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Screenshot Update 1: Post-Well Sidequests Having beaten Hickory Dock and gotten our hands on a decent wand, it's time we cleared out some side missions and miscellanea before we head to Al Mamoon. Since nobody said if they actually give a poo poo if I transcribe the dialogue, I have forgone the minutia. First on the list are a pair of broken hearts. One is standing right in front of Swift Solutions with her husband.  Since we're only aware of one [positive] emotion at this point, enthusiasm, it's obvious what we need to give this lady.  I grabbed a piece of enthusiasm during a video update, so she's already as good as set. This game rewards overachievers. Not that it couldn't have stood to drop the "Will you accept [x]?" when you already have everything. Just a "Would you like to give [x] now?" would have sped this up drastically.  Having lacked plenty of enthusiasm in my life, I can tell you a pinch of it is not a counterbalance.  But hey, a simple quest nets us some simple rewards. Dumple will like that.  If I hadn't grabbed the enthusiasm earlier, I could have gotten a piece from this Grimalkin sitting right behind them. Or alternately, you can use him to grab another piece when you're finished with the couple.  Inside Swift Solutions are a pair of Bounty Hunts, which you'll see later this update.   The Merit Awards are the various, mostly passive upgrades we can get for filling out the merit cards. I will collect all of them throughout the LP, so you'll see every one in action. Thus I will leave what they do until they have been activated.   Our next broken heart is this man staring at the moat outside the Cawtermaster.  Sure I'll go get some enthu- here have some enthusiasm.   Helping him allows me to complete my first Merit Stamp Card. And more bread.  With our enthusiasm slot free, what else is there to do but to go get another one! This Grimalkin is preparing for the Tug-Of-Tail [he said out of unreliable memory] competition, all the while never moving from this spot or there ever being such a competition that you visibly see. Never mind. I feel empty without my piece of cat man heart.  Standing in front of the Cat's Cradle is this caricature of something that I'm sure Travis would have a field day voicing.  This charmingly obnoxious rich man is a recurring sidequest figure. He travels across the world writing his memoirs. His recurring quest?  He loses it somewhere.  The rich guy gives us a few hints as to the location of the book, and then we're off.  Since people don't spawn on the overworld, the quest markers you see on the map will usually just be for Bounty Hunts, such as is the case here. The rich man's diary never gets a quest marker, mind, even if the diary is found on the overworld. It's up to you to sniff it out with his hints alone.  Our first Bounty Hunt is a "Gruffian" wandering around the beach nearby Ding Dong Dell. Bounty Hunts operate slightly differently than normal monster encounters:   The monster does not engage the player or run away. The player instead approaches the monster and activates the battle by choice.  The Gruffian turns out to be an advanced form of the Ruffs, which we saw as early as Part 2 and which act as wingmen during the fight. About half of the Bounty Hunts follow this pattern of having the Bounty be a tougher version of an average monster we've seen before, and they'll usually be flanked by their subordinates. Bounty Hunts can also be single, very tough monsters that are unique to the Bounties and never seen anywhere else; these do however all seem to be different forms of the same 3-4 species. It'll be a while before we see any of the unique Bounties.   The Ruffs are all dispatched fairly easily.  30 EXP may not seem like much, but remember that the overworld monsters only give about 2-5 EXP each, and none of the monsters in Ding Dong Well gave us that much. Thus shows how Bounties are a good way to keep your levels up as you go along. Say what you will about the game's writing, pacing, or hand-holding, but its difficulty curve is fairly consistent.  The next target, the Sleepeafowl's cousin Grumpeafowl, is hanging around an ominous rib cage nearby the Deep Dark Wood.   Again, they're dispatched without much fuss.  Dumple did run out of stamina, so I resorted to finishing off the last one by twatting it with a stick.   The rich gentleman's diary can be found in this area to the East of the Deep Dark Wood. His hint as to its location was that it was on a little island with a pair of trees.  Some sniffing around, and Oliver starts screaming.   We do this every town.  This is a sidequest I didn't do until I was almost through my first playthrough. Nobody in the game (from what I could remember) outright mentions the Forest Folk or how to find them. Presumably you're supposed to come across them by accident, because...   ...to find them, you walk into the exact right spot of the forest in which they live. I remember doing this exact thing early on and never activating the entrance. It's fair to say it was a very quick quest by that point. The Forest Folk are not in every patch of trees you see on the overworld, so it takes some investigating to find their dwellings.  Inside these forests are miniature maps of sorts. There will be between 2-5 locals standing around and usually a treasure chest or two. These forests also have two entrances/exits at opposite ends of the map.  The chest holds a Battler's Badge, which was far beyond useless by the time I first found it. Dig Oliver's creepy face up there.   Our quest maestro is this little boy with a bowl cut I would have been envious of back in the days when I had one. He says his forest has become infested with Rhinobores, which are cousins of the mini-rhino/armadillo things we see on the main field. Yes, all the tribesmen speak like Tonto.  Having accepted the quest, the Rhinobores spawn on the overworld surrounding the forest. And never once enter the forest. And are therefore no danger to the people who never loving leave the forest, but whatever. Dumple time.   You know the drill. He said and instantly regretted.  In sidequests where a specific number of enemies are to be killed, the game will pop-up with a running tally of your progress each time you kill another one. This applies to both sidequests where a specific number of creatures spawn in an area for the quest (such as this one), or for when you have to kill a number of pre-existing enemies on the overworld (which we'll see in the next screenshot update). It's more useful in the latter where there's no visual way to gauge how many you've killed thus far. In the former it's just kind of condescending.  Likewise, the game will let you know when you've killed as many enemies as needed. I believe this also applies to certain fetch-quests, but I will not know for sure for a couple parts.   Our eyeless friend rewards us with some coffee, which knowing the types of coffee in this game, I did not expect a tribal community to have.  Before I leave the mountainous area, I wanted to show off this enemy, since after this update I will have no reason to go back to where it spawns ever again.  It's called an Inphant. Guess I'm a beby kyllar.   We return the book to Mr. Pants here and get one of the few accessory types that humans can wear.   Turning in Bounty Hunts is a surprisingly joyous occasion. "Yay, dead dogs!"  I told you we'd see new generations of ice cream. Salted Ice Cream is also very useful as an ingredient when we get to crafting items. Practically every type of ice cream branches off from Salted Ice Cream.  Turning in the Bounties also completes a second Stamp Card. Time to turn these two in for prizes.  The Jumping Jack perk... well, read the description. It looks kinda like:  Yes, the game tries to convince you that looks cool. At least the game admits that it's completely useless, though I believe I've found it useful in fights as a dodge maneuver for familiars. Let's see it in action a bit better:  I  feel  like  a  twa- I also grab an actually useful perk: Jack Be Nimble. This allows me to run a bit faster on the overworld. It's nothing compared to the traveling capabilities we'll get much later in the game, but it's a start at least.  That completes the sidequests for now. Before I end the update, a couple things involving chocolate:   With Ding Dong Well completed, we can go back to Old Father Oak and tell him the story. He will reward us with some Milk Chocolate and remind us about feeding the treats to our familiars. Travis and I went over that in Part 2, so we can ignore that.   Also, like I mentioned in Part 2, I went on to upgrade Dumple's Familiarity. This allows me to level up his attributes an additional 10 times. Familiarity is visualized by the heart meters, and the hearts visibly grow as you feed them.  As better demonstrated by- wait, who is this?! To Be Continued
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Jul 13, 2013 22:58
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 You've got no worries when it comes to structuring screenshot updates, Thorn.Kingdom Hearts II also saw fit to inform me that salty icecream is a thing. It still sounds kinda counter-intuitive to me.
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Jul 13, 2013 23:56
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Yapping Eevee posted:
Salt enhances flavor, so there's no reason it can't improve the taste of sweets. Hell, last winter Starbucks wouldn't shut up about them putting sea salt in their caramel drinks.
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Jul 14, 2013 00:19
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Yeah it changes the way our brain processes the flavour and amps it. Cuts out bitterness at the taste buds as well. Prepare to be Alton Brown'd. E: BEFORE I FORGET! Travis gave an art request to an-artist-complex which I'm sure you all will find amusing:  Yes, that's me as Oliver and Travis as Dumple. ThornBrain fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Jul 14, 2013 |
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Jul 14, 2013 00:46
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 Oliver's thoughts on this little guy are the only time he ever says what I'm thinking.
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Jul 15, 2013 22:32
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You named a familar that's supposed to specialize in healing after Shiro. There is no happy ending to this story, is there?
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Jul 16, 2013 01:28
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Regarding the Forest Folk it's interesting to note that if you zoom into the maps in the Wizard's Tome they show exactly where you have to look for them (as well as all the hidden treasures).
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Jul 16, 2013 01:39
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   This week we meet our first teammate and have a blast making fun of everything, including characters that don't even exist. A small heads up: I'm going to be focusing my attention on other projects for the immediate future, so this LP will likely go into hiatus until at least early August. The screenshot update will still be this Friday. In the meantime, I recently guested on Sundowner and Alchanii's LP of Borderlands 2. Won't you check it out and enjoy my rampant ADD? And our innate ability to keep a single joke going for almost 40 minutes?
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Jul 29, 2013 18:57
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Robo-Old Lady is gold.  I hope you remember her in later videos.
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Jul 29, 2013 19:35
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Screenshot Update 2: A Bit of Al and Moonie Now that Esther and Rashaad have joined us, it's time to forsake them in favour of the usual guff.  First, talking to this man will grab us a dose of kindness for semi-immediate use.   This lady is freaking out about the Boneheads wandering around outside attacking travelers. Why it's specifically the skeletons and not the violent, walking babana bunches or turban assholes, I have no idea.   Here we have a sweet little sidequest to deliver a lunch to this woman's husband. Aww. Unfortunately I either didn't do this sidequest or accidentally deleted the recording. Either way, whoops.  Nearby her, this kid is being a jerkoff to his friend after borrowing a book. And since kids aren't shitheads naturally, he must be brokenhearted.  A dose of the old man's kindness, and we get a more likely explanation for the kid acting up.  As I pointed out in the video, Horace is standing nearby one of the milk fountains. He has an interesting series of riddles for you every time you talk to him. Figuring out the riddles nets you a new spell.    To figure out the riddles, often Horace will give you a supplementary page of the Wizard's Companion. In this case, it's one of the fairy tale-like Twelve Tales of Wonder. This one, The Cowardly Prince and the Lion, was kindly uploaded in full by Kotaku. Read it; it's a charming, and quite classical, parable of bravery.    To read any page of the Wizard's Companion, simply pull it up on the main menu and navigate with the control sticks and shoulder buttons. It's often a very useful, if slightly clunky, tool you can use to figure out things like where to find items or which items can be crafted into something new. I'd post more detailed screenshots, but ^ that's the resolution you're getting.   To solve Horace's riddles, simply type in the answer without any typos or what have you. Capos are a different matter: he doesn't care if you scream the answer at him.    Our reward is the decently useful Draw Poison, which functions as a poison cure in the event we run out of Poison-Be-Gones. It's most useful to have some of the items on hand either way, since obviously Draw Poison requires magic which can be better suited to attacking, and our inventory is called the Bottomless Bag for a reason.  Horace hints at what the next town will look like when you finish talking to him. Seems the next town will be by the coast.   This sidequest spans the entire next video. Raj here, who's apparently a dude, is in need of some ingredients for Tikka Mahala. It's basically rice curry, and it heals 150 HP, the same amount as a hamburger.  One of the ingredients is a set of special spices, which we need to grab from the Sheikh of Spices in town.  But first, another dose of courage to be used so quickly that I question the point of not allowing you to stack them.   Unfortunately, the Sheikh has lost his enthusiasm for the sole purpose of his existence. So let's extort a few more Merit Stamps out of the guy.  And a lunch, I suppose.  Thus why this sidequest spans the next video. The spicy seeds are found in the ground of a certain location we will explore in the second half of the video. Turmeric Roots are dropped from one of the enemies.  To close this update, a couple more bounties to be tackled at a later, more overpowered date...   ...and a man so scared out of his wits, he can't get his ice cream. Most people scream for ice cream. This guys screams while running away from it.  That is adorable. Next time, Travis and I will travel to the Temple of the Sages.  Sure, that one. ThornBrain fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Oct 31, 2013 |
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Aug 2, 2013 22:21
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That penguin always steals my golden glims  Since you said that it's ok to suggest familiars, can you get one of the skeleton dudes? Unless they're completely useless, that is.
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Aug 4, 2013 16:17
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Is it worth saving up your stamp cards for something or do the various Jack abilities plot-unlock or similar?
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Aug 16, 2013 07:54
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The card rewards are exclusive to them, and yeah they're worth saving up for. But you need to unlock a whole row of them before the line below opens up.
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Aug 16, 2013 10:10
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I certainly like this thread. An artist complex probably makes the best LP-related fanart. Though I am rather surprised it seems so empty. Just want you to know there are plenty of people around who enjoy this. Even though the thread is still on page 2.
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Aug 25, 2013 21:05
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   Plenty for me to piss about in this part. Update on the overall LP at the end. Very short screenshot update to follow tomorrow.
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Sep 30, 2013 19:01
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Screenshot Update 3: Animal Magnetism Now that we have the ability to assault and seduce wild animals, let's jump right into it, shall we?  Travis suggested I grab a Clubber Cub for its quick speed and strong attacks. A speedster is always useful in this game.  Perfect.  When you've gotten through the Temple of Trials, this Familiar scientist named Derwin is ready to give us a sidequest. We see him every town, and every time he wants us to capture 2-3 specific familiars, usually from the monsters right outside the town. His name is probably a play on Darwin and "derp".  What, that we're being watched? Don't be paranoid, you child's parody of intelligent people.   There's two Familiars I'll never loving use. The Bunchers have no speed whatsoever, and the Bandits- well just gently caress them.  When you've caught the familiars and brought them to Derwin, he'll briefly get lost in his own world as he carefully inspects the inside of his hat.  But hey, at least we get some metamorphosis drops. I can use one of them immediately on Gogo.   Ha, now you're too weak to be used in battle! Suffer with DUMPLE!!! Next time: we climb Old Smoky to stop it erupting. Which is exactly how it works.
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Oct 1, 2013 16:21
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Does Gogo not have pants hiked up to its armpits anymore, or is it just wearing a shirt over them now?
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Oct 1, 2013 23:45
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Update on the capture situation: I have the splitter and all the necessary cables...except for the fiber optic sound cable, which was never mentioned anywhere I looked regarding the splitter. Either way, I don't think my capture card can do 1080p anyway, but the video quality is very clear regardless, so there should still be a bump in overall quality once the audio cable comes in within the next week or so. But that's okay, because the always brilliant Olivia graces us with more fancomics:       
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Oct 25, 2013 06:14
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I picked this game up because of this thread and I'm really glad I did. It's been a while since an rpg clicked with me this way.
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Oct 25, 2013 19:36
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   The LP returns with a trek up the local volcano, more reasons to love the familiars, and more reasons to not particularly care for our heroes. Screenshot update this Friday. Also I'm doing a Nuzlocke of Fallout 3 because why the hell not.
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Nov 18, 2013 04:07
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Drippy's expression when he's sidling along the tiny shelf is hilarious.
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Nov 20, 2013 21:22
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Glazius posted:Drippy's expression when he's sidling along the tiny shelf is hilarious. Everything Drippy does is hilarious.  I'm glad this is still going.
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Nov 20, 2013 23:00
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Screenshot Update 4: Raj Wears White Socks So in the previous video I completed a sidequest involving killing 10 boneheads. I'd put a murder pride joke here, but it's hard to feel sorry for something that was already dead.   Also in town is that dapper old gentleman who is the biggest drat liar in the desert right now. His diary is hiding beside a tree at the foot of Old Smoky.   One of the bounty hunts available is an advanced version of our tiger dude. He's hanging out far off to the East of the desert, just beyond the Temple of Trials.    Tiger monster for ant people, I suppose. I wish they gave him white socks. Outside of the Golden Grove is the next bounty hunt. He's a special monster that only shows up for the bounties. There are 3-4 types of these special monsters, most of them recurring, but this one only shows up to give me an item the Sheik of Spices needs. He is a tree.   And Dumple shoots fire. Easy to see how this goes.   Since I got the spicy seeds during the video, that takes care of the spices sidequest. So now whatever the hell happened in the video should make a little more sense.   Another sidequest I decided to hold off on until now is the lunchbasket delivery. A hopeless romantic wife in Al Mamoon wants me to deliver her hopeless romantic lunch to her hopeless romantic husband. Drippy asserts that the monsters get more frisky when they smell the food that's been sitting in my bag for weeks...   ...but I'm kind of not in any danger at all.   I'd like to see a poem by this guy in the grips of heartbreak. You will know "visceral".  Returning to Old Father Oak at this time will net us a few Pheonix Feathers. My relationship with my partners is tenuous at best, so the most these get used is for Oliver himself.  Also HDMI footage looks great unless you upscale it from half-sized images you saved when you weren't paying attention.  Moving on to Old Smoky and the traveler's inexplicably heat-resistant-paper book.   This diary goes through some incredible abuse throughout the game. It's a wonder it doesn't flat-out disintegrate by the end.   Drippy is so hungry for curry that he's eating sand to hold him over.   Returning to the loving wife grabs us the lamest reward ever.   And returning the diary earns us some peculiar armour that only specific familiars can wear. It's not the most effective armour, and I don't hold on to it for that long.  After several weeks we can return to Raj for some curry and...well...  ...you already know. Finally, we close with some bounty rewards.   And two pretty useful Merit Rewards.   The former is self-explanatory. The latter sometimes causes us to pick up two of an item when we forage for them on those sparkling spots on the overworld. Next time: we will head to Castaway Cove and make a new friend who is actually useful and is not Swaine.
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Nov 23, 2013 21:33
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   SEA?!
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Nov 26, 2013 18:42
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No comment on those Monolith enemies? Those are adorable AND creative.
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Nov 26, 2013 21:11
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So everyone in the Detroit has a counterpart in punworld? Two questions. Will we run jnto Ollie's and who in Detroit is drippy's?
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Dec 9, 2013 06:00
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Are you going to be posting the wizard pages with the boss and area information? I am interested as to what they say.
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Dec 29, 2013 22:56
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Cream_Supreme posted:Are you going to be posting the wizard pages with the boss and area information? I am interested as to what they say. No, can't be assed. Go here for a pdf of the whole thing: http://www.ps3hax.net/showthread.php?t=51171
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Dec 30, 2013 03:27
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Purrloiner was one of my favorite monsters, even though I can't stand cat puns either.
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Dec 30, 2013 05:14
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I do love Drippy's swimsuit. It's so 19th century.
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Dec 31, 2013 07:42
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I know they said it was "too complicated" to do an English port of the DS version, mostly because of the physical copy of the spellbook, but I still keep hoping they'll drop that lame excuse and just do it. I wanna draw the spell symbols, drat it.
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Jan 1, 2014 22:31
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Hey, I'm pretty new to the SA forums but I've been following your LPs for a while now. I would like to offer my assistance if you would like another commentator for this LP. I have played and completed the main story of the game so I'm not gonna be completely useless. If not, that's cool and I'll just...quietly steam in anger for not being picked... But you know...whatever...lol.
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Jan 5, 2014 12:37
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For those of you who don't follow everyone of ThornBrains LPs. He has voiced that he is burned out. So don't expect this thread to get updated any time soon. I hope you will feel alright Thorn and I thank you for the time you invested in our enjoyment.
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Jan 5, 2014 15:02
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Also this is not an LP where I want guest commentators. The dynamic Travis and I have works and I want to keep it that way; even Yoshi I'm hesitant to bring in for this. And don't worry, I'm fine. I've just been feeling a certain way and recognized it as a sign that I need to step back from this or I'm going to burn out on it more permanently.
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Jan 6, 2014 08:40
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That's cool, I completely understand. In the meantime, I'll need to find some other LPs to occupy my time because good Lord, I have been watching your videos too many times now...
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Jan 6, 2014 23:23
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ThornBrain posted:
No worries man. Take some time to do what you like doing. Like Music. Now, if I can only figure out how to work bandcamp or something, you'll get a little positive reinforcement.
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Jan 7, 2014 00:33
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More darkly hilarious art from Olivia: 
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Jan 14, 2014 02:02
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   This LP returns with a DETESTABLE new character... next week. This week it's yet another person who's more of an obstruction than a character. And that's not a fat joke.
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Feb 17, 2014 19:42
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The puns. Too many puns. How is this the same game that got reviewed so well?
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Feb 22, 2014 00:49
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Cloud Potato posted:The puns. Too many puns. How is this the same game that got reviewed so well? I wonder if they were planning to do a TV series out of this game and just decided to merge the two, because this episode really does feel like someone took a filler episode of some TV show and wrapped about a minute of gameplay to it. Speaking of Ghibli and Miyazaki, "The Wind Rises", which is likely Hayao Miyazaki's final feature, came out in US theaters yesterday. Also, if you're in the New York area, the Sunshine theater in Manhattan is showing a couple of Miyazaki's films in 35mm at midnight on weekends. Don't be discouraged by this game; Ghibli has made some phenomenal stuff.
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Feb 22, 2014 20:20
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