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hopeandjoy posted:"Uta-loid" is amusing to me as a Vocaloid fan; there's a fanmade shareware program very similar to Vocaloid that's called UTAU. Nowadays the western fandom largely refers to the voicebanks/characters as "UTAUs" like the program, but from 2008-2010ish some would call them "Utauloids". Glad I'm not the only one who made that connection; it was actually a bit jarring to see in the game (although the similarity is probably unintentional. UTAU is a niche within a niche, and for good reason).
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Feb 2, 2017 00:44
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Like Clockwork posted:Glad I'm not the only one who made that connection; it was actually a bit jarring to see in the game (although the similarity is probably unintentional. UTAU is a niche within a niche, and for good reason). Also, I'm pretty sure "Utauloid" was only used in the western community and the Japanese and overseas halves of the Vocaloid fandom had even less contact seven years ago than they do now.
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Feb 2, 2017 00:55
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Can't wait to see the nitty gritty combat of this game. Already my brain is making links between this and The World Ends With You and that is a good thing.
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Feb 2, 2017 01:09
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CaptianKatsura posted:I bought TMS right at the beginning of this year, and I beat in a week of nonstop playing. What I'm getting at is this game is amazing. Like, the best way to describe it is Persona 4.5. If you need to scratch that Persona itch now that Persona 5 has been delayed again, I highly recommend picking this up.
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Feb 2, 2017 01:42
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EponymousMrYar posted:Can't wait to see the nitty gritty combat of this game. Already my brain is making links between this and The World Ends With You and that is a good thing. This game is basically "what if twewy, persona 4, and a jpop group got stuck in a blender"
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Feb 2, 2017 01:54
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FractalSandwich posted:Most people play Persona for the story, don't they? Unless this game is going to suddenly turn into a serious and pointed criticism of the idol industry, I don't see much similarity to P5. When I say Persona 4.5, I mean that the gameplay is essentially Persona 4 but better. As for the story, I can't really say anything yet, since, ya know, spoilers. CaptianKatsura fucked around with this message at 02:20 on Feb 2, 2017 |
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Feb 2, 2017 02:18
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CaptianKatsura posted:When I say Persona 4.5, I mean that the gameplay is essentially Persona 4 but better. As for the story, I can't really say anything yet, since, ya know, spoilers.
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Feb 2, 2017 02:43
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I am looking forward to this but is it possible at all to add music links to the SSLP parts? Since I imagine the music is an important part of the game. I have to make the same joke I did before the game was released.... Performa always just makes me think of a certain discontinued Apple product line. I have access to a WiiU but it's a communal one in a space shared with other people and I'd die of embarrassment if someone saw me playing this game.
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Feb 2, 2017 04:13
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Man, I guess somewhere in the middle somebody ripped "subtlety" out of this mysterious other dimension's dictionary.
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Feb 2, 2017 04:29
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Probably the same person who decided that white text outlined extremely thinly in black on a white field was an excellent way to present dialogue. 
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Feb 2, 2017 04:35
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Item Getter posted:I am looking forward to this but is it possible at all to add music links to the SSLP parts? Since I imagine the music is an important part of the game. Honestly, I think the non-vocal themes in TMS are pretty mediocre and I wasn't really planning to (for multiple reasons, not the least of which is because the non-vocal part of the OST rip I have is unlabeled and mostly consists of "Common_0000081.flac"), but just for you: Daitama Observatory Showtime! - This is what plays during the audition Danger! - Get used to this one because it plays basically every single time something vaguely dangerous or threatening happens.
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Feb 2, 2017 06:48
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It's like a repeat of the mass disappearance. The red ghost honcho probably thought "I'm gonna make everyone disappear who cares about appearance?" Sadly he forgot one.
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Feb 2, 2017 10:14
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It is almost certainly coincidence but the bloooood ghooooosts remind me of the raincoat killer from Deadly Premonition. Somewhere in North America, a man looks up from his coffee and says "I can't read kanji, Zach."
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Feb 2, 2017 17:39
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Rangpur posted:It is almost certainly coincidence but the bloooood ghooooosts remind me of the raincoat killer from Deadly Premonition. It definitely is. The evil ghosts being cloaked in red is almost definitely taken from Fire Emblem, where the enemy units are colour-coded red.
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Feb 3, 2017 00:41
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I'm pretty sure this is going to be the longest update in the entire LP so uh...bear with me. I promise there won't be any other monsters like this. Anyway! Right, so where were we?  Ah yes, mysterious red ghosts, demon-possessed MC, weird blue portal. Got it.   I have to save her...! Entering Daitama Music: Illusory Daitama   So welcome to the first dungeon! One of the things I love about this game is how little it wastes your time. While I dearly love Persona 3 and 4, both of those games took somewhere in the neighborhood of ~3 hours to get you into proper gameplay and it's good to see that Atlus has learned from them. (We are just over 20 minutes into the game, for reference)  You know Itsuki, I don't want to assume anything, but given that we just went through a blue portal after being attacked by ghosts and demons, I'm gonna wager the answer to that one might be "no".  And as if to confirm his suspicions, a mysterious girl appears right in front of him.  Huh? She's in danger... You have to hurry to the depths... After delivering her warning, the girl disappears deeper into the labyrinth. Who was that girl...? No... She can wait. I have to find Tsubasa. Time to start the actual dungeon. Illusory Daitama is very straightforward; it's basically a straight line that takes a handful of 90 degree turns. That said, it's not like this is a one and done tutorial - simple as it is, there are a few things we'll have to backtrack for much later in the game. Like, "40 hours from now" later in the game.  Anyway, before we can even take the first turn, Touma interrupts us with another Topic. quote:
Gonna go out on a limb here and say that Touma might not be telling us everything, but we've got bigger problems to deal with.  Like this. Tsubasa isn't the only person stuck here, and we might be able to save some of the others too.  Around the corner, we come across our first elevator. This is the only real gimmick Illusory Daitama has, but it doesn't mean much. Again, the path is more or less a straight line that just happens to go up or down every so often.  At the bottom of the elevator, we hear another scream. Maybe it's time to go see what's going on? Possession   Oh uh...yeah. Good luck with that.    Guess I shoulda expected as much from a vessel we picked out specially. One of the ghosts comes up behind her...  ...And she gets possessed, complete with the weird marking on her cheek. At least we know what happened to Goujin? Maybe? Won't be long now till Tsubasa's finished... Everything's goin' perfect. No...! Tsubasa... Give me... Your power... Wha-?  Itsuki tries to run, but he pretty quickly runs out of room.  Ahhhh! ~so majestic~  Not the smoothest of landings, but Itsuki has read the script and knows that enemies can't go down ledges, so he's safe for now.  Anyway, nowhere to go but forward now. Even if we could somehow get up that ledge, the ghost is waiting for us and uh, we've seen how that worked out for the idol girl.  Another great quality of life thing! Anytime you're about to enter a room that contains a boss/miniboss or some other notable plot fight, the game gives you a big warning screen so you can heal up or switch around your party.  No... Stop... ...! Tsubasa! Whoa! With nowhere else to go, Itsuki rears back to break down the door... Chrom and Caeda  ...And lands right in the middle of a cutscene.   This one seems a little less concerned with the whole "possession" thing and is going straight for the "kill all humans" bit of the routine.   Itsuki is understandably quite upset about this turn of events, but he's got a more pressing problem.   To his credit, he does actually notice the ghost this time, but not quickly enough to do anything about it.   The ghost brings him in for a close-up, then blasts him away with a wave of purple energy.  Yeah, we definitely have bigger problems than Tsubasa right now.    Just as the ghost raises its blade, Itsuki does the whole glowing thing again, which causes it to turn away. It sure is convenient that this happened to Itsuki and not anyone else who got attacked.  The shiny bit has finally materialized as an orb of some kind. And what do you do with orbs?   Well you slam it in the ghost's face, obviously. What did you think we did with it?   The orb absorbs the purple chains that were around the ghost and burns away the red cloak, finally revealing our mystery man.  Gods... What was I doing...?  Huh...? But why are you... We don't have time to talk! Go and rescue that girl! Rrgh... But... what can I do to save her...?  And right on cue, Tsubasa starts to glow. Like Itsuki, this causes the ghost to recoil and saves her (at least for the moment).  That's it...!From here, the second verse is much the same as the first one.  Orb.  Face.  Release.   That doesn't do anything about our friends, though. So let's fix that.  Itsuki and Tsubasa give each other a nod, and then...   It's time for a costume change. (You should really watch the video to see these in motion, it's pretty great)   Suddenly, Itsuki looks like a real protagonist and Tsubasa is...er...some kind of magical girl/pegasus thing...? Jury's still out on that one.  Incredible...! Wait... I know that voice. Are you that blue ghost from before? Yes. Somehow, it looks like I...became a blade. This... can't be real... Eeek! Be careful! It's all right. I'm here with you... Now, come on! Music: Normal Battle  So welcome to combat, everybody! If you've ever played an SMT game in your life, you're probably about 80% of the way there for this game, but I'll hit the basics. At the top of the screen is the turn order, which you can see for both this turn and next. As far as I'm aware, turn order is determined almost entirely by a character's speed stat, so don't think you have to hold back lest you get pushed further back in the queue.  Once you pick a target, you can see which enemy you've selected in the turn queue, as well as that enemy's strengths and weaknesses. Like in the recent Persona games, you don't really know anything about an enemy until you try some attacks, but once you defeat them in battle it'll be automatically filled out for next time. The session lineup isn't super relevant now, but we'll talk a lot more about that in the next two updates. Also note that physical attacks have been broken up into four categories (technically five, but one's enemy only). If you're familiar with Fire Emblem, things like the weapon triangle are built right into the TMS system and knowing them gives you an immense advantage coming in.  One notable thing is that this game does not utilize the press-turn system or anything similar. Hitting weaknesses is good and encouraged, but only in the sense that they do more damage and let you kill enemies faster.  Aside from that, though, it's your standard SMT combat. Hit weaknesses, use buffs, and don't die. While this is definitely on the easy side as far as SMT games go, it can and will kick your poo poo in if you get complacent.  At any rate, there's not much to say about these first enemies. Both the blobs and the troll are weak to Zio, and the troll is weak to lances so Tsubasa can stab him a couple times for good measure. Don't be afraid to burn your MP, you've got plenty of it for this starting dungeon.  And in one last quick note, the game once again shows its commitment to its aesthetic. Combat actually takes place on a stage (complete with video boards and other monsters hanging out in the background), and when you win a battle it rains down confetti and the audience applauds.  Itsuki is our Lord, the everyman who's just a little too balanced to be amazing but not really deficient in anything either. He uses swords and electricity to fairly good effect, but his magic is pretty rough and he doesn't get the good physical electric attacks until fairly late in the game. Still, he's the only character to get both Charge and Concentrate and he still makes a fine physical attacker, even if he doesn't stack up to the other more focused units.  Tsubasa is a Pegasus Knight, giving her an unfortunate weakness to both bows and wind on top of the usual axe weakness. She is first and foremost your healer, but she has a very solid magic score that can fuel wind magic (and a fire spell or two if you know what you're doing). I find that her strength leaves a lot to be desired, so while she can use lance skills, you're probably going to have her casting most of the time. Oh, and one last thing. Just to make sure you remember that this is a Fire Emblem game, levels are totally random. The variance isn't high enough to reduce anyone to the point of unusability, but you can definitely have your MVP from one playthrough come up short on defense and turn out too squishy on another run. Introductions  Looks like we managed to take them out... Much of all this is still unclear, but my name is Chrom. I can remember that much... Chrom... thank you. I couldn't have saved Tsubasa without you. I'm Itsuki - Itsuki Aoi. Itsuki Aoi, huh... Huh? I should be the one thanking you. It was that light within you that freed me from the darkness. ...You have my gratitude. And it's a pleasure to meet you, Itsuki. ...Of course! Likewise, Chrom! quote:
 Huh? Oh, yes! I'm Tsubasa Oribe, 18 years old! I really am sorry, Tsubasa. I must have scared you quite a bit, didn't I? Well...actually, yes, that was really scary. But if it wasn't for you, who knows what would have happened to me back there, so... Thank you, Ms. Caeda. Please, just call me Caeda... You're a kindhearted girl, Tsubasa.quote:
 I'm sorry, but I can't even remember why I'm here in the first place. Caeda... is your memory gone too? Unfortunately, yes... I've been trying to recall, but... I see... Itsuki, what should we do? I say we get out as soon as we can. If we linger too long, we might find ourselves with unwanted company. Chrom's right. We can figure out the details after we get out of here alive. And with that, we've finally finished what little tutorial the game is going to give us. Next time, we'll be tackling the rest of the dungeon and start to really play around with the game's systems!
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Feb 3, 2017 19:46
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hey, some weird stuff's going down in daitama right now. where are you, is everything okay?
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Is there any sort of refresher to how Atlus names their abilities in SMT-esque games? This isn't the first such LP I've paid attention to, but generally the conceit is that the viewer already knows what's going on (such as that "Zi-" refers to lightning damage). I've never played any of these, so often I get a bit stuck until I can infer relevant connections, and even then I'm only perceiving part of the proverbial elephant.
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Feb 3, 2017 20:39
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Short version: Zio = Thunder Agi = Fire Zan/Garu (depending on the game) = Wind Bufu = Ice Dia = Cure Ma- before a spell means it targets everyone: Mabufu is a low level ice spell that hits all enemies. -la after a spell denotes a mid-tier spell, like the Final Fantasy "-ra" suffix: Bufula is a medium ice spell that hits one enemy -dyne after a spell is your high level spells, like the "-ga" family: Maragidyne is a high level fire spell that also hits every enemy. Taru-, Raku- and Suku- are your buff spells for Attack, Defense, and Agility respectively (I think, I always get Taru and Raku mixed up). -kaja is a buff, -nda is a debuff. Example: Sukukaja boosts the party's avoid and accuracy, Sukunda reduces the enemy's Pretty much everything else is self-explanatory or follows very similar rules (the Dia line goes Dia/Diarama/Diaharan, but the fundamentals are the same).
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Feb 3, 2017 20:52
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Thanks for that! I recall that there are usually a few edge cases that don't follow such a template, but they relate either to endgame abilities or Almighty damage (itself a late-game concept).
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Feb 3, 2017 21:24
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I don't particularly care for Tsubasa's battle costume. I mean, there are a lot worse in this game, but it still never really appealed to me. The combination of elaborately flaring sides with an almost completely exposed front just looks silly. On the other hand, while I don't like Itsuki as a character, I gotta admit the dude pulls off the cape and ascot look well.
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Feb 3, 2017 21:35
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Artix posted:Taru-, Raku- and Suku- are your buff spells for Attack, Defense, and Agility respectively (I think, I always get Taru and Raku mixed up). -kaja is a buff, -nda is a debuff. Example: Sukukaja boosts the party's avoid and accuracy, Sukunda reduces the enemy's
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Feb 3, 2017 22:01
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Commander Keene posted:This eliminates a family of spells (Makakaja and Makanda, which covered magical attack and defense, and is easy to confuse with Makarakarn, a spell that reflects magic damage) Don't forget Makajama, which prevents magic use. Unfortunately a lot of the ailment spells have pretty random names, but at least ailment cures tend to be something sounding like the ailment followed by "-di".
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Feb 3, 2017 22:11
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If I'm recalling correctly, Zan is actually force, not wind. I'm not sure why you can have force or wind but not both, but eh, game logic.
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Feb 3, 2017 22:12
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I love how they both instinctively know how to invoke their costume changes (in unison, no less) but have no idea what's going on otherwise.
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Feb 3, 2017 22:15
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I really really like this game despite (or maybe because of) how loving anime it is. The battle system owns. I'm probably gonna ask some questions about how to proceed in an okay manner in this game later on, but for now I'm just gonna say I'm looking forward to playing along!
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Feb 3, 2017 22:39
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Picayune posted:If I'm recalling correctly, Zan is actually force, not wind. I'm not sure why you can have force or wind but not both, but eh, game logic. They're generally interchangable and both use green wind icons. I know there's a few games that have both Zan and Garu, but those aren't super common.
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Feb 3, 2017 23:00
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ChaosArgate posted:They're generally interchangable and both use green wind icons. I know there's a few games that have both Zan and Garu, but those aren't super common. Persona 2 had both, but Zan was Almighty there.
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Feb 3, 2017 23:04
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Kurieg posted:I love how they both instinctively know how to invoke their costume changes (in unison, no less) but have no idea what's going on otherwise. Zandar posted:Don't forget Makajama, which prevents magic use. Unfortunately a lot of the ailment spells have pretty random names, but at least ailment cures tend to be something sounding like the ailment followed by "-di". Picayune posted:If I'm recalling correctly, Zan is actually force, not wind. I'm not sure why you can have force or wind but not both, but eh, game logic.
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Feb 3, 2017 23:05
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Commander Keene posted:And what in the world is a "Pleroma", and why did it replace "Boost/Amp" in SMT IV? Wikipedia posted:"Pleroma" generally refers to the totality of divine powers. The word means fullness from πληρόω ("I fill") comparable to πλήρης which means "full",[1] and is used in Christian theological contexts: both in Gnosticism generally, and by St. Paul the Apostle in Colossians 2:9 (the word is used 17 times in the NT). As for why they used that word instead, 
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Feb 3, 2017 23:13
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This looks cool. But random level ups  I mean it is SMT x FE, but come on, random growths are evil.In FE, a lot of the characters' personalities are shaped by the circumstances they're in. Now that they've been stripped of their memories and their mission, some of them might be different from their usual FE selves. Maybe? And also, Touma probably has one too. I'm just guessing randomly. I haven't played this game so I'm really happy to see an LP of it.
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Feb 3, 2017 23:59
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Are sources/seeds/whatever a thing in this game, to offset the random levelups?
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Feb 4, 2017 00:15
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The good news about having Fire Emblem mechanics in an SMT setting is that just about every enemy is weak to at least one kind of physical attack and you can usually tell what it is at a glance. Determining weaknesses through observation has been something of a struggle for SMT and Persona for basically their entire runs.
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Feb 4, 2017 00:33
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I'm kind of miffed that you drop the traditional pegasus knight weaknesses on somebody without even giving them a pegasus to knight with.
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Feb 4, 2017 02:09
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She doesn't use the pegasus all the time in battle, but there are attacks where it shows up, sort of.
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Feb 4, 2017 02:12
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The draw of the peg knight (and fliers in general) is supreme movement (can fly, unhindered by terrain) in exchange for weakness to bows / wind, and a weak defense stat (for the peg knights, for the wyverns it's resistance which is awful). In fire emblem at least. So I dunno how they incorporated those in this game. The high mov advantage I mean. Also, it's the pegasus which is weak to arrows and wind, so who knows how the idol knight is also weak to it. I guess it's a case of "my persona is weak to it", but can your persona make you fly?
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Feb 4, 2017 03:16
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NGDBSS posted:Thanks for that! I recall that there are usually a few edge cases that don't follow such a template, but they relate either to endgame abilities or Almighty damage (itself a late-game concept). The only SMT spell name I remember outside of the base element spells (and the -dyne suffix) is Megidolaon because it's both fun and hard to say 
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Feb 4, 2017 03:47
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ChaosArgate posted:They're generally interchangable and both use green wind icons. I know there's a few games that have both Zan and Garu, but those aren't super common. I think Zan didn't really become a "wind" attack until the 2000s or so, and they just keep the "force" attribute out of tradition. In the early SMT games the effect for Zan suggested some kind of "sonic wave", it was like a bunch of expanding circles with a high pitched whine sound. It's sort of funny how Persona 5 reintroduced some gameplay elements of the older Persona titles, and one of them they decided to bring back was some of the tons of goofy elemental attacks that Persona 1-2 had, like Gravity. This game showed me the thing that Persona awakening cutscenes were always missing. And I love that the monsters in the crowd have glow sticks. How is the FE weapon triangle supposed to work in this game when the enemies (at least that we have seen so far) seem to be generic Persona 3 Shadow looking things which aren't holding any discernible weapons? Or are most of the later enemies visibly holding a sword, spear or whatever. I wonder if that also means that the SMT series staple "immune to physical attacks" enemies don't really appear in this game. I'm reminded a bit of how when Persona Q brought over the head / arm / leg bind mechanic from Etrian Odyssey, they had to rename it to vague stuff like "Strength seal" since many of the Persona 3-4 enemies don't really have arms and legs to speak of.
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Feb 4, 2017 04:54
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Item Getter posted:I think Zan didn't really become a "wind" attack until the 2000s or so, and they just keep the "force" attribute out of tradition. It'll be pretty obvious what enemies have what weapons later in this game, don't worry!
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Feb 4, 2017 05:08
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Edvarius posted:I don't particularly care for Tsubasa's battle costume. I mean, there are a lot worse in this game, but it still never really appealed to me. The combination of elaborately flaring sides with an almost completely exposed front just looks silly. I actually kind of like Ikutsuki as a character, for a few reasons that will pop up once the game starts later. I got this game for Christmas half as a joke, and am about halfway through chapter 2 right now. This game is bizarre and kind of creepy at points (though thankfully not as much as it would have been completely unaltered), and while it's battle system can get basic it also has a bunch of really cool ideas under the hood that get really fun as it gets rolling, and it has a really earnest heart to it that's really charming at points. My experiences have been largely positive so far, though I am far more of a SMT than Fire Emblem guy (I felt I had to get SMT4: Apocalypse to repent for my gaming sins). e: oh, and the random growths tend to make it so that you get largely random, but every 5 levels or so you get a really significant one to help keep an even playing field: which is handy, since the amount of party members is much closer to Persona games than Fire Emblem. ManlyGrunting fucked around with this message at 05:21 on Feb 4, 2017 |
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Feb 4, 2017 05:10
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Not entirely sure how our heroes knew how to go full Power Rangers, but I'll take it? Tsubasa's outfit is peak  . Itsuki is stylish tho
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Feb 4, 2017 07:00
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If you think that's peak anime, you better leave the thread now.
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Feb 4, 2017 07:06
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