|
Being different is a good thing, right?
|
#
?
May 6, 2018 01:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 16:58 |
|
|
Scalding Coffee posted:Being different is a good thing, right? That depends on the kind of 'different', even in a relatively non-xenophobic society. I'd say it's neither intrinsically good or bad in itself.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2018 16:24
|
|
|
Well, that's pretty classic Western. Now something ironic's going to happen to that town after we're out of town for about a day.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2018 06:47
|
|
|
Now that's just crazy talk. The starting town in JRPGs invariably is unvisited by any sort of instant horrific doom and ends up a bustling metropolis by the end! Also I am digging the soundtrack for this. It's doing a solid job of being A Western and A JRPG as needed.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2018 07:49
|
|
|
This soundtrack is up there with the greats of the time like Chrono Cross and Legend of Mana in my opinion. The Western-ness of it was really unique and overall it's just a really good soundtrack. The first mp3 I ever downloaded was from this game. I had tons of midis of other games, but I couldn't find them for Wild Arms. Eventually stumbled on Winamp 1 to get the thing to play.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2018 16:59
|
|
|
No update this week due to sickness. I have a bunch of free time next week though, so I'll see if I can get two updates up by next Friday.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2018 08:03
|
|
|
I've been wanting to re-visit this game from my youth. Look forward to following along.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2018 14:34
|
|
|
Bonus 2 - What If? Previously, we watched a kid get run out of town for accidentally causing and then stopping the zombie apocalypse. It was a busy day. Today, we're going to look into an alternate universe. One where our protagonists are not named Rudy, Jack, and Cecilia. No, these intrepid adventurers are named...    ...Wait, really? Who names their kid Lady? Sounds like a name you'd use for a dog. This update is going to cover all of the supplemental dialogue during the three scenarios that can be reached by walking one protagonist over to the others' areas and chatting with all the NPCs there. Now, as mentioned previously, only   Additionally, nobody else can get in (which means I don't have to record two more movies of people running from boulder traps). Coupled with the fact that there ironically is no Memory Bird in the Temple of Memory to change characters, this means Dante's scenario is completely locked down. His dungeon goes much the same as Jack's, although due to lucky enemy encounters, he ends up a level ahead of Jack upon leaving. Music - Hope  Dante heads over to Surf first, because it's closer to the Temple of Memory than the Curan Abbey.   The Obligatory Village Greeter and his buddy warn that Dante might find the village boring. Based upon the roughly one hour I've played of Devil May Cry a decade ago, I feel like this is probably correct. The item shop next to him will happily sell to Dante, but doesn't have any different dialogue or inventory, so we're skipping him.  The doomsday cultist by the well continues to pester everyone about the end of the world. Also, I technically cheated and started Nero's and Lady's scenarios before completing Dante's; you can see Nero in this shot. He wouldn't exist if I hadn't.  I don't think that's how it works, kid. If reading books made you an adventurer, I'd be Indiana Jones by now.   but most of all I want to be like my father and help the needy.Tony's got his head on straight. He could stand to look a bit more before he leaps, but he's a good kid.   This is what I don't get about Surf. The kid who tells you the story about the Zombie acts like it was forever ago, and even directly states that people have largely forgotten it by now. But these guys and the Mayor all imply that they were alive back when the cave was still producing berries, so it can't have been that long. Which is it, game?  We can see that this woman isn't particularly fond of Dream Chasers to begin with. Note that this is before the Zombie; and indeed before Tony's even left town.  The Mayor's wife still acts as a free inn.  [Dream Chaser], welcome to Surf Village. You must be tired. Our village may be modest, but this is a good place to rest. Proof that Nero isn't a silent protagonist.   Let me just state that Tony's Mom is absolutely infuriating to deal with when you're trying to get screenshots for an LP. 90% of the time after you talk to her, she will walk directly over to her husband's bedside and completely block access to him for roughly 10-20 seconds. She's done it literally every single time I've talked to her in this LP, including the times coming up. It's like, "Yes, I know you want to get over here. What of it?"   You know the [Fast Draw]! That's a northern sword technique, isn't it?I think your wife is trying to isolate you, man. I'm not sure why.  We're done in Surf for now. Next, let's head over to the Abbey to chat up all the schoolgirls. That sounds like something Dante would do. Music - Abbey   You can, however, pray to the Guardians at the altar.I realize I forgot to show off the altar during Cecilia's update, but I show it off in this one. Proceeding upstairs to Anje, who still has her Pocket Watch at this time:   are the core of our beliefs.Next stop is the kitchen.  Technically, she's in back of the kitchen, but I need to pass her to talk to Chef Jacques, anyways.  I was once a famous cook, but Jacques can cook circles around me. Everyone here has a large appetite. It must take a lot of energy to use magic. They never get fat.Onwards, to the classrooms!   As we'll see when Nero gets here, this girl has a bit of a narrative going on; she's probably the most interesting of the incidental NPCs. You need determination and patience if you want to learn magic. Librarian girl is still a sad sack.   The [Glutton Woman]. The new legend of Curan Abbey.Over in  Hey, I was told all this studying doesn't help much out in the real world.Ah, the eternal student's lament. Seems a bit out of place, though, when you're in the Catholic school version of Hogwarts. The result of her studying is a tangible increase in personal power. I know I'd have been a much better student if my classes had been learning how to throw fire from my fingertips. Deep inside your heart there is a dark place. I think you should examine its role in how you live your life.Sister Mary continues to dispense cryptic foreshadowing like a vending machine.  Dante one-shots everything on the overworld at this point (yes, even the 70 HP Tatzelbelms) and goes first 90% of the time. No, there really isn't much danger.  I never noticed her title was "Curan Guard" before. The abbey is full of mysteries. It's older than some ruins. Note that this is the girl who says she came to the Abbey to learn mgic, not worship in Cecilia's scenario. Suddenly she's done a complete 180 on the whole religion thing.  Upstairs in the dorm, I think this girl has been sneaking boyfriends into the Abbey dorms.  Hi Mr. [Treasure Hunter]. Find anything interesting? You must see a lot of things as you travel.Lady and Lila here are actually Dante's final stops for this round of the Abbey. He'll be back later, once Lady takes down Nelgaul. Now let's check on Nero.  Nero can't leave Surf before getting the Bombs from the Mayor, so that's what we do. After that, it's time to mosey on over to Curan Abbey.   consciousness.Guardianism seems to be kind of animistic as a religion, which makes sense given what we know about the Guardians so far.  Down by the kitchen... If you want to eat here, you must join the abbey. But you're a boy... ...You can't join. Everyone here has a large appetite. Especially this one little girl... She can eat enough for the whole class.More ribbing on Lady's appetite. Lady's almost 17; I don't think "little girl" is the correct term to use here.  Through the courtyard, up into the classroms.  This is the girl who was determinedly studying during Cecilia's scenario, and decried testing when Dante came through the abbey. Now we know why. You must practice every day if you want to become a magician.   with a gift.Over in Lady's classroom, her friends finally seem to have some nice things to say about her... We're not all smart just because we're students of magic. The Princess is a good magician, but she's spaced out most of the time....Oh. If there is a place that has more books than Curan, I would like to see it.According to the text file I have with all the book transcriptions in it, Curan Abbey (and in particular the Sealed Library) has fully half the books in the game, at least. So no, you won't see any place with more books than Curan Abbey. Sorry... You're not a magician, but I can feel the presence of great powers within you.I'm not certain whether Sister Mary is saying Nero has no magical ability at all and can never learn magic period, or simply that he has no talent for magic. I'm pretty sure she's not telling him what he already knows. His grand total of 0 MP might be a clue as to what she means, though.  The girl in the next room seems eager to reveal her personal insecurities to a boy she just met.  The Curan Guard just seems to want us gone, though. "Shoo, boy! Shoo!"  And this girl is basically repeating what she says to Dante.  This seems to be a bit more in line with what we know about this girl's character.  You must know the basics of magic before you create a spell.This is what the Magic Guild shopkeeper says if you talk to him as Nero or Dante. This dialogue only happens during these scenarios, to my knowledge; once the party's together, it doesn't matter whose sprite is showing when you talk to him.  Here's the Guardian altar in action. The screen flashes white for a second, and then... The light will purify you. Please stop by here anytime.The altar will remove any status effects on the party. It's free, so there's no reason not to use it when necessary. There's one in most towns, not just the Curan Abbey.  Upstairs in the dorms, we find Nero's love interest for this game; Curan Abbey Dorm Girl. Hello Mr. [Dream Chaser]. How are you?Lady can tell the difference between a Dream Chaser and a Treasure Hunter on sight. That's pretty impressive for a 17-year-old who's spent most of her life in an abbey. Wow... There's a boy in our room.And that's the end of Nero's first trip around Curan Abbey. We'll be back, but first let's swap over to Lady. She only has one place to go, so let's get her over to Surf Village.   These two guys stand very close together, so I'd be tempted to cut a screenshot by transcribing one's text, but they both use the same sprite, so I'd spend as much effort explaining it as adding the shot.  This woman definitely has some issues with Dream Chasers.   but I want to be like my father and help the needy.Those things are not mutually exclusive, Tony.   Doomsday Cultist will be Doomsday Cultist, I suppose.  Even the playable characters have different dialogue depending upon whom the player is controlling at the time.   you do... You know magic? Are you from the Curan Abbey?Tony's Father continues to comment on the party's abilities.  More about the Ruin Festival. I sure hope it lives up to all the hype.  No, Lady is not secretly Calamity Jane. She has enough mildly derogatory nicknames as it is.  Please relax in our humble village. Our village used to be known for its berry trade, but it's still a good place to rest.The Mayor's wife says the exact same thing when offering inn services as she does to Dante, but the Mayor has a whole spiel prepared for Lady. And that's it for Lady's first trip around Surf. Let's fast-forward to after Lady's punched out Nelgaul (she ends up a level lower than Cecilia because I play like I know what I'm doing this time), and skip back over to Dante.  Most of Dante's post-Sealed Library dialogue in Curan Abbey is just the NPCs re-stating what they said previously in slightly different words, as you can see from Dorm Girl here. I'll only cover people with genuinely new dialogue.  Guardianism is the worship of nature.Which for Dante is basically just Anje here. That was easy! Now over to Nero.  The powers of the Guardians, to whom the planet owes its life, cannot be seen by us...Nero, on the other hand, has a lot of new dialogue in Curan Abbey.  Like this girl over by the kitchens acknowledging the appearance of the Sealed Library. Of course, neither Nero nor Dante have the Teardrop, so they can't get into the dungeon itself; not that it matters. Out! We're trying to prepare dinner. It makes me happy to watch someone with such an appetite.I can understand that; it feels good to know your work is being appreciated, especially when it's something as transient as food.   The continuing saga of the Studying Girl. We've actually already seen the conclusion of this over in Cecilia's scenario, where she resolves to build another, co-ed magic school. The power of magic is not absolute. The most powerful force in the world is contained in people's hearts.Her teacher waxes philosophical for a moment. Nero seems to have that effect on people.  Librarian Girl has managed to get herself more work. I'm not sure what she's being punished for; maybe making such a goddamn mess that they had to reverse time to clean it up...  I'm going to open a small shop in some small town after I graduate.Lady's friends seem close to graduation as well. I mean, how many people really seriously consider life after school before their senior year of high school? Imagine a world without books... How boring...This was the girl having a bit of a crisis over whether her studies actually mattered in the real world with Dante. I'm beginning to think Dante's dialogue is all non-canon, what with all the character-breaking. The hope each person holds in their heart may be small, but when combined, it can help you.More cryptic wisdom from Sister Mary, but at least it's different cryptic wisdom each time (except Dante's second time through).  Everybody's excited for the Ruin Festival. Are you excited? I know I am!  Not like Nero has much of a choice, apparently, Curan Guard.  This is probably what Lady's friend meant when she said "a small shop". Funny, though, that the sprite for the Mage Guild shopkeepers is male; it even has a beard!  In contrast to the girl who wants to stay at the abbey forever, Dorm Girl seems to feel a bit stifled here. I'm going to be a reporter. I'll be a reporter on magicians and become famous throughout Filgaia.And we finish up with confirmation that Lila indeed wants to be a reporter.  Next up is Surf post-Zombie, but I wanted to show off a bit of the dungeon, because it's the one that's the most different from Rudy's.  Mostly because I bought Nero upgraded equipment from the next town before going in.  Now he one-shots everything except Tatzelbelms (which he two-shots) without using the Hand Cannon. He can face-tank a lot better now, too.  Even Goblins aren't much of a threat now. Nero's still slow as poo poo, but it doesn't matter anymore. The Zombie, however, is largely unchanged. The Hand Cannon still outdamages his basic attack by quite a bit (but only by a bit more than 3x rather than almost 6x), and armor doesn't seem to affect Rotten Breath's damage.  The Berry Cave is the one character-specidfic dungeon that other characters can enter, as shown by Dante here. Before Tony leaves the village, nobody can get in (the cowboy in front blocks the entrance), but afterwards he's moved aside and anyone can get in. Dante one-shots everything in the dungeon with his high Strength and upgraded weaponry.  Unfortunately, nobody but Nero can finish the dungeon due to the need to bomb the "Do not destroy" sign. It respawns if you leave the Berry Cave to switch characters.  He had no right to desecrate that.Back in Surf, everybody has the same dialogue for both Dante and Lady, so we only need to go through once. Most people, like Doomsday Cultist here, are taking potshots at Nero or Dream Chasers in general.  The Mayor's wife no longer serves as an inn, for anyone. It goes to show how much the attitude of Surf has changed. Recently, a [Dream Chaser] caused problems for us."So now we hate all Dream Chasers."  I have done a terrible thing to the man who saved my child.At least not everyone is completely without remorse. Tony's Mom still refuses to allow me to speak to her husband, though. I couldn't even save my own son.And Tony's Father is still beating himself up over his injury/illness (the game is somewhat confusing about which it actually is).  More bashing on Dream Chasers.   The kids don't seem to get why, though.   Yes. It was caused when a [Dream Chaser] broke the magic seal in the Berry Cave. No. The quake destroyed a lot of structures in this area.    They won't even accept our money anymore (not that I ever bought anything from this guy in the first place  ).That's it for dialogue, but we're not quite done yet. There's a bit of an Easter egg best shown off in Surf. Remember Cuccos from Legend of Zelda, and how they'd swarm you if you attacked them enough? Well, you can't actually attack the chickens in Wild Arms.  However, they're pretty protective of the Memory Bird. Bomb it and all the chickens in the area will swarm on you. The Memory Bird is unharmed, though.  You can also bomb Tony's dog, which will also follow you around.  They don't deal any damage, but if you stop moving for a second, they'll pile up around you and... make moving mildly inconvenient? Nero moves faster than they do, so it's not difficult to play keep-away.  They'll also photobomb cutscenes. None of these guys were on screen when Nero tried to leave the village, but they swarmed over during the cutscene. Just one more thing before we're done. I promised last time to show a glitch or two, so we'll skip ahead of the main LP a bit to where the party's all together.  This is an item duplication glitch, and I bet anyone who's played through this game probably knows what I'm about to do.  First, arrange your party in order of descending Agility. Dante first, Nero last in the party order. This isn't essential, IIRC, but it makes the trick a lot easier.  Then, have the first two characters use Heal Berries (or any other item you have a lot of; the game throws Heal Berries at you, so I usually use them).  The last character then swaps the position of the Heal Berries with another item (in this case, stat-boosting Power Apples). This will be the item that gets duplicated; make sure you only have one of that item. Afterwards, he can do whatever he wants.  If done correctly, you should now have 255 of the item you swapped with the Heal Berries. Note that the quantity of my Heal Berries has not decreased at all, despite having used two of them. How does this work? Well, it's a bit of shoddy menu programming, most likely. When you assign a character to use an item, the game says, "Oh, Dante's using a Heal Berry. Heal Berries are the item in slot #1 of your inventory, so I'll just decrease the stack of the item in slot #1." Then you pull a shell game on the game by changing what item is in slot #1, so it decrements that one instead of the Heal Berries. But you still have Heal Berries, so the game allows you to continue using them even when the quantity of the item it thinks is the Heal Berries is 0, and will happily decrement the stack of 0 Power Apples as if they were Heal Berries. But the game isn't programmed to handle item quantities below 0, so the quantity actually rolls around to the maximum possible for the variable assigned to hold it, which in this case is 255. This is called a stack underflow in programming lingo.  There's actually another way to perform this glitch, as I found out while preparing for this update. First, swap an item to an empty slot.  Then use "Arrange" to auto-sort your items. Get into battle, and have the first character use a Heal Berry. Then, with the second character, swap the Heal Berries with the empty inventory slot the item used to be in.  This will turn the empty slot into a stack of 255 of the item you wanted to duplicate. Note that the stack of 1 Bullet Clip is still in my inventory. The game doesn't handle you having multiple item stacks very well.  If you make sure that your inventory is arranged so that the smaller stacks are on top...  You can sell one more of the item than is in the top stack in order to underflow that stack to 255 as well.    Lady became a Muscle Wizard!   Well, that's it for this time. Join me next time as we finally get the band together and take our first gig.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2018 17:19
|
|
|
Hundreds of apples a day keep the doctor away.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2018 18:33
|
|
|
I couldn't stop watching that gif. Hot drat. And between the villagers' weird reactions to Cecilia and how quickly they reject outsiders after Rudy's story, yeah, gently caress those people.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2018 21:48
|
|
|
Bold strategy to play through the game twice for the sake of an LP.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2018 21:56
|
|
|
Shadow225 posted:Bold strategy to play through the game twice for the sake of an LP.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2018 22:56
|
|
|
Did you throw every chicken and talk to the other end of a horse in Surf?
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2018 00:58
|
|
|
Commander Keene posted:This is what I don't get about Surf. The kid who tells you the story about the Zombie acts like it was forever ago, and even directly states that people have largely forgotten it by now. But these guys and the Mayor all imply that they were alive back when the cave was still producing berries, so it can't have been that long. Which is it, game? Maybe they also grew regular heal berries in other parts of the cave? quote:More ribbing on Lady's appetite. Lady's almost 17; I don't think "little girl" is the correct term to use here. Eh, if the guy's in his 50s or so, it's not unusual for him to think of a 17 year old as "little". I knew about item duplication, but not that it was possible through stores!
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2018 09:48
|
|
|
You showed that off a lot sooner than I thought you would, huh. I spent way too much time achieving ULTIMATE POWER when I went through Wild Arms the first time.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2018 18:38
|
|
|
Guys, I don't think my experiments in OCR are working out.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2018 01:49
|
|
|
 Looks to be working fine to me!
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2018 02:55
|
|
|
It's a JRPG, they's gotta be a fishing minigame, right?
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2018 03:38
|
|
|
Part 4 - Lolithia's Tomb Previously, we peeked into an alternate universe and watched a girl stuff apples down her throat until she could punch harder. This time we're going to figure out what all this "Lolithia" nonsense is all about. Music - Migrant Bird of the Wilderness  We start with Rudy right outside Surf Village. He's been kicked out, so there's really only one place to go right now. You know, aside from the all-girls magic school. Besides, we should probably go see what that Ruin Festival is about sooner or later.  There's a cart along the way. The things it sells are mostly useless.  Finally we arrive at this city, called Adlehyde. The name seems somewhat familiar... Music - Town  Just as Rudy arrives in Adlehyde, this happens. This is scripted to happen the first time any character enters Adlehyde after Rudy's scenario has been completed, if memory serves.  Some guys rush into town. Alter Code: F makes it a lot more clear, but the blonde guy in the middle is injured and being carried by the other two.  The two on the sides are clearly panicking, and spend a second or two here running back and forth.  He's got a point.  Then they take off.  The building on the right is the inn (right next to the only entrance to town seems like a pretty good location). The blonde innkeeper is useless to us right now, because like the other two Rudy got a full heal after finishing his scenario. More interesting is the other guy standing below the counter.  Because he's the town's ARM reloader, and will refill the bullets in Rudy's ARM, for a nominal fee of 10 Gella per bullet. 80 Gella is nothing, and it never gets too expensive. All in all, a very useful service, especially since the only other way to reload bullets is the rare Bullet Clip you find in dungeons. Even plot-mandated full heals generally don't touch your bullets.  It looks like they did end up taking the injured guy to the hospital first. I'll cover the rest of the NPC chatter in a bonus update; this should be the last time I need to do this for a while, because it'll be the last time I need to comb through a town for dialogue changes three times.  What a whimp! He shouldn't cry about a monster bite. My injury was minimal. I didn't need to be hospitalized.But it seems they all agree he doesn't really need to be there.  Let's pop over to Emma's lab now. This guy is the ARM Meister, and he'll upgrade Rudy's ARMs. This is important, because they aren't affected by Rudy's Strength stat and if they scale in damage with level, it's fairly slowly. Once again, I don't have hard numbers because they apparently don't exist. I don't buy any upgrades yet, though.   How exciting! Listen to that commotion. I wonder what's happening. The two from the hospital show up. They apparently picked up a different third guy en route to Emma's lab, though. Oh no! Tell me what's going on. We broke through a wall damaged by the earthquake and unleashed monsters. Some of the workers were injured by one of the monsters.This scene is unusually not helpful about distinguishing which nameless NPC is speaking. Usually they do something right before they talk, like taking a step or spinning in place. Hell, Emma spins when she talks here. In the interests of not having to make as many portraits, I'm going to assume it's all the same guy speaking. Gather anyone with military experience! No way!! No one here has ever fought monsters before. There are so many of them. You couldn't pay us enough to go in there. All right then! Get to work on the repairs. You hear?! I'll do something about the monsters. OK! They leave, and Emma turns to the Dream Chaser who's conveniently been listening to the entire conversation right next to her. You can fight, can't you? I need to have some monsters slain. I'll pay 500 gella. You can take any treasure from the tomb. Will you do it?Since this question is basically "do you want to progress the plot?", let's get "No" out of the way first.  No. What am I to do? I'll never be ready. Yes. Glad to hear that. I'll pay you after the excavation. Trust me! I'll be waiting for you. You must get prepared. Don't underestimate [Lolithia's Tomb]. Bring friends.Just like the event at the entrance, you can trigger this and accept Emma's job with any of the trio. The only requirement is that Rudy's scenario is completed. As implied by "Bring friends," she won't actually let you into the ruins until the whole party's together, though.  Then she's off too. Let's take a second to talk about Emma. She's actually one of the few characters to undergo a radical character design change in Alter Code: F. All of our heroes look the same, and while a few NPCs look a bit different from their sprites, she's one of the most notable. I couldn't find any concept art of her for this version, but the sprite is enough for this purpose. What does she look like in Alter Code: F?  This. She got significantly more anime in ACF.  Out in front of the inn, we find Jack already waiting because What? You caused the earthquake?! What do you know...? So you're looking for help taking care of this problem. Hmmm... Hey, perhaps I can help you out. I can be useful. Again, this is basically "Do you want to advance the plot?", since we can't enter the ruins until we have a full party. Yes. All right! That settles it! I could use the company. My name is Jack. This is Hanpan. Don't worry, he won't bite. What's your name? Rudy, huh... Nice to meet you, Rudy. And with that, Jack is officially in the party, as signified by his Tools showing up alongside Rudy's in the menu, instead of just his location.  Let's grab Cecilia and bring her up to Adlehyde now.  Whenever one of the playable characters is at the same location as another PC not currently in the party, standing still for a second pops up a picture-in-picture window showing the PC's location.  And if two of the other PCs are in the same location? You get two inset windows. Which is humorous when everybody is visible in them, like the shot above.  Lolithia... intriguing name... Why?... Ohh, I don't know why exactly. I do know I have to go there. The desire fills my heart. The power that holds the world together told me. It said that all things start with [Lolithia]. Yes. I am Cecilia. Don't worry, I can hold my own with magic. It may not seem like it, but I don't think our goals are so different.Why, yes, this bit does have alternate dialogue depending on which character accepts Emma's job and which character the player is controlling at the time. The alternates will be covered in the next update, but they're largely the same. Also, say hello to the party for the rest of the game. There will be a few more occasions where we split up, but there are no more playable characters in this version of the game.    Some shots of pre-dungeon preparation, including the contents of the equipment shop (straight upgrades all around) and a new spell for Cecilia. Valkyrie is one of her strongest early-game attack options, and will be her workhorse in boss fights for quite a while.  And now let's get to it! Lolithia's Tomb is pretty much due north of Adlehyde, and pretty darn close to boot. One wonders why it hadn't been Music - Courage Dungeon  Yes. So, you're the one. Emma is waiting for you.Inside, we find this guy. No, it's fine, don't tell us where Emma actually is. We'll find her on our own.  Through the door on the right, we find another worker with a helpful tip. Some treasure chests do indeed explode when opened. The "if you're not careful" part is BS, though. While there's no way to disarm the chests, you can open them without them exploding on you.   These chests just to the north of him do not explode, however. Actual explosive chests are pretty clearly marked. Mystic Apples are the last flavor of stat-boosting apples, and appropriately boost SOR. The other chest contained a Power Apple.  Back in the entrance, we head through the left door, which simply contains three treasure chests. Potion Berries are the next step up in HP restoratives, and heal 1,000 HP a pop. Considering basic Heal Berries still heal more than the party's max HP, this is quite overkill and will be for a while. Still nice to have, though. The other two chests contain basic Heal Berries.  Heading up the ladder on the right, we see a third door had been just offscreen when we talked to the blonde guy. That is the way to the Tomb proper, but we can't get in there until we talk to Emma.   Only a fool would dare to uncover [Lolithia's Tomb]. There are some things we humans weren't meant to touch!If you're opposed to the excavation, why are you working for Emma, who is excavating the tomb?   Continuing along the one-way path we're on, we find this guy. Let's go see what he has to say...  ...Oh. Let's go see if he's okay.   That was dangerous pushing me off like that! Watch out next time. I could have been hurt in the fall!I don't think any of our party members would just push someone off a ledge. I figure they walked up behind him and talked to him, maybe tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, and when he got startled he fell off.  break the seal. Past the room with the spooky demon statue lies a... If the three of you work together, you should be okay. You'll be fine! With confidence, one can even learn to fly.Though that door past where he was standing on the ledge is Emma. Talking to her here is necessary to proceed further into the ruins. In Alter Code: F, she asks if you're ready to take on the ruins (which look a lot more technological than in this game). Refusing her three or so times allows you the option to have her join the party for the dungeon, but cuts your reward for the dungeon in half, if memory serves. She's a blue mage, with the ability to learn normally enemy-only skills. She can also get you into a few locked rooms in the dungeon, one of which contains an equal sum to what she docks you for joining, meaning taking her along is pure benefit.  Like Tony, Emma is also immune to bombs.  Through the hole we just made is a chest containing this Buckler.  The Buckler is left-hand equipment for Rudy; it has one more DFP than Jack's glove, but less PRY. Cecilia doesn't have a left-hand item yet, though she's the only one with a Rune (because the Water Rune raises SOR, which is mostly useless on the other two).  Through the north door in the entrance are these two guys. After saying his piece, they move out of our way, allowing access to the rest of the ruins. So you're here to slay the monsters, eh? Good luck!I mean, this game doesn't have any way for us to deplete the random encounters, so we're probably just going to find the biggest one and beat that one up. But, yeah, sure! If we came to this room before talking to Emma, these two would have had different things to say: quote:
Also, that chest on the other ledge is currently inaccessible. No, we don't get the Tool necessary to get it in this dungeon.  Past those two, the doorway is blocked off by rocks that we need to bomb.  And the corridor in the next room is also blocked off by bombable rocks. The developers really didn't want you to get through here before you were supposed to. Also, this is the first room with random encounters, although we don't find one quite yet, but let's take a look at what we can find in this dungeon.  These guys are some familiar faces.  Even at level 4 and with an upgraded weapon, Cecilia still can't effectively damage Pill Bugs. Jack could one-shot them at level 1 with his base weapon.  Unless she gets a crit, of course. I suspect that crits in this game flat-out ignore the target's DFP, because they're far more effective on hard targets than on soft ones. Balloons, for example, take very little additional damage from crits.  Tatzelbelms are nothing new, either.  Although Jack's ability to one-shot them certainly is. These guys have 70 HP, remember.    Also, one of them finally uses their Flame Tongue attack. This probably would have been more impressive back in the Berry Cave (especially since Rudy has the lowest MGR, while Cecilia has the highest).  Veterans of the series will recognize these guys; they show up in almost every single Wild Arms game.   Rat Monkeys aren't particularly lethal at this point, especially with three characters to spread the damage around, but they hit decently hard. Note that this is Cecilia, though, whose DFP at level 4 is right around where Rudy's was at level 1.  They fold in one attack, even from Cecilia, though, so they're about as threatening as a sheet of paper.  They can drop Travel Vests, which are Rudy's starting armor and thus only vendor trash.  Enpusas are new, though.  Jack one-shots them, no surprise here. They have 56 HP, which puts them just out of range of Rudy's basic attack, but he and Cecilia working together can take one down. They're weak to Thunder, which I guess is important if you want Cecilia to take one on by herself.   Their basic attack isn't anything to write home about; they hit about as hard as the Rat Monkeys.    Their Body Power Steal attack hits a bit harder, though. Additionally, it's a drain attack, so it heals them. If they get one off, it'll usually mean another round spent killing them.  The Aipeloss are the one enemy in this dungeon that Jack can't one-shot with a basic attack.  Their 85 HP and decent DFP put them a little out of his range.   Yes, that's their basic attack. The Aipeloss deal damage way out of proportion with anything else in the dungeon.   They're also assholes who will damage your MP. This time, they mostly went after Rudy, who has no MP and thus is functionally immune.  Although this is what happens when they target Cecilia or Jack. It may not look like much, but that's exactly the cost of one Heal spell. You could say that it's at least twice the damage of their base attack by that calculation.  They're weak to Fire, though, so Cecilia's Flame spell messes them up something fierce.  Through that door is a larger room.  The door on the right leads us to an impassable fence and a bunch of rocks by the wall.  The answer, as always, is explosives. There's a button under the large rock that retracts the fence.  Past that fence is our first exploding chest. Note the yellow-green coloration; this is common of all exploding chests.  If you guessed that the correct way to open them was to use Hanpan, give yourself a pat on the back. I'll give him this; the little guy is fearless.  Next, we head up the stairs to the right of the exploding chest. The treasure chest to the right contains 50 Gella.  Head left, bomb a rock, see the roadblock that would have stopped us if we had gone left from the entrance to the larger room. The button directly behind the fence lowers it, and no, Hanpan can't slip through it. There is a ledge above the doorway there that we can jump down to get back there, however.  Through that doorway is a chest containing this Crest Graph.  Just north of that doorway, we find another doorway on the upper level leading to this corridor.  Which opens into this multi-tiered room with lots of ladders, rocks, and fences.  Head right, climb ladders, bomb rocks.   Continuing up, we find this. Revive Fruits do exactly what you think they do; revive someone whose HP hits 0. The manual calls that "Unable to Fight", but since that's a mouthful, I'm just gonna use "dead".  After going up one more level, we hit the top, and the only way to go is left. We find a door to the next area, but there's a fence blocking it.  So we jump off that ledge in the middle, down to the third tier.  And down once more, to this rock with fences suspiciously positioned around it.  Bombing the rock reveals a button, which we activate using Hanpan, who can go through fences, but only to get back to Jack. This reverses the positions of all the fences in the room.  This allows us access to this chest over on the far left of the second tier.  And also to the door.  Proceeding on, we find a small room containing only a save point.  The next room opens up again, with two paths.  The left path leads up to this treasure chest, which I completely forget about, even after pushing the button to let the fences down. Whoops.   So we go through the right door instead.  On either side of the Teardrop door are treasure chests blocked off (pun intended) by what can loosely be termed a "puzzle".  Not that it's difficult to figure out.  And here's what was on the other side, because I know you guys were burning to know.  Out on the balcony in the front is a button, which is what lowers the fences around that treasure chest.  On the other side of the door sleeps a great power. The Tomb of Perpetual Sleep. Through the Teardrop door, which is identical to the ones in the Sealed Library, we find a plaque and a message. Doesn't mean a whole lot now, but we'll keep it in mind.  Back out through the Teardrop door and into the main room, we climb down to floor level.  Hanpan opens another explosive chest for us.  Over on the right side of the room is this door,  Which leads down this corridor,  And into this room with a devil statue. Just offscreen is an inaccessible platform with a door on it.  And on its back, a secret. As with the statues in Curan Abbey, you cannot find this switch before reading the plaque.  Pushing the button causes blocks to appear.  Pushing those blocks onto the boxes at the corners of the pattern at the statue's feet...  ...Causes the whole thing to disappear and a new platform to rise up out of the ground.  The door, which is now completely accessible, is magically locked and requires the Teardrop to open.  And when we do, out pops a monster!  Boss Fight - Magtortous[/url]Music - Battle ~ Mid Boss  The Magtortous is the boss of Lolithia's Tomb. It has 2,000 HP and two attacks.  Its basic attack hits pretty drat hard.    And it has EM Laser, which hits the entire party for roughly the same amount of damage. Rudy takes noticeably more due to his piss-poor MGR, while Cecilia actually takes very slightly less damage. It rarely uses EM Laser for about the first half of the fight, then switches to it almost exclusively in the second half.    This is why I picked up Valkyrie. Technically it does a bunch attacks against random targets, but when there's only one boss monster, they all target the one guy, and deal lump sum damage. It deals about the same damage as Rudy's ARM. Granted, I haven't purchased any upgrades for it yet, but Valkyrie also scales with Cecilia's SOR. It won't be getting outpaced for a while yet.  Surprisingly, and somewhat ironically given his high STR, Jack is the weak link in this fight. This is his damage from Psycho Crack. He gets relegated to healing duty mostly, due to always beating Magtortous's initiative. He still gets in his fair share of damage, due to Heal Berries' relative healing power.   I do demonstrate Mystic using a Heal Berry towards the start of the fight, however, because I hadn't done so thus far.  At one point in the fight, I try to have Jack use a Magic Carrot on Cecilia to see if the game would allow me to select the spell if healing was on its way, but it doesn't work. I don't know if I was thinking of another Wild Arms game or a game in another series entirely.  Cecilia lands the final blow with Valkyrie just as Rudy ends up at critical HP from EM Laser spam.  In the next room is this, which would seem to be our final objective. The treasure chests contained a Heal Berry and a Magic Carrot to replenish supplies used against the Magtortous.  Everybody lines up to admire it.   ... That's the golem... The same golem written about in the legend?! Probably... In the ancient days, when Filgaia was surrounded by forests, it was said that there were eight weapons of the ancient giants. They were sealed away in some secret place after they nearly destroyed the world. Some of these weapons were found in ruins in this area. I had no idea that a golem was hidden near Adlehyde. I wonder if the power in this tomb is different from the [Power] that I have been seeking all this time? The power we felt here was probably the golem. Geez! How am I supposed to use this? It's huge! I can barely lift it! He's mad! Jack, despite your STR being the best in the party, I'm pretty sure "barely" is a gross overstatement. Let's get this over with. There's nothing here for me!Your level literally doubled in this dungeon, Jack. We must notify the professor about the golem.So we run back to the entrance to the ruins. It's not that bad, actually; it's pretty much a straight run.  Then I was right in picking this site. I'm a genius! Oh... you guys are great, too! We can't just sit around here. We must excavate it now! Take some of my crew with you to the site where you found the golem! I'm counting on you! Then Emma leaves.  Back in the golem room, Rudy and a bunch of the crew watch as Emma lowers herself via crane into the ruins.   She hops off to give directions.  The crew gets to work,  And then Emma and Lolithia are lifted up through the roof by crane. Music - Shock  And then suddenly everyone's outside. We get a nice unique map for this, even; it's only ever used here, to my knowledge.  was effective here. Thanks to you and my Emma-Motor, we were able to pull her out. Yes, this is [Lolithia]. One of the eight golems. Isn't it cute? This thing is unbreakable. It's still in mint condition and completely dormant. The reward of 500 Gella will be ready for you, but you have to come by tomorrow. I'll be too busy preparing for the festival today.I wonder if Jack helped pull it up? I mean, since he can "barely" lift Lolithia, we shouldn't even need the Emma-Motor. Just, I dunno, use a couple of pulleys and fulcrums or something.  After the cutscene, we get plopped down right outside Lolithia's Tomb. A short walk back to Adlehyde later...  next ruin with Hanpan. We're parting so soon? It's the life of a [Dream Chaser] you know. Let's get back to the inn, the festival starts tomorrow.And that's it for today. Next time,    Commander Keene fucked around with this message at 02:20 on May 31, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 27, 2018 02:27
|
|
|
I like that people can just dig holes and get into dungeons, even if none of those people are us.
|
|
#
?
May 29, 2018 02:22
|
|
|
The series is filled with people who can access places that your party can't get to and they never tell you how.
|
|
#
?
May 29, 2018 04:54
|
|
|
These city folk seem to be pretty accepting of Rudy using an ARM, to say the least. I don't know if that's because they're pretty casual about dealing with buried eldritch abominations so taboo stuff is okay with them to begin with, or they're that much more decent than the villagers in Surf.
|
|
#
?
May 29, 2018 07:06
|
|
|
I actually forgot who the golem was, so I went back through the character intros. Jack's Elw friend tells him to avoid the golem. Being that it seems to be an ancient weapon, that seems to be wise advice. Cecilia, however, is told that the battle for the world begins with the golem, suggesting that this is the true and good path. That could be interpreted as 'don't mess with the golem,' but I feel that the guardian spirit would have said as much. I find it interesting that there are potentially two minds about disturbing it among the ancient and mystical. Also, I would be okay skipping the NPC dialogue updates unless you just really enjoy doing them. It seems to be a lot of work for little pay off. NPCs rarely have anything interesting to say imo, and that probably holds true in a 1996 RPG. Don't hear that as I don't enjoy the LP, because I do. I just assume we have a lot of game ahead of us, and the NPC dialogue updates slow that progress down.
|
|
#
?
May 29, 2018 15:22
|
|
|
I agree. As much as I appreciate your efforts, I really don't care that much about the NPC dialog updates and it definitely slows things down. If they have anything interesting to say maybe you could just show us the highlights?
|
|
#
?
May 29, 2018 16:43
|
|
|
That is a highly familiar overworld theme. Japanese games really didn't give a gently caress about copyright violations.
|
|
#
?
May 29, 2018 17:59
|
|
|
Clarste posted:I agree. As much as I appreciate your efforts, I really don't care that much about the NPC dialog updates and it definitely slows things down. If they have anything interesting to say maybe you could just show us the highlights? Seconded.
|
|
#
?
May 30, 2018 00:23
|
|
|
Xander77 posted:That is a highly familiar overworld theme. Japanese games really didn't give a gently caress about copyright violations. I always thought it sounded like something, but couldn't ever place it. Just seemed to me that it was really nailing the style.
|
|
#
?
May 30, 2018 19:47
|
|
|
Orcs and Ostriches posted:I always thought it sounded like something, but couldn't ever place it. Just seemed to me that it was really nailing the style.
|
|
#
?
May 30, 2018 19:53
|
|
|
Orcs and Ostriches posted:I always thought it sounded like something, but couldn't ever place it. Just seemed to me that it was really nailing the style. Ecstasy of gold from the good the bad and the ugly. It's the scene where Tuco reaches the graveyard and just starts running around it all excited. It's shown up in commercials a bunch recentally. By title alone not a bad choice of track to rip off.
|
|
#
?
May 30, 2018 20:14
|
|
|
This isn't the only Wild West game to have music inspired by TGTB&TU. Heck, SteamWorld Dig 1&2's main themes both also contain parts from Ecstasy of Gold.
|
|
#
?
May 30, 2018 20:21
|
|
|
FoolyCharged posted:Ecstasy of gold from the good the bad and the ugly.    aaaaaaaaaaaaa how did I not notice this?! (probably because I played Wild Arms 1 many years before I watched what would become my favourite movie, but still, holy poo poo)
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2018 17:23
|
|
|
I just looked the song up on Youtube and wow, Media Vision didn't bother even trying to hide that one.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2018 22:43
|
|
|
No kidding, wow. Still a good song, copyright infringement be damned. I wonder how many other songs are lifted from classic westerns.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 01:30
|
|
|
Part 5 - The Ruin Festival Previously, we helped an engineer-archaeologist find a giant robot to be put on display at the Filgaia World's Fair. Today, let's actually go see the fair. First, though, the higlights of the town NPC dialogue:  The ground is so brittle we don't know what will happen in the end.Emma has different dialogue for each party member if they talk to her before the end of Rudy's scenario. Remember, Rudy is the only one who gets access to the world map during his scenario.  The place is full of traps. It took my workers many hours and we've achieved so little.Lolithia's Tomb had more rocks and switches than traps. Now the Temple of Memory, that had traps.  Especially when a site is on soft ground, like the site we're working at now.And this book on her bookshelf, telling us a bit about ARMs:  To operate an ARM, the user must synchronize with the machine completely. That is why the military models are fussy about who they synchronize with. So it's not just about pulling the trigger; ARMs are at least semi-sentient and need to work with you, and weapons especially tend to be choosy about who gets to use them. Either that or it's the book having to explain the concept of fingerprint locks to a society of technophobes who are just re-discovering the diesel engine.  There was a side story in Alter Code: F about how terrible of a doctor this guy is; that old man in bed next to him is sick or injured for the entire game due to his incompetence. The hospital was instead empty because everyone was afraid to put themselves under his care. Having played that, I now see this line in a different light, although I'm pretty sure that's not the intended interpretation in this game.   We find out about a new Guardian from this man, and can see a statue dedicated to it in the northwest corner of the city. Even if you go examine it with Cecilia, though, no Guardian will speak to her. Maybe this one's dead?   will of the Guardians. Is the power of the Guardians fading away?And there's this woman, who knows a bit about the royal family. I'm not sure if she's saying "But since the Princess hasn't been able to do that yet, I think we might be in trouble" or if she's just questioning the Guardians' strength in general.   Sssshhh! I'm back father... No one recognizes me. It's fun to be anonymous. You don't mind, do you? Why are you back so early? The festival isn't open yet. I have my reasons... And I don't particularly want everyone making a big deal. You've never liked crowds. I remember that. It's been 10 years... Look how you've grown! You look just like your mother. Let me remain anonymous until the start of the festival.And if Cecilia talks to the King before Lolithia's Tomb, they also have special dialogue.   He has a sense of humor, but you must never forget to show proper respect.Whereas Minister Johann apparently doesn't recognize the princess after her ten-year absence, because this is the same dialogue he has for everyone else.    I wonder what she's like. I'm new here, so I don't know much about her.A few of the guards will remark that "the princess is coming back for the festival" and will say that to Cecilia's face, as well.  We had to bend over backwards just to feed her.As well as these castle chefs. Maybe you're just not as good as the guy over in the Abbey, ever think of that?  A few years back, the Kingdom of Arctica was destroyed overnight.Things seem to be getting worse in Filgaia. I wonder what could destroy an entire kingdom so quickly, though?  We have another Calamity Jane fanboy, this one among the castle guards.  As for items in the town, this is in the northeast corner of town.   A couple of stat-boosters (Power and Hardy Apples) in crates in a random building (warehouse?).   And a Magic Carrot and a Heal Berry in these crates.  If anyone was wondering why I had a spare Crest Graph back in Cecilia's scenario, I got it here, just outside Adlehyde Castle.  I also pick up this near the kitchens. The Moon Stone is a left-hand item that anyone can equip, and it will make that character immune to the Poison status effect. We haven't seen anything that can actually inflict Poison, so I haven't used it.   While this door in the castle is locked. The Tear Drop doesn't work, so we can't get this door open right now. And that's it for the particularly interesting stuff.  but I have to get going now... I have no idea why I was summoned to the north ruin. But, I'm glad to know I was of some help. After I go, I might not be able to travel with you... But I will never forget our adventure. I hope you guys will treat me the same way I've treated you.We actually do need to stay at the inn in order to progress, and unlike many other games, there's nobody to cover the cost. But when you do, Cecilia says this, and then departs.  She heads off to the castle, where she "officially" meets her father. There's no dialogue in this scene.  Music - Inn  And, the next morning... Music - Ancient Civilization Exhibition I first make the rounds before heading off to the fair. The highlights:  I'm not sure if he's referring to actual magic, or just sufficiently advanced technology, because I'm pretty sure they had both 1,000 years ago. The devs certainly went whole-hog on the "lost civilization" trope in this game.  Sure you would, man.  I'm pretty sure Rudy's underage. Jack's probably okay, though.  I know that pain, man. Unless I specifically put in for vacation, I will end up working almost every holiday each year.  If we go into the castle, we can see that Cecilia's in there, but she's not in any part of the castle we can reach (yet).  And she's also not selectable at the Memory Bird.  His quest for the ancient knowledge is based on his belief that it will help in stopping the deterioration.The game is not shy about letting you know that Filgaia is a planet on the decline. I suppose you could consider Wild Arms post-apocalyptic as well as a Western, which makes it one of the only examples of that former genre that I have experienced. I also stopped to upgrade Rudy's Hand Cannon a bit with some of the money from Lolithia's Tomb. I forgot to grab a screenshot of the end result, but I upgraded ATP once (5 points), Accuracy three times (2 points each, for a total of 6 points), and bullets twice (for 2 extra bullets). Final stats: ATP 15, Accuracy 91%, and 10 Bullets. Over to the festival...  You're acting like this is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Like some sort of millennial fair or something. But we've done a job, and should go get our pay.  Here is the payment. There's a lot to see here... I'm sure you'll see something that interests you.500 Gella is a bit of a rip-off, but since we also got plenty of money off the actual monsters, I guess it's fine. IIRC, even after taking her as a party member and the attendant pay dock in Alter Code: F, she still pays something like twice what she does in this version. Now that we have some pocket change jingling around, let's check out the fair. Starting with the exhibits first:  * They have been found in many places. I'm guessing that the implication here is supposed to be that these are not ordinary human skeletons, and that they're made of some non-standard material, like metal. Because I'm pretty sure they know what the normal kind are for.  * Not everyone is able to use this because it requires psychic syncronization. Pseudo-sentient it is then. Don't expect me to be transcribing dialogue for Rudy's Hand Cannon, though.  "Black box" is a term for a data recorder, not a control mechanism, though?  * Metals found in many of the artifacts can be traced back to this asteroid. I suppose an asteroid crashing into Filgaia would provide plenty of raw material for building poo poo. Those things are huge. Epoch-ending big.  to duplicate it. And now for the main attraction: the three Golems.  * Hard armor reminds one of some indestructible fortress. * Excavation: Ocean of Sand Height: 62 feet (w/o weapon) Weight: 210 tons  * A flame thrower for close combat. * Tough, but agile armor. Good hand to hand abilities. Nicknamed the [Crimson Wind]. * Excavation: Arctica Height: 53 feet Weight: 160 tons If Diablo here was excavated in Arctica, it was presumably before the kingdom was wiped off the map one day. Also, if you ask me, Diablo looks more like the fortress and Barbados looks more agile, but you do you Wild Arms.  * In ancient legends, it froze the enemy demons to death. * Excavation: Near Adlehyde Height: 53 feet Weight: 120 tons Interesting how Lolithia uses different <Japanese quotation marks> than Diablo for her nickname. I wonder if it means anything, or if it's just a localization gaffe.  Some people fear these artifacts as much as they fear the demons.Yeah, and there were people from Surf who wanted to come to this festival. They'd have been making GBS threads themselves with fear and rage. It would be like fundamentalist Christians getting in line at a Satanist convention.  Like this woman, although she seems more "mildly concerned" than "afraid".   Now, they're broken.Although this kid apparently isn't one of them.  This flower girl sells her wares for 2 Gella. That's chump change; we could buy 250 of them with our "pay" from Emma alone, and as far as I could tell, she doesn't have a limit.  Unlike a certain other flower girl, though, the flowers she sells are actually useable items. What do they do?  They increase your Luck stat. Rudy's still laboring under his terrible luck, so he could probably use one, but since Luck is prone to randomly fluctuating and doesn't really have that significant of an effect on combat I don't bother.  Now let's play some of the games! This is basically just a footrace; the goal is to go around the track as fast as possible, and then your time is compared against  From the start, head up,  Then left,  Then follow the track as it loops downward,  Then back up again,  Then back around to the starting line. On my first try, I did not do very well. This is true for most of the games, honestly.   But after a couple more tries, I manage to get second place. It's interesting that the game pulls up a naming screen here; I assume it doesn't overwrite the character's name, but I suppose if you wanted to have your high score(s) be named rear end and/or DONGS you could do so. This game is free and there are no prizes, so I don't bother to try any harder than that. But do take note of the name in the number 1 spot there.  This game is entirely random. You pick up and throw a ball, and then the game decides where it lands on the target and what prize you get. Your positioning is irrelevant, and you have no way to influence what way the ball goes once it's thrown or how far it goes. It's honestly the worst kind of minigame, in my opinion; a game of chance disguised as a game of skill. It costs 30 Gella to play.       I try a few times and never get anywhere near the center. The second and fourth shots may look like failures from the dialogue, but I won a Heal Berry both times; not worth the 30 Gella fee. The third time I won a Revive Fruit, which was at least a profit (and something I don't have a bunch of already). There's a really good item you can win off this game if you get the ball dead center, but since I seem to need a Small Flower or two myself, I figured I'd probably run out of money (or hard drive space for the recording) before then.  Ultimate Chicken is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. You start running automatically, and you need to press and hold the Dash button to stop before you hit the wall at the end of the course. The quality of your prize depends upon how close to the wall you manage to stop. It costs 100 Gella to play.   The guy trash-talks you if you lose.   But after a few tries, I manage to stop Rudy a hair's width from the wall, and get the best prize possible for this game. Not bad, but still not worth 100 Gella. It's actually impossible to make a profit off of this game.  In Lucky Mole Catching you run around and pick up moles as they pop out of the ground. The objective is to catch as many as you can in 30 seconds. It's sort of like Whack-A-Mole, but the moles can pop up anywhere in the fenced-in area below the hawker. I'm not very good at this game, although it's technically better than the Strike Ball game. It costs 100 Gella to play.         I spend most of the latter half of the game floundering around not catching moles, and only manage 7. I win an Antidote, which isn't even close to the price of admission. The good prizes start at 12+ moles, and include Revive Fruits and stat boosters. At this point I decide to look up the prizes, see that the only item we haven't seen yet is a prize in Strike Ball, and then decide that's enough.   Please... Can you help look for him? He may be in trouble. I'm going to stay here so I don't miss him on this road... If you see him, please bring him back to me. He has a red balloon. Please!We need to talk to this woman to progress the plot. Let's go find her lost son.  He should be easy to spot. But where? That's the question.This man right next to her weighs in on the issue if you speak to him.  Whereas this fellow over by Lolithia has this to say even before you talk to her.  This guy over by the entrance to the Ruin Festival grounds tells us where to find the lost child, though. Which we'll do next time! No fights this update, so no change in stats.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 09:15
|
|
|
Courage Dungeon is a really good track and at least I've never heard anyone say that was plagiarized. Anyway since you didn't buy 99 tiny flowers I am legally obligated to yell at you!! That's like three whole crits you could have got just by spending 10 minutes mind-numbingly mashing buttons!!!  ...But yeah, the minigames are pretty bad. They're fine for existing as flavour, though, and I do like the guy calling you an idiot when you run into the wall, though.  Cecilia being sneaky is pretty good, too.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 16:40
|
|
|
Grinding stat apples from that minigame this early on is the closest you'll legit get to that overpowered cheat gif as ever in this game.
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2018 01:17
|
|
|
Never did win at that lovely ball game. I am surprised a deity statue is simply in some forest area like it has no importance.
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2018 02:20
|
|
|
Oh, there are the Necrons...don't mess with metal skeletons, kids!
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2018 06:04
|
|
|
Commander Keene posted:"Black box" is a term for a data recorder, not a control mechanism, though? That's not the only meaning of Black Box. It's like an engineering term for a part you know how to use without needing to know how it works. It's a "black box" because metaphorically you can't see inside it. All you know is what it outputs. Anyway, your luck only resets when you stay at an inn (and sometimes during the plot), so it's fairly easy to just never use an inn and stay at Best luck forever, iirc. There are enough healing points scattered through dungeons to make this feasible.
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2018 06:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 16:58 |
|
|
I can't wait to spiritually link up with the three golems and bring a new age of prosperity and peace to the world.
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2018 19:30
|
|