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    (Well, they told all the participants to come to this plaza, so here I am…)  (…I see six other people…)Count Hogstein had mentioned seven heroes, which means the other six people there were probably the other participants…   Ladies and gentlemen! And you guys too. Please, pay attention! (That voice! It’s him!)As Hogstein’s voice echoed through the plaza, the other six people began to talk amongst themselves.      Statue…? Oh! I see it! (There’s a TV on its back that’s showing Count Hogstein, but this statue is…)  (Ha ha ha… Yeah, you got that right.) Well, it looks like you’re all here, so let’s move on to the fun stuff. Oink! You’re about to be pitted against the devious game I’ve devised. In other words! You are seven noble warriors who dare to stand up to the monstrous Count Hogstein! Oink oink! (Well, at least he realizes he’s the antagonist…) First, though, I thought it’d be nice to break the ice by exchanging names. You all know mine already, but I think you’re still strangers to each other! With those parting words, the TV turned off. …And now he’s gone. Something of a wild spirit, isn’t he? So, uh, are we just supposed to tell each other our names and stuff…? Well, if we’re really gonna fight a villain we should probably have names. Knowing a man’s name is the first step on the road to trust. I’ll go first. [Subaru Shidou (22) is voiced by Kenichi Suzumura whose previous roles have included Lavi from D.Gray Man and Zach from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.]  Wait… You’re a cop? Yes. I’ve got my badge right here… Whoa, awesome! I’ve never seen a real one before! What’s a detective doing at an amusement park? No way you’re off duty in that getup. Were you on security or something?  Whoa, seriously? The guy who let all this happen is part of our team of warriors? … (He’s just… glaring. I guess he’s not the good cop.) Please, calm down. Fighting amongst our band will only lead to greater strife. Calm your passionate hearts. [Kimimaro Urabe (26) is voiced by Junichi Suwabe whose previous roles have included Archer from every anime adaptation of Fate/stay night and Keigo Atobe from Prince of Tennis.]  (Well that’s a nice change of pace. He seems like he’s pretty nice, if a little weird. And he really does look like a fortune teller.) Next would be… you. … (Did he… not hear?) Um, I think it’s your turn. What’s your name? [Kouta Meoshi (19) is voiced by Masakazu Morita whose previous roles have included Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach and Barnaby Brooks Jr. from Tiger & Bunny.]  Man, you’re cheerful. … (Huh. I guess he doesn’t talk much.) (But this kid… I feel like I’ve seen his face somewhere before.) …No. My apologies, but I have little knowledge of the secular world… I don’t care about TV. You look kind of familiar, but… I gotta be honest, if you were important, I’m pretty sure I’d remember you. Really?! None of you?!  (Of course! I remember!)The Junior Jr. Boys was a boy band that was super popular, mostly with girls. All the members were really cute, and a bunch of my classmates were fans. (Eh, boy bands aren’t really my thing, you know? That explains why he looked familiar though…) I guess I’m just not very popular with old guys… I need to work harder on that. [Towa Wakasa (17) is voiced by Yuuki Kaji whose previous roles have included Haruyuki Arita from Accel World and Eren Yeager from Attack on Titan.] (I think that “old guys” comment might have made things a bit awkward here, but this kid’s definitely got the face of a star.) Sweet, I’m up next. [Ryuusei Mitarashi (24) is voiced by Satoshi Hino whose previous roles have included Noiz from DRAMAtical Murder and Daichi Sawamura from Haikyuu!!.]  A what?! You heard me. In fact, I’m number one at Ulysses down in Ginza. You ever feel like making your wildest dreams come true babe, just pay me a visit… A-Ah ha ha… ha… (He doesn’t really look like an escort, but the way he talks…)  All right, what are you supposed to be, then? You aren’t holding out on us, are you? Oh, sorry about that. Forgot give-and-take is the basis of any kind of information gathering… [Ayumu Shirabe (32) is voiced by Ken Narita whose previous roles include Sesshomaru from Inuyasha.] He sighed. Then the only one of us remaining is you. You’ll have to excuse me for thinking your volunteering for this game Is a little suspicious. (S-Suspicious…?) I’m Saki Inafune. I’m a high school student. I thought you might be. Why would a kid like you volunteer for something like this? To stop the bombs, of course! And to rescue the hostages!After I spoke, they all fell silent.    Why’d you volunteer, though? Are you totally nuts? Why didn’t you run away? That’s what I would’ve done. This whole thing is seriously whack. If we could leave, I’d go in a minute. I’m tired… What the hell’s taking Porkchop so long anyway? Think he’ll show up if we kick this ugly-rear end statue over? No, we don’t want to aggravate him. It’s important to remain calm in a hostage situation, or you run the risk of escalating the criminal’s behavior. Seriously? Man, you’re a white knight, aren’t you… All your cop buddies this upright, or are you the star of the force? Yes, the hostages are most certainly a concern. Should I attempt to divine their fate with my crystal ball? Sorry, but I’d rather stick to information that’d be admissible in court. I… see. How unfortunate. Jeez… I wanna get out of here… (This is… disappointing.) (None of these guys really feel like hero material.) (And none of them seem too eager to work together right now…) (But I guess none of them chose to be here, so I can’t really blame them for being upset. I’m just worried about whether or not we can pull this off…)I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of the TV turning back on.  (Oh, he’s back.) Now that you’re all best friends, I think it’s time to move on. Just follow my piglet to Castle Hogstein, if you please.I hadn’t noticed until that moment that one of the people in the black unitards had appeared next to us. There was no question he was the… piglet.  This whole song and dance really chafes my rear end. Can’t he just come out here and talk to us? Please, Mitarashi, calm down. Given the situation in which we find ourselves, cooperation is likely the wisest course of action.  What? Oink oink oink. Enough talking! Move it! Chop chop! Let’s just, like, listen to him, okay? Standing around here is boring anyway… All right, the castle it is. After all, they say a reporter’s best asset is his feet, right? (But… just what kind of game is he going to make us play…?)
ChorpSaway fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Nov 19, 2015 |
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Nov 18, 2015 21:03
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Mitarashi is a hunk and none of the others compare  If the thread doesn't choose him I'll be disappointed.
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Nov 18, 2015 21:14
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Panic! at Nabisco posted:Mitarashi is a hunk and none of the others compare let's hang out with the swole bechokered dreamboat 
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Nov 18, 2015 21:25
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I definitely did not imagine most of them with their correct VAs...except for Towa, who for some reason I instantly pictured with Yuuki Kaji's voice. Namely, as Amata from Aquarion Evol. That said, there's a mistake in the voice actors. You said Urabe is voiced by Suzumura, but the roles you put are Junichi Suwabe's. Considering how Suzumura is voicing Shidou, I'm guessing that was meant to be Junichi Suwabe there.
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Nov 18, 2015 21:34
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Mitarashi is great oh my god He reminds me of Kanji from Persona, which is a really good thing
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Nov 18, 2015 21:35
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Kind of weird that the protag is 18 but one of the love interests is in his thirties.
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Nov 18, 2015 21:36
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ProfessorProf posted:Kind of weird that the protag is 18 but one of the love interests is in his thirties. ojii-san~
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Nov 18, 2015 21:39
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Well apparently we're going to do all the routes in time (one hell of an undertaking!), but while We have to date the unemployed goon because who else are we gonna relate to?!
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Nov 18, 2015 22:19
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Y'see, we could pursue Mitarashi, but we could get the same result by just paying him after this is all over, so we should probably increase our options here.
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Nov 18, 2015 23:06
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Blaze Dragon posted:That said, there's a mistake in the voice actors. You said Urabe is voiced by Suzumura, but the roles you put are Junichi Suwabe's. Considering how Suzumura is voicing Shidou, I'm guessing that was meant to be Junichi Suwabe there. drat, I can't believe my copy-pasting the same line to edit betrayed me. Thanks for catching that! It has since been fixed.
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Nov 19, 2015 01:21
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Junpei Hyde posted:Y'see, we could pursue Mitarashi, but we could get the same result by just paying him after this is all over, so we should probably increase our options here. We might not have to pay if we just date him though. Anyway, I like Shidou because he has some sweet shades.
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Nov 19, 2015 01:23
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I enjoyed the Hatoful Boyfriend LPs, so I'll definitely join in on this LP. One thing that... well it's really nitpicky on my part, but in the drawn pictures of Saki, why does she have a red line on her neck?
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Nov 19, 2015 17:03
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Mraagvpeine posted:I enjoyed the Hatoful Boyfriend LPs, so I'll definitely join in on this LP. One thing that... well it's really nitpicky on my part, but in the drawn pictures of Saki, why does she have a red line on her neck? I assumed it was for the same reason the side of her nose facing us in the banner was that color: stylistic shading 
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Nov 19, 2015 17:09
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you know, i like five of the six guys so there is a very minimal chance i'll be disappointed with the thread's choice
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Nov 19, 2015 17:12
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Is that dork wearing a straight jacket?
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Nov 19, 2015 18:30
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SloppyDoughnuts posted:Is that dork wearing a straight jacket? If you mean Meoshi I think he is auditioning for the role of Final Fantasy character
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Nov 21, 2015 16:28
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Someone Awful! posted:If you mean Meoshi I think he is auditioning for the role of Final Fantasy character The Gameatorium put Nomura out of work, so he took to fashion. Truly, a dark and terrible future.
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Nov 22, 2015 02:53
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I have concerns about his buckle choices, but I still vote that we get with Meoshi. (Cause he don't know me but yo he's really fine)
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Nov 22, 2015 03:24
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 It wasn’t long before it opened up into a magnificent room that looked like a banquet hall from a period drama.  You!Finally, the person behind this whole mess was right in front of us! A pig on a throne? What is this, some kind of half-assed political commentary…? Be quiet. He can hear you. Have you already forgotten about the hostages? Guh…! Oink oink oink. Bicker all you want… but on your own time. Right now I need to explain the seven rules of my game. Odd… There’s something strange at the base of the stairs… Looks like a box draped in blue cloth. …The box looked like it was about twice as tall as the piglets standing at attention next to it. What was in there…? This didn’t feel good. Before I could spend more time thinking about it, however, Shidou spoke up. Weren’t you going to explain the rules?   Whoa, what?! The second rule is that you may not harm my illustrious person. That includes, of course, my piglets, who I think of as part of my own body. Sure. Fine. Next rule? That seems like cheating… You coward! The fifth rule is that all communication with the outside is expressly verboten! Nothing! No one! What…? Oh no, my agent’s gonna freak! My sincerest apologies. Maybe you should think about that the next time you decide to go waste time having fun. Oink! What a jerk… And of course the sixth rule is that you’re not allowed to escape. Obviously. Urgh…  Oh no!As soon as he’d finished talking, Count Hogstein began to laugh, his stomach jiggling obscenely. (How can he laugh about killing people! He’s awful!)I frowned, trying to think of something to say, when-  Stop! A man controls his emotions, he doesn’t let his emotions control him! Yeah, well I’m about to let my fist control his face!Shidou was doing his best to hold Mitarashi back, but I wasn’t sure how long he’d last. You need to calm down! If you get mad, you’re just doing what he wants! Correct. The rules prevent us from harming him. If we do, the hostages will be killed. Damnit!He swore and shook off Shidou, slamming his fist into a nearby pillar.  With a slimy smile, he clapped his hands. At his signal, the piglets took hold of the blue cloth… It fell away from the box, revealing- Ah…! Guh!What I’d thought was a box was actually a giant cage, and inside of it was my uncle and the park management.  Exactly. I hope you won’t hold it against me. After all, if you just follow the rules, I won’t be forced to do anything… unpleasant. Such as, for instance, dropping a giant metal ball! Oink oink! Metal ball?!As I spoke, he grinned and looked up toward the ceiling. I followed his gaze…  What?! There’s… there’s a giant metal ball over the cage! No…!It was all too clear what Count Hogstein’s message was. (That’s…!) It was what we were all thinking, even if I’d been too afraid to say it. That’s cowardly! They can’t even fight back! If you decide to hurt me, then… SPLAT! *snort* Good thing he held you back, huh? Close call! Oink oink oink!He was so smug! I just wanted to punch him in that massive, jiggly gut every time he opened his mouth.  There will be lots of puzzles for you to figure out, so I hope you’re ready to work together and solve them! And the ones we can’t beat will be… blown up? Ah, yes, thank you for reminding me. I forgot to mention that you’ll be blown up along with the attraction, so please do be careful. Wh-What?! Are you for real?! Well, if you can’t beat it, then you can’t get out, and if you can’t get out… Oink. …!He was talking about killing people! About killing us! How could he be so… so… casual?!  (I won’t let him get away with this!)Everyone else was staring at the arrogant pig, probably thinking the same thing I was. Everyone except for Wakasa…  Oh man… Oh man oh man… Why me…?He slumped to the ground holding his head. I’d volunteered to play Hogstein’s sick game, but Wakasa hadn’t. None of them had…  I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. There was no guarantee one of these men wouldn’t try to escape. I knew my uncle, but apart from that the hostages were complete strangers to all of us. (I’m really not sure about these guys… I don’t know anything about them…) (No! I have to trust them! We’re going to be working together for seven days. If I don’t trust them…)I shook my head. We’d never be able to win Hogstein’s games unless we trusted each other. (The characters in Uncle Keiji’s games always talked about how important it was to believe in other people.)I leveled a glare at the pig. There was no way I was going to lose!   Finally getting started, huh? Today’s game celebrates the wonderful world of RPGs! Let’s move, everyone! Come along now!Another piglet appeared to guide us, and we set off for the RPG attraction Hogstein had indicated.
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Nov 22, 2015 19:13
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I'm seeing this game for the first time so I don't have anything to add, except that I'm loving Cactus' art.
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Nov 24, 2015 16:38
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Kallev posted:The Gameatorium put Nomura out of work, so he took to fashion. Truly, a dark and terrible future. All this time I've been waiting for The World Ends With 2 but it was actually this game all along.
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Nov 24, 2015 23:16
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An RPG. Oh lord. Can you even get out of the tutorial in 7 hours?
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Nov 28, 2015 03:18
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I'm really not a fan of the difference in art style between the main character and the other characters. It's super immersion breaking.
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Nov 28, 2015 04:29
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dotchan posted:I'm really not a fan of the difference in art style between the main character and the other characters. It's super immersion breaking. I assume he's using because iirc there are no in-game emotion portraits of the main character, just the one splash image. I like it but I can see your point too 
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Nov 28, 2015 06:53
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 Before the opening, my uncle had told me that the park was divided into seven different themed areas. Each area has a main attraction that represents the theme.  I glanced around as I walked, trying to compare what I was seeing to what I remembered about the park’s layout. No one spoke, and our footsteps were heavy and low. Everyone’s mind was on what the pig had told us. (Whatever. Right now I need to concentrate on figuring out how to beat these games.)I was glaring so hard at the back of the Piglet’s head that I didn’t hear Shidou start talking. …clear is that unless we can complete this game, the hostages are done for. The pig already said that, bro! I got it the first time! Urgh… Uh, well, I know a little bit about it.I explained to them what I’d been thinking earlier. So the main attraction in the RPG part of the park is probably- Oh, so you know about all this, then? N-No! Not… not really. I just… happened to know that… one thing. All right? (That sounds like kind of a weird response, but whatever…)Shidou frowned at Mitarashi, then turned to me. His stare was cold and uncomfortable. Y-Yes…? So do you just “happen to know” these things too? Wh-What? No, um… well… I’m related to someone who works for the park. Is that so? Then… perhaps they were in the enclosure we saw earlier? Yeah, they were… Yeah… Oh… Please, accept my condolences.Urabe squeezed my hand reassuringly, and gave me a somber bow. (Maybe I should’ve mentioned my uncle earlier. Then they might have been more willing to help me…)That didn’t matter now, though. It seems like Shidou and the others are more accepting of me now. I thanked him and let go of his hand. Cute. Better get moving. We’re heading for that Samu-whatsit Phantasmagoria, right? The castle and the country have been taken over by the nurarihyon, and the adventurers have to stop them. Well look at you, Encyclopedia Meoshi. You some kind of game freak? Yeah… I like games. I heard they were gonna be giving out exclusive DLC at the opening today. That’s the only reason I came… (Oh… So that’s why he knows about it…)Mitarashi frowned. Huh? What the heck’s “DLC”? …It means “Downloadable Content”. Right. Fascinating. I think we’ve all got the basics here. Yes, he’s quite the villain. I imagine there will be traps and the like that we won’t expect. Exactly.Shirabe sighed, and shifted the cigarette in his- (Wait… That’s not a cigarette! It’s… a snack?) (So he likes sweets? Huh… I never would have guessed. I totally thought that was a cigarette.)For some reason I found my eyes drawn to it. It was almost… hypnotic… However, I was pulled away quickly when Shidou spoke up.  Yeah…If all of… this hadn’t happened, what would Samurai Fantasy VII have been like? I felt sad. I had a feeling Uncle Keiji did too.   After a couple more minutes of walking, we reached our destination. It’s Samurai Fantasy VII!The gate looked like one from a European castle, but the towers that rose up behind it looked Japanese. It could have come across as cheesy and contrived, but I thought it was a nice touch. It’s just like the game… Really? Yeah.Meoshi had a sparkle in his eye as he looked up at the attraction. I guess Uncle Keiji’s hard work paid off… Yeah, that’s great, but check this out! Huh…?I turned to look-  Shidou pointed everyone towards the crudely-erected statue in front of the castle. It was just like the statue we’d seen in the plaza. How many of you think he’ll talk to us through the screen again? Show of hands? It does seem likely… Argh… I don’t want to do this! I want to go hoooooome!Just as Wakasa began to moan, Count Hogstein appeared on the screen.  Now you must enter Edo Palace to defeat the evil nurarihyon who controls the country of Edo! As you have already been informed, this quest will put your life in danger! Oink oink!His disgusting voice echoed through the open air. Uuuuhhh…Wakasa had covered his ears and shut his eyes tight. Just looking at him made me feel a little helpless and scared. (I volunteered for this. I have to face the consequences.)But Wakasa hadn’t had the choice. It was sad to see him in this state… Shidou gave me a small nod.  Urgh…He slowly stood back up, but his face was pale, and he looked ready to collapse at any moment. I had been trying to figure out something I could do to put him at ease, and opened my mouth once I’d put an idea together. Um… Maybe he should stay out here? I don’t remember there being a rule about all seven of us having to go into the attraction. Yeah. He’s just gonna get in our way if he keeps freaking out all the time. Agreed. He’ll only lower morale. Probably smart not to put all our eggs in one basket either. Then we’d only need, what, like one or two of us to actually go in there, right?Wakasa looked like he was starting to calm down, and the smile returned to his face.  Th-Then I’ll just-But before he could even finish his sentence, Hogstein’s voice rang out again.  Where’s the fun if it blows up and some of you aren’t in it? Besides, unless the seven of you work together, you’ll never be able to finish it… Ah…!There was something about what he’d said that triggered new feelings of apprehension. I glanced over at the others to see them staring silently at the screen.   Urgh… All right, I’m going.Hogstein nodded sanctimoniously. Now then, please follow my piglet here into the castle! Oink!The person in black turned to us and gestured.  Huh…? It seems like he’s trying to say something… I get the feeling he wants us to follow him.The piglet nodded earnestly. The little creep can’t talk? That doesn’t matter. Let’s move, men!Shidou strode off toward the castle without waiting for the rest of us to follow. I trotted along behind him, and the others slowly followed suit.  As we got close, the castle’s gates began to grind open. Over the noise of the gates, Shirabe turned to the piglet and asked a question. Hey, what’re we gonna have to do in there? It didn’t speak, just twitched around like a worm in a frying pan. I got no idea what the little bastard’s trying to say. You think all of ‘em are like this? I’m not sure…Was it possible Count Hogstein had forbidden them from talking…? Do all of you have watches?We all nodded, and each held up a watch or a cell phone-anything with the time on it. Look at the time. Right now it’s noon on the dot. And we’ve got seven hours left. Right. I need you all to be alert. Will do!After all, if we didn’t stay alert… in seven hours, we’d be dead. We walked through the gate, and up to the castle. Up close, the towers looked even taller. The piglet gestured for us to go in. Inside was a long hallway that looked like a set from a period movie. I could just see a room at the end of it. I suspect that is our destination. Yeah, I think you’re right.We moved down the hallway slowly and carefully, until we reached the door at the end and stepped into the room.
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Nov 29, 2015 20:55
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Sorry for the slow and kinda short replies recently: I'm nearing the end of my Master's program and school is determined to kick my butthole all the way to the end. I'll see if I can get an update out later this week though to start the first attraction, since it's gonna be several times the size of the last few updates!dotchan posted:I'm really not a fan of the difference in art style between the main character and the other characters. It's super immersion breaking. That's fair, and I can understand the argument, but I think having the expressions is better than not in this case, since all the other characters are pretty expressive and I thought having an equivalent for the MC would be important.
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Nov 29, 2015 20:58
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I bet our entire gang are closet nerds, why else would they go to a video game-themed park?
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Nov 29, 2015 21:10
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dotchan posted:I'm really not a fan of the difference in art style between the main character and the other characters. It's super immersion breaking. I love the main character art with all my main character heart. Do we *have* to save all the boys? Bedhead Katsuya here is just itchin' for a pig-themed Ambidex Betrayal.
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Nov 30, 2015 01:37
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Just chiming in to say that the main character art is also pretty good! It might clash with the game art a bit, but I think the expressions add a lot to the lp. I've previously tried to watch an LP of this game off youtube once. I made it a couple hours in before I gave up, since my reading pace was a lot faster than the pace the game ran (and the LPer's pace when selecting dialogue options). Looking forward to this, since what I saw looked pretty interesting otherwise. 
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Nov 30, 2015 01:48
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 My, this is certainly extravagant…Just like the outside of the castle, the interior was also an odd mix of east and west. This particular room seemed to have a stronger European influence. In the center was a statue of a creepy-looking animal. A… lion, maybe? There was a large device with several panels next to the statue. Each panel had a silhouette of a person on it. The doors to the left and right had chains bolted across them-obviously we weren’t going out that way any time soon. This room is creepy. I sure hope we’re not going to get locked in here or something…I should’ve known better than to open my big mouth then. …!No sooner were the words out of my mouth than the door swung shut behind us. Mitarashi walked back towards the door and gave it several strong tugs.  What are we going to do? We’re trapped, you guys…I’d meant it as a joke, but suddenly being trapped in the room with that statue didn’t seem so funny. Still, standing around worrying about it was only going to waste time. …If we want to get out of here, then we’re going to have to solve this puzzle.Every bit of time was precious. I started to look around the room…  Yeah, and then we’ll still be thinking carefully when this whole place goes boom!Mitarashi looked like he was ready to start a fight, so I spoke as quickly as I could to try and defuse the situation. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I won’t touch anything… …Hrm.I guess you don’t get to be a police detective without being methodical… (We do need to be cautious, but Mitarashi’s right too… If we don’t move quickly, we’re gonna be in bad shape.)I started moving around the room, examining things, and before long the others started to do the same. That statue and the panels next to it both seem pretty suspicious…I mumbled to myself and walked toward the statue. Then suddenly, I heard a mechanical voice begin to speak.  The room’s speakers crackled to life as the announcement played, and slowly died once it was finished. Huh. Think that was some kind of hint? A nue… Hm… What’s a nue? They probably mean that statue.He raised a hand to point at the thing in the center of the room. Oh… So a nue is an animal?I’d thought it was a lion or something at first, but as I looked closer I could see that wasn’t even close.  Whoa… That’s pretty cool. So why the hell’s it here?With all our eyes on the nue, something that looked sort of like smoke began to spill out of its mouth. [The music stops.]  What…? What the heck is this?! Get away from there!For the first time since we’d met, Shidou sounded worried as he yelled his command. His voice was slightly muffled by the handkerchief he’d suddenly pressed over his mouth and nose. The rest of us all clasped whatever we had to our own faces. O-Oh no… Is this poison gas…? I’m afraid it probably is.By now the stuff pouring out of its mouth was purple. Clearly it wasn’t ordinary smoke. Smoke would have risen up, but this was slowly spreading out over the floor.  Shirabe frowned, a rubbed a hand across his rough beard. Whatever happens, we can’t just start running around. There’s no place for this gas to go. If we move it too much, we might end up spreading it. Then what the hell are we gonna do…? We’re gonna die if it fills the room up! Don’t shout! We need to keep the air still! The calmer it is, the longer that gas stays on the floor. Guh…!It was obvious that Wakasa was not taking this well. I tried my best to say something encouraging in the hopes that he’d calm down a little. L-Let’s just calm down… We’ve still got plenty of time before the gas… um… We’ve got plenty of time!Not exactly the most encouraging thing I could have said, but it’s all I had.   Freakin’ out’s just gonna waste the air we got. Chill out. Ch-Chill out?! How are you so calm?! Wakasa, no-!He shot across the room to the door we’d come in through, and began to furiously twist the handle. It’s locked! Didn’t you hear what I said? We have to keep the air calm! He had gone into a state of total panic, frantically pulling on a door that clearly wasn’t going to open. Were you even listening, you little twerp?! He said we’re gonna run out of air if you do that! Wait!Everyone was getting unruly and things were getting out of hand quick. I needed to do something…! I gestured desperately to Mitarashi to calm down, and walked as slowly and carefully as I could over to Wakasa. Hey! Wakasa! Listen to me!We didn’t have any time to waste, but I couldn’t just leave him in a panic either. You have to calm down! We can get out of here! We just have to solve the puizzle! When had he…? As I was wondering how he’d moved so quietly, Shidou reached out to take a hold of Wakasa’s arm. …Guh… Really?Urabe spoke up. Look at the gas. It’s coming out very slowly. We have plenty of time left before it becomes dangerous. There is no need to be rash. Urgh…I saw his hand loosen and slide off the doorknob. [The music stops.] (Shidou was awfully… reassuring…)Then again, he was a police officer, and of all the people there, he seemed the most reliable. When he said things would be all right, you believed him. (And Urabe made a good point too.)Slowly and carefully, we made our way back to the statue. Once everyone had had time to breathe and calm their nerves, we turned our attention to the puzzle.  “Awaken to your destiny, and slay the demon nue. Fail to slay the nue, and die by its poision.” The latter part appears to be fairly straightforward. Perhaps we should concentrate on the line which says “awaken to your destiny”. Maybe, but we still don’t know squat about this room. We need to look around some more. Yeah… We don’t have a lot of time, so why don’t we split up? Ugh… Fine. How’re we gonna split up, then? Um, let me think… I guess since I brought up the idea, it was now my job to assign groups. I’m more interested in what’s going on with the statue than the panels, and I know a couple people here that seem to know about the nue. Myself, Shirabe, Mitarashi, and Urabe will check out the statue. Very well. Shall we…?I really didn’t want to get too close to a weird, poison-spewing statue, but it didn’t look like I had a choice. We were going to have to do it eventually, so I might as well get a look now. drat, this thing gets creepier every time I look at it. You said this was some sorta, like, mythological creature? Shirabe tapped his forehead with a finger as he spoke. You seem to know a lot about this stuff. In my line of work, you pick a few things up. Okay, that’s great and all, but I still don’t understand what the hell this thing’s doing here. Well, perhaps a closer examination will reveal more. Be careful of the gas. Right. Oh… What’s wrong? It looks like there’s a button here.I pointed to the base of the snake-tail. Found one on its belly, too. Is that so? Its leg appears to have one as well.All in all, there were five buttons. One each on the head, neck, leg, stomach, and tail. What do you think they are? Should we push one? No! Are you nuts? Mitarashi grumbled and turned pointedly back to looking at the buttons. I wonder if pushing one of these will stop the gas… Hm… All of us nodded and made our way back to the middle of the room. We met up again and began to exchange information. …All right, let’s go over everything: The panels are the seven adventurers from Samurai Fantasy VII. The only one that is lit in the monk. The five buttons on the nue are on the head, neck, leg, stomach, and tail. That’s everything, right?Everyone nodded.  Hm… (This is tough… What does “awaken to your destiny” mean?)As we thought, the soft hiss of gas filled the silence. (We have to do something, and soon, or…)I glanced down at the time. An hour had already passed. I could see everyone else was feeling the pressure too-all around the room were twitchy feet and bit lips.  Huh? W-Wait, stop!I tried to grab him, but he just shook me off. Stop!Shidou dashed forward to try and stop him, but Mitarashi hit the button on the statue’s leg before he could. Everyone froze… …Huh?!  Huh. Now that mage one’s lit. Yeah, it is! Ha! See? Just gotta go for it. What’re you all worried about anyway? Just… don’t do that again, all right? Hey! Back off, cop! You’re not the boss of me! Ah!Before anyone else could stop him, Mitarashi smacked the button on the nue’s stomach.  He grabbed the other man by the collar and shook him. No, stop!I tried to shove them apart, but as I did- A buzzer echoed through the room. Wh-What was that sound…?  The mage panel! It’s turned red! What? Gah! Th-There’s more gas coming out of its mouth! What?! Rrgh…!Mitarashi and Shidou leapt away from the statue, and I could see that gas was indeed pouring out of its mouth much faster now.  Jesus, I’m sorry! But hey, look at it this way, now we’ve got some idea of what’s going on with these buttons! Yes, I… suppose so, but still! You need to learn to exercise a little restraint.While the two of them fought over the recent predicament, someone else in the group seemed to have reached a revelation. …Meoshi quietly raised his hand. Did you notice something? Well… not so much notice as… remember, I guess. What did you remember, then? A trick? It’s weak versus arrows, but you can’t hit it with an arrow unless you, uh, set up the attack first. First the monk hits the legs with a special attack. That stops it. Then your mage hits the tail, which keeps it from casting spells. Finally, you use the hunter to attack with his bow… Monk, mage, hunter… There’s a panel for each one on here, right?  And now the mage one is lit up! Ah, so when the stomach button was pushed incorrectly, the panel turned red. Probably… So, next up would be… Shirabe turned to me as he let his sentence trail off. It seemed like he was testing me to make sure I was keeping up. I appreciate the idea, but I’m not that forgetful. The tail should be next. Right you are, missy. Even the best headline means squat if it’s not carrying the heavy weight of the truth. Use your noggin and the truth’s your friend. I think you may have a bit of promise. [Certain choices throughout the game will allow us to gain relationship points with different characters, which decides who we’ll romance in the second half of the game. Most of these choices involve one-on-one interaction with another character, like this. When you make a good choice, it’s noted with a handy heart bomb, so from now on, I’ll just drop a bomb in like so if we get a relationship point.]  Shirabe: +1 (Okay, sounds like the tail is probably right.) Very well, I shall push the button. The tail, correct?Everyone nodded, and Urabe hit the button. When Urabe pushed the button on the statue’s tail, a small chime sounded.  Ah ha! The red light on the mage’s panel has turned off.When the mage panel turned off, the hunter panel had lit up. It’s on the hunter now! You were right, Meoshi! He let out a long, shaky sigh of relief. Although he was still visibly nervous, Wakasa seemed to be a lot calmer than he was before. (Yeah, we’ve only got one button left, but… which one?)Meoshi had said the hunter attacked last, but he hadn’t said where. (Well, we’ve already attacked the leg and the tail, so that leaves us with three options…)It didn’t take long for the others to come to the same conclusion, of course.  You, Meoshi. Where does the hunter attack this thing?Meoshi shook his head slowly. Sorry… I don’t remember. What?! You’ve gotta be kidding me! Don’t be too hard on him. Who’s going to remember every single detail of a big game like that? *Sigh* So we’ve just gotta guess? Uh oh… If we get it wrong, the gas is gonna fill up the room, right?If Meoshi couldn’t remember, though, there wasn’t a whole lot we could do. Then suddenly, Shirabe spoke up.  He was mumbling to himself and tapping his forehead with his fingers. (Is this some sort of nervous habit? He was doing it before, too…) In the Tale of Heike, Minamoto-no-Yorisama killed the nue with a bow passed down to him by Minamoto-no-Yorimitsu. That’s probably where the game got it… In “Minamoto’s Slaying of the Nue” and Yoshitoshi’s “New Forms of 36 Monsters”, the nue is shot in the neck! Okay. So the button on the neck is the one we should press next? (Wow, Shirabe sure knows a lot of stuff!) Very well, I shall push the button on the neck.As he spoke, Urabe leaned over and pressed the button. “One puzzle down!” I thought. But… A buzzer echoed through the room. What?!  The gas was also coming out of the nue’s mouth faster than before. Damnit! What did we do wrong?! That should have worked!None of us had the answer. (It should have worked…) (Shidou is right, so what happened? Something’s off…)I couldn’t shake the feeling that we’d missed some important part of the puzzle. I ran over the announcement we’d heard earlier over and over in my head. (What am I missing from that announcement…?)  [The “Explosive☆Insight” system helps you solve problems with the power of your mind.] [Pick the words and phrases that stand out by setting bombs on up to three of them.] [If one of your choices was the right one, then a flash of inspiration will bring you the solution to your conundrum!]  [Welcome to the next portion of the game, the Explosive☆Insight! Occasionally during puzzle sections, Saki will be forced to deduce a conclusion about a tough predicament. During these parts, Saki will think over the situation, and certain phrases and words will be colored differently (underlined in the transcription), which note possible important details. We must choose three of them, in the hopes of finding the one that will lead to the solution. It’s generally not a particularly difficult puzzle, but I think it’s a nice way to inject some action and gameplay into the story.] (I think the announcement said, “Awaken to your destiny, and slay the demon nue. Fail to slay the nue, and die by its poision”…) (Everything after “fail to slay” is pretty straightforward, so we decided to focus on “awaken to your destiny”…) (We split up and examined the statue and the panels.) (To “slay the nue” we figured out we would need to follow specific steps. We got the monk and the mage right, which left us with the hunter.) (Thanks to Shirabe we knew we need to attack the neck, but when Urabe pushed the button it didn’t work.) (At this rate we are going to “die by its poison”!) (So what is it that we haven’t figured out yet?)     Could that be the hint we need? Of course! We were so caught up in thinking about the game, we forgot the announcement. It was very insightful of you to notice that. Well, if you “awaken” to your destiny, then that means you figure out what it is, right? (I think this is it! We’re finally gonna beat this puzzle!) Uh… I just thought of something… Well, spit it out, Wakasa. You said that in that Samurai Fantasy game you have a party of seven people, right? Yeah.  You’re right! Count Hogstein did call us heroes… Maybe each of these panels represents one of us! Of course! To awaken to our “destiny”, we have to determine which panel corresponds to which person! That has to be it! So if Mitarashi and Urabe pushed the buttons earlier… Then they have to be the monk and the mage, right? Hm… Perhaps because of how we look? Huh? What do you mean? I believe we must take into account our personalities and appearance, instead of simply looking at our actual careers.He was right. Mitarashi certainly seemed like a martial monk, and Urabe clearly looked like someone who used magic. It was so great seeing everyone excited and working together to figure this out; the whole room suddenly felt full of energy. Then who’s the hunter? C’mon, obviously it’s this guy. Well, you’re a cop, right? That means you got a piece.He grinned, making a gun with his hand, and pretended to fire it. Oh… Well, if that’s the case… All right. Huh? Wait, that was a joke. Wh-What?Before anyone could stop him, Shidou reached over and pressed the button on the neck. Everyone gasped- Ah!The flow of gas from the nue’s mouth suddenly stopped. Look! The statue’s moving! It slid to the side, revealing a staircase leading to a lower floor. As it did, a chime sounded and the hunter panel turned green. All the gas is getting sucked out through the ventilation.He was right-I could see the thick fog quickly vanishing into vents on the walls. (It looks like we’ve beaten the first part of this game…)I let out a sigh of relief. It took only a few moments for all the gas to disappear.  I felt the entire room relax. Hm…Everyone, that is, except for Shidou. He was busy frowning at the nue. Is something wrong? So this is just going to keep going… Well, this is the first stage of the first area. We’ve got a long ways to go. All of the attractions have likely been modified to make them lethal, like this one. Ah… That must be why the crafty little devil said we’d be responsible for any danger we got into. That just means that if we want to get through this we’ll have to be like the adventurers in the game and work together.They all nodded. Just then, a short tune played over the room’s speakers, followed by an announcement.   A reward…?Before we had time to ponder what it meant, the base of the statue popped open.  I ran up to it and looked inside to find a chest that looked exactly like one you might find in a video game. There’s a scroll…He pulled it out of the chest and showed us. This looks like a map of this attraction… See, here’s the room we’re in… Then there are two more rooms with puzzles in them.I turned to see him glancing down over my shoulder at the map. There were indeed two more rooms. The “Corridor of Hate” and the “Room of the Supreme Ruler”… Then we’ve still got five left, chum. We’d better get moving then, don’t you think? Right… *Sigh* I’m not gonna live through this, am I? I just wanna go home…We headed downstairs, toward the Corridor of Hate…
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Dec 6, 2015 19:30
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Corridor of Hate is my favorite Napalm Death album. (Room of the Supreme Ruler has way too much U-God on it but it's not like I had high expectations, latter day Wu Tang is a pretty mixed bag.)
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Dec 6, 2015 21:17
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Haha Saki's ahoge acts as a fuse 
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Dec 6, 2015 21:34
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I really hope that
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Dec 6, 2015 21:44
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 When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we found ourselves in a long stone hallway. It was dark and gloomy, but there were torches mounted along the walls casting enough light to see by. This place is scary… …He was right. The darkness would have been bad enough, but there were also a bunch of what looked like demon heads on the walls. I moved a little closer to one of the heads, and noticed a set of panels. These are just like the ones we saw a bit ago… Huh? What’s it look like?Mitarashi pushed forward toward the panel- Whoa! Gah!And then immediately pushed away, taking me with him. Something flew out of the left-hand wall at an incredible speed. Mitarashi only barely managed to jump out of the way in time.  Sure enough, there was now an arrow embedded in the opposite wall. drat, that was close! A second later and I’d have been a shish kebab…Shirabe, unafraid, stepped forward and examined the arrow now plunged into the wall. Have a look at this arrow. Too think for a bow, don’t you think? This is a crossbow quarrel. If you want to die that’s your business, but I’d appreciate it if you could-just every now and then-look before you leap. Urgh…He frowned and grumbled at Shidou under his breath, but I could see beads of sweat on his forehead. (That must have been scary, even if he won’t admit it…)If nothing else, the arrow sticking out of the wall was now a powerful reminder that we needed to be careful. Especially since this room seemed a lot more dangerous than the previous one.  Looks that way. Walk in front of one of those faces and you end up with a fancy new hole or two.Shirabe’s shoulders slumped with exhaustion as he finished, and Wakasa looked too shocked to speak.  Then the voice was quiet. Oh, thanks! Would have been nice to know I needed to “proceed with care” before I just about got skewered!It was true that if the announcement had come on earlier he wouldn’t have been in danger, but if he hadn’t been in such a hurry in the first place… Now what in the furious hell do they mean by “give ear to the song of the demons”? And what’s that “purification” nonsense about…Shirabe scratched at his beard and worked the candy around in his mouth. Perhaps it would be best to take these questions one at a time. Shall we start with “give ear to the song of the demons”? …And that’s all we really know. We need more information, people. Facts. Verifiable facts.Shirabe edged toward the nearest head. Very very carefully, he began to examine it.  Do you see anything? Yes I do. This fella’s got a little light on his forehead. I figure it’s some sort of sensor. Let me see… Oh yeah. I see what you’re talking about. Ah!I jumped as he waved his hand in front of the demon’s nose, but no arrow came out. Relax. See? Long as you don’t trip the sensor, no arrow. Easy. You scared me…He sighed, and told everyone to step back. He waved his hand over the demon’s face again, this time in front of the sensor. Aie!Just like before, an arrow shot out of the demon’s mouth with blinding speed. It was still startling to see something so dangerous just fly out in front of me, but at least now we knew the trigger for the trap. And there you have it. Is your hand all right? Nothing to worry about, little lady. Pulled my hand away at the last second. Indeed…We all sighed. (There’s no way we can just… run past them or something.) (That means there’s got to be a way we can disable the arrows.)I was still mulling over it in my head when Wakasa suddenly spoke up. Did that… What is it? Mitarashi rolled his eyes. No one’s gonna blame you! Not like any of us know what the hell’s going on! Just spit it out, kid!He started to move toward Wakasa. (Hmm… I do want to know what he noticed…) Right now we had nothing to work off of, so any sort of lead would help us out right now. (Mitarashi is being way too pushy, but we do need all the information we can get…) You need to tell us what you noticed. It might be the hint we need to figure all this out! Wakasa: +1 Why the heck are you being so secretive anyway?Well, at least I’d gotten him to talk. …I thought I heard something from the demon’s mouth. It was really faint, like a sort of… stretching noise. …Stretching…?Wakasa was still mumbling and thinking to himself when Shidou suddenly raised his head. “Give ear to the song of the demons”… Can you still hear it?He shook his head and frowned. So once the arrow fires, you can hear the noise for a little while and then it stops? Maybe, but… I could have just been imagining it. I mean, the rest of you couldn’t hear it, right? We may not have, but there is an easy way to determine the truth. Perhaps we should fire another arrow? Okay. A-Are you sure I should do it, though…? You may be the only one of us who can hear it. …All right. Good. I’ll trigger the sensor. You sure? Are you gonna be okay? I just watched Shirabe do it. As long as I’m careful, I’ll be fine.I stepped up to the demon’s face, glanced nervously around, and then waved my hand over the sensor. Just like before, an arrow shot out and embedded itself in the wall.  His hand shot up. Then, before I could even react, Shidou stepped in front of me and waved his hand in front of the sensor. …?What had he done that for? I was still wondering when Wakasa lowered his hand. What was that? Oh! Yeah, you’re right! Ah, how clever. I see now… So the noise Wakasa heard was the trap reloading. Hm… Yes. My best guess is that it takes approximately five seconds. So, for about five seconds after an arrow is fired, the trap can’t fire because it’s reloading.Finally, we’d figured out one part of the announcement: “Give ear to the song of the demons”. I couldn’t hear anything, though. You must have really good ears! Now we just need our bard to do his little performance one more time. Yes, I agree.They were right, the bard panel was lit up. But… who’s the bard? That would be you, Towa Wakasa. What? Me? Yes, you. You know what a bard is, right? Men of a proud tradition who sang, danced, and told stories to amuse and entertain everyone from peasant to monarch. …Okay. I just need to do what you guys did, right?He glanced at me and swallowed. For a moment, I was worried he was going to say he was too scared to do it. (Maybe now that I’ve done it, he’s too embarrassed to say he was too scared to do something a girl could…)Wakasa said nothing, just turned back around and slowly approached the demon head. He waved his hand in front of the sensor…  Oh, look, the bard panel turned off. Then it appears we were correct in guessing that Wakasa was our bard. Now the… ninja panel appears to be lit. A ninja, huh. Well, we know it’s safe for about five seconds after the trap fires, but… In theory someone could trigger the arrows as they ran, using the five-second intervals to move past each head, but the coordination required would be… One slip-up and they’d be toast.Everyone was silent. Then, finally, Shirabe spoke.  Ain’t no way it’s me or her, so that leaves you, pal.Meoshi’s mouth tightened slightly, but he began to walk toward the demon heads. Meoshi…? This is essentially a rhythm game. I’ve played plenty before. My reflexes are pretty close to S-rank. What?! H-Hold on a second! Let’s not rush into anything! She is correct. The poisonous gas afforded us some margin for error. A crossbow through the abdomen affords somewhat less. …Meoshi stopped, his brows knit. (What are we going to do now?) Is the “light that shines in the darkness” supposed to refer to these torches? Or maybe the sensors in the demons… No idea.We all shook our heads in silence.  Like before, we had no sort of lead for this section, besides Meoshi’s seeming confidence in his reflexes. We could sit here for the rest of the time limit and probably not figure out a trick to the puzzle. I don’t think we have much of a choice… I think we’re going to have to trust Meoshi.I didn’t like it, but there was nothing else we could do. We were out of options. …All right. Meoshi: +1He looked me in the eye and nodded, then turned and headed down the hallway. Oh no… I can’t watch…Wakasa covered his face with his hands and turned away. Everyone else watched Meoshi go, but none of us felt good about it.  …Here goes.He took a deep breath, moved into a crouch, and leapt forward.  Wow!He quickly established a rhythm, touching a sensor, waiting for a split second for the arrow to fire, and then moving past to the next one. Watching him was almost a mesmerizing experience as he carefully and methodically made his way past each trap. drat… Look at that kid go… He’s like a real ninja…Even Wakasa had lowered his hands to watch in amazement.  This went on for another minute or two, all of us nervously awaiting some sort of signal from Meoshi that he had made it to the end of the hallway. Eventually, a noise crackled over the speakers. Oh!A familiar chime echoed down the dark corridor. It looks like he made it. Then, suddenly, the hallway exploded with light. Aaaah! Whoa, that’s bright! Guh!I threw up an arm to shield my eyes from the sudden light. As my eyes adjusted I looked up. I hadn’t noticed them before, but there were florescent lights all along the hallway’s ceiling.  Good job! That was amazing!I grinned and returned the thumbs-up. (He really is a ninja! There’s no way I could move like that.)He sure hadn’t looked very athletic, but the way he’d moved… We were all pulled away from Meoshi’s amazing feat as Urabe spoke up next to us. It would appear the sensors no longer… sense.As he spoke, we waved one of his hands in front of a demonic face. Nothing happened.  He gestured toward a spot on the wall. It looked like the switch had turned on the lights when it turned off the demons. So this is what it meant by “purified by the light that shines in the darkness”… I’ll be damned.He wiped sweat from his brow as he spoke, and gave a wavering sort of grin. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and headed down the hall toward Meoshi.   Ow! …D-Don’t hit me…Mitarashi ignored him and gave Meoshi another hearty slap on the back.  You really saved our bacon, kid. Yes, well done. Thanks. That was quite a predicament… Thanks! Yeah, really, you were amazing! He looked down at the floor as he spoke, his cheeks turning a bright shade of red. I looked like Meoshi didn’t take compliments very well. We’ve only got one more puzzle left. Oh man… Why can’t we be done already? I don’t think I’m gonna make it… Yeah, there’s still another puzzle, but we got this far, didn’t we? That’s two puzzles! What’s one more? Must be nice having such an optimistic attitude. I get that a lot.Wakasa gave me a look, but before he could speak- A congratulatory fanfare played over the speakers, signaling the end of another puzzle. Whoa! That’s the same sound we heard when we cleared the Room of the Guardian!The fanfare was quickly followed by an announcement.  There was a loud “clank” from the end of the corridor, like a lock opening. I let out a sigh of relief. (Only one more puzzle, and then today’s attraction is over!)
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Dec 13, 2015 00:05
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There was quite a bit of support for Meoshi early on in the thread; I hope his first time to shine in the plot has lived up to the expectations you may have had for him. We'll be taking a vote on which boy to pursue at the end of this attraction (which should be up by next week or so), so it's time to start picking favorites!
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Dec 13, 2015 00:08
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ChorpSaway posted:
Our hair is a bomb you popped collar fuckboy, don't act like you know us. Pocky eating motherfucker. Your neck is like a foot long. I hate you.
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Dec 13, 2015 01:26
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Meoshi is the best boy. This is only Stage 1 in the Lonely God of Battle's true power.
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Dec 13, 2015 01:42
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Meoshi is stealing my gamer boy heart 
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Dec 13, 2015 02:05
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I am perfectly fine with the idea of undertaking a romance with modern day rhythm ninja.
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Dec 13, 2015 02:15
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| # ? May 7, 2024 06:05 |
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Let's bully Meoshi with compliments and get him flustered.
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Dec 13, 2015 02:32
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