for a little prank! Now, now, Ilya. We are all worried about this. Why don’t you just…Hmph, I’m not fond of lowering the stakes and letting the sender have his way. It’s just not my style.Maaaaybe if Rixia let me fondle her for a moment, though…N-No way…*sigh* Honestly, what do we even do with you…?(...She... has a completely different persona than she does on stage.)(...My old perverted geezer senses are tingling right now.)(Well, they do call her an eccentric for a reason.)(You’ve gotta admire her moxie, though.)I-I’m sorry about this. I’ll try to convince her some other way. Um… Lloyd, I’ll lead you and the others to the waiting room. So if you could ju-Wait, what did you just say, Rixia?Ilya invades Lloyd’s personal space.  She just called you “Lloyd”, right? Was she referring to you?Well… yes. (Y-You’re way too close! Back up!)...And? Your full name?My… full name? It’s Lloyd Bannings…   And in a classic anime move, Ilya smushes Lloyd’s face into her breasts. Or maybe she’s hugging her. It’s kinda hard to tell, really. Either way, just don’t kidnap an officer of the law and force him on stage. That wouldn’t end well for your career, Ms. Platiere…  Same.  Hey… hey!Ms. Platiere…!?What on earth are you doing, Ilya!?My, my, the world is such a small place! I never thought I’d meet the acclaimed younger brother like this!...Now that I think about it though, she did say you joined the police or something like that. *giggle* You are EXACTLY how I pictured you to be!W-Wait, wait. You called me the “younger brother”, right? Does that mean you know Cecile…?Of course I do! She’s my best friend! We’ve been BFFs ever since Sunday School ten years back.O-OK, then.Ilya lets go of the death hug and stands back.  I am Ilya Platiere, the heart and soul of the Arc-en-Ciel! It’s nice to meet you, Special Support Section!C.S.P.D. −Crossbell State Police Department−  Honestly, Ms. Platiere, you almost gave Lloyd a heart attack when you hugged him! Come on, Rixia. Lighten up a little! It’s not like he minds, right?...Ha ha…...(First Cecile and now her…)(Oh for fu- I call foul! This is totally unfair! I have seniority over you! This guy!)(sweatdrop) U-Um, ANYWAY. About the message…Oh, right. If it’s a request from Cecile’s cute younger brother, there’s no way I can refuse. Here, it’s this.Ilya hands over the letter.  Let’s see here… Put a halt to your new performance. If you refuse to comply with this message, tragedy will befall on the one they call the “Fiery Dancer”… Gin  They want you to stop the new performance…? “If you refuse to comply, tragedy will befall on the one they call the “Fiery Dancer”…”Sounds like a threat to me.Don’t be silly. Isn’t it just a prank? Honestly, it’s gotten to the point where I’m used to stuff like this now....Really?We get those every now and again. But they’re mainly threats attributed to jealousy or arrogance. However, there’s something about this letter that bothered me....You talkin’ about the sender’s name?Correct. Most of the letters we’ve received up until now have been unsigned, but this one…...This time, it was signed by someone calling himself “Gin”. I… just can’t think of this as some prank.Honestly, you two have overactive imaginations.Hey, does “Gin” ring a bell to you guys?Nada. Not in the slightest. Is that even a person’s name to begin with?It might be some sort of title…...If we were to talk about foreign languages, “Gin” translates directly to “Silver”, which is part of our play’s title. But that’s about it…Aside from that, can you think of anything else that might have happened recently. Excuse my rudeness, but was there something that you did that could have attracted negative attention from someone?W-Well…Oh, goodness. Don’t tell me it was because of THAT.(?) Huh? Did you guys do something?(sweatdrop) Goodness gracious, Ilya…WE didn’t do anything. YOU were the one that did something. Don’t you remember what happened the other day with that CEO?Oh, are you talking about that old bald guy? I couldn’t give less of a drat about that. I forgot all about him a few minutes after talking with him.Everyone: *sweatdrop*  Some greasy looking guy named Marconi. Apparently, he’s the big guy behind those thugs in “Revache & Co.”Revache & Co…!?(!) Hey, guys… could just be me, but I don’t think this is a coincidence.(?) Something wrong?Well… let’s just say that it isn’t a name you hear every day. Can you give us the details on this meeting, for lack of a better term?...Marconi usually brings in customers on business. He always uses the VIP seats, so it seems like he’s an extremely affluent individual. But despite all of that, he isn’t interested in our plays in the slightest.And that extended to me as well. I get really grossed out when he looks up and down my body with those creeper eyes of his....You ARE unusually observant when it comes to that.Why so surprised, director? Everything in that room is my own little cloister… the theatre, music, and the audience.Anyway, recently that bald fat jerk approached me. He kept going on and on about how he wanted me to debut in the Heimdallr Opera House over there.Out of curiosity, were you planning on it?It’s a complicated matter. We usually get requests not only from the Empire, but the Republic as well. They often give us “limited-time offers”, so we’ve been thinking about giving one-off special performances. We even got an offer from the Grand Arena in Liberl very recently.I never knew how amazingly popular you were until now. But here’s the thing: Why did Revache’s president talk about being your patron.He has powerful connections in the Erebonian Empire. But given his position in Crossbell, it’s likely that they’re the type of people you want to avoid… ...If I had to hazard a guess, Revache has deep ties with the Empire. They most likely control the underground there.So what happened to him in the end…?Oh, I refused. Politely, of course. And then I slapped him across the face so he wouldn’t do it again. ...Ouch. I guarantee you that slap went viral on Orbal Facebook. A cutscene slap isn’t something you shrug off just like that.  She did… I almost fainted when it happened.I confess that I was much in the same state of mind. But he really brought it upon himself when he tried to feel up Ilya… it was rude, even reckless.The people around us supported our actions as well, so he had no choice but to back down....It’s pretty possible that he hasn’t forgotten how much you humiliated him, and he’s tryin’ to get revenge now.There is a motive in that, at least… First, we’ll examine the few clues we have from every angle available to us. Ms. Platiere, do you mind if we hold on to this letter for the time being?Of course not. Go right ahead.*giggle* I like the look in your eyes now.Huh?You have the same fiery look we have when we get on stage. Hm… alright, I’ll put my faith in you. I think you’ll do a good job. I will leave everything to you, if to ease Rixia’s concerns.Ms. Platiere…In that case, we accept this request.We’ll do our best to live up to your expectations. Ha ha… well, everything depends on how we tackle this case from here on out....It’s looking like we won’t be able to deal with this through normal investigative methods.O-Oh, I guess you’re right…Um… by the way, could you talk to me a little more casually? I’m still a complete amateur, not to mention that I think I’m a little younger than you and Elie. I… just feel really uncomfortable when you refer to me so politely like that.I-Is that right? In that case, I’ll refer to you by your first name, how does that sound?That’s fine! That’s more than fine! I’ll be right there, Ms. Platiere! ...Please excuse me. If you uncover new information behind this case, please feel free to drop by immediately!  Apparently, practice becomes REALLY intense right before the actual performance. If they get caught up on that letter right now, they’re not gonna get anythin’ done....You’re right.And if we can solve this case and prevent the new play from shutting down, it’ll all be worth it.Yeah… I agree.  Right now, we just have Revache as a clue, but…”Gin” also feels like something we should follow up on.Hm…  
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Aug 26, 2019 17:49
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Indeed, signing a threatening letter is a notable oddity. It usually only makes sense to do so if the name has a special significance to the sender or recipient.
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Aug 26, 2019 18:10
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Huh. I guess there ARE straight Elies in the world then.
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Aug 26, 2019 20:40
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Hey, in your head, are you pronouncing "Gin" with a hard G, like the type of alcohol? Or with a softer J, like the Japanese name "Jin"?
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Aug 26, 2019 22:58
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G as in .GIF
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Aug 26, 2019 23:12
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Indeed, signing a threatening letter is a notable oddity. It usually only makes sense to do so if the name has a special significance to the sender or recipient. Knowing the Black Organization, this is clearly a convoluted scheme to involve the police so that Gin can replace one of the troupe members with Vermouth so they can assassinate a member of the audience. Of course, the detectives will realize what's going on because someone uses a piece of string and a cat to- Wait, no, wrong detectives. Also, just so people know, it's Yín, not Gin: Yín is Chinese for Silver (and money in general,) Gin is what people drink before they smash the bottle and start yelling things about the police.
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Aug 26, 2019 23:17
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Most likely the translators saw a kanji and didn't notice any pronunciation notes and rendered it as the Japanese for silver, which is indeed "gin". Which would also mean it's a hard G.
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Aug 26, 2019 23:33
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Hwurmp posted:G as in .GIF Dude, it's pronounced "gif". Like in the sentence "I wish my friends would learn to use their own words instead of sending me gifs all the time"
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Aug 26, 2019 23:40
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| # ? Jun 9, 2024 10:49 |
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MNG as in the Dynasty...?
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Aug 26, 2019 23:51
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