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Hwurmp posted:
That's a generic female Samurai from Final Fantasy Tactics
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Feb 1, 2021 04:38
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W.T. Fits posted:No, that's Kabuto. No, that’s Karin. Kurando Mitsutaka is a prominent director of Japanese action films such as Sky Sharks and Gun Woman. Didn’t realize he was around in the later years of the First World War, it his films fit right in with the Shadow Hearts style of storytelling, so it’s not too surprising he’s in the games. achtungnight fucked around with this message at 05:22 on Feb 1, 2021 |
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Feb 1, 2021 05:20
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No, no I think you all are thinking of Yusuke's loud, orange-haired friend from Yu Yu Hakusho 
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Feb 2, 2021 06:27
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 Episode C: Purgatory  Music: Grey Memories ~ Map of Japan .jpg) We now have access to The Bacon Jet and can freely return to the Europe map at any time from this point forward. The plot will not actually take us back to Europe for a very long time and even then it's just a day trip. The Disc 2 European adventures are almost entirely the realm of side quests. Most of them of the ongoing sort, but there are a few bonus dungeons and what have you. The thing is... do you remember how in the previous game entering the final dungeon for the first time was the unlock flag for most endgame content? Yeah... Shadow Hearts: Covenant doesn't quite do that. I learned this the hard way by wasting an hour doing a quest that involved running across several earlier maps and doing a timed arithmetic test, that Shadow Hearts 2 will let us initiate several endgame side quests almost to completion. Except, the final step, you know, the reward phase, is absolutely locked off until we hit the final dungeon. I'm jumping between three different FAQs and an official guide I found scans of and they all sequester side quests to their own segments and NONE of them mentioned you can do 98% of a quest and have it completely stall out. There is one that is all just talking to people across the Europe map and having long flashbacks and you catch up to the person involving the quest and they... just lock the door, pretend to be the character's mom saying they're not there and tell you to get lost until the endgame. So we're just mainlining the main quest and only hitting side quest stuff as it presents itself along the main path (see: the trading quest.) .jpg) It's been a time since we've looked at our stats. It didn't help I had to take a couple of extended hiatuses because my body is falling apart at the seams. We're now Rank 60 and equivalent to a giant cat. I'll take it... .jpg) I refuse to ever do a shortcut and will forget once more that is even a mechanic after I scroll to the next screenshot. .jpg) Ouka, Hien, Raiden, and Nicolai are just destined to sit unused at the bottom of this screen for the rest of the game. .jpg) Hmm... Can you tell who my preferred party members are...? .jpg) Enough of that. We now have a new location on the Japan World Map of the Forest of Wind. Which is an area we'll have to shuffle through in order to reach Katsuragi. Katsuragi is an actual set of mountains along the Osaka prefecture. The game doesn't specify which Katsuragi we're heading toward as there is an Izumi, Minami, Naka, and Yamato Mount Kitsuragi. But... I suppose it doesn't really matter when the last major event was fighting a mad scientist in a flying mecha contraption in 1917 and we're riding in a Welsh jet made by a 400-year-old philosopher. Music: Field of God-Dog ~ Village of The Dog God .jpg)  <looks around> This is... just like the place from before..jpg) It's missing a bench and a strange English gentleman but it's otherwise uncanny..jpg)  <smiles> Yeah. It's from my earliest memories as a child. It's exactly the same... There wasn't supposed to be a bench with a ghost British warlock. That was a Yuri's weird headspace dimension exclusive. I would hope so. What are you two talking about? Huh? Oh, it's nothing..jpg)  Wow! What a beautiful mountain! Mount Katsuragi. It's considered a holy mountain. A holy mountain? Legends say that a god lives here. Wow!! Given what I have gathered from recent events, I would prefer not to fight the god. But... Is someone waiting for us? I think so. The old man said they'd have a character portrait. So they're probably important. Or... it's another wolf bout for Blanca. They're giving them out fairly generously in this adventure..jpg) .jpg) Blanca's keen wolf ears hear an ominous bell ringing in the distance and stops to sniff the air. .jpg)  <looks ahead and growls> What is it, Blanca?! Grrr... (Be careful. Something's strange...) Grrrrrr! Awroo... Grr... (I need to figure out how to write with paws so these dumb people understand me...)Music: ENDS .jpg) <stops in place and raises an arm to halt Anastasia> Huh? <looks around> Was that a bell?.jpg) Everyone looks around with concern. .jpg)  Didja feel that? The wind stopped...! It's the Forest of Wind, isn't it? That... probably shouldn't happen, right? It should not. Ever.The area starts shaking. Hmm....?.jpg) GAAAOOOOOH!!Gepetto is abruptly sucked into the ground. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) The rest of the party is also sucked into the earth beneath their feet. None of them appear to enjoy the event. .jpg) Wooooooah!!Music: In Darkness of a Labyrinth ~ Dungeon .jpg) Oh, you thought you were going to get a scenic forest dungeon? Well, think again! We're doing the Japanese set version of the Silent Hill otherworld zone again. Which, I'll loving take. It's not industrial corridors or a sewer or a cave. .jpg) <looks around> Didn't we do this one already? The last one was brightly lit, misty, and had a haunted forest flavoring to it. This one is far darker and full of fire and brimstone. But doesn't that seem backward to you? Wouldn't the dungeon in the graveyard be the one that is some fiery hell area and the one in the forest be... the forest one? You've got me, kid. I'm not the one conjuring pocket dimensions. We're not up to our ears in creepy dolls, so that checks out. <un-amused glare>.jpg) Careful! This place seems even more evil than the last!.jpg) Welcome to Purgatory. Not to be confused with the Otherworld. Completely separate locations. They don't even have good diplomatic relations with each other. And a hockey rivalry. So who is up for (faint drumroll) a gimmick dungeon? .jpg)  Coming back is terrifying! Do you know the way to escape this purgatory? Fools who pass under the same gate time and time again are trapped here forever! Uh ha ha haaa! Is it a puzzle to do with these candles on the table next to you? Uh ha ha haaaa! I have no clue what you're talking about! Uh ha ha haaaa! ...That's a yes..jpg) A powerful and fearful evil is emanating from the gate... AKA the end of the dungeon and a boss fight. We need to unseal this path to reach the end of the dungeon. Now, if we look at the altar next to the jerkass child statue spirit, we find... .jpg) A configuration of candles on an inverted triangle. We may need to light all of these candles via arcane means. Or perhaps, doing a much optimized specific circuit run through the dungeon. More on that in a minute, is that some French merchants I spy in the hell zone again? .jpg)  Why do so many roads in Japan lead to these weird places?! Oh, well, not to worry. Wherever there are customers... Now, then, what will it be?The twins have yet to update their stock since the Imperial Capital so there is no need to shop at the moment. .jpg) .jpg) Anyway, about this dungeon. So you can see there are two spokes at the start here and several ominous glowing red stars in the distance. Perhaps the northern part of this dungeon is shaped like an inverted triangle. And all of those stars represent candles on the altar from earlier. The gimmick of this dungeon is we have to hit all these stars in one circuit. And botching that will reset the puzzle and dump us back at the beginning of the dungeon to get it right. Kind of like how things were in the Otherworld but a bit more involved. So let's look at that candle thing again and plot a route.  - Copy.jpg) I'm sure there are a few ways to do this. But this was efficient and got the job done. But that is, of course, not the only job to be done in a dungeon. .jpg) Music: Deep in Coma ~ Battle in Japan .jpg) Purgatory has a very small spread of enemies in it and a strangely low encounter rate. The entire crisscrossing the map I got into maybe five random battles. After the Hojo Labs were about two dozen fights just essentially walking in a straight line... I am perfectly OK with a low encounter rate. First up we have this chungus frog demon called a Towd. I do not know why they spelled it weird. Its Japanese name is just Toad. This is fittingly an Earth Elemental creature with the most robust health pool of regional hell enemies with 724 HP. It likes to throw rocks at people. It can cause the Fast Ring status effect while throwing rocks. That is... kind of it. It's just a big stupid red frog that throws rocks. .jpg) Next up we have the premium skin version of the Otherworld's Gaki -- the Enku. This little is a Wind elemental creature with a very easily defeated in a single turn 165 HP. It enjoys physical attacks that inflict randomized Ring Abnormalities and farting wind at humans. It should be the priority target in any fight because, like many smaller weak enemies, it loves setting up Combos. Enku is a slight mistranslation of Enkō which is a specific fire-breathing mountain-based kappa (the dumbass Japanese frog demons that are in everything) that told one of Buddha's cousins to do some Guy Fieri rear end charity work and feed some strangers or you'll turn into a demon at the end of the week. And they... just did a barbeque and invited over anyone passing by for some ribs or some poo poo. And Enkō was just kind of, word. Good stuff. And they were good. I have a fondness for a demon that's deal is just going up to people and yelling: "Hey make some loving burgers and feed some random folk or I'll curse you!" Dream job. .jpg) Finally, we have Yomi Samurai. They're just zombie samurai. They're Dark elemental, what with being zombies and all. And have a middling 302 HP. And they... are zombie samurai. They slash and stab people with their swords. That is... also just it. Zombie samurai. Make another loving Onimusha, Capcom. You cowards! Nioh isn't the same. I want it to be stupid. I want Jean Reno. Music: In Darkness of a Labyrinth ~ Dungeon .jpg) .jpg) Back to the dungeon. Oh, right, I already 100% explained how this goes. There are several chests along the path and not one of them is worth talking about. It's once again all consumables and Ring Hit Area goes up 1% crap. So we run the circuit around the unholy triangle and... .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Yeah, we're good to go! .jpg) We have no need of much in the way of prep beyond making sure everyone is good to defend against magic attacks and can go all-in on physical attacks because the boss fight coming is fairly obvious and tactics haven't altered that much in dealing with the foe. Music: ENDS .jpg) Garan teleports in at the foot of the Purgatory shrine. .jpg)  I've been waiting for you. This is the entrance to heeeeeeeell! Uh-oh! It's Baby Head!.jpg) You wiggling worms. Have you enjoyed my little tour of hell? Actually, you're a lousy guide! Have you not learned that I'm not a foe to be trifled with? We kicked your rear end and you flew away on your magic flying Baby Head Pillow, Baby Head. I don't know. Looking at him in this lighting his head looks kind of like an egg. You know, a painted Easter egg, right...? Yeah, I can kind of see that. But we can't call him Egg Head. That's a name for nerds and he's a nerd but... not THAT kind of nerd. That scientist jerk was an egghead. I guess you're right. But what about like... Egg Baby Head? Now that just gave me the mental image of Baby Head hatching fully formed out of an egg of unusual size and I don't like those images in my head. Eww! OK. No! Ghastly mental clouds!  .jpg) I just think that's the coolest! Floating around like that! I wonder how he does that? You think there is a little hover motor underneath the cushion we can't see? Like a fan of sorts pushing him up? Yeah! I totally want one..jpg) <gestures evilly> Laugh while you can, my little ones! Soon you'll be shedding tears of pain! Haha!.jpg) It must be the pillow he's sitting on! I'm sure of it! It has to be the true source of the Baby Head power! You think so? Hmm.Everyone looks back at Garan. .jpg) This is the last chance to plead for your lives! Anything you wish to say before you meet your deaths? Well?.jpg) <smiles> That pillow... where can I get one? Is there an outlet around here? Or do I have to go back to the real world? I can travel. I have an airship. <quakes in anger> I will....jpg) .jpg) Tune in next time as we battle Garan for a second time and he continues to be the least respected mid-boss I've ever seen in a JRPG. Lenny was treated like a world-ending threat compared to this jobber.    Video: Episode 100 Highlight Reel (You should watch this for Garan the Baby Head disrespect.)    Garan the Oracle Concept Art - It is a nice pillow.
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Feb 5, 2021 22:19
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Poor Garan. You really wanted to be imposing, and you failed utterly, and everyone else in the game knows. Maybe you should have taught people to levitate instead of being a miniboss - it's a much more rewarding career, and you die less often.
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Feb 5, 2021 22:43
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Yuri at this point is on his fourth trip to stop some sorta world-ending Demon-God, and he's entirely checked out of mid-bosses trying to posture as real threats. That everyone else is picking up on this and rolling with it though is the real fun.
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Feb 5, 2021 22:48
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When the small child doesn't take you seriously it's time to reconsider your life choices.
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Feb 5, 2021 22:55
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Least respected mid-boss indeed. Even more so than Mid-Boss. Anyway this is another dungeon I don't remember having done. Just that forgettable I guess.
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Feb 5, 2021 22:59
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I combined this with the graveyard dungeon in my head, even if I did remember the pillow discussion.
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Feb 5, 2021 23:09
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Poor zombie samurai. They get so little attention compared to zombie nazis. Just this game, Onimusha, Tomb Raider 2013... Ghost of Tsushima totally could have used some.
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Feb 5, 2021 23:44
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The low encounter rate makes sense if they're planning on people not solving the puzzle quickly, but even if you don't look up the solution it's not exactly a head-scratcher.
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Feb 5, 2021 23:49
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achtungnight posted:Poor zombie samurai. They get so little attention compared to zombie nazis. Just this game, Onimusha, Tomb Raider 2013... Ghost of Tsushima totally could have used some. Hey they could still show up in Tsushima 2
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Feb 6, 2021 05:10
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Wait, Garan's a lady? I would not have guessed that from the in-game model or the concept art, at least not till that last pic. I guess that hat has some serious masculine vibes or something.
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Feb 7, 2021 02:28
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stryth posted:Wait, Garan's a lady? I would not have guessed that from the in-game model or the concept art, at least not till that last pic. I guess that hat has some serious masculine vibes or something. ♂ is masculine, ♀ is feminine.
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Feb 7, 2021 04:56
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Leraika posted:♂ is masculine, ♀ is feminine. Ah, I completely misread that. But still, that last picture does kinda look like a wrinkly old grandma. the lipstick and eyeshadow ain't helping his case either.
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Feb 7, 2021 10:04
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Just thought Garan suffered from Freeza VA syndrome where the pale villian just sounds like a grandma.
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Feb 7, 2021 11:57
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The party uniting to conclude they all want to kill Baby Head and take his flying pillow. Like all PCs loot motivates them more effectively than anything else. If it had a cup holder they'd kill one another for it. I do wonder, based off the pairings found as the party is reunited in the prior update, if Lucia and Geppetto were supposed to have some interconnecting character development as with Anastasia and Joachim. The whacky shenanigans of the vampire wrestler and Russian princess are nice little beats and it would have been good to see more of that with the rest of the cast.
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Feb 9, 2021 21:35
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Long as it doesn’t require using them in the party more (Lucia & Gepetto), them getting more development is fine by me.
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Feb 9, 2021 21:44
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Episode CI: Baby Head.jpg) Music: Hardcore to the Brain ~ Mid Boss in Japan .jpg) Welp. Ol' Baby Head had a bit of a glow-up in the transition to the Battle Dimension™. I could not tell you the reason as to why he transformed into twelve-foot tall kabuki... doll... thing. Nor why his floating pillow grew into a headless turtle with a foxtail. It's hard to see but he also has a couple of flying snake heads hanging above him as well. Garan just does his own thing fashion-wise and nobody asks questions at this point. It's a lost cause. This is Yama Garan. He is still a Dark elemental boss enemy and has swollen his health pool to 5100 HP. .jpg) .jpg) As in the previous fight, he has summoned minions to aid him in battle in the form of a trio of Towds. No, spellchecker it really is Towd. Shut up! Those three should be our priority in the opening gambit as they will immediately attempt to start a Combo team up with Yama Garan and that is a problem because Garan still is no slouch with his damage output compared to most recent foes. .jpg) Who is equipped with Arc Barrier, in our case Joachim, needs to get up ASAP because a critical strike from Yama Garan's magic can outright one-shot a character if we're particularly unlucky. Especially, if we were to allow any of those Towds are still around. I usually make a save state at the start of battles just to get footage of attacks and letting those Towds stick around to Combo with Garan sent Karin and Blanca to the shadow realm with an AOE spell in a single turn. That's bad news! With Barrier up, they were just shy of death. Buffs. They make the donuts. It was probably poor form playing all those JRPGs as a dumbass teenager in the '90s and ignoring any buff or debuff that wasn't some variant of Haste. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Yama Garan has... honestly almost the same exact move set as last time -- access to all the high-level spells of every element and zero in the way of physical attacks. His AI is still clever enough to target our party's elemental weaknesses and use AOE attacks if our group gets bunched up. Supposedly, Yama Garan can cast Poison too but I let him go sickhouse on the party for a few minutes and I never saw it happen. .jpg) We should also get any good hits in with physical special attacks (magic does trash tier damage once more) and get our buffs out early because Yama Garan still doesn't like other people using magic and will drain all of a targeted character's MP. The difference with Yama Garan is that it is basically a free turn now, so he can suck a character's MP dry and still get to do a follow-up attack. I'm going to need to consult the ref about this one. Seems suspect. Also rude as I had to use a healing consumable for the first time since... umm... probably the Mirror Palace? .jpg) For Yuri, we're going with the Miserati instead of our old bruiser chungus standby of Fides. Miserati has fairly high magic defenses, its physical attacks will do more damage to Yama Garan and most importantly it is way speedier than a giant armored guy. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) And then it is Shadow Hearts: Covenant combat. Set up Combos. Pop-off. Heal when necessary. This game was far harder the first time I played it because I ignored Combos as some weird gimmick until the game started having enemies regularly do Combos that did eye-opening damage. Plus all the fights are gotcha status effects you didn't know you needed to prepare for beforehand. See: All the Wolf Bouts. Music: Result ~ Victory .jpg)  And that's a wrap. drat, Garan a fat stack of paper in his wallet. Not that we're particularly hurting for cash at the moment. .jpg) We also gained another Magic Crest. I'll have to check up on Solomon's Key soon to see if we've gotten another regional full set to cash in to the bank. Music: ENDS .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) And we're back from Purgatory to the land of the living. It's surprisingly easy to escape. I don't know why more people don't make the attempt. Everyone always has to escalate to ending up in hell before mounting any sort of daring escape. .jpg) Everyone's reaction to being sucked into another pocket dimension in the middle of the woods by a dwarf sorcerer is just kind of "Huh... that was weird. Whatever." I'm starting to think Yuri completely not giving a poo poo and taking anything remotely seriously is starting to be a bad influence on the gang. Garan is loving dead, by the way. Literally, nobody in the game acknowledges this. He was that much of a jobber. .jpg) Anyway, he never did tell us where he bought that pillow, did he... You... really wanted to know? Do you think it turning into a big turtle thing is a standard feature or something you have to pay extra for...? I couldn't tell you. Would you want it to do that? I think I would need to get a test drive first. Was he sitting on the turtle or were his legs wedge into the top of it. It was hard to tell what was going on with that design. I'm not into that second one. I don't want to put my legs into a small, small turtle house. That's creepy..jpg) .jpg) Okay, everyone, we're here! That's Inugami Village!Music: Field of God-Dog ~ Village of The Dog God .jpg) .jpg) Huh. We're allowed to go to a town that isn't perpetually in twilight or darkness? This place must be special. .jpg) My hometown.  Really? Inugami Village. Uh-huh. My name is Kurando INUGAMI.  ...Is it? I have told you my full name multiple times. Uhh... yeah, yeah. Of course. Slipped my mind. Your hometown, huh?An elderly woman walks up to Kurando. .jpg)  <nods> Oh, yes! Battling on! I suplexed a rowdy deer just yesterday. Can't have those critters causing a ruckus in the village. My word! Where is she? You mean Saki? She's at the Fountain of Sukune. She's been praying ever since last night. She had a bad premonition. It might even be a deadly premonition. Mother did...? <nods> Yes. It's a good thing you're back! A very good thing! Well, I have to get back and prepare for the reception. <wanders off>Music: ENDS .jpg) Umm... Kurando, what is it?! Is something bothering you? Huh?.jpg) If you're not feeling well, let me help! I'd do anything for you! Uh... No, there's nothing wrong with me. Are you sure?! Any aches or pains? Emotional baggage? Oh! Debtors. I can have daddy pay those off. Anything at all, just tell me!.jpg) It was at that moment Kurando realized the twelve-year-old had a crush on him and went OH poo poo, NO! Yuri quickly shoves Kurando out of the frame and the rest of the party hurriedly exits the uncomfortable scene stage right. .jpg) <closes eyes and gets giddy> I can be like your wife! <still shoving Kurando> OK! Let's go! I'll sew socks, wash your underwear... Eeeeek! I'm so embarrassed! <blushes and holds her cheeks> I can't believe I just said that... Ha ha ha... Hehe. But it makes me so happy.Blanca walks backward and gives Anastasia a look of "The gently caress are you on about, kid?"  And this is why you don't get invited to the main party, Anastasia. Music: Deep Meditation ~ Title .jpg) That was technically the end of the chapter. We don't even get to go to the map screen normally. We are just dumped in the middle of Inugami Village. But there is a small handful of things still to do in the Forest of Wind proper that we couldn't do with our trek to Purgatory skipping the area. .jpg) .jpg) Despite only taking about ten steps before into the forest before a cutscene took over and we were dumped in Purgatory, the Forest of Wind is actually several maps long.  There is a path on the northern end of the woods. Hey, do you remember Loud Croft's Treasure Hunt sidequest? The previous clue was: Return to the fork, In the entangled forest, Where the wind blows, It is there before you. And wouldn't you know it, there is a hidden item right at the fork in the road in the Forest of Wind. .jpg) Oddly enough, even though we immediately saw the cliff where ghost Albert Simon is chilling out in Yuri's mind palace seeming only a few steps into the forest, it's actually two and a half maps deep into the woods. Inugami Village is closer to the cliff than the entrance to the village. But, you know, artistic fudging of details for effect. Or the cutscene and the map designers didn't talk to each other. It's fine. .jpg) .jpg) The primary reason we came here is to collect another wayward Magic Crest. Gotta catch 'em all! On that subject, despite skipping this place there are two unique enemies to this region. .jpg) Music: Deep in Coma ~ Battle in Japan .jpg) First up we have the Mutant Snail. It's a mutant snail. This part of the game has a lot of enemies that are just what it says on the box. It's a Water Type .jpg) Far more unique is these dashing fellows -- Tengu. I'm not going to explain what a tengu is. It's the big-nosed, winged jerk demons that appear in a million things in Japanese media. Unless you play Dead or Alive and then they're optionally that or a horny winged lady with big titties. They are a Light elemental enemy with 660 HP. .jpg) .jpg) The unique feature of these creatures is they do not have any attacks. Instead, they are guaranteed to surround the party for initiative and will immediately use Falling Leaves which lets them all instantly flee the battle. The only way to actually confront a Tengu is to have a party member equip the otherwise almost entirely useless Warning Device accessory that we won as the top billing in Lottery Member 7's prize pool. Then we are given one round to deal with them before they all immediately flee in the next turn. If this seems like an oddity, it's because the Tengu can be Snapshot by Anastasia to gain the Falling Leaves ability for herself. Falling Leaves, much like the Tengu version, is a 100% chance to escape from any battle that isn't a boss or otherwise mandatory fight. Which... is about as useful as an rear end in a top hat on my elbow. But there you have it. .jpg) That's a wrap on this short filler arc with Garan that may as well been a skippable Dragonball Z OVA. Tune in next time for adventures in Japanese culture and chilling out in a pleasant rural village as Shadow Hearts: Covenant continues.  That was a short one. But we did pack in a number of monsters. Even if we barely saw much of any of them. Monsters: .jpg) Still manages to get its nails painted and styled. .jpg) Please don't crush my head. It's my only weakness! - Every creature in existence. .jpg) You're never going to become the next Hokage that way, newbie. .jpg) Even Garan is shrugging as to why he suddenly looks like this. .jpg) That's right. They leave behind communist fathers. .jpg) Don't let snails get high. The consequences are dire.  Video: Episode 101 Highlight Reel (Warning: Good boy abuse.)  Yama Garan Concept Art - They kind of just threw out most of this design other than the turtle shell pillow, huh? The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 18:05 on Mar 1, 2021 |
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Feb 19, 2021 00:42
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I'd say "Falling Leaves seems like a nice thing to have in a pinch but not worth the hassle of getting it as a Blue Magic spell" but I feel like a lot of the enemies in this game are just jobbers, huh...? (also I don't know how generous escape rates are in this game)
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Feb 19, 2021 01:40
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Did You Know? Inugami is a palindrome
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Feb 19, 2021 01:50
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LiefKatano posted:I'd say "Falling Leaves seems like a nice thing to have in a pinch but not worth the hassle of getting it as a Blue Magic spell" but I feel like a lot of the enemies in this game are just jobbers, huh...? There's no real reason to run away from most encounters. The only reason to pick it up is if you feel a compulsion to 100% Anastasia's spell list.
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Feb 19, 2021 01:57
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I've had to return to areas to get footage for poo poo that the video I took crapped out on and ran from battles because it was redoing stuff I'd already done. I have had a flee attempt fail maybe twice ever. You get four attempts per turn. I'm never failed to escape on a turn I wanted to nope out on. The only possible instance it would be useful is fleeing from an enemy ambush since those cannot be fleed from. And I have had maybe four of those the entire playthrough thus far. And three were still squash matches.
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Feb 19, 2021 01:57
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I just love it when games put unique enemies in an area you'd normally just skip over. And gives them unique spells too. That beeping? My Sarcasm Detector. 
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Feb 19, 2021 02:42
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So is Garan dead or not? A legit question since it seems like this Japan Arc is 50/50 for boss fights just dying for good the second they keel over in battle without any sort of post fight monologue.
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Feb 19, 2021 02:48
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Garan's transformation seems to be partially based on the design of the dogū statues that pop up a lot in Japanese games. His face in particular reminds me of the statues.
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Feb 19, 2021 04:35
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FeyerbrandX posted:So is Garan dead or not? Oh. Yeah, Garan is loving dead. I should probably clarify that. He does come back as a ghost and an optional boss fight.
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Feb 19, 2021 04:50
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So I was not prepared for that Nichijou reference. Anyone expecting Joachim to now want to wield a mighty stag into combat?
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Feb 19, 2021 06:05
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Hwurmp posted:Did You Know? Inugami is a palindrome 
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Feb 19, 2021 06:44
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The Dark Id posted:Oh. Yeah, Garan is loving dead. I should probably clarify that. He does come back as a ghost and an optional boss fight. Thanks, kind of assumed that and that he'd be back somehow, wouldn't put it past this game to have him show up instead of a boss fight but in that ghost hole where he wants his pillow back and Yuri must think long and hard between enjoying the hover pillow and scratching the completionist itch and handing it over. Its just strange that in this game people die when you kill them, instead of pelleting them with 4 or 5 meteors, stabbing them 15 times, a few dozen suplexes and even as they crumble into dust somehow have enough life in them to talk for 2 more minutes. FeyerbrandX fucked around with this message at 08:02 on Feb 19, 2021 |
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Feb 19, 2021 07:57
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FeyerbrandX posted:Thanks, kind of assumed that and that he'd be back somehow, wouldn't put it past this game to have him show up instead of a boss fight but in that ghost hole where he wants his pillow back and Yuri must think long and hard between enjoying the hover pillow and scratching the completionist itch and handing it over. Its just strange that in this game people die when you kill them, instead of pelleting them with 4 or 5 meteors, stabbing them 15 times, a few dozen suplexes and even as they crumble into dust somehow have enough life in them to talk for 2 more minutes. There is actually a boss battle shorthand on their survival: If they fade away at the end of a fight? They lived. If they loving explode like some sentai monster? loving DEAD. High-end boys like a Rasputin get a speech if they're lucky.
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Feb 19, 2021 08:58
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It's still hilarious that the party spent like an hour in a hellish netherworld and fought a monster out of nightmares and their biggest concern was where Our Dude got his totally stylin' pillow. Brows were furrowed because of the refusal to reveal which home goods store carries floating pillows.
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Feb 19, 2021 15:27
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Extremely on-brand for Garan to just die after his second fight, allowing the party to show no respect for the dead and scrounge through his little pockets. Also, I see what you did with Yuri bringing up the small, small turtle house right before going to Inugami Village.
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Feb 19, 2021 17:10
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Supersonic Shine posted:Extremely on-brand for Garan to just die after his second fight, allowing the party to show no respect for the dead and scrounge through his little pockets. I sure hope Garan wasn't an integral part of the Japan Foreign Ministry's plan to take over Asia because uhhhh...did not go the way he thought it would. Kato is a better sorcerer than him by now and he just read the Cliff's Notes of some evil tomes.
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Feb 20, 2021 04:06
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Garan deserves all the respect he got: none.
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Feb 20, 2021 04:10
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 Episode CII: Equivalent Exchange .jpg) Our business is concluded in the Forest of the Wind. For now. One of our optional side quests may see us return there someday. But for now, let's continue our journey and enter Inugami Village. Music: Field of God-Dog ~ Village of The Dog God .jpg) Kurando is taking the lead for this segment. Which is fitting, this being his hometown and all. The game is finally going to give Kurando something to do since other than getting a Fusion, he's just... kind of existed since joining the party. Inugami Village is not very large but it is dense with activities to further a handful of sidequests. The actual villagers themselves have almost nothing interesting to say. There are about three variations of "we sure do live in an isolated village between a forest and a mountain." And the rest are old people complaining it's only old people around nowadays and all the youngens go off to the big city. If I lived next to a forest full of nothing but Tengu and mutant snails with a tendency to occasionally slip into a hell dimension, I'd probably move too. You may notice a familiar truck in the distance. Let's go say hi to the brothers. .jpg) Don't worry about that! It's just nice to meet up again, isn't it? No doubt you want to buy something, right? I could throw some cash away... We did just loot the corpse of a weird baby head wizard. Friend, as long as the money spends, I don't ask questions..jpg) The Magimel Brothers' shop has completely updated its inventory with new weapons and armor for the entire party. Since we are flush with Cash at the moment, we're going to go ahead and deck out the entire party with new weapons and our main team with new armor. We end up dropping 105.5k Cash on kitting out the entire party here. Which had an added benefit: .jpg) We reached Rank A in the Magimel Brother's shop's point system which nets us The Gold Card that, as it says, exempts us from discount/mark-up failure penalties and also nets us an attempt at a 50% discount and 25% mark-up on goods. Though the Judgment Wheel challenge from that one is really tight. That said, I sold all of the party's outdated weapons and armor for the 25% mark-up. We started with 433,668 Cash and by the time we decked everyone out and sold all the excess equipment we walked away still having 408,721 Cash by the end. So that was a good bit of transacting. So let's take a look at what we picked out on our spending spree. .jpg) Can I get some self-repairing winter gloves? I got a hole in my good pair. Oh well. These meaty stab punchers grant +182 Physical and +165 Special Power. .jpg) A wooden sword made out of an old tree -- somehow sharper Nicholai's sword bathed in the blood of a dark god and a sword used to hunt dragons. If you say so... This is a +174 Physical and +172 Special Attack bonus. .jpg) The LEO. When you absolutely, positively need to have your dog bite the poo poo out of someone, accept no substitutes. This paste comes with +172 Physical and +174 Special Attack. .jpg) I don't know if I want my weapon of choice to make me increasingly damp. Seems unpleasant. But you can't say no to the +192 Physical and +155 Special Attack power. .jpg) But what if it detects the child playing with it as a threat? I have seen some hostile rear end children before. Some toddler is going to get annihilated by +166 Physical and +181 Special Damage. .jpg) Excuse, me "non-living" puppets? What kind of puppetry is being performed around these parts...? +163 Physical and +184 Special Damage are found here. .jpg) Or it just equipped on Lucia so she can cast Cure spells more efficiently as I use her as nothing a healing font in the menus between battles. This bestows +165 Physical and +182 Special Damage. Now, you might be wondering why I bothered upgrading the bench warmers' weapon. In Gepetto's case, there may be a bonus dungeon he is a mandatory companion for in the end game. Lucia... not so much. The real reason is these are the last weapon upgrades we receive from the Magimel Brothers. The next weapon upgrade for everyone is either in loot in one of the few remaining main quest dungeons or at the end of side quests. And after that, it is everyone's ultimate weapons which... we'll get to at the end game wrap-up. We do have a couple of pieces of armor to check out before we exit the menu. .jpg) +160 Physical and +151 Special Defense for dressing up like a ninja. Who can cosplay as a ninja? Yuri, Kurando, Joachim, Karin, and Blanca only... That's quite the eclectic ninja team collection. .jpg) Only one of these is made a year and they're all stuffed in a box in the back of the Magimel Brothers' truck. This heavenly outfit gives +150 Physical and +161 Special Defense. The only ones qualified to wear this sacred mountain dress are Karin, Lucia, and Anastasia, naturally. Oh and Gepetto... I'm not asking questions And... Blanca, as well for some reason. Blanca will be a ninja dog or a shrine maiden wolf. Blanca don't care. Blanca just going to Blanca. .jpg) Heading past the merchant brothers and making a clockwise circuit around town, we find this farmer. His tips for food preservation for winters are of no use to us. What is of use are areas of interest to his right and left. .jpg) To the left, we find another Silver Angel for Edgar's collection back in Petrograd. We'll tuck that away for a rainy end game day. Now to the right of the farmer, in the very corner of the village, we find an old friend... .jpg)  ...... How ya doing? ...... Oh, don't tell me... You split up, right? With your wife... Hey, come on! Cheer up! Sure, it'll be lonely at first, but you can have fun being single, you know! I know it hurts to think it wasn't meant to be with Miyabi, but... I'm sure she'll let you see the kid every other weekend and hopefully, the Ring Soul gig pays enough to cover child support. And... Nooooo! It's not that! W-what then?! Don't scare me like that! You didn't go and take a mistress behind her back as revenge, did you? That is not the way to play this out, bud. No. It's nothing like that! Miyabi... Miyabi gave me this... What is it? This! Look! This sweater! It's cashmere! See! I can't see anything! How can I when you're glowing like that?! Your whole body's on fire! How do you even fit a sweater on there? Do you have to put one ring in at a time like arms in sleeves...? Ah, yeah! Of course. I really wanted you to see it too! Oh, well, never mind. I'm just so happy! Miyabi wanted to surprise me with it on my birthday, so she's secretly been working at a store the whole time! She's amazing, huh?! It's like something out of a movie, don't you think? Yeah, that'd be a real thriller. Secretly getting a part-time job. Edge of my seat stuff... I'm so lucky! Oh... I was really worried for a while! I'm glad it worked out. Yeah, thanks for your support. So, it's back to work, I guess! This I entrust to you... Just wanna share the joy! Okay, thanks..jpg) I don't have the heart to tell him I've stopped bothering to equip these on the bench warmer characters. .jpg) Okay, I've gotta get back. I thought I'd take a present for Miyabi, but what should I get...? Yeah, I'm not really the gift-giving type unless I'm making some euphemism about gifting someone my fist. And I punch them. I know! Creme caramel! She loves that! If you put a tiny bit of soy sauce on it, it tastes like sea urchins! Miyabi taught me that. Ever since I discovered it, I can't get enough either! You should try it! No, thanks! It sounds gross! Oh, well. See you!.jpg) How did we end up marriage counselors for an upgrade delivery service spirit? Speak for yourself. I try to keep quiet during these encounters for a reason..jpg) .jpg) Right next to Ring Soul's location we find another magic crest. Sure, I'll take another Cure All. That's a handy trick. .jpg) Looping back around to the entrance of the village, we find a well. Hidden in it is the sixth and final Soul Drop in the game. Music: Holy Mistletoe ~ Graveyard .jpg) .jpg) No sense in holding onto it. We may as well complete our set of Level 3 Fusions. All that is left is the Earth stone. I don't even remember the last time we fought a Wind elemental boss that we'd use an Earth Fusion to counter against. Certainly no one on Disc 2 thus far. Actually, getting curious now and checking the only two Wind elemental bosses we've fought the entire game was that giant frog Veronica summoned in the Wine Cellar and Veronica's two-headed hell hound we fought on St. Marguerite Island. So, yeah. Not a lot of reason to have upgraded the Earth Fusion set. .jpg) Music: Vicious 1915 ~ Battle in Europe .jpg) .jpg) The Earth guardian spirit, Mocos, takes SLIGHTLY longer to immediately obliterate than its last couple of predecessors solely due to it casting a barrier on itself and reducing Yuri's physical attack output. And by that I mean it took three rounds to kill it instead of two. And it is still incapable of doing more than 1 HP of damage per strike. .jpg) At least we'll never have to waste time with these filler creatures any longer. That's the last of 'em. Music: Holy Mistletoe ~ Graveyard .jpg) The power... is YOURS! .jpg) And you don't even want to know the calamity that will shatter the land if he ever gets aroused. That's the big one waiting to happen. Stat wise, at the base level we have:
Strong and sturdy. Got it. On the special abilities front, over its predecessor, Sorm, it now possesses:
Music: Field of God-Dog ~ Village of The Dog God .jpg) Back to the realm of the living. Just past the Magimel Bros' Emporium, we find a crossroads at the end of town. The path up the stairs leads to a currently inaccessible area. So we'll skip that for now. The critical path is to the right. However, there is one last item of note in the main area of Inugami Village. .jpg) There is a tree right next to the Magimels' truck and a Save Point. If we interact with it, we find... .jpg)  <Becomes Lottery Member 6> Let's get on with it, then! Let the good times roll! Come on, let's dance! I'm going to gamble with a bug. I must be losing it... I am a fully accredited and licensed member of the Lottery Guild. It is all on the level. Now, let's dance! I'll dance!.jpg) It's just a Small Ring for this one. Not too much trouble as long as your eyesight isn't shot. Everyone staring at screens all the time stuck inside during quarantine the past year is probably going to cause a big uptick in eyesight issues, isn't it... .jpg) Our top-billed prize is this accessory which has a paltry +2 Physical Attack. But more importantly, it increases the wearer's total SP by 20%. Not too shabby. .jpg) Gimme a call anytime for the lottery. Oh, and I like weddings too! I'm also an ordained minister. Of course you are. Dance, dance!.jpg) Heading down the path past the ladybug lottery broker, we come upon a somewhat out-of-place stone idol. Everyone else got a weapon upgrade... except Joachim. Let's go fix that. Music: Gathering God ~ Thrill  <clenches fist> Hmm. Nice clay idol... Here we go again. What do you mean? He's going to pick that thing up and walk away with it to go hit monsters. Absolutely not! This is one of my village's precious artifacts! I thought you just asked what it was? Just because I do not know WHAT it is doesn't disqualify it from being a sacred relic of the village..jpg) What does its deep and knowing look want to tell us...? For you to get your head examined?.jpg) <shakes head> Don't waste your breath, Kurando. He's already stolen it..jpg) .jpg) It also seems to have grown stone arms to do a sassy pose. Joachim's newest bludgeon provides +184 Physical and +163 Special damage. .jpg) My body burns with the raw emotion of the men of the age of mythology!Joachim wanders off filled with reinvigorated muscle power. Kurando falls to his knee in despair. .jpg) Sorry 'bout that, Kurando. I should've warned you about him... He just kind of does that sometimes. At least he got rid of that frozen fish. That thing was starting to stink to high heaven. F-fish...? Don't worry about it. Let's get going before he digs up a coffin to hit people with or something next.Music: Field of God-Dog ~ Village of The Dog God  Somehow, we still aren't done tackling sidequest forward progression in this tiny village. The cavern ahead will trigger the next plot point. We'll be heading there next update. What we want to do first is talk to the man standing outside the cavern. Remember the trio of Trading quest dead ends we hit recently? Well, THIS guy is the one we actually want to trade with next to proceed with the quest correctly. .jpg) No! I was just given this thing! Me, a ventriloquist?! Ha ha! ...I can barely use an indoor volume voice half the time. Hmm... That gives me an idea! I could use an animal doll as my puppet rather than a normal one... Or maybe even two dolls together, acting out a kind of play... Yeah! That's a brilliant idea! You think? It doesn't sound all that great... Why are old men with dolls so weird about it...? Can I have that doll of yours? Please! If I'm successful, I could be a big star one day! Okay. Try and liven up your act! I'm sure someone out there is into a guy pretending to make a puppet talk to a panda doll. I don't want to meet them, but you know... They probably exist. Probably. Thanks! If it works out, you'll be the first one I show! It'll be good, I can promise you that! I must give you something back... Um... Sorry, this is all I've got. Still, you should have it. Uhh... thanks... You uhh... shouldn't have... Like really. You shouldn't have..jpg) .jpg) I have many questions about this ventriloquist's lifestyle... .jpg) But they shall have to be answered another day. Tune in next time as we go meet Kurando's mom. Nothing makes a good first impression like a vagabond wandering into your shrine with a stolen rancid offering of rice.   Inugami Village Concept Art - Not pictured, a creep throwing his voice holding a bowl full of spoiled food and inquiring about dolls.
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Feb 23, 2021 23:33
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10 day rice and the gyroid that they dug up from some guy's grave some time ago. Huh, that makes the whole animal crossing thing for
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Feb 24, 2021 01:12
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Gotta say, the continuing saga of the Ring Soul is probably my favorite part of the game so far.
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Feb 24, 2021 02:01
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Gaudion does have a use over a lot of the other fusions: It's gigantic. After transforming, you're basically guaranteed to suddenly be in position to do a combo with at least one of your party members. If Yuri is in either of the middle positions of the starting lineup then transforming into Gaudion puts him into combo position with two others. Starting every fight with a 3-person combo is pretty nice.
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Feb 24, 2021 02:40
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| # ? May 23, 2024 08:49 |
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Pagan - Relating to, characteristic of religions that differ from main world religions. Angel - The servants / agents of God in Abrahamic religions. Michael - Distinctly Jewish name, and particularly recognizable as the name of one of the Archangels. C'mon, writers, you can't just throw these words together like that. What next: an artifact of "the infidel prophet, Jesus"?
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Feb 24, 2021 02:42
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