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Tuxedo Ted posted:You got me. I thought for sure you'd not go any further than Koudelka. I'm super psyched, but sorry about all the chatting about the Shadow Hearts series in the last thread. Kanfy posted:Same, I feel kinda bad about it. Also same But also am glad you're showing off this kooky JRPG.
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# ¿ Jun 21, 2018 11:44 |
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# ¿ May 21, 2024 19:22 |
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Wonderslug posted:For all its inconsistencies I have fond memories of SH1, but Jesus I forgot how, um...inconsistent the art is between the portraits, models, and FMV. Maybe it's just because the later games are fresher in my memory, but our hero seems to have spent more time off-model in this update than on. I recently discovered two character portraits from early screenshots that were drastically redrawn for the final versions (other character we haven't seen yet), but compare: to I think the artist had a neck fetish.
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# ¿ Jun 22, 2018 04:00 |
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Because the Sacnoth staff really loved needlessly convoluted hidden mechanics, the item the Evil drops when Yuri purges the malice isn't actually randomised - all enemies have a hidden value seperate to whatever value they contribute to the current malice level. There's a range between 1-100, and it's basically impossible to determine ingame without tedious trial-and-error. It also resets after Yuri purges the malice. Thankfully, they didn't stick any bullshit 1-of-a-kind items behind it - some rare ones - but nothing you wouldn't find later on, and it's completely ignorable as a feature.
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# ¿ Jun 25, 2018 20:33 |
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:Is the Death Emperor any relation to Diabolos from Final Fantasy, or do they both just have an attack called Dark Messenger for reasons? Nope. Just a localisation thing. Diabolos' attack is "闇よりの使者 " (Messenger from/of the darkness). Death Emperor's is "お迎え" (Greetings - I think?) which the only supernatural thing I found was that it was related to being able to see ghosts. Someone with better knowledge would be able to correct me
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# ¿ Jun 26, 2018 05:24 |
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Kanfy posted:お迎え is more like picking someone up (from the train station for example), receiving/welcoming someone, etc. But it also has a fancier meaning of "Final call", the approach of death (as in being picked up/received to the afterlife) probably originating from Buddhism. Ah, I see. Neat. Thanks I figured there was some deeper meaning to it, but was ignorant of it. So thanks again. Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 16:07 on Jun 26, 2018 |
# ¿ Jun 26, 2018 16:02 |
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Speedball posted:Pretty sure wolves are the only palette swap enemy we'll see for the most part because I remember most enemy designs being screwed up. There are a few more palette swaps, but SH on the whole is pretty good about adding slightly different textures or shapes - not so much this game, but definitely in the sequels. Although this one still has a nice variety of enemies. And probably some of the more interestingly hosed up ones too.
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# ¿ Jul 3, 2018 06:45 |
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Shitenshi posted:I had no idea you could permanently lose access to the Guild Card. Not only can you lose them, but the item picture and description changes too, with Yuri offering commentary: "Inactive Snake Card...Darn!" "Unfortunately this card is now inactive. I wonder if the merchant in Zhaoyang Village where I got this is okay? Still, I hope I never have to go there again." And those new Knuckle Blade weapons for Yuri is another localisation change - they're listed as Kakute in the Japanese version Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Jul 8, 2018 |
# ¿ Jul 8, 2018 23:14 |
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The combat's not terrible as such - it's biggest problem is that it's too complex for such a short game, and too underdeveloped for a longer one, and just flat out doesn't tell you anything; you can't really strategise too far, as you're never sure who is going to get the next turn, or what an enemy drops, or what element they are, or how much health they have left. To be fair they didn't really fix those elements in Shadow Hearts until Covenant. Although there is an attempt to make the fights more dynamic with the Judgement Ring, and some of the information can be found ingame either through the library or...other methods...as there is less of a reliance on drops because you can just buy things. And even for the enemies health, the player is given a visual hint when an enemy is in critical health, and they start obviously swaying, or twitching, or breathing deeply, or whatever.
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# ¿ Jul 10, 2018 06:50 |
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The localisation in the game's pretty solid for the most part...but there are some questionable choices, especially later. And there's a few translations that are clearly - "poo poo, we got a deadline, that'll do". That transition one clearly is one of those. The worst translation in the series are probably the enemies in the last game, From the New World, where the translator clearly didn't know they were based on Lovecraft monsters - so you end up with stuff like "Shub-Niggurath", as "Jeb Niglas". The actual game translation's pretty fine, aside from those. [e]: Almost forgot; Margarete also had a loving giraffe neck, and a chin to put Kato to shame, which they changed during release. Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 10:23 on Jul 22, 2018 |
# ¿ Jul 22, 2018 10:19 |
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Speedball posted:Yeah, thankfully the actual design for Jeb Niglas is freaking hideous and terrifying. Iä! Iä! Jeb Niglas! Iä!
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# ¿ Jul 23, 2018 04:53 |
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Brainamp posted:Weird that they turned the chinese ghost sorta into a greek creature, or is there a yokai equivalent of the scylla? There's a few sea creature yokai - there's the Ayakashi, will-o'-the-wisp/kelpie-like phenomena - which is the name for an enemy later on in the game, although localised entirely differently. The Ikuchi - an eel-like thing that could trap boats. The Umibōzu, which can summon storms, tempests, capsize ships, and are generally pretty creepy. There's also giant skeleton whales, Bake-kujira, because that's pretty rad.
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# ¿ Jul 28, 2018 22:12 |
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Ratoslov posted:Who thought this would be fun? The same people who thought that Koudelka would be fun if you could miss a key item to winning the game, or got it as a random drop by a specific enemy literally outside the final boss room, without telling you that it is vital to actually progress. Never noticed they seemed to have hosed up one of the lower eye textures, before.
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# ¿ Aug 13, 2018 16:43 |
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The Japanese name for the Succubus Queen might be a reference to Lady Takiyasha. 夜叉姫 = Yasha hime 滝夜叉姫 Takiyasha hime Also, hope Mrs Dark Id is alright.
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# ¿ Aug 21, 2018 04:24 |
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Kase moch posted:How in the hell did the real Kowloon fit 50,000 people into six and a half acres. That’s a tiny space. How. Very densely. HK$35 = about US$7 in 1980, I believe. For 40sqf/3.7sqm. Here's some interiors by photographer, Greg Girard. Then: Now: [e]: These are called Emeici in the Japanese version! And yeah, Kowloon is visually one of the more interesting parts of the game. You're right that it would be quite a fitting thing for a Koudelka sequel to take place in that. That or her being trapped in the World Expo part, as their original plan went. Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Aug 30, 2018 |
# ¿ Aug 30, 2018 21:18 |
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It's odd that they gave Wugui a brand new portrait. Nice, but odd. I think that's the only one that changes too, IIRC. Also the meat room is gloriously hosed up. Just random bits of giblets strewn everywhere for ambience.
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# ¿ Sep 3, 2018 02:18 |
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Schwartzcough posted:Are they just called Pig-Boar-Snake in the English version? You never mentioned their localized name. They're localised as "Man-Snakes" Goes great with the other dong-themed enemies.
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# ¿ Sep 5, 2018 20:59 |
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I'm probably being an idiot - but is he speaking literally or figuratively about Dehuai being his brother? Because this comes out of nowhere. [e]: Thanks, that does make sense. VVV Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 18:05 on Sep 7, 2018 |
# ¿ Sep 7, 2018 17:54 |
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W.T. Fits posted:Are Alice's Sanity Points ever going to make it to the double digits? According to an FAQ I just looked up, she won't hit even 10 SP until level 34. By contrast at lv 34 Yuri is at 54 SP, Zhuzhen at 16 SP, and Margarete is 14 SP. It would be nice if they gave her a large SP pool at certain story points to reflect the idea that she's getting more and more used to the weird poo poo going on around her, but eh, squishy mage.
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# ¿ Sep 29, 2018 06:38 |
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Kanfy posted:It's no FFVII or Wild Arms 2 but it does seem like the translation was thrown together a bit hastily. Yeah, I'm no purist, but there's some definite wonky, inconsistent translations and strange localisation choices made, especially towards the end; the bizarre "Thou has not won, not even once", which is an invention of the localisation. Some of the sheer half-arsed effort is comical, like characters switching between Japanese and English voices for attacks and grunts. Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Oct 21, 2018 |
# ¿ Oct 21, 2018 20:42 |
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Cardiovorax posted:In case anyone's wondering about this and because it caught my own eye, too: no, the text line in the border of that magic circle is not just some weird dog-latin nonsense words. There's even more too! The next ring down is all the star signs and their symbols. Next down is angels and planets (Zachariel, Samuel, Michael, Anael, Raphael, Gabriel - Venus, Mercury, The Moon, Jupiter, Mars, and The Sun), and some hard to read latin phrases; Omne ab Propheta, Apotheosis, Expiatio, Aeternum, Totum in Evangelium and Trinitas. And finally Halchÿmia, Medica, Cabala, Theologica, Magia and Aſtrologica. Followed by Ignis, Aer and Aqua. And then Vegetalia, Animalia, Mineralia, Terra, Wica, and finally Ada. It's a lot of detail for something that you only really ever see when it's tiny, and at a weird, slanted angle. And the devs change it from game-to-game, keeping certain themes going which is pretty neat as well - this one is sorta Masonic, second is more occult mysticism (and features an important plot device slap bang in the centre), and the third is tribal.
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# ¿ Oct 21, 2018 22:54 |
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It's not apparent from the English localisation of Koudelka, but Halley's ESP powers are the same name as the magic ones in Koudelka; ヒーリング = "Healing" = Heal = Healing ストロングアート Strong Earth = Megalith リミットショック = Limit Shock = Geyser = Shock Max ブラックホール Black Hole = Tornado = Black Hole リヴァイヴァ = Reviver = Revive The only one he doesn't get (probably because they've already got Zhuzhen) is; フレイムマイン = Flame Mine" = Flare And they gave him Aqua Blade and Air Shot to fill out the rest of the elements, and Air Edge to fit with the rest of the characters. For anyone who's played the sequels, if those moves sound familiar, that's because they're also the finisher spells used when doing combo magic. Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Oct 24, 2018 |
# ¿ Oct 24, 2018 00:09 |
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Camel Pimp posted:I really, really wanna know what the hell this was in Japanese He just says Yuri's name. The whole "Thou hast not won even once" seems to be a bizarre invention of the localisation. [e]: Double checked. Yeah, any time that phrase appears, just pretend it doesn't exist. [e2]: It's intentional - it's a repeated a few times as a motto between Halley and his mother when they reunite. VVV Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Oct 27, 2018 |
# ¿ Oct 27, 2018 22:24 |
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On no! Today's all Saints' Day!The Dark Id posted:
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# ¿ Nov 1, 2018 06:13 |
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The Dark Id posted:A new slingshot for Halley. He'll get a decent amount of use from it here. Not once did it inflict Silence. In fact, come to think of it I've not seen ANY of his slingshots actually inflict the status ailments they claim to potentially cause... Oh well, it still has +8 Special Attack power over the previous model. The percentage for the few character weapons that have the chance to inflict status effects is something like 20%. And, obviously, if that enemy is immune it doesn't work. Keith's the only one with a higher percentage 25% of instant death, and one weapon that has 100% chance...but of course with the usual enemy immunity stuff it works on barely anything by that stage. Speaking of Keith's weapons, he's actually got a cut sword. Sword of the Berserker Enchanted Sword. Turns wielder into a killer. Sword formerly owned by the cursed knight, Brom. Causes wielder to transform into a butcher. Its blade is said to moan and give off light in combat. You're meant to be able to buy it in London, but in the non-Japanese versions it's replaced by another sword. Maybe they thought the ring was too difficult or something Yeah, it's just a ring with insanely narrow hit areas Back on topic, I love the strangeness of the enemies in this game. It would have been easy just to do a regular degular ghost, but no, it's lying on its back, and jerks up when moving, before flopping back down again. It's so weird. I love it
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# ¿ Nov 3, 2018 18:35 |
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Really Pants posted:I'm pretty sure she's a foreigner. I mean, technically she is Welsh, which is far enough from London to be foreign enough, and is derived from Old English meaning, "Foreign".
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# ¿ Nov 5, 2018 13:47 |
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StandardVC10 posted:I don't know about that. "The power-mad elites of the world are about to kill millions! NOT IF I KILL MILLIONS FIRST!" Can't have evil in the world, if there's no-one left alive to commit evil. *doffs top hat*
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# ¿ Nov 13, 2018 05:18 |
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Now TDI's got all the discount cards, they all have flavour text that changes if you gently caress up and make them inactive; Inactive Snake Card "Inactive Snake Card...Darn!" Unfortunately this card is now inactive. I wonder if the merchant in Zhaoyang Village where I got this is okay? Still, I hope I never have to go there again. --- Inactive Star Card "Inactive Star Card...Too bad!" Star guild card which has become inactive. I shouldn't have been so greedy then, but oh well... --- Inactive Moon Card "I, I lost this one too. Not my Moon Card!" No...My Moon Card is inactive! That Bistritz place here I found this was really weird. I wonder if that wheat has grown okay. --- Inactive Sun Card "This Sun Card is inactive. ...Should I toss it?" Inactive Sun Card. So I've finally lost this one too. Ah...memories of London --- Inactive Eternity Card "It says "Eternity"! How can it be inactive?" Hmph! They call that "Eternity"!? I knew I shouldn't have trusted that guy from the hospital: "Hey kid, look. It says Eternity" on it. --- Yuri's pretty sassy over losing that Eternity card. Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Nov 16, 2018 |
# ¿ Nov 16, 2018 02:29 |
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Stumbled across this; Dehuai's Tower is a department store IRL. The London map is harder to pin down - it's a generic aerial view of the Houses of Parliament/Westminster area - but with some heavily compressed/confused geography going on. Old Castle Street is next to (or in) St James' Park - with the actual Old Castle Street and Whitechapel on the other side of London - and the Orphange is in a group of what is now government offices and houses. [e]: How'd I miss these? The Dark Id posted:
Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Nov 18, 2018 |
# ¿ Nov 18, 2018 05:38 |
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Accordion Man posted:Id's almost right at endgame but the Shadow Hearts Trilogy loves throwing a slew of sidequests at you once you gain access to the final dungeon. Said sidequests in the series are usually actual dungeons and not lovely mini-games like FF 10 so they're worth doing. The ony downside to the sidequests in this game is the actual method of triggering them, as we'll find out - some of them have very specific criteria that you'd have to know about in advance, or stumble on by luck. Kowloon was probably the most obscure, because it relies on getting all those answers "correct" when Alice is being tortured, and then going against the story to decide to randomly examine that boat again. They're not as bad as that in these upcoming ones. But yeah, the actual sidequest dungeons tend to be pretty neat, without having to dodge 200 lightning bolts, or win 20 games of underwater trash-soccer, or whatever; just nice, simple dungeons with a gimmick, or mood. Also, on topic of the latest upadate, I do like how they've expanded the Nemeton site and kept it feeling sorta consistant with Koudelka; that underground shrine that's randomly in Koudelka, and those whole underground sections cut into the bedrock. The one shame is that we don't get to explore the top-side ruins a bit more - like the main gate, or broken lady statues or something, but that's understandable.
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# ¿ Nov 27, 2018 18:25 |
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Schwartzcough posted:Uh, there have been multiple points in the story, pointed out in the LP, where everyone appears to just start spouting nonsense. Plus all the poorly translated Yamaraja bosses near the beginning, and other assorted blunders. There appear to have been more than a few translation or localization fumbles in this game. The Yamarajas aren't so much poorly translated as questionably localised - like, why they chose to localise it using the Hindu name, rather than the Japanese or Chinese, Yánwáng or Enma-O - despite the Chinese setting, and that neither name is probably going to be familiar to a Western audience. Which is presumably why they localised 90% of the Asian monsters as something else. The unhelpful suffixes can be excused if the translators are working from a contextless jumble of translations (which I'm pretty sure is how they were translating this sort of thing at the time - please correct me if wrong though), and having zero clue what the Japanese is in reference to - I have a suspicion it's either mountains or Japanese Battleships (if only because that's also a theme used in the sequel - and two of them share names with Battleships). Though, yeah, it should have been caught in playtesting really, or changed to something abstract, like they do with War and Calamity. The actual character personalities are great in the localisation, and even something simple like changing Urmanov, to Yuri, just reads so much better. But yeah, the actual translation as such can get wonky as gently caress. The sequel has Jeremy Blaustein on the localisation, and it makes it really shine. And the third game translation is okay - the story and dialogue stuff is fine, but they really dropped the ball on whoever was translating the monster names; they either didn't know, or didn't give a gently caress about what any of the names are referencing, and just romanised them however. Arbite posted:Was James O'Flaherty properly called a Bishop in Japan or did everyone forgot? He's explictly a Bishop in Koudelka (and in the Japanese versions) - it's been a while since Shadow Hearts, but I think he's just referenced as a generic priest. Calling him Father apparently isn't entirely incorrect, just very very informal, according to the ever trustworthy wikipedia. The Most Reverend James O'Flaherty probably wouldn't let that fly though Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 10:23 on Nov 29, 2018 |
# ¿ Nov 29, 2018 10:00 |
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Weeble posted:I've now seen all 4 incarnations of this enemy. It's great how they managed to make so many visually distinct variations on creepy baby ball, but make them all recognisably the same monster. The FtNW upside-down pregnant lady, but with a giant swollen baby head for a belly, but it's got a little foetus blobbing around inside its head/belly is pretty fantastic in terms of hosed-upness. Alice getting a book bound in human leather is also pretty metal. Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 14:31 on Dec 21, 2018 |
# ¿ Dec 21, 2018 14:28 |
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FTNW has some good stuff in it, but even the devs admitted they leant too hard into the wackiness. And while they tried to improve on some elements of Covenant's combat system (ups-and-downs, really), the characters are awkward mechanical rehashes of previous ones. It has got some good stuff in there regardless though, although, yeah, it is difficult at sustaining its story momentum.
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# ¿ Dec 24, 2018 18:43 |
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Robindaybird posted:I didn't even know Kowloon existed until this LP It's so counter-intuitive that you're not normally going to find it, unless you either know about it in advance, or decide to specifically gently caress around Shanghai (assuming you correctly did that torture sequence). First time through, I missed Kowloon, but got a few of these end-game sidequests, mostly by accident. Covenant is a lot better in that regard - not having to keep specific members in your active party to activate special scenes is an improvement, for one. There's also less permantly missable things in that game in general as well; I got 99% of the enemies first time through because I didn't realise that you have to intentionally gently caress up the puzzle in that game's Dollhouse to fight a unique enemy that appears nowhere else.
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# ¿ Jan 9, 2019 09:15 |
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Hearing Yuri trash talk all the nightmarish bosses is the best. From a few updates ago, I had a save file just before Nemeton and thought I'd see what "Dad" says regarding hints to find the gravestones. Like all the sidequests, it only actives after you speak to Koudelka in London. And you know we all thought that London was part of the game where they didn't bother to check the translation...well... put drunk down phone, you're dad.
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# ¿ Jan 19, 2019 10:58 |
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Shitenshi posted:That's the first time I've actually seen the Pulse Tract's description. Does anyone know if there was some other sidequest dungeon planned that just didn't get implemented at the last minute? It's another trip through the ancient ruins, and all the colours of the rainbow nonsense. There's not actually that much known about this game's cut content. Not that it's gonna be 100% informative, but a quick look through a hex editor reveals there's only one named location that we don't visit, and that's Changchun - and that's because it's on the world map after you punch Albert super hard in the face and dramatically jump off the train with Alice. There doesn't seem to be anything listed in the items that goes unused (aside from one of Keith's sword), two shop names that I think go unused (Adult Toy Shop, and Money Mad). There's some garbage data in the enemy list between enemies, but that could just be dummy data. One handy thing is it does list all the score card info, which TDI said doesn't seem to have been recorded anywhere. Well, here it is: Battles: Fought 0 - 10 = Beginner Fought 25 = Newbie Fought 50 = Grunt Fought <100 = Soldier Fought ≥100 = Page Fought 250 = Knight Fought 500 = Hero Fought ≥1000 = Mad Knight Fought 2000 = Murderer Fought 4000 = Black Knight Fought 6000 = Demon Knight Fought 8000 = Adversary Killed ≥10000 = The King of Murderer ( Another typo) Fleeing From Battles: 0 = Showdown 10 = Follies of Youth 25 = From Guilt To Ecstasy 50 = Flee for Victory? 100 = I'll get Away! 250 = Fugitive 500 = It's Unstoppable now 1000 = Becoming a Legend 1000+ = From Legend To Myth Berserk: <10 = Sanity 100% 10 = To Unknown World 25 = Devil's Seduction 50 = Beast 100 = Scream of Instinct 250 = I Quit Mankind 500 = No Sanity 1000 = After Fusion 1000+ = Berserkers Unconscious: <10 = Safety First 10 = Wrong reading? 25 = Falling... 50 = I can see a Heaven 100 = Hell's Regulars' 250 = Coma Walk 500 = Closest To Heaven 1000 = Hobby: "Unconscious" 1000+ = I'm Already Dead Ring Success Rate: 1% = No Spins 10% = I'm getting Dizzy... 20% = Get Used to the Spin 40% = Use "Force" 60% = Take a Shot! 80% = Go Higher... 90% = I can see! I can see! 95% = The Body Remembers! 100% = The World is Spinning... 100+% = Ring Master Ring Perfect Success Rate: 1% = Lottery 10% = Give me a few tries 20% = Barely made it... 40% = Not Bad 60% = Above Average 80% = Great Reflex 90% = Supreme Being 95% = Conditioned Reflex 100% = Too Slow! 100+% = Mr.Perfect Discount Rate: 1% =Harsh Reality 10% = Sparrow's Tears 20% = Small Joy... 30% = Just a Little More! 40% = Take it. Thief! 45% = Shrewd Businessman 49% = Entrepreneur 49+% = Master Haggle Raise Price Rate: 1% =No Greed, No Gain? 10% = Too Good to be True.. 20% = Better than retail. 30% = Make it Constant... 40% = Cash Higher... 45% = Use Every Trick... 49% = Like a Con Artist... 49+% = Con Artist Distance Travelled: 10km = Departure 28km = From Tokyo to Shinjuku 149km = From Tokyo to Yokohama 268km = From Tokyo to Shizuoka 373km = From Tokyo to Nagoya 407km = From Tokyo to Kyoto 546km = From Tokyo to Osaka 686km = From Tokyo to Okayama 898km = From Tokyo to Hiroshima 987km = From Tokyo to Hakata 40000km = From Tokyo to Naha 380000km = Around the World 380000+km = Reached the Moon
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# ¿ Jan 21, 2019 06:22 |
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A
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# ¿ Jan 27, 2019 04:43 |
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It's non-canon, but the Koudelka manga shows that Roger is immortal enough to survive decapitation, and someone punching him so hard their fist goes through his chest. And he's just like " I'm immortal, idiot." His former apprentice, Not-Albert Simon, De Gaulle is also immortal, which Koudelka solves by making a giant goat god punch him in literal pulp. (Read panels from right to left)
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# ¿ Jan 27, 2019 05:20 |
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Shitenshi posted:I seriously wonder what the spirit of bronze was supposed to be in the original Japanese. 鋼の魂 - Soul of Steel. The metaphor still works, just a bit more antiquated.
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# ¿ Jan 27, 2019 22:47 |
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That Vampire-Blade nonsense looks like a garbled attempt at "Vlad", as in Vlad Dracula. This is the kanji they use in the sword: ヴラドス ("Vlados/th") And this is On that note, one of his other swords, Deathblade Jiru might to be a reference to Gilles de Rais - bit harder to guage that one though, as the kanji is just "ジル" (Jill).
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# ¿ Feb 10, 2019 00:54 |
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# ¿ May 21, 2024 19:22 |
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Neddy Seagoon posted:So are we just going to gloss over the fact the Scapegoat has what appears to be an erection? I believe the technical term is a "Ram Rod"
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# ¿ Feb 10, 2019 02:23 |