|
AltaBrown posted:Out of everything in this wonderfully deranged game, the one thing I'm getting hung up on is that Not-Adolf claimed genetic matching is why he used her dad's arm, when the same would be true for her mom's arm. Well, HLA typing doesn't work like that. I'm about a 50% match for my dad but much less for my mum. But also it's Linda3, so
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 02:02
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 23:59 |
|
|
Okay, that makes sense, and is as much of an explanation as I need to be satisfied!
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 04:05
|
|
|
AltaBrown posted:Out of everything in this wonderfully deranged game, the one thing I'm getting hung up on is that Not-Adolf claimed genetic matching is why he used her dad's arm, when the same would be true for her mom's arm. It could be that her mother's arm was unusable for some reason, but yeah.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 14:15
|
|
|
kirbysuperstar posted:Well, HLA typing doesn't work like that. I'm about a 50% match for my dad but much less for my mum. I'll just add to this, that typically in real life you can usually expect to get the best HLA match between two siblings. Anything else (including the match between a child and their parents) is more or less of a crapshoot. But, as you say, this is just a game, so it's best to simply go with it. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 21:49
|
|
|
Also, taking a complete shot in the dark here, but Emory might not completely live up to the appearance he projects, vis a vis being a consummate medical professional.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2022 00:39
|
|
|
I don't understand why people are so hung up the Charlie Chaplin mustache.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2022 02:40
|
|
|
TapamN posted:I don't understand why people are so hung up the Charlie Chaplin mustache. Same, Mengele only started wearing it when he was already on the run.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2022 12:34
|
|
|
I'm still going through the earlier posts, but just wanted to thank you for doing this. It's a game I've been curious about for ages.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2022 16:02
|
|
|
TapamN posted:I don't understand why people are so hung up the Charlie Chaplin mustache. chaplin wasn't a very good doctor
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2022 16:51
|
|
|
True, but he was a great dictator
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2022 16:57
|
|
|
I'd give him a nein.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2022 01:37
|
|
|
 Welcome back to Scenario B. Last time, in this version of events, again "things happened" in Minago, which resulted in everyone being killed, except, by coincidence, Linda. She ended up being patched up by Dr. Emory, a genius surgeon, except he couldn't find her left arm, so he grafted on her father's left arm instead. Obviously, that is singularly unhelpful, since Linda needs her left hand to be able to activate the ark, which in her present condition will not be possible! Therefore, we need to figure out some way of undoing what happened before we'll be able to take off on our journey with the ark. In addition to that, the task in this scenario is also to collect at least 50 animal species. We've already done a few and will be making good progress on that today. Today, also, we'll venture into the southern parts (which were previously not accessible to us) to see a bit what can be found there! In any case, we find Ken where we left him last time...  Before we start... let's also check out that news bulletin on the wall, which I forgot to do last time! N.K. News Bulletin Ken Challenger has bravely accepted to be the male crew member on the ark! This is in addition to Linda Banning, who has already been accepted as the female member. Ken is a novice ranger and a childhood friend of Linda. Let's wish both of these young people a successful endeavour! Ah, cool, we find out Linda's last name! But anyway, this is just something I forgot to show last time, so now let's proceed. Before we do anything, let's level Ken up a bit so that he can deal a bit better with the fauna of the South Area! In order to do that, we'll take Ken down to Marblepolis again...   ...where we can move those stone blocks to fight earthworms.  They provide a decent balance in the sense that they give good experience points, but also will not annihilate us, i.e. Ken stands a chance in the fight. Of course, this also has the side effect of capturing a pair of them which we need for the ark. So, in the end, here's where Ken arrives at after a few minutes of fighting earthworms:  That's good enough for now, as we already know, over-leveling is not a good idea in this game! Also, you might recall that it's also possible to find chickens here in Marblepolis, but I leave them be, since we aren't strong enough to defeat them right now. We'll come back for that. So at this point Ken just uses the item which summons a bird pickup and gets out of there.   While we wait to hear from Dr. Emory we're more or less free to do whatever, so I figure let's head down south. Dr. Flora mentioned that place called Rose Garden, which we could go and visit, if nothing else, then simply to buy ourselves one of those talking flowers! Unfortunately, at the Bird Line counter, we're informed that the line to Rose Garden is not currently in service. Therefore we'll take a flight to another place in the South Area which does have service and then from there we can either walk or use the "Shoot" service to get to Rose Garden coordinates. This is a tiny bit of an issue in South Area since, while there are different places to visit, there is really only one actual town with proper facilities (specifically, it's the only place with Bird Line service!). So getting around the southern parts is a bit more difficult than what we're used to, since you can't just keep hopping back and forth on the Bird Line. You certainly CAN still use the shoot service to be dropped off anywhere on the map, but that one is not actually covered by our "Air Free Pass", unfortunately, so you still have to pay for that. Ah, well, I'm sure we'll manage!  Either way, we get to Rose Garden eventually (even if the weather is not really cooperating!).   Going in, we can see that even though at least some basic facilities do seem to exist, they aren't staffed, and therefore we can't use them.  Anyway, here we are. There is a sign in the middle, leading to a park of sorts, and a building to the right. Let's first check out the building.  There's a couple of people here, and a sign (the one Ken is standing in front of). Also what appear to be some plants exhibited in glass cases. Let's check the sign first. A dream rose that needs no water or fertiliser and blooms beautifully all year round! From front to back: Rose Coco, Queen Dominique and Michiko Blood. In the unlikely case that the glass cover breaks, please run away immediately. Uh, what do you mean, run away? From roses? Hmm. Ok, we'll let's talk to the guy in blue. Uh, what kind of flowers do you have here, anyway? Well, let's just talk to the scientist lady for now. Obviously we're going to buy a talking flower for ourselves, I mean how could we not, right? Cool we have now a talking flower! As she said, it will be put in Ken's room at his house, so we'll check that out later today. Incidentally, mynah birds are well known for their ability to learn to mimic human speech, so that at least explains that the flower is not in fact able to have a conversation but simply repeats words she's heard/been taught to say. So that makes the fact that Dr. Flora's flower says stuff like "Dr. Flora is my best friend" and so on, pretty sad when you think about it. Anyway, we have a talking flower, so let's continue.  Ken is getting a better look at the flowers which are exhibited and then we'll proceed through that door on the right!  In this hallway, there's a woman we can speak to... Well, to be honest, I'm not even sure why you're telling ME this, but ok. For reference, Flora Jam is a location down here on the southern continent.  Walking through, we find another room with those dancing flowers, but there's nothing else here, so we can go through that last door.  Down in this room is the boy she was talking about. Right, well, clearly we'll have to get that stag beetle from him somehow, but I think we can put that off for now since we haven't found even any male ones yet to begin with. In that chest, incidentally, is a "Grasshopper Mask", a piece of head armour, but it's not actually better than what we already have (the "Rhino Cap" I bought last time), so it stays in our backpack unused. Anyway, now we can head back out and...  ...check out that sign. Be mindful of the plants! Please do not feed the flowers in this garden without permission! I'm sorry, did I read that right? Do not FEED the flowers? What in the world. Well, only one way to find out, let's step into the park.  Nice. A bunch of flowers, with some particularly prominent roses there. Maybe if we have a look at one...  Aaa, what! Why does it want to fight me? Why does it have so much HP? You can't see it, but this rose has also incredibly high attack and defence power so Ken can barely scratch it, while it can simply one-shot him! And if that wasn't enough, it can also...  ...summon a bunch of grasshoppers for help! In fact it does summon both male and female grasshoppers, so we do need to get them, although we have a bit of a conundrum here. As you can see, the grasshoppers are very low level with tiny HP, while the rose is the exact opposite. So if we're strong enough to defeat a rose, then we will not be able to capture the grasshoppers because of over-damage. So we'll need some kind of a strategy here, but it's all moot for now, since we can't even survive long enough before we get one-shot by the rose (one possible strategy would be, for example, to capture the grasshoppers and then run away before being killed by the rose--the captured enemies still count even if you run away--but as I said, we have to be able to survive at least a couple of turns for that to work!). So we'll have to come back later for that. In addition to that, as you walk around...  ...you might get randomly attacked by some baby-roses. They at least have generally much lower HP but are still pretty tough, but also don't summon any other species for help. Roses in fact belong to a relatively small group of creatures in this game which are NOT possible nor needed to be captured for the ark. We do want grasshoppers, though, so we'll come back for that. Apart from that, as you walk around the garden you might see...  ...these little things flying around!  They are bees! I guess one would expect to find bees in a flower garden, so that's not so unusual. In any case, they don't have any particularly strong stats, so Ken can handle them easily together with the dogs. It is also possible to find cockroaches here in the garden, but in the present season (autumn) only males are around. So we'll have to wait a bit and come back during a different season of the year (summer should be the best) to get that sorted out. Ok, so that's about all we can do here right now, so let's head out and see what else is around these parts. If we head a bit north from Rose Garden...  ...we get to another one of these tunnels.  Inside, it even has one of those Rent-A-Animal services for easier travel. I'm sure you can guess what these animals are, but if not, we'll definitely be capturing them soon, so you'll get to see them anyway.  The other side of the tunnel, drops us directly into a town. So this place is called Dogy Figh and it's famous for, well, the dog fighting arena! As far as I can tell, the weird spelling is on purpose. The official guide I mentioned I have actually shows all location names in English, and so here is a photo of the relevant page from the guide for this one: That's not to say that there isn't at least one UNINTENTIONAL misspelling in the guide as far as English names go, but this name is so silly that I'm just going to go with it. In any case, as you can see, the name of the town comes from the fact that its main attraction is an arena for dog fights. We're here kind of at the wrong time, since the arena is only open in summer and winter, but we can explore a little bit. There's some weird stuff here. But first of all, on that last screenshot, Ken is standing next to a sign, so let's have a look at what it says! <-- Western Desert Warning! Dangerous Area! Yeah, so this southern continent has more of a warmer climate, so there's even a sandy desert in the west which we'll check out a bit later. For now, let's have a look around the town (what we can at this time of year). Well, let's start our tour!  This lady has an interesting comment... Well, that certainly sounds interesting. Let's see if we can find where it is, although we won't exactly be exploring it today since crows can easily be found closer to where we are now.  Also, this guy. Good advice, but we're going to ignore it for now and head to the desert later today even if it's not spring.  I guess this is the main entrance to where the dog fight arena is? We'll check that out in a moment, but first...  ...let's talk to the guy who runs the equipment shop here. Hm, interesting, so the owner of this whole place, Orman, has killed himself? And also the director of the airport over in Ozport? What could it all mean? And then who is the third person who killed themselves? It seems we've got ourselves a mystery here... Also, while we're here, I will buy from him two dog jackets, because they give us +15 to defence:  So that's pretty nice.  Next is this guy in front of the butcher shop: Well, yeah. As I mentioned, since it's currently autumn, we're not going to be able to do anything about the actual fights, but there are some other people here that will be interesting to have a chat with...  Inside the shop, we can talk to the two guys behind the counter... And mysteries are just piling up. I hope nobody forgot about stuff mentioned previously, such as the phantom animal which appears only during a blizzard, and many other things which have been mentioned over time. Right now we don't have time for that, but later for sure. The other guy:  Next is the animal trader, who operates from this same shack: Well, there you go. Now you know why dogs in particular actually look more or less the same as "earth" dogs. Because they are! In addition it turns out that this guy sells both male and female dogs, so I buy a pair so I wouldn't have to bother hunting them. Although they can be found easily in close vicinity of the ark, but since he sells both genders, I just take an easy shortcut here. All right, let's keep moving.  Next, we'll go here in the building which houses the hotel (and other things).  First, let's check out the bank. Since we have more than enough money for the time being, I decide to also repay the loan so that we don't have to think about that any more. Even though, as mentioned, you can get a loan up to the amount of your yearly salary at any point in time, usually it's only really useful at the start of the game since later on you can earn enough money to survive from simply selling extra animals. Next we'll talk to the hotel guy, who is right next to the bank counter. Going around to where the rooms are...  ...there is this guy too. I'm sorry, what even are you talking about? Well, it will become clearer as we explore here a bit more, but for now just remember the name of that person he mentions. The lady sitting up in the room only talks again about the chemical incident in the West Area, so we can just skip talking to her and move on...  ...and take this staircase down.  Down here is a bunch of stuff...   ...and even the actual fighting arena, but as mentioned, since it's autumn, there is nobody around and everything is closed. We'll have to come back here another time to see what's going on on the dog fighting front. There is, however...  ...this staircase leading further downstairs which we will take. By the way, the fridge over there contains some "dog meat" if you want to pick that up.  This is the actual residential quarters of the Orman family, the owners of this whole thing. Seems there are actually people here, so let's see.  First this guy here (please try to ignore the naked lady on the bed there, we'll talk to her in a moment). What is his problem, anyway? Also, why is everyone named after different kinds of dogs? Well, let's just keep exploring for now. Next we will talk to the naked lady, but... what do you say to a naked lady, anyway? All right, here goes. I'm going to not think too much about this. If we check out the, for once unlocked, chest, we find one of those items which increase our stats in battle, the medication called "Binbin A". As explained before, when we received some of this from Panheim, "binbin" is among other things a slang word for "erection" in Japanese, so, uh... I guess that sheds a bit more light on the lady's comment just now. All right, really, let's go somewhere, anywhere, else!  Over here is another person who seems dressed like a nurse... Uh, did Ken... well, did Ken actually just stumble into some kind of murder mystery? There are actually more people here than that, but there is some benefit in leaving talking to them for just a bit later, so that's what we'll do. For now...  ...we'll just talk to this woman here. Ah. I guess both Beagley and Pomerania are two of Orman's children, and apparently he liked dogs so much that he even named his childer after different kinds of dogs. Well, sure. Also, when we remember what that other guy said about Pomerania, I think it's pretty clear what she's implying here. By the way, that chest over there, which I've already opened, contains another performance enhancing drug, this one called "Night DX". I think I've had enough of this place for now, so let's find our way out.  To make things interesting, we'll go one floor up and then take this big central staircase...   ...which takes us right back here in front of the main entrance. So that whole underground part is actually connected together. In order to clean the palate a little bit after all of this, let's proceed outside...  ...and we'll have a look around to see what kinds of animal species can be found in this part of the world!  The south is definitely nice with lots of palm trees around. I also do spy an as-yet not encountered animal! Let's have a look!  Cool, it's a buch of sea slugs! Other than slightly higher HP than expected, they aren't too bad actually since they don't hit particularly hard. A little bit later, though...  ...there's a bird flying rapidly towards Ken! Well, we've seen that before, so it can only be...  ...the eagles! Well, good to know they can also be found down here, so I can finally craft that eagle sword that I wanted do make since a long time! Not today though, but I WILL take care of it next time! Alongside the swallow cutter, it's the only one other weapon which hits all enemies in front of you at once! For this, we will need to capture ten male eagles, of course. All right, let's keep looking!  Hey, what's that?  I think they look amazing, honestly, even if not too weird (well other than the... eye). Of course, this is a pair of leopards, which I'm sure you've already guessed. As the information says, anything else they may have is kind of diminished because of their extremely low HP. Incidentally, leopards used to look a bit different in the PC Engine version:  I think I kind of prefer the redesigned version because it made them look a bit more obviously leopards, while still retaining some weirdness. But, anyway, as we keep exploring around here, I run also into some boars, but they're only males, so I guess it's probably not the right season for female. We'll check that out again later, but in the meantime...  ...here in the more wet area, we find...  ...some hippos, which we already know from the last time.  At this point, I decide to go to the other side of that tunnel, to check out the western side, and in particular that desert that everybody's been mentioning!  Hm, yeah, that definitely looks like a desert! That bird is definitely not an eagle, though!  Some pretty darn awesome looking crows! Obviously, in real life, an eagle would definitely be easily bigger in size than a typical crow, but not here! Very slightly different, but not any less cool look from the PC Engine version:  Another animal that you can find in the desert...  ...is definitely something you would exactly expect to find here!  Camels, obviously. Even if only two-legged ones! A surprising number of different abilities, even some potentially dangerous status effects! But, the HP is still not too high, so we manage. In any case, Ken can always transform into an eagle to boost his attack power, if needed. Dolphin would be nicer, but we don't have that at the moment! Also, check out what they used to look like in the PC Engine version:  This picture cannot be explained. I must say, I find it interesting how a lot of the more "out there" designs where "normalised" when the remake was done. It seems remake more often leans into making the animals designs looking a bit towards the funny side, rather than the more grotesque side, as it was in the original, and some of the more weird designs were definitely toned down. But, ok, there is actually more species that we can find around here, and we will, but for now...  ...I just capture some horses. On our travels around the southwestern parts, we also come across this...  I suppose this must be the abandoned hotel that is now overrun by crows which everybody was talking about! Let's add it to the list of things to check out at a later date. I figure now might be a good time to go and hand in all these animals we've been carrying around for a while!  And then, just as we exit Hardia to go into the ark...  ...it's suddenly winter 1991! In addition to that, I remember that we can just make a short walk over to the Nebul Road cave and get a couple more species there!  So, I do just that! Inside...  ...first we find some more of those entrails.  And then, after some more exploring around...  ...Ken gets attacked!  It's a pair of crocodiles! I ran into them before, but this time we're lucky to also encounter a female because they are quite rare. I mean, it wouldn't have been a huge issue since I already bought one just in case, but it's nicer to actually find them like this! Oddly, except for a slightly stronger attack, they don't even have any real special abilities! And now, for real...  ...let's hand in what we haven't so far and see where we stand! Checking in with the robot...  ...show us that we're currently at 23 species out of 50. So we're making progress, but there's definitely still some work to do! In any case, as we're finishing here...  ...Ken gets a message notification. Hopefully it's from Emory, telling us that Linda has recovered (well, according to him, obviously, as for us, we'll still need to figure out what happened to her arm!). We'll go there soon, but first...  ...let's head over to Minago. It was mentioned that rangers are there dealing with the aftermath of the incident, so we'll check that out quickly!  Here we go. There is already a ranger standing here that we can talk to! Yeah, I mean, a lion doesn't have laser beams. Well, maybe those here on Neo-Keyna do? Actually, when I think about it, all "special abilities" of animals that we've encountered so far were more "organic" in nature, so on second though I don't think they do have lasers.  Then we have this guy here... There are way too many mysteries on this planet! Inside the church...  Hm, we're finding out more about the three suicide cases... Then we have another ranger up on the belltower balcony...  Next...  ...we'll proceed over into Linda's house.  Yes... that looks pretty grim. But if we head up to Linda's room....  ...there is also a ranger here that we can talk to. Uhh... Ok, let's get out of here. I mentioned that I wanted to check if we'll be able to hear more of the story from the animal expert...  ... but the answer is no. He's also perished in the massacre and his house is now empty. Oh well, maybe in the next scenario! Obviously same thing with Dr. Oid, the ethnologist who was sure to uncover the secrets of Minago. Ok, now let's head back to Hardia quickly, because we haven't really had a chat with Ben or with Ken's mother recently. First, Ken goes to talk to his mum...   The talking flower, as promised, has been delivered to Ken's room. As mentioned, it's kind of like a mynah bird in the sense that it repeats the things it hears. So let's talk to it and find out what it's heard recently, shall we? Ahahaha, looks like Ken's mum and the commander are definitely getting it on! But, speaking of Ben, let's pay him a quick visit!  Yeah, I mean, clearly, it's not just randomly missing. But we'll see. In any case, it's time to finally go and check out that message which is waiting for us.  The message is from Emory. Well, all right! In that case, I think it's time to make a trip to Hospico and say hei... uh, I mean, hi to Dr. Emory!  Over in Hospico, in front of Dr. Emory's house, there is somebody tending to the flowers... I guess it must be his daugther Sachiko whom we've heard about.  Er, we should head inside. We need to get Linda.  Oh, what now.  And we're treated to one of those full length pictures of a character that the game sometimes throws at us.  It's definitely a "but thou must" situation here. And, just like that... Sachiko is now in our party! Bet nobody expected that to happen! Here is the picture from the party menu:  Like with Hume, she doesn't level up and you can't change her equipment. Before we leave, we can talk to Emory a bit more...  Well, that was creepy. But don't worry, because it's going to get much worse. Outside...  Ok, well, there's just one problem. We have no idea where to even start looking for Linda. So maybe it's not a bad course of action to go and report to Ben and see what he says. He seems to be a resourceful fellow so far, doesn't he?  Interestingly, if we go to Ken's house in Hardia, we find it locked this time! Huh. But we can definitely sit on the swing with Sachiko!  Ugh, just say it. But she doesn't. So normally, you would just get up and leave. However, if you sit down again. Ken Challenger, Ranger Lv. 15 Hardia, Winter, 1st Year. --End Of Record. Luckily, before we can think too much about what just happened (don't worry, it's going to get worse)...  ...we get a message notification! Ok, next let's go and talk to Ben and then we'll check out the message.  Ah, so in other words, I should go and collect some animals until you page me? Sure thing boss. Ok, let's go and listen to that message.  The message is from Linda. Yeah, no. We're going looking for Linda. But next time! So, I hope everybody's happy! Sachiko is getting a lot more "screen time" in this scenario! I mean, everything around her is creepy to the max, but maybe we'll finally find out what's her deal? By the way, on an unrelated note, the voice acting in this game is really fantastic (all dialogue lines for characters which have portraits are fully voiced!) and in particular, Linda's voice actress Minami Takayama is quite a delight.-that last message from Linda, truly breaks your heart when you hear it voiced. But the quality of the performance really shouldn't be a big surprise, because she's had quite a number of very high profile roles in anime over the years, for example the voice of Conan in Detective Conan (even still in 2021) and also, of all things, the voice of the player character in Danganronpa 2! Among many many others. All right, well, until next time then!  So, first of all, here is a picture of those weird things that killed Linda's parents last time: And then... Did you know that Dr. Emory in the original PC Engine version did NOT in fact look like a certain historical figure. He simply looked like your garden variety mad scientist:
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2022 01:06
|
|
|
Adding the Hitler stache was an... "interesting" stylistic choice. (also I can't stop laughing at the dogfight town being named Dogy Figh)
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2022 02:10
|
|
|
Sachiko just came to this planet? Weird. Oh, Ken's biological father got a mention. Given his rather inglorious appearance in scenario 1 I'm a bit surprised he's such a dangerous person. Well, go figure. Those PC Engine camels...are something.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2022 02:29
|
|
|
This game, I swear.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2022 04:41
|
|
|
1) Every single image of Sachiko seems to convey an entirely different personality: Her dialogue portrait looks dead inside, the full screen art of her makes her look like a normal person who is uncomfortable in the costume they're wearing, and her status menu portrait makes her look smug and haughty. ("Dead inside" seems to be her actual personality) 2) This is gonna be the weirdest episode of Murder, She Wrote ever.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2022 05:13
|
|
|
So... does answering "Yes" to Sachiko's question actually change anything, or is it just a "joke" moment where she acted shy about asking the question, just to reveal she was just doing it to analyze Ken?TurnipFritter posted:1) Every single image of Sachiko seems to convey an entirely different personality: Her dialogue portrait looks dead inside, the full screen art of her makes her look like a normal person who is uncomfortable in the costume they're wearing, and her status menu portrait makes her look smug and haughty. ("Dead inside" seems to be her actual personality) Her dialogue portrait looks less "dead inside" and more One Punch Man "OK face" to me. Not necessarily emotionally dead, just extremely bored.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2022 05:47
|
|
|
Why bug assassin got a tiddy? This game is the head trip that just keeps on giving.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2022 05:50
|
|
|
quote:Why bug assassin got a tiddy? Mutated/armoured from humans/Beastians, or some such, I presume.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2022 05:59
|
|
|
Ah, another very usual and normal update of the very ordinary Linda ^ 3. I was wondering what they were planning on doing with Sachiko, so I guess now I'll get my answer! One can only wonder how this completely mundane JRPG didn't get localized.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2022 06:32
|
|
|
AltaBrown posted:Why bug assassin got a tiddy? Why do the camels have tiddies and ballsacks for humps, life finds a way/Neo Kenya is a land of contrasts/etc
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2022 16:56
|
|
|
I want to echo some earlier comments about how the way you're presenting this game sometimes makes me forget it's not actually localized. You're really doing an amazing job. And I can't get enough of all the weird twists this game's story and themes take. I'm guessing this is supposed to say South Area?
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2022 17:01
|
|
|
Randalor posted:So... does answering "Yes" to Sachiko's question actually change anything, or is it just a "joke" moment where she acted shy about asking the question, just to reveal she was just doing it to analyze Ken? Answering yes or no here makes absolutely no difference in the game. She just does the same thing no matter what you say. About the dialogue portraits, what we saw here was just one possible expression (admittedly the one she's in most of the time), but there are actually others, such as this:  Geemer posted:I'm guessing this is supposed to say South Area? Yes it is, looks like I somehow fatfingered that one. I will fix it, thanks. I do try to proofread, but with the amount of text here, some typos will inevitably sneak through--feel free to point out the more egregious ones, so I can fix them though. Once again, thanks everybody and I'm glad people are enjoying this crazy and fun game. But as for why there never was a localised version, apart from everything else, as was already pointed out, I think also that this game contains too much stuff in it that Sony EU/USA of the 1990s would not have been able to swallow.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2022 19:12
|
|
|
quote:All right, really, let's go somewhere, anywhere, else! here's the problem, it seems that no matter where you go things are still insane this game continues to impress, though maybe not always in the way they intended
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2022 19:55
|
|
|
Maybe when Ken's Bloody Roar powers improve he too can become a laser-shooting ant lady
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2022 19:52
|
|
|
A dream I think we all share.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2022 20:08
|
|
|
 Here we go! Last time, Ken visited the Rose Garden and bought himself a talking flower. Also, he got a message from Emory that Linda is ready to be discharged. Upon getting there, it turned out that Linda had run away, presumably not wanting Ken to see her with her "new arm". This was confirmed later, in a message from her. Oh, and also we paid a visit to a place called Dogy Figh, which seems to contain many weird people, and it seems also that we may have stumbled ourselves into a murder mystery of sorts? Last time also, the commander mentioned that aide Kammer's people will be helping to look for Linda, and Kammer himself suggested that we should go and see him at Ozport hotel, so why don't we start by doing just that!  Over in Ozport, we'll head straight to the hotel!  Here we are, in his room!  All righty then, I guess we really just have to wait for now. Things being what they are, let's then head back south for some more hunting!  First of all, last time I was complaining that I couldn't find any female boars and I figured it might be worth to try later in a different season. And indeed...  ...I do find a whole bunch of boars! Despite appearances, they are actually pretty weak, so Ken encounters no problems here at all. I also decide to explore a bit more to the west where the desert is...  ...and I run into some new critters, but honestly I don't think there's any doubt what they are!  It's definitely armadillos, but I don't think anybody will be surprised by that! They, too, pose no real threat, due to their very low speed--so we get a lot more turns than they do. After this, Ken and Sachiko make camp, in order to replenish HP/BP. It turns out to be one of those situation where you actually get a conversation during a camp! I'm starting to worry about getting killed in my sleep. Also, I didn't highlight the answers above because they don't cause any difference in the conversation. And so, since we have some time now, I head down south again to this lake thing:  We can find here a lot of eagles. It's finally time to upgrade our weapon! After a short time, I manage to capture 10 male eagles, which is enough to craft the weapon. So we make camp again where I set Ken to do it:  The weapon is called "eagle sabre" and brings up our attack power by 18. It also, as I keep repeating, attacks all enemies in front of us, so it will serve us for a long time.  Ken equips it, bringing his attack power to 223. I might make another of these once we get Linda back into our party, but she'll have the swallow cutter to use until then.  In all that going back and forth, it suddenly becomes Spring 1992. Soon enough...  ...we also finally receive a notification that there is a new message! So we head directly to Dogy Figh to see what it is.  The message is from Ben! So there's good news and bad news. We are already at Dogy Figh, that's the good news. But the bad news is it's spring, so it's going to be all empty again. So I decide to just wait it out until it becomes summer, so we can also make a bit of a tour of the whole arena part. I guess I could have gone hunting instead, but it's only been one year so we really aren't pressed for time at all. And we'll do some more hunting after this tour anyway. So, bottom line...  ...it's now Summer 1992. And this illustrates again the disparity where the despite the passage of time, the actual plot is not at all affected by it--nothing will have advanced, despite the whole season passing. This is mostly not a game of "you have to be in the right place at the right time", although as plot advances you might miss some optional dialogue if you don't seek it out before the next plot motion.  I'm feeling a bit generous today. It's been a long time since we talked to any of the left luggage people. So let's have a chat today! Well, we mostly did all this, except I guess we didn't run into any centipedes. We'll have to see about that later.  So let's head straight to the hotel.  Inside, we can talk to this ranger...  Here in this room, there are two people. First, the person (ranger) on the sofa... Yeah, we've definitely stumbled into some kind of murder mystery here. Now we even have to talk to suspects! But first, the person on the bed, with a broken arm! We can also talk to the guy in the white shirt standing outside in the hallway: She's nothing if not determined! But then, she's always been, so...  We'll now head downstairs, to where the arena is.  Except now, it's not actually empty here! So let's start with the lady sitting here by the dog pictures.  Let's actually do that first, and then we'll come back and check out the arena. We've already been downstairs, but we'll se what's changed since then.  First this guy, Beagley, one of Orman's children. I remember him being not very nice last time! If you don't like this guy, then let Sachiko ask him. Because, this is what happens:  She punches him! And this joker has a bit more to say... Well, good. At least we found something out. Then, as we leave his room...  Then, let's continue by talking to this guy here in the room on the other side...  Seems like one big happy family... As we leave the room...  Next, we stop to talk to the nurse here...  Unless Ken and/or Linda manage to solve the case first! Ken and Linda, amateur detectives, to the rescue! Next, we'll stop by to talk with Pomerania, Orman's third child.  As we leave the room...   Next, we'll talk to this lady here... As we leave the room...  Talking to Sachiko is fun, right? But anyway, that's all we can do down here for now....  ...so let's head back upstairs and explore the whole dog fighting situation now that there are actually people here! On the upper floor, we can start talking to this gentleman here...   Next, we head towards the bar, where we can talk to the waitress in the usual bunny attire. And then the other waitress (the one standing all the way on the left)... This alludes to the fact that you can have other animals in your party in the place of dogs, such as dolphins, eagles, and a couple of others. Let's also talk to the guy in white sitting there on a chair. Hmm... Ben, you say? I think I know somebody with that name.  Next, there's a bunch of people here by the arena, so let's go in order. We start with the guy in blue, on the left. Haha, this is funny. So we can rank in the first three and that unlocks the ability to use kanji in dog's names. Incidentally, in the original Japanese, the conversations here which are related to dog fighting mostly tend to use sumo-wrestling terminology, e.g. when talking about ranks and stuff. So this talk about names also frames this in the concept of "name succession" where a sumo wrestler might inherit the "ring name" ("shikona") of a previous famous wrestlers and such. Let's talk to the next guy. Next. (Note: an actual thing you can do during a dog fight!) Finally the guy in white, on the right side:  Next, we can talk to this guy at the counter. Here's where we can register to participate in a tournament. He also explains us the rules: So basically, you can keep going with stronger and stronger opponents until you either defeat everybody, lose, or choose to cash in in between two fights. We'll check that out in a moment. Meanwhile...  ...there's this gentleman here whom we can talk to. We can also talk to the woman in a blue dress...  And then, there's this weirdly dressed guy here. Let's see. Well sure, I'll pay 11 G, let's see.  You can choose which dog you want to have the fortune told. We have two dogs, one named Tsuki (=moon) which we got from the little girl, and the other, Aki (=autumn) which I bought myself. So let's see what he has to say about Tsuki. Uh... even at only 11G that doesn't seem worth the money. Although it gives us an idea about what stats a particular dog might be good at--not that you can't actualy see that yourself simply by comparing their stats! We are definitely not strong enough to win the whole tournament here, but we can give it a try anyway. It looks like this:  So it's literally your dog against another. As always, you don't really have control over what the dog does, so all you can do is watch (or press X to stop the fight if you're losing). We can definitely win the first few rounds, but then it starts to get difficult and we pretty much hit a brick wall. So we'll have to try this later when our dog(s) are stronger. One warning though: if your dog gets its HP reduced to zero here, it counts for real and you will have to take it to a doctor to get it revived. Luckily there is a doctor here just a few steps away, so it's only a monetary issue. And that concludes our business in Dogy Figh for now. Clearly if Linda was here at some point, she no longer is, so we'll have to go find another clue as to her current location.  Just as we're about to leave, we get our next message notification!  Let's check it out. It's from Ben, again. I guess we could head to Ozport. Or... we can go and so some more hunting first! A hunter must hunt, after all. Well, anyway, being that it is now summer, the first thing to do is go back to Rose Garden and check out if we can now find cockroaches of both sexes there now.  Ah-ha! There they are! Let's see...  Oh, yeah. As expected, we definitely can! Don't they look ridiculous by the way? Their design was much weirder in the PC Engine version, though:  But as for the abilities, the only real problem is their chance to reduce your attack power. Other than that, they are a little tougher on attack/defence than what you might expect, but overall it should be possible with no huge problems. Just try not to run into any roses, because... they are quite deadly, as we already know! To continue, I head to this cave here which can be entered from a shallow lake (ignore the eagle).   This place is called "Dark River" and is mostly a large underground river, but there are some drier parts. There are a couple of species which cannot be found anywhere else but here (and also a few items), so let's get started. As always, we're not at present going to explore every part of the cave. First of all...  ...you can find dolphins here, so I guess I didn't need to buy one that time. And then...  ...here we have a large group of animals from a new species!  You can probably tell anyway, but these are definitely some shrimp! Lots of different abilities, but so weak that they are unlikely to be able to use. Especially that one which destroys your equipment potentially! They also have an annoying tendency to run away.  Oh, hey...  ...it's turtles! But we are already familiar with them.  We proceed to wander around the cave...  ...which does also contain a few chests with items! This one contains koala gloves, which is in fact a weapon you can equip if you want to punch enemies. It is however definitely weaker than our eagle sabre, so we won't.  You can also find earthworms here, but we already did those so we don't need to fight them. This is what they look like on the map--in Marblepolis they were hiding under stones, so we couldn't see them properly.  Moving on, we find another chest. This one contains the snail hat.  Unlike last one, this item IS worth equipping, for a slight increase in defence. Going a bit further into the cave...  ...we find something that does not look at all familiar!  Well, these are clams, and I'm not sure what to think of the design! We're probably a bit underleveled for this area, but it's ok, the battles sometimes just take a bit longer (like in case of these guys).  Several different species on this screen, but we're interested in the one directly in front of Ken!  Leeches! They're pretty weak, so nothing much to say here, really.  Going a bit further, we find a further two chests here in a little nook. Usually there might be here some turtles and such you'll have to fight first in order to access the chests. The first one contains the hippo shoes.  This is a bit of an upgrade for our footwear (surprisingly, Ken was still wearing his starting footwear, the squirrel slippers!). The other chest contains the hippo tomahawk, which is a weapon with +4 attack compared to our eagle sword, but it also hits only one enemy, so very definitely NOT worth it. In the end, we got a bit damaged in all these fights, so I figure we might make a camp here before heading out. But there is one thing I haven't yet told you about camping. You might recall that there is a screen where you can select what everyone will do during camping--the default option is to sleep. But as it turns out, it's possible to get ambushed at night by a surprise attack from an animal. In that case, it's a bit of a problem since your entire party will start the fight in a "sleep" status, which is not good. You can avoid this by selecting at least one person to be keeping watch--then at least you have somebody who is not asleep. There are also some animals that you can only catch by being ambushed by them. So when I make camp here, I set everybody to sleep, but what ends up happening...  ...is that we get attacked by a quartet of cats! I get a bit lucky here, because even though everybody is asleep, Ken manages to randomly wake up after one turn, so he can finish the battle. They may be ferocious and have strong abilities, but when their defence and HP is so low, chances are they will anyway never get to use any of that. And so it happens here too. But can I just say, what a disappointment? They just look like ordinary cats! Especially when THIS is what they used to look like in the PC Engine version:  I mean, c'mon. Why would you get rid of this insanity in favour of just ordinary looking cats? I truly don't understand. In any case, we have things to do, so let's finish hunting here. We need to head up north anyway, so let's first go to the ark to hand everything in, and then we'll be on our way to Ozport.  Back at the ark, after handing everything in...  ...the robot informs us that we're now at 32 species out of 50 required. Not bad. And now, straight to Ozport!  Here we are!  First, there is a ranger here who we can talk to. Other than beating up people over in Dogy Figh, she truly does seem to be trying to figure out the whole mystery between the suicides and the massacre and everything. So I guess, let's head inside and see what we can find!  To start with, let's quickly check with the lady at the information desk. Well, ok, we already know that. But the guy in white sitting there has something interesting to say.  We'll take this staircase up.  We have three people here. Let's see if any of them know anything about Linda. We'll start with the person directly in front of us. And then the other person in white.  Suddenly a ranger comes in and approaches Ken and Sachiko... Sure thing... eventually. First we have here one last person to talk, the guy in a suit. Huh, this is the same as what happened to that Orman dude. Also, I would here say, "did we just stumble into an Ace Attorney game?", but of course this game predates that series, so...  Well, the teleporter is one floor up, so let's head there!  Here we have a few people also, for example this woman here. This is so subtle that you're likely to miss the true meaning of this comment on your first playthrough! In reality, this is a direct information about a somewhat important game mechanic! It's really simple, and exactly as she said: as time progresses, more and more people actually do leave the planet. That includes people who work in shops and other facilities, meaning, especially in later years you will find more and more shops getting closed and various facilities slowly becoming unavailable over time! This is an actual thing that happens in the game, although not yet at this point in time since it's still only 1992. For now, let's check the poster on the wall... The galactic paradise to end all paradises! The wilderness of Neo-Kenya awaits you! The guy in the white shirt has a comment about this:  On the other side of this room is, of course, the teleporter which takes us up to Ozsat. Let's take it.  And a second later, we're up in the sky!  Taking the staircase up to the departure area for the shuttle.  First we talk to the old lady here. Man, some of the comments that characters say in this game are absolutely brutal!  Next we head through this door/hallway...  The boarding gate is downstairs, but first, we'll go though another door and talk to people!  First we'll talk to the pregnant lady. And then the guy standing there in the corner... It's a bit depressing here, unfortunately... so let's head down the stairs.  The boarding gate is over to the right...  Ah, here is Kammer (and also what looks like a flight attendant in the back, dressed in blue).  At this point, the flight attendant approaches, interrupting our conversation.    Finally, they all go in and we can leave. As we exit...  Finally, the shuttle departs...  Ken and Sachiko return back to the main waiting area.  As we approach the stairs to leave...  ...a woman comes running up the staircase! I don't know, why does it? Well, anyway, we head down to the teleporter.  But, just as we are about to head back down to the planet surface... ...a large explosion shakes the satellite.  The flashing emergency lights and the siren come on! What exactly has happened? What was that explosion? Let's try and find out!  Let's talk to this person at the desk. Oh, no! That pregnant lady's husband was on it! And also that guy's childhood sweetheart! I guess also Kammer and the flight attendant. But at least that one lady who was late didn't get killed!  Two more people here in the corner... First the guy in blue. Sure thing buddy, but first we'll talk to the lady sitting at the computer there. Ok, so I guess we have to stay here for a bit. That was definitely an unexpected turn of events... but it seems like the Federation computer is pretty good at predicting stuff, though. But for now, let's go back and see what the lady who was late for her flight things now!  Then we can also talk to the scientist dude on the room on the right side... I... don't think this was The Grim Reaper. Now, the lady scientist in the room on the left: Nah, probably not.  We should also check with the old lady again! Sure, let's go back through that corridor.  Stop by here quickly on the way...  Ah, here she is. The other person in the room... And then back again once more to the pregnant lady... Finally, the alert stops and things go back to normal. Let's just check if the guy at the desk there has calmed down? Sounds like a plan. But for us, let's really make our way back down to the planet now.   As always, we'll check with the old lady... As we are heading down to the teleporter...   Before we use the teleporter, let's just check with the technicians here if it's safe! First the guy in blue: Somehow, I'm not confident. Let's talk to the other person... Uhh... Oh well, it's not like we have a choice, do we?   Ah, I guess it worked.  Let's see what the tehnicians here have to say... the blue guy first. Well, that's reassuring. Let's check the other two people on the right. No, nothing... don't worry about it. But anyway, we're done here. We know our next destination, Paraside. Before that, though, let's make just a quick stop at Hardia and see if Ben has anything new to say.  As we leave, it turns out that this news bulletin they have posted on walls has changed. N.K. NEWS BULLETIN All the inhabitants in the Beastian town of Minage have been attaked by unknown persons. The only survivors are Ken and Linda, the two crew members of the ark. The authorities are investigating the connection with the previous suicides in the same town and also with the massacre in Koshikata a few years ago. As I've mentioned, even though the events in the scenarios differ, they do share the same history/lore, so one scenario may provide answers to mysteries in another! Let's head to the Ranger HQ and see what Ben has to say.  Hmm, so nothing about the shuttle, huh? Oh well.  So, let's head to Paraside then next time, and see if we can finally catch up with Linda! Maybe she'll tell us more about what she's been investigating so far! For today, another funny one from the PC Engine times: And then one more of those which are concepts for a poster or advertisement art or something like that:
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2022 22:51
|
|
|
The PC Engine cats are way cooler, I agree, but what really amused me was the random alphabet burn where you have to unlock another type by doing well in dog fight. Is this a cultural thing I have no context for or is it out of left field for Japanese players too?
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2022 23:43
|
|
|
It was the update of weird mouths. It started out with the boars' groin mouths and went from there
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2022 00:02
|
|
|
Sachiko's a robot, isn't she.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2022 00:35
|
|
|
Probably. I would have preferred umbrella cat too. I'm not really piecing this plot together aside from the very general outline of it but I'm for learning more about the Federation.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2022 01:28
|
|
|
Quackles posted:Sachiko's a robot, isn't she. It'd explain her complete lack of knowledge about good and evil, weird lack of emotions and the fact that we just saw her twin sister (which no one commented on).
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2022 03:27
|
|
|
Blaze Dragon posted:It'd explain her complete lack of knowledge about good and evil, weird lack of emotions and the fact that we just saw her twin sister (which no one commented on). What ever are you talking about? That other woman was wearing sunglasses. Also, has anyone else noticed you never see Clark Kent and Superman in the same room together?
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2022 05:20
|
|
|
Still laughing that so far roses are far and away the toughest enemy we've encountered.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2022 07:21
|
|
|
Quackles posted:Sachiko's a robot, isn't she. Either an actual one or a triumph of bio-engineering or some such. The Puppet Master. Well, we see what the puppets are, don't we? Of course, with this game it'll turn out to be something even more weird. Unless that's overthinking it? But that just leads you in circles. Regardless, Sachiko doesn't seem foul in herself in either route. I hope there's something resembling a happy ending for her. One that doesn't come at the expense of anyone else.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2022 16:23
|
|
|
Psion posted:The PC Engine cats are way cooler, I agree, but what really amused me was the random alphabet burn where you have to unlock another type by doing well in dog fight. Is this a cultural thing I have no context for or is it out of left field for Japanese players too? To be honest, I don't think there's too much more here other than the game being a smartass for a bit. As far as I know (but if somebody knows more, please correct me), I don't think there are any special rules around dog names. I do think that most often you'll see them written in katakana, but I believe kanji names are not unheard of either. So I guess it's just this game being its whimsical self, nothing more.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2022 23:31
|
|
|
ivantod posted:To be honest, I don't think there's too much more here other than the game being a smartass for a bit. As far as I know (but if somebody knows more, please correct me), I don't think there are any special rules around dog names. I do think that most often you'll see them written in katakana, but I believe kanji names are not unheard of either. So I guess it's just this game being its whimsical self, nothing more. I continue to love this completely normal and totally ordinary game. Thank you so much for sharing it with us!
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 02:02
|
|
|
Bloodly posted:Either an actual one or a triumph of bio-engineering or some such. The Puppet Master. Well, we see what the puppets are, don't we? Of course, with this game it'll turn out to be something even more weird. Unless that's overthinking it? But that just leads you in circles. Leaning towards an actual robot just because of the random line about "this secretary is actually a robot" in the same area where her look-alike turns up.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 03:30
|
|
|
Hirayuki posted:I think it's less dog names and more to do with sumo, as you mentioned. Wrestlers often start out using their regular family names, but can choose or be given pretty fancy names as they move up the ranks, which I suppose would translate in-game to being able to use kanji in your fighters' names once they're near/at the top. Yeah I think you're spot on here. Everything in this game about dog fighting is talked about in sumo terms, such as 横綱, 大関, 襲名 and so on, so it makes sense that this would be exactly how you suggest--in particular, being able to use kanji instead of katakana in dog names is referred to specifically as 襲名.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 12:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 23:59 |
|
|
Item Getter posted:Leaning towards an actual robot just because of the random line about "this secretary is actually a robot" in the same area where her look-alike turns up. That's what I'm thinking too. You have robots that are virtually identical to humans, then suddenly Sachiko's doppelganger is blowing up shuttles for fun and pro... actually, going by how Sachiko acts, maybe just for fun.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 13:48
|
|