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RPGs own and BG3 has revived a very specific kind of brainworms on me and now I'm playing through BG1-2 for the first time and eyeing over my Steam copy of PS:T.
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Sep 10, 2023 07:11
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i need to beat bg3 before wandering sword comes out... i miss my friend shadowheart who has never done anything wrong the clicking just feels so finicky sometimes it gets annoying 😢
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Sep 10, 2023 07:14
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After 18 hours I managed to start act 2 of BG3 and the story and cast are fun enough but an NPC spawned beneath the floor because I killed a thing 12 hours ago so I have to download a script extension to teleport him up 50 units to continue a party member quest and that sucks rear end. On the other hand Lae'zel rules and after getting the first major scene with her in act 2 I do not understand romancing anyone else in this game.
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Sep 10, 2023 07:26
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I'm still stuck at Divinity2 lol. Fort Joy really need a map
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Sep 10, 2023 07:56
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Cleretic posted:I'd say 7 is generally trying to skew towards 'adult' and holds true in this regard, because at the end of the day 7 is just a very blunt environmentalism story with some really wild set dressing. 8 I do struggle to fit into that framework, both because the story itself is completely insane and because I'm not 100% sure where on that audience and tonal scale I'd put a game so clearly aimed towards the 'Edgy Awkward Teen' demographic. environmentalism is an aspect of ff7 but like everything relevant to the lead characters is about their anxieties about their place in the world and how they can protect what's important to them, and what they do when they lose it. ff8 is a story more primarily centered around struggling over losing things, that's why the entire story is about memories. memories are something you build and that define who you are but are also something you inevitably lose and squall's entire conflict is over him forming a wall around himself so that he'll never form any memories to lose and can live entirely on his own, but having that wall torn down the more he's forced to spend time with others and realize that living without making those memories isn't possible, and the fact that you'll lose them afterwards won't be the end of the world either. that's why both laguna and ultimecia exist as his mirrors, laguna has always understood that and has accepted it and while he's had his share of misfortune he's able to accept it all and move forward, while ultimecia shares squall's absolute inner terror over it and rather than trying to come to grips with it, would rather completely rewrite how existence as a concept functions so that none of this could ever possibly happen in the first place. i guess you could say ff8 is a game for edgy awkward teens but it's specifically a game about telling them that life will be tough sometimes but they'll make it through okay as long as they care about others. it's an extremely empathetic game that pokes fun at squall constantly but also constantly gives you instances of him being a genuinely good, caring person who's just having trouble figuring out what he wants in life or how to express himself to others. the ways it explores this are cartoony and over the top but it's only hard to figure out what the tone of the game is or what it's trying to say if you're getting lost in the semantics of how its setting works logically, which isn't what the game is asking you to do at all. its actual emotional throughline is very simple and it lines up pretty comfortably with the more personal themes of both ff7 and ff9.
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Sep 10, 2023 11:49
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Im reached the mountain region in Chained Echoes (past the flame cave) and it seemed like a big jump in difficulty in the random encounters. I can still beat things but often with a character or two dead. Aside from the skill and stat boosts when you beat a boss and the crafting system, is there a way to level up or grind? I feel like Im at a point where I need to grind or something. Also the characters are talking about things they see in the “distance” but the background is just a big black NES style void here. Is there a missing layer or something?
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Sep 10, 2023 12:31
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90sgamer posted:I’m playing through the first six FF games for the very first time thanks to the pixel remasters. I’ll probably continue on to the ps1 games too but I’m curious for those of you that completed these games as they were coming out which JRPG series or game did most people gravitate too once they were finished? I’m assuming either the SaGa or Mana games but maybe I’m wrong Suikoden
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Sep 10, 2023 13:17
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Chained Echoes reminds me of Iconoclasts in that has fantastic art and strong gameplay, but the story is too edgey, unpolished, and unfiltered to leave anything but a bad taste in the mouth.
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Sep 10, 2023 13:18
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ZenMasterBullshit posted:
I don't understand the general hate for Lae'zel, she's hilarious.
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Sep 10, 2023 14:20
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lunar detritus posted:I don't understand the general hate for Lae'zel, she's hilarious. Everyone needs to be nicer to space Charo.
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Sep 10, 2023 15:25
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lunar detritus posted:I don't understand the general hate for Lae'zel, she's hilarious. People were extremely normal about her not being nice and deferential from minute one, which is extra funny with how fast she flips to being a complete Tav simp with a few approval points. (Of course, Astarion had to literally try to murder you - twice - to get nearly as much poo poo as Lae'zel did for calling you lame.)
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Sep 10, 2023 15:35
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I thought Astarion kinda sucked even before he was revealed to literally suck. Still on Act 1 but I don't see it changing soon.lunar detritus posted:I don't understand the general hate for Lae'zel, she's hilarious. I didn't know she was hated, but between Shadowheart and Karlach she just isn't high on my list for my character to get with right now.
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Sep 10, 2023 15:41
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Caphi posted:People were extremely normal about her not being nice and deferential from minute one, which is extra funny with how fast she flips to being a complete Tav simp with a few approval points. Lae'zel is a hilarious character because you can cause her to completely change her worldview and belief system like four times over the course of a playthrough. Starts off a standard pattern Githyanki/Vlaakith loyalist, you can convince her Vlaakith sucks and to go her own way, then she can hop on the Orpheus train, then you can convince her to hop off that train and stay with you despite her swearing she'd give her life to see Orpheus's rise previously. She's basically a weathervane if you're romancing her/being nice enough to her that she listens to you.
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Sep 10, 2023 16:03
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I knew I would fall in love with Lae'zel when my Tav said "you know, these tadpoles could be an advantage" and she shot back with "could be... IF YOU GAVE IT NO FURTHER THOUGHT." Queen, honestly.
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Sep 10, 2023 16:12
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I like when Lae'zel tells me I'm steel and silver and also silk and satin to her but also tells me I'm being stupid to my face when I make a impulsive decision. She keeps me in line and I appreciate it.
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Sep 10, 2023 16:54
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biceps crimes posted:I'm at "the choice' in Triangle Strategy chapter 17 Someone said differently but they're wrong: subsequent play-throughs are significantly faster. Most of the content of the first few chapters are identical, saving a few hours if you skip the cutscenes you've already watched. I think my second playthrough was 5-10 hours shorter.
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Sep 10, 2023 17:24
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. I don't want to be complicit in slavery. Hyzante sucks rear end. I'd save this for last, even after the golden ending
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Triangle Strategy could benefit if it had an interactive progress tree like in the Zero Escape games, so you don't have to replay scenes in a game with four endings. You'd have to get rid off the whole conviction system, which would be no loss. loving Wario Land 2 had one of those trees.
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Sep 10, 2023 17:35
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biceps crimes posted:This playthrough has been heavily a morality conviction one, so I suppose I will go with the "morality choice" this time and my next playthrough will lean more liberty Remember there's a "perfect path" which is worth doing for your second playthrough. I abandoned my second because newgame+ is so annoying in it, like you still have tiny parties but all the enemies are mega strong and I hadn't used Benedict at all in my first playthrough so he was a oneshot for them. Oops. I really loved the way they did the story though, just amazingly plotted. Made me think of the Witcher 2 where your early choices REALLY matter.
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Sep 10, 2023 17:44
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The Colonel posted:environmentalism is an aspect of ff7 but like everything relevant to the lead characters is about their anxieties about their place in the world and how they can protect what's important to them, and what they do when they lose it. ff8 is a story more primarily centered around struggling over losing things, that's why the entire story is about memories. memories are something you build and that define who you are but are also something you inevitably lose and squall's entire conflict is over him forming a wall around himself so that he'll never form any memories to lose and can live entirely on his own, but having that wall torn down the more he's forced to spend time with others and realize that living without making those memories isn't possible, and the fact that you'll lose them afterwards won't be the end of the world either. that's why both laguna and ultimecia exist as his mirrors, laguna has always understood that and has accepted it and while he's had his share of misfortune he's able to accept it all and move forward, while ultimecia shares squall's absolute inner terror over it and rather than trying to come to grips with it, would rather completely rewrite how existence as a concept functions so that none of this could ever possibly happen in the first place. When you were doing your playthrough did you compare the Japanese script with the English TL? Wondering if this comes through in the translation. Either way I should replay FF8 with all this in mind.
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Sep 10, 2023 17:51
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loving hell in Sea of Stars I went all the way to the Watchmaker (about 6 screens of travel, takes 10 minutes maybe?) to get a Wheels table for a town. And for some reason you have to pay and I haven't got any money. Why hasn't it got fast travel, it baffles me
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Sep 10, 2023 17:59
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Getting back to Bravely Default 1 after a brief hiatus, and boy do I wish I had leveled more than one person in both Black Mage and White Mage before getting the Arcanist and Spiritmaster jobs just now  And it's the same character for both, no less. Magic has felt kind of underwhelming in this game up until now, but maybe these jobs will be different...
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Sep 10, 2023 18:51
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the number of RPG elements in Pikmin 4 is dangerously close to the number of RPG elements in Starfield what that means I leave to the scholars
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Sep 10, 2023 19:02
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C-Euro posted:Getting back to Bravely Default 1 after a brief hiatus, and boy do I wish I had leveled more than one person in both Black Mage and White Mage before getting the Arcanist and Spiritmaster jobs just now Magic in BD1 is just kinda mid iirc, it doesn’t really gel with the Brave system since physical stuff only costs BP or a relatively low amount of MP for the same essential effect that casting Firaga on a mob does, only you didn’t dump 20 MPx4. That’s one of the things Second fixes near immediately though, and at least not-blue magic in Default is pretty good iirc.
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Sep 10, 2023 19:11
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Magic in BD1 is incredible not because spells are good necessarily but because the "BP Recovery" ability exists.
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Sep 10, 2023 19:58
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ManSedan posted:Im reached the mountain region in Chained Echoes (past the flame cave) and it seemed like a big jump in difficulty in the random encounters. I can still beat things but often with a character or two dead. Aside from the skill and stat boosts when you beat a boss and the crafting system, is there a way to level up or grind? I feel like Im at a point where I need to grind or something. You can't grind in Chained Echoes, at least not really in a meaningful way. The average random encounter in Chained Echoes is way harder than most RPGs, you need to make the most out of everything you're given even in random encounters most of the time.
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Sep 10, 2023 20:32
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The Colonel posted:environmentalism is an aspect of ff7 but like everything relevant to the lead characters is about their anxieties about their place in the world and how they can protect what's important to them, and what they do when they lose it. ff8 is a story more primarily centered around struggling over losing things, that's why the entire story is about memories. memories are something you build and that define who you are but are also something you inevitably lose and squall's entire conflict is over him forming a wall around himself so that he'll never form any memories to lose and can live entirely on his own, but having that wall torn down the more he's forced to spend time with others and realize that living without making those memories isn't possible, and the fact that you'll lose them afterwards won't be the end of the world either. that's why both laguna and ultimecia exist as his mirrors, laguna has always understood that and has accepted it and while he's had his share of misfortune he's able to accept it all and move forward, while ultimecia shares squall's absolute inner terror over it and rather than trying to come to grips with it, would rather completely rewrite how existence as a concept functions so that none of this could ever possibly happen in the first place. appreciated reading this post, thanks colonel
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Sep 10, 2023 20:42
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lunar detritus posted:I don't understand the general hate for Lae'zel, she's hilarious. i don't hate her, but i have a hard time looking at her nose just like how she has a hard time looking at my nose
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Sep 10, 2023 21:05
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Lae'zel is great but if you didn't at least give Karlach a hug after the second Iron you are history's greatest monster.
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Sep 10, 2023 21:24
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I'm once again skimming through the recent RPG-related blogs that looked entertaining. this review of a Starfield warehouse from a QA team manager was a personal favorite. I'm always down for a deep dive into the architecture/geography of games, and the speculation about what the messes in the warehouse might say about the workers were very fun. Also the tidbits about what OSHA actually does with regards to fines and certification. Looks like FF8 chat is current again in RPG Thread. I mostly skimmed over this article about how Telesthesia is used in FF8, but the chunk in the middle about abstracted socialization and hustle culture was pretty interesting. I definitely remember finding the computer center and wage/rank system odd when I actually tried FF8 for a bit, but I had not made the connection that they might help ground the player in Squall's own feelings about their situation. Anything else I found worth reading... there was a pretty cool spanish-language article that did recap+basic analysis of the plot in Blasphemous 1 and 2. I didn't play either of those, but I was interested to hear what they were actually about. The questions about whether divine beings can find purpose outside of human contexts and how they might react if they get too close to that context seem pretty interesting in a Catholic context. Really highlights some of that old/new testament dissonance.
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Sep 10, 2023 22:06
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ImpAtom posted:Lae'zel is great but if you didn't at least give Karlach a hug after the second Iron you are history's greatest monster. Agreed. Doing a new run where I want to romance shadowheart because she's great too, but it's gonna be hard to break karlach's heart if I have to, because she's great
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Sep 10, 2023 22:23
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talking about ff8 as analogous to the early internet without mentioning selphie's blog is wild
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Sep 10, 2023 22:31
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Weird Pumpkin posted:Agreed. Doing a new run where I want to romance shadowheart because she's great too, but it's gonna be hard to break karlach's heart if I have to, because she's great Karlach is like super cool with being BFFs.
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Sep 10, 2023 22:36
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avoraciopoctules posted:I'm once again skimming through the recent RPG-related blogs that looked entertaining. this review of a Starfield warehouse from a QA team manager was a personal favorite. I'm always down for a deep dive into the architecture/geography of games, and the speculation about what the messes in the warehouse might say about the workers were very fun. Also the tidbits about what OSHA actually does with regards to fines and certification. I did not realize this was real and not just a meme
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Sep 10, 2023 22:36
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avoraciopoctules posted:Looks like FF8 chat is current again in RPG Thread. I mostly skimmed over this article about how Telesthesia is used in FF8, but the chunk in the middle about abstracted socialization and hustle culture was pretty interesting. I definitely remember finding the computer center and wage/rank system odd when I actually tried FF8 for a bit, but I had not made the connection that they might help ground the player in Squall's own feelings about their situation. this is the most bizarre half-understanding of ff8's story that leaves out the context of like three different plot points that break it in half and, fundamentally misunderstands squall and seifer's entire characters. squall is not actually a guy with hustle grindset. he's a weird teenager who has depression but people genuinely like working with because underneath how he acts he is better at understanding and working with people than he thinks, and because he has no real ambition for personal success the only thing that really blinds him on his way forward is his poor understanding of his own problems. seifer is more popular and has higher social expectations of him but he's also a way more insecure wreck who doesn't really understand what squall has, but desperately wants it and is doing whatever he thinks will let him achieve something that makes him feel half as much meaning in his existence. squall genuinely bears no offense nor grudge towards the scar seifer left on him, the rivalry is purely one-sided because their fundamental reasons for being where they are are completely different and none of what squall wants in life requires him "beating" seifer in any way.
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Sep 10, 2023 22:38
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also maybe important to mention that, SeeD is not just a random organization but, was set up by the evil witch lady and her husband for the purposes of fighting her when she would eventually become an evil witch. the structure is weird and video gamey cause they, designed it to be a pillar for video game mechanics.
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Sep 10, 2023 22:42
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also the ps1 FFs just liked the idea of just leaning into the video game-y aspects. theres multiple jokes and moments that just directly acknowledge those elements with no real attempt to hide it behind narrative fluff.
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Sep 10, 2023 22:44
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it exists for the gag of a guy asking "hey, can you show me some magic?" and then a teacher running out to shout at you for shooting fireballs in the school hallway as your rank meter goes down in the corner
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Sep 10, 2023 22:45
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Endorph posted:also the ps1 FFs just liked the idea of just leaning into the video game-y aspects. theres multiple jokes and moments that just directly acknowledge those elements with no real attempt to hide it behind narrative fluff. One of my favorite gags in all of FFVII: 
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Sep 10, 2023 22:55
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The Colonel posted:this is the most bizarre half-understanding of ff8's story that leaves out the context of like three different plot points that break it in half and, fundamentally misunderstands squall and seifer's entire characters. squall is not actually a guy with hustle grindset. he's a weird teenager who has depression but people genuinely like working with because underneath how he acts he is better at understanding and working with people than he thinks, and because he has no real ambition for personal success the only thing that really blinds him on his way forward is his poor understanding of his own problems. seifer is more popular and has higher social expectations of him but he's also a way more insecure wreck who doesn't really understand what squall has, but desperately wants it and is doing whatever he thinks will let him achieve something that makes him feel half as much meaning in his existence. squall genuinely bears no offense nor grudge towards the scar seifer left on him, the rivalry is purely one-sided because their fundamental reasons for being where they are are completely different and none of what squall wants in life requires him "beating" seifer in any way. is seifer actually more popular, seems like everyone in the school thinks he's an overbearing rear end besides his personal clique
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Sep 10, 2023 22:56
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Oxxidation posted:is seifer actually more popular, seems like everyone in the school thinks he's an overbearing rear end besides his personal clique
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Sep 10, 2023 22:59
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