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With less than 20 hours left in the voting process, here's how the votes stand:code:code:Blind Sally posted:whoa, it actually looks great and i'm changing my vote to that
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Apr 9, 2018 00:34
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| # ? May 5, 2024 21:24 |
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Spoilers removed. Please follow the OP's rules.
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Apr 9, 2018 01:39
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Commander Keene posted:I forgot to mention it earlier, but first votes are final! No changing votes mid-way through. D;
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Apr 9, 2018 01:41
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1. Girl From Abbey - Tuco 2. Treasure Hunter - Blondie 3. Wandering Youth - Angel
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Apr 9, 2018 02:18
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Rockopolis posted:1. Girl From Abbey - Tuco I love it. Voting this
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Apr 9, 2018 02:34
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I like this, except that you got the Youth's name wrong. It probably is gonna be futile in the end but I gotta throw a vote at this.
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Apr 9, 2018 03:28
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I remember playing this, but I never got very far. I do remember I got a used copy as a gift, 'cause the soundtrack CD was missing, and I had a book with a bunch of different guides, including one for this game. But that was ages ago and my memory's sucky as hell anyway. So, my vote is as follows: 1- Treasure Hunter - Jack 2 - Girl - Cecilia 3 - Youth - Rudy I think that's the order that makes the most sense anyway.
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Apr 9, 2018 08:47
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And voting is closed!code:code:I'll start recording Jack the Treasure Hunter's route later today, and the update should be up by Friday at the latest. Cecilia the Girl From the Abbey will come next week, followed by Rudy the Wandering Youth. Commander Keene fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Apr 9, 2018 |
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Apr 9, 2018 21:16
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I remember getting stuck on Cecilia's route playing this as a kid. I don't remember why I got stuck on her, but it happened. Looking forward to this.
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Apr 10, 2018 17:56
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Huh. I don't remember ever seeing that scene in the Citadel of Flame. What a different impression it leaves from the opener.
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Apr 11, 2018 02:22
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Part 1 - Jack the Treasure Hunter Previously, we watched the intro cinematic and the prologue cutscene. Then we had a choice of three characters to begin play as. Voting on what order to play the three routes in ended with the Treasure Hunter winning first place, followed by the Girl From the Abbey, and then finally the Wandering Youth. So today, we'll be going through the Treasure Hunter's route. Music - Courage Dungeon  The game fades in on the Treasure Hunter walking up to an old ruin.  Whereupon an odd mouse jumps out of his pocket and begins to converse. Sorry, Dragon Quest VIII fans, he doesn't breathe fire. Also, I've switched to double-size character portraits because this guy's sprite is so small. I'll be updating the prologue with the new portraits after I finish with this.  I hope you didn't pay much for this information. Hey... So you know about this place?! You wasted your money. There's nothing left here of any value. Shhh! Quiet! My instincts tell me this is it! I can't believe there would be anything left here. This is not the first time treasure hunters have come through here. We'll find nothing but junk. Maybe we'll find clues for obtaining the [Power]. Let's go then... Hanpan hops back in the Treasure Hunter's pocket and they head into the ruin.  Inside is a short corridor, which leads to a room with a mysterious machine in it.  Hey! No! Don't touch that! Let me do it. Let's see... here... I think that's supposed to be the machine activating and startling him, but the animation that plays is the same one as when you dash into a wall. This gives me the mental image of him just bashing his face into the console. Either way, he leaps back a good ten feet or so in shock.  This is the machine speaking. You're the brain. Do you have any ideas? I have no idea! Just as a test, I'll put in my name.This Treasure Hunter sounds like the kind of guy who would keep his passwords on sticky notes on his computer monitor. And they'd be his birthday.  At this point, we get a naming screen. Thread vote decided on using the Treasure Hunter's default name of Jack, so that's what we're going with here.  I protect the [Memory]. Intruder! I cast you to the bottom of the abyss!  The floor opens up beneath Jack, and he falls through.  Jack's Intro Cutscene At this point, we get treated to a text scrawl and a cutscene. This was really difficult to transcribe, and I'm not super happy with the result, so I made a video of it. I suggest watching the video if possible (it's less than a minute long), but it is transcribed below for those who can't/don't want to. Ctrl + F for [VIDEO ENDS] to skip to the end of the cutscene. Music - Getting Rich Quick (Jack's Theme)  Jack lands on his feet on the floor below.  Which turns out to be a spike trap.  Jack runs down the corridor and comes to a ledge over a pit.  He starts right, but a boulder trap chases him left...  ...Around this corner, which turns out to be a U-turn...  ...Past this intersection, where Hanpan for some reason decides to hop out of Jack's pocket...  ...Around a loop and back to the intersection. Also, up until now, the boulder has been either traveling straight or following walls, but I'm pretty sure at this point it just straight-up cheats and turns to follow him. Most of the loop is walled, but the final stretch where it comes back to the intersection is over open pit, and it still changes direction.  Jack and Hanpan flee down the south corridor, and dodge to the left, allowing the boulder to roll past them and off the edge of the pit. Odd that the boulder doesn't home now...  Jack strikes a victory pose, but we've only just begun.  Because there's always a bigger boulder. Always. Jack flees down the bridge, which collapses behind him...  ...And is met on the other side by another boulder (or possibly the same one).  Jack flees up a second bridge, which also collapses behind him, and crashes into a wall.  He starts left, but gets caught by a spear trap.  Dashing past the spears, he encounters another boulder, and another collapsing bridge. This is starting to become old hat at this point.  Of course, he is met on the other side of the bridge by yet another boulder. These people seem to have had an endless supply of these things.  In a new twist on an old trick, these two boulders play chicken, while Jack dodges north into the corridor. They phase through each other when they collide in a phenomenon commonly referred to as "lazy animation".  [Power]. Jack hits the wall and rebounds onto the floor tile just as it opens beneath him, dumping him down yet another fall. [VIDEO ENDS] At this point, I'd like to draw everyone's attention to the screenshot here, where Jack's full name is revealed to the player. This is the game's second localization snafu, and it's a bit of a doozy. Van Burace here is supposed to be Vambrace, as in an armored arm guard typically worn with a full suit of plate armor. I think what happened is that "vambrace" was spelled in katakana, and they just transliterated it. Then some editor comes along and says "Vanbureisu? That doesn't sound like a name. Let's go with Van Burace." This isn't super important now, but just keep it in mind for later. Music - Courage Dungeon  Jack lands in the middle of a room on a lower floor - thankfully, there's no spike trap here. drat! That was cool!I don't know whether Jack is an adrenaline junkie or just praising himself for his admittedly impressive trap-dodging back on the previous floor. There's a good chance it's both, though.  Hanpan, however, seems to be suddenly in favor of beating a hasty retreat. We are given back control of Jack at this point.  A shot of the menu screen, showing that Jack actually lost HP from the spike and spear traps he got hit by in the cutscene. Proceeding south leads us to a two-way intersection and a treasure chest with a note next to it.  Ha ha ha... I've taken everything of value. Apparently, previous Treasure Hunters not only  . Jack's inventory is currently empty other than that single Heal Berry. Up the left path, we find this room. Both treasure chests are, in fact, empty. Seems like this might have been a better place to leave the note?  No way! How the heck am I supposed to get that treasure? I can help you get to those hard to reach places. Aim and push the Tools button. If it's not too heavy, I'll fly over and pick it up. I am a Wind Mouse, after all. Speed and wit are my forte!This seems like a good time to explain Tools. Each character has a total of four field abilities, called Tools. They're selectable by pressing Select anywhere besides battle, but aren't useable on the world map. The character whose Tool is currently selected is the one whose sprite appears on the field. The Tools button is Square by default. Jack starts with his first Tool, which is Hanpan.  True to his word, Hanpan can cross gaps and open chests. In this game, he flies in a straight line from the way Jack's facing, but in Alter Code: F, he's ground-bound and had to jump gaps (which meant he couldn't cross larger gaps) but is controllable. And yes, we did just get a cowboy hat for Jack. I told you this game had Western themes.  As I equip the cowboy hat, I might as well explain the menu. The top option, as you can see in the screenshot, is Item, and allows you to use or rearrange your inventory.  This is the inventory screen. That menu in front actually comes up when you press the Cancel button (Circle by default). The Use/Trade option just brings you back to the normal inventory screen, while Arrange automatically organizes your inventory. Press Cancel again to exit the Item menu. Jack's starting equipment is currently in the inventory because I wanted to see if they had any interesting info text (they don't).  Next comes Skill, which allows you to see what special abilities a character has, and to use any that can be used outside of combat, such as healing spells.  As you can see, Jack comes with one skill, which is the [Fast Draw] mentioned in his intro cutscene. Psycho  Next is the Equip menu, which should be pretty self-evident. Characters in Wild Arms have five equipment slots: Right Hand (the character's weapon; yes, Ned Flanders, everyone in this game is a righty), Left Hand (Shields and accessories), Body (Armor), Head (Hats and helms), and Rune (a special equipment slot we'll go over in Cecilia's story).  Our new cowboy hat, being a hat, obviously goes on the head.  Next up is Auto Battle. This game has a few limited AI settings which will allow the characters to fight on their own. I wouldn't rely on them, but if you're backtracking I guess they could speed up random encounters, or it could be an interesting idea for a challenge run of the game to always use the AI settings. I do that all the time in Dragon Quest games.  Status obviously brings up a screen showing the character's stats and current equipment.  Now seems like a good time to explain what the stats do. STR is your base attack power without your equipped weapon, while ATP is the final number. VIT and DFP are the same thing for physical defense. SOR affects magic attack damage and the MGR stat (50% of SOR goes to MGR), which is the character's magic defense. Jack doesn't get much out of SOR, because most of his Fast Draw techniques are actually based off his ATP, applying multipliers to his base ATP stat to determine damage. RES (Response, not Resistance) is basically speed, and it determines when a character will act in combat, and also influences pre-emptive attacks (player first turn). PRY is the character's evasion rate, and is 10% of the character's RES at base - left-hand gear will frequently raise PRY as well. Finally, Luck affects the rate at which you get preemptive strikes (player first turn) and ambushes (enemy first turn) in combat, as well as affecting critical hit rate, retreat success chance, and a few other things we'll go into when they're relevant. It can fluctuate, changing one step in either direction whenever you sleep at an inn, IIRC. As you can see, Jack's highest stats are in STR and RES. He's fast and he hits hard. A bit of a glass cannon, perhaps, but his high RES means he'll dodge more attacks, too.  Options allows you to change various game settings. I'll go over each of the settings you can change in another part; this one's already getting pretty long, and we still have quite a bit to go. Music - Critical Hit!  Leaving the room by the corridor to the right, we get our first random encounter, with a pair of Balloons. Balloons are about as threatening as their names imply, and are good punching bags for level 1 characters.  Between the Tools system and the battle menus, the designers of Wild Arms seem to have taken a few cues from the Lufia games. The battle menus are in a plus shape, and holding a direction on the D-Pad allows us to select the different options. This first screen has the options Fight, Equip, Auto Battle, Run, and Formation. Equip and Auto Battle work the same as they do in the menu screen. Yes, you can change equipment mid-battle. The function of Run should be obvious to anyone who's played a JRPG before. Formation we'll go into once we have more than one character.  This is Jack's combat menu, which is accessed by selecting Fight. The commands are Attack (the fist), Skill (the star; same as the menu screen), Item (the bag), Defend (the shield), and Force. Most of the options are pretty self-explanatory, so I'll explain the Wild Arms series' unique mechanic, Force. Force goes from 0 to 100, and increases whenever the character attacks or takes damage. At 25, 50, 75, and 100 points, a character gains a "Force Level Up". This increases their attack and defense power by 10% each. At 100, you also get CONDITION GREEN, which cures all status ailments. Each character starts with one Force skill, and can gain up to four throughout the game. The first Force skill costs 25, the second 50, and so on. At the end of battle, Force resets to zero in this game. From Wild Arms 2 on, Force resets to the character's level instead. In Alter Code: F, each character has only one Force skill (which costs 25 FP), but it's powered up.  But since we don't have any Force due to just starting a battle, I just select Attack.   Jack's basic attack is plenty enough to one-shot these guys, even at Level 1. They only have 35 HP, after all. In fact, Jack will one-shot anything in this dungeon with his basic attack. I'm not kidding.  Despite that, I was going to try to show off Psycho Crack on that second guy, but...   Jack counterattacks and kills it. I think counterattack chance is based off the Luck stat, but it could also be based off PRY; there isn't a whole lot of info out there - the best source I found was the game's manual. See that damage number, by the way? Yeah, Balloons aren't even remotely a threat.  Now that that's over with, we continue down the corridor and come to an intersection. The corridor to the west leads back to the room with the empty chest, and the northwest is the way we came from.  North leads to the stairwell up, but it's blocked. If you look, you can just barely see the button to raise the portcullis off to the right. The chest is empty; you can open chests from any direction in this game, so the spike trap is irrelevant.  Heading back downto go east, I get another random encounter with two Balloons. After killing one of them, I get a Force Level Up, which allows me to kill two birds with one stone and show off both Jack's Force skill, Accelerator, and Psycho Crack.  Jack's first Force skill is Accelerator. Accelerator guarantees that Jack will go first, no matter what. It's honestly kind of meh, because Jack is already the fastest character; once he has a few levels under his belt, he'll be going first most of the time anyways. It's most useful as a panic button, and makes Jack a decent healer when necessary. But honestly, Jack benefits more from the attack and defense increases from Force rather than using Accelerator most of the time, in my opinion.  Here's Psycho Crack in action. Psycho Crack, from what I was able to find out, applies a 125% multiplier to Jack's ATP when used. It has a chance of inflicting Confusion, but I've seen that happen maybe twice. Don't rely on it.  But for some weird reason, it doesn't seem to do much more damage than Jack's basic attack to this Balloon; certainly not +25%. Maybe he just rolled really low? It's not like it matters, though.  Continuing on to the right, we come across another intersection, this one containing a pit. If you fall down the pit, you get warped to the place you entered the area (for us, it's the small room Jack landed in), but you don't take any damage or anything. It's annoying, but no threat. This is where we'd end up if we'd taken the right fork back at the beginning.  Going north, we find the button to raise the portcullis over the stairway. The chest is empty.  Proceeding to the next floor, we find ourselves on a relatively narrow walkway over a pit with three blocks arranged to impede progress. You can push some objects by grinding your face into them, so we move the center block out of the way and proceed.  The torch here blocks the middle of the walkway, and there are spike traps on both sides. You can use the dash (Cross by default; I like to change it to Circle so it coexists with Cancel instead of Confirm) like I am in the screenshot, but the spikes take so long to pop that as long as you don't stop on them, you're fine. Really, they're not going to hurt you unless you're not paying attention. The dash works like the Pegasus Boots from A Link to the Past; you can only move straight in one direction while dashing, but you can cancel it by letting go of the button. Hitting something causes you to recoil, so be careful.  We dash down past a couple more setups like in the previous image before hitting the bottom of the room, where we find a chest surrounded by spike traps. Just to be safe, I use Hanpan to grab the Heal Berry in the chest from out of range of the spikes. Hanpan doesn't trigger traps and is unharmed by any already triggered; he flies over the spikes like they're not even there.  Going through the left door, we find a locked staircase, but this time we can clearly see the button to open it.  While circling around to hit the button, we get into another random encounter. Ooh, a new enemy!   Oh. I kill the Balloon and move on. Hit button, back to staircase.  Upstairs, we find ourselves in the middle of a wide hallway full of spear traps. Left goes to another locked stairwell, so let's head right first.  Fortunately, the intro cutscene already taught us how to avoid spear traps. Dashing past them leads to a door and a chest with a Heal Berry in it.  Through the door we find a room shaped like a mirrored "S"...  With the button to open the stairwell at the top. Push the center block into the pit...  ...And send Hanpan across; he can hit buttons and flip switches, as well as grabbing items.  Pictured: Unlike the spike traps, spear traps will get you if you're not dashing.  Back on the other side of the big hallway, we find the stairwell up and a chest containing another Heal Berry.  Upstairs is a small room with a magic circle that acts as a save point.  I save while I'm here.  Through the door at the bottom, we find a room with another fork. It doesn't matter which way you pick; the room is a big circle with the save point room in the center, there are no treasures, and the way out is up top. We head left, because Reasons.   We get into a fight with a lone Pillbug. As you can see, they hit significantly harder than Balloons, when they feel up to it; Jack's even defending there. You can also encounter Pillbugs on the first floor, but they seem to show up more often here.  They have much better defense than Balloons, too. It doesn't matter, though, because that 15 damage is their max HP exactly, so this bug goes down.  Music - Win! And Jack gains a level from it.  Shot of the menu screen; Jack gained 40 HP with this level-up. I'll post a status screen at the end of the update.  Ouch! What are these spikes doing here?!  I dunno, but they're still not a threat.  They don't even bother me while I stroll around activating the buttons to open the next doorway (not a staircase this time! Maybe we're near the top?).  The next floor is a narrow causeway with spike traps at every intersection. Left from this intersection is a dead end, and then you have to wait for the trap to reset to go back. That's right; spike traps at their worst are no more dangerous than traffic lights.  Down is a dead end here; we go left.  To this random encounter, with a new enemy - the Skeleton. Creative naming, Sony.   They're the hardest-hitting enemies here; again, that's against Jack while he's defending. They can also use an attack called Brutal Hit that does even more damage, but it wouldn't do it and I was getting kinda low on HP so I decided to stop acting like a punching bag.  As his reward for being the only even vaguely threatening enemy in this dungeon, I Accelerator/Psycho Crack him to death. Still unnecessary, but at least it does more damage than a basic attack against it - IIRC, Skeletons take damage in the mid-high 20s from his basic attack, and this one took 42 from Psycho Crack.  Past him, we find a chest with this in it. The other chest had a Heal Berry.  The Hide Glove is a Left-Hand item that increases DFP and PRY. Jack will dodge one out of every 20 or so attacks, now! Yeah, PRY doesn't really come online until the mid/late-game, and by then you're usually doing different things with your Left Hand slot.  We head up and through the door.  How in the world do you operate these switches? I don't get it! Through the next door is a room with two blue switches on opposite ends and a note in the center.  The answer: have a little blue mouse who can trigger switches at range. Or the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP, I guess. But I know which one I prefer.  The red waves are a teleporter that takes us to the final room of the dungeon. Music - Shock  We end up in a room with some weird machinery all over the place. Jack walks over to the machine as Hanpan pops out of his pocket.  Jack touches it. He's not good at taking directions. At this point, the music goes silent, replaced by a mechanical hum.  The machine begins to glow, and a globe forms above the pad in the center. A figure appears within the globe.  I've never seen anything like this before... What... What's an Elw? Long ago... an alien race lived here, an advanced race who used technology laced with magic. These are the remnants of a race whose lives were in sync with the laws of nature.That's right, this western fantasy JRPG just took a hard right turn into sci-fi. The Elw are kind of like elves and Chozo rolled into one package. Also, it's hard to tell on the sprite, especially with the effects around it, but they have brown furry dog/bunny ears. So is this an Elw? No, this is a holographic image. This machine must be a data storage device of the Elw! Information is left here to be retrieved later! This certainly is a [Temple of Memory]. Wait a minute... The Elw is speaking directly into my mind! Wow! With your thick skull?! This certainly is advanced technology!Hanpan and Jack might work together, but they also casually banter and bicker.   Lolithia's icy breath can only destroy... Seek not Lolithia in her tomb. The Elw have departed. Seek not Lolithia, for she is bound in the [Land of Light]... She is the Death Wind. The heartbeat of annihilation, an absolute destructive power... I can't believe it... The absolute [Power]... Hey Hanpan, you heard him! Where is this [Land of Light]? Hmm... I'm not certain, but... In an ancient tongue, Adlehyde means [Light]. Perhaps it's related... Do you want to go there? It's not that far from here. ... OK. Adlehyde is a kingdom located to the southeast of here. We regain control here. Another red teleporter appears.  It takes us back out to the first room of the dungeon. As we leave the Temple of Memory, we get a bit more narration.  Free thyself from the past. But what awaits in the future? Does man seek strength because he believes that the Power will light the darkened path to the future? He has no idea that the Power he seeks is also binding his soul. Heavy stuff.  And with that, Jack's journey is done for now. Join me next time, as I take on Cecilia's route. Before we go, though, let's take a look a Jack's current stats:  As expected, his STR and RES have increased the most; his VIT barely went up, though. He did get a decent gain in SOR, though, but again, it's not super useful to him.
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Apr 12, 2018 04:25
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So Jack hears the story of some eldritch abomination from an anime elf and gets fired up more than ever. This can't end well.
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Apr 12, 2018 05:04
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I'm seeing shades of Grahf from Xenogears, too.
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Apr 12, 2018 06:17
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Jack: "Well, looks like you've caught us in another messy situation!"
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Apr 12, 2018 12:41
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I forgot how much the 3D-models in battle clash with the spritework of the rest of the game. I'm glad they kept it cartoony, though.
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Apr 12, 2018 12:48
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"Seek not, I repeat, seek NOT the being up ultimate evil which thankfully is sealed away in the city of light!!!" "City of light? Got it! On my way already!" Jack listens to dialogue like I do to sidequest instructions, apparently.
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Apr 12, 2018 14:00
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So am I reading the stats correctly here in that we currently have less DFP that Vitality, suggesting that an equipped item is currently serving as a detriment to us? Also very ew at a character being named Loli here.
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Apr 12, 2018 16:10
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Shadow225 posted:So am I reading the stats correctly here in that we currently have less DFP that Vitality, suggesting that an equipped item is currently serving as a detriment to us?
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Apr 12, 2018 16:32
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For the most part, AC:F feels more like a sidegrade than anything, but Accelerator is one of the few things it just plain does better than the original. Powering up and changing the nature of draws is a hell of a lot more interesting than just "make the character who goes first 99% of the time go first 100% of the time".
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Apr 12, 2018 22:20
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vilkacis posted:For the most part, AC:F feels more like a sidegrade than anything, but Accelerator is one of the few things it just plain does better than the original. Powering up and changing the nature of draws is a hell of a lot more interesting than just "make the character who goes first 99% of the time go first 100% of the time".
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Apr 12, 2018 22:38
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Commander Keene posted:
Right, sorry, I know you must have explained it, but based on the angles here, are those dangerous spike traps which can be defeated by walking briskly across them? Sheesh, some dungeon builders.
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Apr 15, 2018 14:04
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Glazius posted:Right, sorry, I know you must have explained it, but based on the angles here, are those dangerous spike traps which can be defeated by walking briskly across them? Commander Keene posted:
Commander Keene fucked around with this message at 16:59 on Apr 15, 2018 |
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Apr 15, 2018 16:54
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Glazius posted:Sheesh, some dungeon builders. Look, it's been hundreds of years since the last time someone oiled those spikes. It's a wonder they work at all! Edit: Oh, and also: Commander Keene posted:Mechanically at least, I prefer Alter Code: F specifically because of stuff like this and the Personal Skill system. I think Jack's Fast Draws were a bit more varied in ACF by nature, as well. For example, IIRC Speed Fang, Jack's first Fast Draw there, is actually based off his RES stat instead of ATP. PS are cool and all, but a lot of them are just skill versions of equipment options WA1 used to have, so it doesn't make much of a difference in the end which version you have. And I would definitely disagree that Jack has more variety in ACF - he only has like half the skills he used to and iirc they took out everything that isn't direct damage. Off the top of my head I can think of like five things Jack used to be able to do but can't in AC:F (even if only about maybe two of them were actually useful). vilkacis fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Apr 15, 2018 |
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Apr 15, 2018 21:27
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In ACF every single one of Jack's skills has a different damage formula (two formulae each if you count the Accelerated versions). Theoretically this makes all of them good in different situations, but in practice it's more like you just figure out which one is best and spam that. Except one of them was better against enemies with really high DEF.
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Apr 16, 2018 00:29
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It felt like everything in ACF was done better in WA3. You also didn't have to worry about Luck in WA3, but boy is Luck a factor in ACF.
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Apr 16, 2018 01:17
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Clarste posted:in practice it's more like you just figure out which one is best and spam that Yeah, pretty much. It might be more interesting if you had multiple FD users with different stats, or if WA was a game where you influenced your characters' stat growth. Scalding Coffee posted:It felt like everything in ACF was done better in WA3. I feel like this is true, and would be true if you replaced ACF with a lot of other games, as well. WA3 was pretty good, is what I'm trying to say.
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Apr 16, 2018 21:36
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Part 2 - Cecilia the Girl From The Abbey Last time, we watched a  ...we join a girl studying at a convent. The abbey has a lot of NPCs to talk to and books to read, so I'll be doing a separate bonus update for that; otherwise this update would run way too long. Music - Oh, Shaman...   We open on a black void and some unknown voice calling to this girl.  It's dark in here. I can't see...  The background brightens and cycles through colors as the conversation progresses. I didn't know New Age Retro Hippies were telepathic, though. Must be only when they're Mushroomized.  Tell me your name... We will again be bound by the ancient contract.Forgive the spoiler portrait there; we'll see this guy show up in a minute. Hurry... Tell me your name. Once again, the world is being engulfed by darkness. Tell me your name. ... ...My name is... Again, thread voted on default names, so our heroine here is Cecilia. Don't worry if you voted for one of the other choices; I have plans for at least some of the other names voted on. A shadowy form appears, and says...  The shadowy form disappears, taking the background and music with it. ... Who are you...?   Music - Abbey  Plot Twist: It was all a dream. That's it, update over, you can all go home. ...Not buying it, huh?  Aren't you turning 17 today? You need to work on not being so spaced out. Aren't you supposed to go back to Adlehyde when you turn 17? I worry about the future if our princess has mental problems.Cecilia turns away from her classmates. Gee... You guys are being really nice to me today. You're going back to Adlehyde soon, aren't you? You should say farewell to everyone... Yeah, I need to do that...Her blonde friend walks around to the desk on the other side of Cecilia.  Chill out, girl. It literally hasn't even been five seconds since you suggested it. I checked the frame data. Stop procrastinating. Get going! Everyone will appreciate your visit.Now it's time to leave the classroom. Going right, around the door to the courtyard, Cecilia finds the library.  The game script I'm using calls this girl a "librarian", but she uses the same sprite as other students.  I was sorting the books, but I ended up making a mess. I'm terrible at this. Anje, the magician, has a magic [Pocket Watch]. Please, Cecilia. Get the watch from Anje and help me clean the library! The watch will reverse time and put all the books back on the shelves.We'll get to that in a minute. But first, in the next classroom over...   Here... take my Crest Graph. This is my gift to you. Use this at the Magic Guild to create your own spells using what you've learned. Crest Graphs are very useful. As Tutorial Lady just said, you use them to have Cecilia learn spells; she doesn't learn any naturally by leveling up. Speaking of which, Cecilia starts with two spells learned:  Heal and Flame, which is a basic single-target attack spell. This game does have magic elements, so the fact that it is a fire spell does matter.  And here's a shot of her base stats. As should be plainly obvious, Cecilia is a mage. She'll be the party healer, and she's responsible for most of the buffs and debuffs the party has access to, as well as all of the out-of-combat utility. There are a few good attack spells, but she won't be doing that much, honestly.  Upstairs, we find Anje. Prepare for  . This is the [Guardian Stone]. It responds to the power of the Guardians. According to my studies, the [Tear Drop]has some connection to them. Push the Tools button near the desk and use the [Tear Drop]. The [Guardian Stone] should respond. If you do this for me, I shall give you my [Pocket Watch].Well, isn't that convenient. I head over to the table and use the Tear Drop (Cecilia's starting Tool).  The stone glows orange for a second.  Your [Tear Drop] crystal and the Guardians are linked in some way. The [Tear Drop] is the secret treasure of the Adlehyde family. That's why the stone glowed. This will help so much in furthering my research. You can have my [Pocket Watch]. It's very useful. That's right, we get Cecilia's second tool before her first battle. Her scenario is the only one that does this. Alter Code F turns the Tear Drop into a key item, rather than a tool. And then instead of giving you the Pocket Watch, gives you the Tinder Staff, which is a freakin' flamethrower. But you can only use it to light torches. By using the [Pocket Watch], you can go back in time. You can reconstruct broken boxes and reset objects that are stuck in place. It may not always be effective, but its magic is worth repeating.Phew. Now that that's done with, I head back up to the library.  To find the girl I talked to previously waiting at the door. Well, let's get this done. I'll go over to Sister Mary and make some excuses. I'll be right back. Cecilia, I'm counting on you, OK?Why are you going to go make excuses? We're rewinding time! It will literally be as if this never happened!  Cecilia uses the Pocket Watch...   And all but one of the books disappear. Huh? There's one book still left on the floor. I am... trapped within the... [Sealed Library]...The book disappears. A book spoke to me. The same voice as in the dream. What is the [Sealed Library]? I wonder if it's located somewhere in the abbey?Let's go see if Sister Mary knows anything.  Yes, it's not a dream. A shadow spoke to me and asked me to release him from the book. Sister Mary... I thought you might know... A book which speaks. And a large shadow? A library in which many forbidden secrets are stored does exist. Where the [Sealed Library] is... That I cannot tell you. You were summoned by the Guardians to search for the [Sealed Library]. If you are the chosen one, you must do this on your own. The [Sealed Library] may hold many monsters. Please be careful. May the Guardians be with you.Now that we're done with that spiel, let's go talk to the blonde girl who was talking to Cecilia at the start. I was going to save this for the side update, but... Did you finish your rounds already? The [Sealed Library]? I've heard of it. I don't know if it really exists. Ask Sister Mary or one of the older instructors. Sister Mary, the head chef, and Lila the motormouth might know of the [Sealed Library]....along with the girl in the next room...  Why don't you ask her?...she constitutes a Simon's Quest-style trap. Their statements are misleading; only Sister Mary of the three is required, only the head chef has anything remotely useful to say, and even that is said better by someone else. Lila is completely useless.  the courtyard have secret switches. I want to push them so baaaad!!!This girl over by the Magic Guild is actually the one with the useful information - and the plot flag. These switches don't exist before you talk to her.  Speaking of the Magic Guild, let's go make a spell while we're over here. (Ignore the extra Crest Graph; I got that while recording extra material for a bonus update and won't be using it.) The three options should be pretty self-explanatory; Bind creates a spell (which consumes one Crest Graph), Dissolve cannibalizes a spell to reclaim the Crest Graph, and Rename Spell allows you to change a spell's name. No, I'm not holding a name vote every time I make a spell; since the thread voted for default character names, the default spell names will do as well.  This is what the spell creation menu looks like. Spells are divided into White and Black magic (in true Final Fantasy style) in this game (but none of the others aside from Alter Code F, to my knowledge - Wild Arms 2 does away with the White/Black dichotomy if memory serves, and I think from Wild Arms 3 on the series does away with Crest Magic entirely in favor of alternative magic systems, although most of my experience with the series is 1, 2, and ACF so I'm not certain). The spell I'm making now is conveniently at the default position of the cursor.  And with that done, I'm ready to head to the dungeon.  showing the [Light] to two mages at once....After I talk to this nun by the entrance to the abbey for another useful hint. These two NPCs are the only ones with anything useful to say about the Sealed Library.  This is what happens when you try to leave the abbey before the end of Cecilia's scenario, by the way. Like Jack, she's locked in until she's done.  Out in the courtyard, I flip the switches on the two statues...   ...Push them around to swap their positions...  And then use the Tear Drop in between the two.   Two balls of light appear, swirl around Cecilia, and then fly off into the abbey. Entering the abbey...  Causes a teardrop to appear on the wall and this to happen.  Suddenly I don't feel so good about this, guys... Examining the crystal gives us this. Using the Tear Drop in front of the crystal...  ...Teleports Cecilia away. Music - Way of Illusion  We arrive in this room, with only one way to go.  * A blue crystal similar to the [Tear Drop] crystal is embedded in the door. Well, only one thing to do then. Using the Tear Drop opens the door and allows progress.  Proceeding on, we enter this room, with a locked door with no crystal and boxes in each corner.  Lifting and throwing the boxes reveals a switch in the top-right corner of the room that opens the door.  Proceeding downwards, we find this room, which... doesn't really seem to have a purpose. It's completely empty and doesn't even have a door for us to unlock. Music - Critical Hit!  We do get our first random encounter of the dungeon here, though!   Blue Books aren't super dangerous; their gimmick is kind of interesting, though; they use actual Crest Magic spells that Cecilia can learn! And if memory serves, they even use the same names for their spells as Cecilia; here they're using the defaults because I haven't made these spells yet, but if you change the names of your spells, every spellcasting enemy in the game will use those names.   They can use Freeze, the basic single-target ice (duh) spell. This can be dangerous if you're not paying attention to her health, but nobody's foolish enough to make that rookie mistake. It's me, I'm the rookie    They also have Slow Down, which reduces the target's RES by half. Useless on Cecilia; she's slower than everything in this dungeon anyways.  They have 13 HP, which just barely prevents a Level 1 Cecilia from one-shotting them with a basic attack, and 60 MP (almost twice Cecilia's!), which means they're dead long before they run out.   They also have a weakness to fire, although Flame would have been overkill even without it. Cecilia Flames them and moves on. No gifs of the spells this time; I'll try to show off all of Cecilia's spells in various boss fight videos.  Through the door at the bottom of the stairs, we find another small puzzle room with boxes, treasure chests, and a Zelda-esque crystal switch. Throwing a box into the switch opens the door. The treasure chests contain a Medicine (a cure for the Disease status effect, which we'll see in a bit) and a Magic Carrot (restores 50 MP).  Proceeding through the door brings us to another suspiciously-empty room. I'm guessing these are here because they designed the puzzle rooms to all be entered from the bottom, requiring some way to "flip" the player as they descended.  Through there, we find a long corridor filled with boxes. You must smash these to proceed; there's no way around them. Hold on to the last one, though.  The corridor opens into a room with more treasure and a switch on the floor. The door is locked, as usual.  Stepping on the switch creates a crystal switch, and you then throw the box you definitely saved and didn't smash in order to get the treasure chests (which are two Heal Berries, by the way) at it in order to open the door.  The key is the [Flame]. Open the door and light the path. Through the door is the actual library portion of the Sealed Library, and the penultimate room. All of the bookshelves have text, which will be supplied in the next update. The message here is a hint to the puzzle of the room.  The Gagison is the second and final generic enemy we'll meet in the Sealed Library. All in all, they're less dangerous than the Blue Books. They have 20 HP and a weakness to fire. They don't cast Crest Magic, so they have no MP.   Their basic attack is just as pathetic as the Blue Book's.    And their other attack is Disease, which predictably inflicts the Disease status effect. Disease prevents the healing of HP, whether through items or spells, until cured. If you get hit with it, make sure you can survive a beating for at least two rounds, because using Medicine will take one, and Cecilia is still slower than the enemies. Music - Defeated  I forget to pay attention to Cecilia's HP, and pay the price. Cecilia's route is definitely the most difficult of the three; she's slow, weak, and fragile without expending MP to buff, which makes her the most vulnerable. If she was faster, more robust, or stronger, it would decrease the challenge here significantly. I still wouldn't call it particularly difficult, but it's more on the level of "you can actually die here if you get careless" whereas on the other two routes you pretty much have to be trying in order to lose.  Getting into more fights on my way back.  Ten points if you can guess what seeing this screen made me realize I forgot to do on my way back. I have to go back to the abbey to get it. Hey, I never claimed to be good at the game. Cecilia gains a level while I backtrack like a moron.  Back in the Sealed Library, I find this in a treasure chest on the right side of the library room while exploring. Balancing it on the left side is another Magic Carrot.  Statistically, it's the same as Jack's Cowboy Hat, but each character has their own unique equipment sets, aside from left-hand items and runes. Don't worry, we'll get to runes later.  Past the Capuche is this, the first of the three [Books of Doors].  The second one is behind this bookcase on the left side of the room.  And here's the third, way up in the top-right corner of the room.  Once you throw all three of the books into the torch/bonfire up on top of the room, a doorway appears in the wall directly below. It's a blank wall until then. Hmm... book enemies with a weakness to fire... a puzzle about throwing books onto a bonfire... Nah, must be just a coincidence. At about this point, Cecilia runs out of MP, and I head back to the abbey to rest.  On the way back, I discover that a Level 2 Cecilia can in fact one-shot the Blue Books with her basic attack. I'd have saved a lot of MP if I'd known that earlier.   This girl in the dormitories on the second floor serves as a free inn. The parrot next to the bed is a Memory Bird; basically a save point that also lets you change characters. Music - Inn  On the way back, Cecilia levels up to Level 3.  Going down the stairs in the library room leads to this... study, I guess. The bookshelves hold more fodder for the bonus update; the real prize is on the desk down bottom.  The book on the desk opens, which releases this guy.   I shall grant your wish and make you a part of my story! You're not the shadow that calls me, are you?At this point, combat begins. Boss Fight - Nelgaul Music - Battle ~ Mid Boss No gifs this time; just watch the video.  Become my flesh and blood inside the forbidden book! Another localization goof; "Nelgaul" is a badly mangled transliteration of "Nergal", a Babylonian god of war and pestilence, who also served to govern one of the sun's cycles. Babylonians believed that his marriage to Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld, and subsequent requirement to spend six months of the year in the underworld is what causes the seasons. We'll be seeing more of Babylon in this game, and the localization will treat that about as well as it did this.   Nelgaul is a total jobber; he's slower than Cecilia, so he's even less threatening than a Blue Book. Nevertheless, we want to completely neuter him, so we start this fight by casting Shield three times.  His damage output isn't particularly threatening in the first place, although this is after one Shield spell has gone off.   By the time we've gotten off all three Shields, even his Brutal Attack can't scratch us.   Now, we could just beat him to death with a mage staff at this point, but I  After winning the battle, this dragon turtle pops out of the book as well. Must be a Monster Manual.   I am Stoldark, the Guardian of the water. For ages, the demon Nelgaul has locked me in this terrible book. I have waited a long time for the Innocent One who would receive the Guardian Spirit. The Innocent One? Me? The world is at the turning point of darkness again. Innocent One... can you hear the anger of the land and the wind? The screams of the sea and the sky? ... Wear me as your armor, Innocent One. I shall protect you in your fight for life. The battle for Filgaia begins again. Everything begins with [Lolithia].  [Lolithia]... What does that mean? And then Cecilia gets teleported out of the Sealed Library.  And ends up face-to-face with Sister Mary, who seemed to be expecting her. Now you realize the responsibilities of the women in the Adlehyde family. The female descendants of the Adlehyde family share their thoughts with the Guardians. They must carry the burden of their destiny with them for the rest of their lives. No one can understand the pain and pressure which you must endure. But, they can help you cope with it and make your life easier. Cecilia, there are those who can relate to Oof, that text spacing. Walk proudly from the abbey. You must travel your own path from now on. Go! You are the Innocent One, the Guardians have chosen! Before we go, though, Cecilia equips that rune she just got. For now, it's just a stat booster, though that extra SOR (and the attendant MGR) will come in handy. Each rune boosts different stat(s).  The path she followed in the past was guided by her surroundings. She knew someday she would have to pave her own path to the future. The Innocent One, whom the Guardians speak of... It may be too heavy of a burden to be the sorceress of the ultimate power at such a young age. As Cecilia leaves the abbey for home, we get this parting message. Hey, if she's got the ultimate power, maybe Jack's looking for her!  And we leave with this last glance at Cecilia's stats. Her dungeon was a lot longer and tougher than Jack's, even with NPC chatter and book-reading cut out, and it shows in her level.  And that's it for Cecilia, at least for this week! Next time we take a look at the NPCs and books in the abbey. Commander Keene fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Apr 19, 2018 |
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Apr 19, 2018 05:46
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So the eldritch abomination Lolithia is being referred to in the context of a battle for the sake of the world. I don't think something can get anymore dangerous than that.
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Apr 19, 2018 08:10
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Sister Mary, huh...? On a completely different subject, Critical Hit! is a really good random battle theme! The pocket watch is probably the most hilariously overpowered yet underused item any WA game ever gives you. It just seems like it should be worth so much more than the occasional "oops, better un-break this crate"... I rather like the crest system - it's nice to be able to decide what you're bringing along and pick just what you feel like you need at the moment. Shitenshi posted:So the eldritch abomination Lolithia is being referred to in the context of a battle for the sake of the world. I don't think something can get anymore dangerous than that. A battle for the sake of the universe, of course! 
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Apr 19, 2018 13:10
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I am really curious what 8 year old me got stuck on there. I remember the Ruin Festival dialog. I guess that I maybe didn't get the stop watch or didn't switch the statues. Regardless, it's great to see someone get further than I
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Apr 19, 2018 15:58
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Shadow225 posted:I am really curious what 8 year old me got stuck on there. I remember the Ruin Festival dialog. I guess that I maybe didn't get the stop watch or didn't switch the statues. Regardless, it's great to see someone get further than I The dungeon itself might also be a sticking point. Especially for an eight-year-old who may not be used to how RPGs work yet, it could be considered pretty tough. Cecilia being slower than every enemy except Nelgaul is actually the worst part, IMO; it means you have to play a lot more cautiously and heal a lot more proactively than normal. Initiative is a really important stat for a healer, and Persona Q taught me that one.
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Apr 19, 2018 16:19
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vilkacis posted:On a completely different subject, Critical Hit! is a really good random battle theme! It's a really memorable song and it pops into my head whenever I see a battle screen shot. I found the soundtrack to be pretty lacking in numbers, but most of the songs are great.
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Apr 19, 2018 17:36
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Orcs and Ostriches posted:It's a really memorable song and it pops into my head whenever I see a battle screen shot. Yeah, this one and the WA2 soundtrack really are the best. All the entries after that, it was like Naruke was trying way too hard most of the time and not all, but way too many of the songs, ended up sounding a bit over the top. vilkacis posted:A battle for the sake of the universe, of course! I always think Jack is the only ridiculous character here, being an anime Indiana Jones with his trusty mouse sidekick, and then I remember some of the villains. And then there's the intro scene that keeps coming back to mind.
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Apr 19, 2018 18:28
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Orcs and Ostriches posted:It's a really memorable song and it pops into my head whenever I see a battle screen shot. Yeah, this game has a very memorable soundtrack. I still whistle a certain future character's theme on the regular when I'm bored, now some
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Apr 19, 2018 20:38
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I read Surf Village as Smurf Village.
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Apr 19, 2018 23:15
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FeyerbrandX posted:I read Surf Village as Smurf Village.
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Apr 19, 2018 23:27
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Rockopolis posted:1. Girl From Abbey - Tuco This is my vote And the only true names in my heart Edit: aw missed it. ZeusCannon fucked around with this message at 02:07 on Apr 20, 2018 |
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Apr 20, 2018 02:01
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Orcs and Ostriches posted:I found the soundtrack to be pretty lacking in numbers I looked at the ost and it has 79 tracks, which is a pretty decent amount. Shitenshi posted:Yeah, this one and the WA2 soundtrack really are the best. All the entries after that, it was like Naruke was trying way too hard most of the time and not all, but way too many of the songs, ended up sounding a bit over the top. To be honest I barely even remember 4/5's soundtracks so you may well be right about those, but as far as I'm concerned WA3 is pretty high up there as well. placid saviour posted:Yeah, this game has a very memorable soundtrack. I still whistle a certain future character's theme on the regular when I'm bored, now some You'll have to post when we get there, because I want to know if I'm right, dammit 
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Apr 20, 2018 04:00
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vilkacis posted:I looked at the ost and it has 79 tracks, which is a pretty decent amount. Oh I see, the originally released soundtrack only had 30 some, while the game has 79. I should have realized something was off when the album was missing songs from the game.
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Apr 20, 2018 04:22
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| # ? May 5, 2024 21:24 |
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I wonder what kind of person you have to contract to build the secret Chosen One trial grounds in the magic academy to begin with.
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Apr 20, 2018 04:23
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