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 What is Wild Arms? Wild Arms is a JRPG released in 1996 in Japan, 1997 in North America, and 1998 in Europe for the PlayStation. It's known for being one of the few JRPGs to adopt a fantasy-Western setting, with genuine gunslingers showing up alongside the usual assortment of wizards and warriors common to the genre. Despite releasing the same year as Final Fantasy VII, it sold well enough that it spawned a franchise spanning five mainline games, one spin-off, and a remake of the first game on PS2 (which already has an excellent LP by Krysmphoenix). It was re-released as a PSOne Classic for PS3 and PSP in 2007 (or 2012 if you live in Europe). What about this LP? This will be a screenshot LP, with videos for boss battles. Since it's my first LP, I'm not going to guarantee any sort of update schedule, but I'll be aiming for once a week. I'm also not going to promise to 100% the game, but it's fairly short by-the-numbers, so I'll see about it as we near the end of the game. Spoilers I'm going to adopt a no spoiler policy on this game. No black bars, no "nudge, nudge, wink, wink", no nothing. If we haven't seen it yet, don't talk about it! Additionally, while I'm not currently planning to LP the entire series, LPs of at least two other Wild Arms games are a possibility in the future, so no spoilers on other games in the series, either. The one exception I'll allow is discussion on the differences between this version of the game and Alter Code F, as long as no discussion goes beyond what we've seen in the LP.
Commander Keene fucked around with this message at 12:34 on Jun 9, 2018 |
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Apr 6, 2018 01:07
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This post reserved for character bios.
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Apr 6, 2018 01:08
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Part 0 - Prologue Intro Video This shows if you leave the game alone once the Sony and Media.Vision logos go by. I'm not going to transcribe this, because while there's foreshadowing, it's not really important to the plot. Just sit back and enjoy the nice music. Music - Wild Arms (Menu)  Here's the game's title screen. We could PUSH START BUTTON, but we're going to wait a minute, because there's a prologue that plays as an eye-catch if you don't do anything. Music - Castle of Flames  The camera fades in on a snowy night, and pans down to reveal that the title of the music track playing is to be taken literally.  We see a group of people within the castle, running to - or from - something.  Just as they head offscreen, we get a glimpse of their pursuers. Looks like some kind of gargoyle or something.  Back to the pursued, we see they've gotten on an elevator heading downwards, and the guy in the white seems a bit worse for wear.   Can't we slow down? There is nothing we can do as long as we are in the dark about their intentions... Our duty as Fenril Knights is to protect the king.We have our first localization mistake here. I'd imagine it's pretty obvious what they were going for here, and it's a classic case of Japanese L/R confusion. I'm not going to keep a running tally of these like Krysm did for Alter Code F, nor am I going to nitpick every spelling/grammar error, but I'll point out any that seem important enough to correct (and there will be a few). Preposterous! I am the king now that my brother has fallen! With or without a crown...  ...Huh! Then try to get out of here on your own. Stop that, Garrett! We are in the presence of the king!Just then...  We get to see these Fenril guys in action. Now we know why the soft, pompous brother of the fallen king is still alive.   A surprise attack within the snowstorm... Maybe they're after... Chief Coldbird, maybe the demons are after the cocoon?Oh. Those gargoyle monsters are apparently demons. Demons very interested in fine silk garments. The cocoon? It's a possibility... Do you think the cocoon is worth something, Ryan?I mean, there are explorers who'll cross continents for access to good silk. Just saying. What?! They came to get my cocoon?! No Coldbird! Do not let them take it! They'll use it for no good!Garrett is apparently fed up with his new monarch's bullshit.  The elevator stops, and the group disembarks.   My cocoon is safe...This is apparently their silk production facility, although we don't get to see this "cocoon" just yet. We'll have to take his word that the thing is safe.  Just then, a pink-haired woman enters the room, moving slightly slower than the Knights and the King.  Your leg... Now I'm holding you back? Me, the [Sword Princess]? Was the rest of your party...Yes, we're going to see [Japanese quotation marks] in this game. Plenty of them. Also, is it just me, or does Elmina seem a bit defensive about her injury? "You hurt your leg!" "Geez, will you stop complaining about how I'm slowing you guys down?!" Yes...And then...   Ryan goes over to investigate...  And promptly dies to... something. Some sort of sonic attack, maybe?  The knight... in a single stroke...He did get one-shot, but I'm not sure I'd call that a "stroke" - unless that's the cause of death? Also, he doesn't seem to know Ryan's name, despite it having been said in front of him at least once.  Then this guy teleports in.   I am the demon, Alhazad. But the demon race is only a legend?!I guess she wasn't here when the other guys were calling these things "demons", so this makes sense. And yet here I am right in front of you. I don't have much time, so let me get to the point... All right? Will you give me that thing you call a cocoon? I'll do whatever you want!! You can have anything! Coldbird draws his sword upon hearing that. No, your majesty! You must not do that! Alhazad then offs the king with the same attack the axe used on Ryan.  All I can give you in return is a [Painless Death]. You will have to live with it. Hee hee hee hee! You bastard! Garrett, Elmina, you must escape from Arctica Castle! Let everyone in Filgaia know what has happened here!Elmina and Garrett exit, stage right, as...  ...Coldbird and Alhazad clash. Music - Lamenting and a Promise  Out in the hallway, Garrett is bandaging Elmina's leg.  That bastard probably got the rest of the knights too... Hey, Garrett! You're a bigger coward than I thought! What? What are you saying? Me, a coward? Yes... You have no [Courage]. You're probably thinking of a way to defeat them even now. No matter what it takes, I'll kill that thing... We will not be able to defeat them yet. I know it's hard to admit... Elmina bandages Garrett's arm. It's not as bad as yours... I won't hear of it! You think that fighting an unbeatable enemy is [Courage]? I don't agree with that! So, what do you consider [Courage]? Enough chattering. Let's go, Garrett!No, I didn't miss any text in between those lines. Elmina straight up ignores Garrett's question. They both begin walking towards the exit to the castle...  But Elmina is obviously falling behind. Once Garrett gets out, she closes the portcullis behind him, trapping herself inside.  What are you doing, Elmina?! I can't get away with this wound! Open the door, Elmina! You're the one who said wasting your life is not [Courage]! Funny for me to say, but you gain nothing from war... But Garrett... I fight to protect something important to me. I won't gain anything, but I will not lose anything... Protecting something important is not a waste of life. Nor I you! Open the door, Elmina! I'll fight with you! Open the door, Elmina! You must tell the world what has happened here... Don't worry... I have no intention of dying here. I am the [Sword Princess]. That ribbon I wrapped around your arm was expensive... I can't die until I get that back.Alhazad teleports in.  You're the last humans left in the castle. Are you ready to die? Have [Courage]! Deliver the Fenril Spirit to our friends! Run Garrett, you can overcome anything! I promise... I will return... your ribbon...Garrett runs off. It's a dead end. There's no way out. Hee hee hee hee hee! You are noble and beautiful... Can't you see? My body is trembling with joy... Getting kinda creepy there, Alhazad. Might want to tone that down a bit...Elmina - quite understandably - tries to gut Alhazad.  Cut to Garrett running away through the snowstorm. If you've been listening to the music links, this is exactly when the chorus kicks in.  He falls on his face...  And tries to get back up again. And that's the last we see of him as the camera pans up and fades out...  Cut back to the cocoon chamber, with this mysterious figure standing in front of the cocoon. The music is silent, and you can hear a heartbeat in the background.  Alhazad teleports in to stand beside Armor Guy.  As we finally get a look at the cocoon. That thing's pretty big; must be a pretty big silkworm inside.  Music - Wild Arms (Menu)  And now we're back at the title screen.  Now that all those people are dead and certainly none of them will ever be relevant to the plot again, why don't we finally start this show?     Looks like we have a character select! We have to do all three routes eventually, but I'm going to let you guys choose the order. Here's how it's going to work: Basically, everyone has six total votes. Vote for which routes you want to see in order; your first choice is worth three points, your second is worth two points, and your third is worth one point. I'll do the routes in descending vote order. Also, we need to choose names for these schlubs! Eight characters maximum. Put them with your route votes, like so:
Voting will end Monday, April 9th at 3 PM Eastern Time. [EDIT] Voting is closed! The route order selected was Treasure Hunter, Girl From the Abbey, and finally Wandering Youth. The default names of Jack, Cecilia, and Rudy won by a landslide. Commander Keene fucked around with this message at 09:43 on Apr 10, 2018 |
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Apr 6, 2018 01:09
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I remember playing this game as a kid. I don't however remember anything about it so this'll be a trip down memory lane. 1. Youth- "Dude" 2. Hunter- "Dante" 3. Girl- "Lady"
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Apr 6, 2018 01:28
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Looking forward to this, I played through the first half or so of this game when I was a kid, never finished it.
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Apr 6, 2018 01:33
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ashnjack posted:I remember playing this game as a kid. I don't however remember anything about it so this'll be a trip down memory lane. I like this, except that you got the Youth's name wrong. 1. Youth - Nero 2. Hunter - Dante 3. Girl - Lady This party's gettin' crazy! 
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Apr 6, 2018 01:52
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Are there default names?
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Apr 6, 2018 01:52
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ultrafilter posted:Are there default names? Commander Keene posted:Also, we need to choose names for these schlubs! Eight characters maximum. Put them with your route votes, like so:
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Apr 6, 2018 02:39
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I read a Wild Arms LP long long ago but forgot everything so it'll be good to re-experience it all. Anyway, my votes 1. Treasure Hunter Gil 2. Abbey Girl Gale 3. Wandering Youth Godot
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Apr 6, 2018 07:03
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Call me boring, but I've always liked the default names for these three. 1. Girl From Abbey - Cecilia 2. Treasure Hunter - Jack 3. Wandering Youth - Rudy
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Apr 6, 2018 13:52
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1. Treasure Hunter 2. Girl From Abbey 3. Wandering Youth
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Apr 6, 2018 14:38
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Youth - Max Hunter - Dash Rendar (i forget the character limit... but it could be smushed to Dsh Rndr if need be) Abbey Girl - Abbey I picked up this game a few years ago on a PSN sale to use on my PSVITATV-THE KING OF ALL CONSOLES so I don't have any nostalgia for it like I do a lot of PS1 rpgs. The setting really intrigued me but I found combat to be sluggish and clunky even for an older game. I didn't make it very far into the game so I will be interested in seeing how the rest of this plays out.
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Apr 6, 2018 14:53
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Complete_Cynic posted:Call me boring, but I've always liked the default names for these three. I agree with this.
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Apr 6, 2018 15:53
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Complete_Cynic posted:Call me boring, but I've always liked the default names for these three. Yeah let's roll with this. I loved this game way back when. And its soundtrack is phenomenal. I've been meaning to replay it for a while but the time's never come up, so I can just follow along. e: Don't care about the play order. Orcs and Ostriches fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Apr 6, 2018 |
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Apr 6, 2018 16:02
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Complete_Cynic posted:Call me boring, but I've always liked the default names for these three. Add another one for going with the defaults. Edit: This is not a vote for order, just a vote for using the default names. savixeon fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Apr 6, 2018 |
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Apr 6, 2018 17:08
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Are you all voting for order as well? Gotta say I'm not especially keen on the idea of making our LP'er start with Cecilia, not that it matters too much.
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Apr 6, 2018 18:21
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awesome, great to see a LP of this game not done by a rapist
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Apr 6, 2018 21:19
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1. Youth - THE GOOD 2. Abbey Girl - THE BAD 3. Hunter - THE UGLY
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Apr 6, 2018 21:26
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Ah, played through this game many times, still one of my favorite PS1 RPGs. 1. Girl From Abbey - Cecilia 2. Treasure Hunter - Jack 3. Wandering Youth - Rudy And throwing another vote for the "Don't change the names" pool.
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Apr 6, 2018 22:11
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1. Treasure Hunter - Jack 2. Girl From Abbey - Cecilia 3. Wandering Youth - Rudy Jack's scenario is best, and Cecilia's is worst so let's smush it between the other two. I really loved this game back in the day, I'm very nostalgic for it. I especially like the way it integrated lore with sidequests and superbosses. Hate that they animefied the franchise, though. This is the best one.
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Apr 6, 2018 22:24
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Now this is an LP I'm going to be following. It feels weird that Wild Arms is a relatively extensive series, but you almost never hear anyone bringing it up. So I'm wondering if it's with good reason or whether it's a genuine classic that just missed the ball, marketing-wise and never got as famous as some other jRPG's.
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Apr 6, 2018 22:36
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Complete_Cynic posted:Call me boring, but I've always liked the default names for these three. From what I recall from over 15 years ago this is both the correct order and the correct name scheme for this game, so I'll undersign it
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Apr 6, 2018 22:57
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I like this, except that you got the Youth's name wrong. Voting for this
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Apr 7, 2018 00:29
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I like this, except that you got the Youth's name wrong. S-s-stylin!
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Apr 7, 2018 01:11
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Ooh, Wild Arms. I haven't really played this game, but I thought the concept and setting were cool.TooMuchAbstraction posted:I like this, except that you got the Youth's name wrong. Put my vote down for this.
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Apr 7, 2018 05:21
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Glad to see a LP of my favorite JRPG series 1. Wandering Youth - Rudy 2. Treasure Hunter - Jack 3. Girl From Abbey - Cecilia
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Apr 7, 2018 06:14
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Wild Arms is Cool And Good and has Cool And Good music and that opening is still great 20+ years later. Commander Keene posted:Also, we need to choose names for these schlubs! Eight characters maximum. Put them with your route votes, like so: Then my suggestion is
actually on second thought that looks awful. 1: Girl From Abbey - Cecilia 2: Wandering Youth - Rudy 3: Treasure Hunter - Jack placid saviour posted:Hate that they animefied the franchise, though. This is the best one. 2 is good, fight me
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Apr 7, 2018 09:40
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Alas that I played this back in the day, because it means I'm voting for 1- Treasure Hunter - Jack 2 - Girl - Cecilia 3 - Youth - Rudy Because to do otherwise would just be way too jarring for me. I have a lot of fond memories of this and its sequel from back in the day. Just the addition of the dash button and simple puzzling did a huge amount to add to dungeon crawling for me. And yeah, that opening theme was fan-loving-tastic, which was a series tradition all the way through 3. (2's opening sequences were interesting in the context of localization history - they happened in that time period where the Japanese version of the opening video having lyrics was becoming common, but localizers weren't likely to have the resources to translate and rerecord them, which meant that we got the vocal line replaced with trumpet and guitar instead. Given the tone they were going for I honestly think it's an improvement.) From what I remember of this game, I think it'd be very interesting to see what the game's script looks like under modern localization and translation standards. There are a fairly large number of terms and external allusions, both in this game and its sequel, where hurried localization and (probably) limited communication with the original writers meant that stuff whose meaning would have been self-evident got turned into gibberish. (And that's not even considering the pair of characters in the sequel that made the translation turn into complete nonsense by the simple virtue of their presence.) vdate fucked around with this message at 15:23 on Apr 7, 2018 |
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Apr 7, 2018 15:18
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vilkacis posted:actually on second thought that looks awful. whoa, it actually looks great and i'm changing my vote to that
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Apr 7, 2018 16:05
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vilkacis posted:1: Girl From Abbey - Cecilia
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Apr 7, 2018 16:20
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vilkacis posted:
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Apr 7, 2018 17:04
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Keep the default names. Any order is fine.
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Apr 7, 2018 17:24
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I like this, except that you got the Youth's name wrong. Yeah, I'm down for this. Also, be sure to revisit some of the locales of the previous route as you finish each storyline. They went in a lot of detail adjusting the dialogue of townspeople based on who visits each location, but I think the order you complete each character also plays a role.
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Apr 7, 2018 18:32
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SKBasis posted:Keep the default names. Any order is fine. Agreed.
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Apr 7, 2018 20:43
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Shitenshi posted:Yeah, I'm down for this.
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Apr 7, 2018 23:06
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vilkacis posted:2 is good, fight me Wild Arms 2 is great. I think it has the best theme song in the series (not that the opening for this game isn't awesome).
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Apr 7, 2018 23:12
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vdate posted:From what I remember of this game, I think it'd be very interesting to see what the game's script looks like under modern localization and translation standards. There are a fairly large number of terms and external allusions, both in this game and its sequel, where hurried localization and (probably) limited communication with the original writers meant that stuff whose meaning would have been self-evident got turned into gibberish. (And that's not even considering the pair of characters in the sequel that made the translation turn into complete nonsense by the simple virtue of their presence.) On the other hand, they gave us [MODEDIT:cut it out with the spoilers, we're not even past the first page], which rules  ...I haven't played WA1 in so long, I don't remember much in the way of details, other than the occasional Fenril-type thing. I think they fixed a bunch in AC:F, though. (But then, AC:F also has its problems.) DeTosh posted:Wild Arms 2 is great. I think it has the best theme song in the series (not that the opening for this game isn't awesome). The first three are all great games, really, and they all have excellent themes and over all soundtracks. WA3 was one of the first game soundtracks I actually bought (an almost certainly pirated copy on ebay many moons past). Somebody fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Apr 9, 2018 |
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Apr 8, 2018 06:31
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Complete_Cynic posted:Call me boring, but I've always liked the default names for these three. Yeah, default names are fine for this game. Speaking of, this was the first game I got when I got a PS1, I played the hell out of it, had the strategy guide (as this was back before GameFAQs took off), and got absoltuely everything. I never got back into the series though, despite this being an amazing game.
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Apr 8, 2018 06:53
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vilkacis posted:On the other hand, they gave us [MODEDIT:hey, don't quote spoilers], which rules I'm torn. On the one hand, it's a type example of what I was talking about. On the other hand, I have to concede that it IS a pretty good name. Somebody fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Apr 9, 2018 |
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Apr 8, 2018 08:20
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vilkacis posted:On the other hand, they gave us <scrubbed>, which rules Commander Keene posted:I'm going to adopt a no spoiler policy on this game. No black bars, no "nudge, nudge, wink, wink", no nothing. If we haven't seen it yet, don't talk about it!
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Apr 8, 2018 20:23
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