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Stabbey_the_Clown
Sep 21, 2002

Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?
Taco Defender

Erpy posted:

It's possible Crossbell's attention was on the trade conference (and resulting chaos) within its own borders. They could be forgiven for thinking that the few days of the trade conference were the only time they didn't risk being blown up, seeing that the Erebonian head of state was actually there.

When I said that Crossbell probably would have people watching, I meant they'd probably have people watching the guns 24-7 in shifts. A boring, but necessary job.


quote:

I don't recall the current board having only been around for a year. Do you remember where that was said?

Hmmm... Well, Machias's father says the position was offered to him, the implication was recently. Maybe I'm just misinterpreting things.


quote:

Maybe it's kinda like protection money. Both Erebonia and Calvard claim Crossbell as one of their own provinces, which would mean they'd pay taxes just like any other region and refusing to pay taxes would invite retaliation from the snubbed government, which in turn would invite retaliation from the other government for invasion of what it considers its own territory. Maybe Crossbell figured that whoever won the war between Erebonia and Calvard, they'd be the losers since they'd be right in the middle of it, so they've been paying off both countries in an attempt to avoid a war that'd leave their state in shambles. Well, until now at least...

Ah, I guess.

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Logicblade
Aug 13, 2014

Festival with your real* little sister!
Crossbell has gates right on the borders of Erebonia and Calvard, named the Bellguard and Tangram Gates respectively. They also pay taxes to both Erebonia and Calvard, and both countries tend to treat Crossbell as a subservient state, and collect taxes from them (I believe it's 10% each or something crazy like that). There are also other military, political and economic restrictions, but that's better saved for the Crossbell games themselves.

Lord Koth
Jan 8, 2012

Erpy posted:


Maybe it's kinda like protection money. Both Erebonia and Calvard claim Crossbell as one of their own provinces, which would mean they'd pay taxes just like any other region and refusing to pay taxes would invite retaliation from the snubbed government, which in turn would invite retaliation from the other government for invasion of what it considers its own territory. Maybe Crossbell figured that whoever won the war between Erebonia and Calvard, they'd be the losers since they'd be right in the middle of it, so they've been paying off both countries in an attempt to avoid a war that'd leave their state in shambles. Well, until now at least...

It's more that the area known as Crossbell State was created as a compromise between Erebonia and Calvard to begin with, in order to stop fighting repeated conflicts over who gets to control that relatively strategic area. As such, the agreement basically set it as a special economic zone belonging to both of them, and thus was worded such that it pays taxes to both countries. Both countries still covet having complete control of it of course, but the current situation is a tolerable, if mildly unstable, compromise.

The independence movement is regarded as a complete joke because there's no practical way it can do so without both neighboring countries agreeing - and as even the shared control is lucrative for both of them, why the hell would they agree to that? Additionally, Crossbell is sitting on completely indefensible terrain (both mountainous chokepoints are controlled by Erebonia/Calvard) and possesses no military, just a small, and somewhat unofficial, self defense force.

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"
Episode 120: Will You Spar With Me?
No commentary

There are some factual errors in this video and I missed something important, which I'll post as a bonus video tomorrow.

Some Numbers fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Nov 13, 2017

Stabbey_the_Clown
Sep 21, 2002

Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?
Taco Defender
- Oh bugger, did I miss the cat in the library on the after homeroom evening? I think I did.
- UG: "Lets objectify our female students". Actually, (minor spoiler for a little later) this DOES come up, and the girls reactions is an emphatic "no way".
- They can't do a talent show: Jusis wouldn't have anything to do. EDIT: Beaten to the gag.
- Hmmm... "Progressive Chaos"? Interesting title.

- Huh, before this, I would have guessed Angelica would use a 2H Axe, as that would be one of the least ladylike possible moves, but using fists is not far behind.
- The post-battle dialogue with Angelica takes on a whole new meaning if you Unscathed it like I did the first time (50% evade). "I felt plenty of skill and training in every punch you landed" (None.) :allears:
- Her trainer was Kilika, wasn't it.
- I repeatedly replayed the fight with Angelica trying to get her to use her S-Craft. I had no luck until I started trying to record the fight, after which she started using it on her second turn (it does almost 8000 damage, and dying leads to a game over, so yes you can indeed lose after taking one action.
- It's not a full game over, there's a retry/continue. But all that fighting gave me an inspiration for what Class VII could do: A combat exhibition featuring the ARCUS. They've got enough people for a tournament of teams, and they have a variety of combat styles available. That would really show off the uniqueness of Class VII.
- The Wrath quartz is fantastic for the way I've built Rean with high-evasion, he gets a lot of counter attacks.

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"

Stabbey_the_Clown posted:

They can't do a talent show: Jusis wouldn't have anything to do. EDIT: Beaten to the gag.
I love that this running gag keeps going. :allears:

quote:

Her trainer was Kilika, wasn't it.
Certainly heavily implied, but not outright said.

quote:

The Wrath quartz is fantastic for the way I've built Rean with high-evasion, he gets a lot of counter attacks.
High evade is how I've always built Fie/Gaius due to their Wind locks, so Wrath is a natural addition to their setups.

It's also something that arguably gets buffed in CS2.

Erpy
Jan 30, 2015
(insert title here)

Some Numbers posted:

Certainly heavily implied, but not outright said.

In the marketing campaign for Cold Steel III, Word of God actually confirmed this.

While Angelica's fighting style is namedropped after the battle, people who were familiar with the other Taito practitioners' moveset might have guessed so already from the fight alone.

(Trails in the Sky SC and 3rd spoilers)

- Angelica's "Laser Bullet" craft where she launches an energy wave by kicking is a lite-version of the same move that Walter uses when you fight him. Walter's version is a more advanced one as he kicks twice and launches two waves, but it's the same principle. (though Angelica's version delays you while Walter's lowered your strength)
- Angelica's "Zero Impact" punch is almost an exact copy of the same move Walter and Kilika use, down to the force blowing the target across the battlefield, except Walter's lowers your strength instead of inflicting faint.
- Angelica's "Dragon Boost" is an exact copy of Zin's Distend buff. The fact that it "only" raises her strength and defense by 50% instead of 60% is probably simply due to the fact buffs only appear in increments of 25% in CS1 and 2.
- Angelica's "Dragon Kick" S-craft bears more than a little resemblence to Kilika's "Dual Dragon Helix" S-craft. In both cases, the martial artist jumps high into the air and blasts the target with a purplish dragon-shaped aura from above, except Kilika uses her chakrams instead of her feet.

Erpy fucked around with this message at 11:22 on Nov 14, 2017

Alard
Sep 4, 2011

Erpy posted:

In the marketing campaign for Cold Steel III, Word of God actually confirmed this.



Which probably shouldn't be mentioned here.

SC Stuff
It's not like there really is anyone else it could be other than Kilika. Partly because the Taito backstory from SC doesn't really leave any room for new masters to be added to the mix of Zin, Walter, and Kilika.

Alard fucked around with this message at 11:46 on Nov 14, 2017

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"
We have another Task for a student and then 8 Bonding Events!

Episode 121: Water Isn't Normally Flammable
No commentary

Next time, we'll do the Old Schoolhouse.

Erpy
Jan 30, 2015
(insert title here)
- Girls desiring to learn how to cook in order to appear more feminine isn't just a Japanese trope, but girls sharing their bento box with a boy most certainly is, as is the subtext of that action.

- After Rean's earlier bonding event with Emma where he got distracted by her chest, him being secretly envious of Fie being smothered in Edel's double D's is all the proof we need; after that incident in the old schoolhouse, he secretly developed a taste for marshmellow hell.

- Fie actually did give Millium one of her plants, it just wasn't shown. If you visit Sara's or Beatrix's desk or Alisa's, Laura's, Emma's, Rean's or Millium's dorm room after this bonding event, those plants will still be there and they remain there for the rest of the game. (and no, they weren't there before) It's a nice little detail.

- The piece of art from Gaius' painting is actually included in the artbook that came with the limited edition of the console version.

(hi-res version)

- And Rean's right, they ARE in it. At least, he, Gaius and Alisa are. Also, if that piece was literally what Gaius was painting, he must have prophetic powers because that thing near the moon didn't appear in Chapter 3. :P

- And yeah, gratin and risotto are made out of different ingredients, but Mint is too awesome for silly stuff like the laws of nature to apply. In fact, Mint probably tops the list of people in Zemuria most prone to inventing the atomic bomb completely by accident.

Erpy fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Nov 17, 2017

Stabbey_the_Clown
Sep 21, 2002

Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?
Taco Defender
- I repeatedly replayed the fight with Angelica trying to get her to use her S-Craft, no luck. But all that fighting gave me an inspiration for what Class VII could do: A combat exhibition featuring the ARCUS. They've got enough people for a tournament of teams, and they have a variety of combat styles available. That would really show off the uniqueness of Class VII, wouldn't it?

- I misinterpreted what Mint wanted and was worried that I had no Warm Egg Soups, so I took a trip into the old schoolhouse just to make some. It turns out Mint is looking for the second-highest quality things, which means Rean can make them with the Effort Quartz.
- It also turns out you need to have the HP values add up to a certain amount (8000+) to get the full +2 bonus AP. If she makes the Omega version and you get 100 CP, that's the best one.
- I know you're color-blind, but I would say that the Unique ones are gold, not greenish-yellow.

- Ooh, spooky music for Emma's magic trick. She's going to light it with her mind.
- Yeah, I kinda concur with Ewie. It's not so much Emma that is annoying, it's thattyhe game has been teasing us for 3 chapters about how mysterious she is and not paying it off.
- I suppose that it is at least something that Emma is willing to open up a little. That does improve my opinion of her slightly. But I guess that's all for the Emma Show; see you in CS 2, I guess.
- Oh, Laura wants to learn how to cook. Cool.
- Hah, she wields a huge sword like it's nothing, but cuts herself with a short blade?
- Well at least Ewie could identify SOME of what that lunch was supposed to be, I just had no idea.
- Sara is remembering a fallen comrade? Hmm. Not enough information to be worth pondering further.
- Woah there, Mrs. Robinson.
- Machias has learned to not be such a dick!
- Eh, Rean decided to be a teenage boy for a moment. Not all that high on the "creepy" scale.
- So for Fie's bonding event, Alisa left lacrosse, changed, went to the dorms, then right back across the whole town and campus to do it again - and she'll have to do that again if you take her into the old schoolhouse!
- Ewie is wrong. All the women of Class VII get one of Fie's flowers (even Sharon). You can actually see Fie's flowers in the rooms. Rean is the only boy to get one. But then, he did help with them between 1-3 times (at the very least this time, carrying them around). But they do symbolize familial love, so that rules out Machais and Jusis right away :v:
- You can actually see Fie's flowers in the rooms.
- Gaius's painting is really nice, even half-finished.
- Hmmm... it seems that by design, if you do all the bonding events you should get enough to reach level 5 with everyone (except the new guys) after Day 6's bonding events. (Of course, I had reached L5 with Alisa during last chapter's Old Schoolhouse, and after Chapter 5's field study with Laura, Jusis and Emma.)

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"

Stabbey_the_Clown posted:

Hmmm... it seems that by design, if you do all the bonding events you should get enough to reach level 5 with everyone (except the new guys) after Day 6's bonding events. (Of course, I had reached L5 with Alisa during last chapter's Old Schoolhouse, and after Chapter 5's field study with Laura, Jusis and Emma.)

If you focus on a specific character, it's pretty easy to get them to level 5 by this point. You could even get multiple characters up to level 5 without max Bonding Points.

Mraagvpeine
Nov 4, 2014

I won this avatar on a technicality this thick.
I think the reddish part in the rice is a pickled plum (umboshi?). And how many people have not reached level 5 yet?

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"

Mraagvpeine posted:

And how many people have not reached level 5 yet?

Pre-OSH, Alisa, Crow and Millium.

Post-OSH, Crow and Millium and they won't be getting there. I don't think.

Mraagvpeine
Nov 4, 2014

I won this avatar on a technicality this thick.
I see. And I assume Sara won't be joining them in the OSH?

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"

Mraagvpeine posted:

I see. And I assume Sara won't be joining them in the OSH?

Sara's not part of Class VII, she just joined for Garrelia Fortress.

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"
Sorry for not getting this episode up yesterday, Globe was in town and we binge watched The Punisher on Netflix.

Anyway, back to the Old Schoolhouse!

Episode 122: The Orion Factor
No commentary

Stabbey_the_Clown
Sep 21, 2002

Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?
Taco Defender
- The light on the panel is an ominous pink.
- The shaft looks to go deeper beyond floor 6.
- I didn't notice until now, but once the elevator reaches the floor, little panels slide out from the sides into the little notches in the shaft to lock the elevator in place. Nice detail.
- Doing things that way is certainly very fast, and the game is much more about interesting story than challenging combat, and we've already seen this dungeon like 7 times already, so it's probably for the best to just get F6 over with as fast as possible. That said, the exact same tactic all dungeon is not very interesting. But on balance it's probably a better decision for the LP.
- Those skull things can actually be surprisingly nasty if you let them get turns, they have a craft which induces Confuse, and another one which inflicts nightmare in an AoE, and if you don't have anyone immune to that, and also if you don't really care and ignore using healing items to cure it, you can be rendered helpless while the skulls cast the Shadow Blade art (kinda like Shadow Spear but a sword). But really, if you let them attack it's your own fault. The floor isn't all that challenging.

- What the heck was with the F6 boss? It was a total snoozefest, and I took a team which except for Rean and Jusis, were all in Group B and so not overlevelled. And yet the reaction at the end was that the boss was tough. Did the game swap the floor 5 and 6 bosses at some point in development?

- Trivia: I was curious about the variations on kneeling down to pet Celine in the post-dungeon scene, so I did a few tests. If you have Millium, Alisa, or Elliot in the group, they will kneel down to try and pet Celine, with priority going in that order. If Fie is in the group, she mentions seeing Celine around with Emma a lot, almost like they were having a conversation. If Emma is there as well as Fie she gets startled and flustered. If Fie is not there, Rean defaults to Celine expert. Interestingly, Emma doesn't actually add much to the scene unless Fie is also there.

Erpy
Jan 30, 2015
(insert title here)
If you bring Emma and Fie to this dungeon and the party runs into Celine on the way back out, Fie is Fie (saying that she saw Emma actually having a discussion with the cat) and Emma is Emma. (being like: "You saw that??? Uh...ahaha, I'm definitely NOT talking to cats. Must have been your imagination.)

Edit: Ninja-ed

Heavenly Gift doesn't affect Alisa herself because a self-sustaining craft would be nuts even for this game, but Alisa conveniently has fire slots (for Impassion) and a space slot (for Shining) so she can also cover herself. Heavenly Gift is one of the best crafts in the game since it instantly turns the rest of your team into craft-spamming dodge tanks.

And the Juggler MQ is definitely not "cool but not great". Once you level it up and equip it on Machias (he's the best user of it due to his AOE attacks) it's like loading Malboro's into his shotgun. At level 4, it has 60% chance of inflicting ailments and at level 5, that becomes 90% + 50% chance of inflicting nightmare. It can also land multiple ailments, so AOE attacks with this MQ seriously mess stuff up.

Level 6 of the old schoolhouse is probably the best area in the game to level, both for MQ and for characters because of the large groups of monsters and the ability to rack up large multiplier if you bust them all down with a domination-powered S-craft on the first round. (monsters in the final dungeon are higher level, but don't come in large groups and take longer to kill, so it's much less efficient) Once you get the a later Master Quartz leveled up, it's also the best area for farming U-materials.

Also "why use arts when you have crafts?": because there are still certain things you either can't do with crafts or are better achieved with arts. Buffing arts are useful when Jusis isn't around, Impassion is useful in order to keep Alisa's CP up, as is Shining and there's no way to put Craft Guard on your party without arts. (which the quartz that triggered that remark gives you access to)

Stabbey_the_Clown posted:

- The shaft looks to go deeper beyond floor 6.

Well, it's not like anything in this series ends at 6. :)

It might not be a coincidence that the way the buttons on the panel are arranged bears a slight resemblence to this. (Trails 3rd spoiler)

Erpy fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Nov 21, 2017

Stabbey_the_Clown
Sep 21, 2002

Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?
Taco Defender

Erpy posted:

Heavenly Gift doesn't affect Alisa herself because a self-sustaining craft would be nuts even for this game, but Alisa conveniently has fire slots (for Impassion) and a space slot (for Shining) so she can also cover herself. Heavenly Gift is one of the best crafts in the game since it instantly turns the rest of your team into craft-spamming dodge tanks.

Shining actually comes with her Angel MQ Rank 4, so if you still have that on her, you can use that space slot for something else. I had liked to put Ingenuity onto her for EP recovery, although I suppose that's now irrelevant because of Megalith. I also like using the Impassion which comes from Rean's Force, rather than spending a quartz slot on someone else.

quote:

And the Juggler MQ is definitely not "cool but not great". Once you level it up and equip it on Machias (he's the best user of it due to his AOE attacks) it's like loading Malboro's into his shotgun. At level 4, it has 60% chance of inflicting ailments and at level 5, that becomes 90% + 50% chance of inflicting nightmare. It can also land multiple ailments, so AOE attacks with this MQ seriously mess stuff up.

Oh, interesting. I'll slot that onto Machias for the field study, and Fie can borrow Iron long enough to get it up to Rank 5 (not long). Rean can level up Mobius.

BearDrivingTruck
Oct 15, 2011

You see the most shocking sights sometimes

Stabbey_the_Clown posted:


Oh, interesting. I'll slot that onto Machias for the field study, and Fie can borrow Iron long enough to get it up to Rank 5 (not long). Rean can level up Mobius.

There's a regular Mirage quartz called Chaos later on (can't remember where) that gives +13 to STR and increases the duration of status effects the user inflicts by two turns. It, like Ingenuity for Emma, is almost tailor-made for Machias' one Mirage lock.

E: so basically, slap Juggler, Chaos, and any three of the four Chinese beast quartz onto Machias and let him shoot things.

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"

Erpy posted:

And the Juggler MQ is definitely not "cool but not great". Once you level it up and equip it on Machias (he's the best user of it due to his AOE attacks) it's like loading Malboro's into his shotgun. At level 4, it has 60% chance of inflicting ailments and at level 5, that becomes 90% + 50% chance of inflicting nightmare. It can also land multiple ailments, so AOE attacks with this MQ seriously mess stuff up.
And that's totally fair, but I have other plans for Machias.

BearDrivingTruck posted:

There's a regular Mirage quartz called Chaos later on (can't remember where) that gives +13 to STR and increases the duration of status effects the user inflicts by two turns. It, like Ingenuity for Emma, is almost tailor-made for Machias' one Mirage lock.

E: so basically, slap Juggler, Chaos, and any three of the four Chinese beast quartz onto Machias and let him shoot things.
I literally get this two seconds after the episode ends.

Also, how is Emma's fire lock built for Ingenuity and not Fire Bell?

Erpy
Jan 30, 2015
(insert title here)

BearDrivingTruck posted:

There's a regular Mirage quartz called Chaos later on (can't remember where) that gives +13 to STR and increases the duration of status effects the user inflicts by two turns. It, like Ingenuity for Emma, is almost tailor-made for Machias' one Mirage lock.

You get Chaos 2 seconds after the end of this video. Itīs the reward for finishing floor 6 of the old schoolhouse and yeah, itīs tailor-made for Machias' mirage-lock in combination with Juggler. Unfortunately, bosses and "strong" enemies (the ones you can't backstab on the field) are hardcoded to have their debuffs/ailments run out after a single turn and Chaos doesn't change that. It's still great for their flunkies.

BearDrivingTruck
Oct 15, 2011

You see the most shocking sights sometimes

Some Numbers posted:

And that's totally fair, but I have other plans for Machias.

I literally get this two seconds after the episode ends.

Also, how is Emma's fire lock built for Ingenuity and not Fire Bell?

Ingenuity mitigates the Pandora MQ's increased EP costs, and gives Emma some self-sustainability.

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"

BearDrivingTruck posted:

Ingenuity mitigates the Pandora MQ's increased EP costs.

Which is great, except it requires you to not use Criminal.

BearDrivingTruck
Oct 15, 2011

You see the most shocking sights sometimes

Some Numbers posted:

Which is great, except it requires you to not use Criminal.

Fair, but I love using Mirage arts because they're cool.

Erpy
Jan 30, 2015
(insert title here)
Pandora coupled with a Silver Bell and Lunar Beam is about as effective as Criminal coupled with a Fire Bell. One allows you to cherry-tap single-target spells that inflict burn, the other allows you to cherry-tap wide-line spells that wipe out groups.

Alard
Sep 4, 2011

The simplest solution to this is to have both Emma and Elliot in your party while having one run Pandora and the other run Criminal. The best of both worlds.

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"

Erpy posted:

Pandora coupled with a Silver Bell and Lunar Beam is about as effective as Criminal coupled with a Fire Bell. One allows you to cherry-tap single-target spells that inflict burn, the other allows you to cherry-tap wide-line spells that wipe out groups.

Criminal also has multitarget spells and will critical almost every turn.

But sure, any of the 7 MQs that give the delay reduction combined with the appropriate Bell would be pretty good. Aries pays for itself and keeps your HP topped off.

Erpy
Jan 30, 2015
(insert title here)
True, but Criminal-induced criticals do 1.5x damage 90% of the time while Pandora-powered spells hit for 2x damage 100% of the time, even if the cheapest spell takes a fraction longer to cast and since Pandora also widens your arts AOE you can use more basic spells to cover larger areas than for Criminal. Criminal's best for single targets, Pandora's better for groups. And yeah, while each of the cast-delay reducing MQ's combined with bells are good, Criminal and Pandora stand out because they give good ATS boosts combined with damage boosts, which make spamming low-level spells more viable. Aeries is a good second because it sustains itself despite not giving you a damage boost.

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"
I'll look into Pandora (if I still have my Silver Bell), but it may be too late in the game to get any real value out of it.

Alard
Sep 4, 2011

At least we can agree that both Criminal and Pandora are leagues better than an arts-focused MQ that is available later, right?

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"

Alard posted:

At least we can agree that both Criminal and Pandora are leagues better than an arts-focused MQ that is available later, right?

The one from Chapter 7 that I probably won't even grab? Yes.

Erpy
Jan 30, 2015
(insert title here)
I'd suggest grabbing it just to show it exists. (it's not like it takes more than a minute to do so) But yeah, its damage boost and AOE expansion are similar to Pandora and its stat boosts are quite good, but the condition to trigger the damage boost isn't what you want on a caster (or any character for that matter) and it's not like Pandora's added EP cost is that much of a problem when you're probably swimming in EP Charge III items by that point.

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"
Sorry guys, Thanksgiving kicked my rear end, so I don't have an episode ready to go yet. I'll try to get one out by Monday and in the meantime, here's Angelica's S-Craft.

Bonus: I'm Not Holding Back This Time

Stabbey_the_Clown
Sep 21, 2002

Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?
Taco Defender
Huh. On Hard difficulty you don't get the "Lower difficulty and retry" option, just "retry". And on Hard, she can do over 8000 damage with that, so basically you need to be at nearly full HP to stand a chance of surviving it... if she uses it though, which her AI is very finicky about doing.

Erpy
Jan 30, 2015
(insert title here)
That's because "Weaken and retry" (called Retry Offset in the Sky series) only works on lower difficulties in the Cold Steel series. In the Sky series, both difficulty levels and retry offset were quick-and-dirty throw-it-ins to the PSP versions so if a fight gave you trouble in those games (because the unbalanced across-the-board multiplier to enemy stats stacked the deck too much against you) you could still cheese your way through by repeatedly dying until the enemy stats were weaked enough for a brute-force approach to work again. In Cold Steel, the difficulty levels were balanced from the get-go and they figured that people playing on higher difficulty weren't gonna go for a "retry on easy mode" option anyway.

Some Numbers
Sep 28, 2006

"LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"
I managed to get an episode done for today!

Today, we have some nighttime Bonding Events, a hidden quest and then our chat with Towa in the computer room.

Episode 123: Maids and Butlers Have Their Own Economy
No commentary

I should be able to get episode 124 up by the end of the week and I'm hoping to get a headstart on editing the next recording session so I can keep a reasonable schedule through December.

NinetySevenA
Feb 10, 2013


Maybe Class VII can start invent a ska band. They have enough members for it.

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Stabbey_the_Clown
Sep 21, 2002

Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?
Taco Defender
- Is Alisa going to show Rean how to use the crosse in the same way a man shows a woman how to swing a golf club?
- I am easily amused enough that I enjoyed how they kept making words come out of their mouths wrong.
- The Rean and Alisa scene was really nice. I really liked that scene. They look back at the past, look at the present, and wonder about what the future will hold.
- It's also written in a way which fits either a romantic or non-romantic interpretation. Because of the "choose your closest classmate" thing at the end, stuff in-between can't really be specifically written to show Rean definitely committing to show an interest in a specific person.

- You get to actually PLAY Blade this time in the bonding event? You never get to DO stuff in the bonding events. Not even a brief battle against trash enemies!
- If Crow really wants to sucker people into playing with him because he looks down, he should probably be in a place where people actually go and not an empty classroom.
- Patrick is the source of the hidden quest today? Huh.
- Good thing I guessed right, because I totally forgot which card had the 7 the instant they were flipped over. I mean, I saved right before, but still.
- Casters tend to have lower HP than others, so damage-over-time status effects like poison and burn can be trouble. But yeah, even I usually have better things to put on them.

- Towa needs to seriously slow down and get some rest or else she'll have grey hairs and ulcers before she's 25.
- ...And Rean failed his quest by letting Towa sleep.
- I keep being surprised at how weird the technology is in these games. I mean, in some areas of Liberl they don't have orbal lighting. But other places they have flat-screen TV's and real-time wireless video communication. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised at all that two years later in Erebonia they have video recording stuff. And yet, they are still stuck with bird feathers for their pen technology.
- Given how Towa was talking I'm surprised she didn't burn all the copies.
- This concert is going to be really, awkwardly Japanese, isn't it?
- Oh. ... well, other than that outfit she isn't wearing, not as much as I thought. Sounds like they performed the game's theme song.

Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Nov 28, 2017

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