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How's about a look-see at how our hero looks right now, stat-wise? Y'know, I remember that I spent a lot of time trying to get through various demon doors when I'd played Fable. How many have you done so far? I don't remember if they all had something or not, but there seemed to be a lot of them. And some of the unlocks seemed arbitrarily difficult.
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Jul 13, 2022 05:25
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painedforever posted:I don't understand the tone of Fable. Fable doesn't quite fit, but I generally call this kind of thing Absurdism. Being able to balance an extremely serious plot, with characters that frequently do absurd things, and balancing off each other to improve both but also knowing when to drop the comedy or slow down on the plot as needed for maximum quality.
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Jul 13, 2022 05:46
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painedforever posted:How's about a look-see at how our hero looks right now, stat-wise? I've played past this point and had to get rid of my footage as I went due to limited space on my laptop, but I know I had maximum physical stats (7 in Physique, Health and Toughness) in order to get the Harbinger sword. I also maxed out Accuracy (which controls ranged damage) and have the maximum level of Slow Time. It's not very hard to level up once you've got legendary gear. quote:Y'know, I remember that I spent a lot of time trying to get through various demon doors when I'd played Fable. How many have you done so far? I don't remember if they all had something or not, but there seemed to be a lot of them. And some of the unlocks seemed arbitrarily difficult. We have opened; -The Guild one (used the lamp to "illuminate" ourselves) -Greatwood Gorge one (ate a bunch of crunchy chicks to prove our evilness) -Rose Cottage one (gifted it a rose) -Greatwood Caves one (using the Force Push glitch to get a 15 combat multiplier) -Darkwood Marshes one (beat a bunch of hobbes before we even had legendary gear) -Darkwood Bordello one (had sex 10 times) -Barrow Fields (had to get fat) -Knothole Glade one (just had to hit it with powerful enough an arrow) -Abandoned Road one (the one that had poor eyesight so we cosplayed for it) There's also the "Gibbet Hill" door and "Witchwood Stones" door, but those are unlocked in the midst of a quest (beating Thunder and finding the Archaeologist respectively). I have actually made the requirements for the only one from the base game I haven't opened, but never got around to it. That's the Grey House Demon Door, which opens once you marry Lady Grey. Should make a note of that in my Lady Grey update actually.... LJN92 fucked around with this message at 08:34 on Jul 14, 2022 |
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Jul 13, 2022 06:34
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So you can't save Twinblade huh? It really seems like you should have some option to recognize that he basically raised Theresa and presumably protected her from Jack of Blades' bullshit.
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Jul 13, 2022 07:15
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:So you can't save Twinblade huh? No no, you can spare Twinblade. I just killed him by accident in my playthrough, and was actually planning to spare him. However, he's still a pretty nasty guy, Theresa aside. Even if you spare him, he still sends assassins after you just to avenge his ego.
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Jul 13, 2022 07:25
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:So you can't save Twinblade huh?
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Jul 13, 2022 10:28
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Maybe if you're doing a MAXIMUM GOOD POINTS run? IIRC killing him is the evil option there.
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Jul 13, 2022 12:20
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Sylphosaurus posted:Why would you save him? Twinblade is an opportunistic rear end in a top hat who only kept Theresa around for her skill as a Seer and her Hero inherited murderskills, I wouldn't shed any tears over killing him. Fair nuff.
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Jul 13, 2022 15:07
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MythosDragon posted:Fable doesn't quite fit, but I generally call this kind of thing Absurdism. Being able to balance an extremely serious plot, with characters that frequently do absurd things, and balancing off each other to improve both but also knowing when to drop the comedy or slow down on the plot as needed for maximum quality. I dunno man. Monty Python is Absurdism. I'm tempted to call the great point-and-click adventure games of the '80s and '90s Absurdist (Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island) except that all of those were consistent in their tone. The Bard's Tale, which also came out in 2004, did all of this better than Fable. Big serious end-of-the-world plot, but didn't take itself or the world seriously. ... Wow, a lot of interesting stuff came out in 2004. Fate Stay/Night, City of Heroes, Chronicles of Riddick, Crusader Kings, Evil Genius, Metal Wolf Chaos, Nexus: The Jupiter Incident, Dawn of War... Guess I picked a good year to spend with depression.
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Jul 14, 2022 05:15
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Update 12 – Prison Break We last left off doing a bunch of mundane quest, although chief among them was rescuing the Archaeologist, who told us how to get to Bargate Prison, where our dear mother is being held. Now we’re gonna take his route, which starts at the Lychfield Graveyard.  Now Playing – Lychfield Cemetery  Click here to experience the graveyard for yourself.   This conspicuous Demon Door couldn’t have anything to do with the way forward, could it?  These two people at the front gate will complain that the gravekeeper won’t let them in. We’ll have to deal with him to proceed.    Gravekeeper: “Don’t worry, I’ve got it stashed all over the graveyard. No one’s going to find it. Not even them undead what’s wandering around. Only thing I didn’t manage to hide before they turned up was the helmet. It’ll be alright here for now. And I’m keeping them gates locked till I can sell the lot.”  Gravekeeper: “Erm…yes. Ahem. Get out of my house, you bloody peasant!” Suspicious Bloke: “All right! I’m leavin’. I just needed somewhere to sleep.”  Our Hero decides to cheerfully wave at the man as he leaves. It’s at this point I remember I’m not under any boasts and thus put our platemail on.  Gravekeeper: You want to go through them Old Kingdom gates? I tell you, they ain’t been opened for generations. They say that only Nostro the gate keeper could open ‘em. But old Nostro died a couple o’ hundred years ago, and now the secret’s buried with ‘im in his crypt. I suppose you’ll be wanting access to the graveyard? Well let’s go.” And so we walk to the gates.   You’ll notice the Gravekeeper is now following us. He’ll follow you throughout this segment. You can make him wait with an expression, but it’s more interesting to keep him around, as he has commentary on various parts of the quest.  For instance, going back to his hut has him complain about you “poking around”. Picking up Nostro’s Helmet has him lie and say it was a gift he received.  Hollow Men will start spawning to attack us as we proceed. They will also attack the Gravekeeper. He can take about two hits before he dies. There’s no reward for keeping him alive, but I often do so out of a mix of self-imposed challenge and to hear his various quips.  While sometimes Hollow Men will just spawn normally, sometimes they clamber out of the ground, swinging as they go. When this happens, they’ll hit you or anyone else standing near them. This is typically how the Gravekeeper gets himself killed.  In a random grave in the middle of the graveyard, we find Nostro’s Sword. The Gravekeeper suspiciously asks how we knew it was there.  We fish his Shield out of the river near a bridge. The Gravekeeper suggests it must have been washed down from the mountains.  In a tomb belonging to a “Lady Fylorn”, we find Nostro’s Armour. The Gravekeeper insists there’s nothing to be found inside. Once we finally reach Nostro’s Tomb, we get a cutscene…  Nostro: “Gather for me and the path I shall yield.”  Talking to the Gravekeeper after Nostro just has him call you insane and complain about you rooting through the graveyard. If we hadn’t already gotten them all, there would now be convenient markers telling us where every item was. But we already have what we need, so let’s return it to the skeleton himself.  Nostro: “You gathered for me so the path I shall yield.” We then transition back to the Demon Door.   “I’ll let you through then. Be careful, though. I don’t want your finger marks all over me.” In the next area, the undead will start spawning like mad. They finally manage to slay the Gravekeeper during their relentless assault. I’d say you have to kill close to a hundred, maybe more, before they finally stop spawning. As you proceed through this linear path, you will hear a voice warning you to turn back among other ominous warnings. But we have nothing to do but move forward.  Slaying this especially large Hollow Man is necessary to proceed.  This causes this gate to open and let us through.  In this area, the “Circle of the Dead”, we must go stand in this circle. If we try to head for the exit, it won’t function, and the same disembodied voice we heard earlier will insist we go stand in the circle.   The gimmick here is we can only kill these Hollow Men when they stand within the circle. When we do kill them in the circle, they light up different points on the circle until they’re all lit up.  Killing enough of the lesser ones causes three larger ones to spawn. Killing all three marks the end of the quest.  This is the last point for us to turn back. Going on to Bargate Prison will lock us into the next segment. But that’s what we came here for, so that’s what we’re gonna do. Click here to break into and escape from Bargate Prison.  The first area we enter is this sewer/cistern. We had to experience one eventually, didn’t we? Although it’s not a proper game level per se. You’ll notice in the picture above the targeting reticule for my bow is registering something to aim at. Ominous.  The next area sees Hollow Men spawning on us just like Lychfield. Yawn. In the middle chamber, they spawn a bunch of barriers and force you to fight to get out. Nothing interesting.  Here on this “Clifftop Path” we are beset by an Orange Nymph. These ones summon Hollow Men. Because we really needed more of them around. Just like the last segment, more barriers force us to fight to move on near the end. Yaaaaaaaawn.  In this final segment, we encounter red shirt guards. They aren’t pleased to see us, calling us “that bloody Hero”. You’d think they might have something to say about the Mayor’s husband being here, but I guess Jack of Blades has these guys in his pocket. Exiting this last segment, we come to a prison cell…    “But it…it really is you, isn’t it?”Funny how she can recognise us despite being possibly older than her and turned golden blonde. “What the hell were you thinking coming here?! Don’t you see he’ll take us both? Never mind. We’ve got to get out of here. Get this drat cage open.”We have to interact with a lever to let mummy out, but once we do, she’ll follow us. There’s nowhere to go but back whence we came.  The guards have all respawned, so we cannot leave unharassed. For now, our mother is unable to be harmed, regardless of how much anyone attacks her.  It’s not entirely clear, but the way back has now been blocked off with a red magic barrier.   “Bastard.” “This child of yours is quite the Hero, dear Scarlet. Did you know he’s been crowned Arena Champion? You would have been so proud of him. It must run in the family. That and getting locked up in one of my charming little cells.” “You disgusting freak. Let him go. He doesn’t know anything.” “Oh, I think you will find he knows a great deal. You see, the Arena Seal I gave him has been showing me his every movement. It has been most entertaining. Digging up graves, saving old fools, meeting with that crazy sister of his…” “Theresa.” “Yes, it appears your darling little daughter is alive too. She’s told him all about the Sword. And that wretched bloodline of yours. And now, my sweet, you’re going to tell me where the key is.” The Minions ominously advance on us….or, they advance past us awkwardly. Despite having defeated many of them before, this is a railroaded segment. We have been captured.  We find ourselves in a cell. Our head has been shaved. That guard is peeing on our cell door. Guard: “You just get yourself nice and comfortable there. We’ll be back to get you and the other scum later. Then, we’ll have a bit of fun. He’ll enjoy it, won’t he Tibbs?” Tibbs: “Go to hell, pig!” Guard: “Tsk tsk tsk, temper, Tibbs, temper. You should keep all that energy for later, you’ll need it then! Hahahahahaha! Oh, and don’t try any of that funny Will stuff, it won’t work in here. The boss made sure of that.”  Tibbs: “Psst, hey, in the cell, next to you! Guess you’re the one they’ve been hot pokering all this time. Could hear you squealing all the way down here, mate. Nothing to be ashamed of, they know their pain in here….wait a minute, I know who you are! You’re that Chicken Chaser, ain’t cha? Beat the Arena and chopped up that pretty little Whisper into Hobbe food, didn’t cha? Oh, we don’t get your kind in here often….whadja do? Kill a mayor? Slice up some pigs? Bet the Warden can’t believe his drat luck. It’s his birthday today, you know? The vicious bastard….Every year, he has us dragged out of our cells, shows us a little sunshine so we know what we’re missing, and sticks us back in. Don’t do it out of the kindness of his heart either. They race us round the courtyard, and take bets on who will win. Then the winner gets a trip to the Warden’s office, and…urgh, what goes on in there is too cruel to mention. Still, at least you get a good look at his place, and there’s more than books and furniture in there.”  Guard: “Look lively, scum; time to move out. It’s race time, and you better put on a good show. Some of us have bet a lot of money on you. Win? And we like you. Lose? And you get a round in the torture chamber. That sounds fun, yes, sounds fun! Hehehe, let me hear it!” We then transition outside.  The guard tells us to get into positions, then on the count of three whistles for us to start running.  The race is pretty easy to win. Ever since I was a young man, I would make a lark of punching the guards during the race. They aggro and shoot at you, but they’ll only chase you so far, and you can outrun them too.  This inner track is the simplest method of ensuring your victory. It’s hardly necessary, but it’s there if you’re really bad at this game for some reason. You can also just attack the other prisoners if you really want to slow them down.  Warden: “Guards! Escort him to my office.” We’re meant to get a cutscene we’re he explains what’s happening, but for some reason it glitched out in my game. From a cursory glance at Youtube, this seems to be a common problem with the PC version of Anniversay. Some of the following screenshots will be from someone else’s (Klister_YT) video on this;   Warden: “Yes, that’s right! These stone walls cannot still the beating heart of a poet. I don’t want to hear one sound from you. Pouring forth one’s soul requires the utmost concentration!”   The gist is with every step we take, the Warden’s annoyance meter increases, and if we max it out, he’ll huff at us and throw us out. We also have a set time limit before he finishes. In said time, we must attempt to acquire his master key. We must go slowly so as not to provoke him.  With this code, we can access one of three books the Warden has on a desk back on the other side of the office.  Bad luck? No, railroading. The first diary you pick will always be wrong.    You know what we really need right now? A fresco scene!    “Another year of torture. The ancient, noble blood in his veins, the power of the Guild, none of it meant a thing inside these walls. And all this time Jack of Blades was free to roam Albion. The Hero would not be beaten. He would be free.”  Other Guard: “Let’s bung him in the holding cells with the others.”  We get a scene in the cells again. It’s more or less the same, but the guard talks about how there’s less prisoners around as they died over the year. Tibbs asserts that we need the Warden’s key again. The guard comes back and gives the exact same dialogue about “race time”.    We are railroaded again, but this time into getting the key, no matter what we pick. I’ll take this moment to post the Warden’s poetry in full. There’s three poems, and you’ll only hear them all if you deliberately fail multiple times. On the first day, you get: The Cautionary Song of the Jailbird posted:Behold, the bold, the spirited sparrow On the second day: Lady Grey posted:Grey, is the prettiest colour And the third day: An Ode to Torment posted:No lilacs blooming in the orchid, on a cool autumn’s day After that, the poems repeat.   We can now leave, and we can free the other prisoners too. Tibbs has unique lines, saying that they’ll distract the guards and escape later. You can also release four other generic prisoners.  We are confronted by the guards upon leaving the cell block. All we have is our fists and this stick we can find in a barrel. I end up getting two prisoners killed trying to prove I can kill this guard with my stick. In the end, I just bugger off to the barracks, where I know our equipment is being kept.  Now killing the guards is child’s play.  We reacquire mother dearest from the cell we found her in before. She now has a health bar, meaning she can be killed. This shouldn’t be a problem if you don’t suck at this game, or maybe if you accidentally shoot her.  The way out is much the same as before, with guards and Hollow Men harassing your exit. The only mild noteworthy moment is that they start spawning the lowest tier guards for some reason. Like they wanted to make combat even easier?   Indeed, something was lurking in the cistern after all. What a surprise.  Our first task is to eliminate these tentacles. It’s simple enough to do with your bow, although there’s perhaps a short window to attack with melee when the tentacles slam into the ground to attack you.  Once the tentacles have retreated, the kraken’s head will pop up to shoot lasers at you. Yeah, lasers. You get your opportunity to shoot the head, then it retreats, and the tentacles come back out. Rinse and repeat. Our prisoner friends are still with us. You can technically get them out alive, but there’s no reward or recognition of it. On my part, I accidentally kill Tibbs after an unfortunate auto-aim accident. The two others still with me die when a tentacle slams down on them.  We inevitably kill the kraken and the barriers vanish, allowing us to leave. What better time for ANOTHER fresco scene?   “He had been the architect of his sister’s blind suffering. And of his mother’s imprisonment. And soon his power would be absolute.”  “But there’s still so much to do. Jack is getting closer to the Sword. I can feel it. He needs a Key to unlock the Sword from its hiding place. And now he knows where it is. The key is in Hook Coast, hidden in the ruins of an old abbey. You have to get to it first. We have one advantage. He doesn’t know the key will only make itself known to one of our bloodline.”Hey, did we remember to toss the Arena Seal before we started this conversation? Not sure we did…. “That’s why we have to find your sister. As long as she’s out there Jack could use her. You should go to Darkwood and investigate the portal. There must be some way of activating it. It’s the only way to get to Hook Coast.”She means the Ancient Cullis Gate.     “Now go. I will try to find Theresa.” And thar she ends. All she gave us was experience points, just like Theresa before her. Our stats are basically maxed out, and all we’re missing are spells we’re not likely to ever use. This is where we shall end for now. Join me next time, where we find out what’s up with Hook Coast.
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Jul 14, 2022 23:08
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This sequence is probably on the charming jank end of things. It's quite stupid yes, but it's at least trying to do something different.
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Jul 14, 2022 23:40
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I'm very disappointed that the head guard's poetry wasn't Vogon-tier. That seems like something this game would do.
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Jul 15, 2022 00:35
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They shoulda had a thing where he was turbomad at you for marrying Lady Grey.
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Jul 15, 2022 02:05
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Update 13 – Plot Hook We last left off after freeing our mother, Scarlet Robe, from years of captivity. She then urged us to go to the Hook Coast in order to find and secure the key Jack is looking for. We will do that…later, because we have side quests to do.  First on our agenda is “Bounty Hunt”. We take boasts to do it within a time limit and to decapitate the bandit leader. Click here for more general Heroism.  Woman: “The bandit gang you’re looking for have taken hostages! They ran into Greatwood – maybe you can catch them! Good luck! I’ll wait here and send more help if I can.” She will never end up sending any help. Not that we need it, being a demigod stacked with the weapons of the gods. Anyway, we get another cutscene upon entering Greatwood.    Bandit: “Me and Rabb’ll head towards Greatwood Lake with the other. We’ll leave a few lads to take care of ‘im. Let’s go!” And then you’re free to move. The bandits here are not threats. We have a time limit of five minutes, which is plenty. We first head to Fisher Creek.    Attacking and killing this bandit causes a bunch of his mates to spawn. They are still not threats.  Man: “But the Bandit Leader and his deputy still have my sister. I overheard the bandits saying they were taking her through Greatwood Lake. Head that way to catch them. I’m going back to Bowerstone where it’s safe.” He runs off and we’re free to continue on.  I accidentally skip the first part of this guy’s dialogue, but obviously he’s here to give us another pointless reminder they’re headed to Greatwood Lake and to eat one of Skorm’s arrows. No joke, these “elite” bandits are weaker than the “grunts” we fight around here. Makes you wonder why they bother including them at all.  The sister is found grovelling just like her brother. A bunch of grunts come to attack us. We kill them like the rest.  What genius solution will be required to save the hostage?  Sniping him while he stands there and watches us aim, of course! His death causes a final pair of grunts to come from behind us, but you know the story by now.  Woman: “You saved us all. Amazing! Thanks again, Hero. I’m off to Bowerstone now to find my relatives. I hope they’re safely home in one piece. Please accept this reward.” She gives us a treasure clue, and the quest ends. Now we shall take the “Bandit Spy Extraction” quest. We promise to kill all guards, all traders, and do this without any assistance. Click here to watch Chaser, Chicken Chaser, in action.  This lady speaks with a faux-Russian accent, so this is meant to be a big spy joke. Tanya: “Otto, one our agents (sic), is secretly in place with a Trader group. But the net is closing around him. It’s your job to get him out. Follow me. My Bandit controllers will explain more.”  Bandit: “We need to get our man out before the convoy gets there. You’ll recognise him easy enough. He’s the one with the big moustache. Find him, attract his attention or get him to follow you. Then you need to head back to Bowerstone North with him. Tanya’ll meet ya there. We’ll help you out, but we’re not stupid. It’ll cost you 100 Gold to hire any one of us. Any swag that’s dropped along the way is yours.”   And the quest begins.  The guards are immediately hostile towards us, despite not necessarily knowing we have anything to do with local bandits.  In the next area we find guards and traders. We need to satisfy our boast, but also avoid killing Otto. Fortunately, he tends to make himself known pretty easily.  I technically make a mistake here as while I kill all the traders, there’s more guards in the area ahead, which I believe you need to kill to satisfy the boast. Ah well.  More guards spawn from behind you after springing Otto.  They also show up in the first area, picking a fight with the bandits we left behind here. Some of them will certainly be dead by the time you get back to them.  Tanya: “We’ll be in touch. And remember – the blue Nymph crouches at a quarter past three.” Tanya leaves. Her last words are just spy parody gibberish and not indicative of some secret, that I’m aware of.  Otto: “We stole some valuable information and swag from them lot. Here, have this as your share of the profit.” He gives us a sharpening augment.  Funnily enough, the “Trader’s Head” trophy can be seen among those next to Briar Rose in Bowerstone. Wonder what she’s been up to, eh? We’re done with sidequesting, so to the Hook Coast we go! Click here for all our shenanigans on the Hook Coast.  Once we enter the region, mummy reminds us what we need to do. She says the gate must have it’s hunger for undead souls is sated.  In other words, we have to kill enough Hollow Men to meet the game’s arbitrary roadblock.  Our Hero walks inside the now activated gate.  Mother reminds us to go to the abbey marked on our map. But we can take this opportunity to loot the place as well. There are townsfolk and guards about, of course.  At the top of the local lighthouse is a Silver Chest that gives us this legendary weapon. It’s not better than the Solus Greatsword, so it’s going into our hyperspace undies forever.  “It explains what I just found in the Guild. Meet me in Maze’s quarters. I’ve found a book that may help.”We teleport back to the Guild.  “Are you on your way? Something isn’t right here…What!? No! Nooooooo! Ugh….”     This is the book mum referred us to, sitting on a nearby table. It’s a wonder Jack’s Minions didn’t think to grab it. “I have a Quest Card from your mother. Quickly, come to the Map Room and speak to me.” “I spoke to her briefly today. She told me about the Sword and the existence of a Key to unlock it. Jack can never be allowed to succeed. You must stop him getting the key from Hook Coast. There is a Quest Card for you, but if you choose to take it you will forsake your other tasks. This is too important.”This is a POINT OF NO RETURN™. We’re going all in. “Good. Now, quickly, give me the Thaumaturgica. When you approach the barrier to Hook Coast Abbey I shall contact you on your Guild Seal. If I read from the correct passage, it should disable the barrier. Now go!”And so we go.    What comes of those villagers is unclear, but Hook Coast remains populated after this quest, so who knows?  These enemies, known as “Screamers”, will now intermittently spawn into Hook Coast at different points. They’re quite easy to kill, especially with Skorm’s Bow, as it has a lightning augment, and lighting causes +533% extra damage to them. Yeah, don’t ask me why that number’s so nuts. Like this game needed to be any easier…  Upon reaching the barrier, the Guildmaster will recite a bunch of unintelligible gibberish. You just stand there until he’s done.   Oh hi, Maze. We haven’t seen you since finding the Archaeologist so many quests ago.    “That’s why I’m here. I’m trying to stop him.”     “It’s almost over. And it will be easier with the boy here.” Only because of railroading, Jack. Hell, if we’d been allowed to storm Bargate Prison normally, I doubt we’d have ever been captured. “I trust you didn’t lose too much of that precious blood of yours getting out.” “Take our two bloodbags to the Chamber. I shall be there soon.”Jack warps out.  In fact, this betrayal was actually given away much earlier in the game. You can see Jack and Maze meeting in the fresco over the Hero’s shoulder, not that you’d understand it’s significance.     So, now we’re fighting Maze. As pictured, the man will use Physical Shield to protect himself in melee.  Then he uses “Enflame” to hit in all directions and force you back. A particularly nasty combo for any melee-oriented Heroes. Even when he isn’t using spells, he tends to block hits a lot.  When he takes enough damage, he’ll teleport away, and start lobbing magic attacks at you from afar. He’s vulnerable to arrow fire like this.  The Screamers continue to spawn during this fight, in the same places as before. They’re a modest nuisance at best.  He’ll eventually retreat to the lighthouse, where he can still lob attacks at you, but you can’t hit him from afar. You must pursue him inside.  This is a particularly annoying place to fight, as there’s little room to avoid his Enflame attacks. He can basically stunlock you for a bit. Once you lower his health here, he’ll teleport outside the lighthouse for a final round, and then finally die.   “Then the Sword will be his and it will be too late. They’ll be trying to stop him. None of them can. You want to know why I did it, don’t you? I suppose I’m just an old coward, boy. We don’t all embrace death. For some of the us the quest, the only quest, is to escape death, whatever the cost. Looks like I failed…”  Maze disappears in green, and the quest is over.  All we have left is to go back to the Guild. But that will have to come in the next update. Join me next time, during the epic final clash with Jack of Blades.
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Jul 16, 2022 23:15
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So... why does Maze rescue us at the start? Why isn't he more active in giving us quests or misleading us, or something? This sort of twist has been done better. Jade Empire anyone?
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Jul 17, 2022 08:49
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painedforever posted:So... why does Maze rescue us at the start? Why isn't he more active in giving us quests or misleading us, or something? The exact nature of his relationship with Jack is technically a spoiler, but if you want to know right now Maze has been coerced into working with Jack due to Jack saving him in the past. He doesn't really want to work with Jack, but he feels obligated to do so. He hoped that the Hero and his SPESHUL bloodline would be able to stop Jack, but at some point lost faith this would happen, and threw in with Jack again because he didn't think anyone could stop him. That's why he's all like "I was wrong, you CAN stop Jack" as he dies. As for misleading us, given how short the game is, it's likely the devs just didn't have the time to invest in making Maze an elaborate and interesting traitor.
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Jul 17, 2022 09:10
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LJN92 posted:As for misleading us, given how short the game is, it's likely the devs just didn't have the time to invest in making Maze an elaborate and interesting traitor. I think it's lazy writing myself. Seeing as it is Peter Molyneux, I'll bet he kept overpromising during interviews, and unlike No Man's Sky, back in 2004 it wasn't possible to add that much more content post-release.
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Jul 18, 2022 08:29
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painedforever posted:I think it's lazy writing myself. Seeing as it is Peter Molyneux, I'll bet he kept overpromising during interviews, and unlike No Man's Sky, back in 2004 it wasn't possible to add that much more content post-release. Yeah, that reminds me, wasn’t this heavily advertised at the time as being ~the ultimate fantasy sandbox~ that would let you do literally everything you could ever think of?
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Jul 18, 2022 21:05
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Comrade Koba posted:Yeah, that reminds me, wasn’t this heavily advertised at the time as being ~the ultimate fantasy sandbox~ that would let you do literally everything you could ever think of? It was. And it was meant to be an "ultimate fantasy sandbox". I'll talk about that more near the end of the LP. LJN92 fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Jul 18, 2022 |
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Jul 18, 2022 21:21
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Update 14 – Crossing Blades with Jack Last time, we went to the Hook Coast, our mum got kidnapped again, and Maze betrayed us, capturing our sister and turning her over to Jack of Blades. We then fought and killed Maze. Now we must confront Jack, who now has the Septimal Key, the last thing he needed to begin claiming the Sword of Aeons. Click here for the final act of the original Fable.  “Maze’s betrayal surprised us all, but we have larger problems. Jack is trying to activate the ancient Focus Sites across Albion. You must stop him at all costs. I will explain more over your Guild Seal. Now step through the Cullis Gate!”Once we step through the gate, we’re teleported off to where we need to go, no possibility for detours. Now Playing – Arena  In the original Fable, this is the culmination of Briar Rose’s involvement in the plot. Just tagging along for a bit near the end.  “Always thought they were drat ugly things. I don’t want to die for them either. I guess we’ll just have to kill them first. Come on. Follow the path and turn right.” The gist of our experience going forward is making our way through old areas as enemies and allies spawn in equal numbers. The enemies include Hollow Men, Screamers, and Minions, while our allies are guards and Guild apprentices. There’s no point to stopping to fight the enemies, so it’s simpler to just run through every area you enter.  Jack can be found standing around near the Focus Site. Whether you attack him from afar or approach him, a cutscene will ensue.  “He wouldn’t have seen the end of the day anyway. He had outlived his usefulness. You’re too late here. This Site is active. But don’t worry. I haven’t finished with you yet.”  “Follow him through. I’ll stay here and teach these animals who Briar Rose is.”And on we go.  “Jack is at the Greatwood Lake Focus Site.” “You will never catch up with me. How do you like the new world? This is just a taste of what’s to come, my boy. Just two more to go now.” We must follow him again. Are you beginning to see a pattern?  “Jack is at the Hobbe Cave Focus Site.”  “You!? This is not the place, but we have unfinished business, farmboy. I’ve killed many of these creatures, but I can’t go on much longer. Jack is performing some kind of ritual in the centre of the cavern. I will help you get there.”Thunder is basically useless. Enemy and Ally AI alike are under-aggressive and thus don’t attack enough to be helpful, and you’re so far beyond needing anyone’s help at this point in the game. Not to mention it’s far more expedient to just run through these segments rather than stopping to fight everyone.    Not that we’re being given a choice in the matter, Jack. In this game so much vaunted about being about choices. Sigh.  “drat him! We’re too late! He must be at Headsman’s Hill. That’s where everyone else was heading.”What does that mean, Thunder? That everyone decided to concentrate their forces at Headsman’s Hill, and you decided to fight alone here like a moron? Honestly, the Guild’s strategy is pretty poor, considering they at least know four places Jack will head to. “You better go after him. I’m exhausted. I need to find somewhere to rest.”Yeah, okay Thunder, go find a nice quiet nook in the middle of ceaselessly teleporting enemies.  “Jack has made it to the Gibbet Hill Focus Site! He must be stopped!” No idea why Jack pulled out our mother for this last Focus Site. He won’t need her till after it’s active, and only in a specific place.  “Are you ready to see the Guild burn, Hero?” “Stop him!”Once again, we must follow in Jack’s teleporting wake, but we always somehow end up several minutes behind him. As you’ve probably figured, this whole segment was a waste of time. We were never able to stop Jack, and it wasn’t even hard to just run past the constantly spawning enemies. It would have been simpler if they cut the Focus Sites from the game and just had the Guildmaster contact you after Maze died screaming “OH MY GOD HERO JACK ATTACKED THE GUILD HELP US!”  Just as Jack promised, the Guild is now burning. He got all this done despite us entering the portal seconds after him. “Jack’s done it, he’s activated them all! You must get to the Chamber of Fate in the Guild!”That’s where we graduated, to refresh your memories. The Guildmaster will follow up on his desperate urging with a stock line about receiving a new quest card. What game design. The Guild has a few items lying around, like a health potion and a resurrection phial. Just in case I guess, but if you need them by this point, I think you have bigger problems.   “And he has your mother and your sister too. If either of them dies…Avo help us all. Stop him, lad. For all our sakes, stop him.” While the Guildmaster is otherwise untargetable, you can still get out your bow and shoot him manually. The unique reactions still amuse me.  In the Guild Caves area, you can find a basic rear end bow on some dude’s corpse. I guess it’s there so you aren’t without one in case you decided to sell yours, but they could at least hand us a higher level one, couldn’t they?  Don’t mind Mr. Glitchy Minion, he’s just here to ruin the scene’s tension.  Our dad?       Not sure why he doesn’t just kill Theresa if he needs more blood so bad, but here we are. This first segment just sees Jack protect himself with a barrier while we fight a handful of his Minions. Nothing interesting.  Once the Minions are all dead, Jack comes out of his safe place to attack us directly. Well, I say directly, but he favours long range magic attacks from his sword, like this wave attack.  Then he’ll try to slap you in the face with these balls. They’re easy enough to avoid even when you don’t use Slow Time.  If you attack Jack in melee, he’ll use Assassin’s Rush to create some distance between you if you hit him too much. Once you take off about half his health…     During this segment, Jack can only be attacked with ranged attacks, hence the free bow at the door.  Intermittently, Jack will attack with this omni-directional light spell. It does miniscule damage while you’re behind cover, but if you’re in the open it will hurt a lot more. In other words, when all those stones rose from the ground, that was Jack being nice and giving you a fighting chance. What a great bloke! Now, if you watch the video, you might notice me faffing about and waiting a lot to fire my bow. That’s because I wanted to use this fight in particular to demonstrate one of our bow’s special features. It’s not made clear in game, but Skorm’s Bow can be infinitely charged. Whereas most bows cap their damage at a certain amount, if you just hold down with Skorm’s Bow for a long time, like several real life minutes, you can do an absurd amount of damage. Usually you would never need this, and it’s hard to demonstrate because enemies tend to be mobile and attack often enough to prevent you charging easily. However, Jack can’t interrupt your charging while you’re standing behind one of these pillars. None of his attacks will pierce through, not even the light one. Hence, I sit there and charge for a while, and…  Bam! Nearly 3000 damage in one shot! I could have charged for longer and possibly killed him in one hit, but he summoned some Minions, and they can interrupt your charging. Didn’t want to risk all that time going to waste. Regardless, two more regular shots bring Jack down for good.       “Strike me down now with the Sword of Aeons and you will become as powerful as Jack dreamt of being.” “So what will you do, little brother?” We now have the Sword of Aeons forcibly equipped as a weapon. We must either attack Theresa with it or walk into that void, which will prompt us to throw the sword away. No, we can’t just walk off with the sword as is. Fable doesn’t really believe in taking third options, with a handful of exceptions. Now, you might think the min-max thing would be to kill Theresa and keep our ungodly powerful weapon, but that’s not what I’ll be doing. In the original Fable, the Sword of Aeons was an absurdly powerful blade, having an attack rating of 550 or such and dealing thousands of damage per swing. All very cool, except the game was over and you could only use it on generic enemies or quests you didn’t bother completing. In “The Lost Chapters”, the sword is severely downgraded to the point that it’s only slightly better than many of the other legendary weapons we can acquire. The Solus Greatsword does more damage, although there is still the speed factor. But the clincher is we can get a good person equivalent very very soon.    “It’s time I found where I belong. I know it isn’t here.”Then she walks off and the scene ends. What a fond farewell to our dear older sister.  Final fresco scene, go!  “When he stepped outside into daylight, the crowds cheered his name. He walked among them as a legend. As the months passed, the Guild and its people would recover. Walls would be rebuilt, and order restored. For Theresa it would not be so easy. She retreated to distant lands, where a lifetime of wounds might be allowed to heal. A whole year passed.” And that is where Fable ends. If we had taken the Sword of Aeons, we’d get a fresco with an evil motif, talking about how we seized power and made all of Albion fear us. But that was when Fable 1 ended where it ended. We’re playing Anniversary, which includes “The Lost Chapters”, and that does indeed include a lost chapter at the end of the story. Join me next time, where we find out what plot awaits us next. P.S. Thought this might be the most appropriate moment to mention an infamous glitch that has persisted through every version of the game. You can get the Sword of Aeons from the moment you have access to the Chamber of Fate. The method involves the “Summon” spell, which conjures an allied creature. Coupled with this, you use Assassin’s Rush, which makes you teleport behind a nearby creature/person. You’re meant to be able to glitch through the floor doing this in the right position, and the Sword of Aeons is there as an item. I’ve never personally gotten it to work, but there’s plenty of evidence on the internet that it exists.
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Jul 18, 2022 21:22
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Couldn't imagine a better time to go over that particular feature of the bow. Honestly, who in their right mind thought an infinitely charging bow was in anyway balanced?
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Jul 18, 2022 21:51
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The section of teleporting after Jack repeatedly and just constantly being too late to stop him is the laziest poo poo ever, that would’ve seriously soured me on the game. Honestly this entire end sequence is one giant set fart. So, did Jack kill the mother and I missed it?
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Jul 20, 2022 20:23
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Keldulas posted:So, did Jack kill the mother and I missed it? Of course.
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Jul 20, 2022 22:33
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Keldulas posted:So, did Jack kill the mother and I missed it? That there is Jack slitting her throat, if it isn't clear.
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Jul 20, 2022 23:06
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Update 15 – New Old Beginnings We last left off by defeating Jack of Blades and beating Fable…the way it was originally made, at least. Now we get to find out what on earth is supposed to come next. Click here to see the introduction for yourself.     “He left the Guild for the Northern Wastes long ago, but now….Perhaps it would be best if you came to the boasting platform outside the Guild and saw for yourself.”And that is our plot hook for today.   “…my mission here has failed…I will attempt to stop their passage to the mainland…” “Only the chosen one will gain audience with the Prophets.”Golly gee, I wonder who might be the chosen one among us? “…use the Heart to call the Ship of the Drowned. Hurry before all is lost…”    “The Demon Door awoke this morning, but none of us could get through. It says we’re “not worthy”.” “It is up to you, Hero. You defeated Jack single handedly. I it will not open for you….” “The man’s got a point. I’ll stick to my speciality and hit the books. We need to know what these Summoners are. Good luck.”Briar leaves, and the Guildmaster goes and stands next to the Primal Demon Door.  “The Heart is a powerful relic used to summon ships that have long ceased to be. It allowed the Kingdom to reach any part of the world, no matter how remote or hidden. Its rightful place is in the lighthouse in Hook Coast. If you can place it there once more it will call forth a vessel to carry you to the Northern Wastes.” The nearby peasants all have unique things to say, although none of it really important.  “The rise of the Summoners in the Northern Wastes marks the arrival of a new threat to all things living. We have long dreaded this portent. Behind my walls lies the Fire Heart. There you will speak to the Prophets who watch over it. You may enter now. But beware the beating of the Heart. It has burned many before you.”And in we go.    Shrill Prophet: “The Beast arises in the frozen North. Only he who claims the Heart can stop it.” Deep Voice Prophet: “Its mystical powers will guide you across the sea. There you must face a force of such evil not even death can silence its fury.” Crochety Prophet: “For crying out loud! Just tell him to get us out of here!”  Shrill Prophet: “And we’ll finally be free!” Deep Voice Prophet: “Witness the board before you. Each time you turn all the Moons into Suns you will release one of us from our perpetual prison.” Shrill Prophet: “But fill the board with Moons and one of us will perish. And the Fire Heart will never be yours!”  Shrill Prophet: “Quiet, you imbecile!” Crochety Prophet: “Look, it’s very simple. Solve the drat puzzle, you get the Heart, we get out of this hole. Everyone’s happy. Alright?”  So yeah, either turn all the tiles to suns to free them, or moons to kill them. As this is purely a binary choice, I’m just going to let them all go. I might have considered killing the crochety guy, but it’s more expedient to just pick one and stick to it.  Each one has unique commentary during and after their puzzle.  You have to solve a different puzzle for each prophet.  Some of them get a bit hair-raising, at least if you don’t figure out the optimal way to do them.  Failing a puzzle causes you to get burnt by the Heart. It’s not a game over, as you just get plonked at the start of whatever puzzle you failed with a little less health. I presume you get a game over if you lose all your health, but I’ve never let it happen. I end up failing the final puzzle twice. In my defence, I had Covid while recording this.  Releasing (or killing, or a mix of both) all prophets gets us the MacGuffin we came for.  “I bet those Prophets were a barrel of laughs too. You always get to do the fun stuff. Well, I’ve been looking into these Summoner creatures, and I’m starting to think throwing away the Sword of Aeons wasn’t the best idea after all.”Is Briar Rose advocating we murder our sister for contingency plans against future threats? “These things are BAD. Too late to do anything now though…” “Hmm, perhaps not. Well, it’s only an old legend but…For centuries there have been tales of a powerful weapon hidden in the Guild and imbued with the essence of all the Heroes buried there. But the only one who’s shown any real interest in it lately is Maze. He was obsessed with finding it. We know why now, of course. Perhaps you can find whatever he discovered in his old quarters. But don’t forget, it is vital that you place the Fire Heart in the Hook Coast lighthouse. Its power will summon the ship to take you to the Northern Wastes. Good luck once more, Hero.”Both the Guildmaster and Briar leave us to our devices. Let’s chase up on that lead about a weapon in the Guild, shall we?  Maze’s Diary: ‘Second Entry Today I found the best description of the legend of Avo’s Tear yet. It was in an appendix to a rare edition of A History of the Guild and describes how the sword was created. Unfortunately, there is no mention of where it might be hidden. Third Entry At last! I’ve found a tattered scroll with the location of Avo’s Tear. Retrieving it couldn’t be simpler. One need only read the inscription on the empty grave in the Guild courtyard and think of the weapon to be judged by the Old Heroes. I can only hope they can see my true intents and find me deserving. Fourth Entry It didn’t work. I am forever in His grasp….’ Off to the empty grave we go.  Never mind the time we slaughtered an entire host of traders, or when we killed Whisper for money, or the time we sacrificed people to eternal torture in order to obtain the evil god’s bow….  And there we go. This is the Good Guy version of the Sword of Aeons. It is identical to the Sword of Aeons in every way bar its price tag at a store. Obviously, it was designed so you could keep going with the quest despite not having the “ultra powerful” Sword of Aeons on hand. So, if we have our uber powerful sword, it’s time to go kill Summoners, right?  Wrong. We’re doing a side quest! I believe this is the only one that opens up during the proper part of “The Lost Chapters”. We boast not to let the kidnapped victim get hurt, and to kill the kidnapper and his guards. Click here for our final side quest.   “It’s my youngest son! He’s been captured by bandits! I’ve told him never to go playing in the woods…They say they’ll send me his head if I don’t pay the ransom. Oh, why does everything happen to me? Why?! They’re holding him in a cave in Witchwood, those filthy savages. You have to rescue him! Here’s the ransom gold. If you can kill the lot of them, it’s yours to keep. Just make sure my son is unharmed! I must lie down now in my hut. This is all too much….”  Eldest Son: “But you know, my father is a stupid old man. Can you believe he’s talking of making the brat the next Chief around here? We can’t let that happen, my friend. It would be the end of this town. If you want to make some serious gold, bring the boy to me. I’ll be waiting for you on the secluded path on the opposite side to the Demon Door…” He leaves, the scene ends, and we can go on our merry way.  Just want to take a moment to point out this encounter at the Temple of Avo. Enemies do not normally spawn here, so the devs went out of their way to plug these guys in during this quest. Of all the things, beetles? The enemies we could kill as a child with our bare hands? Not only that, but they’ve programmed a special red variant, which has more health, but they’re still pathetically far beneath all the enemies we’ve encountered to date. What an odd little addition.  These are the kidnappers bodyguards. They direct us inside, but we made a boast to kill these guys…     We’re giving him his gold. But we’re not letting him keep it.  Killing the kidnapper gets your gold back in full. We must now walk the boy back to Knothole Glade.  Our duplicity has caused bandits and assassins to spawn all over the path back. But as I keep saying, these guys are not threats now. The boy will make silly comments as we go, wanting to stop and look at various sights and what have you. Either way, you have to take him back home. Although as you might have guessed, we’re not taking him back to his dad…  Younger Son: “You won’t believe where I’ve been! I was in this cave, and there were these Bandits, and…” Eldest Son: “Yeah, yeah, keep your mouth shut, you little squirt. I’m going to show you what those Bandits should have done.” Younger Son: “Really? Cool. Is there going to be swords?” Eldest Son: “There just might be. I’ll have to deal with crazy old dad next. Everybody knows I should be the Chief. I wonder what I should do with your body…Bury it here? Nah, I think I’ll just dump it in Witchwood Gorge.” Younger Son: “Oh, yes, the Gorge, please! It’s brilliant there!”   We just condemned an innocent child to death. Really proving how much we deserve to wield Avo’s Tear. As you can see, we achieved all our boasts, meaning turning the boy over to certain death doesn’t count as letting him “get harmed”. The alternative of course is to bring the boy back to his dad. We would be able to go further and tell the Chief about his eldest son’s nefarious plans. The Chief would be disturbed and…do nothing. ‘For every choice a consequence’ indeed. We’re done here, so off to Hook Coast we go, once again! Click here to raise the Ship of the Drowned.  Guard: “Must be something serious, huh? Well, it wasn’t easy getting everyone out on such short notice, but us guards know our duty. Well, I could tell you some stories, I could. But, er, you probably don’t want to hear ‘em right now. I’ll just leave it to you, sir. Good day!” The guard leaves. We must now go put the Fire Heart in the lighthouse.      That’s a wee magic attack heading for the lighthouse, if you don’t quite catch it. “What the hell?!”  So yeah, the Fire Heart has a health meter, and so does this summoner. When Summoners charge up their long range lightning attacks, they gain an electric barrier, much like Thunder. This means melee is a bad option, except when they’re not using such an attack. Briar Rose is here to help, but she’s too stupid to do anything but attack with melee, and will be constantly knocked back when it has its electric barrier up.  When you kill a Summoner, they drop to their knees like this in preparation to detonate. It doesn’t hurt too much, but may as well stay back, eh? Briar is again too stupid to move away.   Minions are here too, just to distract you from the Summoners. Ultimately, for all they’re built up to be, Summoners are not hard to kill. The Fire Heart doesn’t come close to getting destroyed during this quest.    “When you get to the Northern Wastes, your Guild Seal will activate the local teleporters and I’ll be able to join you. Scythe would have done it long ago, but he destroyed his Seal before he arrived. Didn’t want Maze to know what he was up to I guess. Well, have a nice trip! Maybe when I see you next we can have a snowball fight.”And then we have a….well, not a fresco scene, but a scene nonetheless.  “Day after day, it carved its path among the waves, an ocean phantom moving ever forward. Then the moment came, when icy peaks speared out of the horizon mist.”   “I am Scythe, though my name has long been forgotten in the Guild. Maze saw to that.”Even though the Guildmaster knew who you were, and so did Briar. And one of those random peasants outside the Guild. “My apologies for not meeting you in person. I must remain in Snowspire village and protect it from Summoners. Terrible though theya re, they are but a symptom of a much greater power rising in these lands. Meet me in Snowspire in the far North. I will explain everything. And then we must consult the town’s ancient Oracle. I pray we can awaken it, and that it holds the answers we seek.”And then Scythe peaces out, leaving us to make our own way to Snowspire. Briar will guild seal us shortly after, mentioning she’ll warp in ahead of us to speak to Scythe. How she manages that when we must walk is beyond me.  One last tidbit, but I just noticed that whenever someone is speaking to you through the Guild Seal, it’s our Hero that “speaks”, moving his lips as though it’s him talking. Anwyay, this is where we shall stop for now. Join me next time, where we reawaken the Oracle and find out some truly enlightening information.
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Jul 20, 2022 23:09
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Fire Heart my rear end, I know a Blitzball when I see one.
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Jul 21, 2022 02:56
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"My name has long been forgotten" except for all of the people who totally mentioned you. At least the three Prophets were almost funny...? Had a bit of a The Bard's Tale feel to it.
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Jul 21, 2022 06:39
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I mean you are married to Lady Grey, you are obviously not pure of heart.
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Jul 21, 2022 07:16
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I've been following this LP from the start and it's taken me literally this long to realise it's not Bowserstone.
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Jul 22, 2022 08:30
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Whybird posted:I've been following this LP from the start and it's taken me literally this long to realise it's not Bowserstone. Given some of the references coming in the next update, it wouldn't have surprised me if it was Bowserstone.
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Jul 22, 2022 10:07
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Update 16 – Lore Dump We last left off after learning that a great new threat is coming from the north. We raised an ancient Old Kingdom ship to take us to the Northern Wastes. We must now trek our way to Snowspire Village, where we will meet with Scythe, the old Hero spearheading our efforts up here. There’s some treasures around Lost Bay to be found. There’s a Silver Key, and also a Silver Chest, but it requires 30 keys to open. You can only get 25 in vanilla Fable, so you could never have enough on your first visit. The 30 Silver Key Chest holds a legendary weapon called “The Avenger”. It is a one handed sword which doesn’t hold up to the ones we already have. Also in the chest is a set of six gemstones. Six stones. The Avenger. Geddit? Anyway, there’s not much else to do but walk north…   This is an Ice Troll. Indeed, it is much like its counterparts, just with a different aesthetic. You might say it had its pallet swapped.  There is one functional difference, however; the Ice Troll will not throw ice at you, rather sending snaking lines of ice spikes that appear to hone in on you. They are typically harder to avoid. They can also slam the ground to cause singular spikes to come up from underneath you. Otherwise, they’re the same tedious slog of slapping them till their dead as usual.  In the next area, we find snowy balverines. No, not White Balverines, just regular ones but with whiteish coats.  Passing by this gate, someone will yell that it’s a “restricted area”. We’ll be coming here later for a quest.  In the next area after that, we find a free “legendary weapon”, not even being hidden behind a Silver Chest or Demon Door. Of course I use quote marks because this thing only does 140 damage and has no augments. It seems to be more of a giggle by the devs than anything useful.  “Me, I’m more of a teleporter girl. Good thing your Seal set the local ones off. I’ve managed to get a good look around and this pile of stones might be worth investigating.” “You should carry on to Snowspire and speak with Scythe. He’s waiting for you. Catch you later!”Briar teleports out, and we continue on to Snowspire. Click here for our one and only Snowspire quest.   There is a brief transition.  “I arrived here many years ago, when the Guild believed Jack of Blades would use the Snowspire Oracle in his search for the Sword.” “To speak with it we will need the Glyphs of Inquiry. They were hidden in the age of Archon by four acolytes, who buried them deep in the Haunted Necropolis. I will send word to the Necropolis guards to grant you passage.”So that’s that. The Necropolis is the gate we were told was restricted earlier, so we have to march back out there and head on in.  Snowspire Village’s sole unique feature is this “Charity Store”. Basically you donate stuff to them, and its monetary worth translates to good karma points. Not sure why they bothered. It’s not that hard to work your way to sainthood by slaying monsters and such, but I guess this is here if you want to do it real quick by sacrificing a spare legendary weapon.  On the way to the Necropolis, we encounter a purple Nymph. These ones summon snowy Hollow Men. In other words, they’re two pallet swaps in one!   Mungo: “Ah, nuts. Alright then, follow me…” We transition inside.  Mungo: “The whole town’s full o’ ghosts. Folks say the poor beggars don’t even realise they’re dead. Anyway, take care looking for them…Glyphs they’re called, right? You’re not the first one that’s come rummaging for pieces of carved stone, you know. The others found more than they bargained for, though. Rotting corpses the lot of ‘em now. Anyway, have a nice day!” And so our search begins.  You will notice we have an awful lot of green markers. We have to search as many graves as necessary to find all of the Oracle’s tablets.  This is what we’re looking for. There’s four total, so we need another three.  Here are the aforementioned snowy Hollow Men. They will be the bulk of the enemies we face here, or at least those not spawned by alternative means.  This is the one and only Demon Door in the Northern Wastes. “Oh, if only I’d been born a Silver Key chest. I just love those little Silver Keys. So shiny…So silver…I’d do anything for some of my own. Give me yours, please? I’ll let you through and everything.”We have to give this door all of our Silver Keys. Yes, ALL. If you haven’t collected them all, and give him all you’ve got, you’ll never be able to open any Silver Chests again. The simplest way to proceed is to get all the keys, open all the chests, then hand them over here. That wraps up your affairs in a neat little bow. Alternatively, you can come this far without having a single silver key on you. The door will let you in, but call you a “freak” for not having gathered a single one. There’s no way you’re achieving this without prior knowledge of this door, or unless you really are just a complete loon. Anyway, it hides a two handed sword called “The Bereaver”. It’s not even as good as the Solus Greatsword, so I wouldn’t say it’s worth getting.   Whenever you search a grave that doesn’t contain one of the Oracle tablets or a different item, it will be loaded with one of these evil tablets that summons enemies, typically Minions and the occasional Summoner. There’s a way to tell which graves you want; the ones with Oracle tablets have positive messages, while every other grave says something bad or sinister. You won’t figure this out without at least a little trial and error, I imagine. It’s much simpler to just brute force it too.  A local Silver Chest contains a full suit of “Archon Battle Armour”. It’s only a slight improvement over platemail, but hey. It also comes with a helmet, unlike the platemail sets. Once we have three of the Oracle tablets, the way to the deepest part of the Necropolis opens up.  Our “boss fight” pits us against two Minions and two Summoners. It’s not much of a challenge.    Scythe congratulates us on getting the glyphs and urges us back to Snowspire.    Oracle: “You follow the footsteps of the one who bore the mask you carry. Jack of Blades has awakened the dormant power of the Summoners.” Dun dun dun! Jack of Blades is BACK! I swear last update they claimed a new threat was emerging from the north. This is just an old threat with a fresh coat of paint. That’s what “The Lost Chapters” is all about, really. Old things with new coats of paint. Oracle: “He has used the blood of your family to feed his new shell, beyond the Bronze Gate. But now his Soul Mask is in your hands. You must use it to feed the Archon’s Shrine and open the Gate. Go now. And face your destiny.” Oh, how I hate that word. You might be wondering why on earth we want to open the gate, given that means releasing Jack. I assume the logic here is we want to defeat Jack while he convalesces back there, rather than waiting for him to heal completely and come out.  “I do not envy you. The Bronze Gate has long been a symbol of doom in this land. Return to Briar Rose at the Shrine. Perhaps she can tell you how to use Jack’s Soul Mask. I must return to the Guild. May fate smile on you.”What, and leave Snowspire undefended? It’s not like the Summoners are gone… Oh well, as usual, we’re left to it.  Let’s talk about the Oracle. As mentioned, we learned expressions to talk to it, and we can perform them whenever we wish. There’s one for each different Oracle (although there’s only three heads but four letters), spelling out YMCA. Geddit?  We can use the expressions anywhere, but only by using them on the platform next to this lady will we get anything out of the Oracle.   Oracle: “After walking out of the Chamber of Fate, Theresa fled to the mountains, climbing alone to their summit. There she was taken in by Palgan, an old Will user from the lands to the East. Palgan had been meditating in the thin air close to the clouds, but he offered to take her with him on returning to his homeland. One night, Theresa awoke to find him performing a ritual above her, in an attempt to steal her prophetic powers. She killed him and used the amulet that had transported him half-way across the globe. She lives in the East now, haunted by her past only in rare nightmares.” So yeah, the Oracle serves as a lore dump on people, creatures, lore and history. Information on people will only be available if they lived (where they can survive, unlike Maze), so if you kill Theresa, you hear nothing of her. Whisper has her own entry, wherein she returns to her homeland and becomes a true Hero there. The one on Maze is somewhat interesting; Oracle: “You and Maze had more in common than you ever realised. He too was left alone in the world after a wave of violence took his home away. As a child, he watched his parents torn apart by Balverines as they walked through the woods. The beasts were about to turn on him, when three warriors crashed into the clearing. Two of them were Guild Heroes. The third was Jack of Blades. In an instant, Jack slew the Balverines in a show of strength, then killed the Heroes. Maze carried this debt all his life. It burdened his every action and, in the end, destroyed him.” This gives us more information on why Maze is willing to work with Jack, although it’s not information present in the base game, so you could say it’s the writers trying to explain his motives in hindsight. There’s one entry that I want to share with you more than any other…  Oracle: “He may be known for his calm poise, as a stern authority rather than an adventurer, but this was not always so. In his youth, when he went by the name of Weaver, he was part of a cluster of Heroes, Maze among them, who rebelled against the previous Guild regime, and its resolution of offering only virtuous Quests. Much blood was spilled in this short revolt in the name of freedom, leaving the number of Heroes, already rare in a world of diminishing Will presence, at its lowest for centuries. It was Scythe who proposed Weaver as the new Guildmaster, seeing in him the serene and impartial man he would become. Someone who would leave the moral destiny of all future acolytes in their own hands.” Some already wondered how and why the Guild seems so content to let its “Heroes” be psychotic killers if they please. That’s the Guildmaster, Weaver’s fault. He wanted this. He lead a ruddy revolution so the Guild would allow people to be assholes if they wanted to. He killed people so that other people could kill people and stay part of the Guild. Remember how Twinblade broke with the Guild? It seems strange now, doesn’t it? You can be as much as a bloodthirsty psychopath as you want in this game, and you’ll never be kicked out. You can take quests to help bandits slaughter people en masse, and you’ll be rewarded. You could go on a killing spree through the Guild itself, slaying every apprentice around, and all you’ll get is a fine that will be forgiven if you spend enough time away. What did Twinblade leave for? Being a Hero means doing whatever the gently caress you want, and it’s by design by our current Guildmaster. Remember that Jack was treated like a normal citizen at the Arena. Who do you think encouraged this? The Guildmaster. He created an environment where “Heroes” could be bloodthirsty monsters like Jack and still show their faces in public. How much more trouble do you think he would have had if Heroes were still good people, and Jack was attacked on sight rather than tolerated? If Weaver wants to blame anyone for Jack getting so far, it should be himself. But it’ll only get dumber from here. Join me next time, where the Guildmaster will be hoist with his own petard.
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Jul 22, 2022 23:26
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Hero, your health is low. 
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Jul 22, 2022 23:55
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Weaver, the ultimate Centrist.
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Jul 23, 2022 00:59
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What's Jack's end goal again? He's come across as the most boringest generic evil dude.
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Jul 23, 2022 19:31
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:What's Jack's end goal again? He's come across as the most boringest generic evil dude. Pretty sure it's just to conquer, and/or burn, Albion. Nothing too fancy. He actually does have a backstory, although I don't know that it really helps give him depth, and don't remember how you find out about it- I assume looking in a random book or talking to the oracle, but for all I know you can only learn it by looking at a wiki.
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Jul 23, 2022 20:32
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:What's Jack's end goal again? He's come across as the most boringest generic evil dude. Yeah, it's just kill people, conquer and slaughter Albion, like Sum Gai said. In the game, all the backstory you ever get on Jack is that he's not a natural person and is an extremely old entity. Even the Oracle can't give you any more information than that. There was a website called "Tales of Albion" which explained that Jack was part of a group of otherworldly beings called "The Court" who wanted to subjugate Albion and its people, but that's about as meaningful as saying you need a supplementary novel to understand another piece of media's story. But no matter what backstory Jack has, his goal/motivation is always the same; kill people, subjugate them, generally be evil.
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Jul 23, 2022 23:06
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We're kind of ragging a lot on Fable, and I have to also admit that unlike a lot of LPs, I don't feel like playing it after reading through this. Y'know? When sometimes someone is playing through a game and you think, "Yeah, I'd play it like this, let me see if that's possible," or, "That looks like fun, I wonder if I can do it too". Fable must have been successful when it came out, right? There was a lot of hype, and it did well enough to spawn sequels. But what was good about it? The graphics weren't bad, but they weren't that good for the time, were they? Or was it the gameplay?
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Jul 24, 2022 04:49
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painedforever posted:We're kind of ragging a lot on Fable, and I have to also admit that unlike a lot of LPs, I don't feel like playing it after reading through this. Y'know? When sometimes someone is playing through a game and you think, "Yeah, I'd play it like this, let me see if that's possible," or, "That looks like fun, I wonder if I can do it too". I was fairly young at the time, but mostly it had a different.. feel than most of the other comparable games when it came out, it was bright, had a certain charm to it, compared to a lot of the 'grizzled old white dude with a voice like a concrete mixer fights through a world of grey and brown in a super serious no fun allowed crusade' games around it at the time.
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Jul 24, 2022 05:27
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painedforever posted:We're kind of ragging a lot on Fable, and I have to also admit that unlike a lot of LPs, I don't feel like playing it after reading through this. Y'know? When sometimes someone is playing through a game and you think, "Yeah, I'd play it like this, let me see if that's possible," or, "That looks like fun, I wonder if I can do it too". I'd say it's a matter of personal preference. After all, if you go asking around the internet, chances are you'll hear a lot of people saying "Golden Sun" is a great game. Ask on Something Awful, people might poo poo on it harder than anyone's shat on Fable thus far. And of course a lot of people elsewhere would say Fable's a good game and probably think I'm mad for all the picking I'm doing. I must admit that a lot of why I liked it back in the day was because I wasn't that great at games in general and wasn't really putting a lot of thought into the experience. Looking back as a cynical 20 year old, it's a lot easier to pick apart the game's flaws and play it so well it feels tedious. I do still find some enjoyment in the visceral feeling hitting enemies in this game gives me, but again, that's just me. There's also a lot of nostalgia in my personal experience. I can't say I ever got into LPing to recommend games to people, either. The two I've completed thus far were much, much worse games which I showed off expecting people to laugh at them more than anything.
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Jul 24, 2022 05:35
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LJN92 posted:I can't say I ever got into LPing to recommend games to people, either. The two I've completed thus far were much, much worse games which I showed off expecting people to laugh at them more than anything. This is the way!
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Jul 24, 2022 06:06
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