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 “Reasoning draws a conclusion, but does not make the conclusion certain, unless the mind discovers it by the path of experience.” – Roger Bacon on grinding and RNG, probably. ***** What is Shadow Hearts? Shadow Hearts is a JRPG by Sacnoth -- released in December of 2001 for the Sony PlayStation 2. Midway published it this time around. They used to have their hands in... varied markets before going belly up. It actually had the rotten timing of being released five days before this little known rival indie title, Final Fantasy X... You might have heard of that game somewhere before. Shadow Hearts is an indirect sequel to the 2000 RPG by the same developers, Koudelka -- a completed LP of which can be found right over here Sacnoth’s output this time around is far more of a traditional JRPG rather than the survival horror game trappings married to a nightmare of bad design decisions RPG combat system of its predecessor. To be blunt, unlike Koudelka, which I would in no way, shape or form suggest anyone play for themselves, I’d say Shadow Hearts is worth a fair shake. Even if it does have some issues and might be a bit of a step back in a few ways. But we’ll have more than enough time to discuss that later. Do I need to have played/seen an LP of Koudelka to enjoy Shadow Hearts? No. Especially early on, Shadow Hearts seems to have very little to do with Koudelka. Though it is far more of a direct sequel by the end than say NieR to NieR: Automata. You’ll have more than ample time to read that LP I just did if you’re curious. Koudelka was a 13ish hour affair that you could complete over the course of a weekend. Shadows Hearts is a real rear end 30+ hour RPG. So we’re gonna be here a little while longer! I thought you said you weren’t going to LP the Shadow Hearts games? I said I didn’t have plans to LP all of the games. And plans can be changed, you pedantic jerk! It’s not a Xenosaga situation where I’ve gone on record saying I’d sooner eat a bullet than engage with those games in LP fashion. So don’t take that as any guarantee that I’ll LP another one of these games. Probably... With that said, let’s begin... The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 17:04 on Apr 6, 2019 |
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Jun 21, 2018 02:39
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 Cool and good junk people have made for the LP goes here. Always appreciated and encouraged. There's probably gonna be spoilers, naturally. ******  Epicmissingno has been abusing Lullab-Eye.  Nohman shows off the cast's alignments.  Nohman also knows the best time to embark on a sidequest.  CountryMatters found a hole in Dehuai's scheme. 
The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Sep 21, 2018 |
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Jun 21, 2018 02:40
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Episode I: Midnight Train.jpg) Welcome to  New Music: Wind Which Blows From the Dark I .jpg)  Click Here to Watch the Opening Movie (You should really watch this. It’s a real good opening. Also WAY more violent than most anything else in the game.).jpg) Our story begins fifteen years after the conclusion of Koudelka. Gone are the dreary wastelands of the hellscape that is Wales. Instead, let’s venture to a lovely city in rustic France. Surely, the capital of the Normandy region of France is devoid of dark rituals, alchemical crimes against humanity and serial murders. .jpg) ...OK. Perhaps I spoke too soon. .jpg) A travelling priest, brutally murdered before sunrise! His body lay scattered in pieces, as if savaged by a beast. His daughter, believed to be travelling with him, is missing... .jpg) Well, I’m sure that won’t be relevant. Let’s shift gears a continent over and several months later, shall we? .jpg) South Manchu—autumn, that same year. .jpg) So I might have been wrong on my assessment of dark dealings in French back alleys. But transcontinental railroads are another matter altogether. As far as I know there has never been a transcontinental rail trip that has no less than one or more murders, at least one to three people who are secretly spies or not who they claim to be, a serial killer/actual demon ready to strike, a robbery transpiring or a bomb planted somewhere aboard. There is some poo poo about to go down on this train if it hasn’t already. Put good money down on this fact. .jpg) .jpg) This old lady passing this dapper gentleman? An Assassin is off to stop Templars planting an explosive in the engine car. Too bad she’ll have to make it through a botched heist two cars up and a Vatican priest hunting down an immortal killer battling on the roof the car ahead of that. .jpg) .jpg) Meanwhile, some bum who sneaked on board is relieved to see nobody has checked for his ticket or asked him to move his feet off the seats for the last two stops. Living life large. .jpg) Meanwhile, in the dining car/caboose we find the place locked down by soldiers of the Japanese Army. Let’s see what they’re discussing inside. .jpg)  It’s already past 2300 and it’s still a long way to Fengtian. Major Tsugi, what is this about? Why the special train in the middle of the night to escort this girl to Japan? .jpg) She looks pretty ordinary to me. Well other than the silver hair. What’s up with that? Maybe she just went gray at an early age? Don’t ask me. I’d be happy to have any hair... And that outfit. I didn’t even know they made buttons that size! What’s that about? Do I look like an expert in Westerner fashion?.jpg) Hell if I know. There’s no telling what the big shots in Tokyo are thinking. Hmph... Next time I see you-know-who, I’ll ask her, okay?.jpg)  GAAH! <crunch and chewing sounds>.jpg) .jpg) Meanwhile, things have taken a turn for the gruesome with the guards outside. The first of the two was taken by surprise. Surely his partner will be able to hold the line! The honor of the mighty Japanese Imperial Army is on the li-- .jpg) AGH!.jpg) ...How do you even get a head to twist in that direction? That’s some Havoc ragdoll physics gone awry poo poo right there. .jpg) Wh-what’s going on!?Why Major, it’s only the most sinister, malicious force of ill-will you could ever come across... .jpg) ...An old white guy. .jpg) Sh-Shoot! <open fire>.jpg) GARGH! <gasp> AHHH! <also gasps> Argh! <pulls out pistol and opens fire>.jpg) Who went to town on the sliders when making this guy in a character creator? The head to face ratio on this man’s model is JACKED. But other than his unfortunate facial features, this guy has bigger problems. .jpg) It seems the dapper gentleman either has some kind of anti-bullet shield or... No! Could this be the work of an enemy Stand!? .jpg) Die! Die! Die!.jpg) <click click>.jpg) Pictured: The look of a man who wishes his face was twice its current size. Also, about to be brutally eviscerated by some kind of murder machine wizard. .jpg) ACK! <crunch> <blood splatter>.jpg) Ahh! It’s you....jpg)  Yes. Roger Bacon. I’m honored that you remember me so well. .jpg) Roger Bacon is looking fit compared to when we last saw him. Guy really cleaned up well in the past fifteen years. What’s his secret in... growing like two feet, de-aging a few hundred years, getting a completely different face, voice, skin tone, manner of speaking and gaining a Stand... Hmm. .jpg) The girl decides now that she’s cornered and feet away from the Stand user Roger Bacon she’s going to make a break for it. She is quickly deterred. Incidentally, it’s amazing she managed to not get a single drop of blood on her pristine outfit when it has coated literally every surface around her. That takes some talent. .jpg) You can’t escape. Ho-ho. Come along quietly, sister. The sound of the train car opening comes from behind Roger. .jpg) Ahh... A new actor in our play..jpg) .jpg) Roger wastes no time siccing his little murder helper on the interloper and seemingly lopping off one of his arms. Only... .jpg) .jpg) I don’t think this is how things were meant to work out for this little imp dude. He doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself. .jpg) I cannot believe that little murder gremlin is loving dead. Turns out it was actually like a really aggressive, large mosquitoes and those soldiers would have been way better off just swatting the thing out of the air the whole time. Ahh well, hindsight and all that. .jpg) <shakes head dismayed> I was fond of him... Poor, poor Doctor Mirabilis... <frowns>.jpg) That’s one baddie down. Just a moment though, our new guest needs to attend to something. .jpg) .jpg) Just gotta glue this back on real quick. Spoilers: At no other point in the game can this guy just reattach limbs and regenerate like that. I mean, not that he is ever in a situation that warrants it again either. It’s just odd. Like if Piccolo in Dragon Ball Z just did the regrowing a limb technique exactly once ever out of nowhere and nobody spoke on it or mentioned it ever again. .jpg) Once more, the girl in distress decides that once things have calmed down and there are zero distractions, she’ll make a break for it. It goes about as well as you’d expect... .jpg) Uh-uh. <sleep spell>.jpg) Our hero has slightly better timing with his actions and rushed Roger Bacon as soon as he’s busy abducting the girl. Unfortunately, there’s one thing he didn’t take into account. .jpg) .jpg) Roger Bacon’s Special Eyes™! .jpg) .jpg) The monk’s Brand sends the man flying back through the wall of three train cars. It doesn’t seems like it’s a very fun time to have. Good thing the train was on a straight away and not a big turn. That could have gone way worse. .jpg) And he also didn’t manage to go flying back far enough to crash into any knife fights, sorcery duels, political kidnappings or a clutch bomb defusing happening just a few cars back at this very time on the railroad.   <gets up from getting owned like The Undertaker> Heh...Tune in next time as Shadow Hearts begins in earnest and we get to work punching the poo poo out of that dapper wizard. There’s no way he’d use the Special Eyes™ move twice, right? Absurd.    Video: Shadow Hearts Intro (Hey go watch this!) The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Jun 24, 2018 |
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Jun 21, 2018 02:40
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Episode II: Rude Hero New Music: Wind Which Blows From the Dark II .jpg) The intro to Shadow Hearts has concluded. We’re now in the realm of actual gameplay. This game isn’t the greatest looker. In fact, it doesn’t look a whole lot better than Koudelka. The overworld is still the PS1 common style mesh of pre-rendered backgrounds and polygonal models. That’s because Shadow Hearts began its development as a Playstation 1 game. There was only an eighteen month turn around between the Japanese release of Koudelka and this game. .jpg) Our trench coat sporting protagonist has yet to get receive a proper name, so he’ll just be operating under the moniker of “Rude Hero.” The game is very judgmental about his treatment of that poor murder imp that was just doing its job. We could go taking a deep dive into the menu to check out some mechanical details about the game now but ehh... Let’s just get through the prologue first, eh? .jpg) Moving into the next train car, we come upon the ever present foe of JRPGs. The dreaded Random Battle... .jpg) New Music: Brain Hopper (It’s the random battle music for a good chunk of the game. You should probably listen to it.) .jpg) If one thing in Shadow Hearts has gotten a graphical improvement over its predecessor, it is the battle graphics. Like... there’s actually a background set now and not just a floor texture and dark void surrounding it. The train car was also nice enough to double in size and move all its seating arrangements to the back row to accommodate the battle. It’s very considerate of the rail line to make such arrangements. .jpg) I spoke at length at Koudelka’s overly complicated and poorly thought out esoteric mechanical mess of a battle system. So how did they iterate on that in the successor series? Easy. They tossed the entire thing in a dumpster where it belongs. Shadow Hearts comes with a completely new battle system. The details of which we’ll get into when we’re in some proper battles. Which... is going to take a few updates, honestly. .jpg) Moving around a grid or any of that positioning nonsense has been eliminated in favor of more traditional mechanics. Battles are still turn based affairs but we just simply select our target and go to work attacking without worry about distance based damage calculations or proficiency of skills. Instead, there is a new unique gimmick in its place. Let’s just Attack the enemy normally and take a look at that. .jpg) Meet the Judgment Ring -- the core mechanic of Shadow Heart’s battle system. Almost no action in Shadow Hearts is guaranteed. There is a timing based element to it. The Judgment Ring will appear when performing almost anything more complicated than sorting through inventory on a menu (and even then, sometimes...) In this UI element, a green line will make one full 360 degree clockwise sweep of the circle which is divided between three colored segments. The player must tap the X action button at the appropriate times while the green line is over the right segments to trigger an action. In this case attacking. 
.jpg) I think the Judgment Ring is a fun element to battles. Certain a lot better than that slow as molasses nightmare of Koudelka’s battle system. But it can be a bit much to always have to be timing button presses. That said... there is one major drawback to the Judgment Ring system that isn’t actually Shadow Heart’s fault. This is a timing based gimmick on a very early PS2 game from the early aughts. You know... back when everyone still had big box CRT TVs with zero latency. So playing on a modern TV or emulator... the timing is a wee bit unforgiving compared to how it was intended. It’s not PS1 rhythm game unplayable jacked. But the latency issue with modern hardware is definitely noticeable. .jpg) But you’re reading a LP so you don’t need to worry about that kind of stuff. Just like we really don’t need to worry about hitting all the targets on the Judgment Ring for these enemies. A single hit will kill the Wind Shear imps here. .jpg) .jpg) Which is not to say the little guys are completely defenseless. They’re really sore about how Rude Hero did their cousin rotten like that in the intro and will attack with their scythes and blasts of wind energy. But they do all of 4-5 HP of damage and that’s nothing to worry about. .jpg) New Music: Results .jpg) A job well done, Rude Hero. .jpg) For slaying our enemies, we get the usual RPG staples of Experience Points and maybe a dropped item if we were lucky (we were not.) Already a change from Koudelka, there’s actually money time around. Turns out those little guys were carrying 40 Bison Bucks or whatever denomination the internationally legal tender “Cash” falls into. Music: Wind Which Blows From the Dark II .jpg) But we’ll worry about that some other time. Back on task, our Rude Hero continues back towards the car Roger Bacon and the girl were hanging out in. Along the way he can do the tried and true RPG protagonist technique of pillaging corpses for a couple spare items. It’s not like a guy with his head spun 180 degrees backwards is going to need any medicinal herbs. Like in Koudelka, all Shadow Hearts items have unique art assets and some... let’s say interesting flavor text. We’ll check out all that junk when things calm down a bit. .jpg) For now, onto the back car! It’s quite the mess back here. There’s definitely several gory scenes in this game. But nothing is on the level of the prologue chapter to the point it kinda feels like the whole sequence was made way earlier as a proof of concept to pitch the game to a publisher. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is actually the case. .jpg) <looks around>.jpg) .jpg) Of course this is going to spill out onto the roof. It’s against international law to have any incident transpire on a moving train and not have the parties involved eventually clamber up onto a train car roof for a climactic showdown.  That’s OK. Rude Hero is more than happy to use the express ticket to the roof. .jpg) I prefer tenacious rogue..jpg) Don’t think you can buy me off with a free show either, grandpa. What are you babbling about? <points to girl> Should watch where you’re pointing that butt... <side-eyes> Well, then... You may have a... small point. I’ll be getting rid of you now....jpg) New Music: NDE - Near Death Experience (It’s the boss battle music. You should listen to it.) .jpg) Time for the hypest duel of the evening and climax of the prologue. Roger Bacon, a gentleman so dapper he pisses tea and shits biscuits. .jpg) Versus the rudest unnamed punch-boy currently riding the Trans-Siberia Railway. You’d honestly be surprised how many pugilists are in contention for such a title. .jpg) Naturally, Roger Bacon begins the duel with a volley of telekinetic gentlemanly slaps. And they call our player character Rude.  Now that we have an enemy that can take some hits, Rude Hero can show off his entire Tekken rear end hit string of physical attacks. Edward J. Plunkett doesn’t have poo poo on this guy. We’re just going to stick to this. Like I said, we’ll get to the other abilities when we get to a proper fight and well... .jpg) .jpg) Unfortunately, Rude Hero is still fighting a wizard. As soon as Bacon takes a combo or two, he gets fed up with our protagonist’s comboing his face and casts a spell to buff his Special Attack Power +30% in preparation for... .jpg) Aru ajifu aruhazado! What!? <clears throat> Ahem... Kitab al-Azif of Abdul Alhazred! ...What? <sign> I am invoking the title of the mythical magical tome the Necronomicon and its profane author. The what and the who...? I am going to end this tiring conversation by destroying you now. Yeah, I’ve heard that one befo—oh poo poo!.jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Well, then... .jpg) Now you know why we didn’t bother with any techniques more advanced than repeatedly punching and kicking the wizard. This isn’t a battle that can be won. Music: ENDS .jpg) Agh...! Now, foul monster... you shall cease to be!.jpg) Roger needs a bit to charge his special attack. Why doesn’t he use that instantaneous Special Eyes™ to just blast the Rude Hero again? Well... I’m fairly certain he just completely forgets about that ability immediately after the intro movie just like our man never reattaches a limb again. .jpg) <attack fizzles out> Wh-What on Earth...!?New Music: ICARO - Song of Spirits .jpg) Well it looks like SOMEONE managed to hold onto their magic neutralizing pendant unlike other short skirt wearing female protagonists in this series I could name... .jpg) WHAT!?.jpg) Seeing that Bacon is distracted by a magical girl popping off with some undoubtedly important mystical energy, Rude Hero sees his chance... .jpg) .jpg) ...to punch a loving hole in that dapper wizard’s stupid face. Why didn’t you lead off with the skull shattering Falcon Punch, guy? .jpg) When you enjoy punching and your job is punching, you can hardly even call it a job. .jpg) Argh! drat!.jpg) Yoink!.jpg) Smell ya later, pops!.jpg) Real change of fate for Roger Bacon here. But while getting a hole punched into where one of your eyes ought to be is usually a pretty big deal for most folks. Well, Bacon... .jpg) ...still is kinda... .jpg) ...a wizard. So a healing spell later and he’s fine. .jpg) .jpg) Unfortunately him, unless he can fly I think he might he might have lost the girl he was kidnapping. I like to think he quietly returns to his seat and enjoys tea and crumpets all the way till the next train stop in Harbin or Vladivostok while then pretends nothing happened in the back of the train. But that’s a story for another day... Time to properly begin... .jpg)  Video: Episode 2 Highlight Reel (It’s the end of the prologue and the title card drop. Go watch it!)   Shadow Hearts Cover Art – At least he isn’t lugging the unconscious girl around like Bacon was... The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 14:21 on Jun 22, 2018 |
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Jun 21, 2018 18:57
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 Episode III: Stat Chat 1913 New Music: Blow Up .jpg) Welcome to the World Map. Or... at least the Asia Map. Unlike Koudelka and its confinement to a single location in the hellish wastes of the Welsh countryside, Shadow Hearts is a bit of a globetrotting adventure. Most chapters will move onto a new location with very little backtracking. Though usually from here on out we can return to previous locations up to a point. There’s no returning to the Trans-Siberian Express and I’m not even sure why Changchun is listed as a location. .jpg) For now our only option is to head to where Rude Hero and the unconscious magic girl ended up after jumping off the train – The Plains. Music: ENDS. Sounds of a stream in the distance. .jpg) We return to find our duo still hanging out next to the train tracks in the middle of nowhere in the Manchurian countryside. Rude Hero seems to have gotten sick of carrying around Whatsherface and dropped her like a sack of potatoes until she decides to finally wake up. Like right about now... The girl regains consciousness and stands up. .jpg) If you’re looking for the train, it’s long gone. <looks around confused> Took care of Grandpa Top Hat, too. Heh. Geezer is gonna be feeling that one in the morning. Heh heh... pretty exciting, huh? You getting a tingly feeling? Right about here? <points to her skirt>  <runs back>.jpg) Stay away?! I haven’t even done anything yet. ...... ...OK. That sounds kinda bad phrasing it like that. <shakes head> Stay... stay back, please... I... I can’t. No… I… I can’t do anything, I….The girl bolts off-screen. .jpg) Uh… Where do you think you’re going? I’m telling you, it’s not safe that way. <shakes head> Aw, give me a break… Hey, girlie! Don’t run off like that! It looks like you’re already winded and you’ve ran like twenty yards! You’re clearly not a track runner. Can we just save both of us some time and—.jpg) Screeching unearthly sound and flash of light. .jpg) This line is actually voice acted. It’s very faint, whispery female voice. I mentioned there might be a couple things that are a step down from Koudelka. Cutscenes are definitely one of ‘em. About 98% of the dialogue is text only and motion captured performances have been ditched in favor of more common limited canned animations. That prologue bit was about 10% of the voice acted scenes in the game. New Music: Sphere -qu- (This is also the title screen music.) .jpg) Okay, I got it… I’m supposed to protect her, right…? Fine, FINE! I’ll go get her before she gets eaten by a wolf or something. Sheesh!The Rude Hero runs in the direction of the Girl in Danger. .jpg) That’s probably not a good sign. It’d stand to reason the girl would follow the path and not just run headlong into a stream. So naturally... .jpg) .jpg) We’re going to bolt off course down a secret path to loot a hidden treasure chest in the opposite direction of the screaming. The chest here contains a Leather Belt. I’m sure the Girl in Danger won’t mind if we stop a few minutes and take the time to look over our inventory and check out a few mechanics. She probably just got spooked by a bird or something. She seemed the easily startled type. .jpg) We’ll get a name for this dingus by the end of this update, I promise. But for now, let’s take a look at Rude Hero’s Status. He’s only Level 3 and he can already punch holes in wizards’ skulls, crush the heads of enemy Stands easily and occasionally reattach severed limbs. Not bad. Hit Points and Magic Points should be self-explanatory if you’ve ever played a video game in your life. Sanity Points maybe not so much... But we’ll hold off on getting into that mechanic at just the moment. Ability Stats come in a far more reasonable flavor than Koudelka’s loving clownshoes take on RPG stats. Even if going on about people’s PIE stat was amusing, I’m definitely not going to miss that dumbass stat existing.
Strength – How hard the character hits with physical attacks. Pretty standard. More Strength = Punch Better. Vitality – Physical damage resistance. This does not affect Hit Points. HP increases on Level-Up independent of this stat. Agility – Dictates evasion rate and the speed at which characters will have their next turn. Kind of important but also mostly obfuscated and kind of at the whims of RNG. Intelligence – How hard the character hits with Special abilities (read: Magic and anything that isn’t just using a weapon.) Important for everyone this time around. Power – The magic equivalent of Vitality. Affects resistance from Special attacks (again, anything that isn’t just an enemy whacking the character over the head with something.) Luck – Dubious bullshit RNG like every game ever. Effect’s item drops, critical hit rate and modifies evasion rate and attack accuracy. Could just be a fake number that doesn’t actually do anything for all we know like in every video game. Dumb stat as always. .jpg) All stats increase from leveling up our character and also what equipment they are currently wearing. Every party member can equip one weapon, one armor and three accessories. We can also see clear stats on the hit change percentages here. Some equipment might have big trade-offs of say much higher damage but crappy accuracy or the like. Weapon Durability and all the RNG only drops for armor sets poo poo from Koudelka has been tossed in the trash alongside the battle system. But what did stick around is unique art and item description blurbs for every single item and piece of equipment. Let’s take a closer look... .jpg) By default, Rude Hero comes equipped with Leather Gloves. Ignore the fact they’re brown here when they’re clearly cartoon character big white gloves on his model. There’s no Weapon Proficiency business in Shadow Hearts either. Everyone knows how to use exactly one type of weapon. Our boy here will always be slipping variations of gloves on his mitts to punch folks. .jpg) Rude Hero also comes sporting a rugged, manly cotton shirt that doesn’t look remotely like the one he’s wearing in-game. Armor in Shadow Hearts is a bit different. For the most part, all armor is gendered. Only male characters can wear a Cotton Shirt. That’s just the way of the world in 1913. Rude Hero won’t be donning a Wedding Dress for its above average stats anytime soon. There is also some character specific armors in the game too but that is way far down the road as well. .jpg) We just picked up a Leather Belt which we’ll go ahead and equip on the Rude Hero for a +2 to Attack Power. It’s worth noting that unlike armor and weapons, Accessories are unisex and not limited to any one character. Accessories are actually pretty important for many fights in this game once ones that block certain ill effects of enemy attacks start cropping up. But that too is for another day. .jpg) Even though we’ve only just begun our adventure, Rude Hero has a pretty decent knapsack full of junk already. We’ll quickly thumb through our stock of trinkets before going and checking on whatever happened to Miss Damselindistress. .jpg) The item descriptions in Shadow Hearts are fun because they all sound like they’re written by some shady open air market merchant trying to upsell the rarity and quality of their fake manufactured crap to some gullible tourist. This is the most common healing item in the game. It restores 75 HP. You can buy it in literally every shop in the game for like 50 bucks. .jpg) Yes, this mystical leaf grows in secret places such as every crappy shop from Imperial Japan to the Hellsmouth of Wales for slightly more cost than the HP equivalent. This restores 50 MP on use. .jpg) This will get you loving LIT. You will be tripping balls for days on end. Or it’ll restore 3 Sanity Points. Same difference, honestly. You might be noticing the Judgment Rings appearing alongside the item graphics here. That’s because using items also requires a timed button press as well. It’s extremely generous most every time. But some items do offer a Strike Area to increase the potency of the item if you’re feeling saucy. .jpg) The Phoenix Down equivalent. Will revive downed party members and restore 30% of their HP. I suppose a mystical talisman you can stuff in your pocket for emergencies is a touch more efficient than an entire bottle of whiskey. Not nearly as fun, though... .jpg) Crush this up gem up and snort it to cure Poisoning. Another thing gone from Koudelka – inventory management and item restrictions! We can hold as many types of items we want and up to 99 of ‘em before the game gets mad at us. Thank goodness. .jpg) Finally, there’s Tents which work like Tents in many other RPGs -- a full restore of HP/MP if used on the World Map or at any Save Point. Should probably find what the heck a save point looks like in this game first, huh? .jpg) Before we finish up, there is one more item left. Though it’s listed separately from our inventory items in its own .jpg) Finally, before we get back on course. Shadow Hearts is the exact opposite of Koudelka in regards to documentation of mechanics. There’s an entire robust Help/FAQ section in the menu that can be accessed at any time and offers detailed explanations for any and all mechanics. It will regularly update as the game continues and helpfully marks new entries as they crop up. Definitely a marked improvement over its predecessor’s method of telling the player absolutely nothing and offering zero tutorials. Good on ya, Sacnoth. .jpg) Now then, what were we doing? Oh right... We’re supposed to look after that girl because a loud voice in our protagonist’s head is yelling at them to do so for some reason. We’d better get on that. Especially since it looks like the girl is taking another dirt nap further up the road. .jpg) Were you attacked or something? I TOLD you it was dangerous, didn’t I… <looks around> There’s not even anything around here. Did you trip over your own two feet running? Do you got narcolepsy, lady? Is that it?  Looks like I’m the one who’s getting all tingly inside. Maybe I should make a move. He he....jpg) ... <bends down> I wonder if she’d mind if I... ... ... Nah... She looks like the uptight type and I don’t need that stupid voice yelling at me again..jpg)  Hey! Girl! Don’t just lie there like a dead fish! Get up!The girl wakes up again and immediately jumps back from the Rude Hero. .jpg) <gestures at girl> Then you faint? You got no manners, y’know that? And people call me rude... What’s the world comin’ to? A... A monster just suddenly... <nods> Yeah. There’s lots of hungry wolves and bloodsuckin’ bats around here. Take a few steps around these parts and they’ll just randomly come out to battle you. It’s a real pain in the rear end. You’re probably attracting them. You smell pretty good, y’know. <looks around> ... Don’t worry, my manly musk scared ‘em off. For now... Probably... Anyway, don’t run off like that, okay? Cause if I don’t do like the voice says, my head’s going to split open! ...Huh? ...Don’t “huh?” me. Someone, or something, is pretty drat insistent that I protect you. Protect… me?The Rude Hero paces a bit. .jpg) “Punch that guy!” which... is usual fine. I’ve got no problem with punching guys. But once it told me to kick this black cat. Something about it carrying a pendant. That wasn't cool. It did have some weird pendant but, you know... I still had to kick a cat. A... voice in your head... tells you to do these things...? Stupid voice jumps into my head all the time. And now it’s orderin’ me to protect you. Anyway, at least I’m never bored. Wherever it tells me to go, there are always plenty of monsters. Usually not wizards, though... That was a new one... So that’s why you were on the train? <nods> Yup. But thanks to that voice, I'm changing from your ordinary bad-boy type into a real psycho. <shrug> I mean I know I sound like a crazy person saying a voice in my head told me to hop on a train through China to save you. But ehh... after a while you just kind of roll with it, ya know? S-Sure... Hey, are you psycho, too? Do you see weird things? <nods> ...Maybe. Oh I... was just kinda trying to change the subject... People don’t usually say yes to that kinda thing... That’s a little weird. Well you don’t seem quite like me, but… whatever. We can’t just chat all day. First, we’ve got to find a place to rest. And I’m getting’ hungry. <starts walking off>.jpg) My name’s....jpg) We can finally stop calling this idiot “Rude Hero.” Our protagonist’s actual name is Yuri Volte Hyuga. Fun fact: His Japanese name is Urmanov and he’s called "Ur/Ura" for short. Which... Yeah, I'm glad they changed that to Yuri. Also his middle name can be transliterated to “Borte” so that’s fun too. .jpg) Yuri... I’m....jpg) And since we’re giving introductions finally, Girl in Danger finally gets a name as well. .jpg) Heh heh, Alice, huh? Even your name’s cute.   Okay! I got it! I won’t touch you!! Unless another wizard tries to kidnap you. Then no promises... ...... And with that, we now have our second party member. And thankfully Yuri mostly does knock it the gently caress off with being a gross awkward perv too, so that’s good. Well... at least he will once we're out of the Plains. Again, it feels like some of the very early bits of Shadow Hearts were made for a demo pitch for the game and nobody ever went back to make 'em in line with the rest. Tune in next time as we make our way across the midnight plains of rural China, beat up some wildlife, cast a miracle or two and maybe fight a ghost as Shadow Hearts continues!  Video: Episode 3 Highlight Reel  Yuri Hyuga Concept Art – I’d yell at this guy for wearing four belts but this game came out the same week as Final Fantasy X and the monstrosity that is Lulu so ehh... The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Jul 3, 2018 |
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Jun 23, 2018 00:13
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Episode IV: Ghost Dad Music: Sphere -qu- .jpg) We now have our second party member in Alice Elliot. Before we continue our journey of err... finding a place to sleep for the evening and maybe bumming some food, let’s take a closer look at our new companion. .jpg) Surprising to nobody, Alice has a stat bend suited more towards magical abilities than physical strength. Unlike in Koudelka where beginning stats were more of a suggestion and characters could be built in any way, the folks in Shadow Hearts must very much stay in their lanes with their archetypes. Alice is very much the healer of the group and will remain so. The only exception is kinda Yuri because... well, you’ll see eventually.  You might notice Alice has a big Light in her status screen. That is because characters (and enemies) in Shadow Hearts all have elemental affiliations. The elements from Koudelka have all returned -- Fire, Water, Earth and Wind. But this time around Light and Dark have been upgraded from vague vestigial elements that exist in the pile of overly complicated mechanics but functionally had little purpose to full on Elements. Yuri is Dark Elemental if you didn’t catch his status screen earlier. Each element has an opposite which they’ll do more damage against but also receive more damage from as well. They’re fairly easy to guess: Fire >< Water Earth >< Wind Light >< Dark .jpg) Alice naturally comes with her own set of equipment. Let’s take a closer look at her gear... .jpg) Our heroine’s weapon of choice is just beating people over the head with a thick Bible she’s carrying around. Indeed, Ms. Elliot’s weapons of choice are all hardcover holy texts. I suppose that’s a bit less awkward than having the white mage wandering around with a big staff or rod all the time. .jpg) Alice also comes equipped with a blouse. Unlike Yuri’s equipment, I suppose it’s reasonable she could be wearing this under her weird button-up jacket... thing. .jpg) By default, Alice comes equipped with the bandanna accessory which adds +5 to her defense stats. Seeing as she currently only has 20 HP total, we should probably just keep that equipped on her for now. Also, this thing was totally just made in the back of some sweatshop in under five minutes for about fifteen cents material cost. .jpg) A new Valuable is also added to our inventory once Alice joins -- her magic pendant that stopped Roger Bacon from blasting Yuri back on top of the train. That does seem kind of valuable... .jpg) That’s about it for Alice’s equipment chat for now. Getting back on our task, it seems there is a stream in our way we just simply cannot pass at this time. Ignore the part where Yuri leaped like a hundred feet while carrying Alice earlier. He forgot how to do super jumps past the prologue. Also nobody wants to get wet so swimming is out of the question. So we’ll just need to find another way around. .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) Not that the local wildlife is going to make it easy. Out stalking the Manchurian Plains are hungry wolves, vicious vampire bats and just straight up the Webspinner giant spiders from Resident Evil. Sure, why not? That sort of poo poo is probably hanging out in the countryside of China back in the early 1900s. .jpg) Of the three enemies in the area, only wolves are somewhat threatening in that they get to bite multiple times instead of just once. So Yuri is best off just kicking any wild dogs he sees to death immediately. .jpg) Alice’s unique ability is White Magic and right now her only spell is Cure. Yuri is down some health thanks to the assorted Chinese spiders and bats having taken a liking to biting his knees of late. So we can give that a quick go to top his health back off. .jpg) .jpg) It’s a Cure spell. It restores a respectable bit of HP. That’s about all there is to it. It’s also the reason Alice will be in our party for the bulk of the game. Having a healer is kinda important to have around in an RPG where 999 is the maximum HP and we’re starting barely in the mid-double digits.  While Alice is mostly going to be focused on keeping everyone healed for the most part, enemies early on in the game have such low HP that having Alice bible thump ‘em to death isn’t a bad strategy. She’s very enthusiastic with her book bashing. Music: Results .jpg) One particularly annoying bit about Shadow Hearts is Leveling Up. There is no allocating stats. All attributes just automatically increase on level up. The annoying bit is HP and MP always will increase when a character gains a new level but... their current HP and MP will not increase with it. .jpg) In other words, when our character’s HP/MP increase, they’re now missing the amount of health between the level up value and the value they had at the end of the battle. So Alice has gone from missing 3 HP to 13. It’s a minor nuisance but annoying either way. Especially if you’re the type who likes to have their characters’ HP topped off most of the time. Music: Sphere -qu- .jpg) .jpg) Enough about random battles. We need to either find another way around that stream. Or maybe just get rid of the stream entirely... Alice and Yuri stop to discuss their situation. .jpg) Um… maybe if we do something with this sluice gate, we’ll be able to cross the river.  Huh? The HELL is a “sluice”? Ergh... I mean... <turns to Alice> Ah, of course! Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. ... Er, anyway, let’s have a little search, then. Hah! We’ll be sluicing it up in no time! <shakes head doubtingly> .jpg) Here’s a big change from Koudelka. In that game the party immediately started stuffing every single key item they ever come across into our pockets until two-fifths of their belongs were puzzle pieces to problems they’d yet to even encounter. Seriously they had some dead Saint’s severed arm in their backpack for like a third of the game before finding any importance to it. This time around, we need to actually find the problem before we can go grab the solution. Which is reasonable but somewhat annoying gameplay wise. .jpg) .jpg) As an aside, Shadow Heart’s first save point is here in the burnt out ruins of some shack. No fighting a boss before earning the right to save properly this time around. Just step onto the weird glowing glyph (I think it’s a Judgment Ring rune but you never really get a close look at one.) .jpg) The party needs to go to the northeast corner of the area to discover one of the sluice gates, particularly the one allowing that stream to flow, is missing a handle. NOW we can go retrieve one from the derelict gates we passed. .jpg) There is a gate to the north and southwest of the area. It doesn’t matter which we grab a handle from other than a reward that doesn’t matter too much. .jpg) We need to use the Judgment Ring in order to yank off the Sluice Gate Handle. This is a Normal Ring which just means we need to tap three points on the Judgement Ring. So it’s basically like using any normal attack. No big deal. .jpg) .jpg) There is no immediately evident drawback to failing the glorified QTE. Other than Yuri looking like kind of a chump and embarrassing himself in front of a girl. We can just try again until we get it right. .jpg) .jpg) Now we have a Sluice Gate Handle added to our Valuables. There is a wee issue with the Valuables tab. You see, once a key item gets stuck into the Valuables community chest it... never leaves. Even when it’s already been used. So this Sluice Gate Handle? We’ll be holding onto it from now until the credits roll. Just in case! (There will never be a case.) .jpg) Some time later... .jpg) In any case, all we need to do is return to the handle lacking Sluice Gate (sluice is a fun word to say) and the situation will sort itself out. In time... As soon as we walk to the south, Yuri chimes in with... .jpg) Hey, I say we take a rest over there. R-Right.Music: ENDS .jpg) She’s asleep. <waves hand> What’s that all about?! She’s got some nerve… She didn’t even find anywhere comfortable. Just plopped face first in the dirt and was out. Who does that...? Yeah, to hell with it. I’m just gonna... Unh, uhhh… Chill! I’m just going to go out behind the shed and take a— Father... Wha… you talkin’ in your sleep!? Don’t scare me like that!Yuri stands up. .jpg) Zzz... Zzz... <bends down next to Alice> Oh, please. Don’t tell me she’s dreamin’ about her DAD. Wait, that old dick in top hat wasn’t her dad, right? They both have whitish hair. Ehh... I guess hers is more silver and his was more ancient geezer. Probably not related... Probably. How did she even end up with hair like that? That’s kinda weird, right? I’m overthinking this... Whew... I’m getting’ a bit sleepy myself....jpg) The campfire flares up as soon as Yuri turns his back. Spooky. .jpg) New Music: Destruction - Noise of Fangs .jpg)  <warps into existence and laughs>.jpg) F-father! What… What are you doing here?! Being disappointed as usual. I’ve come to visit, boy. The souls of the monsters you’ve killed are quite lonely, you see… Souls of the… monsters…!? <turns to Alice> What a lovely face. Stop staring at her butt, you perv old man. You are one to talk lately... And yet, I must show proper courtesy. It is thanks to this woman’s power that I am even here. Her power?! What?! <turns back to Yuri> Haven’t you noticed? This world overflows with the ghosts of the monsters you’ve slain. Yeah? I’m good at my job. Nothing wrong with that, old man! The gate of eternal darkness was closed until now, you see… this woman is causing it to open! The ghosts sealed inside the darkest depths of your heart… they call to me, boy. And they demand that I devour your very soul!.jpg) The incredible Mr. Fox Face begins teleporting around the area. Yuri doesn’t seem to appreciate his ghost dad warping around. .jpg) <laughs> Or....jpg) ...you’ll....jpg) ...what?.jpg) New Music: Dirty Nails .jpg) .jpg) Time for another boss battle. Maybe this one will go better than the one against Roger Bacon. Alice is going to be very confused if she wakes up from sleep to find Yuri in a fist fight with his ghost father. .jpg) Before Yuri gets a chance to do anything, Fox Face immediately performs a short combo halving his son’s Sanity Points. I suppose we can touch on the Sanity Points mechanic. Sanity Points are effectively a time limit for battles that is constantly ticking down. Each turn a character takes uses one Sanity Point. Additionally, some special moves will drain Sanity as a source of energy to perform. And as we can see, enemies can straight up attack Sanity instead of health with special strikes. If a character falls to 0 Sanity they’ll enter a Berserk state where they can no longer be controlled. Berserk characters will behave like right assholes until the status is negated -- attacking allies or using restorative spells/consumables and buffs on enemies. We REALLY don’t want anyone going Berserk. Yuri has the highest overall Sanity score in the game, despite being a man who readily claims to hear voices in his head and has gotten into a fist fight with a bat within the last thirty minutes. Alice, the pure white mage maiden carrying a bible around, meanwhile has the lowest Sanity stat of anyone we’ll encounter. Read into that what you will. As a final note: unlike HP and MP, Sanity Points are restored at the end of every battle. No need to waste consumables to restore it outside of fights. .jpg) .jpg) But we don’t need to worry too much about Yuri’s Sanity dropping to zero during this bout. It’s more of a mirror match against Fox Face, who comes packing the same exact fighting style as his son. Except for a couple unique moves... .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) You know, like an attack that reduces Yuri’s HP to one hit point. I don’t think Yuri knows how to do that. .jpg) .jpg) Fox Face can also just turn into a Devilman. That one? Yuri can actually do that too! Here, lemme show y— .jpg) .jpg) Oh... Huh... Maybe next time...  Video: Episode 4 Highlight Reel The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Jun 25, 2018 |
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Jun 24, 2018 03:49
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Episode V: Malice New Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) Yuri, you really need to stop getting your rear end kicked by every guy that crosses your path. It’s getting embarrassing... If you couldn’t guess, the fight against Fox Face is an unbeatable boss battle. Even if he didn’t reduce Yuri’s health to 1 HP and punch his lights out, Fox Face would have unleashed an attack in his demon form that does around 200+ HP of damage. That’s a little bit out of Yuri’s league forty minutes into the game... And so we’ve ended up here... .jpg) What’s goin’ on…? <steps forward> Where am I?! This is just like in my dreams!! <looks down> Okay... My pants are still on. So it’s not ENTIRELY like my dreams. But... Wait, wasn’t I fighting—OH CRAP! RIGHT!.jpg) Where’s...!? Where is he?! I won, right? Yeah... Definitely... If anyone asks I kicked his rear end and he ran away... That’s probably what happened. Probably... So why isn’t he here...? <puts guard down> Heh heh, so he didn’t come with me, eh? drat! I can’t believe this. Honestly, this is a pretty lame illusion. If… it is an illusion. A spooky graveyard? Really? What is this Halloween? Is a gargoyle going to pop out of a hell portal and fight me next?Yuri steps forward and looks around. .jpg) …Yup, this is it all right. The graveyard from my dreams. Aw, man, I don’t want to be remembering this! Now’s the part where I get lost, then wake up in a cold sweat just as a monster’s about to eat me. And my pants are gonna be gone and my junk is going to be flopping out and everybody laughs at me. Man... I’m wearing FOUR belts, you stupid dream! My pants are staying ON! No, no, NO! Nothin’ but trouble ever since that freakin’ voice showed up! Maybe I’ve lost it completely. First, Dad jumps out of my nightmare and shows up right before my eyes… and now I’M in the dream! I feel like that stupid voice didn’t properly prepare me for this one... Like it tells me to go beat up a bear... I like KNOW what I’m getting’ into walking into that a cave that night... But this... Man... This sucks. I save that girl and don’t get so much as a SMILE. C’mon, aren’t they supposed to get all dewy-eyed, “Ooh, Mr. Yuri! Thank you ever so much! SMOOCH!” …Ain’t that how it’s s’posed to go? … What if everything I know about girls is a lie and I’m doing it all wrong... Oh man, now I’m all depressed..jpg) We’re now free to explore the graveyard. But there’s only one point of interest that will progress things. So let’s take a look at that neon green headstone... .jpg) Ha ha! Wouldn’t it be hilarious if all the monsters I’ve killed started crawlin’ out of these? Heh heh... Watch the ghost of that haunted chair I punched into splinters pops out... That’d be somethin’... heh. <inspects grave> This one’s glowing. Seal of Earth, huh...?The gravestone flashes and grows. What!?.jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) Time for a throw down against Tony the Tiger’s gaunt pissy cousin – Raging Tiger. For once, we’ll be facing a “major enemy” and Yuri won’t be getting his rear end handed to him. Indeed, Raging Tiger is extremely easy. But Yuri really needs to save face with his track record so let’s finally take a look at his hidden technique. .jpg) Yuri’s special ability is “Fusion” which is a low key term for “he can transform into a goddamn monster.” We’ve actually been able to do this the entire time. But, you know... Any fight that would have warranted it so far would have resulted in the Fusion immediately getting its poo poo kicked in. .jpg) .jpg) But no longer! Yuri’s only Fusion at the moment is Death Emperor -- the same exact Devilman that Fox Face transformed into before knocking his son the gently caress out. It’s worth noting that using Fusions drain Sanity Points, not Magic Points. It costs 16 of Yuri’s current 24 Sanity Points to bring out the Death Emperor. But there’s no penalty after that beyond normal Sanity drain. Yuri can remain in his Fusion state for the duration of the battle as long as he isn’t KOed. .jpg) Fusions come with their own variety of Special Attacks in addition to just a flat increase of Yuri’s stats across the board. Special Attacks do use MP as their fuel source like you’d expect. Drain Wave is a spell that steals MP from an enemy. Curse Attack is a buff that raises Special Attack Power for five turns. Dark Messenger is just a big ol’ gently caress-off super attack.  But ehh... that’s not really necessary here. Two rounds of Death Emperor’s default combo is enough to send this kitty to bed. .jpg) .jpg) The poor thing didn’t even get a chance to attack. Its only turn was desperately hollering at the sky to restore a meager 9 HP as a devilman whipped his rear end. .jpg) ...It was not enough. Music: Results .jpg) .jpg) But that’s alright. Raging Tiger will get his chance to shine another day. Just not in the way it was anticipating. Defeating this enemy in the Graveyard yields a Fusion Soul meaning Yuri now has the ability to transform into his own Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) Huh?! What the...? Suddenly I feel... awful...!! <kneels over in pain>There is a brief flash of light and a piercing sound. .jpg) You’ve received the Soul of Tigerion! A new spirit to fuse with... Is this... my power? Wha...!? I could have been getting new fusions this entire time...? Why doesn’t anyone tell me these things!?.jpg) We can now equip different Fusion Souls in the equipment menu. Obviously, only Yuri has access to this tab. No turning Alice into a tiger lady or anything like that. .jpg) .jpg) Yuri can equip up to three Fusion Souls at a time. Equipping a Soul will show how it will buff Yuri’s stat if he fuses with it in a fight. Death Emperor is:
.jpg) .jpg) Our new toy, Raging Tiger, grants:
.jpg) We’re now free to explore the Graveyard further. There’s a door to the north which we cannot access. That definitely won’t ever become relevant and some key moment later on. .jpg) What we do want to want to take a gander at is the ominous door with the four spooky evil rear end looking masks floating around it. I dunno, that seems like it could be kinda important. Just a vibe I’m getting... .jpg)  We are pleased to see you, boy… The detestable young Harmonixer who damned us to eternal hell… He he, no need to thank me. But to be honest, I really haven’t missed you guys at all. That glowing after effect you’ve got going is giving me a headache. Ho ho ho… Your pathetic bravado can’t hide your fear. <puts up fists> Keep laughin’!! I’ll slice that stupid mask in two!! Ho ho... Like you did the warlock on the train? Or that familiar spirit at the bonfire? Shuddup! Neither of those fights were fair! Stupid magic using jerks... Besides, I just kicked that tiger guy’s rear end! I ain’t no pushover. Ha ha ha! Your mind may not comprehend this place, but your heart understands it full well. Yes. This world is a reflection of your own mind’s darkness, darkness you have created yourself. <looks around> ... I think my mind would have created something a little more exciting... Ho ho ho… The more of our brethren roaming about the world you strike down, the more you shall become saturated with venomous Malice, born of their bitter vengeance… And when the limit is passed, so then shall HE be reborn into the world of the living. Ho ho ho… The man, the very thought of whom make you shrink in terror….jpg) <laughs and vanishes>.jpg) You think I’m scared!? Don’t make me laugh! I’ve been huntin’ monsters for over ten years. I’ve been carving them up all across the world, pal. Oh my... A monster hunter for generations, are we? I bet you have some stories. Heh heh. Tri me! <kicks dirt> I can handle one or two of those guys with the flick of a finger! You got that, you bodiless freaks! Ha ha ha… Don’t get so excited. You loved your father so much, that now you’re wandering aimlessly in search of him. Stay out of this! Look, I’m just out for revenge for my parents. It’s none of your concern! Your revenge keeps killing our comrades and that is, as they say in the living world, “not cool.” Heh. Strange words for someone who still desperately wants to believe his father is alive somewhere… <clenches fists> You... Now you’re really starting to piss me off! Say another word and I’ll smash your smirking faces in!! Are all of your solutions punching things, boy? It’s worked alright so far! C’mon, I’ll show you! Ha ha ha! Slow down, boy. Worry not, we have a proper opponent for you! To sweep away the accumulation of Malice, you must do battle!.jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) Fight time once again. This time we’re facing a malevolent spirit with the very unoriginal name of “Evil 4.” We’ll back-up and watch the prequels The Evil, 2 Evil 2 Malice and Evil 3: Manchuria Drift another day. For now, we need to kick this ghost skeleton’s rear end. .jpg) .jpg) And well we did just get that new Fusion. Let’s take it out for a test drive, eh? Much like the Death Emperor, Raging Tiger costs 16 SP to bring forth. There’s a reason why Yuri starts with six times the Sanity of Alice.  .jpg) Yeah, this is pretty much just a stomp match. The most Evil 4 can accomplish is bonking catboy Yuri on the head for all of 1 HP of damage. Hang in there, skeleton. .jpg) A final issue to bring up in the Graveyard: since we’re in some weird spectral... dream realm... thingie, no experience points are earned fighting any enemies here. Same with the Raging Tiger. Items still drop, though. So that’s nice. Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) Ho ho ho… Well done. Your victory has swept aside the vengeance of our brethren. And it appears that the reactions of that cursed talisman you hold have vanished as well. It’s as though there is some mechanical system in place to track the Malice you’ve accumulated. How convenient for you... Ho ho ho... Heh heh heh… It’s too early to get cocky, boy. This purification is only temporary. What’s that supposed to mean?! Ho ho ho… When you return to your world, killing our compatriots will only result in increased Malice. Then you will come back here to lower it. No matter how many you slaughter, this hell will continue. So you’re saying I should just start breaking monsters’ legs and leaving ‘em alive? Wait... Can he do that...? No... I think that still counts as Malice. Are you sure...? No, this never came up. Ergh... Quiet! He doesn’t need to know that! NO! This too will accumulate Malice and yield the same results! Aww... dang. Ha, ha, ha! Then, in due time, HE will be resurrected… The man you fear more than Death itself! Tee hee hee… Do you intend to keep running forever…? Ho ho ho… How much easier it would be for you if you’d simply come here in death. At the rate he is going, I don’t think he will have much of a choice. Ho ho ho! <turns and starts walking away> Enough! Shut up!.jpg) And that’s the end of our lecture on the Malice mechanic. We’ll dive more into that when we get back to the real world. .jpg) Once again we have control of Yuri. The Masks will just dunk on him again and tell him to leave. So let’s head back to where we began this segment and see if anything changes... Music: ENDS .jpg) …Huh? That voice…? Yuri…! Please, open your eyes! <falls to his knee> Aargh! …My head again!! Stop screaming in my ear! Geez!!.jpg) Wake up! Wake up, please!Music: Sphere -qu- .jpg) I’m awake... I’m AWAKE! STOP YELLING!! GEEZ!!Yuri picks himself up off the ground. .jpg) <looks around> So... he’s back. Are you all right? You were having a nightmare… Mumbling about masks… And “Malice.” You were also meowing like a cat. That must have been quite the nightmare... …None of your business. My head’s really starting to hurt. That’s all. Also there wasn’t a guy in an army uniform in some kind of mask hangin’ around while I was out, was there...? Err... no? <looks around> Good... good. Just askin’... Ya know, you never know what kinda creeps are around... ... Whew… How long was I out? Only two or three minutes since I found you. But you seemed to be in such pain. Nothin’ to worry about. I always have nightmares. Ever since I was a kid. Was that before or after the voices started in your head? Long before. And it’s voice! Singular. Just the one in my head. I... see... …C’mon, let’s go..jpg) I’m sure that whole sequence was nothing to worry about. Now then, it’s been some indeterminate amount of time since we opened the sluice gate. Alice seems like she could sleep through a bomb considering Yuri and his ghost dad having a brawl didn’t stir her in the slightest, so it could be hours later for all we know .jpg) .jpg) Whatever amount of time it was, it’s long enough that the entire stream has dried up from the water being diverted. And wouldn’t you know it, there was a sunken treasure chest in the water. The item in this chest is actually determined by which of the two broken sluice gate handles Yuri acquires and how many tries it took him to tear it off with the Judgement Ring prompts. Since we went to the top gate and it only took the one try, Yuri receives a second Bandanna which we’ll go ahead and equip on our protagonist since Alice already has one and we’re not allowed to double up on Accessories. .jpg) Now that we’ve encountered the Graveyard for the first time a new system has unlocked in Shadow Hearts -- Malice. You see, all these random trash mobs we’re encountering on our journey are none too thrilled about getting murdered by our punch boy. As a result, Malice accumulates after every fight. .jpg) The current amount of Malice is indicated in the menu by the color of Yuri’s talisman. Blue is the bare minimum of Malice, we don’t need to worry about that. Green means Malice has begun to accumulate in problematic amounts. Yellow means Yuri is getting lousy with Malice and should really sort it out. A red Talisman glow means you done hosed up and Fox Face will start appearing. Any random battles can be replaced with a solo fight against Fox Face until the Malice is cleared up. Unlike the first encounter, Fox Face is technically beatable but it’s highly unlikely for a good chunk of the game. Being beaten by Fox Face at maximum Malice results in a Game Over. So we wanna avoid that! In order to reset the current Malice level, Yuri needs to return to the Graveyard via any Save Point (the World Map also works) and return to the Four Masks to go beat up a spirit like Evil 4 earlier. Naturally, the level of Malice will result in stronger enemies to take on. So early in the game it is best to sort out Yuri’s Malice as soon as it gets to the first warning level. .jpg) In addition to Malice, enemies now begin dropping Soul Energy. Soul Energy accumulates according to the monster’s Element. This Soul Energy is tied to Fusion Souls. Once one of these elemental meters is filled, a corresponding grave in the Graveyard will light up and Yuri can do battle with a monster to gain a new Fusion. We may do some grinding at some point just to gain additional Soul Energy to unlock useful new Fusions for our Harmonixer. Edit: There are story gates for Level 2 and 3 versions of elemental Fusions. I felt no need to bring that up just yet because we're still on the first hour of the game. But some people just cannot shut up... .jpg) Back to the task at hand, now that the stream is stopped there is no threat of Yuri getting his coat wet. So we’re free to cross to the west, where we find... .jpg) There’s actually some civilization out here. What do you know? Surely there will be a comfy inn and no further complications. The duo have already been through enough this evening. .jpg) Why the long face? We’ll have food, and a bed to rest on! We’ve both taken a dirt nap tonight and that’s not really my kinda scene..jpg) Yuri begins walking toward the village but is stopped by another flash of light and an ear piercing sound. .jpg) <looks around confused> Pant, pant... It’s... gone...?Yuri stands back up and swats at the air. .jpg) <kicks the dirt> I’m not a drat marionette, you hear me?! Use a post card or something, you drat voice! I don’t care if I don’t have a home address! I’m OVER this! <steps forward> Um, Yuri... That voice..jpg) <turns and glares> Yeah, what about it? I heard it, too… Yeah, yeah... I bet you thi—wait, WHAT!? Really!? You’re not just humoring me, right!? You ACTUALLY heard that stupid voice? A low whisper female voice that sounded very far away with subtitles that implied parts were blocked out even though you can clearly hear it all, it’s just quiet? Huh... Well then... I’ll be damned. Wait, “subtitles”? Yes. A bunch of ellipses and parts of words blanked out with periods? “Pu.gato.y” is clearly just “Purgatory.” I don’t know who it is trying to fool....Yeah. The voice never had “subtitles” for me. That’s weird... How did you make this even weirder? Bah! Don’t matter! You heard the voice and I ain’t a crazy person! There really is some jerkface lady screaming into my head in the middle of the night! <nods> Yes. I don’t think it means us any harm. I didn’t sense anything evil about it. I think… It feels like it just wants to tell us something. ... ... ...Oh yeah? <nods> Let’s head for the village.Alice begins walking toward the village. .jpg) ... <notices Alice walking away> Hey, wait up! Don’t leave me here!.jpg) And that concludes our adventures on the Midnight Plains. Tune in next time as we enter our first proper town of Shadow Hearts despite the fact a voice yelling at our protagonists said there’s some kind of man-eater trap waiting there. I’m sure it’ll be just fine as Shadow Hearts continues!  Video: Episode 5 Highlight Reel (You should watch the Harmonixer monster mash.)  Raging Tiger Render – There was specifically a character design note demanding washboard abs on this catman.  Shadow Hearts includes a vast Library of Monsters and NPCs that have appeared in the game. Monsters get unlocked as soon as they’ve been defeated, for the most part. NPCs are... a bit more sporadic. We’re done with the first two areas of the game, so let’s see what we’ve gotten so far. I’ll be adding this to end of chapters here on out (mostly because I forget it exists until after I’ve recorded a whole area worth of footage for the LP.  )MONSTERS: .jpg) All of the enemies get a fun little blurb of lore. Also their elemental affiliation, which is probably the more important part. I can’t believe Roger Bacon has weaponized vaping. He’s truly an evil man. .jpg) Much like the item descriptions, there are no enemies that are just an average animal or insect. They’ve all been punched up with absurd edginess that wraps around to being kind of hilarious. That’s no mere dung beetle! It’s a dung beetle that feasted on the excrement of those sent to the executioner’s block for only the most heinous of crimes and has been filled with their evil energies! .jpg) That’s a visual I didn’t need, Shadow Hearts... .jpg) I think this is the closest we’ll get to something being relatively normal – Battle Wolves. .jpg) You may notice the number of the enemy jumped up to the hundreds. That’s because all the Graveyard enemies and sidequest involved monsters get shuffled off toward the end of the listings. All other enemies are usually in order of appearance. ****** NPC: .jpg) Dude is looking pretty nice for being 699 years old. .jpg) Turns out Mr. X was an honorary member of Imperial Japan. Makes sense... The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Jun 28, 2018 |
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Jun 25, 2018 19:29
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Forgot to include this on the previous update. So here it is now! Shadow Hearts includes a vast Library of Monsters and NPCs that have appeared in the game. Monsters get unlocked as soon as they’ve been defeated, for the most part. NPCs are... a bit more sporadic. We’re done with the first two areas of the game, so let’s see what we’ve gotten so far. I’ll be adding this to end of chapters here on out (mostly because I forget it exists until after I’ve recorded a whole area worth of footage for the LP. )MONSTERS: All of the enemies get a fun little blurb of lore. Also their elemental affiliation, which is probably the more important part. I can’t believe Roger Bacon has weaponized vaping. He’s truly an evil man. Much like the item descriptions, there are no enemies that are just an average animal or insect. They’ve all been punched up with absurd edginess that wraps around to being kind of hilarious. That’s no mere dung beetle! It’s a dung beetle that feasted on the excrement of those sent to the executioner’s block for only the most heinous of crimes and has been filled with their evil energies! That’s a visual I didn’t need, Shadow Hearts... I think this is the closest we’ll get to something being relatively normal – Battle Wolves. You may notice the number of the enemy jumped up to the hundreds. That’s because all the Graveyard enemies and sidequest involved monsters get shuffled off toward the end of the listings. All other enemies are usually in order of appearance. ****** NPC: Dude is looking pretty nice for being 699 years old. Turns out Mr. X was an honorary member of Imperial Japan's army. Makes sense... The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Jun 26, 2018 |
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Jun 26, 2018 18:22
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Episode VI: Country Hospitality.jpg) Civilization at last... maybe. Before we knock on the town gates, there is a treasure chest there just waiting for some plucky adventurers to plunder. Since any rural town just loves it when outsiders roll in and immediately start stealing their poo poo. .jpg) That’s quite the cumbersome item just to cure confusion... On the subject of status effects, Shadow Hearts has several but they’re pretty stock variety:
New Music: Sea - Highnoon Fish (Kind of an odd track name for a landlocked town in the middle of the night.) .jpg) <looks at gate> What’s up? Something wrong?Alice walks away from the gate. .jpg) That’s what it started to say, anyway. I think we should be extra careful. Oh! Look who’s the crazy voice in my head expert now. Ha ha, how cool ’n’ collected you are! You talk as if it’s happening to someone else. <gets nervous> Don’t worry too much about what that voice warns about. Once it told me to “Beware an opulent foe who devours all” and it just meant a really fat drunk guy at a train stop... But not to worry. Nothin’ can surprise me at this point.Two children wander over from opposite side of the gate. They have the descriptive names Red-Eyed Child and Yellow-Eyed Child. Nobody remarks on this fact. .jpg)  Hey, look!! <jumps in surprise> Wh-Wha!?.jpg) Don’t freak me out like that or I’ll kick your scrawny little asses! Please don’t beat up children. They spooked the poo poo out of me. Gotta learn ‘em that ain’t cool! I knew it! You’re right! It’s true!Yuri walks up to the gate and starts kicking it. .jpg) Huh? Look, you brats live here, right? Here in town? Great. Open the gate. <kicks it again> Um, nobody gets in at night, so you’re just gonna hafta stay out there. Yup, we can’t let you in. Plus you look like kind of a dirtbag. A real shifty drifter... Hey, ya brats! I do not! ... ...Right? <concerned look> ... Run along and get your mommy. Tell her you’ve got guests. <notice Alice> Hey... That’s a woman, right?! Yeah, she’s TOTALLY a girl, right?! Nice and soft! Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? Given where we are you should be surprised we understand English. We usually speak Manchu but we’ve been learning Mandarin as the dialect is quickly overtaking the region. Oh... Guess that’s a good po—dammit! I don’t care about this! Open the drat gate! <kicks gate again>Alice walks up to the gate since Yuri is getting nowhere. .jpg) Ooh, she looks so tender! A nice, juicy girl! ..... ...Yeah, that’s not creepy at all.The clearly evil kids open up the gate and run up to Alice. .jpg) Eh heh heh! It’s okay, you can come in! Tee hee hee. Yeah, you can come inside now! I’m really having second thoughts about this... <nervous laugh>All four walk past the gate. .jpg) <claps hands> Our house is at the very end of the square. We’ll be waiting! Bye! <runs off> <slaps his knees> Whee, whee, a girl, we have a girl! Gotta go tell Granny Mayor right away!! <runs off as well> Maybe the voice was on to something... <increasingly concerned look>.jpg) Yuri and Alice follow the kids into the village as the gates magically close shut behind them. Yeah, nothing to worry about in this town. No sir. They’ve just got surprisingly advanced automation for being out in the sticks. That’s all! .jpg) We now have free reign to wander around the town -- Zhaoyang Village. Nobody on the critical path has the decency to mention the town name during any story scenes here. We’ve got to talk to townspeople or save the game to get the location name. Our first order of business is... .jpg) ...naturally to double back and acquire a hidden item in some debris near the gate on the previous screen. Shadow Hearts really loves pixel hunting hidden items out in the field. There is rarely any indication an item is nearby. Yuri will just have an exclamation mark pop out of his head if he’s near a hotspot he can interact with in the vicinity. So that’s fun. I definitely don't have a FAQ open at all times to find where the hell everything is hidden. .jpg) In case someone gets hit with Paralysis, we can just toss a hair clip at their head and sort that out. Good to know. With that in hand, let’s get to chatting some townsfolk. .jpg)  I figgered the outside world had totally forgotten about poor old Zhaoyang Village. Wouldn’t get my hopes up for a tourism boom, guy..jpg)  But women... Women are fulla fat ‘n’ gravy... Hee, hee hee, hee hee hee... Is everyone picking up the slack since I promised I’d knock off the horndog stuff...?.jpg) .jpg) Just a moment, folks. You seem to have dropped some mystical arrowheads. You guys won’t want those back, will you? Didn’t think so. As it says, this will increase the size of the Judgment Ring’s Hit Area. Which has its uses. .jpg)  But that was a long, long time ago, weren’t it? Heh heh heh... So you guys were just too lazy to ever clean up, or...?.jpg) Shadow Hearts doesn’t have the largest budget on the planet so there are a LOT of repeating generic NPCs that have just changed the color of their clothes and skin shades to masquerade as different character models. I do appreciate every single unnamed character gets a descriptive title to give them a bit of flavor to make up for that fact. .jpg)  No matter how many times I go through labor, there never ends up being any babies left... Please don’t describe anything as “sweaty trouble” again, lady. Thanks in advance..jpg)  They’re all so greedy, you know? So I gotta share everything fair-like. ‘Cause if I don’t? I might not live to eat again. I don’t think I follow but I also don’t think I wanna follow....jpg) Continuing further into the town, we come upon a save point and a well containing a Tent if we want to top off Alice and Yuri’s health during downtime. Unfortunately, Zhaoyang Village does not contain a proper inn. There are inns in this game, mind you. Just not here. That aside, we can speak with the last few villagers... .jpg)  Eek! H-How... embarrassing! You heard me singing, didn’t you?! I didn’t not hear you singing. So? “Take it out, peel it off...” kinda sexy, don’tcha think? Sure ya do. Just a little. Sure. I’m gonna walk away creeped out now. <wink> <shiver>.jpg) See, when yer young, ya like stuff fresh, but as ya get older ya like it aged. ...Don’t get it, do ya? I hate everyone in this town.That’s enough messing with weirdos. Let’s talk to the only important NPC wandering the streets at the moment: the first merchant. .jpg)  B-But, there’s just... something not quite right about it, don’t you think?! ...Oh, say! Since you’re here, how’d you like to buy something? I have plenty of useful items!.jpg) .jpg) Shops are about what you’d expect in a RPG. We can buy and sell inventory. The sell prices are middling at best. We’re not exactly flush in cash at the moment. But that doesn’t mean we cannot browse. Let’s take a look at what this guy is peddling that we’ve yet to lay eyes on... .jpg) “Yes, yes ma’am... This priceless relic was carved from a gleaming red pearl in the dark ages by the most talented of Franciscan monks.” “Why is it green...?” “Come again?” “You said it was made from a red pearl but this is clearly a dull green.” “Oh well... you see... Err... Hundreds of years have altered the color of the pearl. Yes, yes... the ravages of time. Anyway, that’ll be $2770. Cash only. No credit.” .jpg) So you’re selling me a human bone carving from a Buddha? You, a rando merchant in the middle of nowhere China has this readily available. Multiple copies of it, no less? Well, it does prevent confusion so it must be legit! Let me get my wallet. .jpg) We’ve yet to encounter it but characters’ Judgment Ring can get status effects as well. Things such as making the needle spin faster or reducing the Hit/Strike Area on the ring. We’ll get into those in further detail when they actually crop up. This goes for 90 Cash and having a few on hand isn’t a bad idea. .jpg) Please don’t start eating silver to slow down your Judgment Ring. I can guarantee that is not a healthy practice. Even if it’s only 100 Cash a pop. .jpg) That’s it for the merchant. There’s nothing we need right at this juncture. The house to left of the Wandering Peddler is where those two clearly evil children told us to visit. But it seems they’re not ready yet. Instead, we’re just going to wander to the northern end of the village, where we find... Music: Destruction - Noise of Fangs .jpg) The bones of people… killed here! What’s happening in this village…?! Lemme take a look there... Hmm... Yep. Definitely a human skull. Punched enough of those in my time to be certain. ... <inspects skulls> Looks like the voice was right. These people’re cannibals. Look over there, that shrine… It’s as if it holds all the anger of people that died here. Hee hee... Good travelers, you like the shrine? Gah! What is it with you people in this town!? I think we just found that out... Ergh... Oh right... Evil cannibals. Of course they’re going to be sneaking up like creeps. Duh. What is it, pops?!A bald old man wanders over. .jpg) The Black Tortoise God? Ain’t got no idea what that even means. Do you? <shrug and head shake> Yes, to pacify the Earth Spirits, humans deified him, and built this shrine. It’s all such nonsense! But now with the troublesome Black Tortoise God gone, we’re free to do as we please! We can even take the form of humans! We couldn’t ask for more! Just layin’ it all on the table, huh? You found our human bone pile, sonny. What’s there left to hide? The only problem is now we get hungry… It’s all thanks to the new protector of our town, Yamaraja! Yamaraja? What kind of a name for a demon is that? Sounds like the name of a restaurant with food that’d give me the runs for a week. <looks back at the shrine> I suppose I’d find him in that shrine there? <stamps foot> How… how insolent! But, no matter… You won’t last long… Tonight there’ll be a special feast, for our rare guests… Now, you just run along and say hello to the Granny Mayor. Hee hee…The Vacant-eyed Old Man wanders off. .jpg) <shakes head> Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m not too fond of the idea. <stamps foot> I’m not happy about it either, I can tell you! Ha ha ha! It’s all right, I’ll protect you. So we are going to get out of here? Yup. Gonna get out of here and go kick those cannibals’ asses! That’s not what I meant... Sorry, can’t hear you. Busy going to give an rear end kicking.The pair leave the shrine and immediately encounter the Children of the Corn twins from earlier. Music: Sea - Highnoon Fish .jpg) <waves> You really came!! We’re so glad!! C’mon, c’mon, come inside!! Welp. May as well follow into the obvious trap. What’s the worst that could happen? .jpg) <bounces> …Juicy! Yuri and Alice enter. .jpg) We sure could use a bed for the night. Yes, yes! I heard all about you from the children. You just make yourselves at home. We rarely get visitors here. We don’t have much for you, but please rest your weary bones. We’ve got just the place for them. <nod in unison> Hey, thanks, ma’am. We’ll be out of your way by early morning. Hee hee… Now, now, no need to rush. You just stay as long as you like! Those meaty thighs of yours must need a rest. Maybe a soak in a nice hot broth. Don’t you mean “bath”? No. Thanks, ma’am. It’s kind of you to let us stay, having just shown up in the middle of the night like this. What a nice-mannered young lady. But you don’t have to worry about your manners so much here. <nod in unison> …For, it won’t change the taste of their meat. <laugh> <chuckles> Kind woman! You all talk as if you’re going to have us for supper! Hee hee hee… Well, at least one of you has brains! Eat you both, we will! <gets frightened> <laughs> Ya know I can kinda respect demons that are upfront about being man eating cannibals. None of that cute double talk or making coy puns crap. Right to the point. Hee hee. We like to maintain our country hospitality. I’ve got to go tell Yamaraja we have an offering for him. Hmph, let me get through here… Okay, okay…The Mayor Lady stands up and walks out the front door. Alice give Yuri a “dude what the hell?” gesture as she walks past. .jpg) Don’t worry, we’ll be right outside so you can’t get away! Oh dear... whatever shall we do? The two cannibal boys run off outside. They have an amazingly awful arm flailing run cycle. Yuri proceeds to start pulling on drawers looting the place. .jpg) Looks like they’ve got us trapped. <pulls on another drawer> It appears so. <stomps foot> How can you be so calm at a time like this?! Years of practice. It’s a gift. <walks up to Alice> Aw, c’mon, if you get too anxious, it’ll just make you hungry. ...And I don’t think you want any Solaris Meat Sandwiches from around here. A what...? Old expression. Don’t worry about it. Let’s take a rest, and see what their next move is..jpg) And so Alice and Yuri retire for the evening. At least, until... New Music: Sweet Pillows .jpg) They asleep? Looks like it!Music: Sea - Highnoon Fish .jpg) Quietly, now, or Granny Mayor’s gonna kill us! Nah, she ain’t getting’ a chance, ya little turds.Alice and Yuri rise off the floor. .jpg) Yikes! They’re NOT asleep! Y-You tricked us!!.jpg) And maybe wait more than like 90 seconds before sneaking back in? Maybe the girl can pass out in that time. ... But that’s a little quick for most folks to fall asleep, dumbasses. You’re finally ready to show yourselves for who you really are? Huh? Little goblin brats! Darn! If we let you get away, everyone’ll get mad and then they’ll eat us up! And if we DON’T let you get away, they’ll know we tried to sneak a taste, so they’ll eat us anyway! If we’re gonna get eaten no matter what, I at least wanna taste the girl! Lemme have the girl! Hah! Tough luck, kids! If anyone’s going to eat her, it’s me! I thought you said you were going to knock that off? Look, it sounded better in my head, OK? Ooh, you’re so bad! We’ll kill you!!.jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) And so the twins reveal their true form – Hellcats! Which seem to be barely stronger than a normal human ten year old so the transformation won’t really help them. They’ve only got 45 HP each. .jpg) .jpg) Either of Yuri’s Fusions is enough to completely destroy one of the twins in just a single combo or two. The Hellcats are Light element and since we’ll be sorting them out with physical attacks, Raging Tiger is the better choice since it’s slightly stronger physically and won’t take as much damage from their magical attacks. .jpg) .jpg) Exorcist Arrow are the Hellcat’s only offensive ability. It only does around 8-10 HP worth of damage, but the twins will each do an Exorcist Arrow in succession. Unless we make one of ‘em stop breathing first... Then it becomes significantly harder for ‘em to double up on the damage. .jpg) .jpg) Alice doesn’t have much to do during this fight. She can whoop one of the twins over the head with her bible which might be enough to take ‘em down with Yuri’s next attack. But it’s not a big contribution. She can also heal if the twins decide to exclusively target one of our characters and the damage mounts up, especially on Alice with her still quite low overall HP. But it’s hardly necessary. .jpg) .jpg) Turns out beating the poo poo out of children is exceedingly easy. Who’d a thunk? .jpg) .jpg) We get a modest reward of EXP for our troubles. Also bosses and mini-bosses count for multiple ticks on the Soul Energy meter. Each Hellcat added +2 Light element. Unlike Malice, any additions to these meters at the end of battles are welcome. Music: Destruction - Noise of Fangs .jpg) He’s not human!! You’d just get the runs if you ate us, anyway! Got it, fools? BARF!! <dies>.jpg) The two children fade away, indicating they are very permanently dead. That’s not just a demon thing. For some reason in Shadow Hearts, all characters who are actually dead will fade away like a Jedi whether they’re human or demon. That said, I’m glad we got the traditional LP child murder out of the way early on. I swear I’m not doing this on purpose in games I pick to LP! Alice goes to the door and looks around outside. .jpg) Oh? So the whole town’s decided to show their true selves, have they?The pair head outside. .jpg) Welp... This escalated quickly. Tune in next time as Yuri and Alice explore  Video: Episode 6 Highlight Reel (Worth watching just to see those children’s run cycle and dancing cat spell casting.) The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Jun 28, 2018 |
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Jun 28, 2018 01:59
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Episode VII: The Quack Oracle Music: Destruction - Noise of Fangs .jpg) Yes, this is what was left after the demons devoured the humans. Be careful. I think they mean business this time. I’ve been doing this for a while. So here’s some tips... You see any little girls or church folk from a religion you don’t recognize? Get out of there! Got it! Anyone from your past that is dead or missing and you find a letter from them or a sexy doppelganger shows up? Walk the other direction! O-OK... And if you see anyone wandering around that looks normal but they’re looking for any of those things I mentioned? Lost cause! Sever. ...Right. Oh yeah. You see a ghost? Punch it. Punch... it...? Punch it! Nothing good ever happens with ghosts. They’re either evil, or a pain in the rear end or both. Skip the cameras and just get punching. ...... Welp, the town is turned into a blood and gore filled nightmareville. If I had to guess, we probably need to sort out that shrine filled with human skulls if we’re going to break this curse. So let’s return there and see what’s up. .jpg) <laughs> Hey, lady, I put the kiddies to sleep. Permanently. Why don’t you show us your true form, too? We’re tired of this endless procession of fiends. ...But we only saw those two children. Quiet! She doesn’t know that... Oooooh. Sorry! We figured if we came here, and took care of you… Well, you know how it always works! Let’s just jump to the boss fight, lady. Ha! Fools! Even if I die, the monsters well remain and you’ll still be imprisoned in this town. Because all of this is the will of the great Yamaraja, protector of our village! Yamaraja? C’mon, I could take care of him just by destroying the shrine back there. What do you think, Alice? Bet I could shatter it with one punch? I don’t know. It seems pretty sturdy... Could you not undermine me being a badass! Oh... SORRY! <clenches fist> Yeah! He could take it out with one punch! Take a good look! These are the bones of all those I’ve sacrificed to him! I thought you were planning to eat us. Ergh... A meal can be a sacrifice! I used the malice of the townspeople, and made this fence to keep one and all away from here. As long as I’m alive, this fence will protect Yamaraja. Because without killing me, you can’t get near the shrine! <laughs> So I was right after all! You ARE the one to get! <cracks knuckles> Here comes the fun part. Hyahahah! First, you’ll have to catch me! POOF! And I’m gone!.jpg) What do you know, she wasn’t bluffing. Everyone knows cat demons have access to ninja style disappearance techniques. You should have been prepared for this, Yuri. .jpg) Hyah hyah hyah! You’re going to wander aimlessly through this village forever! Wither and die in the village where morning never comes! Hyah hyah hyah!! drat it!! I’ll skin your hide!! Where did she run away to? I don’t think that cat-demon can escape this place any more than we can. Yeah, she must be somewhere in the village. Let’s find her..jpg) Our new goal is finding that darn cat-demon. This involves backtracking across town finding triggers to make her pop-up and be a jerk. The first such trigger is right by the well. Sadly, no jumping into said well to receive puns in this JRPG. .jpg) <puts up fists> Found you! <jumps back> Hyuk hyuk hyuk! You mean you didn’t get eaten by my underlings yet. You’re a tough cookie. It’s only been like thirty seconds and twenty meters from when I saw you last. Has it? It gets hard to keep track of time here. Not that it matters! Poof!.jpg) Yuri you really need to start doing something to this cat lady immediately and not just threatening to punch it. Though on the subject of underlings... .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) Crazily enough, random battles have begun cropping up in the area now that it’s gone from a shifty looking rural village to Hanuda from Siren. Chief ghouls stalking the streets are Zombies and .jpg) .jpg) Canus are the biggest threats as they can once again bite our characters multiple times. But more pressingly, the can perform Flash Flood which is just a water elemental mouth laser which hits for around 10-15 HP. Fun fact: The Japanese name for Canus is Inugami or Dog Spirit. Yokai Wiki on Inugami posted:
.jpg) Many enemies in Shadow Hearts are derived from Chinese or Japanese folklore (don’t ask me why a Japanese dog spirit is haunting a Chinese village.) Zombies are not one of them. They’re just zombies. Technically, spirits that have inhabited a corpse. So magic origin zombies and not T-Virus. There’s little difference in the two. They bite people. It’s mildly irritating. The bites have the potential to cause the Poison status effect in this game. .jpg) Last up we have these gross snail ladies -- Green Flyers. Much like the zombies, they just kinda slide up and bite at our characters’ ankles. Though in this case they have potential to inflict Confusion instead of Poison. Which is much more annoying. Green Flyers get their name from a questionable translation of Hino-Enma. Yokai Wiki on Hinoenma posted:
Don’t ask me why they look more like a snail princess physically. .jpg) Combat wise, Yuri can (usually) kick any one of these guys’ asses in a single combo in human form and like 1-2 hits in Fusion form. Canus are the hardiest of the three. If they’re lucky (and we aren’t with RNG damage calculations) they can just survive a normal Yuri combo. Zombies will go down in about two hits. Green Flyers are weak enough that Alice can take one out bopping out a full combo with her bible. .jpg) None of the enemies are all that much more of a threat than what we encountered out in the Plains. That said, the encounter rate in Zhaoyang Village is quite high and .jpg) In order to clear out Malice, we need to find the nearest save point in the area. From there, we can go into the game’s menu and select the Graveyard to transport to... Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) Well... the Graveyard. What else did you expect? Only Yuri is allowed to travel to his Mind Palace or whatever the hell this place is meant to be. So it’s best to have his health topped off before sending him in. .jpg) From here, we wander back over to the Four Masks and request to clear our Malice. This immediately leads to... .jpg) .jpg) A battle, naturally. We need to defeat an enemy equivalent to the amount of Malice we’ve accumulated. Evil 4, who we fought in the tutorial for Malice, is the spirit that appears when the Malice level is just before Fox Face starts showing up. A much beefier version of Evil 4 will appear if it ever gets to that level again. .jpg) We’re currently a Green Malice level so Yuri must fight Evil 2 -- which is just a stats increased transparent Wolf from the Plains area. It’s no problem at all to kick its rear end in a couple turns. Its attacks are identical to the standard Wolf. Fun Fact: The “Evil” series of enemies in the Graveyard have the much cooler name “Embodiment of Malice” in the Japanese text. .jpg) Following the Evil challenger’s defeat, the menacing aura on the Four Masks will dissipate and Yuri will be rewarded an item for doing away with the Malice. The item rewarded is actually one from a stock of about thirty items that are based off of a calculation of the total Malice accumulated. There’s actually a tracked number and every enemy produces different amounts of total Malice. Unfortunately, Sacnoth haven’t totally done away with their esoteric bullshit from the Koudelka days, so that Malice sum and the amount of Malice produced by enemies is completely hidden from the player. Thankfully, the Malice rewards are not exclusive items so it’s not that much of a player unfriendly dick move. Still... .jpg) Anyway, that’s a rundown on dealing with Malice going forth. I probably won’t mention returning to the Graveyard to clear Malice unless Yuri unlocks another Fusion or the Malice reward is an item we’ve yet to see. Just keep in mind I’ll probably be venturing here at least once per dungeon to waste two or three minutes of time off-screen. Anyway, back to the real world! Alice has no comment on what happened to Yuri when he’s in the Graveyard. Presumably he just ragdolls and flops over on the floor for a few minutes before popping up like nothing happened. Alice is just too polite to comment on that being really weird and worrying. Music: Destruction - Noise of Fangs .jpg) But aside from that, while all other NPCs in the village have vanished presumably to become the town’s random battle monsters, the Wandering Peddler is still fine and offering his wares. Same price as before, naturally. We might stop by and do some business later. .jpg) For now, let’s keep retracing our steps across town and see if we can’t get the jump on that evil old cat lady. The next trigger is near the shops close to the gates of the town. .jpg) <puts up dukes> Dammit! Yer not gonna get away this time! <jumps back> Hyuk hyuk hyuk! Don’t you think it’d be easier to just give up and let us eat you? I’ve only been after you for like five minutes! Five minutes too many! Not really! Poof! <vanishes> At this rate, it’s just the same thing over and over. I’m not getting anywhere..jpg) We definitely aren’t making any progress. But what if we just retraced our steps all the way to the gates of the town. Perhaps something has changed there... As an aside, I like how incredibly gross and fleshy the ground in town has gotten in its “dark” form. New Music: Asian Parfait .jpg) Alice and Yuri come upon a pair at the town gate. One of them walks around inspecting the magical glyph on the ground and the gate itself as Yuri and Alice watch him work. .jpg)  But he was supposed to have lost his powers fifteen years ago… Surely it can’t be that he’s… <shakes head and ponders> Who’s that with you? An elder munchkin? <jumps back spooked> <shakes head> Well, well. Still people here, eh? You picked the wrong day to visit town, pops. Stand aside. <walks up to gate and yanks on it> .jpg) <looks the gate over> Huh, it won’t open!! <kicks and yanks on gate repeatedly> Unfortunately, you won’t be able to leave. See this? <motions to ground>.jpg) In this country’s language, it means you can’t leave, right? I said Tianfeng, but yes – that’s what that means. Are you familiar with the local tongue? Nope. Just beat up a demon that had that tattooed on his face once. Learned that word there. The tattoo and his face didn’t survive the encounter. Ahh... I see... You are one of THOSE sorts of... spirited wandering youths... Hmph... So... This fancy graffiti... Am I right about it? Yep, that’s about the size of it. Excuse me, but how did you men get in here? <motions to gate> Through here. We just pushed the gate open. It would appear that anyone is free to enter. It’s strange. Traps like this usually hide their true nature initially. Yeah... Might have mildly pissed off the demon natives. Punched out a demon kid or two... you know how it goes. <grumbles> Quite... We got in, but it looks like we can’t go back out. Ah, I hate this, I hate it. I see… <walks back over to Alice’s side> ...And you are? Hahaha... You want to know who I am? A “Quack Oracle” is kinda a mouthful. A what now, kid!? Hey, I just call ‘em like I see ‘em. I am the true ruler of the nine heavens. The absolute sage....jpg) Meet our third party member coming in hot: Li Zhuzhen. .jpg) Among exorcists and spirit healers, I am quite well known. Psst. You ever hear of this guy, Alice? <shakes head and shrugs> There are many adepts in the world, but only I will do that kind of work by the hour or day. I was hired by the elders in the neighboring village to come and investigate this place tonight. An adept for hire by the day? That’s quite unique. This guy’s weird all right. But he’s invaluable to me, for all the great jobs he brings in. <looks at Yuri> But wait, handsome, don’t you want to know who I am? <walks up and tries to grab Yuri>.jpg) So fair warning: this character is, as the kids say, problematic. Japanese games .jpg) This fellow here is a top-notch acupuncturist. Even brand new weapons feel like they’ve been yours for ten years once he’s worked on them. The only problem is, you have to learn to put up with certain predilections he has. <chuckles> He’s right. I can’t fight, but you’ll love the way I assist. Do you two have any other acts besides an odd couple? Well, I was about to— <turns to Alice> Let’s hit it, Alice. We can find our own way out. <nods>.jpg) Now hold on a second, kid. You, too, honey..jpg) What is it now, pops? I admire your spirit, kid. No matter how much you walk, you’ll never get out of this village the way you’re going. What’s that supposed to mean?! We already know this, Yuri. ...We do? <steps forward> That’s because of this mysterious mark here, isn’t it, Zhuzhen? <nods> Aha. She’s a smart one. Exactly. This seal’s power separates the village from the outside world. The seal itself is just like the lid on a pot. But this one has a lock that needs to be opened. <looks around> How can we open that lock? What do we do to break the seal? I already kicked the gate a bunch. Didn’t budge and I can kick pretty hard. No, Yuri. We need to break the seal. ...Like I said I kicked it and no dice. It’s a magic seal. Kicking won’t work. That’s right. You get the idea. Now listen carefully, both of you. Someone in this village must be the key to this seal. You must find and defeat that person. Wait, we were already doing that before we got interrupted by these geezers. Yuri, we were getting nowhere. You said so yourself. <scowls> Don’t tell him that! …Well, as they say, the journey IS the destination, so I’m coming along to see how I can help out. What a pain… <laughs and walks further into the village>.jpg) If you want to get the most out of a new weapon, come and see me anytime. I’ll show you its true power. Walking away now..jpg) Li Zhuzhen has now joined the party. He comes in at Level 6 with stats closer to Yuri than Alice. Though slanted slightly more toward magic power than physical. It’s also worth noting he’s a Fire Elemental character. As an unfortunate aside, new party members have a set level on joining. While it’s fine with Zhuzhen (he’s about the same exact level as our current party) it can be a bit of an issue with characters later on who join our ranks and are lagging behind by like 5-6 levels initially. .jpg) .jpg) Zhuzhen uses Staffs as his weapon of choice in employing Taoist Arts. His starting staff is pretty boring. Don’t worry, he’ll be using limbs cut from a cursed ancient tree from the depths of the void in no time. .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) As far as gameplay goes, Zhuzhen’s Judgment Ring for his default attacks is probably one of the trickier ones to deal with as his first Hit Area is in range near instantly as soon as the dial starts spinning. I’ve definitely not paid full attention and blanked on tapping the button a couple times using him in the past.  That aside, while Yuri might be channeling Tekken with his physical attacks, Zhuzhen definitely is going for the Soulcalibur demographic during his strikes. It’s the glowing weapon after-effects. .jpg) Zhuzhen’s unique flavor of magical attack is called Yin and Yang. Currently he only has a single attack under its banner. But it’s not a half bad one. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Ogre Flamedance is a fire elemental attack that hits all enemies on the field for about 50-65 HP of damage currently, making it the single strongest attack we have access to at the moment. Ogre Flamedance is strong enough to just be a “nah we’re done here” button against any and all random battle encounters out on the field. So that’s pretty nice. Before we conclude this session, let’s speak with Wander Meiyuan and learn some more about his services. Music: Destruction - Noise of Fangs .jpg) Care for some acupuncture treatment? Or some moxibustion? > Please. But before we get to that, since you’re a new customer, I have to tell you how my business works. There are plenty of great weapons, but they’re not worth much if you don’t master them. Normally it takes years upon years to learn just one weapon, but that hardly sounds like fun, right? With my acupuncture technique, you’ll feel like you’ve known the weapon for ages. And all you have to do is lie there while I work my magic on you... Who could ask for a better deal?.jpg) So Meiyuan is our weapon upgrade station. All weapons can have their levels upgraded by three levels for increased costs each time. The amount it’ll cost to upgrade weapons also increases from weapon to weapon. It’s kinda costly to the tune of tens of thousands of bucks per level by the time we get to endgame weapons. .jpg) Here’s Yuri’s Leather Glove’s Judgment Ring and stats at base level. .jpg) We can increase the Attack Power by three levels. To balance this out, the Hit Area level is decreased with each upgrade. .jpg) The Hit Area can also be increased for a lesser cost to offset that or just make it easier overall if the player is having trouble with the Judgment Ring timing. .jpg) Optimally, we want to increase by the Hit Area and Power Level at the same time to just get a flat upgrade to our weapon with no downside other than draining our wallet. .jpg) It’s not at all worth it to pump a bunch of cash into our party’s current weapons since new ones might be available for sale in the next chapter and they’re all far more powerful than any leveled up base weapons we’re currently equipped with at the moment. With that said, since Yuri is primarily dealing out physical attacks, we’ll give ourselves a small and not too costly edge by just upping his Attack Power and Hit Area one tick. Which results in... Hrmph... .jpg) .jpg) All righty, everything’s done! I hope it was good for you, too. Hehehe....jpg) ...Yeah. Did I mention Meiyuan’s character had... issues...? Every character has a unique reaction to getting Meiyuan’s treatments. Specifically, the male characters... Alice meanwhile, has... .jpg) OK..jpg) Anyway, on that note let’s never speak of this again and move on. Meiyuan will be a reoccurring character throughout the game but thankfully this is the only real time where people actively go "eww I don't want the gay!" Unfortunately, the weapon upgrade... session scenes never go away. But at least I can skip those going forth. With that out of the way, tune in next time as we get to tracking down that cat-demon, learn Zhuzhen is a very prepared man and perhaps crack a curse or two as Shadow Hearts continues!  Video: Episode 7 Highlight Reel  Zhuzhen Character Portrait – I thought it was illegal to wear a monocle and not be a portly rich old white guy. The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Jun 30, 2018 |
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Jun 30, 2018 00:05
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Episode VIII: The Anti-Cat Maneuver Music: Destruction - Noise of Fangs .jpg) Now that Zhuzhen has joined the party, perhaps we can make some headway in the troublesome cat lady issue at hand. Let’s return to the last spot we saw her appear and try that again. Cat Lady ninja smoke bombs onto the scene. She immediately recoils backwards. .jpg) .jpg) Is she bothered? She isn’t acting the same as before… Is it because of pops? I bet that dirty old man hasn’t bathed in days... <ponders time since last bath> ...You know maybe I shouldn’t call others on that one..jpg) .jpg) Now that we have a full party and we’re (slowly) approaching the conclusion of this chapter, I think we can drop some cash buying a couple extra Leather Belts for Alice and Zhuzhen and an extra bandana for protection on our new Taoist sorcerer. It’s not too much of a dent in our wallet. With our new accessories equipped and good to go, let’s head to the other place we last saw the Cat Lady. Cat Lady warps in next to the well. She recoils again.  <hops back and teleports away>.jpg) You’d think we’d now return to the Shrine where we saw her first in this sequence. But nope! We now want to return to her home where we murdered her .jpg) You’ll never leave. That is the Yamaraja’s decision. <steps forward and looks the Cat Lady over> What you mean, granny, is it’s the decision of whoever’s controlling Yamaraja behind the scenes. Hey, could we establish what the hell a Yamaraja is before we start jumping to the next level in management...? Wh-Who are you? Heh heh heh… I’m the adept hired to exorcise this village. So, are you ready to say uncle? Ha ha ha! You couldn’t even catch me. Why would I be afraid of you? Poof!.jpg) .jpg) You suck at this. No, I can still feel her presence. She’s still hiding somewhere in this house. I guess it’s time to apply the secret formula for smoking out cat people. ...... ...We’re gonna get it high? <incredulous look> No... Do you have any idea what we should do? That I do. I suppose you know how cats take to catnip? I thought you just said you weren’t gonna get it high! May I finish speaking before you start your outbursts, kid? <holds up bag> I made it by mixing catnip with a special dye! Well, this here is something called “Anti-Cat Powder.”Yuri jumps back from Zhuzhen. .jpg) Like... all the time? Just in case? I was hired to exorcise malevolent spirits from this village. I’m not sure if you’re aware, kid. But there’s a LOT of different varieties of ghouls and ghosts out there. I like to come prepared. Whatever. You’re batty, man. <nods> So that’s what that funny smell was... Now I get it! That’s why Granny hid herself!! <laughs> Right, she probably couldn’t stand the thought of running into me and having to smell this odor again. It’s actually an herbal remedy for stomach aches, but its smoke has a powerful effect on cat people. Simply carrying it is effective, but burn it and the power multiplies. Let’s smoke her out. Couldn’t we just... I dunno... set this house on fire? This seems like a lot of work. She’d likely just flee again and we’d get nowhere. But why wouldn’t she flee from the anti-cat whatchamacallit? ...That is a good point. <sigh> Just trust me on this. I AM an expert on these things. We’ll smoke her out and she’ll reveal her true form. Oh, but to do that, we’ll need a metal vessel and a torch. You need to go find those two things. When you bring them back, I’ll burn the incense in this house. <nods> A metal vessel and a torch. Right..jpg) There’s nothing worse than cat troubles. Unfortunately, there is no torch nor bowl nearby. We’ll need to go track those down in the village while ignoring the fact that Zhuzhen is literally a Fire Bender. To do that, let’s try asking the only other human in the village that didn’t just arrive. .jpg) > I’m looking for something. You seen a bowl or a tor— Metal vessel! Excuse me METAL bowl or a torch? Hmm? A “metal vessel” and “torch”? The “metal vessel” you can get from any street shop. And there are some “torches” near the gate... That’s if I remember correctly. .jpg) Look, they went to the trouble of rendering the hell version screens of this town and DAMMIT they’re gonna get their money worth out of it! We need to once more travel across town hitting event flag hotspots again. The first is one of the shop stalls in the main street. .jpg) .jpg) A quick Normal Ring mini-game and the Metal Vessel is ours. I’m sure burning the rotten flesh flecks alongside the stinky catnip will really add to the aroma. .jpg) .jpg) A torch is just sitting on the ground over by Wander Meiyuan. No mini-game necessary to collect it. I feel like gathering this specific bundle of sticks is rather egregious considering we’re in a village full of wood huts and again, a pyromancer is in our party. But what do I know about Eastern medicine? .jpg) .jpg) As a side note, the party is still obviously regularly coming up against random battles and has been picking up a few levels along the way. On the way back to the Cat Lady mayor’s home, Alice managed to hit Level 7 and learned Holy Edge. All characters, except for Yuri, have an “Edge” ability which can be cast on allies to add their elemental alignment to that character’s physical attacks. So Alice’s Holy Edge can turn Yuri or Zhuzhen’s physical attacks into Light Elemental strikes. It’s a real useful ability in certain situations. It’s almost universally one of the first additional techniques a character will learn if they don’t come with it unlocked already. That aside, back to the Mayor’s house we go... .jpg) Well, I guess I’ll give it a go! <turns to the fire pit> Let’s see, put the Anti-Cat Powder into the metal vessel… And light it with the torch... Yuri tosses all of that junk into the fire pit. He immediately runs back as soon as it ignites. .jpg) Maybe we should have gone outside as soon as we lit this thing. I’m not eager to stink like blue anus musk the rest of my life. <cat howl> <scan the area>The Cat Lady rockets out of the fire pit. .jpg) Yikes! Oh my goodness! Hah! Did we accidentally set her on fire? That’s great!.jpg) I’ve got you now, old hag! You ready to be skinned, cat? H-How dare you! I’ll show you all! You’re all in big trouble now!.jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) Time for another mini-boss. Cat Lady has shown her true form of Felinus, a 250 HP sporting cousin of the Hellcats from earlier. This fight is overall only marginally more difficult than the battle again those brats from earlier. As a quick aside, Felinus’s Japanese title is Nekomata Wikipedia on Nekomata posted:
.jpg) Felinus also just means “cat” in Latin. Hey, we’ve got a cat of our own here! .jpg) It just so happens Raging Tiger is an Earth elemental Fusion while Felinus is a Wind elemental foe. Now seems a choice time to employ some of Raging Tiger’s Special Attacks. Specifically: Flying Stones. This is one of the more costly special attacks we’ve got at our disposal MP wise, so Yuri can only perform this three times this battle unless we want to blow a consumable. .jpg) .jpg) Flying Stones is... err... well... literally exactly what it says on the box. Raging Tiger uses telekinesis to pull up a bunch of stones and then sends ‘em flying right at its target’s everything. Look, sometimes just throwing a rock at a dude is an effective technique. Particularly here when it’s doing 60-70 HP of damage a shot. .jpg) .jpg) Meanwhile, Zhuzhen can add offensive support by setting that cat on fire with Ogre Flamedance. While not quite as effective as Yuri’s rock lobbing at only around 40-50 HP of damage, it’s still nothing to sneeze out. Alice meanwhile kinda has nothing to do this fight. She could heal, I guess, if the boys got really sloppy with their Judgment Ring usage and whiffed a bunch of attacks. That didn’t not occur. .jpg) .jpg) Offensively, Felinus’s primary ability is Wind Fang which will slice into the entire party for around 15 HP worth of damage. Nothing to worry about at all. .jpg) It can also just run up and scratch our characters for minimal damage. It is a cat after all. We’re just lucky it doesn’t hack up a gross hairball to poison anyone during this fight. .jpg) .jpg) All in all it is needless to say that things do not go well for the Cat Lady... Music: Results .jpg) .jpg) For our troubles we receive a small amount of EXP and a new item – the Lottery Ticket. This is part of a mechanic in Shadow Hearts that we’ll be encountering in the next location. We’ll just keep in mind we’re carrying one of these for now. Music: Destruction - Noise of Fangs .jpg) You’ll never understand the pain of giving birth, only to have them devoured… My vengeance was in vain… Suck it, cat! I feel for you… But I suggest you let it go and give yourself some peace. I’ll ask my employers to pray for the souls here. I won’t accept pity from you! Yamaraja! I leave everything in your hands….jpg) BARF! <dies> Why do they keep saying "barf"? Hmm? ...Nothing..jpg) Perhaps the cat-demons. I find it doubtful the villagers were raising snails. Also the straight-up zombies. Well, those could be vengeful animal spirits inhabiting human corpses. It’s a debatable fringe case as to the nature of such creatures. At least it’s over now. Now, now, Alice. We’re not done yet. Next comes that so-called “shrine” over there! <looks at door and laughs> Heh, now for Yamaraja!.jpg) Indeed. Time to return to the village shrine and see what the hell a Yamaraja is anyway. Tune in next time as we finish our adventures in Zhaoyang Village and conclude the Midnight Plains Arc as Shadow Hearts continues!  Video: Felinus Boss Battle The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Jul 1, 2018 |
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Jul 1, 2018 01:10
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Episode IX: A Single Thread Music: Destruction - Noise of Fangs The Cat Lady is now dead. Which means we can now approach the Zhaoyang Village Shrine and go see what the deal is with this Yamaraja chap. We’ll go ahead and blow a Tent before heading out to restore all our HP/MP. It’s best to be in top shape going forward. I also perhaps got the whole gang to around Level 8ish since everyone was just at the cusp of leveling up after the Felinus fight.  As an added note, we hit exactly one random battle running from the save point to the town shrine. It was over a few seconds later but it resulted in the Soul Energy for Wind leveling up. We’ll address that sometime in the near future. Just keep it in mind. .jpg) You know, I don’t think anyone bothered to check to see if the Cat Lady actually was making any barrier. Everyone just kind of took her word on it and started chasing after her. Oh well. I guess it doesn’t make a difference now. Yuri is gonna violate the poo poo out of that shrine! .jpg) <nods> Yamaraja is the Lord of Hell. He’s quite different from those cat people from before. Be on guard. Piece of cake! Now let’s blow this joint. Time for the punchy part!Yuri fiddles with the Shrine and is immediately met with a thunder crash leading to... .jpg) New Music: China Ogre (It’s a major boss battle theme. You should probably listen to it.) .jpg) .jpg) Well... that’s quite the large boy. Meet Yamaraja: Earth -- the first proper boss battle in Shadow Hearts. As in this guy is the first winnable boss enemy that could potentially actually wipe out the party. Despite towering over humans, Yamaraja: Earth only comes packing 300 HP. But to offset that he’s way more durable defense wise than the trash mobs and minor cat demons we’ve been tangoing with. A Yama (the raja part is an honorific denoting a king/lord) is a deity from Buddhist mythology that judges the dead. His Japanese title is Enma-O: Sui Gaku which is the Japanese take on the original Hindu concept for a creature we're fighting in China... Sui Gaku part means “harvest” not “earth” that’s just a straight up translation gently caress-up as you’ll see shortly. Wikipedia on Yama posted:
King Yemma in Dragon Ball Z, that giant bureaucrat devil guy in the afterlife that Goku has to talk to before getting let on Snake Way after he dies? Same dude. .jpg) .jpg) Anyway, our first order of business is to immediately turn Yuri into a cat dude and immediately have him start chucking rocks at Yamaraja. You’d think using an Earth elemental Fusion and throwing an Earth element attack at a monster named Yamaraja: EARTH would be a poor idea. But nah. This attack still does around 50-60 damage to the big boy just like it did to Felinus. Why is that? .jpg) Like I said earlier, this guy’s Japanese name was Enma-O: Sui Gaku or Judge-King of Hell: Harvest. “Harvest” being a marginally more abstract a conceptual title than literally “Earth” -- an actual gameplay mechanic element present in combat. What I’m getting at is this dude is NOT an Earth element creature. He’s a Water elemental. Whoops! .jpg) Yamaraja Earth’s most devastating attack is Large Whirlpool, which hits Yuri and Alice for around 25-35 HP of damage while Zhuzhen, the Fire Element guy, takes it on the chin for 35-45 damage. .jpg) Even more pressingly, Large Whirlpool has the potential to inflict the first Judgment Ring status effect we’ve encountered in Shadow Hearts: Tight Ring. As the prompt says, for three turns the afflicted has the Hit Area on the Judgment Ring reduced in size. That’s the only abnormality that this Yamaraja can inflict. But other fun abnormalities for the Judgment Ring include:
.jpg) We need everyone to be on point during this battle so negating the Judgment Ring Abnormality with a Phoenix Tail right away is probably a good call. We’ll need to stock up on more of those in the future. .jpg) .jpg) Yamaraja: Earth also has the Flash Flood ability we saw from that undead wolf reskin enemy from earlier. It’s a real problem if he decides to target Zhuzhen with it. The old man does NOT do well against Water based attacks. A hit from Flash Flood will do 40-50 HP of damage and considering Zhuzhen only has 93 total right now... that’s a decent chunk of health gone down the drain. .jpg) Unlike in the Felinus fight, where Alice didn’t really need to contribute, this time around she is working overtime in the medic position making sure herself, Yuri and especially Zhuzhen have their health topped off as soon as possible. Optimally we don’t want anyone falling beneath 40 HP if we want to keep them alive. We also need to be mindful that Alice only has five turns before she'll run out of Sanity and go Berserk so we need to keep an eye on her quickly dwindling SP. The first time I played this I definitely had Alice lose all Sanity and was very confused as to what happened because hell if there's directly a tutorial about Sanity Points outside diving deep into the FAQ section of the menu. .jpg) .jpg) Even though he is taking a beating, Zhuzhen is probably our MVP in dealing damage during this fight since that whole elemental weakness thing works both ways. Ogre Flamedance will nail Yamaraja: Earth for nearly 60 HP. He should be belting a cast of that out every single turn. It’s better to let Yuri chip in with healing items to support Alice topping off everyone’s health than letting Zhuzhen stop burning this idiot. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) So in summary: Yuri turns into a catman and throw rocks at him, Zhuzhen set him on fire a bunch and Alice scrambles to keep everyone alive doing just that. Yamaraja: Earth will be slain in no time and with his death, the curse on Zhaoyang Village is finally broken. Music: Results .jpg) .jpg) In addition to a frankly underwhelming amount of experience points, we are reward with a Star Brooch for defeating the Yamaraja. This is actually a returning item from Koudelka... in name only. In that game, it actually was a brooch shaped like a star. It was a unique accessory only obtained by loving up a sidequest to properly exorcise a vengeful nine year old ghost. She proceeded to turn into a giant rotting end of Akira-esque bloated mutant and was murdered by the party... again. This version just gives +1 to Physical/Special Defense and allows us to bail on a battle if I somehow gently caress-up enough to get the entire party in the Berserk status...? Err... I don’t think that hypothetical situation is going to come up often... Music: Sea - Highnoon Fish .jpg) Thanks to you, too, girl. I guess my work here is pretty much done now. That was quite the journey for a job that took all of a half hour. I’ll need to kill time until morning before returning for payment or they’ll think I skimped on the job. But, wait, something’s been bothering me… Just who is this “person” that’s supposed to be controlling Yamaraja? He probably thought that if the Black Tortoise was here, it would stand in the way of his evil plans. So he used the cat people to steal the Black Tortoise seal, actually just a small votive picture. It’s quite sad. He took advantage not only of the villagers but of the local, sleeping spirits. Music: Wind Which Blows From the Dark II  Roger Bacon? Little early for having breakfast... He’s the warlock who tried to carry me off on that train. Oh that old dick. You two know Roger Bacon?! Is he that famous? Hmm… If Roger Bacon has reappeared… Then probably… There can be no doubt… You gonna elaborate on that? Or just do the trailing off ominously thing geezers who know more than they’re letting on always do? Hm? No. I cannot say with certainty... So the latter. I was captured by the Japanese in Changchun, and was being escorted to Fengtian on a special train. Bacon showed up on that train, killed the Japanese soldiers, and tried to abduct me. <laughs> But of course, I came in gallantly, and picked him off like a helpless rabbit! Picked who off? Roger Bacon! Ah hah hah hah hah. Roger Bacon? You actually think you killed him? Sorry young man, but that’s impossible. I punched a hole in his stupid smug face! I am PRETTY SURE I got him! Oh I’m sure you think you did. He’s not likely to succumb to you, no matter how hard you may fight. <clenches and shakes fist> Hmph! Well, thanks a lot, Zhuzhen! Now, now, don’t get all hot under the collar. I know you’re strong, kid. Anyway, here’s what I think. It wasn’t Roger Bacon who used the local spirits, but I don’t doubt that he’s involved somehow. Someone else behind the scenes? I wonder if this has to do with the army trying to take me to Japan? But the waves coming off this shrine seem to be a more deeply-rooted, purer kind of malice. It’s filled with hatred and lust… And vengeance. Just smells like skulls and dead cats to me. In my profession, people with powers of perception like yours are called “Demon Eyes”. That’s rad. ..... Of course, in this country, anyone who has powers that others don’t understand will be tagged a demon. But your powers seem to be special. You can see things others can’t see, and hear what others can’t hear… Best not flaunt those powers. You’ll soon be the target of those who would use you, and then kill you. <gets frightened> …… Hey, old man! Keep your ominous fortune-telling to yourself! We just kicked some ogre’s rear end. Stop bringin’ down the mood! <points at Yuri> You too, kid. The art of fusion is a forbidden art lost in ancient Japan. It’s a double-edged sword. A forbidden art from the Age of the Gods?! What ARE you talking about? I didn’t say that second part, but OK... If your heart becomes enclosed in darkness and your powers run wild, you’ll be a danger to everyone. <laughs> Give me a break! I can cover my own rear end, thank you! Just don’t be fusing with anything way out of your league, eh kid? What are you my dad now!? I suppose your father taught you how? <turns away> Forget it. But I want you to know that the furor you’ve just been through is most likely only the beginning. Now, then, let’s be going. I expect we can open the gate now.Music: Sea - Highnoon Fish .jpg) Killing Yamaraja has restored Zhaoyang Village to a decidedly less caked in gore and viscera motif. That’s not going to do much for the local tourism. Who wants to see yet another generic countryside watering hole? .jpg) Our only objective now is to return to the front gate and get the hell out of town. Before we venture too far, let’s do a slight touch of inventory management... You know, since the threat in town is over and all the demons are gone, I don’t think Zhuzhen needs that Bandana or Leather Belt anymore. He’s old, that stuff is just going to weigh him down. With that done, we can continue out of town. There is one single person to chat up on the way out... .jpg) Ah, is that so? That’s good to hear. Now it’s possible to leave the village. Allow me to show you my gratitude. This might come in handy in the future. Please take it. <You’ve received Guild Card!> Thanks for everything. The Lost Peddler gives us the Snake Card which is used in a shop discount mechanic we cannot yet dive into since the Peddler has ceased being an actual shop vendor. We’ll have to check it out once we reach the next area. Now about that gate... .jpg) Well, I’m off. Hope to see you again sometime. <nods> Yeah. So long.Meiyuan dashes out of town. .jpg) ...But who’d want to be touched by him? Isn’t he a nice man? <nods> I’m sure he’s perfectly safe for you, missy.I think that’s the last time anyone actually actively discusses anything about Meiyuan outside of talking to him directly. So that’s probably for the best. That aside, last call for doing anything in Zhaoyang Village. We won’t be ever returning here. Music: ENDS .jpg) Well then, see ya. We’ll probably never meet again, but I hope your business doesn’t fail, pops. <laughs> <shakes head> Whatever will I do without a smartass kid heckling my work? <nods> Thanks for all your help! Take care of yourself. <nods and begins walking away>.jpg) New Music: Much Hatred Still Rankles .jpg) <looks the pair over> You two meeting up, then me, and then the events in this village… Somehow I can’t help feeling like all this is connected by a single thread that somebody has spun. And if it is, it means we’ll be meeting again somewhere. Hey, pops! I’m gonna want a cut of your pay if you start showing up on jobs in places I’m punching demons! Heh heh heh. Well, until then, take care! Zhuzhen laughs and wanders off down the road, exiting the party. .jpg) Shoot! If only he were more generous about teaching me his secrets… The jerk! I bet you money right now if we see that guy again he’s gonna be “ho ho... actually I knew a half hour long monologue of backstory I just chose not to tell you for dramatic effect!” Guys like that tick me off. It’s always some kinda kung fu doctor too. I swear! Hee hee hee. Well, if we’re going to be seeing him again, we can ask him then. <shakes head and waves her off> That’s true. A single thread spun by somebody… huh? Now that’s interesting! <looks to the sky>.jpg) And that concludes Chapter 2 of Shadow Hearts! Yuri Hyuga and Alice Elliot’s adventures will continue in Chapter 3: Fengtian Tragedy. ...I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’s the proper end of the chapter so let’s have a rundown of all the folks we met along the way. MONSTER: .jpg) Wow, who knew undead kittens were such assholes? I’m glad we murdered those kids. .jpg) Zombie gonna zombie. .jpg) Pictured: The very face of sadness. .jpg) Perhaps it was a mistake to found Zhaoyang Village on a sacred Wolf Burial Ground. Or any burial ground in general. Did no one watch Poltergeist? It’s a bad idea every time! It’s up there with bringing a loved one back with alchemy. Just don’t do it! .jpg) Huh... That’s it? You’d think what was essentially the villain of the day for this small story arc would have a more grandiose backstory. But nope. Just an old cat lapped up some blood where a guy nicked himself shaving and whoops! Cursed into being a demon cat! .jpg) Much like it is not an Earth elemental despite the name, it also doesn’t have a kick attack of any sort... I have no idea what that description is talking about. Perhaps Yamaraja can cast some low-key anti-localization spell. .jpg) If you’re thinking Shadow Hearts has a small pool of enemies it’s going to repeat frequently with different colors and textures like Final Fantasy X loved to do... Nah. It’s just wolves. They frikkin’ loved wolves early on. Every other enemy at the game has at MOST maybe one doppelganger palette swap cousin. Wolves have like five. Couldn’t tell you why. NPC: .jpg) Wanderer Meiyuan is the type of guy who uses 15+ year old photos for all of his online profiles. *****  Video: Yamaraja Earth Boss Battle (You should check out the big boss.) The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Jul 3, 2018 |
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Jul 2, 2018 16:24
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Yuri is more genre savvy without being an insufferable four wall breaking rear end about it.
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Jul 3, 2018 22:03
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 Episode X: Get Alice Elliot! Music: Blow Up .jpg) Our adventures in the Plains and Zhaoyang Village have come to a close. Fengtian is our next destination. But if you’ll recall we have some business back in the Graveyard. So let’s hop over there for a spell before we properly depart. Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) Yep... Still a creepy graveyard. You may notice one of the gravestones is now glowing. Let’s take a closer look at that. .jpg) Since we leveled up the Wind Element’s Soul Power Level fighting jobbers back in Zhaoyang Village, we now have the option to go fight a Fusion monster and have Yuri claim a new transformation. These should always be a priority to go fight and claim as soon as they’re available. .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) For the most part, Fusion monster battles are just stomp matches, especially early on in the game. This one is no exception. This Harpy looking critter is Tornado. All the Fusion boss battles have stats that scale with Yuri’s current level, which is why they’re mostly jokes early in the game. You can only scale that so high when linked with a guy who is barely breaking the triple digits in hit points. .jpg) .jpg) Since Tornado is an Wind elemental, our old method of flinging rocks at foes will be all the more effective here. Indeed, only three casts and its days are numbered. But at least that’s enough turns that it actually gets to attack back more than once. .jpg) It decides to burn one of these available turns casting Falcon, which ups its Agility +15. You’re gonna have to spend those extra turns on doing some offensive attack, bub. Your time is quickly running dry, even with the boost... .jpg) .jpg) Wind Shear is the only other attack Tornado managed to fire off. We’ve seen this a couple times already. But this version manages to at least do around 35-40 HP of damage. If it had done that twice in a row maybe that would be something to get worried about. Alas... .jpg) .jpg) This fight did not end in Tornado’s favor. We’ll just be relieving you of your soul now, pal. Stealing souls is always a heroic effort. Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) You’ve received Soul of Tornado! .jpg) .jpg) I’m glad they felt the need to have two different notifications we’ve ripped out that monster’s soul and claimed it for our own. In any case, we now have our Wind element Fusion. This one ups:
.jpg) While we’re in the neighborhood, defeating bosses does yield a sizable amount of Malice. We’ve made it to Green Level following Yamaraja’s defeat. So let’s sort that out while we’re here and maybe test out our new Fusion. Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) Evil 3 is our opponent for today. It’s a gross little snake demon gremlin thing. Much like the Fusion bosses, the Malice meter foes are also based on Yuri’s current stats and scale with ‘em. So they’re not too troubling, other than Fox Face. .jpg) .jpg) No better time to give Tornado a spin. I didn’t intend that pun but I’m noticing it now and am deeply disturbed to see it has manifested.  A couple rounds of physical attacks are all we need to slay this jobber, even if Tornado isn’t the beefiest owl boy in town. I do like that it seems like Yuri has no idea how to control a big, cumbersome man-bird and is just flailing wildly and hoping for the best. .jpg) Evil 3’s only method of attack seems to be sliding over and attempting to bite Yuri. However his owl boy agility is more than a match for the wee snake lad’s poor accuracy. .jpg) It goes poorly for him. Thus our Malice is once more wiped away. .jpg) Our Malice reset reward this time around is a Seal of Speed. The description makes it sound as though it’s just an Agility buff or something but no. This is actually a rare, single use item that permanently raises a character’s Agility by one point. So we’re actually quite lucky getting this. There are only like three guaranteed drops of this particular seal in the game. We’ll probably give this one to Yuri since more punching soon is always good. Also Alice still has very low Sanity Points. So her gaining more turns a battle is a bit detrimental early in the game. Music: Blow Up (Map) .jpg) All that aside, we can now exit the Graveyard and select our next location on the world map -- Fengtian. Keep in mind the distances between locations are... rather interpretive and not meant to be exacting. Otherwise it seems Alice and Yuri walked a couple hundred kilometers across the Plains to get to Zhaoyang Village before walking the same distance back to make it to Fengtian. I don’t think that was the case... New Music: Army Tunes .jpg) We’re actually going to see very little of Fengtian during this update. Instead, we’ll mostly be checking on a couple of new characters who may or may not be future antagonists. Our first scene brings us back to the aftermath of the scene on the Trans-Siberian Express. .jpg)  You there. What were they escorting, anyway? A man-eating tiger? No, ma’am. Alice Elliot. Caucasian female. Approximately twenty years old. <nods> Yes. That’s how I recall her as well. However, I don’t see a body here of that description. Am I to assume the girl killed all these men? I… I never imagined a human being could… kill like this… It’s horrible… That one soldier’s head was twisted around 180 degrees. That’s going to keep me up at night, ma’am... <steps forward and inspects body> Major Tsuji… After your exploits in Changchun, did you ever suspect you’d captured a monster? Hmph. If soldiers of the Imperial Army can’t bring in one little girl, they don’t deserve to live. Sigh. I was so looking forward to bringing a worthy souvenir back to Tokyo for father. What a waste. <look at feet> And now I need a new pair of shoes. What a mess... <running in> Lt. Colonel! Lt. Colonel Kawashima! We have a witness! .jpg) What kind of man? Someone from the Anti-Japanese Movement, perhaps? No, ma’am… It seems he was a Western gentleman. He was described as, and I quote, “extraordinarily dapper.” … And there was another man, as well. Another one, you say? Yes, ma’am. A wiry youth. Again quoting, ma’am, he had the look of a “Rude Hero” of sorts. He seemed to be following the first man… Apparently, they both headed off in the direction of the salon car..jpg) Does this mean he had help? A foreign gentleman and a youth… Hmm. A strange combination. There were also reports of footsteps on the roof. But scuffles of that nature are a common occurrence on these train lines and it could be unrelated. <looks up> There IS a hole in the ceiling here... What are your orders, ma’am? Take care of the bodies. Have them sent to the Capital. I recall the Major saying his six-year-old granddaughter couldn’t wait for Grandpa to come home… The girl will surely shed tears of joy when she finds out he’s returning earlier than expected. <stands at attention> Yes, ma’am! <stands at attention> That is really dark, ma’am. I don’t believe asked your opinion on my tact, private... M-ma’am! Place troops in Fengtian and surrounding cities! Heh. We must use this chance to crush all the vile little termites that have infested our Utopia. <stands at attention> Yes, ma’am!The two soldiers march off. .jpg) Now I see why that wizened old demon in Shanghai was so hell-bent. Heh! Beware, old man… As the hawk in flight snatches its prey away from the wolf on the ground, I mean to have that girl! <laughs>New Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple (Hey it’s the villain boys theme! Listen to it!) b.jpg) Speaking of a wizened old demon in Shanghai, we now shift focus to Villainy Pagoda, Shanghai where a Chinese sorcerer is clearly doing some dirt. He is interrupted by our old pal Roger Bacon warping onto the scene. Roger Bacon can teleport, by the way. It’s actually one of the more common powers he uses. .jpg)  Heh heh, perhaps I’m getting rusty. Have I somehow summoned you here by mistake? <turns to Bacon> …It’s been fifteen years, Roger Bacon!.jpg) Master Dehuai, Fallen Ruler of the Nine Heavens, Earth Sage. <waves a dismissal> I see you are still wearing that pasted-on smile. You have too much time on your hands, you infectious plague. What brings you to Shanghai? Surely not simply to pay me a visit? I’m afraid I’m all out of spare cots for unexpected guests to spend the night. <laughs> …Heh heh. No, say nothing, I already know. <shrugs> Indeed. I’ve found myself at a loss in this strange land, and I’m afraid I’ve made a slight blunder. An unforeseen meddler has entered the game, and my little bird is still outside her cage… Quite the rude boy. I had to go acquire a new pair of gloves after our encounter. Heh heh heh… How unlike you, to make excuses! You need not apologize for going behind my back and abducting the girl; indeed, I suspected you would. <laughs> Come now, there’s no need to be so severe. I was merely indulging myself in a small divertissement. With your grand ceremony drawing near, you needn’t deal with minor trifles. I thought I’d lend a hand. <steps forward> Hah! You jest! Out of the goodness of your heart to aid an... old friend... you decided, on a fanciful whim, to raid a Japanese Army occupied train in the middle of rural Manchuria in the dead of night. When my actions are laid out in such a manner it appears as more trouble than it actually was, I assure you. Are you telling me you would have delivered me the girl upon her capture? Why, of course. The progress of your secret ceremony is of great interest to me, Master Dehuai. If this girl called Alice truly is the key to the ritual, I will do everything within my power to help. <shakes head> A sly old fox, you are…b.jpg) <begins pacing> I’ve taken the liberty of sealing up the Protector of the North, the Black Tortoise of Zhaoyang Village. It would have stood in the way of the rituals… but that no longer matters. The Spirit Machine of Kuihai Tower is finally operational! I can now focus entirely on finding the girl! Well, well. I look forward to seeing the great sage himself in action. So then, have you discovered the girl’s whereabouts? I’m afraid we parted ways and I lost track of her aboard the train. You teleported into this very chamber. Did that ability slip your mind then? Perhaps it did. So the girl...? <nods> Of course. I have eyes everywhere on the continent. Heh… Very well, I’ll tell you. …She’s in Fengtian. Fengtian… Hasn’t the Japanese army set up operations there? Hmm… I can’t imagine how they caught wind of it, but it seems they lie in wait for the girl as well..jpg) They present little threat, save for a bothersome fly named Kawashima that’s been snooping about. The girl is already mine. Heh heh heh… Splendid. I’ll be off to Fengtian, then. Are you for real right now? You’re not even going to try to deny your interference. Just blatant dickery? Now, now. Language... <shrugs> Please, don’t concern yourself with me. I haven’t got any intention of getting in your way, good sage. I’d simply like to observe your technique from afar. For future reference, you see. Very well then. <turns and begins walking away> Hmph, do as you please…Roger stops and turns back to Dehuai. .jpg) Even stranger, he’s a Harmonixer, a master of fusion. Perhaps “master” is a stretch of the term. Still... capable enough of fusion... What?! Fusion?! Are you absolutely certain?! <nods> I’m afraid so. You yourself have substantial blood connection to the Harmonixer line, do you not? I’d rather not see a repeat of the events of fifteen years ago. Please, be wary… <turns to leave> You wouldn’t want to lose the half of your body that remains. …Ah, that was uncalled for. Forgive me..jpg) <warps out of the room> Gah... What a DICK!.jpg) <turns to altar> Listen well, minions in Fengtian! That fraud of a warlock is headed for your city! Do not be outwitted! You see a westerner old man that even vaguely could be described as “dapper gentleman” or “rich old dick” you attack immediately! I shall be most disappointed should you fail to capture a single heretic girl! I shan’t allow anyone to stand in the way of the Demon’s Gate Invocation… Our success or failure depends entirely on that girl, Alice Elliot!!Meanwhile... New Music: Coffee With Bullet (That’s just a cool rear end name for a song. Also it’s extremely chill!) b.jpg) Ugh… Morning already? At least we got a little rest. Zzz… Zzz… <looks at Alice> Even after all that crap that went down, she walked all night. Pretty impressive… for a girl, I mean. …I think I’ll let her sleep a little longer. I really gotta ask her if she’s got that narcolepsy thing or something. I have no idea how anyone can flop over dead asleep immediately on a park bench.A puppy runs over and starts barking at Yuri. .jpg) Hmph. Y’are pretty cute, I guess, you dumb mutt..jpg)  .jpg) .jpg) …OW! What is it, you mutt?! <groggily stands back up> <growl>.jpg) Why indeed? Tune in next time as we begin our time in Fengtian proper, pet a dog or two and potentially meet a new party member as Shadow Hearts continues!  Video: Episode 10 Highlight Reel  Tornado Fusion Render – The Owlboy has become an Owlman. The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Jul 7, 2018 |
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Jul 7, 2018 01:12
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Episode XI: The Alluring Spy Music: Coffee With Bullet .jpg) Now that we have some downtime, we are free to explore Fengtian. This city has actually had its name changed several times. At this point in history it should be going by Mukden with Fengtian referring to the province. The year following this game, 1914, it would have its name changed to Shenyang (which was actually an older name for the city) though most would still call it Mukden. Japan took over occupying this region from Russia in 1905 following Russia getting its rear end kicked in the Russo-Japanese War. Don’t worry about all that too much. Shadow Hearts is working on an alternate history that only gets more hinkey with its grasp on actual events as it goes along. Anyway, let’s talk to some townsfolk. .jpg) So I thought up a new service to draw customers. I call it “Pedometer Service”. Whoa-whoa-whoa! Hold up, champ. NOT interested! ...Do you not know what a pedometer is, sir? Some sicko rating for how much you wanna diddle kids? This is why I seldom speak to people... No, it is a device that keeps track of how much many steps you take by tracking the movement of your hands or hips. OK... You should really workshop that name, though. First of all, let me give you this. <hands Yuri a Pedometer> Wear that when you walk though danger. It’ll count your steps. Get enough and win a cool prize! ...No? <shakes head> I don’t want it? No, no, I’ll have it if I can. Are you selling it? Sir... what you just said was borderline incomprehensible. I already gave you the device and explained the rules... Look I just walked all night after fighting a buncha cat demons, an ogre and a wizard. Sorry I ain’t talkin’ so good. So can I get a prize? I’m sorry, but I don’t have any merchandise for sale at the moment. Even if I did, I literally gave you the pedometer 20 seconds ago and you have not walked a single foot. You would able to claim zero prizes and waste both of our times browsing. Tch. Whatever man. Maybe you should stop yappin’ then? .......jpg) The Pedometer is now in our possession. The Silent Peddler will show up at random points in the game and as he said we can claim prizes by turning in points correlating with the number of steps we’ve taken ONLY in areas with random battles. So no tying a rubber band, pointing Yuri at a corner of the town square and leaving the game running overnight. Unfortunately, this is an accessory so if we want to participate in the Silent Peddler business we need to give up an inventory slot. .jpg) The game actually tracks a variety of stats in the “Score” tab of the pause menu. Gah! So close to a nice ranking... Alas... Let us return to chatting townsfolk. .jpg) I hear that some awful criminals have escaped and are hiding out here in Fengtian. God have mercy! Spooky. N-no! Don’t hit me, sir, please!! Word of my punching might have gotten out of hand. It’s not like I’m gonna go around socking innocent old ladies, now... Sheesh! ...? Oh, I guess... you’re not Japanese, are you? I’ve never seen eyes that color before. Don’t worry about that... I have... special eyes....jpg)  This is becoming an amazing city. Architects and engineers from the world over are on a building spree. Spoilers: We’ll be seeing 100% of the explorable parts of Fengtian’s streets halfway through this update. .jpg)  The soldiers are scary, though... Who do they think we are, anyway?! Native underlings of an occupied region? You don’t have to put it so plainly!.jpg)  Just a day’s stay there costs... Goodness! A month’s salary, for me! Wandering in circles, only stopping to talk to random guys that walk up to you really ain’t payin’ the bills, huh? Hmm? You... that...Building-loving Man somehow notices what is in Yuri’s pocket and transmogrifies into... .jpg) P-Play? Play what? You don’t know? It’s your first time, eh? Then let me explain. That ticket you have there, it’s a Lottery Ticket. When you have a Lottery Ticket... we members of the World Lottery Association let you play for lots of fabulous prizes. What is with this city and dudes springing random prize raffles on you...? But we never tell anyone about the lottery unless they have a Ticket. Basically, the lottery is secret. Don’t worry. It’s not shady. The chairman is just funny that way. World Lottery Association? The way the chairman likes it? It all sounds pretty fishy to me. This like a mob scam or are you a cop? You sound like a cop. Don’t ask me any more than I’ve already told you. If you I tell you anything more about the chairman... it could mean my life... Just kidding. But seriously, it could strain our beautiful friendship. Leaning back towards mob scam now... Hah hah hah. They say the proof is in the pudding. Try it once and you’ll see what it’s all about. Whadda ya say? Wanna play? Seems kind of suspicious to me. PROBABLY gonna regret it... But eh, what the hell? >Sure. I’ll give it a whirl. All right, here we go, then..jpg) When the indicator stops on a color that matches a prize, you get that prize. The indicator will go around as many times as you want, so take your time. All right. Here goes..jpg) In other words, it’s a Judgment Ring. Each color on the ring represents a different prize. Usually the Red Prize is the best item and also the smallest Hit Area. This ring spins fairly slowly. Like one second for one revolution slow. So it’s not a problem to hit the mark. They will get much more difficult. It is incredibly recommended to find a save point and use it before dealing with these guys. .jpg) When tapping the button to stop the Judgment Ring indicator, the dial will do one full revolution but whenever the button is tapped is where it will actually stop. There’s no momentum for it slowing down factor like the Price is Ring Showcase Showdown wheel or anything. .jpg) Our prize for this Lottery Member is a Jade Lariat which does just as it says in the description. We want to win at least one prize from each Lottery Member. It’s possible to win multiple prizes from the same Lottery Member by spending multiple Lottery Tickets. But there are only around 20ish Lottery Tickets in the game and fifteen members to play through the adventure. There may also be a bonus Lottery Member who only appears if we’ve played every single previous one. And these guys are absolutely able to be permanently missed. This first dude right here we only have the window lasting to the where this update ends and he’s gone for good. So yep. Totally possible to gently caress-up this sidequest immediately in the third area of the game. .jpg) Oh, just one word of caution. Association members all have different prizes, and there aren’t all that many Lottery Tickets out there, either. I urge you to choose carefully whose lottery you’ll play. Well, then, good luck!As a final note, World Lottery Association members will not reveal themselves unless we’re currently carrying a Lottery Ticket. Speak to that man again and he’ll instantly revert to just an NPC that wants to stay at a fancy hotel in the distance. .jpg) In any case, that’s enough chatting with townsfolk. Let’s wake Alice up and get on with our journey of err... not getting Alice kidnapped, I suppose. Alice groggily gets off the bench. .jpg) …Oh, you’re up? You okay? You were sweating like crazy… Have a nightmare or somethin’? You can’t have been warm with your butt sitting out in the breeze like that... It was terrible. I was in a dark room… maybe a hospital, and there was a woman, all alone, crying… She… she was staring at me. And then, that man! The one from the train… Bacon… appeared. What happened to the woman? I don’t know. It got dark all of a sudden, I couldn’t see… I had a doctor once tell me something about “Foreshadology” and how my dreams could tap into it. But I can’t remember what he said... Hah! Don’t let it get to ya. It’s just a dream, right? I have dreams about cursed masks unleashing creatures of negative energy I have to punch into submission or my ghost dad will show up to kick my rear end. Happens to everyone. ...... And the old guy, what’s his name…? Bacon, right. If he shows up again… well, I’ll make him wish he didn’t. Tee-hee!.jpg) With Alice back in our party, we’re free to run into the nearest sketchy back alley and snoop around. Music: ENDS .jpg) Yep... Definitely looks like a good place to get mugged. There’s a Tent in that chest if you’re curious. No doubt muggers would rappel down from the rooftops along with their dogs to attack unsuspecting adventurers drawn to said chest. But fortunately for us, the Japanese Army is keeping the random battles away. For now... .jpg) <notices Yuri> Oh hey, you there! We got lots a’good stuff! C’mon, take a look!.jpg) Eh, may as well. Not like we have much choice. The end of the alley is blocked by a pair of Japanese privates that just tell us to get lost. But as we enter... New Music: Blade .jpg) ...it seems there is something more going on up on the rooftop. The woman strolls over to a silver attaché case which she opens to reveal a portable radio device. .jpg)  We blow up those cars, and the Japanese Army’ll be stuck here for at least two months! Hah! I can see the look on that idiot Kawashima’s face now… Not that I know what she looks like. ...I should probably look into that some time, now that I think of it. Ah, well! Some other time! Malkovich, why is a pro like you always letting your personal feelings get involved? Our objective is to track the movements of the Japanese Army, not cause unwanted trouble… Speaking of unwanted trouble, you didn’t set any unnecessary bombs this time… right? Just because we allocate you extra explosives for contingencies, DOES NOT mean you need to use ALL of them. <walks a distance and looks off the roof> Don’t worry. Only one..jpg) What else could I do?! There are plenty of innocent people working in that depot, too, you know! And… and they all have these cute little lunchboxes! Anyway, all I did was set a little one outside. See? It’ll go “pop” BEFORE the big one, everyone’ll come running out to see what it was, then, KA-BOOM!! … And what if they lock down the station due to a terror threat...? Pfft... What are the odds of that? Ah, ah ha ha! D-don’t get into one of those moods on me! Look, I’d better finish up my work here. My handiwork’ll be in the papers again. Make sure you check out the morning editions! ‘Kay then, bye!Malkovich deactivates the radio and closes the case. Meanwhile... New Music: Heaven - Kungyang Kungyang .jpg) So what if there is a terrorist spy on the roof planning a bombing? That’s not our problem. Yuri and Alice don’t even know about that! Let’s see what’s going on in this shop which... is clearly a bar. .jpg) Wanderer Meiyuan has migrated to Fengtian. The “wanderer” part of his name is just an excuse as to how he’ll show up in every location the party makes it to, no matter how unlikely. We don’t need his services today. .jpg) You slept on a park bench for like four hours. Yes... Well... No more wasting any MORE time. Uh-huh...We actually need to speak to the shopkeeper to progress. She has the third tutorial for today to throw at us. .jpg) Oh, a Guild Card, eh? It’s that card you’re holding with the crow and snake design on it. It’s called a Guild Card. Does everyone in China just inherently know what’s in your pockets? It’s pretty common in Europe too. Rude is what it is. Sheesh! With it, stores everywhere will allow you to try to get a discount or a price raise. There are many kinds of Guild Cards. The one you have is a Snake Card. A discount? Choosing Discount lets you try a ring challenge in hopes of getting a price discount. If you successfully complete the ring, the shop will give you a discount. If you run out of money, and keep losing on the ring, the card loses its power, so be careful. Or price raise? Choose Price Raise lets you try a ring challenge in hopes of getting a price raise on sold goods. If you’re successful at the ring, the shop will buy your goods for a special rate. How’s that sound? Sounds like this city was built on a carny burial ground. Just show me whatcha got on sale..jpg) We aren’t super flush in cash. But this store is selling the next level of both weapons and armor for Alice and Yuri. We can at least afford to pick-up that. .jpg) We’re purchasing or selling an item from now on, we have the option of getting a Discount/Sell Raise by doing a Judgment Ring mini-game. The Snake Card only offers 10% off/5% value raise. But since we’re on a tight budget, any bit can help. .jpg) It’s a pretty simple Judgment Ring spin at the Snake Card value. Just hit all three Hit Areas in succession successfully and the discount is ours. Screwing this up will result in immediately having to pay the full normal price and also incur a Penalty Point on our Guild Card. Accruing five Penalty Points will result in the Guild Card losing its function and that discount option being gone for good. Much like the Lottery Members, it’s best to save before trying this stuff. Just in case... .jpg) It’s also worth mentioning that the game will also dock us a Penalty Point if we attempt to purchase an item and don’t have the funds. So no mashing through those buttons carelessly while window shopping. Anyway, about our new goodies... .jpg) Yuri gets some new spiked rings to hold while punching for a +10 Physical Attack and +8 Special Attack. That’s worth the money. .jpg) Perfect for the man who swears by leather in battle -- the rare Battle Leather Daddy. This offers +10 to both Physical and Special Attack Defense and a 1% increase to evasion thanks to that smooth southern steer leather. .jpg) Now that she’s a demon hunter sidekick, Alice has tossed out her bible in favor of some more heretical tomes. This offers her a +8 to Physical Damage and +13 to Special Attack. Going to be a while before we get use out of the latter stat, but hey. .jpg) Alice also gains a skirt which offers +9 to Physical and +11 to Special Attack Defense and that 1% gain to evasion. Unfortunately, her character model will never gain a longer skirt. .jpg) That’s about all for our mercantile needs in Fengtian. Speaking with Alice again will give us the option to hit the road. Only, as soon as they try to depart a radio on a nearby table crackles to life with an important announcement. Music: DOA .jpg)  The Army has issued the following report: Criminals suspected in the mass murder of... Army soldiers aboard the Changchun-Fengtian train today have disappeared into Fengtian. Psst. We should probably go... Y-Yeah... The ringleader is a thin Caucasian female. All suspicious persons are to be reported to HQ immediately..jpg) Crap! Beans! Hey, that... that broadcast just now...! Don’t tell me... Are you people...?! After I gave you a Guild Card tutorial and everything... Hey! Do I look like a thin Caucasian female!? <bzzt> The ringleader may be traveling with either a smartly dressed older gentleman or a tall, wiry younger vagrant looking sort. I’m gonna find and punch whoever invented the radio... Honey! Dear, help!! <shakes head> N-no! There’s been a mistake! The older gentleman was behind the massacre. So you admit you were there!? Yes... I mean... But it wasn’t like that... You are bad at this. drat it, what a bother... Let’s go, Alice!The two bolt for the door just as the shopkeeper’s husband runs in. At the same time... .jpg) .jpg) Fine! Call the cops! Your stupid shop was overpriced anyway! Oooh! 10% discount if you win a carnival game! Gimme a break!.jpg) And then Yuri and Alice died in a terrorist bombing. Tune in next time for the new adventures of Malkovich the Alluring Spy as Shadow Hearts series retools next time!  Alice Elliot Status Screen Art – Lady, those cuffs are out of control. How do you put anything near your face without smacking yourself? The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Jul 10, 2018 |
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Jul 8, 2018 19:33
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Neddy Seagoon posted:Dark Id, this was a shameful terrible update far below your usual standards. My computer is on life support and opening Photoshop would literally blue screen it. Gimme a break.  Besides the entire party gets nearly killed like a half dozen times. Too soon.Subsequently, updates will be slow this week because my computer has been on the verge of bursting into flames and it'll take a couple days to migrate everything to the new one which ain't getting here for a couple more days. Can't wait to fiddle with all the switches to make this game look nice while running OK in PCSX2 again...
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Jul 9, 2018 18:42
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Episode XII: The Sewer That Killed My Computer.jpg) You know, it is a bold move to introduce a pair of protagonists for the opening couple of hours of a game only to kill them both off out of nowhere and shift gears from occult intrigue to a spy thriller. But Shadow Hearts plays by its own rules. The Alluring Spy leaps off the roof. She has very sturdy legs. Music: Blade .jpg) …Ugh. H-hey now… What’s with the big boom alla sudden… <looks around> Whoa! Lady, I can see your… Good, you’re alive. Thank God the bomb I designed to SAVE people didn’t end up killing them! Still... getting a real show here lady... Kinda just got blown up... This is on you... Anyway, I hope you got a good look, sonny boy. Just think of it as my apology. ...I’ll take it. <walks over to Alice> …And how are you feeling, Miss? I’m… I’m all right. Alice, you get a free show if you lie around for a minute... W-what...? I don’t think it is your concern..jpg) Alice and Yuri pick themselves up. As they do, a couple of Japanese soldiers run onto the scene down the alley. .jpg) They’re the people from the radio!! Wait... I thought we were after only the one white woman. Yes and...? There are two white ladies here. Err... What was the description again? Caucasian, slender build, light color hair, wearing a short dress... Err... Again... There’s two of ‘em. Hmph. Ergh... This is above our paygrade. Call for reinforcements!! H-hurry, we gotta inform the Captain!The two soldiers run off. .jpg) Hee hee! So they’re after you too, are they?! Us?! We’re not bomb-toting terrorists, ya hear? Jeez, lady, my ears are still ringing! Don’t worry, that’ll clear up. Now then, I’ve got to get out of here before they get back, but… What are you going to do? I can’t baby-sit, but you can come with me if you want. Where? The street you blew up or the other part of the street you blew up? I’d call it more of an alley, but... <walks to already open for some reason manhole> Okay, I’m going on ahead. See ya!.jpg) The Alluring Spy peaces out into the sewer. You think she put a small explosive beneath the manhole to blow it off giving her a quick Plan B exit? .jpg) Yuri, did you hear that radio broadcast? Yeah, sounds like they’ve blamed you for the attack on the train last night. Me…?! Yeah... You heard the same broadcast as me. We just got chewed out by that old hag shopkeeper. Right... I just had an explosive go off near me. Forgive me for being a bit out of sorts. Don’t worry. I’m your accomplice, after all. I did splatter two or three monster heads and punch out a wizard’s eye. I can take the blame for SOME of the mess. Wait a sec, we can’t stand around chatting! Let’s move! Looks like we can get out through here, like that woman did. Ugh... I can’t believe I’m already roped into a sewer level....jpg) Before we head down, the bombing knocked loose a Lottery Ticket in a random spot in the alley. We’ll need to hold on to that for later. .jpg) No avoiding it. Our only option is going forward into a sewer level. At least they’re getting it out of the way early... Music: ENDS. Sound of stock water flowing begins. .jpg) Narrow side paths, a canal in the middle with muddy flowing water, narrow bridges over said canal, straight line corridors and a ladder or two. Yep... This sure is a sewer level. Thankfully, it’s a very short one by JRPG standards. Before we get on our way, you see that small staircase? The one leading into the raw sewage? If we have Yuri inspect that, we find... .jpg) I’ve got some bad news about those “granules of gold” you just found in that sewage hourglass... .jpg) As we all know, the various subterranean waste canals the world over are host to all manner of unseemly characters in the best of times and an unwavering nest of man-eating monsters in all other cases. Fengtian’s sewers are no exception... .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) Mutant Frogs make their home in these particular sewers. Ones with tendencies to smack anyone that comes their way with their err... tongue hands. Now does a hit with tongue-hand constitute a slap or a lick? Maybe a... slick? Slaick? Regardless, these hits can cause the Poison status effect at random. .jpg) They can also lickap Yuri or Alice in a specific gross way to cause a random Ring Abnormality if they’re feeling really saucy. .jpg) Other than that, they’re not too substantial a foe. Especially with our new weapon load-out. Even Alice is able to bop a Mutant Frog in a single combo. Yuri has ‘em beat in at most two strikes. .jpg) The far more troubling mob are these jerks. Hey, remember the monsters from the Plains? Well they’re back with a new coat of paint and in greater numbers. .jpg) Fire Bats in particular are a real pain in the rear end because, as the name might suggest, they can shoot Fire Balls doing a not too bad 6-12 HP of damage. The more annoying part is they have high Agility so they get more turns/initiative over our party and they ALL do nothing but Fire Ball, which is about an 8-10 second animation. Which might not sound so bad but look, I don’t want to see any lame lengthy casting animations that give me flashbacks to Koudelka, alright? .jpg) The New Music: Ghost Jogging (Doubt we’ll hear this much, so listen to an anxiety attack now.) .jpg) ...have her become Berserk. VIOLENTLY! Berserk gets its own music track to know you’ve done hosed up and better fix it immediately. I briefly mentioned what Berserk does earlier, but let’s see it in action. We completely lose control of anyone who is Berserk, naturally. What makes this status really suck and to be avoided at all costs is the following... .jpg) They’ll waste our consumables! That Elixir equivalent you’ve been hording the entire game JUST IN CASE? Berserking character won’t give a gently caress! Yuri’s down 9 HP. Top him off! Top the enemy off! gently caress it! .jpg) .jpg) They’ll also do other assorted stupid poo poo like buff or heal the enemy and generally waste MP on frivolous junk. Set their allies on fire. gently caress it! YOLO! Needless to say, we’re gonna avoid Berserk status if it can ever be helped. .jpg) One final note: Sanity Points don’t just stop at 0 SP and start the Berserk status. They keep going down into negative SP if the condition is not treated and the Berserk character keeps getting turns to be a huge crazed dingus. Friends don’t let friends stay Berserk. Music: END. Back to water flowing. .jpg) There’s a couple more monsters in the area. But we’ll see ‘em soon enough. In the meantime, there is a treasure chest to loot. I bet whatever Fengtian native stuck this down here thought they were being really clever with their hiding place. Who’d look around in a sewer? The FOOL! .jpg) All that’s in here is the second tier of Sanity Point restorative. These don’t start showing up in shops for several areas, so it’s nice to have an early sampling. It only restores 7 SP but that’s usually more than enough for a single fight. .jpg) To progress, we actually need to double back around the canal and reach the other side to that hole in the wall. Jumping across a sewer waterway is unthinkable. What if poo water got on Yuri’s coat? Scandalous. When we reach it, we find... .jpg) Is something there…? Another monster…? I dunno… <crackle knuckles> One way to find out...The puppy from earlier bounces out. .jpg) HOLY FU—wha? Bark, bark! G-Goddamn it, don’t freak me out like that!!.jpg) Whine, whine... The little runt got lost in here, and now he can’t find his way out! Hah! How dumb! <laughs> Tee-hee! Just like us, no? Stupid dog! Ya making me look bad! A-anyway, Alice! We’re off! Forget about the dog. But we can’t just leave it here! Let’s take it to the exit with us, at least. Hey, suit yourself, baby! I sure wish someone would take US to the exit… Don’t blame me if you get fleas. Don’t be mean. You don’t have fleas, do you? Bark! Bark! Bork! Just sayin’, it IS a sewer pup... Gunshots are heard. .jpg) Gunfire!!Alice scoops up the puppy and the two run in the direction of the shots. .jpg) OK, maybe they don’t immediately run in the direction of gunfire. If we inspect the hole the puppy was hiding in, we find yet another Lottery Ticket. What a lucky puppy. OK, now about that firefight... .jpg) It’s that woman…! Oh… Asleep again, eh? Heh heh heh… What should I do? <laughs> Asleep again...? You know, like that one time yo—ergh. Never mind! Um, hello? She isn’t... dead... right? I dunno. Sure ain’t gonna be able to tell from the smell down here. <shakes head> Good heavens, she’s out cold. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if I just… Go ahead. <jumps back> Whoa!! You’re awake?! And you’re a bit of a creep, huh?The spy picks herself up off the ground. .jpg) Aren’t you going to help me up with an “Are you all right, fair lady?” and a smile? B-but, you obviously don’t need any help… <shrugs and shakes her head> I never imagined there’d be monsters roaming the sewers. I guess even I can slip up sometimes. ...That’s like the only thing that is ever roaming in sewers, lady. That and weird information broker hobo villages. Yes, well... I thought perhaps China would be different, is all! That was almost the end of my epic saga! If the press were to lose me now, they’d be positively crushed. Ow! Ouch. Are you all right? <laughs> Yes, I’m fine. Thanks. Oh, you’re the two I met before, aren’t you? The terrorist boy and the mysterious girl. YOU’RE the terrorist. We’re just a couple’a helpless “murderers”. Hell, I think I’m only vague “accomplice” to miss Rail Tracer over here, right now. Could we please stop bringing that up? Terrorist?! Don’t lump me together with those barbarians! I’m a spy. S-P-Y. Get it? A ravishing beauty that just happens to be Miss Spy Genius. But you did just set off a bomb in a public place, right? Yes. But the reasons for it were much more complicated than mere pedestrian terrorism. ...Don’t think that one is gonna hold up in court. The name’s Malkovich. Of course, “Malkovich” is only my CODE name. Say, tell you what… I’ll let you in on a secret, sonny boy: My real name. A little “thank-you” for coming to save me! Look, I didn’t come to save you. And you don’t have to tell me your name.Yuri begins walking off. .jpg) The hell is a “telephone number”? Look, I ain’t big on math. Little bit of a bumpkin, huh? I could educate you. <turns back> Jeez! I got it, already! Okay, so what’s your name? You wanna know THAT bad, huh? My, my! I can’t keep them away with a stick! Fine, forget it. <starts walking away again> H-hold on! All right, all right. Here goes. My real name is....jpg) Meet our fourth party member: Margarete Gertrude Zelle. Who you might know better from history as Mata Hari. Don’t worry much at all about the historical Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod/Zelle. Shadow Hearts’ version may as well just be Nina Williams from Tekken with the martial arts replaced with more guns. .jpg) Nice to meet you both. You won’t regret having me on board! .jpg) About ten seconds after this line I saved a recording of footage and my computer blue-screened as several components of my PC decided now was the time to die. poo poo... You called it, Yuri! Well done...  Margarete Gertrude Zelle Status Art – I’d comment, but my computer is on fire. The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 15:37 on Jul 12, 2018 |
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Jul 11, 2018 19:08
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Episode XIII: Seals and Guards Music: Blade .jpg) Margarete has now joined our party filling in the Water element niche. She is more of an all-around character unlike the more magically inclined Zhuzhen from earlier. Though she possesses the highest Luck stat of any character. Which I would imagine is an important trait of any super spy. .jpg) The only new piece of equipment Codename Malkovich comes packing is this Mini-Mauser. This is actually a 1914 Mauser Pocket Pistol which is a little weird for someone to be carrying in 1913. But we can hand handwave that with the whole spy having rare/prototype tech. Other than that, she comes equipped by default with a Leather Skirt, like the one we just bought Alice. No accessories to her name, though. That’s fine. There’s a reason we stripped down Zhuzhen before he departed the party. I hope spies are OK with second-hand belts and bandannas. .jpg)  As it turns out in the weapon hierarchy according to Shadow Hearts, guns beat staffs and heavy books but they're no match for a strong fist. That's just science. At least Margarete looks like she's having fun. .jpg) Unlike the rest of our cast, who are varying degrees of arcane superhumans… Margarete is just a normal lady. Zero magical abilities. Instead, she has access to Secret Weapons and a vast spy network to aide her in battle. Activating a Secret Weapon results in Marge pulling her 1913 cellphone out of her coat and calling for assistance. .jpg) Yeah, I could use some help here..jpg) What did you think I was joking? S-P-Y remember? Don't worry about it too much! This call results in a grenade dropping from the sky into Margarete's hand, no matter the location. All of her Secret Weapons work in a similar fashion. She has a VERY good support network. It's like the assassins in AssCreed: Brotherhood. Doesn't matter if there's exactly one bush on an empty field 5km from civilization. There's a dude in there ready for go time to shank a guy as soon as the signal is given. .jpg) Despite being an explosive, the Grenade causes Water elemental damage and decent amounts of it too, in the 50-65 HP range where we're at currently. It's a very wet grenade, you see. .jpg) Our new spy also comes pre-equipped with her Water elemental imbuing "spell", Water Edge. This time she phones up for help and a rope pulley drops from the sky. Margarete casually yanks on it and… .jpg) …the targeted character has a bucket of water dumped on their head. See? Now they're just DRENCHED in Water element. It's that easy! Hopefully, Zhuzhen won't come back with Fire Edge which just results in him lighting a torch and tossing it at someone's head. .jpg) That does it for our brief overview of Margarete. We'll be seeing a lot of her in battle. Mostly because (spoilers) she'll be our third party member for a lot longer than Zhuzhen stuck around. Music: ENDS. The sound of rushing wastewater takes its place. .jpg) Back to business, now that Margarete has joined our ragtag little band we can continue exploring the sewer. The whole area is just a big + layout wise. If we return to the entrance and head east, we'll end up at a Save Point and the exit. I told you it was a short sewer level! Let's crawl up and get the hell out of here! .jpg) Hey, is this…?! Yup, no question about it. It’s a Taoist seal… Maybe to keep us from getting out? But who set it? I doubt there’s anybody in the Japanese Army that can use black magic like this. It’s a lot different than the kind of magic I know… You’re right. This feels far more sinister… and evil. It simply reeks of it. …Wait, did you say you knew magic? Yes. Just a basic curative spell. Nothing amazing like Yuri. Huh… What can you do, sonny boy? Huh? I can use Fusion. Right… You say that like I'm supposed to know what that means… He can transform into monsters! Hey! It's a little more complicated than that! Oh? Ergh… Well, you see… I've got to get Fusion Souls from my mind Graveyard and there's Soul Energy that builds up and ergh… <confused stare> Yeah, OK. I guess it is transforming into monsters. Tch… Well… that's… different. Anyway, it doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to get out of these sewers unless we break it… Break a Taoist seal? How? I don’t have a clue. Met an old geezer that probably knows a thing or two about that but he's long gone. It looks like something fits into the center of this symbol.Everyone climbs back down. .jpg) There are two ways to break that seal: Open the lock on the other side, or destroy its guardian… <looks around>There aren’t any guards around. It’s just us three. But that terrible, oppressive feeling I get here… It’s like someone’s been watching us. Ever since we arrived… Ah, what a pain. If you’re out there, save us both some time and show yourself! C’mon, let’s play! Dear, dear. There are plenty of situations where brute strength just isn’t the answer, sonny boy! I dunno… It's worked PRETTY well for me in all situations so far… So that leaves the lock… And all we’ve got to do is find something to unlock it with! Right? Awright, let’s start lookin’….jpg) …Huh? Right on schedule! The bomb I set in the train depot just went off. Lady, could you STOP doing terrorist attacks!? Really reconsidering hanging out with you. I told you, it's not terrorist attacks it's strategic strikes from a master spy! drat, Margarete, how many firecrackers do you have up there? Tee-hee! That was the last one. I bet the Japanese Army didn’t even know what hit ’em! Didn’t know what hit ’em…?! If this whole sewer system collapses, we won’t know what hit US, either! Oh ho ho ho! Come now, who do you think you’re talking to? I’m Margarete, Miss Spy Genius! As if I’d make that kind of mistake. It’s all according to plan! Every last detail! I can’t believe this… Fun Fact: Margarete's bombings of the railroad in Fengtian is derived from the Huanggutun Incident which was a railway bombing in the same region (granted it was some 15 years later, in 1928.) That bombing had very little to do with a haughty spy trying to dick over Imperial Japan. It was more some Japanese colonel stationed in the region Galaxy Braining the assassination of a regional leader in a bid to install a successor more malleable to Japanese interests. He did not take into consideration everyone getting super pissed they blew up a train and killed a bunch of people, which ultimately resulted in blowback weakening Japan's influence in Manchuria. Whoops! .jpg) .jpg) May as well continue our trek around the perimeter of the sewer passages. The northern, righthand side of the tunnel leads to a treasure chest containing… .jpg) A new pistol for Margarete. That was quick. Unlike our spy's default weapon, which wasn't available until the following year, this is a Type 94 Nambu pistol which wasn't available until 1934 at the earliest. Don't ask me what it's doing in the back of this sewer in southern Manchuria 20 years early. We can't get too hung up on that when Marge is carrying a cellphone. Anyway, this weapon offers +2 Attack Power but -2 Special Power. That's not a huge difference either way. For running around with random battles, it's a touch better. But we'll be mostly using special attacks for upcoming major encounters, so… I equipped it and forgot to switch back when it was boss time. Pfft… It's barely a difference! It's fine! .jpg) .jpg) Unlike Koudelka, which had like all of 20 minutes of backtracking the entire 12-hour game, Sacnoth REALLY gets their money's worth out of each pre-rendered screen in Shadow Hearts. So to progress in this dungeon, we need to run ALL the way back around the perimeter of the area, past where we acquired the puppy and Margarete joined up, to reach the northern edge of the area. There's that chest we just found the pistol in. C'mon, guys! That's like a three-foot gap. You could jump that! .jpg) Spy bomber's explosion has caused the brickwork to crumble and revealed this little trinket. That orb sure looks like it could fit in an evil Taoist manhole cover. .jpg) …Oh, oh ho ho ho! Th-this is according to plan, too. See? We got the stone, right?? Not buying that one, huh? I'm afraid not. Nope! Okay, I admit it, it was a mistake. But it turned out all right, didn’t it? See? Now, let’s hurry!.jpg) .jpg) Before we retrace our steps all the way back to the exit, there's a Paralysis neutralizing accessory invisibly hanging out at the end of this platform. Good thing the architects of this sewer decided to make some useless platform, lest this orb be stationed over sewage and the party would have to get all gross wading through it. Real foresight. .jpg) Another trek clear across the dungeon, with a pitstop at the Save Point to clear Malice, use a Tent and naturally save the game. Let's try this again… .jpg)  <growl> The evil I sensed before… it’s getting stronger! Indeed, I’m breaking out in a cold sweat. This is just… icky. Think that's just the turd on your boot? Watch your step. The WHAT!? UGH! <snicker> <inserts Sealing Stone> …C'mon, baby… Is that good!? S-something’s… coming!!.jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) Oh CHRIST! What is this inside-out Creature of the Black Lagoon rear end fishman? .jpg) Oh, good grief! There's three of 'em! Mini-boss time. Meet the Kappa (the green fish boys) and Water Tiger (the red fish lad.) The Kappa duos possess 100 HP while their big brother Water Tiger is packing 380 HP and is the actual mini-boss. Before we get into 'em, let's jump into some folklore. Kappas Wikipedia on Kappa posted:
 Had to look up the parts about sumo wrestling and mystical rear end organs to make sure the wiki wasn't vandalized and nope. They're totally into that kinda poo poo. Sure… Water Tiger, on the other hand, is based on the Shui Gui -- the Chinese equivalent of a Kappa. It just has a feline head and possesses a more monkey-like than turtle motif. They took some liberties here… .jpg) .jpg) Back to the enemy at hand. Margarete is just going to be lobbing grenades non-stop until otherwise noted. That might be Marge's game plan for a good portion of major enemy encounters for a time. The two Kappas are Water elementals, so Grenade is only doing around 35-40 HP of damage. But Water Tiger is, despite the name once again, a Fire elemental foe. So he's taking upward of 65+ damage a blast. .jpg) .jpg) Meanwhile, we're going to have Yuri turn into a tiger of his own and start going hog on the two Kappa first. After Marge softened 'em up, a single decent combo should be enough to finish both of the two buggers off. Which is good, because Kappa possesses a curative spell and will heal Water Tiger if given the chance. .jpg) We're not going to allow that. .jpg) Water Tiger doesn't possess many attacks, though they do hit for nearly 40 HP of damage if he does strike. Knockback is a mighty kick that has the potential of knocking a character into the back row. I suppose I should mention there are a front and back row formation during battles. Back row takes less damage from enemies but deals less physical damage as well. Magic-oriented characters hang out there since range does not affect Special Abilities. That's another thing from Koudelka that has thankfully been eliminated. Alice and Zhuzhen are back row folk. Likewise, front row characters deal/take more damage from physical attacks. Yuri and Marge hang out on the front lines. Row orientation can be swapped at any time (at the cost of a turn) by pressing right on the D-Pad to access a hidden option from the battle menu. .jpg) The Kappa can also slap around our characters, but it's much less impressive – only doing around 15-20 HP of damage. .jpg) As usual, Alice is on support duty topping off everyone's health as well as making sure she herself doesn't go Berserk. Tents are cheap and we're right next to a Save Point. No sense in conserving MP. .jpg) .jpg) Once the two Kappa are dealt with, Margarete can take a moment from her Grenade spamming duties to dump a bucket of water on Yuri. Remember, Water Tiger is a Fire elemental. .jpg) Now that there is no threat of the Kappa healing up the Water Tiger, Yuri can get to business tearing away at the mid-boss' HP. Though I doubt in his current man-cat form, he much appreciates getting drenched in water. .jpg) .jpg) Once the Water Tiger drops below 100 HP it tries a last-ditch effort of buffing its Physical Attack by 15% with some Shonen anime Fighting Spirit. This increases the monster's damage to around 50+ HP a strike. .jpg) .jpg) This increasing in DPS does not help it to survive. Get rekt, you gross fish dudes. You're between us and getting out of a sewer level. That I cannot abide. Music: Results .jpg) .jpg) We get a pretty nice amount of EXP and Cash from slaying the assorted eastern river mythological creatures, including an entirely useless accessory. Getting knocked into the back row will never warrant an accessory slot to deter, sorry. Though I do want to know more about Quick-shoe Joey… Music: ENDS .jpg) Jeez, what kind of trembling little coward double-locks? Hmph. At least it was an easy victory. Ya know, you said that explosion before was your last bomb and then you turn around and toss like a half dozen grenades. Pft! Those hardly count! Uh-huh… <look around concerned> …What is it? I know we destroyed that thing, but… I can still sense intense evil… Don’t worry. The seal’s broken! Up ahead’s a landing strip. We’re gonna go get us an AIRPLANE! C’mon! …We're doing what, now? <looks around nervously> I still feel like someone’s watching us, though….jpg) .jpg) That does it for Shadow Hearts' obligatory Sewer Level. That wasn't so painful. Other than the hundreds of bucks it cost to replace my desktop, I mean… The Puppy jumps out of… wherever Alice was storing it and trots into the field. .jpg) Who the heck is "Tiny"? The puppy. …You people were stashing a puppy with you this entire time? <shrugging> Evidently… Hmm? Aw, the mutt ran away, huh? Forget about him, Alice. He’s just happy to be outside. <turns to Yuri> But… Okay, fine! <continued bewildered look that a puppy has been here the entire time>.jpg) The trio dash after Tiny, who has decided he is sick of the outdoors and wants to sniff around one of the plane hangars. .jpg) Bow wow wow wow! Heck! …Did that puppy say "heck"? I think it just sneezed. Aww. So cute!A Japanese soldier wanders over to see what the commotion is all about. Music: Army Mood .jpg) Uh-oh! Japanese troops! Weren't we sneaking on their base? Who'd you think would be here? I was hoping the bomb would draw their attention. ALL of them!? …There was a miscalculation or two, I'll admit. ……Another soldier wanders over. .jpg) S-sound the alarm!! Prepare for battle!! Inform Lt. Colonel Kawashima immediately!! <nods and runs off> <swipes the air> Tsk! drat dog! <barks and runs off-screen> Looks like we’ve got no choice but to fight!An alarm sounds and more troops run to confront the party. .jpg) .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) For no particular reason, only two of the four Japanese "Elite Guard" decide to attack the party instead of all four just opening fire immediately. It's not like we've never fought four or more enemies in this game. The Elite Guards have only 45 HP being… ya know, just regular dudes with rifles. In theory, they would use those guns to take aim and take pot shots at our party members. .jpg) .jpg) In practice… they all get their faces smashed in and gunned down before they even get a chance to yell "OH poo poo!" .jpg) If you're wondering if we just incapacitated those human enemies or some handwave? Nope. Totally just straight murdered them. Yuri gets Soul Energy and everything. Turns out the Japanese military are Wind Elemental folk if you were wondering. .jpg) I feel like we should fall back and get reinforcements. I will not be dishonored by retreating! The guy in the coat kicked Private Tokizawa so hard he disintegrated… <cracks knuckles> Yup! Sure did! … …… …I think we can take 'em. Charge! .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Yeah, it goes just as poorly for these two stormtroopers as well. Who'd a thunk? It might not be as messy, but Roger Bacon's rampage on the train only killed five soldiers in total. We've now racked up four and kind of justified the military being after us, especially when we're murdering guys on a military base we just broke into. Music: ENDS. An alarm siren is heard in the distance. .jpg) What are we going to do now?! Reinforcements are going to be here at any minute! They're going to be really upset when they find their comrades we knocked out. Yeah… Knocked out… Right. No time to waste! Let’s grab that plane of ours!.jpg) Aww CHRIST!  Now the killing the protagonists out of nowhere in some terrorist attack three hours into the narrative? Anyone can pull that off. Fake killing them that first time only to have them die for real in a completely unrelated explosion thirty minutes later? Now that takes some balls! Shadow Hearts continues to play by its own rules. Tune in next time as we return to check in Zhuzhen as the game shifts to a series of rural China vignettes involving the exorcism of assorted ghouls and ghosts!  Video: Episode 13 Highlight Reel (You should watch this just to see Margarete's Secret Weapons in action.)  Margarette Portrait – Just chillin' with my peacocks. No big deal. The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Jul 15, 2018 |
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Jul 13, 2018 21:46
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Episode XIV: A Tiny Problem.jpg) I suppose the wandering exorcist adventures of Zhuzhen: The Legendary Journeys will have to wait for another day. Everyone seems to have survived their second bombing of the day relatively intact. .jpg) Margarete and Yuri quickly get back to their feet. Alice isn't quite so fast to recover. It's understandable; most people don't get blown up twice in the span of an hour. Alice gets up as well. .jpg) <frown> This really needs to stop happening… Yeah, no joke. <looks at wreckage> Another ka-boom? What the hell’s going on? <looks offscreen to the right> Something catches Alice's eye and she runs off. .jpg) Hey lady, I thought you said you were done with all the drat explosives? You have a serious problem. This one wasn't me… Uh-huh. I was the one who was going to… reappropriate that plane, remember? Why would I bl— Eeeek!! Yuri and Margarete rush over to Alice in order to see what's wrong. Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple .jpg) … T-the dog is TALKING?! C-Could it always do that? Maybe…? No! …You’re the one that blew up the plane, aren’t you!? And just as we were about to make our escape!! As if I’m going to go chasing you halfway across the continent! I think not. You’re coming with me. …The heathen girl, that is. Who ARE you…?! This evil aura…!! So YOU’RE the one that’s been watching us! Ever since the sewers! Hee hee hee… That’s correct. Ohh, I get it! You’re Bacon! What, did ya get reincarnated as a dog after I killed you on the train?! I can't believe I punched a guy so hard he came back as a Chinese sewer pup. Pfft… Haw haw haw!! This… this is too much!! H-how unbelievably LAME!! Haw haw haw!!Evil puppy aura intensifies. .jpg) You want to know who I am?! Not that you zeros are even worthy of hearing my name. Hee hee hee… Um, let’s see… Is it “Tiny”, after all? <snorts> Alice, did this little guy whisper you his name while we weren't looking? Ha ha ha! D'aww. That'd be adorable… if he didn't blow up our plane. Hey, how do you think he did that? Did he like… set up a little tiny puppy bomb or somethin'? …I'll be way less upset if there actually was a teenie-weenie lil' puppy bomb he had to activate with his widdle paws! That… that would be pretty cute…Puppy aura… intensifies. .jpg) <shrugs> I can’t follow all this. Look, buddy, I don’t know who y’are, but we don’t have time to chew the fat. I do got one question though… Were you like possessing this puppy the entire time? Or transformed into it? Whichever. What difference does it make, you insolent fool!? If you were in control the entire time… does that mean you were the one making all those puppy yelps and barks the whole time? W-Wha…? Haw haw haw!! Oh man, he totally was! I didn't think this could get lamer. Ha ha ha! Oh, wow! You have a real talent for that, lil' fella. C-Cute… <aura grows> Nnnghh…! I will not stand for this! You shall repent! Taste my wrath… the wrath of DEHUAI!!.jpg) Music: China Ogre .jpg) .jpg) Boss fight time! Tiny has gone through a real growth spurt and rebranded as "Beast Dog" in the process. No mythology or folklore with this one. Its Japanese title is just "Bewitched Dog." It's just a big, angry hellhound. Of all things, it heavily reminds me of Django, the sub-boss of that classic PS1 fighter Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring. That's the first and hopefully last time I'll recall that title for the next decade. Beast Dog is a Fire elemental opponent which comes to the party packing 480 HP. Which means Margarete is going to fill a role similar to Zhuzhen where she'll be taking the most damage as well as being our biggest DPS boon. .jpg) .jpg) First things first, we're going to transform Yuri into Raging Tiger and have him do his usual routine of just smacking an enemy until further notice. In retrospect, we were quite close to unlocking Yuri's Water elemental Fusion and that probably would have been quite helpful here. But I may have gotten knocked out of whack with my PC dying and having to replay all of Fengtian over to catch up to this point. .jpg) .jpg) That's fine, there's a Plan B in kitty got wet and now does Water elemental damage with his claws for just as much damage as it would have been doing had we the Water Fusion. Yuri goes from dealing 45-65 HP of damage a turn to 80-90 HP of damage around. I think that'll offset our brief deficiency. .jpg) .jpg) Meanwhile, Margarete is just going to return to slinging grenades at everything until things stops being quite so insane. Or maybe that's just her standard reaction for everything. It's hard to say, we've only just met her. Remember these are tactical water balloons in Grenade form, so they're doing upward of 60-70 damage to the Beast Dog every cast. .jpg) As usual, Alice is filling her White Mage niche and keeping everyone healthy. This battle can last a bit, so we need to take extra care of making sure her Sanity stays in the black. .jpg) .jpg) Attack wise, Beast Dog doesn't have the largest arsenal of attacks. Its primary threat is its fandom of Breath of Fire, a series of which Dehuai is adamant about being underrated and deserving of a revival. Breath of Fire hits Yuri and Alice for 35-45 HP of damage while the Water elemental Marge gets heated for 55-65 damage. Alice needs to prioritize making sure Margarete is first in line to get healed afterward. .jpg) Other than that, it just kind of swipes and bites at single targets. Quite hard, mind you. Its damage is 30-60 HP depending on how many times it decides to strike in a single turn. That's kind of the Beast Dog's only two moves… .jpg) Offensively at least. Every third or so turn, Tiny will borrow a technique from the Water Tiger earlier and boost its Fighting Spirit for a 15% bump in physical damage. If everyone stays above around 60 HP, we should be fine. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Killing a puppy doesn't count as child murder, right? I mean it grew up quite quickly and we fought it as what looks like an adult hellhound. Unless that's the size of a puppy canine monster. I'm uncertain on the growth patterns of a Cerberus, honestly. Regardless, Beast Dog is only marginally more challenging than the previous chapter's major boss. It isn't until the next area where the game takes off its kiddie gloves and throws us a particularly challenging boss fight. Music: Results .jpg) Defeating the Beast Dog nets us a nice reward of EXP and Cash. Everyone managed to Level Up with Alice learning her first offensive spell (and first Light magic offensive spell in general) in Blessed Light. We'll see more of that another day. .jpg) Our victory also lends us a tribute to Lucky Dan which will take a mortal blow for us. Optimally, we are going to try to avoid having our party members get knocked out, so this emergency measure doesn't have a ton of use. Music: Coffee With Bullet .jpg) Ha ha! Giving yourself away like that… real smart, DEHUAI! I'll be sure to bring some dog treats next time we see you, jerk! He seems to know about Roger Bacon. Not only that, but… He seems to know about ME, too. <yells> Hey, come on, you two! We’ve gotta stay on our toes! I know a little something about that Dehuai character. I’ll tell you about it later. Wha? No, none of that trailing off and you leave the party crap! That quack doctor already pulled that! Tell us what you know now. OK, sonny boy. I know this all took a… strange… turn recently, but in case you've forgotten… we're still breaking onto an airbase and the Japanese army will undoubtedly have reinforcements here any minute. Oh… Yeah. Shoot, that's not great. In the meantime, I’ll look for a plane we can use. Be right back!Margarete dashes off in search of a non-exploded plane. .jpg) You DO have that whole innocence thing going on…. Or maybe it’s because… you have some big secret. <stomps foot> Ooh…! Don’t look at me that way!The pair are interrupted by the labored sound of a plane barely managing to turn its engine over. It rolls on over to Yuri and Alice's position. New Music: Rice Field of Light (This sure sounds like a lost festival/town theme from Xenogears or Chrono Cross.) .jpg) It was abandoned, I think… but it started when I gave it a swift kick! …Oh yeah, that’s a hand-me-down, all right. I didn't know the Wright Brothers made a trip to China… …You don't know what a telephone is but you do know who the Wright Brothers were? <shrug> Yeah? And? I also know this thing looks like a death trap. Y-you want us to RIDE in it? Bingo! Stop your chattering, kids, and hop in!Alice and Yuri get onboard. .jpg) Whoa!! Oh, I’m so sorry, Yuri! N-no problem! You’re plenty light, Alice! Don’t you two get all cuddly on me now! This is it! Hold on tight!.jpg) And away we go! .jpg) It’s really sh-sh-shaking!! Eeeek!! There’s no turning back now! Come on, Yuri, you’re a BOY for God’s sake! Show a little gumption!! Don't think my junk is gonna help me survive a flying machine crashing! Not with that attitude!! Here goes! Full throttle!!.jpg) Sometime later… Music: Army Mood .jpg) Leaving just four men on reserve to guard the entire base, honestly… Just how far do they think they can get in that rust heap…? Amusing little fools… <steps forward> Lt. Colonel, the pursuit planes are prepared to fire! With your permission, we can shoot them down!.jpg) Wouldn't it make more sense to pursue them until that time, ma'am? Our planes can be in the air in just a few minutes. The enemy plane is… it's still in visual range in the horizon. Are you questioning my orders? N-no, ma'am! Sorry, ma'am! One thing does surprise me, however. I never imagined they’d be involved with that “Malkovich”… I-I apologize about the state of our troops, Lt. Colonel, I… Don’t worry about it. I’m heading for Dalian; make the preparations. I suppose we shall have to set traps for them, then lay patiently in wait. <stands at attention> Yes, ma’am! Understood!.jpg) And that concludes Chapter 3 of Shadow Hearts! Yuri, Alice and Margarete's adventures will continue in Chapter 4: Dark Port Dalian! I'm sure that name sounds much less sinister in the original tongue… That's another chapter in the bank. Let's take a closer look at all the friends we made along the way. MONSTER: .jpg) You always know the product is taking a hit when they start cutting it with rat guts and pigeon feathers. .jpg) At least this giant spider isn't into weird butt stuff. .jpg) …This frog is picking up the butt stuff slack. .jpg) The Mutant Frog Tournament Arc is a hell of a thing. .jpg) Honestly, whose head doesn't make a discordant noise when hit? .jpg) He's looking real trim for a Fat Boys Only diet. .jpg) Remember when Yuri and Margarete stone-cold killed a bunch of 18-year-old conscripts? .jpg) Shadow Hearts really likes the term "warlock," which I felt I hadn't seen a whole lot in fiction recently. Then I saw a trailer before a movie with both Jack Black and Agent Dale Cooper as warlocks and now I don't know what to think. .jpg) Evil 3 is just happy to be here. NPC: .jpg) Kawashima is based on a real person of the same name. She was a Manchurian princess raised in Japan and acted as a spy during the Second Sino-Japanese War. She's sometimes referred to as Eastern Mata Hari. Although Kawashima was a real rear end spy. The Western Mata Hari was at best not an actual spy and blackmailed into getting some dirt on people and at worst just godawful at her job. Again, Shadow Heart's version is based on her. Don't worry about any of the actual history in the wiki article. The historical Yoshiko Kawashima would have been six years old in 1913 and that's clearly not the case... Don't bring up the character from Covenant, thanks. .jpg) I like to think he accidentally got a peg-leg just a wee bit too long and had to get that platform boot to compensate. .jpg) Tiny font of evil. *****  Video: Beast Dog Boss Battle  Dehuai Portrait – So did he deliberately have Tiny shipped from Shanghai to Fengtian in order to perform this ruse, or…? The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Jul 16, 2018 |
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Jul 15, 2018 17:55
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 Episode XV: Casual Discourse on Somniloquy Music: Blow Up .jpg) Welcome back to the world map. While previously, we were in a vague "Plains" area and a fictional rural village in said region, Fengtian and Dalian are both real places. So, it seems the gang has managed to fly in the ballpark of 400 km between chapters. Not bad for a plane that looked like it could barely lift-off and almost assuredly wasn't topped off on its fuel. .jpg) It seems our band, or at the very least Yuri, has managed to jog 21 miles since our adventure began. Not a bad work-out. I think 1 step = 1 yard in the game's calculations. Or maybe more correctly one meter. I'd hazard a guess that wasn't originally in Imperial and the localization didn't rejigger the calculations for an optional menu few people likely looked at and has zero impact on the game proper… Badger Devil sounds hardcore. .jpg) In any case, let's jump on into Dark Port Dalian… In a bit. First, a flashback! Sound of footsteps in the grass. New Music: Tanjou .jpg)  Hee hee! Don’t worry, Mom, I’m fine! I’m just gonna go tell Dad it’s suppertime! He’s been working so hard, he must be hungry!.jpg) We join Yuri's dad smacking a hoe into a hill to seemingly no effect while wearing his full military uniform. Look, he's trying really hard to farm and is too proud to admit he has absolutely no idea what the hell he is doing. Also, he's quite concerned about the sun going supernova back there. Young Yuri runs up to him. Kid, you're wearing that fox mask wrong… Papa Hyuga stops tilling the hill, wipes his brow and looks to see what his son wants. .jpg) Heh heh… Mom says supper’s ready! Oh. Well, I could use a break. <looks at the ground quizzically> I umm… I think I made some real progress here…Yuri trots around and looks over the area. .jpg) Sure. Winter’s much harsher here on the continent than in Katsuragi, where you were born. First, we work to plant lots of seeds. Then we umm… We… Drat… I used to know this one… Water them and they grow into big crops! <snaps fingers> Yes! Of course. I was going to say that. Just… testing you is all… That's my boy! Then, in fall, we split the harvest with everyone from town. If we all work hard and help each other out, we can make it through even the toughest of winters. Understand? <nods> Yep! <turns away> …Say, Dad… Will you have to go away again in the fall? To work? <turns from his son to the sun> …For how long? Will you be back soon? It’s okay, Dad, I can wait for you! ‘Cause I’m a man! <walks up to his dad> But, Mom’s different. She’s a girl so she misses you. She tries to hide it, but… I can tell how sad she is….jpg) <turns to Yuri> Yuri. You look after Mom when I’m away, all right? I’ll try to come back before winter. Okay… I promise. Come back soon, okay…? Of course. I promise, too. I only need to sort out the one sorcerer this time. I'll be back in no time, son. C’mon. Mom’s waiting. <nods>.jpg) The two take off back towards their home as the scene ends. I don't think they say Yuri's father's name for some time. For some reason, they localized it as Ben Hyuga. His original name was Jinpachiro Hyuga and that's what they use when he's mentioned in Shadow Hearts 2. No idea why they changed it here. Music ENDS. .jpg) Now for a brief Mysterious Voice intermission. And then… Music: Rice Field of Light .jpg) Yuri. Wake up! Please wake up. …Mnnh …huh? Mhmf… f-five more minutes, mom… Yuri, this is serious! Gah… Fine. I'm up… I'm up! …What? Somethin’ happen? Did something HAPPEN? I’ll say it did! How can you possibly sleep at a time like this, sonny boy?! Time like what?.jpg) Is… something on fire…? Oh gawd, we're still on this flying deathtrap!? Oh, I'm sorry, dear. Alice and I had planned to carry you to the nearest inn and gently tuck you into bed when we landed… OF COURSE we're still on the airplane!! Huh?! The engine’s busted!! YOU DON'T SAY!? Yuri, I heard what you said… in your sleep. You were saying, “Dad, Dad, they’re coming to kill Mom, help” …You seemed to be in so much pain… … That's weird, cuz I remember a dream about my dad being bad at farming with the sun exploding for some reason… Look here, Missy! This is no time for casual discourse on somniloquy! We’re going to crash! CRASH, I tell you!! Aiiieeeee!!.jpg) I'm sure it'll be fine. They're just overreacting. .jpg) See? Margarete pulled it up just in time. Now they just need to find somewhere to land and—  AWW CHRIST! Well, at least the entire party seemingly eating poo poo and dying again is a good excuse to end things short. I need to go prep for my daughter's birthday. Frikkin' sixteen. What the hell!?  Video: Episode 15 Highlight Reel (You should probably watch this.) The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Jul 18, 2018 |
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Jul 17, 2018 16:44
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Episode XVI: Sea Mother Music: Sea - Highnoon Fish (Hey this title is appropriate now.) .jpg) Me, too… I can’t believe we made it in one piece… It's crazy we all got flung out, skipped along the water and managed to land safely on the dock. It's amazing luck, really. I'm not even wet. I-I never dreamed we’d CRASH! Never in a million years! Who woulda thunk it, huh? What a… what a GUTLESS plane that was!! I thought we’d at least get past Dalian. Oh, ho ho ho!! Alice and Yuri stand up. .jpg) … Lady, I've known you for all of half a day and I've been blown up THREE times in that span. Tch… I'd classify that last one more of a violent vehicle malfunction leading to catastrophic integrity loss… Don’t glare at me, you two! That’s not very nice! C’mon, look on the bright side… we’re all still here! … …Right? .jpg) Sure, we're still here. Welcome to the port of Dalian. It's all of two screens large back in 1913 as filtered through a JRPG. Today it's a major port with a population of 6.7 million people. It's also home to a Lottery Ticket on the dock we'll happily pilfer. Beyond that, there's not much happening on the docks aside from one man guarding a fenced off and seemingly empty portion of the field. Let's see what he's up to… .jpg) Is there anything I can do…? > I'll help if we trade something. Really?! Please, look for it!! I'll definitely get something for you!! No worries, I'll kick that turtle's rear end. What!? No… Just find it for me! To clobber, right? No!! Why would you… who'd do something like that!? It's my pet! Oh… That's way lamer than what was in my head. Fine, I'll still do it. ….jpg) We're now tossed into a mini-game. There are about twenty hotspots in the field that will make an appear above Yuri's head. Clicking the action button on it will cause Yuri to investigate and see if the turtle is hiding in the clearly recently mowed and quite short grass. If not, he'll get annoyed and we'll have to try again. The mini-game ends when Yuri finds the turtle. The turtle's location is randomized, so no cheating. Depending on the number of attempts to find it, we'll get a different prize. I got quite lucky and found it on my second try which yields the best prize. But if I hadn't done so, we would have just reloaded the game and tried again. We really want first prize. .jpg) <hands over the turtle> Thank you so much! As thanks, please take this! <receives a Lottery Ticket> Thanks, I was so worried. Oh yeah, if you come here again tomorrow, something good will happen! Turtle soup? N-no! What is WRONG with you!? Just today? Got blown up in a terrorist bombing, fought an evil puppy, had a voice in my head yelling at me about something or other and was in a plane crash. … See ya tomorrow then..jpg) Welcome to Dalian port proper. It's just this town square. As I said, it was a tiny village in JRPG filtered 1913. May as well chat up all eight town residents to get the lay of the land in our new locale for this chapter. .jpg) But since this ghost trouble, it's come to a standstill. Of course, that's made a lot of people happy. They don't want to see their precious port turned into some steel monstrosity… …Did you say, "ghost trouble"? Oh yes, quite a spot of bother. 'Kay. Just checkin'..jpg) That's one way to put it… Take my advice. You get yourselves to an inn before the sun goes down, then stay in your rooms. Get some sleep, eh? I've heard of the concept… …Why, you say? 'Cause the port of Dalian's under a curse!! An evil spirit's been preying on us!! <rubs chin> Pretty sure, you can punch ghosts… Definitely feel like I'm gonna have to see if that's true soon….jpg) You may wanna consider a name change. …What? Heh. If you can't dry fish, you shouldn't be called "Fish-drying Woman", right? <puzzled look> My name is Meili. Oh… well, I thought because it said on your—you know what? Forget it....jpg) Yeah like someone named "Sea Mother" ain't gonna have a pro-sea bias..jpg) She comes with the mist and brings monsters... So many have died by her curse... Who's it going to be tonight? Lord, have mercy... This is a nightly ghost haunting curse thing? That's right, sonny. But there's like... thirteen people total living here... Mhm. Bad omen. ....jpg) It's a little bit hard to see, but to the right of that Old Man with Bad Back, behind some shelving, is a treasure chest Yuri can plunder to gain a lovely tea set and a complimentary sampling of sacred tea leaves. Brewing this up and consuming it in battle will restore 75 HP and 50 MP. A touch underwhelming for going to the trouble of setting up an entire tea set, honestly. .jpg) .jpg) There are two buildings we can enter in Dalian. The first is a restaurant near the docks – the Sea Turtle Restaurant. We cannot order any dinner here. But there are a few items of note. .jpg) <shrugs> Yeah, I get chills just thinking about it... Who is Li Li, again? <shrugs> Yeah, I get chills just thinking about it... Informative..jpg) Another colorful hourglass consumable is hiding in a chest behind the table with Drunken Ron. I'll never remember to use these kinds of things in battles. .jpg) She knows way more than we do. I'm pretty sure I saw her walkin' toward the inn... She probably went to see Yen Yen... Poor kid... I should see Sea Mother to learn about Li Li and she's in the inn to see Yen Yen. Yep yep! OK, OK....jpg) .jpg) The Helpful Owner of the Sea Turtle Restaurant is, in reality, running an item shop. Of particular note, this guy is selling next tier of basic protective accessories. Casual Belts to replace Leather Belts and Leather Caps to replace Bandanas. We're doing well financially at the moment. So, we'll go ahead and purchase three of each for our party. .jpg) So, you're saying a lovely port town is offering multiple hats made from horsehide from the 1200s. And at such low prices!? What a steal! Especially when it is providing +4 Physical Defense. .jpg) Nothing like a belt that sucks at being a belt. But hey, +4 Physical Attack is what it is. We may come back here to purchase a couple more things later. But for now, let's head over to the inn and see about this Sea Mother and ghost curse business... As soon as we approach the building, we're stopped by the Fish-Drying Woman. .jpg) Fine, but don’t bother Sea Mother. <turns away> She’s the only person we can depend on now. Gonna put an early bet down on this Sea Mother being evil and behind the curse right now...The party enters the inn. .jpg) My guy, you really gotta work on your sales pitch to new guests....jpg) <nods> Yeah, looks like it… Also... she looks weirdly familiar... Now that you mention it, yeah... But I can't place where. Bah... Cat's caught my tongue. Can't think of it..jpg) <writhes in pain> Aaah... uggh... I-it hurts... Brothers, ask... Sea Mother to... Hang in there, Yen Yen! Don't give up! You're gonna be all right! Please, Sea Mother! You’ve got to do something! He’s the only family I have!! The curse can't take him too! It already took my mother, father, our two sisters, our younger brother, uncle, two cousins and the cat!! Even the cat is gone!! <stops praying and shakes head> Yen Yen… I can’t help you. …You fought very hard. You’re a brave, brave boy… You can’t say that Sea Mother!! Oh, God, Yen Yen!! <shakes head> I’m sure it was very difficult, but it’ll soon be over. I do not possess the power to eliminate Li Li’s curse… Forgive me, Yen Yen. <shakes> Ugh, ughh… Gurgle, gurgle….jpg) Cursed and killed by someone’s hate…! Hey, don't be all gloom and doom. I don't think that guy's dead ye—.jpg) BARF! <dies> Yen Yen?! Yen Yen!! NO-O-O-O!! Okay, NOW he's dead. Kinda underwhelming, huh? U-underwhelming? Yeah. Curse just kills 'em dead? I thought he'd like dissolve into a gross goo pile or blood would shoot out of his mouth like five feet in the air or his head would explode. Frikkin' lame. ... You have issues, sonny boy... Sea Mother turns around and faces the wall. .jpg) Spirits in the heavens. Our proud fisherman will be coming under your care. Please be good to him. <approaches Sea Mother> Thank you, Sea Mother… At least I won’t have to worry about Yen Yen losing his way… <returns to his brother's side> drat you, Li Li…!! How can you be so unthinkably cruel to our village…? <walks out of the room>.jpg) Sea Mother makes her way out of the inn, but not before stopping to look Alice over suspiciously before departing. Nothing sketchy about that. .jpg) And my father told me there'd be no money in being the town coffin maker. Everyone in Dalian lives to be old, he tells me. Settle down and run the inn, he told me. Thanks for nothing, father! Hmmm? Are you guests? I’m sorry, but please, leave me be… Again, you really gotta work on your hospitality pitch, guy... These are tumultuous times. Why don't you take a look at the weapons and armor downstairs? ...That's an OK recovery, pops..jpg) .jpg) Sure enough, there is a weapons shop downstairs – the Underground Armory. One day someone will inform video game developers than most coastal structures can't have basements due to the water table. Anyway, this guy is selling entirely the same junk as was available back in Fengtian. Though, strangely he is selling a Hexagonal Staff that nobody in the party can currently utilize. Weird. I'm sure nothing will come of that... .jpg) .jpg) Another chest can be raided in the corner of this inefficiently spaced basement containing another Seal item. This one raises MP by 3-5 points. I didn't realize this until starting the LP and looking it up. It turns out using Seal items in the menu will always result in the minimal value of bonus points (i.e. +3 MP.) But they can also be used in battle and only there will it potentially provide the potential 3-5 spread of points. The game doesn't provide the player with that information. Those kinds of items are usually outside of battle only items in most RPGs I've played. .jpg) There is another chest inside the weapon shop itself. Unfortunately, the Innkeeper's Son's Son (I think they call that a grandson) is barring the path now. We'll just keep in mind that chest is down here for a later time. Perhaps once .jpg) New Music: Angel Heart (Very moody.) .jpg) Departing from the inn, the sun has since set, everyone has evacuated indoors, and the atmosphere of the town has changed dramatically. If Yuri and the gang step further into the town square, they'll get alerted to someone on the far end of the village and rush over to investigate. .jpg) Glowing in the dark is a cool trick and all but kinda paints a target on your back, eh? I don't think people are supposed to glow. That seems sinister. Like with that evil dog... <frown> Hmm... Now that you mention it....jpg)  <laughs> <steps forward> Th-that voice! You… you must be Li Li! …That’s right. Tee-hee-hee, what a pretty voice! My voice used to be like that, too. Even prettier, maybe… <creeps toward the party> <jump back from Li Li> ...You had an English accent? No, of course not! Alice has an English accent? I'm from London, yes. Obviously. Huh... Weird. <motions toward the ghost> It’s you, isn’t it?! The evil spirit that comes out when the sun goes down! <motions dismissively and shakes head> Hmph. I thought I smelled a monster! Or rotting fish... Maybe both. Doesn't matter!Yuri puts up his dukes. .jpg) Tee-hee. What’s the point? I only have business with her. So, the sacrifice for tonight… <looks at Alice> Y O U.jpg) Eeeek!! Alice collapses unconscious. Yuri runs to her side. Meanwhile, Li Li teleports atop a fence post. .jpg) All you can do is sit by and watch. How glorious… She’ll be in agony until the very moment of her death. The same agony I tasted… That's it. I'm gonna bash your face in so hard your dad's ghost is gonna feel it. Tee-hee-hee… <laughs and fades away>Yuri runs over and tries to punch her as Li Li vanishes. .jpg) <checks on Alice> Alice! <punches the air> God drat it all to HELL!!Yuri runs back to Alice's side. .jpg) In just the last three days, Alice has been taken into custody by the Japanese military, nearly abducted by a warlock, attacked by wolves, sucked into a cursed hell dimension animal demon infested village, blown up in a terrorist bombing, blown up by a plane bombing, had her puppy turn out to be a Chinese sorcerer, involved in a plane crash and now cursed by a vengeful ghost... Alice Elliot is not having a good week. Sea Mother trots out of the Sea Turtle Restaurant and notices the party having a time. .jpg) S-Sea Mother?! Help us! Please!! Didn't we JUST watch her completely fail to fix this curse and have a guy die on her watch!? Do you have a better idea?! Can you fix curses!? ...N-no. Didn't think so. So shuddup and let's get her help! I-it can’t be! But… it is! That sound… You saw Li Li, didn’t you!? The girl is in grave danger! Bring her inside!! Hurry!!Yuri and Margarete nod at each other and carry Alice inside the restaurant. Music: Sea - Highnoon Fish .jpg) <swipes the air> But what can we do, Sea Mama?! There’s gotta be something!! Please!! Calm yourself!! I’ve called upon a warlock more powerful than I. He should arrive soon… A warlock...? It's not an English guy named "Bacon", right? No... OK. It's not a talking dog either, right? Are you daft? No. It's a professional from the region I trust. Look warlocks have been a bad scene for us, lately. Especially with Alice! I don't have time to beat up another one.Sea Mother walks over and examines a wall scroll. .jpg) You lost your beloved father, did you? In a foreign land, far, far away. Poor girl… <steps forward> Did Li Li lose her father, too? Yes, but under different circumstances. Fate has dealt them both a terrible hand indeed… I don't think Alice will come back as an rear end in a top hat ghost. Preferably, she won't be a ghost at all....jpg) Why did she turn into a ghost, and why is she menacing this town? Did someone squat a deuce on her grave or something? Curious, are you? About her tragic tale? Yes, I suppose you should hear this… Indeed, it seems to me that Li Li may have drawn you here. Hee hee hee. <side-eyes Margarete> Naw... Unless that ghost curses planes too, I don't think she can claim that one... Aha! I knew there was something afoot beyond my control! <nods> ...That wasn't an out for you crashing the plane. <shakes head> …It will be a long story, though. Fine, go on. I'm not trifling with the length of this tale. Perhaps you'd like to order a sandwich as I tell it. Just spit it out, grandma. Sheesh. Don't say you were not warned..jpg) Fifteen years ago, there was a sudden tornado that sank many ships, Li Li’s father was on one of them. He was her only blood relative. She stood on the docks, praying fervently for his homecoming… <turns to the party> She waited and waited, but still her father would not return. So she called out to the stormy sea. “Blue Dragon! God of Fishermen! Anyone! Please save my father’s life. I will do anything!” <paces> At that moment, a massive bolt of lightning struck the water, and the ocean suddenly became calm. Her father’s ship returned safely, but the gods were cruel… They had taken away her voice. <shakes head> But that was not all. Her voice had become switched with her father’s. His rough, fisherman’s voice. The father now spoke in Li Li’s sweet, dulcet tones; from that day on, he refused to ever speak again. That's a really lame curse. Don't interrupt! <looks away> Sigh… That year, a traveling theatrical troupe visited the village. Such bad timing, it was… Li Li fell in love with one of the actors… I tried everything to get her voice back, to no avail. The only way was to kill her father. ...That's quite the leap in logic. That's curses for you. One fateful night, Li Li came to me, speaking in her father’s voice. “Sea Mother, give me that dagger. The blade you use in your rituals. I’ve made a decision…” <walks away and faces the wall> It was shameful, but… one look into her eyes and I froze completely.So, the true Shadow Hearts experience is listening to Sea Mother's entire story. All that just now? Pfft. That was just setting the mood! Here's the actual Li Li origin story. It is voice acted. Indeed, this scene is a quarter of the total voice acted scenes in the game. Sea Mother is a VERY dedicated storyteller. Grab a plot dump sandwich, sit back and listen to her tale... Shloooop... Shloooop... .jpg) Video: Sea Mother's Tale ( Mandatory viewing! )
The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Jul 19, 2018 |
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Jul 18, 2018 19:40
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Episode XVII: Quack Back Music: Sea - Highnoon Fish .jpg) <notices the party> Wha...!? You people are...!! Well, I never! Aren’t you rude, then? You can’t just come barging in, yelling and flailing about! Nah, it's cool. Alice was gonna die of old age before the curse at the rate that story was going. You were warned, boy. Not strongly enough! Now you look at me like you’ve seen a ghost! Have we met before? <shrugs> Uh, n-n-no, no! Not at all!! I… I just, uh, didn’t expect to see such a beauty in a place like this. M-my apologies. Heh heh, heh heh heh…The door creaks open and Zhuzhen shuffles into the scene. Music: Asian Parfait .jpg) <stands up> Y-you?! It's the quack oracle! Cowardly Chen looks the party over one last time and dashes full speed out the door. Nothing suspicious there. .jpg) It's been like two days, pops. Yeah, well... I've been to four villages in that time and sorted out a hex, a poltergeist, and one demon badger. Also, there was a false alarm odor curse that turned out to be the mayor's son not having bathed for six weeks. That was the worst of the lot... It's easy to lose track of time when you're that busy. Yeah, well. Lotta that going around lately. Busy few days for both of us, eh? Mhm. <turns to Margarete> Hmm? And who’s this? Someone from the railroad company? I’m Margarete. I’m a high-ranking government official from a certain large country. Sigh… Another shady-looking old fellow. So, who are you? <steps forward> Master Zhuzhen! Thank you for coming! We’ve been expecting you. Sorry to keep you waiting. Some idiot blew up the train depot, and the trains aren’t running. And I'd have chartered a flight, but the airfield was on lockdown. Seems terrorists broke onto the base and caused some kinda ruckus there too. <notices Alice>Zhuzhen walks up to Alice and kneels to check on her. .jpg) …Whew. That’s a mighty powerful curse she’s under. You couldn't get a pillow or a blanket for the poor girl? You just tossed her in a heap on the floor like a ragdoll? Look, gramps. Trust me, that's her preference for getting rest. If you say so, kid. This curse is dire... …But you needn’t worry anymore. <walks up to Zhuzhen> My arts are as good as useless against it. More than ten have died so far…Zhuzhen stands back up. .jpg) It’s the man pulling the strings… It’s “him”. What do you mean?! You… you know why Li Li came back?! <nods> Oh, I have a pretty good idea. I’m starting to see who might be behind all this. Oh…! It’s… Zhuzhen… .jpg) Li Li… is in… pain, too. S-somebody… forced her… to come back… Yes, yes… I know. I know exactly who it is, and what he’s up to. Now's not the time for a monologue filling everyone in. We've got to take care of that curse first, OK? You just take it easy and get some rest. I assure you, it’ll all be over by tomorrow morning. Okay? Yes… Th-thank… you… <passes out again>Zhuzhen stands back up and walks over to Yuri and Margarete. .jpg) Our first task is to rid this town of its ghosts! What do you say? Are you with me? What d’ya say? You want to tag along? <nods> If that’ll save Alice? You’d better believe it!! Been itching to punch a ghost since I got here. <nods> Same here! Less punching, though... Can you even punch a ghost...? Oh, absolutely. Yuri's fists should be a big help. Huh... OK, second question: Can you SHOOT a ghost...? Sure. Crack them over the head with a stick, set them on fire, you name it. Ghosts being some incorporeal being is an old wives' tale. Good to know. <starts pacing> Okay, let’s strike while the iron’s hot! Good. Let’s get cracking then. First, we’ve got to find the place they’re all getting in from. My guess would be somewhere down by the water. There’s sure to be a mark at the spot where they enter. …We need to destroy it. You can walk end-to-end of this town in under a minute. It shouldn't be hard to find. Monsters are everywhere outside. Be careful… They've been randomly battling anyone who dares step more than a few feet outside at night. I shall look after the girl. <nods> Right! We’ll leave her to you. Don’t worry, it won’t take long. <to Yuri and Margarete> All right, let’s get going.Meanwhile, back in Fengtian... Music: Army Mood .jpg) Yes. The man and the woman have set out to destroy the monsters that’ve been appearing in town. That’s how they’re going to break the spell on the girl. At least, that’s what they said. I ran here as quickly as possible to inform you. Excelle—wait... Excuse me, did you just say you ran here? Yes, ma'am. Fast as I could! From Dalian? As you ordered. The 400 kilometer away Dalian port village? That Dalian? I ran track back in my school days. ...I see. Commendable. But, this report....jpg) So the other two must be the thin young man and Malkovich… Very well. The beast is caught in its trap! ...Yes, we must proceed with caution… E-excuse me… Sending in brute strength may not be the best way… In which case… …Perhaps I’d better do this myself. E-excuse me, Lt. Colonel… I was wondering, heh heh, that is, if you don’t need me anymore… I'd like to go get some rest is all... That jog really took it out of me. <turns to Chen> Yes, yes. You may go. Get your money before you leave. And one more thing. You must not breathe a word of this to anyone. Have you got that? <nods> Huh? Oh, of course! Honestly, I’ve got a terrible memory. I’ve already forgotten the whole thing… <laughs>Cowardly Chen jogs out of the room. .jpg) <paces> <paces> <paces> Somebody! At once! Yes, Lt. Colonel!.jpg) Three soldiers dash into the office. One is not like the others... Once you receive a character portrait military outfits are legally obligated to let you wear whatever you please. .jpg) That chin... I’m sorry, but could you leave the self-introductions for later? We don’t have time for this now. <turns to the generic grunts> I want you two to dispose of the man who just left this room. Make it look like a traffic accident. <stands at attention> Yes, Lt. Colonel! The two generic soldiers run from the room to carry out their assassination orders. .jpg) Sergeant Kato, you’re coming to Dalian with me. Get a boat ready. A… boat, ma’am? A boat. You know how to operate one, I presume. I've had some rudimentary training, but not— That's better than most here. Get the boat. I don’t care what kind. Any old thing will do. Do you understand? If so, we leave now. Follow me! <walks out of the room> Ah! Lt. Colonel! Please, wait! <runs after her>Back in Dalian... Music: Sea - Highnoon Fish .jpg) And we're finally back to being able to play the game. Alice is out of commission until further notice and Zhuzhen has taken her place. They're nice enough to level him up to roughly the same range as the rest of the party. The game will not always be this nice about characters who fall by the wayside for an extended duration. .jpg) With our healer Alice out of the picture for a while, we're going to stop by the store and stock up on some Thera Leaves since we'll need to rely on consumables until we fix her curse. I also "forgot" to equip Alice with those new accessories we purchased. So Zhuzhen can slip those on in her stead. Alice is a nice girl. I'm sure she won't mind. .jpg) .jpg) While we're at it, we can also run back over to the apparently 24-hour Underground Weapon Shop and pick up Zhuzhen's new Hexagonal Staff. This upgrade grants +8 Physical and +11 Special Attack. After all, it's PERFECT for the adventuring clergyman! .jpg) Anyway, let's get to it! Random battles now occur in the streets of Dalian. Though nothing we haven't seen yet... kinda... .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) There are only two mobs haunting the streets of Dalian. Neither of which are ghosts, despite the Ghost Troubles afoot. And only one of them is a "new" enemy – the Water Creepers which are a random battle version of the Kappa mid-bosses we fought back in Fengtian's sewers. Beyond the palette swap, the only notable difference they possess is having only 55 HP (versus the Kappa's 100), no healing ability and being Wind elemental instead of Water. Any single one of our current party can kill a Water Creeper in a single combo.  Water Creepers Japanese name was Isora (Seashore) and is derived from Azumi-no-Isora a minor Shinto god of the seashore. Couldn't find much information on 'em other than they're kinda gross and slimy. The above is Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne's interpretation of one which is... just an angry stingray. Shadow Heart's palette-swapped Kappa seems closer a take. .jpg) Other than the Water Creepers, Frog Gods have also made the trip from the Fengtian Sewers to Dalian port. Normally, I wouldn't comment on a returning enemy. But this is a special case. These are the only two mobs in the area – a trio of Water Creepers and a trio of Frog Gods. Frog Gods seem like they're the more common of the two. .jpg) Margarete's Grenade skill will wipe out the entire Frog God mob in a single turn. Zhuzhen's Ogre Flamedance can do the same as well, though he is significantly slower than Margarete so he'll likely not get the chance unless she runs out of MP. In other words, these guys are extremely easy to grind. Music: Results .jpg) These fellas give very little EXP at only around 150 a battle. So, they're not good for leveling up. What the Frog Gods ARE good for is the fact they're Light elemental for... some reason. A fight that lasts all of 20 seconds yields +3 Light Soul Energy. There is no more efficient area in the early game to quickly level up Light Soul Energy. It's like a 12-minute grind, tops. So, we're gonna go ahead and do that real quick. .jpg) And while these enemies provide minimal EXP (we wouldn't want to power level while Alice is half-dead) they will fork out enough experience to likely level up Zhuzhen, who rejoins the party quite close to Level 12. At Level 12 Zhuzhen learns Nourishing Potion – a spell which causes mild healing and cures paralysis. Always good to have a backup healing spell, especially when our White Mage is taking a vacation. Not that Zhuzhen is going to be replacing Alice anytime soon. Nourishing Potion costs a hefty 35 MP which limits its applications. Plus, Zhuzhen is the slowest party member and that ain't great for a healer. But hey, it's better than nothing! .jpg) Once Yuri's Light Soul Level has reached its next level, we can take a quick break and hop into the Graveyard at the town square save point to go claim our prize. Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) Sure enough, another one of the gravestones has lit up with energy. If we go take a closer look... .jpg) .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) Our Fusion monster challenger for today is Heaven's Fiend. Someone forgot to give this poor lad some legs... Having wings doesn't compensate for a lack of legs. Nobody wants to fly EVERYWHERE to get around. That's incredibly inconvenient even to some weird angelic being. .jpg) In any case, Death Emperor, our Dark elemental Fusion, ought to be the one to take on its Light counterpart. .jpg) .jpg) We'd not really had a need to mess with Death Emperor's Special Attacks thus far since its physical strikes made the donuts well enough. The Dark Elemental fusion's primary offensive spell is Dark Messenger, which just... kind has it vomit a bunch of gross smoke that seems highly unpleasant to get a face full of without notice. Certainly, Heaven's Fiend hates it. Fun fact: in our opening fight with Fox Face, if Yuri survived long enough after his ghost dad transformed into Death Emperor, the fight will automatically end when he uses Dark Messenger since it does about 300 damage in that fight while Yuri was still a Level 1 baby. .jpg) .jpg) Heaven's Fiend is not without abilities of its own. Exorcist Arrow is err... well an arrow of light. Pretty straightforward, really. The Light elemental attack that will peel off a good 35-40 HP off our Death Emperor. But Yuri is becoming an increasingly sturdy boy. He can take it. .jpg) .jpg) We wanted to get our Dark Messenger licks in early because Heaven's Fiend can also produce a Wall of Resistance which adds a 15% Special Attack defense that lasts the rest of the battle. Not that 15% is a huge margin of damage reduction. Still... .jpg) .jpg) To be on the safe side, we should probably just punch its lights out. Nothing beats the classics. .jpg) Defeating Heaven's Fiend grants us its soul and with it the Light Elemental Fusion. We're definitely gonna want this one in our stable in the future. Best to pick it up early. Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) You've received Soul of Heaven's Fiend! .jpg) Unlike our previous Fusions, Heaven's Fiend is more of a support type transformation. Its biggest boon is Sacred Remedy – a full party heal. There may be instances in the future where Yuri takes over as the designated healer for a time due to this ability. Stat wise, Heaven's Fiend provides:
.jpg) While we're in the neighborhood, we may as well clear out our accumulated Malice. We'd made it to Red level Malice, just shy of Fox Face showing up. It's still a wee bit too early game for that to be a good idea.  Gonna be real, Yuri. I'm not a fan of your weird slug tail flailing in that form... Not a real fan of anything going on in that form, honestly. It's a weird, gross boy. Not into it. .jpg) Defeating Evil 4 again and clearing out Yuri's Malice this time nets a Seal of Luck to boost... well, take a wild guess. Morgagius sounds more like the god of mortgages than gambling. But I don't think there is a mortgage deity to my knowledge. That'd be the worst... But enough about that, our side business in the Graveyard is concluded. Let's hop back into reality and continue on our way sorting out that whole bothersome curse business. Music: Angel Heart .jpg) The Dalian inn has opened after Sea Mother's ghost story. So, any damages or depleted MP we racked up can quickly be remedied with an inexpensive 100 buck inn rest. Those Frog God battles had the secondary benefit of providing 650 Cash a pop. As such, we're pretty set on funding going forward for a decent stretch. So that's nice. .jpg) .jpg) That quick grind kinda quadrupled the length of this whole Dalian nighttime event. In reality, all we had to do was walk one screen over to the docks where we began. We'd be hard pressed to run into more than a couple random battles along the way. .jpg) In the bottom left corner of the fenced off turtle area from earlier, Yuri can now rummage around in the grass to recover this little trinket. Between modern monitor refresh rates and playing on an emulator, my Judgement Ring timing is already on the cusp of classification as "kinda spotty" overall. Not really in the market for something that makes it spin faster... .jpg) Enough distractions! Let's reach the dock already. Nobody noticed this giant evil hell aura glyph emblaze at the water's edge? Nobody going out at night ain't an excuse. Sea Mother is in the building right there to the south. She could have looked out a drat window at some point in the last few weeks. Ridiculous... .jpg) Before we proceed any further, we're gonna go ahead a do a quick party shuffle. Everyone is going to hang out with Zhuzhen in the back row for a little while. No real reason. I just thought the old timer was getting lonely back there. .jpg) If we get rid of this, the monsters disappear, right? <nods> Awright, let me at it!! Kid, you don't know the first thing about how to get rid of this thing, do you? <rubs neck> Well, I was thinking of... Were you thinking of punching it? N-no... <unconvinced glare> ...Yes. That's not gonna help here. Stand back....jpg) Zhuzhen performs some crazy kung-fu moves and apparently can now summon lightning now? Of all the characters in the party, the extent of Zhuzhen's powers is the most... vague. Just roll with it... Tune in next time as the gang sorts out the source of this ghost trouble. If you think it means fighting a husky-voiced ghost lady, you'd be very wrong...  Video: Episode 17 Highlight Reel  Sea Mother Portrait – You think the Cat Lady demon is sore Sea Mother got a proper character portrait and she didn't, despite sharing the same old lady model? The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Jul 22, 2018 |
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Jul 20, 2018 15:07
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Episode XVIII: Leaving Port.jpg) Now, where were we...? Ah yes. Countering dark arts with mystical Taoist lightning. Zhuzhen will be played by Christopher Lambert in the Shadow Hearts movie adaptation. He'll then go on to be played by the dad from Dexter in Covenant's follow-up adaptation. .jpg) Music: China Ogre .jpg) What... .jpg) ...the... .jpg) ...gently caress!? What jerk hid a nightmare angel where a curse tossing ghost lady was supposed to be hanging out!? I'm calling foul play! But I suppose we must deal with this now. Meet Yamaraja: Wind, the boss of Dark Port Dalian. This fiend comes packing a respectable 900 HP, which is a considerable step up from its Zhaoyang Village cousin. A more troubling matter is this thing also has an immunity to all physical attacks. Any attempts will just plain miss. Hence why we've shoved the entire party into the back row for this fight. May as well minimalize their damage if they cannot take advantage of the front row attack buff. .jpg) Our first order of business is Yuri tapping his Harmonixer power and fusing with Tornado, the Wind elemental Fusion. Guess who has another translation bungling? It turns out Yamaraja: Wind is... an Earth elemental enemy. His original Japanese name was Enma-O: Hiei. Hiei being roughly "flying shadow" which... I mean, I guess if you squinted I see how that could end up localized as "wind." Except for the part where that's a gameplay mechanic element and again, someone should have caught that'd be really drat confusing to the player. Especially since the drat thing looks like it should be a Wind elemental enemy. It's got giant wings as a prominent part of its design for Pete sake! You could have just left its name Yamaraja: Hiei, Midway. It would have been fine. I've seen Yu Yu Hakusho. It's alright to have a few Japanese names... .jpg) .jpg) Localization gaffes aside, Yuri is going to be our powerhouse for this fight with Tornado's Wind Shear. Hitting Yamaraja: Wind's elemental weakness with this attack will do between 125-150 HP of damage each turn. Yuri can fire off five of these before needing to replenish his MP. So, he'll be on Wind Shear duty the entire fight. .jpg) .jpg) Since Wind Shear had been an attack several enemies had possessed early that Yuri is now borrowing, it's only fair that the Yamaraja can use Raging Tiger Yuri's old Flying Stones trick to start hurling rocks at our party. Turns out having a barrage of rocks tossed at your head HURTS. Especially if they nail Yuri, as he is weak to the Earth element in his Wind owl boy form. Flying Stones will rock him for 60-70 HP of damage. Anyone else still takes around 40-50 HP from a Flying Stones hit, which still ain't nothing to sneeze at. .jpg) Since Alice is out of commission for this fight, we're going to have Margarete take over her role as designated healer. It's not because she's a girl or anything. It's just Zhuzhen, being an old-timer, is the slowest party member in the game and we need someone relatively on their toes to be on the ball with healing. Good thing we packed extra Thera Leaves. .jpg) Zhuzhen is going to be falling back into the same routine he had during Yamaraja: Earth and just start spamming Ogre Flamedance. It's worth mentioning the adept picked up Scirocco Blast in the interval between leaving the party and rejoining here. That just adds the Fire element to an ally's physical attacks, like Alice and Margarete's similar abilities with their elements. .jpg) Ogre Flamedance is much less comparatively effective this go around, doing around 70-80 HP of damage. If Zhuzhen was on healing duty, we'd just have Margarete spamming Grenade in his stead and that would also be doing similar damage output. Again, Yuri is doing most of the heavy lifting here. .jpg) While Flying Stones is a nasty attack, the most dangerous ability of Yamaraja: Earth is its physical strikes. Lashing people with its gross tongue and smacking them about with its skeleton arm or, heaven forbid, its gnarly stretchy left arm can do 60-90 HP of damage depending on how many times it decides to hit in a turn. .jpg) .jpg) Last up in Yamaraja: Wind's moveset is Shockwave. It is err... a shockwave of energy. This one only hits for around 35-45 HP of damage. The trouble here is that it hits the entire party. Thankfully, it seems to be non-elemental for some reason as Yuri's Tornado doesn't take any additional damage from the blow. It might be a decent idea to have both Zhuzhen and Margarete take a minute to go on healing duty after a Shockwave. .jpg) But not Yuri, though. Yuri is gonna ride that Wind Shear train all the way to victory. .jpg) .jpg) Overall, Yamaraja: Wind isn't too bad if you know it's coming. It can certainly be an early game roadblock if you don't know what you're doing. Like say, never getting around to gaining additional Fusions since the game in no way urges you to do so beyond the tutorial or even directly states what leveling up Soul Level is about unless you dive into the FAQ section of the menu. .jpg) I think the first time I played this game, I fought this dude at like Level 9 and only unlocked Raging Tiger Fusion recently and reckoned the Earth elemental guy would definitely be great against a guy named Yamaraja: Wind. Wind is right there in his name! And pfft... I was fine with like the four remaining curative items the game had directly tossed my way by that point... It did not go well. Music: Results .jpg) For our efforts defeating another Yamaraja, the party receives a decent amount of EXP to Level Up everyone, alongside a nice bonus of Cash. At Level 13, Margarete learns Scout which is this game's equivalent to a Scan ability that shows an enemy's HP, MP, and Elemental affinity. Could have used that a bit earlier... Thankfully, I think that's the only two enemies with deceptive/wrong names. There are more Yamaraja bosses to come. But from here on out, they stop naming them after elements. That's probably for the best... .jpg) Also, for defeating the menace of Dalian, we receive another Seal item. This one boosts HP by 3-5 points, making it one of the more worthless Seal items in the game. We'll probably toss that Zhuzhen or Alice's way, as they have the lowest HP currently. Speaking of Alice, let's see if that sorted out the curse... Music: Sea - Highnoon Fish The curse seal vanishes in a blinding flash of light. .jpg) But… I wonder why this village was targeted by evil spirits in the first place? Probably for being too long-winded with their storytelling. That's not a good reason. Ain't gotta be a solid reason to throw down a curse or a haunting. Sometimes it's just a dick move for the sake of a dick move. You're not wrong there, but... For generations, the villagers have worshipped the Blue Dragon at an undersea shrine just offshore. A month ago, lightning struck, and the Dragon was sealed away. As a result, Li Li became a ghost..jpg) <shakes head> It’s just like what happened at Zhaoyang, isn’t it?! Just like what happened where...? You weren't around for that. There was this village filled with cat demons and another big ogre guy like the one we just fought. It was a whole thing... Alice and I met this quack there. I told you to knock that off, kid. Cat demons? Are you just going around the countryside fighting evil small animals? No! Those were evil cats that transformed into people and THEN into crazy cat demons! They didn't start as like kittens or anything. It's totally different! I'd have punted that puppy into the ocean as soon as I saw it if that'd been the case. But anyway, this whole thing is just like that... Which means… Mr. Smarty-Sage, you know who the big boss is, right? <knowing chuckle> Well, I may have a slight id— …Wait, we were attacked in Fengtian, too! It’s that old geezer Dehuai, isn’t it?! Oh? You’ve already met him, have you? Yeah... Dude is like an evil puppy. It was real weird... real lame... A... puppy? Yeah, you know... A tiny mutt. It started talking and then got mad when nobody took it seriously and turned into a big hellhound. Then things went poorly for it. ...I see. His methods always were... unique... …At any rate, you are correct. He plays puppet-master from his tower in Shanghai. He is attempting to gain control over the entire continent… by using his Taoist magic in forbidden ways. What does Dehuai want from US? He wants Alice. ...I guess he mighta said last time, huh? Did he? I was kinda too focused on how stupid it was a tiny mutt was trying to intimidate us. Same, but... I *think* he mentioned something about wanting Alice... …In any case, we’ve successfully broken the spell that was cast over this village. Let’s go back to the restaurant from before..jpg) Sure enough, all random battles are gone and we're free to head back to the Sea Turtle Restaurant undeterred. There we find... .jpg) ...Alice has made a full recovery from her curse. That was a remarkably inconvenient couple of hours for her. Good thing curses are a cinch to break, eh? .jpg) Oh, and Sea Mother… I don’t think Dalian will be having any more ghost trouble. However… the fact that Li Li herself did not appear does concern me… That... thing wasn't Li Li? Hadn't you encountered Li Li yourself? You'd know better than I. Tch. I dunno Ghosts transform into freaky poo poo all the time. Hmm... We are indebted to you. On behalf of everyone in this village, I thank you. <shakes head> Don’t mention it. <steps onto the stage area> But, you know… I feel like some sort of karmic bond brought us all together here. Will you listen to what I’ve got to say?Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple .jpg) Heh heh… Well we have the Black Tortoise of the north and the Blue Dragon of the east… They’re two of the four gods of directions. Someone is trying to seal them away to further his own evil ends. Dehuai…?! <nods> Yeah. Now, this is the most important part. The villainous Dehuai… He’s after you, Alice. He did say that before... See? I told you that guy said that... OK, fine. You were right. <shrugs and shakes head> Yeah, you were saying that before, too, but… why’s he after Alice? I don’t get it. Or, hey! Maybe this Dehuai guy’s just some sick old perv with a Lolita complex! Now, now. Alice has got all the weird old dudes creeping on her. Don't you go get any funny ideas, pops. <rolls eyes> Put a sock in it, kid. Well, Alice? Is there something YOU can tell us about this?.jpg) Except… When Bacon murdered my father in France a month ago, the last thing he said to me was… “There are dark warlocks trying to bring about the Valorization. I won’t let them make you their key!” Alice… A “key”? I really need to sit down with y'all folks and figure out what your deals are... I'm getting a wee bit lost here... Yeah, I was gonna give you a big ol' synopsis on my past back on the plane but then you crashed it, so... <glares> You’re no ordinary “Demon Eyes”, girl… The star within you shines far brighter than that. Li Li’s power was nothing compared to yours. I’m not surprised there are warlocks seeking to abuse it. Your father gave his life to protect you from them, correct? <nods> Yes. And in the end, he sent me far away. …He used up the very last of his strength to keep me safe… <swats the air> What, so you’ve gotta keep running forever and ever? That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard. We could always make for Shanghai and go after Dehuai ourselves. What say you? If you're suggesting a road trip to go climb a wizard tower and uppercut that evil old geezer off it, I have NEVER been more down for traveling in my life..jpg) Indeed. It would mean a repeat performance of the nightmare we lived through fifteen years ago. The nightmare fifteen years ago? The “Valorization”…? It’s a ritual that, in effect, turns the entire world upside down. Dehuai attempted the Valorization once before. Countless people lost their lives in the catastrophic earthquakes and disasters that followed. Fifteen years ago, huh… So, this Valorization didn’t work? Hah! You must be joking. If he’d succeeded, it would have meant the end of the world. As I recall… A certain man stood in Dehuai’s way and gave his life to stop the process of the Valorization. Having lost half his body in that battle, Dehuai went underground… But now he’s plotting a comeback. Yes, plotting secretly to carry out the Valorization rite known as the “Demon’s Gate Invocation”!! “Demon’s Gate Invocation”?! That probably sounded less lame in the original tongue, eh? Though having talked to that jerk... I guess that is on brand. So if we don’t, like, stop it, this battle’ll go on forever, right? I like it!! I say we go to Shanghai. I want… I want to go to Shanghai, too. I can’t keep running like this forever… Not if confronting Dehuai will help me understand why my father died. Y-you’re all going?! …Hmm. This means I’m outnumbered. Sigh. Guess I’m in this thing with you, then. You know you don't have to keep following us? Ehh... I'm having a good time and now I feel invested. Don't you have like... spy junk to be doing? "Spy junk"? Yeah, she's a spy. Not a very good one, mind you. Could you not go advertising that around? And I'm terrific at my job, thank you very much! Lady, you introduced yourself by insisting you were not a terrorist but a spy. You even spelled out the word "S-P-Y" to emphasise it. ...You did do that. Yes... well... Shouldn't we focus less on me and more on this Dehuai business? Hmm... But how are we gonna get to Shanghai? If we go overland, the Japanese Army will catch us at a checkpoint for sure. And… I’ve… had enough flying. You can use my boat. Kawashima causally walks into the restaurant. New Music: Profile .jpg) <shrugs> Hey! Were you eavesdropping on us?! I didn’t mean to. I just happened to overhear. To my defense, you ARE standing in the middle of the only restaurant in town chatting quite loudly in the middle of the night. I'm surprised this place is still open this late... We're NOT! When are you people going home!? I need to get some sleep! I didn’t expect to get into port THIS late, you see… There was some big fuss about monsters. It was all I could do to protect my goods! <steps forward> Oh? And what business ARE you in, Miss? It does seem rather late for honest traders to be out and about.b.jpg) …Of course, “courier” is a bit euphemistic. To put it bluntly, I’m a smuggler. Based on what I overheard, you’re looking for a way into Shanghai. …And that means sneaking past the Japanese Army, right? Heh. No need for explanations, I guess. So, you got a boat? Yes, but it’s old. The Army thinks it’s a fishing boat, and they let it right through the checkpoints. They never guess that there might be contraband under the floorboards… even if it’s human. Heh, nice. The Japanese army is filled with a buncha morons. Those clowns couldn't find water in a river! <twitch> Yes... indeed... Hmm. I don’t know how comfortable I am with this, but… what would you ask in return? You tell me. You could say I’m a little short on cash… <nods> All right. It’s a deal. Excellent. I’ll go ahead to the boat. Make your preparations and meet me there at first light. .jpg) What's wrong with her? She's got a boat and she's down for some crimes. My kinda lady. Don’t fret. You’ll find people making a living slipping under the eyes of the law anywhere you go. Is that the kind of person you think that woman is? <nods> Most likely. Besides, do you have any better ideas? ... Yes… You should call it a night and get some rest at the inn. Sea Mother has a point. Let’s be going. ...Music: Sweet Pillows .jpg) And with that, the party retires for the evening. Weird to think everything from Fengtian till now was just one day. The next morning... Music: Sea - Highnoon Fish .jpg) <turns to Zhuzhen> Hmm? Where are the other kids? You’re finally up, huh, kid? Margarete’s already left. Now, this is the most important part. The villainous Dehuai… <shakes head> Oh, shut up. You were dead asleep. Yuri, let’s get going....I have no idea what the hell they're trying to say in the above conversation. Outside of a few flubs, like the Yamaraja Bros' mixed up elemental names, I'd say Shadow Hearts has a fairly solid localization. EXCEPT weirdly there are several transition scenes, like this one, where after events there will be a fade out to the next day and the following conversation reads like they just hurriedly tossed the script in an online translator and called it a day. There's a particularly egregious example late game in which everyone acts as though a character died when they... clearly just got teleported away with a villain. .jpg) In any case, back to it with a fresh start. For some reason, Meiyuan was watching us sleep. Not much privacy in the old Dalian inn. We don't need his services currently. Instead, let's head downstairs for a minute. Remember that kid diligently keeping us out of the back of his dad's weapon shop? .jpg) Mighta. Here, I want you to have my treasure. Go ahead, take it. Neat..jpg) We can loot this boy's treasure box to obtain the Flare Brooch – a Yuri only accessory which reduces Fusion SP consumption by 20%. Additionally, it grants +2 to Physical Attack and Defense as well as Special Attack and Defense. We'll toss that bad boy on Yuri immediately. .jpg) It's worth mentioning the Flare Brooch originally appeared in Koudelka. It was obtained by forcefully making an angry little girl ghost get raptured into the afterlife after tossing a bunch of letters from her mom at her feet and shattering the foundation of her hateful worldview. In that game, it was a much more significant boost to stats, but it was also acquired like 75% into the game. .jpg) It's a new day in Dalian and folks are out and about again. Everyone has new dialogue but it's all just uninteresting variations of "That's cool the ghost curse is gone, thanks!" Except for one character we want to chat with... .jpg) Would you bring this to Sea Mother for me? She loves fish, so you might receive something in return. As long as the reward isn't another three-hour long ghost story....jpg) Oh, Christ! Keep this away from any androids! Let's get this over to Sea Mother post-haste. Apparently, she just lives in the Sea Turtle Restaurant... .jpg) The spirits are gone from the harbor, but they still roam from the ocean. I will pray for your safety. That's cool. Some lady wanted you to have this nasty dried mackerel. Oh, is this fish for me? Thank you. This is my favorite... To each their own. I'll tell you something. A man who died from Li Li's curse left a strange message. It's about where he kept an extra stash of money. I didn't look into it too much, but maybe you'd find something useful. That sounds shady as hell. But yeah, let's hear it! I don't understand what he means. He said, "Where the turtle looks, take three steps." What does that mean? .jpg) It is a mystery. One we'll solve momentarily. Now that the curse has been broken, one of the NPCs' states has altered. If we talk to Filthy Samo wandering in the corner of the restaurant like a weird creep, suddenly he'll become... .jpg) O... kay...? Play lottery, pal? Count me in..jpg) Turns out Filthy Samo is, in fact, Lottery Member Number 14. Before we leave Dalian, we need to drop a Lottery Ticket and win a prize from him. We're shooting for that Pocket Watch here. It's easy enough to obtain. These early few Lottery Members have easy Judgment Rings. .jpg) Don't blab yer mouth 'bout me not bein' so filthy, ya hear? Your bizarre secret is safe with me... Cuz I'm getting on a ship in like 20 minutes and never coming back..jpg) McNabb? I love that guy! This is an accessory that cancels out all Judgment Ring status effects. It might have its use one day. But probably not. Judgment Ring anomalies are never a major issue in this game. Just an occasional annoyance, really. Anyway, about that mysterious message Sea Mother gave us from the dead guy's stash. Turns out the answer to the riddle is just walking about three steps (more like two and a half, really) straight out from the Sea Turtle Restaurant. .jpg) Something's lodged in here... Is this what the old lady was talking about? Jeez, what a pain in the rear. Huh?! Hey, are you in some shady business by chance?.jpg) Naturally, we need to use a Judgment Ring to dislodge this hidden cash cache. Depending on how many of the Hit Areas we successfully nail, our reward is improved. We managed to hit all three though, so we gain an extra 2,000 Cash. Not a bad haul! Let's head to the docks. Remember that turtle guy? He might have something new now that a new day has arrived... .jpg) 300 per play. I'll try. Should I explain how to play? Yeah, now that you mention it... that might help... It's easy. I'll lend you my hoe. You can dig up three spots on this field. Anything you find is yours, but if you don't find anything, that's your tough luck. Well, let's get started. There aren't any annoying time limits, so you can search all you want. ...Not much going on in this town, huh? <frown> No..jpg) As Man with Turtle said, we've got a hoe and three chances to dig up something. As with the turtle earlier, there are randomized spots on the field we can investigate. All but one of the hotspots either contain a Thera Leaf or Mana Leaf. .jpg) Selecting a spot requires once more to hit targets on a Judgement Ring – a surprisingly tight ring at that. Failing any of the targets will result in Yuri getting no prize. But you don't need to worry about that. .jpg) Now, I said all, but one, hotspot contained basic curative consumables. There is one key exception – The Third Key. I once more got extremely lucky and hit this on my first try. It was in the same exact spot right next to turtle boy as the turtle was earlier. The Third Key essentially lets you take three turns in a row to dish out considerable damage. Which is nice and all. More importantly, this is an extremely rare item. There's exactly one more found mid-game and then they're sold for 30,000 a pop at the end game. As such, this thing sells for a whopping 15,000 Cash. Considering that's around 75% of our current cumulative funds five hours into the game... That ain't too shabby! .jpg) One final note before we leave, the Silent Peddler has appeared in town. He's now offering services in his shop. I've had the Pedometer equipped most of the time so far. There are a few items available, but they're all junk we can obtain elsewhere. What we're going to do is save up for the 8000 steps item, which is a unique thing only available in the Silent Peddler shop. But that's a lot of steps off... That's about it for Dalian. Let's go talk to .jpg) She coulda warned me about that chin... Aren't we done yet? Let's go! You ready to leave? Yes, let's push off..jpg) And that concludes Chapter 4 of Shadow Hearts! At least we sorted out that whole ghost troubles. The gang's adventures will continue in Chapter 5: Li LI's Tears! ...Hey! Wait a minute! That doesn't sound like we sorted out the ghost trouble at all! That's the end of a relatively short chapter. There wasn't much in the way of new monsters, but we definitely introduced several new NPCs along the way... MONSTERS: .jpg) Did you hear that nice guy on Twitter was secretly a Water Creeper? hosed up. .jpg) Sure, it was a cumbersome, shambling skeletal abomination on land. But toss this sucker into space? It will HAUL rear end like you wouldn't believe! NPC: .jpg) I heard main character's mother had some real wild adventures in her younger days. Also, that's kind of a spoiler given what a jobber Dehuai seems to be... But the actual revelation of this information just kind of gets mentioned offhand too, so ehh... The series occasionally has a problem with revealing information in status blurbs WAY before it's given in-game. Shadow Hearts: Covenant has one of the first playable character's revelation as a main baddie just sitting in his status screen available seconds after you can first take control in the game and like two hours before that is revealed in the plot. .jpg) Puberty was really hard on young lad Hyuga... .jpg) Ben, you really need to update your portrait. You can't keep using the one from when you were 25. You're pushing 50 and a ghost now. C'mon, man. .jpg) Sea Mother personally added that last part of her blurb herself. .jpg) I imagine post-curse she has a Dr. Girlfriend from Venture Bros voice. .jpg) Yeah... Yeah, I guess that's one way to put it for the Chin Emperor here...  Video: Yamaraja Earth Battle (You should see this weird, creepy fella in motion.) The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Jul 22, 2018 |
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Jul 22, 2018 04:15
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Pizuz posted:By the way: Did you try any of the settings specified on this PCSX2 wiki page regarding the flickering glitches pre/post battle? It's a known issue I know how to fix easily, but it results in everything having a split second ghosting afterimage, which uhh... sucks rear end for making screenshots. So you get flickering for 2 seconds at the end of a battle/during Yuri's transformation or screenshots that look like poo poo. Just deal with it. PS2 emulation is jank as hell. The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Jul 24, 2018 |
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Jul 23, 2018 16:21
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 Episode XIX: Don't Rock the Boat Music: Blow Up .jpg) Our journey continues with a destination of Shanghai to go kick Dehuai's rear end in some evil wizard tower he's got set up there. But first, we need to actually travel by boat there... It's a good 1000km distance between Shanghai and Dalian ports. It's gonna take a while to get there by boat. Especially if any manner of Hiatus Curse befalls the party on and their boat during the trip. Heaven forbid... .jpg) We're now up to Rank 40 Specter. Really burning through a lot of ranks considering we're not even a quarter of the way through the game... THE BODY REMEMBERS! .jpg) No sense waiting around. Let's jump into the Smuggler's Boat Arc of Shadow Hearts! New Music: Manufacture - Conveyorbelt for Killers (Hey you should listen to this! It's a cool tune.) .jpg) .jpg) I have no idea what it says on the side of the boat. But, I'd like to think it literally is called "Smuggler's Boat." .jpg) Ugh... Are you all right? ...No. But you seem a little better than before. At least you can talk now. Not just... streams of projectile vomit... Over and over... I-I guess… Oh, God, this isn’t right! Do boats always… ROCK like this…? This is relatively calm, honestly. Ugh... Alice...? Yes? W-who invented... boats? I... I'm afraid I don't know, Yuri... Gonna... find out how to go back in time... and punch... whoever invented... boats... Why don’t you try going out on the deck? The fresh air might do you some good. Uh… yeah… Maybe I’ll try that… Gonna try to... stand up... S-stand back... don't wanna... puke on you... Again... ...Again.Yuri picks himself up off the floor. .jpg) <shakes head> No, no! I’ll be fine. I never thought you to be the type to get seasick. The ocean... is bullshit... You sure you don't want me to come with you? I'm OK....jpg) Ron Howard Narrator Voice: He wasn't. Yuri is mad hosed up and can only walk at a slow lumbering gate while he's dying from seasickness. Hanging out in the world's grodiest crew's quarters probably isn't helping his illness. So, let's take Alice's advice and get some air above deck. Which immediately leads to... .jpg) <writing in notepad> She would make an excellent research subject. The young man, who calls himself Yuri, also wields unusual forces. In the future, our country must… …What about my future? Does it involve getting off this awful tub? If not, I don't care....jpg) H-hey! What are you doing there?! It’s not polite to try to find out a lady’s secrets, sonny boy! Ugh... Y-you're standing out in the opening... speaking aloud as you write... You're really... awful at... this spy thing, lady... …Uuuurgh! …W-what’s with the memo? What’s it say? What?! Oh… you mean… th-this? Oh, ho ho ho! THIS ol’ thing! It’s just my… diary!! I thought I’d better write down each and every detail of this exciting adventure! Good idea, no?! I couldn’t… care… less… …Hrrkk!!Yuri makes like he's going to puke and falls to his knee. Margarete jumps back disgusted. .jpg) Don’t you DARE throw up!! Nnnhgh… Gulp. Eeeew! Gross! Don’t SWALLOW it!! <stands up and stands up> Uurgh… I’m… I’m done for… Write that... in your stupid journal... The ocean... is bullshit... Hurk! H-how filthy! How disgusting! Go lie down or something! Shoo! Shoo!.jpg) Yuri shambles toward the boat's wheelhouse. Something catches his interest as he passes by... Music: Profile .jpg) Yes, but not to worry. The boat is sailing smoothly. <lets go of the wheel and turns to Kawashima> You know, I didn’t think we’d actually have it this easy. (Gah! That chin...) You’re incredible, Lt. Colonel Kawashima! They really think we’re their own personal couriers. Indeed... The hmm... rustic look of the boat you acquired certainly sold the ruse... What was it being used for before you requisitioned it? It's best you didn't know, Lt. Colonel. There is a reason I am wearing gloves and avoiding contact with any surfaces. ...Noted. So, from Shanghai, all we have to do is get them on the special charter and rush them off to Japan! <paces a bit> We can’t let our guard down. These people butchered the soldiers on the Trans-Siberian Express. We're also missing several men at the airbase. They may be behind that as well. There was a report from an eyewitness saying someone was struck so hard they "disintegrated." But the same man also claimed there was a talking puppy that fought the suspects and... he may just be a madman spouting jibberish. Yes, well… I heard about that incident, too, but… I can’t imagine that girl could be capable of such a thing. She seems so sweet… I mean, just look at how she takes care of the young man who’s been sick ever since we left port. <shivers> I'm afraid I wouldn't have the fortitude to carry on after being caked in that much vomit. Hmm. It could have been him… that Yuri… that did the butchering. <turns back to Kato> Kato... Y-yes? I wanted to see for myself. I wanted to see the girl and her friends with my own eyes. I assume you’ve heard about the old man in Shanghai who continues to plot against our Army…?.jpg) <nods> Correct. Thanks to him, we’re having great difficulty gaining any measure of power in Shanghai. Hee, hee. He’s a sharp old scoundrel, that Dehuai. They say he tried the ultimate Taoist magic fifteen years ago and was about to blow Japan to bits. R... really? Is "Taoist magic" a codename for a bomb of some sorts? I cannot say I'm familiar with the specific details of the plot. I was more caught up on the "magic" part... Are you saying magic is... real, ma'am...? Who knows? It could be an exaggeration, something my father let slip when he was drunk. Apparently, a colonel in black ops was just barely able to stop Dehuai's ritual at the last moment. I... I had no idea....jpg) The bloated desk-jockeys we take our orders from don’t have a clue about the size of the country. They know even less about the teeming varieties of people and ways of thinking here. <turns back to Kato> This “Utopia” we’re pushing… It’s nothing more than a dirty trick shrouded in a cute name. Even I might be just another cog in the wheel of this scheme, helping it move ever onward. The people here are victims of politics. All they really want to do is get on with their lives. It's so tiresome to keep having to assassinate spies from the region I hire to continue this political farce..jpg) ... Lt. Colonel... What do you think the connection between Dehuai and Alice IS…? Ah, forgive me for going on and on. It’s just boring talk. Not at all, ma’am!! I always like to hear your thoughts, Lt. Colonel!! You've only heard my thoughts for the less than 24 hours since we met in my office. It's been a very intriguing 24 hours!! …You’re a funny fellow, aren’t you? Fine, let’s get back to the subject at hand. I’ve been tracking Dehuai for some time. Eventually, I learned of the girl he was so desperate to catch. Is this… Alice? …Yes. She has a unique spiritual power. Even Tsuji met his death when he encountered her. Did you ever meet the late Major Tsuji? Enormous, clean shaved head. Pencil mustache. The most hideously tiny face you've ever seen it. It was like a doll's proportions affixed to a pumpkin. I'm afraid it doesn't ring any bells. No matter, that pumpkin got split right open. Dehuai will stop at nothing to get her. If used properly, she’ll be an asset to the Shanghai offensive. I wish to find whether she’ll be a help… or a hindrance… to Japan’s invasion of the mainland. A Shanghai offensive… so the Japanese Army can take the mainland… Is that your real motivation, Lt. Colonel…? Hee hee hee…Music: Manufacture - Conveyorbelt for Killers .jpg) Meanwhile, outside Yuri has just been in a fugue state and blanked on that entire conversation revealing Kawashima and Kato's identities and motivations. Look, the guy is having a rough time at the moment. He cannot be expected to be on the ball for a plot dump. .jpg) .jpg) If we continue Yuri's seasick death march across the Smuggler's Boat, we can take a detour to a pile of barrels by the wheelhouse and acquire a new item. Popping this... err... broth in pile form will restore 50 MP and 3 SP. Seems like an item made specifically with Alice in mind. .jpg) In order to progress further, we need to speak with everyone onboard. As such, Yuri continues to stumble along the deck until he reaches Zhuzhen at the far end. I'm sure that trail of green mutagen slime leading into the ship's hold is nothing to worry about... .jpg) <shakes head> Urgg…! What’s with the scowl, pops? Don’t tell me you’re throwing up from seasickness. Uck… <turns to Yuri> Heh heh heh. That would be YOU, if I’m not mistaken. Say kid, are you feeling better now? Hurk... You're a real eagle eye, old man... Do I LOOK like I'm better... Last I saw you were face down in a puddle of your own vomit... so marginally? And what do you make of this unearthly aura…? It seems to rise from the sea and permeate the boat. Unearthly aura?! Ulp… Sorry, buddy… I’m dealing with some pretty earthly problems right now. <falls to knee> …Hrrkk!!Zhuzhen recoils in disgust. .jpg) Nnnnhgh… Gulp. <stands back up> Cough… drat, now I’m just dry-heaving… What do you expect, kid? I think you puked out more than your body weight already. It was almost impressive in one of those horrific nightmare sorts of ways. Aren’t we in Shanghai yet? How much longer will it taaaake?? What are you, a ten-year-old? Ten years of my life have been shaved off by this damned boat! <queasy belch> Ha ha ha, we should be there by a little after noon tomorrow. <flinches surprised> What?! I won’t last that long, pal!! This is why I like trains. You get on. It goes on the one path. Done. It doesn't fall out of the frikkin' sky or wobble like it's drunk... Ugh... Boats are garbage tier transport and are gonna kill me... Hey, kid, if you’re going to kick the bucket, do it over there, will you? <turns back to looking at the water> <shakes head> Hmph, some help you are! Couldn’t you have at least brought some medicine for this kind of thing? You're on your own, kid. Bleh... You got some anti-cat medicine on you "just in case" but a real common medical problem and nothing? That's some bull! Sorry, even I cannot plan for every contingency. I'd have brought my anti-whining child remedy if that were the case. Hrk… You and Miss Spy Genius are big meanies… Alice is the only one who really cares about me! Then let her go play momma to the sick little boy and let me be. MY PARENTS ARE DEAD! <ignores Yuri> Hmm. Something is going on, I'm sure of it... The unnatural aura is growing more intense..jpg) Clearing getting some fresh air is doing Yuri no favors. All that's left to do is to cart his sorry looking rear end back below deck to Alice's care. .jpg) Yuri, are you okay? You didn’t come back. I was getting worried! <nods> Yeah, I’m fine. I learned just how kind you are, Alice… and how cold the rest of the world is! Neither of them cares I'm gonna die on this boat. Buncha lousy jerks! All writing in their secret diary and glaring at the water. They don't care! You're not making a lot of sense right now, Yuri. <shakes head> Whew. Zhuzhen and Margarete say there’s something wrong outside, but… what could it possibly be? New Music: Trip or Treat (A nice piano theme.) .jpg) Yuri, your disposition has changed since I first met you. It seems like you’re changing more and more all the time. Maybe it has something to do with your powers… I’m worried about you. It’s like there’s a dark shadow hanging over you… and it’s getting stronger. I ain't gonna go to the lousy Graveyard feelin' like this... Those masks can eat me till I'm off this stupid boat... Huh? Ugh... Don't worry about it. Oh? Well, yeah, my powers have just gone a little wild since I met up with you. <turns away> And now I can fuse with more spirits. I gotta show you this weird angel slug Fusion I got while you were cursed. It's pretty rad. But hey, I say things are fine just the way they are..jpg) I haven’t had any headaches lately. No mystery voice, either. Knock on wood... Voice, I dunno if you can hear me but my head will ACTUALLY explode if you start yelling at me right now... <turns to Alice> I must be doing something right. If you’re right about the voice wanting to tell me something, and if what the voice says is true… then I want to know who’s voice it is! I’ve decided to protect you at all costs. <turns away> So, I’m fine with things the way they are. Yuri… But you know… Yes? If… if I were to get devoured by the spirits inside me that I’ve fused with… If they take over, and I’m not myself anymore… You’ve gotta kill me, Alice. No hesitation. I feel like the quack would set me on fire and that'd suck. Margarete has already tried to kill me multiple times and is really bad at it, so she's out. Plus, they're both jerks that don't care about me, so... <shakes head> …Oh, come on! That’s not funny. <turns to Alice> It’s no joke… Don’t worry! You won’t lose to those monsters, so it won’t happen.Alice steps closer to Yuri. .jpg) Hey, you two! Something’s going on! Margarete runs down the stairs and barges in on the conversation. Music: Manufacture - Conveyorbelt for Killers .jpg) <looks the pair over> Oopsie! Did I come at a bad time? Am I in the WAY, perhaps? Yeah, just crash into this conversation like you did that plane. You're never gonna let that go, huh? What is it already?! What’s going on? S-something big! You two had better come outside… Let’s go!! <runs back upstairs> Alice and Yuri run upstairs after Margarete. .jpg) We're back in control of Yuri. That conversation with Alice seems to have gotten him over his seasickness since he can run normally again. Let's go see what's the latest dilemma. .jpg) The boat’s turning circles in the same place, over and over. Turning… circles? Yes!! Well here's your problem. Chin Guy isn't driving... piloting... steering? Whatever. Doing the thing that makes the boat go where you want. Chin guy...? Is there something wrong with the boat? There’s nothing wrong with the motor, but for some reason, the boat won’t move forward. It’s as if… as if the boat was being held by something underwater… You should die…Music: Angel Heart .jpg) What was that voice?! Someone needs to cut back a few packs of cigarettes a day. It’s Li Li… Li Li?! She cursed me yesterday. I remember her voice quite vividly. ...That's fair. <looks at the bow of the ship> What IS that? <looks the same direction and jumps> H-here it comes!!.jpg) The mindless fish will pluck and poke at your rotting corpse, at you bulging eyeballs! Here she comes, kid! So this was what was raising the hairs on the back of my neck… Is this the ghost that cursed Alice? Crazed drugged out eyes... bad haircut... poor posture. Yup, sure looks like it. A g-g-ghost!? What the actual gently caress!?Zhuzhen turns to .jpg) <nods> A-all right! Eeek!! <approaches the ghost> Li Li!Kato and Kawashima bolt the hell off the deck. .jpg) Incredibly rude breaking my curse! It was the one thing I had going! Li Li, please, tell us what you want us to do! What can we do so that your soul may rest in peace?! What do you want from us?Li Li teleports closer to the party. .jpg) Starting to feel like diplomacy ain't gonna cut it here, Alice. It was worth a try.Li Li teleports back to her initial position. .jpg) On-tei-naa… Kai-zei-chii-fuu-motsu-gyaku… On-tei-naa… On-tei-naa… Gesundheit...?.jpg) The deck flashes with energy as Li Li flinches in pain. .jpg) Master Zhuzhen? No, that wasn't me. I've just been standing here. Did that sound anything like me? Honestly... <nods> Heh heh heh. When did you get her, Sea Mother? You must have masked your presence. What...? Why? To lay this trap. Oh. Did it... do anything? You think you can suppress my spirit with your feeble “power”? Eeeeyyaaah!! DIIEEEEEE!!LI LI uses THUNDERBOLT. It's super effective! .jpg) Aaaahh!Zhuzhen runs up to the hatch and opens it. Sea Mother hops out from below coughing up a fit. .jpg) Sea Mother?! So that's a "no" to "did that do anything?"Sea Mother recomposes herself and faces Li Li. .jpg) You will not be made to suffer anymore. Now, calm your spirit!! S-SILENCE!!.jpg) Guys, like all of you know magic fireballs and beam attacks or just have, ya know, a gun. Please stop letting this 80-year-old woman get struck by lightning repeatedly. .jpg) Sea Mama!! Li Li, stop this!! Feel like we should probably start kicking this ghost's rear end before it teleports away again. O-on… tei-naa… On-tei… naa… Kai-zei… chii-fuu…Another flash of light makes Li Li wince in pain again. Th-the pain…!! C-creatures of the deep, attack!! Drag these fools to the bottom of the ocean!!Li Li vanishes in a blinding flash of light. .jpg) <turns to Sea Mother> Are you all right, Sea Mother? Why on earth did you do that? The element of surprise is somewhat negated by the fact you need to scream an incantation... <stands up> Forgive me, Master Zhuzhen. I… I just wanted to send Li Li off to Nirvana… That was an old-fashioned exorcism you performed just now, yes? That is... quaint... Here, let me lend a hand. If it’s all the same, why don’t we place seals all over the boat to help Li Li’s spirit settle down? Master Zhuzhen! Are you sure? <nods> Think nothing of it. At this rate, the ship’s going nowhere for the time being. Well, let’s get to it, then..jpg) Hey, kid. I’m going to put up a seal here. Help Sea Mother rest until I’m done. And I imagine the monsters will be attacking, so I need you to buy me some time, too. I don't need them battling me at random while I'm doing my work..jpg) So, our high seas exorcism begins! Tune in next time as we punch some evil spirits, spray some occult graffiti tags on the ship's deck and maybe bust a ghost or two as Shadow Hearts continues!  Li Li Portrait – Slightly more menacing than her in-game model of just Generic Chinese Female #6 with coked out wide eyes.
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Jul 24, 2018 18:06
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Episode XX: Fire and Water Music: Manufacture - Conveyorbelt for Killers .jpg) Mother, did you hide on the boat to put Li Li’s soul to rest? What, you KNEW this would happen?! <shakes head> Yes… I didn’t think Li Li would give up so easily. I would give my life to save that poor girl’s soul! And you didn't warn us about a potential ghost stowaway... why, again? What was the plan if the ghost chick like stayed behind in the village instead? This is a one-way trip to Shanghai. How are you even getting back home even if you did deal with Li Li? Say, Sea Mother… What happened after Li Li opened the door that night fourteen years ago? <nods> Ah… We were interrupted. ...All those questions and THAT is the one you're going to answer? Oh, frick... Not another ghost story... Alice, you're burning through that goodwill you just built up REAL fast, here...Sea Mother backs up and takes the storytelling position. No voice acting for the conclusion of the Li Li tale, sadly... .jpg) She saw her father, back from the dead… he was in a terrible state. He returned to let Li Li take his life. He returned to give Li Li her voice back. He came back as a drowned corpse… to be killed by his own daughter? This whole thing is a real melodrama for two people having switched their voices and getting super self-conscious about it. And did she? Did she kill her father, who had finally returned? No. She came to return the dagger. Then, with her father’s drowned corpse on her back… she walked on towards the ocean, staggering under the weight… That’s the last time anyone ever saw them. We couldn’t find their bodies, either. <shrugs and shakes head> No wonder her spirit isn’t at peace… Ya, the whole town stood around while like a 100-pound wet girl lugged a big burly drowned corpse slowly into the ocean. I'd be kinda pissed if everyone just let that happen too. I-I couldn’t do anything for her…Sea Mother collapses to her knees in a coughing fit. .jpg) <goes to Sea Mother's side> Are you all right? I’m sorry to bring up all these bad memories. Why don’t you get some rest? <stands back up> Thank you… ... Li Li... I'll save you...The trio leave Sea Mother and head back above deck. Music: DOA .jpg) Wh-what IS this?! Th-the wheelhouse? Has something happened there…? Probably shouldn't let the people steering the boat get ganked...Yuri and friends run up to the wheelhouse door. .jpg) Open, drat you!!Yuri kicks that sonuvabitch open. .jpg) <satisfied laugh> Yeah! Now we're talking!.jpg) Welp... None of this seems like it's going well. Especially the lightning indoors. That's generally a bad scene. Which naturally leads straight to... .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) Time to bust some ghosts. After all, busting makes me feel good. Remember that part of Ghostbusters where Dan Aykroyd gets a blowjob from a ghost? That part always sneaks up to me in the mid-film musical montage... There's an alternate timeline, perhaps the one the Shadow Hearts series is going down, in which Dan Aykroyd got a whole subplot about going to an old fort which involved courting and loving a ghost. Anyway, these flaming jerks are Ogre Flames and are just Fire elemental remixes of Evil 4, the tutorial Malice challenge monster in the Graveyard.  The Japanese name for these fire boys is "Onibi" -- spirits born from human or animal corpses that just kind of hang out in the woods. It's just the Japanese equivalent of will-o'-wisps. Some yokel saw some weird swamp gas or fireflies, didn't know what the hell it was and assumed it was a g-g-ghooooost! .jpg) .jpg) Ogre Flames only have 40 HP a piece so they're quite easy to kill. Yuri or Margarete can do the job in a single combo. If they do get the chance attack, they're much like the Fire Bats back in the Fengtian Sewers in that they all just spam Fireball in succession every turn they get. As such, the easiest way to deal with 'em is to just have Margarete immediately use Grenade to clear the lot of 'em in a single turn. .jpg) Not a problem. Unlike the completely jacked sizing scale of everything in this wheelhouse. Those bottles of liquor go up to Yuri's chest. You could stuff Alice in that urn on the right and I think the entire party could fit in the crate next to it and still have space to spare. Music: Manufacture - Conveyorbelt for Killers .jpg) <slowly stands up> Wh-what was THAT? <yawns> Some frikkin' chumps... What's up with you? You look like you saw a ghost. I-I just did... <turns to Smuggler Boss> You said you saw them in Dalian, didn’t you? Or their relatives. I-I… never imagined they actually…!!Music: DOA .jpg) Foul monsters! I’m not about to lose to the likes of you!! Oryaaaaahh!! <shakes head> Tsk, now Sea Mama’s in on the action?! Well, isn’t this fun… I swear, it's like the first time y'all have got in a fist fight with a ghost... What the ACTUAL gently caress!?.jpg) Yuri and the gang run out to go see what sort of mischief Sea Mother has gotten involved with here. At least, that's what the game wants us to do. I'm sure the old woman can hold her own against a few jobbers for a couple minutes. We're going to go back into the boat's wheelhouse. .jpg) Er... need...?Inside, Kato has recovered from getting whomped by a ghost. Kawashima is still in some shock that ghosts and magical poo poo really does exist and wasn't just some Chinese country bumpkin superstitions. We're given two options to respond to > Yes, of course! .jpg) This results in Kato opening the "Pachimon General Store" and becoming a vendor. He's carrying a combination of the junk available in the Sea Turtle Restaurant and the underground weapon store from Dalian, in case we missed anything. What we want to buy here is a third Rosewood Bracelet. Remember, we got one back in Dalian? There's another one below deck in a semi-obscured chest right next to where Yuri started his seasickness scene with Alice. So we only need to buy one more. We're going to go ahead and slap one on all three of our party members. Just in case! Nobody likes getting paralyzed in a fight. That aside, if we talk to Kato again and chose the second option while speaking to him. > What are you saying?! .jpg) So, you in? Count me in..jpg) It turns out Kato is secretly Lottery Member Number 13. We'll be careful not to let his boss standing within earshot know he's a member of some shady lottery raffle organization on the d-low. Kawashima has enough on her mind at the moment. We'll be seeing Kato several times in the future, but this is the only opportunity to use his Lottery service. As usual, we need to win a prize if we're going to keep this sidequest going. .jpg) Whatever you do, don't tell the boss? Your secret stays between me and your chin. ...?.jpg) The top-billed reward here is Iron Clogs, a frankly worthless accessory. Equipping these halves the speed of the Judgment Wheel at the cost of tanking Agility by 15 points. For reference, Yuri and Margarete have around 25 Agility. Alice has 15. Hitting those Critical areas isn't going to offset the fact we're attacking around a quarter as fast... .jpg) With that out of the way, we probably should attend to that 80-year-old woman getting into a kung fu fight with spirits down below deck... .jpg) Again, lighting indoors seems like a bad scene. Sea Mother already got struck by lightning once this evening. Let's try to prevent an encore performance. .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) Our foe this time is a cyclops cousin of the Evil 3 that Yuri fought to sort out his Malice earlier, the puzzlingly titled White Wolflings. These guys also have fairly low overall health at only 45 HP a pop. They also only have the single attack in sliding over to their victim and punching 'em with their stubby little tentacle arm. This only does 5-10 HP of damage but does have the very annoying (but thankfully rare) potential to inflict the Random Ring anomaly.  The Japanese name for White Wolflings is White Maiden in reference to the Chinese folktale Legend of the White Snake. No idea where the hell they got "Wolfling" from here... I'm starting to suspect localizing the enemy names and general combat junk was some of the last stuff that was tackled and was kind of a rush job... .jpg) Just as with the Ogre Flames, Yuri or Margarete can likely take down a single White Wolfling in a single physical combo. Sadly, the Grenade tactic isn't effective against this mob since they are Water elemental jobbers. In any case, that's Sea Mother saved. Music: Manufacture - Conveyorbelt for Killers .jpg) <returns to her feet> You… you’re good, boy. That's not really the brand I'm going for, but sure... They must be after Master Zhuzhen, too! Please, boy… would you go and check? Sheesh, Sea Mama, you sure know how to work people. Anyway, that old geezer won’t be beaten so easily. Master Zhuzhen is in the middle of a ceremony! He’s extremely vulnerable right now… Yeah... crud, I GUESS that's a good point... I'd be weird if these dumb spirits attacked everyone but pops....jpg) Yuri automatically returns above deck once more. Similar to the situation in Dalian, this is a VERY short area. We just need to run to the other side of the area, where we left Zhuzhen, to initiate the boss battle that will end the chapter. Buuuuuuut... .jpg) .jpg) The two trash mobs we took out defending Sea Mother and the fake smuggler duo have now become random battles on deck. Very easy random battles. Remember, Margarete can wipe out all four Ogre Flames in an instant just like she could do to the jerks back in Dalian. The White Wolflings are only marginally longer to take care of overall. Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) What I'm getting at is that less than ten minutes of grinding is enough to get both the Water and Fire elements' Soul Energy leveled up to unlock some new goodies for Yuri back in the Graveyard. I'm sure Zhuzhen can hold his own for like fifteen minutes, tops. He's a tough old timer. .jpg) Sure enough, back in the graveyard, a couple more headstones have lit up with Soul Energy. Let's go check out the Water element one first since we really ought to have hit that one back in the Fengtian Sewer. .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) Our Fusion soul challenger for today is .jpg) .jpg) Man Dragon starts off the fight by casting Illusion, a spell which raises its Physical Evasion +15%. Lizard dudes HATE getting slapped. It makes them so mad. Too bad he's got some bad news coming his way. .jpg) .jpg) The Water Elemental Fusion can strike a pose to summon a quick shower to heal 30 HP or so if the Illusion happens to yield less than impressive results. I'm glad anime sparkles and a rainbow doesn't appear when I shower. Seems like it'd get old fast. .jpg) And since Fusion monsters tend to borrow abilities from random battle enemies, Man Dragon comes packing the .jpg) .jpg) All this will not prevent a Raging Tiger from becoming very upset some rear end in a top hat lizard got its fur wet. .jpg) There is the negligence obtaining this Fusion soul back in Fengtian corrected. What a jerk, taking advantage of my PC imploding to elude capture. Lizardfolk, I tell ya... Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) Yuri realizes there will never be a Godhand 2. .jpg) Now is that a fog with seven colors at once or seven different colors of fog can be farted out of his skin? I feel like those are two very different things for this man-lizard vape rig. Anyway, Man Dragon comes with the stats:
.jpg) Man Dragon will get some action in the future. Such as right now, as we go take on the Fire element Fusion soul! Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) A new challenger appears! Meet Inferno -- a Fire elemental Goro. I'm sure there were many four-armed creatures in fiction before Mortal Kombat, but I don't care. You got four arms in a video game? You're a Goro. End of story. Don't "umm, actually..." me about their race being Shokan. You should be ashamed knowing specifics of Mortal Kombat lore. That's a dark road to go down. Repent now... .jpg) Man Dragon is the best and the worst take on this four-armed jerk. Honestly, we probably should have fought Inferno first since he's significantly stronger than Man Dragon, especially if it's exploiting his elemental weakness. .jpg) .jpg) Inferno isn't a complicated boy. He's good at punching. The dude's got four goddamn arms. It'd be a crime if he wasn't using 'em to punch poo poo. Inferno will start the match by casting Fighting Spirit to raise his Physical Attack Power by 15% and then just get to throwing haymakers for 70+ HP of damage. This guy managed to just knock Yuri the gently caress out almost instantly my first attempt here since he still had some damage from the Man Dragon fight. Turns out you just get kicked out of the Graveyard if Yuri falls here.  Try again at full health and getting luckier with not getting hit by buffed critical hits repeatedly made things go much smoother. If physical attacks aren't doing the business, Flash Flood will hit for nearly 100 HP and a couple casts of that will be more than enough to sort out Inferno. .jpg) .jpg) This message just makes me think I've picked up the moveset of the final boss of Soulcalibur in Create-a-Character mode. Music: Graveyard Moon .jpg) Killer Instinct seems like just the sort of stupid game Yuri would be into were he born a century later. .jpg) Inferno will fully be replacing Raging Tiger as our "get someone strong to hit stuff good" Fusion of choice. The Fire elemental Fusion is the best physical damage output for a good portion of the game, especially with that attack buff Fighting Spirit. It's kind of strange it has access to a spell that removes several status ailments. But hey, why not? Inferno's stats are:
.jpg) Since we did slay quite a few monsters in rapid succession back on the Smuggler's Boat, our Malice did build up a decent notch. We can sort that out while we're in the area...  It's DEFINITELY not just an excuse to show Inferno going hog on some poor mook. Oraoraora! .jpg) That's all our business in the Graveyard shift for today. Let's head on back and hope Zhuzhen hasn't gotten ganked by spirits or decapitated by a ghost fish or some poo poo while we were away. Music: Manufacture - Conveyorbelt for Killers .jpg) Bah. See? He was perfectly fine! I don't know what Sea Mother was worried about. .jpg) The area flashes white several times. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Yeah...? .jpg) Naw... We already did this song and dance once already. We're done here. Get on with the next scene. That's enough filler fights. .jpg) <looks around> But you didn't do anyth—.jpg) WOAH! How about a warning beforehand?! Geez! Here we go!! <performs arcane kung fu motion>.jpg) Music: Angel Heart .jpg) This is me every time I watch high-level fighting game tournament matches. Sea Mother wanders onto the scene. .jpg) So this is an old-fashioned exorcism pentagram? Ain't pentagrams for like summoning devils and such? I'm gonna be real ticked off if you mess this up and summon another demon on top of the ghost, pops! Just hush up so I can explain. ...Wait, unless the demon FIGHTS the ghost. That'd be kinda rad. There's no demons involved, kid. Just shut up and get over here..jpg) <motions to the pentagram> Now, Sea Mother, I’ll need your help. We have to keep Li Li’s power in check. <nods and takes position next to the pentagram> <turns to Yuri> Give me a shout when you’re ready, kid. Master Zhuzhen, I shall assist you! <nods> .jpg) This is the last chance to go sort out any business on the Smuggler's Boat. But I think we have everything covered here. Let's get to work! .jpg) <nods> Yes, let’s! On-tei-naa… On-tei-naa… Li Li, come before me! <begins praying> <begins concentrating energy> H-here she comes!! Really? I don't see anyth—.jpg) Yeah, OK. Checks out.Li Li appears before the group. .jpg) How DARE you invoke that wretched chant!! DIE!!Tune in next time as we bust a ghost, perhaps multiple times, as the boat arc of Shadow Hearts draws to a close. The next LP update will be in 67 weeks as per anime boat arc tradition. See you in Autumn 2019 for the exciting conclusion!  Video: Episode 20 Highlight Reel  Man Dragon Render – Terrible posture. His back is going to hate him in a few years.  Inferno Render – Don't stare at the fire vagina...
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Jul 26, 2018 17:11
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Episode XXI: Busting a Ghost Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) We're jumping right into it with a battle against the vengeful spirit of Li Li. She seems really shocked to see the party throwing down here. Or... that's just how she always looks. It's hard to say for certain. In either case, we're going to have to burn through 580 HP if we're gonna bust this ghost proper like. .jpg) Our first order of business is getting Yuri into the proper Fusion. There's a reason we stopped and obtained Heaven's Fiend back in Dalian and it's this battle. Li Li is the first (beatable) Dark elemental boss we've come across in Shadow Hearts. .jpg) While Heaven's Fiend isn't the physical attack powerhouse of other Fusions, its Light elemental affinity is more than enough to offset that in this case. One weird slapping and gross tail smacking combo out of it does a cool 70-80 HP of damage every turn. Not too shabby. Of course, we could tap into Heaven's Fiend's magic stock and fire off some Exorcist Arrows. But we want to conserve MP during this fight if at all possible. Not saying that there is, I don't know, a second phase or anything to the fight. But there's totally a second phase to the fight. So, we need to act accordingly. .jpg) .jpg) That said, Alice has MP for days so she's the only one we're going to splurge a bit with and cast a few spells. Especially since her physical attacks may as well be a wasted turn even if she is Light elemental. Particularly, we can use Holy Edge to give Margarete's guns the Light element. .jpg) This will turn Margarete's damage output against Li Li from less than 40 HP a combo to around 60+ damage every turn. Not a bad buff. .jpg) .jpg) Of course, Li Li isn't going to just stand here and take a beating. I mean, she will do just that. It's a turn-based RPG. She doesn't have much choice. But when her turn comes up, the ghost lady has a few nasty attacks. The biggest issue is the Dark Messenger attack she's borrowing from the Death Emperor Fusion. Li Li will vomit a nasty miasma of darkness at a single target dealing a significant chunk of damage. Margarete will get hit for around 50-60 HP while Alice or Heaven's Fiend Yuri will take it on the nose for 70-80 HP. But there is a more pressing issue with this attack beyond the high damage output... .jpg) If we're unlucky, like Alice was here, Dark Messenger can just randomly straight up cause Death status and one-shot a character. So that... ain't great. .jpg) There are zero defenses against the Death status this early in the game so we just must roll with it and burn a Talisman of Luck then immediately heal Alice since any of Li Li's other attacks will KO her again if she gets targeted.  While there is nothing to be done about instant death, Li Li's other major attack, Paralysis, can be thwarted from its ill-effects. This is the reason we equipped everyone with Rosewood Bracelets. Paralysis will still do 40-50 HP of damage but at least we won't burn a turn using a consumable we're in short supply of getting a party member back into the game. .jpg) .jpg) You may recall earlier than Alice leveled up and finally obtained an offensive ability -- Blessed Light. Since we're more likely to have Alice run dry on Sanity than Magic Points by the end of any given fight, we may as well let her splurge a little in her MP stocks and do a cast or two the Light elemental spell. Which creams Li Li's ghost for 100+ HP of damage. Gotta get a little revenge for that one-shot garbage, right? .jpg) Beyond physical attacks that are identical to Paralysis but without, you know, the paralyzing part, that's about it for busting this ghost. Li Li that is quite the death pose... Could you not? Music: Results .jpg) There's nothing more insulting than beating up a vengeful spirit and then mugging it for the contents of its wallet while it is down. b.jpg) For defeating Li Li, we also get another Judgment Ring shuffling item. This one is somewhat more useful than a few we've encountered. A halved Judgment Ring is still generous if we say the Strike areas of the grid are a lost cause. But enough of weird animal hair we found in a ghost's pocket, let's finish dealing with Li Li... Music: ENDS .jpg) Sea... Mother....jpg) Hold that thought! Lord Raiden is teleporting in to invite us all to a fighting tournament to decide the fate of the rea—oh no. Wait. It's just that goober Dehuai... False alarm. Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple .jpg) Who…?! <laughs> How nice to finally meet you, Alice Elliot. And Zhuzhen! Long time no see. Dehuai... Why don't you go step on a rake again? Grr! That was fifteen years ago, don't you dare bring up that ancient history! So you’re Dehuai! You brought poor Li Li back, didn’t you?! You were USING her! That’s right. Ah, Alice… You’re even more beautiful than I had imagined! I told you this guy was gonna be some creepy old perv. Silence, you... You... ...I have no clue who you are. Yeah? Nice. Let's keep it that way, creep. Well, well! We finally meet the real Tiny, eh? Except that you’re not nearly as cute. Sorry, I forgot to pick up a doggie snack for you back at the port. Tell you what, I'll get you a cute collar when we make it to Shanghai. Hmph. So, you’re the abominable Harmonixer, are you? Very well. I’m sure you and the old man will make a lovely snack for the Shanghai crabs. <focuses on Li Li> Li Li, I shall unleash all of your power!! Hate everything! DEVOUR them with your hate! Hee hee hee hee!!.jpg) We probably shouldn't let the evil sorcerer just go around casting spells like this. But alas, cutscene paralysis... Li Li rises back to her feet and glows with an evil aura like Tiny had back in Fengtian. .jpg) <laughs> Wait, Li Li!! I promise you, I WILL deliver you to your eternal rest!.jpg) Music: China Ogre .jpg) .jpg) ...Boy, that cutscene didn't properly convey what Dehuai was doing to Li Li, huh? The ghost of Dalian has gone from K-Mart brand Sadako to err... grimdark Ursula from The Little Mermaid? Sure, why not? In any case, here is the real boss to cap off this chapter and the reason we were conserving MP for Li Li's early incarnation. In Form 2, Li Li has upped her maximum HP to 720. .jpg) Even in her new form, Li Li remains a Dark elemental enemy. So once again, Yuri will be Harmonixerin' over to his Heaven's Fiend form to rumble. But first, he has another duty... .jpg) .jpg) We did just fight a boss battle a couple minutes ago and hadn't had a chance to top off everyone's health. Heaven's Fiend just so happens to have a full party heal in the form of Sacred Remedy. So, we'll just sort that out first thing to get everyone in full fighting form. Sacred Remedy remains one of the only full party heal spells for quite some time, so Heaven's Fiend is a useful Fusion throughout the early game. At least, until another rank replaces it... .jpg) .jpg) As before, we'll have Alice hook up Margarete with Holy Edge. She'll be doing roughly the same damage output as the previous battle and that's just fine. If I saw this thing slosh unto a boat deck, my first instinct would probably be to start dumping rounds into it too. .jpg) Alice is also free to let loose with her Blessed Light more often now that we're not caring as much about MP consumption. It's still doing upward of 80-90+ HP of damage a shot. It's nice to have Alice contribute to the offensive for a change. .jpg) .jpg) Speaking of which, Yuri can now dip into his somewhat limited MP reserves and bust out the Exorcist Arrow to pierce Scylla-Li Li for around 100 HP. So, if all goes well, that's around the ballpark of 270ish damage out of the party in a complete turn. .jpg) Of course, Li Li has a few things to say about that. Her Octomom form seems way more into using Paralysis over everything else. Again, that Rosewood Bracelet was worth the Accessory slot. .jpg) .jpg) Li Li has a new attack in her transformed state -- Hate Storm. This will strike the entire party for around 50 HP of damage. Strangely, it seems to be non-elemental since neither Yuri nor Alice takes any additional damage from it. The entire party losing nearly a third of their HP is easily countered by Sacred Remedy. Hate Storm has one benefit in that it replaces Dark Messenger and cannot one-shot any of our party out of nowhere. So at least that's nice. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) That's about all there is to say about Transformed Li Li. We came prepared to this fight with a really good counter elemental Fusion and everyone equipped with accessories to negate one of her more dangerous attacks. Plus, Alice leveled up enough to have her Light elemental offensive attack. The first time I played this game I didn't have any of that poo poo and it went quite poorly. I think I scraped by a second attempt with like Raging Tiger with the Holy Edge buff doing all the heavy lifting and getting lucky to not have anyone OHKO'd in the first round. Music: Results .jpg) The party gets a very nice chunk of experience points for finally dealing with the Ghost Troubles. Plus, Dehuai was nice enough to restock Li Li's wallet so Yuri and friends could raid it again the second round. Very thoughtful of him. b.jpg) Another one of this sort of items is our bonus reward for completing the fight. I dunno, I feel like a smaller Hit Area moving normal speed is easier to deal with than a double speed one in a normal sized Hit Area. But that might just be me. Music: ENDS .jpg) .jpg) Li Li vanishes in a blinding flash of light. .jpg) <approaches Dehuai> It’s your turn next!! Hee hee hee… Yeah... no..jpg) Dehuai peaces out back to Shanghai. As soon as he's gone, Sea Mother falls to her knees and then collapses to the floor. New Music: ALICE (Alice's Theme, only rolled out for bummer scenes.) .jpg) Sea Mother!!Alice rushes to her side. .jpg) <shakes head> It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such fine magic. Really? Musta missed that while I was, ya know, actually fighting that thing. Come to think of it, where the hell were you, pops?! Maintaining the exorcism so the ghost didn't just teleport away again. <narrows eyes> Awright... That sounds kinda plausible. I'll give you a pass... this time. Rest in peace, good Sea Mother… She... looks like she's still breathing... She's totally still breathing. I-I am not... dead... yet...Alice stands up and looks to the sea. .jpg) Spirits in the heavens! Our beloved magic user will be coming under your care. Hey, Alice. She's not actually de— Our wonderful, wonderful magic user… Missy, she hasn't kicked the buc— <prays> Please be good to her… Well... this is embarrassing... You're still alive!? We were trying to tell you! Oh, I'm so sorry! No, no... That was... nice... It's fine... I'll just... BARF! <dies> ...'kay, Alice. I think you're in the clear now. She's dead for realsies. .jpg) .jpg) Sea Mother's body fades away and finally vanishes in a flash of light. It's shockingly easy to get away with murdering a magic user in this world. .jpg) Heh heh. A fine send off. Sea Mother will be most pleased. Did anyone actually know her real name...? I err... Well, I think it was... Umm... <rubs neck> Nope! It... wasn't Sea Mother?Kawashima and Kato wander onto the deck. .jpg) …Yes. Everything’s all right now. D-did that old woman... die...? Mhm. You saw her body vanish, didn't you? That isn't how that... usually works... Don't sweat the details. Right... Let’s get this thing moving. Full speed ahead, please! <nods> R-right. <looks around> .jpg) You got trapped in an evil curse pocket dimension and were raided by malevolent spirits led by the vengeful ghost of a drowned girl who was resurrected by an evil Chinese sorcerer. A Taoist adept and a local shaman teamed up to paint the deck with exorcism runes to entrap the ghost, so a murder suspect could transform into a slug angel and beat it up. Then the evil Chinese sorcerer behind everything turned the ghost into a cecaelia, which also was defeated but exhausted the power of the local medicine woman, so she was raptured into the afterlife. It's not that complicated, I don't know what you're beside yourself about, honestly. But enough of that, there is one final scene to close out the chapter. Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple .jpg) <stomps foot and paces about> I must not underestimate that boy’s power. And now that Zhuzhen has joined the girl… Should probably look in on that woman with the boobs, while I'm at it... Time to take a step back and conjure up a plan. Hmm… A lanky man in a red outfit wanders into Dehuai's chamber, startling the sorcerer as he rambles to himself. .jpg) Ah, Wugui! So glad you could make it here from Kowloon. I did not wish to tear you away from Hong Kong, but I could not afford NOT to call you… <nods> Do not worry. Not much is going on in Hong Kong, and to tell the truth, I was growing a little bored. Indeed, we’ve already made puppets of the newly-appointed French parliamentary officials. ...The British have taken over, not the French. Whichever. Same difference... Stuffy western foreigners. <nods> Excellent. drat the foreign superpowers. They believe this country is theirs for the taking! Ha! I’ll never let it happen… As long as I’m here, they won’t lay a finger on Shanghai!! <steps forward> Master, if I may be so bold… are you experiencing difficulties with the Demon’s Gate Invocation? Yes, well… As you can see, the Spirit Machine of Kuihai Tower is complete and ready to go… But the girl… the KEY… is still running loose. An unwelcome guest blocks my way. Unwelcome… guest? Bacon again? No, I haven't seen that dick of a warlock in a while. It is... Absolute Sage Zhuzhen! Master Zhuzhen? I never imagined he still lived. What is he like a hundred years old now? We're around the same age... <rubs neck> Ergh... Sorry, master. Still, I wouldn't have guessed he lives....jpg) My Blue Dragon trap only succeeded in killing an old hag. Grr…!! Pathetic, I tell you! I don't even know who the heck that was. I almost feel bad... Bah! She was PROBABLY attempting to foil my plans... It's fine... <steps forward> Not to worry, Master Dehuai. I shall deliver the girl to you immediately… along with the old man’s head. <laughs> Hee hee. Good, good! You’ve always been my best student. Just... put it in a box or something this time. I JUST got this new carpet in. I don't want a repeat of last time's performance. Yeah, that was my bad, master... ...I really liked that old rug, too. It really brought the room together, you know? This one is fine but... it's just not the same... <turns to Wugui> A word of warning, though. Do not underestimate them. …One of them is a monster with the power of Fusion. Fusion?! The Japanese man… he can’t still be alive? <shakes head> No, this one is different. He’s still young, though there is no doubt he’s a Harmonixer. Two Yamarajas have fallen to him thus far. The name swapping ruse was no help to them at all. It was always a dangerous gambit, master. Gods…! Heh heh heh. If what you say is true, Master, this should be interesting. I, Wugui of Kowloon, shall not fail you. <nods> Then I’ll wait for the good news. Show that grinning bastard Roger Bacon what we’re capable of. Now, Wugui! Go!.jpg) And that concludes Chapter 5 of Shadow Hearts! The ghost troubles have been sorted out for real this time. Even if the only NPC with a character portrait from the town we saved dropped dead in the process. Shadow Hearts isn't very nice to its regional story arc sub-characters if you cannot tell. Yuri and pals' adventures will continue in Chapter 6: Demonic Shanghai! That was a quite short chapter. So not a whole lot to add to the Library listings. But we'll do our due diligence. MONSTER: .jpg) That doesn't seem like the most efficient way to go about eating people. .jpg) You'd be surprised about how many jellyfish lap up drowning man piss. .jpg) OK. But why did Dehuai make her boobs way bigger? That dude is just a weird pervert. You know between the puppy thing and this, he's just acting out some weird kinks he has. Wizards, man... NPC: .jpg) Tragically, he lost his eyebrows in the bargain. **********  Video: Li Li Boss Battle The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Jul 30, 2018 |
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Jul 28, 2018 18:46
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 Episode XXII: A Rainy Day Fifteen Years Ago Music: Blow Up .jpg) Welp, it only took an exorcism and one fatality, but we've made it safely to Shanghai. .jpg) We've made it up to Sweeper in our useless Score screen. Maybe it'll calculate our Rooder Points at the end of the adventure, too. .jpg) Some major regions in Shadow Hearts have their own sub-maps. Shanghai is the first of 'em. Even back in the 1910s, it was one of the biggest cities in China and by the 1920s it was in the top five biggest cities in the world. I suppose it deserves its own map even if we'll be confined to like three blocks and maybe an evil sorcerer tower for the duration of our stay. Before we venture into Shanghai properly, we're going to do so first in another flashback... New Music: God Knows Bad News (For when things aren't going well.) .jpg) Err... Present day is 1913... Fifteen years ago would be 1898. Pretty sure they just hosed up and got the last two digits reversed here. Whoops! .jpg) Zhuzhen collapses in the street. .jpg) Whichever year it is, it's not been a good one for Zhuzhen... Wugui of Kowloon and what definitely aren't two palette-swapped duplicates of him sans the ponytail surrounds the fallen Zhuzhen. .jpg) An Adept of the highest rank… fallen. Kee-hee-hee!! Y’didn’t really think we’d letcha get away, did ya!! A little fly like you, always flitting about, causing trouble for Master Dehuai?! No, sir! That wassa cheap trick throwin' a rake in his path like that! You gonna pay!! Y’know what happens to flies, old man? They get SQUASHED!.jpg) Zhuzhen climbs back to his feet. All three men jump back and assume a fighting stance. Fortunately for them, he immediately crumbles back to his knee. .jpg) Hee hee hee… You’re a fine bunch. Attaching yourselves to the infamous Dehuai and calling him “Master”. You should have seen him back when we were training. The only thing he was a master of was debating. Repeatedly. Three times a day. I'm surprised he hasn't lost an arm going at it that much. Hee hee... Shuddup! The master doesn't debate! He orders and we obey! That's not what I was insinu—you know what? Forget it. This is lost on you fools. If you wanted a master, you’d have been better off declaring loyalty to one of those mangy street dogs! <steps forward> Hmph, scum! After that torture session, it’s amazing you have any energy left to oppose the Master’s teachings. Of course, a maggot like you can’t really be expected to comprehend the greatness of Master Dehuai… …Greatness?! Greatness, you say?! That’s a good one!! Wah ha ha ha ha! That’s a real side-splitter!! I think I’m going to die laughing!! Owww! Crud... that's a cracked rib... Oh ho ho... <yells angrily> Enough!! Shut up, you maggot!! Lord Wugui, let’s kill him and be done with it! <turns away> Still, there’s one thing I do not understand. Why do you oppose the Demon’s Gate Invocation?.jpg) The Demon’s Gate Invocation! If we can destroy Japan, we shall send a clear and firm message to the West! <turns back to Zhuzhen> Do you know any other way to maintain peace on this continent?! Hmph! I’ve no use for such drivel! Destroy Japan?! A warning shot to the West?! You’re a fool! That’s not what a Demon’s Gate Invocation is about… Are you EVEN LISTENING to the name of the thing you're trying to bring about!? Does that REMOTELY sound like it's a good, easily contained idea!? Sure, like he says, it might be easy to blast Japan out of the water! But… just one misstep… and you could wind up blowing the entire world into oblivion!! <yells angrily> Shaddup! As if you know!! Oh, I forgot. Who was the Adept of the highest rank here? Was it you Generic Goon #2? Oh right, now I recall. It was me! So YES, I would very much know, kid! <approaches Zhuzhen> Bah! I could stand here all day explaining it to you… you’ll never understand. Plus, I'm getting uncomfortably soggy hanging out in the rain like this. Same! Yeah, boss! This sucks... Alas, it seems our discussion has now come to an end. Allow us to aid you on your trip to hell..jpg) <Quiet Male Voice> …Hold it right there.Colonel Ben Hyuga strolls onto the scene with... some guy... .jpg) This ain’t no show, man. Get outta here before you get hurt! <shakes head> It seems the streets of Shanghai have become considerably more dangerous than I remember them… Another thing I'll need to fix while I'm here. Y-you’re Japanese, aren’t you?! Butt out, buddy, or I can’t guarantee you’ll get outta this alive! W-wait! These people have nothing to do with this! S-sir. Gentleman from Japan. Please be on your way. There’s no sense in you getting hurt, too. He’s right. It would be wise not to meddle in things that don’t concern you. No good will come out of opposing us. I’m sorry, but I heard you were in league with Dehuai. I simply cannot ignore you. Music: ENDS .jpg) <shakes head and dismisses him> That is of little importance… to those who are about to die. I'll make it quick. From the looks of you, I doubt it could go anyway but quickly. Heh heh… what an amusing joke!! All right, fool! We’ll see who’s about to die!! You. We've discussed this. No, I meant that we were gonna—FORGET IT! Get his guy!.jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) This game really doesn't care to animate human enemies if it can help it, so the two generic mooks have transmogrified into a couple of Kappa. They're monsters in disguise. They can do that, apparently. This is not the last time they'll handwave this kind of thing. .jpg) So, we're playing as Colonel Hyuga for this flashback. He is essentially just a Level 40 Yuri. He's strong enough on his own to send either of these Kappa or Wugui to the Fiddy Zone. But hey, that'd be boring. Especially, since Ben Hyuga comes packing a Fusion we've yet see in the game. .jpg) .jpg) Time for a rough night on Bald Mountain, fuckers. Boy that sure looks a lot like the Gargoyle from Koudelka. .jpg) The Czernobog Fusion can delete a large amount of MP from an enemy using Spirit Pollution. Enemies do have limited MP stocks but running out rarely ever comes up in any battle. Not too useful here. Release Magic buffs the entire party's Special Attack Power for 5 turns. Don't think that one is necessary either. But Revelation... I think we've seen that one before somewhere... .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Ah, right. It's the attack Roger Bacon used to wreck Yuri's day on top of the train during the prologue of the game. Let's give that a whirl. .jpg) Well, the Kappa duo is sent to the Fiddy Zone, never to return. Disappointingly, it seems Wugui of Kowloon has some manner of special ability that absorbs magical attacks. Good to know for future reference... Folk from Kowloon shouldn't be attacked with magic.  With that in mind, turns out getting your poo poo kicked in by a devilman going hog is not something Wugui can just brush off. .jpg) Wugui falls to his knees and punches the ground on his defeat. Hey, now. Nobody likes to see a sore loser. .jpg) .jpg) That concludes our time playing as Ben Hyuga. No experience is granted to the Colonel for taking out jobbers like 35 levels under him. Music: ENDS .jpg) <shakes head> I’ve changed my mind. I will not kill you. Run back to your master and tell him this: “A man has appeared, who is coming for you. Until he arrives, live out your remaining days in fear.” Grrr… You… you will regret those words!! It's not even a well-worded threat! True, it needs some workshopping. But I'm VERY wet and don't have the mood to recompose it. Go before I change my mind..jpg) Seems Dehuai taught Wugui the arts of Coward Teleportation when he gets his rear end kicked. It's probably one of the first things he was taught, given Dehuai's success record portrayed. Colonel Hyuga and... friend... turn their attention to Zhuzhen. .jpg) Ugh… I’ll be all right… Heh heh heh. Not to sound ungrateful for your help, but… I don’t… exactly… Consider myself so old yet. Urgh… I'm somewhat aged, at best.Zhuzhen gets back on his feet. .jpg) I thank you for coming to my rescue. My name is Zhuzhen. I’m an Adept. It would appear so. E-exactly what… sort of person are you? I'm from Japan. Yeah, I can see that... I meant more the turning into a devil thing... <nods> The Fusion technique… I heard about it a long time ago, but I never expected to see it myself… Heh heh… how amusing to hear that fiend call YOU a demon… Talk about… the pot and the kettle…Zhuzhen loses his balance and falls back to his knee. .jpg) drat! If I weren’t in such a state, I’d have made short work of those bastards. Urgh… Owww… <shakes head> Heh heh. It’s clear that your injuries haven’t affected that mouth of yours. The shop I run is just down the way. Come with us, and I’ll treat your wounds. And by "shop," I mean "bar" and by "treat wounds," I mean "get you liquored up while I find a doctor." Th-there’s no need for that. I’m feeling much better already… Much bet… O-ouch…! It's only a cracked rib. Or eight... Y-youch... Just give me a minute... Hah! Come, Master Zhuzhen. I will carry you there. <walks up to Zhuzhen and bends over> Wait, wha...!? Hop on, friend. Fade to black. End flashback. New Music: Swindler - Shanghai Mood (Yep. That sure is a Chinese city theme.) .jpg) The next thing I knew he was carrying me piggy-back, and I could feel my face burning red! <turns to Alice> He was an incredible man, and handsome to boot… so much so that he almost had ME swooning! Hah! Took all my will not to pop a bon—blood vessel blushing... Cough... Goodness! Was he really that strong? He must have been amazing. And he had Fusion powers, just like… …You… you don’t think he could be Yuri’s…?! Finally, one of you got it. I'd been dropping context clues like nobody's business... Sheesh! <points to Alice> You guessed it. You’re not going to find too many people in this world who can wield Fusion. But I just can’t make up my mind to tell the kid, you know… I guess I’m too much of a coward… And then? What happened to Colonel Hyuga after that?Zhuzhen turns back to the window and sighs. .jpg) The city’s completely changed, too. I feel like… I’ve been left behind to grow old and decrepit… I'm not the spry young man in my early 50s like I was back then... Zhuzhen…! What are you saying? You’re still plenty young!! You don't look a day over 49. Heh heh heh. It’s nice of you to say that. You’re a sweet girl. <laughs>Alice walks over to a bed to find Yuri dead asleep. .jpg) And here we are in Shanghai and everything! Ha ha ha… He’s probably sleeping off the effect of his seasickness. Everybody’s got their weaknesses. You don't think he... heard any of what we were talking about, did you? Hey, kid. It's incredible how much more of a chiseled god of a man your father was compared to your sad, lanky butt. ... ... <snore> ...Yeah, he didn't hear any of it..jpg) After all these years, I feel like wandering around a bit, maybe stopping by an old friend’s place. Tee-hee. All right. He's got a bar down the street if you need me. Don't stay out drinking all night with your old friend. I don’t expect to be out all that late. Just gonna get a healthy morning buzz going. It's how I keep fit..jpg) And with that, Zhuzhen takes off. Tune next time as we hit the streets of Shanghai with the old Adept, reminisce about old times and maybe see a weird live action FMV show while we're there, as Shadow Hearts continues! .jpg) Video: Colonel Hyuga Stomp Match (You should probably watch this.)  Colonel Ben Hyuga Portrait – Zhuzhen forgot to mention the part where falcons would just land on his shoulder when his steely gaze locked on to him. 
The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Jul 30, 2018 |
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Jul 30, 2018 18:46
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Accordion Man posted:Fun Fact: There was a fourth Shadow Hearts game that was planned before Nautilus got dissolved, it was going to star a younger Ben years before this flashback happens. Yep, they were going to make a proper Shadow Hearts 3 (the third game, From the New World, is a spin-off) starring young Ben/Jinpachiro. It got conceptually far enough along that young Hyuga Sr. got some concept art.  Nohman posted:Why does Wugui have a stretchy Dhalsim arm when he punches Ben? Magic. HR12345 posted:If Zhuzhen’s flashback was in 1898: dies that mean tgis was going on the same time our favorite trio were having their little adventure in Wales? Yes, 1898 was a busy year for weird occult bullshit in this universe. The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Jul 31, 2018 |
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Jul 31, 2018 19:06
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Episode XXIII: Under New Management Music: Swindler - Shanghai Mood .jpg) We now find ourselves playing as Zhuzhen for a while since Yuri is taking a nap and somebody needs to move the plot along until he wakes up. Silent Peddler is chilling out upstairs in his continued lowkey stalking of the party. But we didn't really jog much while stuck on a boat. So, he can be ignored for now. Instead, let's go downstairs and chat with Margarete. .jpg) Yeah. Thought I'd go kill some time. Maybe have a drink or two with an old friend. It's around 9:00 AM... Early bird catches the worm. Huh. I didn't know that idiom was referring to alcoholism. By the way, you haven't seen our two smuggler friends, have you? <shrugs> They both left a little while ago. Seems they had someone to meet... more shady business, I'd guess. The way those two greenhorns looked after that encounter I wouldn't be surprised to bump into them at the bar. It's like they saw a ghost. What a metropolis Shanghai is! I just went and had a look... it's nothing like Fengtian or Dalian! Hee hee. Want a date? You don't want to wander around the big city all alone, do you? I'll manage. Make sure those two youngens don't get cursed or kidnapped by wizard minions or the like while I'm out. Your loss..jpg) Let's hit the town! The bar Zhuzhen wants to visit is the building just to the south of the Cypress Hotel we're staying in. Which obviously means that's the last destination we'll venture toward. Also, right across the street is a chest nobody seems to be using. So, let's do the touristy thing and immediately raid its contents. .jpg) Naturally, a new staff that just happens to be Zhuzhen's forte is hiding within the said chest. It'd be rather awkward if he raided it and there was a weird bible or a gun inside. This rod grants 17 Physical Attack and 24 Special Attack which is double the strength of the one we purchased him for real money in Dalian and he went on to use for all of one boss battle before ducking out of the party for an entire chapter. Wee bit of buyer's remorse for that one now... Anyway, let's see what's happening in town today. .jpg) I don't think "training" is the word I'd use for the lesson he is going to get taught..jpg) At around sundown, he transforms into Bumming a Few Bucks Off His Mates For a Pint Miha. .jpg) Sure enough, that is the exit to Shanghai. Come to think of it, I think this is the first area we've been to that had a proper exit from it you could reach at any time. But despite that, Zhuzhen refuses to leave town just yet. He just got here! .jpg) It's a little late for that, my guy... .jpg) In the clutter near Hasty Kawa, we can rummage about and find yet another Lottery Ticket. The game is really frontloaded with handing these out like candy and becomes far stingier as we progress to the second half. Also, if you'll look to the barrel at the bottom of the screen, Zhuzhen can dig through that like a weirdo to discover... .jpg) It's the second tier of MP restorative items. This one will top off a healthy 100 MP on use. Who would leave a precious rare seed that only drops once every other year in some back-alley barrel? Highly suspect behavior. .jpg) Even though it was a fishing boat, there wasn't a single fish on it! Trust me, you wouldn't want any fish from that boat... Oh? Do they not handle their load properly? Let's just say there are cursed conditions on that old tub..jpg) If we continue to the east, we'll come upon another adjacent street with several points of interest. For instance, could you guess there are two items staring you in the face right now on this very screen? .jpg) No, of course, you couldn't because they're bloody invisible until you walk over them. Hugging the righthand side of the street will produce this first item... .jpg) Holy man Hylas sure looks an awful lot like an anime schoolgirl... Unless that is supposed to be one of those water nymphs that abducted him like a chump. This is an upgraded revival item. Crumpling this up and tossing it at unconscious party members will revive them with 50% of their total life. That's OK I guess, but I wish all the alcohol-based consumables from Koudelka stuck around. The concept of reviving someone from being KOed by shoving a bottle of whiskey in their mouth was fun/dumb. .jpg) A second new item is found also down the street by some shelves just under the balcony on the bottom right building. It's another one of those weird buffs that rejigger the Judgment Wheel's layout and we'll probably never use. Also, this Blue Dragon really needs to get itself checked out if these gnarly things pass for horns. .jpg) Nobody on this street has anything too interesting to say. It's all mostly variations of everyone being worried about the Japanese army showing up in town. A lot of that going around China these days. .jpg) .jpg) Further down the street, there is a new shop being run out of some kid's house. We're just going to remember it's here for now. It wouldn't make a lot of sense to go shopping with just the single party member on hand. Plus, there might be a way to get a further discount on items in the near future. We'll be back another day. .jpg) .jpg) If we keep heading further down the street, we'll eventually come to the docks where the Smuggler's Boat can be found. Kawashima and Kato are nowhere to be found and the ship's wheelhouse is no longer accessible, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to see here. If we go below deck, we find a little boy is squatting in the crew's quarters... .jpg) I could debate this point, but you're probably right... C'mon, this is your chance to win big! What'll you do, pal? ...Come again? Did I hear a "Count me in" just now? No... What are you even doing? What's with the changed voice? A lottery what...? I'm very confused right now. Ask the boy in the trench coat. He knows all about us..jpg) Turns out Sharp Van is actually Lottery Member Number 12. We definitely want the top prize from this kid. This Lottery Judgment Wheel spins way faster than usual, so it's tricky get. But... .jpg) The Star Card grants the party the chance to receive a 20% Discount and 10% Price Raise in stores. That was worth the effort of reloading from five attempts. .jpg) With the Star Card acquired, we're more or less done with all the optional bits of Shanghai's streets. Again, we'll wait to shop until we have a full party. So, let's head back to the first screen... .jpg) The ENTERTAINMENT SHOW bar just across the street from the gang's hotel is where we want to go to advance the story. As soon as Zhuzhen sets foot inside, we're whisked away to another scene. Music: Army Mood .jpg) Ah, it’s been awhile, Lieutenant Suketani. At ease, please. Ma’am how are we doing on the “package” for the mainland? The special charter is ready. Yes, about that… I was thinking we might postpone it for a bit. There have been developments we need to study before moving forward just yet. I need to look up documentation on... materials I was not aware were things I needed to be worried about... … Ghosts... ...Mhm. That would be one of the new developments...Kawashima walks over to her desk. Kato joins at her side. .jpg) <nods> Yes, please do. Lieutenant Suketani, how’s the investigation coming along? Yes, ma’am. We’ve managed to get our probes rather deep inside. <turns to his men and motions them out> <stand at attention and leave the office> <notices Kato is still here> Suketani walks up to and death stares Kato. It is very uncomfortable. .jpg) Ah, yes. I forgot to introduce you, Suketani. This is Sergeant Kato. You may talk in front of him. Is that right. Then you must excuse me, Sergeant. My apologies. <nervously shakes head and wipes the sweat off his brow>Suketani returns to his position to finish giving his report. .jpg) It seems that it is YOU who are under investigation, ma’am. You’re safe with me, but please stay alert. I’M being investigated?! It must be a spy sent by one of my father’s political enemies… The Capital is a pit of schemes. I’ll be careful. I swear, you indulge in the local cuisine one time and flippantly mention it's better than anything back home and some peon trying to get one over on you reports back that you've gone native... Please continue with what you were saying before. Yes. Dehuai, who’s fighting against our Japanese army, is planning a Demon’s Gate Invocation. But he still needs a few more things to cast the Taoist magic needed for the invocation. A few more things? Also everyone is readily going along with magic being in play here? Were you not, ma'am? I had a strong skepticism on any reports. That stance has changed recently... Going to see those flaming skulls in my nightmares... Quite... So, what else does Dehuai need?Kawashima walks to the office window. .jpg) Dehuai must also banish the four gods that block the ceremony by protecting the earthly veins. It appears that all of these factors must be in place to make the ceremony possible. In the past six months, Dehuai has collected the Black Tortoise, the Blue Dragon and the Red Phoenix. <nods> So the only one left is the White Tiger, then… And where is the White Tiger? Do you know yet? It’s in Wuhan. More precisely, it’s sealed in the temple ruins on the edge of Wuhan. Of course Dehuai knows this? Then before it falls into his hands, we must send troops to seize it. We’ve sent forces there… twice. But… However? Every last man was lost. Not a single survivor. Some terribly powerful monsters have made a nest out of those temple ruins. You didn't feel it prudent to mention you were repeatedly sending men into a meat grinder? I did. Just now, ma'am. ...... Are those monsters protecting the White Tiger? And I wonder why they picked such a troublesome spot…? I don’t know. But apparently, Dehuai isn’t able to handle them, either. Wh-what is it, Lt. Colonel? I’ve just had an idea! A… an idea?.jpg) <turns to Suketani> We fight fire with fire. We defeat the monsters with a monster… I know just the rude hero and gullible accomplices... Let's go.Music: Swindler - Shanghai Mood .jpg) Meanwhile, we regain control of Zhuzhen back at the ENTERTAINMENT SHOW bar. As we enter, we see a poster sign reading. Qiuhau's Chinese Fiddle Performance, Held Every Day!! We'll take a look around in just a sec. First things first... .jpg) LOTTERY TICKET: GET! .jpg) The local bar patrons are none too helpful or friendly. They're probably annoyed the establishment doesn't have any chairs to sit in. You hate to see budget cuts like that. Anyway, let's see if the bartender will be more helpful. .jpg) Just tell him Zhuzhen is here. Sorry, sir. The boss isn’t in. Doesn’t this place belong to Mr. Zhen? Zhen? Can’t say I recall the name… Let’s stop the kidding around, shall we? I’m talking about that young lady’s father. <motions to the poster near the entrance> Oh, if that’s who you mean, just have a seat. He should be along any minute now. Keep some pocket change handy if you don't want to get pestered. He’s not… the owner of this place? Hah, give me a break. This place changed hands years ago. … Go have a seat. The show is about to start. ...I cannot help but notice there aren't any chairs. Maybe your friend Zhen took them all with him. Service has certainly declined since I was here last..jpg) Zhuzhen makes his way to a table as a young woman enters the stage with a Chinese fiddle. Which leads to... .jpg) Video: Quihua's Performance ( Hey go watch this! It's one of the only times in the game Zhuzhen gets voice acting. ).jpg) Quihua bows and briefly exits the stage to put her fiddle away. When she returns to the stage, she notices Zhuzhen watching. .jpg)  Uncle Zhuzhen!!Quihua runs up to Zhuzhen. .jpg) It’s good to see YOU! You look well. In fact, you haven’t changed a bit! Like... literally. Are those...the same clothes, even? Some looks don't go out of style. So how’s your dad? How’s Mr. Zhen? … …What’s the matter?Mr. Zhen walks into the room and starts begging for handouts from people watching the show. .jpg) What do you want now, man?! Begging for coins again, huh? Fine! I'll give you some! Don't say I wasn't a reasonable drunken hooligan.Zhen walks over to the other patron. .jpg) Gyahaha! <turns around and notices Zhuzhen> .jpg) That’s right, Father. Uncle Zhuzhen is back. Can you believe it? He hasn't changed one bit. It's a tad bit creepy... Gee thanks, kid. Y-you’re alive…?! But… how?! What kind of greeting is that for an old friend? Fifteen long years, and you look like you’ve seen a ghost! You were gone for fifteen years and Dehuai is still around, so... It was a reasonable assumption. They tell me this place has changed hands. Is it true? Err… Erm… Yes, it’s true. Aw, come on! What’re you being so formal with me for? That’s no way for the owner of this place to… … I just said I don't own this bar anymore, so could you stop before— …I am the owner of this business.Out strolls Wugui of Kowloon. Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple .jpg) So you’re still alive… Heh heh… I believe that’s my line, Master Zhuzhen. Did literally everyone think I was dead? Yes. Mhm. <frown> ...Huh. I’m finally back from Kowloon, and I find myself meeting old faces. Let me welcome you properly. Master Wugui, please leave Uncle Zhuzhen alone. He just came here to see father. That’s all. So please… Please…! <turns to Quihua> M-MASTER WUGUI?! Why act so surprised? Didn’t I just tell you? I am the proprietor of this place. Once, Zhuzhen, Zhen opposed Master Dehuai. Now, he and his daughter are among my employees. <turns to Zhen> I-I can’t believe it! Is this true, Zhen?! ... ...Yes. <shakes head> H-how could this have…? Hah ha ha ha ha!! What’s the matter, Zhuzhen? Shanghai’s changed! Now then, to begin the welcome banquet! You remember how to play the old game, don’t you?! No transforming foreigner to babysit you now. Is that what you called it when he handed you your rear end? You know... I'm going to let you have that one since you're about to die. You two!The two patrons Zhen was begging to step forward. .jpg) <turns to Quihua and motions to the door> Quihua runs out of the bar. .jpg) I'll take you first, old man. Feel free to both come at the same time... I ain't splitting a reward with this chump! Hey! Sorry, man... <shrug> Your funerals..jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) As with during the flashback to the fight with Wugui, his minions transform into Kappa when it's time to throw down. This Kappa has raised stats compared to its early predecessors. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Which means it takes TWO Ogre Flamedances to kill one of 'em instead of just one-shotting them. I don't think it would have mattered if they teamed up. .jpg) Well, in that case… In that case, if I win, I get this place as my prize. I didn't win this place in a card game, old man. I bought it. With money. I'm not putting it up for beating my cronies. …Hmph. In any case, your attempts will prove futile. You’re far too old for this. Shouldn't you be pushing your '40s by now? It's been fifteen years for you too, you know? <enters fighting stance> Not bad, gramps. But can you hold up? Maybe it’s time for a prayer..jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Spoilers: It does not go well for Hoodlum Kan either. Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple  Your arts are as sharp as ever, even if you yourself haven’t fared as well. Have I not aged a day or have a deteriorated into a mummy? All of you folks are giving me really mixed signals. Hmph! Are you quite finished? Enough talk. Now you face me. Heh heh heh… You DO remember, don’t you?! Your magic has no effect on me! ... ...... ...poo poo....jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) So, remember in the flashback with Ben how Revelation, one of the strongest single spells in the game, healed Wugui of Kowloon? .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Yeah, that's not changed at all. Turns out folks from Kowloon can simple absorb all magical attacks. Considering Zhuzhen is just barely past Alice as the weakest physical fighter in the game... Yeah, that could be a problem here.  Apparently, Wugui has been doing some Yoga practice because he also possesses some bizarre stretchy arm powers like Dhalsim from Street Fighter. For when you really want to deck someone but walking across the room is simply too much of a trial. .jpg) .jpg) Zhuzhen can put in some work trying to beat back Wugui with physical attacks. Unfortunately, that's not quite enough to beat up this mid-boss. Especially since he'll begin using turns to Defend which leaves Zhuzhen open for retaliation. But really, all we need to do is keep Zhuzhen alive until Wugui decides to use his ultimate attack.  Game of Death is an instant kill attack. There are still zero accessories that prevent Death status up to this point in the game. There's absolutely nothing Zhuzhen can do to prevent from getting incredibly owned here. .jpg) I can't believe Zhuzhen is loving dead.  Video: Wugui Stomp Match (You should probably watch this.)  Wugui of Kowloon Art – Who knew Bruce Lee ripped off a magical stretchy Triad guy from Kowloon this whole time? The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Aug 5, 2018 |
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Aug 4, 2018 18:40
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Episode XXIV: No Sell.jpg) Now, where were we? Oh right... Zhuzhen was having another really bad day. Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple .jpg) I-I’ll be all right!! Y-you magic-sucking, half-pint, slicked-back bastard… Hey. I know you're upset I sold the bar, but that's mean... I think the old man is talking to me. I was talking to him. Oh... That makes more sense. Heh. And I was thinking of allowing you a quick death. As usual, you had to go and say too much… I’ll cut off your limbs and serve them to Dehuai. And that wagging tongue of yours as well! You're going to cut off my limbs and have me bleed all over your place just because you're getting mad? I see why this bar turned into such a dive. Oh, it's fine. It's not like it'll be the first time. Right, Zhen? <frown> I'll have Qiuhua go get the mops... Ah, there they are! Yuri and Qiuhua rush onto the scene. .jpg) Don’t tell me you’re half-dead? You hurt? This guy did this to you? Heh… What’s the matter, kid? You sound like you’re actually starting to care about me or something. Yeah, well... Don't let it go to your head. Some of your friends, Zhuzhen? Poke around in other people’s business and you’re bound to get hurt. I’ll forgive you this intrusion. Get lost! Great, another rambling jag-off. That crappy sorcerer sure has a mid-boss type he likes.Yuri stands up and gets in Wugui's face. .jpg) I don’t care if you get down on your hands and knees, I won’t let you off the hook! W-who are you?! <waves a dismissal> Why would I tell you?! It doesn’t matter anyway, since you’re going to die right here! You really are dumb! (Why am I getting an awful sense of déjà vu...?) <nervous laugh> Wh-wh-wh… What an amusing joke!! A… all right, fool! We’ll see who’s about to die!! You, dumbass! We've discussed this. No, I meant that I am—wait... I've DONE this before! But where...? ... ...... ...poo poo..jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) Time for Yuri vs. Wugui of Kowloon. Perhaps this will go slightly better than Zhuzhen's attempt.  Wugui doesn't mess about this fight. He immediately goes for the throat and attempts to take out Yuri with his Game of Death. .jpg) ...OK..jpg) You just stood there for a minute and then kicked the air... I don't get what you were going for, guy. I see. You, too, are protected by the darkness!!.jpg) Well, I mean that's true of Yuri in his current form. But we can always switch that up. While Yuri is immune to Wugui's one hit KO, there's still nothing we can do about his absorption of magical attacks. So, let's switch over to something that packs a bit more punch, eh? .jpg) And then let's buff our punching potential to the maximum. We need to beat 333 HP out of Wugui. Which is the same amount he had when he fought Papa Hyuga fifteen years ago. Yuri still has about 25 Levels to grind if he wants this to be that much of a stomp match. But we'll be fine. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) The remainder of this fight just turns into Yuri and Wugui exchanging punch combos to each other's faces. Turns out an eight-foot-tall, burly fire elemental with four arms can outpunch a short guy from Hong Kong that ate some Gum-Gum Fruit. It's got to be really embarrassing every 15 years to have a Hyuga show up on your turf and just completely whip your rear end. Music: Results .jpg) He even steals Wugui's wallet while he's at it. The guy shouldn't have been carrying around that much spending money if he didn't want to get mugged. .jpg) Also, for defeating Wugui in a fist fight, we get this extremely specific use case item. This sounds like it might be useful in some scenario where, I don't know, Wugui fought an entire party and could use his OHKO on people who were not immune to it. Except that scenario assumes we wouldn't be finding items that straight up defend against instant death by the point that would come up. The game will not be presenting such a scenario... As soon as the battle ends, Margarete and Alice run onto the scene. Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple .jpg) F-fusion!! Y-you… you’re… a demon…! Oh no, you're gonna hurt my feelings saying stuff like that while I'm standing over here with a 4-0 record against Dehuai lackeys. I changed my mind! I’m not going to kill you anymore, so you run along to Dehuai… Since I’m here, he better hide his girlie magazines, ‘cause he could get killed any day now! Nnngh… Things’ll go a bit differently next time, kid!! Uh-oh. Are you gonna have a second powered-up form? Or maybe throw one of those Yamaraja dudes at me? ...N-no. Forget this!.jpg) Wugui OUT. Music: ENDS .jpg) <weakly stands up> Ugh... I’ll be all right… Heh heh heh. Not to sound ungrateful for your help, but… couldn’t you have come just a little sooner…? Hey, I think I’m having déjà vu… Urgh… owww… <approaches Yuri> Arrgg... No… What’s happening… I can’t believe it…Music: Tanjou .jpg) There’s no mistaking it… His eyes… and his mouth… It’s an absolute likeness!! Like a twin… Psst... Alice? Zhuzhen? Who is this senile old guy...? It’s as if he’s alive… and… grew to be this grand… ohh… urggh… <turns to Alice> Hey, he’s crying! Er… What should I do? <confused shrug> Maybe give him a hug...? Naw... I don't even know who this guy IS! Master Zhuzhen, is he…? Heh heh heh… You guess right, Qiuhua, Zhen. Let me introduce you. The kid’s name is Yuri. It’s a memento from Colonel Ben Hyuga!! Hunh?! Err... Did I miss something sleeping in...? I told you he didn't hear any of that. <concerned hum> Yeah...Sometime later... Back at the party's hotel room. .jpg) Ever since then, I accompanied him in his travels. We opened a shop in Shanghai because he said we should make this our base of operations… But in fact, he did it out of concern for young Qiuhua. Am I supposed to know who that is...? That's me. Ah right. You're the one that ran out hollerin' about how the old quack was getting his rear end handed to him. That's not how I said it at all. I can read between the lines. Each summer, father left the village for work. Then he returned just before winter began. But there was that one year… A cold winter arrived, and snow was falling. But no sign of father… And instead, what came to our village was… Hmph… Forget it… See I can trail off on key backstory too... I heard that the colonel had a Russian wife. And that they had a young son. But… I had no idea… that he would be alive… Gee, thanks. …My mother died. Heheh, but just my luck, I had to outlive them. <steps forward> How can you say that? I haven’t been this thrilled in my life. And how happy Zhuzhen must be as well! Oh yeah, gramps... We need some words. <sigh> Here we go....jpg) But you kept quiet the whole time!! Whether it’s about my father, or me, or whoever else… … Why is everyone so drat secretive!! Why?? Tell me, you stupid old man!! I was over the old guy who's read ahead in the script routine since we first met. Time to knock it off for real! <runs up to Yuri> Stop it, Yuri! Zhuzhen was agonizing over it all the time. He didn’t know how to tell you. So, please…! Wait, when did he tell you about this crap...? While you were sleeping. Didja all sneak off to hear stories about my old man while I was napping? No. We were standing... actually, literally exactly where we are standing right now. You are... a VERY heavy sleeper, Yuri... Oh that's rich coming out of you after you fell dead asleep on a park bench for hours. They don't need to hear about that....jpg) Zhuzhen!! What did you say?! Those could be your last words! ...OK, that part I didn't hear about... I first met Hyuga fifteen years ago, here in Shanghai. When he saved you from that Wugui man and gave you a piggyback to safety! Pfft... Really? Ergh... I mean, keep talkin'! I didn't feel that was important information here. Let me continue...Zhuzhen sighs and looks out the window. .jpg) We spent much time tracking Dehuai. Finally, we learned what the Demon’s Gate Invocation was. We hit Dehuai’s stronghold, the Kuihai Tower, and finally defeated him. It was a fierce battle. So then, the man you told me about in Dalian was… <turns to Yuri and nods> That’s right. I was talking about your father. Hyuga put his life on the line and stopped the cursed Valorization. Then… my father died, eh… … Yuri… Please forgive Zhuzhen… Zhuzhen didn’t want to get involved in the same fight your father got pulled into. I can fully understand Zhuzhen’s feelings. If I were him, I would’ve done the same thing.Yuri kicks the wall. Music: ENDS. .jpg) Yuri... Zhuzhen. If Dehuai is trying to repeat the same mistake he attempted fifteen years ago… Then the next target is surely Master Xifa!!Music: Much Hatred Still Rankles .jpg) Y-you’re right!! How could I have been so dense?! Don’t shout like that all of a sudden! You wanna scare me half to death?! Gah! When did you get here!? I've been here the entire time. It's been REALLY awkward, let me tell you! …But that temple is the holiest place in Nine Heavens Taoism. It’s protected by Master Xifa himself. Even that miserable fool Dehuai should know better than to mess with that place. Master Xifa? Yeah. He was my teacher... a mangy old goat. He’s the protector of the underground temple at Wuhan. YOU are calling someone a mangy old goat? What is he? Like a hundred years old? 108 this year, if I remember correctly. ...Oh. Huh. …And here’s the rub. The White Tiger is ensconced there… one of the Gods of the Four Directions. At first, the White Tiger picture was kept elsewhere, but to keep it from falling in Dehuai’s hands… Colonel Hyuga placed it in the care of Master Xifa. Which means… Dehuai’s plotted out this scheme far more carefully than before… And if that’s what he’s called in Wugui for, then it’s all beginning to make sense. Zhuzhen focuses on Yuri. .jpg) How about you, Yuri? Do you have the guts to walk your father’s path? My… My father’s path? The one I just got tossed on my lap like a minute ago now that we're in the thick of it...? That path...? <points to Yuri> It will be a difficult and painful road. And when you arrive, you may find nothing but despair and ruin. Are you up to the challenge?! Huh?! What do you say?! Zhuzhen! H-how can you ask such a thing of him?! <looks to Qiuhua and slaps the air> Butt out, kid! We’ve got absolutely no time to waste! <looks at Alice> This has been a race against time from the moment those bastards set their sights on Alice!! Alice said that she could find out why her father died if she fought Dehuai. Right? That isn't how I would put it, but... <nods> Yes, that’s right. <turns back to Zhuzhen> Pops, I… No matter what the cost, if I have a chance to see what my father saw, I won’t have a single regret. If that drat Dehuai really is going to release that Demon’s Gate Convocation upon us… It's "Invocation." I don't know what either of those words means! Doesn't matter... I’ll do everything I can to make sure his little convocation is canceled once and for all! <laughs> Heh heh… good for you, kid. And you can count on this broken-down old sage here to guide you through hell if need be. Yeah, well... get it together. I don't care what my pops did. I ain't giving you any piggyback rides if you get wrecked. <slowly turns head and glares at Alice> Sorry... Margarete, looking for any excuse to get out of this conversation, notices something awry with the hotel room door and opens it. Music: Profile .jpg) Fancy meeting you all here again just when it sounds like you could use my services. <gives a c'mon this loving lady motion> You!! You were listening in again, weren’t you?! No! No, I wasn’t! I just… happened to overhear. With your ear up against the door!? Well, I... err... heard a loud noise. Like something being kicked. I wanted to be sure there wasn't any trouble, you see... Oh hey, that was me. My bad! Seems like a reasonable response. Sorry for the noise! Are you all for real right now!? <shrugs and shakes head> How incredibly suspicious you are! Now I’m SURE I don’t like you. <shrugs and walks into the room> Now, now. Don’t get so angry. .jpg) I hear Dehuai has sent his men to Wuhan. And that’s not all! The Japanese military troops that were secretly stationed in Shanghai have been secretly sent to Wuhan, too! Sounds like the beautiful and talented regional Japanese Army leader is onto the plot. You'll have to hurry if you want to get ahead of her movements! What?! <incredulous gesture> Hey! How is that you know about Dehuai… let alone movements of the Japanese Army?! <turns to Margarete> Hee hee! We in the smuggling business can get our hands on a lot of underground information. You need to hang onto the secrecy of your contacts if you want to get ahead in this business. You understand, right? <shrug> Something smells here… But if you’re trying to help us, I suppose I ought to thank you. I got my eye on you... <turns back to the rest of the group> Well, and here I went to all the trouble of gathering information I thought you could use! Yuri, Zhuzhen, what shall we do? There isn’t much time left. I got my hands on a vehicle that'll let you get there ahead of the army. Parked it just up the street. Great, huh? <suspicion intensifies> Hmm....jpg) Don’t you think that even for a great Adept like yourself, he’ll be an awfully tough opponent? <nods> Well… I suppose you’re right… Zhuzhen, we’ll go with you to Wuhan! No, Zhen. You and Qiuhua stay here and gather as much information as you can. We need this place to be the base of our activities again! You've got the bar back now that Hyuga's son has beaten Wugui, right? Zhuzhen… That... isn't how business ownership works. There's a ton of paperwork filing, and I'd need to get the deed to have it signed over and— Nah. I think I beat that guy's rear end hard enough he won't come back. I'm not sure what we're talking about either, so don't quote me on that... ... Wait here, and rest assured… We won’t let them touch the White Tiger! Yuri… Okay, I understand. Qiuhua, let’s get back to the shop. Ah yes, before you leave Shanghai, stop by our place. Be careful, Uncle Zhuzhen! Come back safe!.jpg) Boy, will we ever get ready. Tune in next time as the gang does some shopping, gets a few upgrades and Yuri gets involved in an underground pit fighting tournament as Shadow Hearts continues!  Video: Wugui Boss Battle  Li Zhuzhen Portrait – It's amazing how he keeps that monocle and hat on straight despite all these rear end kickings. The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Aug 10, 2018 |
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Aug 6, 2018 19:37
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Episode XXV: Pit Fighter Music: Swindler - Shanghai Mood .jpg) Time to hit the town in Shanghai with Yuri in the lead this time. A few things have changed in town since Wugui got his rear end kicked and ran out with his tail between his legs. .jpg) For instance, there's a new shop open across the street from the hotel. Who knew the only thing holding down crime in Shanghai was a man who, by all accounts, seemed to have been hanging out in Hong Kong up until the last day or so and a couple of Kappa monsters disguised as drunk goons. .jpg) This shop is the Shanghai Weapon Studio and it's offering the newest in weapons and armor for the entire party (other than Zhuzhen's weapon since we got that for free.) .jpg) Now that we have the Star Card in our possession, we can get up to a 20% discount (and 10% sales boost for old junk) by utilizing it at the checkout. Each of the discount cards requires their own Judgment Wheel spin to unlock the savings. If either of the spins (the second one being a faster wheel than the first) fails, then we have to pay full price. It's kinda tedious, especially when you're buying a ton of junk. But you all don't have to worry about that part. There is the first actual JRPG dungeon rear end dungeon in the game coming up, so we do want all the new supplies on offer. .jpg) Yuri is picking up a nasty looking Steel Claw which is double the power of his previous Knuckle Blades (22 P-Attack and 18 S-Attack vs. 11 and 9.) Be careful or you'll poke an eye out, kid. .jpg) Alice is diving deeper into the occult with a new tome which sounds like one of those weird, extremely niche magic items you'd find in Castlevania and never use because it's some poo poo like boosts magic a certain percentage while in an outdoor area in direct moonlight which is only like 3% of the map. You know the type. Anyway, this has P-Attack 17 and S-Attack 23 over her previous weapon's 8 and 13. .jpg) Margarete is picking up another Japanese army pistol that shouldn't exist for over a decade. Not sure if it supposedly being an improved version of the Type 94 is particularly accurate since this first went into service in 1927, about eight years before the Type 94 existed. But hey, who am I to argue with alternate history? The facts remain that this has +11 P-Attack and +8 S-Attack over its predecessor. .jpg) Armor wise, Zhuzhen and Yuri are getting into the .jpg) Glad we're being fashionable while protected. This offers similar stats to the male counterpart. Just with the numbers reversed (19 P-Defense and 21 S-Defense.) .jpg) But we're not done stocking up for coming events just yet. Let's jog down the street and return to that shop we passed by with Zhuzhen. .jpg) This shop is offering the next level of basic accessories to replace everyone's Studded Cap and Leather Belts. These kinds of items get outclassed by specialized accessories soonish. But for now, they're worth the asking price for everyone. .jpg) Need to have the proper Feng Shui balance with your headgear. This boosts everyone's Physical Defense by a couple points. Every bit helps. .jpg) I love frontier hero Billy Coen. I hear he once drop-kicked a rabid monkey to save his pack mule. Likewise, this boosts everyone's Physical Attack by two points. .jpg) While we're here, the Shanghai shops also sell the second tier of basic consumable items to restore HP/MP/SP. We're gonna stock up on some of these as well. There may be party splitting gimmicks on the horizon and we do want to be prepared. .jpg) These just look like Peanut M&Ms. Gross. They do restore 150-180 HP when crunched down on in battle. We'll definitely be needing a few handfuls of these. .jpg) Now, this just looks like rotting peanuts. Maybe because they were soaking in some mysterious goop for 15 years. I don't think nuts are meant to be preserved for quite that long. These restore 7 SP a pop. We won't need quite as many of these. Probably... .jpg) .jpg) Anyway, that's all the supply and inventory shifting we had to do in Shanghai. We're more than prepared to hit the road and see what's going on with this monster overrun temple. But, as it turns out quite a bit has changed in the... twenty minutes since Wugui of Kowloon was kicked out of his own establishment. New, decidedly less lovely drunk but not at all interesting to speak with patrons have gathered. Wander Meiyuan has also made his way to Shanghai. That was like a 1000 km ride directly by boat. How are you here just a few hours after the party arrived!? .jpg) drat, harsh critic in the house... Meiyuan offers his usual services. But going forward, now that we have four party members, Meiyuan offers a new service. .jpg) He's the only way to switch out our party at the moment. No idea why him and if the game tells you he had this service, it was silently buried in the increasingly massive FAQ section of the menu. So, if we want to equip Margarete, we need to run over to Meiyuan to swap her out for Alice or Zhuzhen and get her sorted out. It's pretty cumbersome and annoying. Especially since there is no other way to remove accessories and the like from characters unless they're in the active party. It's definitely one of those early in the series oversights that get ironed out in sequels. But alas, this is the way of things in this title. .jpg) .jpg) While we are here, we'll actually employ acupuncture services of Wander Meiyuan to boost Yuri's new weapon. We might need to give him an extra edge. Sorry, pal... .jpg) For you see, Mr. Zhen took NO goddamn time overhauling this bar now that he has regained control of it via his friend's friend kicking his boss's rear end. Just open up a history book. If you could beat anyone in their own establishment in a martial arts bout, the winner took control of the property in question. I don't make the rules. Anyway, let's check out the fuckin' underground cage matches Zhen has set up in his back room. .jpg) And it's all thanks to you and your friends. Neat. Who were you again...? Qiuhua. Mr. Zhen's daughter... Zhuzhen has a DAUGHTER!? That old fart is full of secrets. No... Zhen. The man who owns this bar now. The one who fought Dehuai with your father fifteen years ago. <snaps fingers> Oh... That guy! OK. Nice to meet you. ...We've already met. If you say so, lady. So... what's all this then? Father says he wants to use his powers again and he just won't listen! Watch out when you talk to him.Yuri enters the arena where Zhen is standing. .jpg) You immediately jumped to cage matches? Huh... That's shockingly rad. I guess I can see why my dad hung out with you. I decided to use summoning powers! Now pit fights are back! ...Summoning powers? Ain't you supposed to like have a horn on your head or have an entourage of dweebs in dumb outfits for that kinda thing? I'm not as strong as I was before, but I'm sure I could train you people. Let me explain the pit fights. In a pit fight, you bet money on a fight with a monster. You fight the monsters that I summon. I'll reward you according to your number of wins! Pops, that's not how betting works. That's just paying you to fight a monster. I'm still working out the kinks. But this is the system for now. Do you want to participate in the pit fight? Yeah!.jpg) Welcome to the Pit Fights sidequest. We're not done in Shanghai by any means. We'll be coming back here after the rather lengthy dungeon coming up and this side quest isn't going anywhere. We can come back here several chapters from now when the party has another ten levels under its belt. Indeed, it's a rather poor idea to attempt this thing as soon as it's available. But I do LPs, I'm full of bad ideas! So, I went for it immediately. .jpg) The gimmick of the Pit Fights is that only one character is allowed to fight a gauntlet of enemies summoned forth by apparently Zhen, the Braska summoner class of the party fifteen years ago. We're given the choice of anyone in the active party for... some reason. It's Yuri. You're gonna use Yuri for these fights. Full stop. I'm sure, in theory as a challenge, you could toss someone else into the grinder. It will not go well for them unless, as mentioned earlier, we came back way later. And by then it still would just go slower than if we just used Yuri since nobody is remotely on his level damage output wise. .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) Pit Fights will be our chosen character against a random selection of past foes we've already defeated. Here we have those two Hellcat mini-bosses that we fought early on in Zhaoyang Village. At this point in the game, they literally cannot hurt Yuri meanwhile he'll brush up against them and they'll explode into dust. Child's play, right? .jpg) One a fight is completed, we're given the option of quitting and receiving a cash prize. But obviously, that doesn't complete the sidequest. To do that we need to make it through 10 consecutive rounds of pit fights. If we're defeated at any time, we get no prize other than the experience points rewarded for defeating enemies. No cash, Soul Power points or Malice either. These fights are functionally the same as taking on a challenge from the Four Masks in the graveyard. .jpg) Anyway, I'm not going to go over how to beat all these enemies with just Yuri in too much detail. That's not remotely interesting, especially since over half of 'em are complete stomp matches. Let's just briefly see what exactly he fought. .jpg) Three White Wolflings. Still baffled how they settled on localizing their name as that. .jpg) .jpg) Yamaraja: Wind is resurrected and slightly more difficult with just Yuri. They're at least nice enough to remove the original version's immunity to physical attacks. Went with Man Dragon spamming Flash Floods since that dealt decent damage, didn't have as high an MP requirement and didn't face Tornado's elemental weakness since we don't have Alice to keep HP topped off in support. .jpg) .jpg) What the gently caress, Zhen!? You brought Li Li back from the dead AGAIN!? We just had an ally loving DIE exorcising this ghost lady and you summoned her back!? Maybe you should start consulting with others before summoning every spirit you could pluck out of the air. Sheesh. In any case, Heaven's Fiend can deal massive amounts of damage and heal itself as necessary. It's not too difficult despite it being the most recent real boss we fought. .jpg) This little bastard is the reason why I say taking on the Pit Fights immediately is a terrible idea. This little poo poo was a fifteen-minute battle of attrition. This is the Custom Wind Shear – a monster unique to the Pit Fights. Attack wise, it's identical to the Wind Shears we fought way back in the prologue. Except this one has 500 HP and is several dozen times stronger. .jpg) .jpg) And by several dozen times stronger I mean it can do upward of 60-120 HP of damage in a single turn. It also possesses Tight Ring and will spam it constantly, so Yuri's Judgement Ring will be a small sliver the entirety of this fight. There're items and accessories later on that ward off those effects. But we sure don't have them or the time to use our very limited Judgement Ring status ailment curatives because this jerk will kill Yuri in two rounds if he doesn't heal. .jpg) As a result, this just turned into an incredibly annoying, grueling battle of attrition where Yuri would get to attack maybe once every other turn. Sometimes he'd need to take two turns to heal. Burnt through the entire sack of Thera Seeds we'd just bought in the process and most of the Mana Seeds too. Came very close to just loading an earlier save, sticking that inventory junk to the end of the previous update and ending the chapter there to save this for another day. .jpg) But in the end, the Custom Wind Shear did go down. This was a bad idea to take on so early in the game. Don't follow my example if you ever play Shadow Hearts. .jpg) After that? Three Frog Gods. That cannot even hurt Yuri for more than 2 HP a round. So, we got time to heal to full and restore all our MP before slaughtering them and heading into... .jpg) Prototype Wind Shear, the lesser Fire elemental cousin of the Custom Wind Shear. This is another Zhen Pit Fight specialty. Now, this jerk isn't quite as powerful as the earlier one (remember these fights are all randomly selected in order) but he's still a pain in the rear end. Especially since we were out of Thera Seeds by that point. Prototype Wind Shear also has 500 HP, but it can only dish out 50-75 HP of damage a round. It also lacked the obnoxious Ring Anomaly effects of Custom. .jpg) .jpg) Instead, it comes packing Flaming Arm of Death. Despite the name, this causes Silence alongside Fire elemental damage. Since we're using Inferno and just punching a bunch, that shouldn't be an issue. It still causes a rude amount of damage. But after that jerk Custom Wind Shear doing 100+ HP a turn, it's not nearly as bad. .jpg) Once Prototype Wind Shear and Custom Wind Shear are both out of the picture, we're actually totally on easy street. The final three matches are... .jpg) Just a normal rear end, Level 1 fought before battle tutorials even kicked in Wind Shears. They were murdered with extreme prejudice after the shenanigans their brethren caused earlier. .jpg) The penultimate match is against a four-man squad of Ogre Flames. This match only took a while because they all cast Fireball one after another after each of Yuri's turns. You get that 8 HP of damage in guys. It's definitely gonna turn the course! .jpg) The final, incredibly anticlimactic round is again... two more Kappa and a Water Tiger aka the mid-boss of Dalian Sewers. At this point, they're capable of in excess of 2 HP of damage against Yuri. .jpg) It did not go well for them. Missed from the potential random raffle of combatants was... just a couple of wolves, Transformed Tiny and Yamaraja: Earth. .jpg) But we don't need to worry about that! This sidequest is over! Time for our reward. I mean, aside from the fact Yuri gained nearly three levels grinding through these jerks while Alice and Zhuzhen got a drink in the bar and Margarete took a nap or suspiciously spied on Kawashima or whatever she's up to when out of the party. Music: Swindler - Shanghai Mood .jpg) I'll give you a reward worth ten winnings..jpg) We receive a cool 5000 Cash. Which... honestly is kind of underwhelming since we had to blow about $3500+ worth of consumables to finish the trials. Oh well, there's a little more added on top of that for finishing the whole quest at once. .jpg) Who's "you-know-who" anyway... Is that a real question...? I asked it, didn't I? Colonel Hyuga! He used to rough it up in pit fights, too. So you just had a steel cage arena in the back of your bar for over fifteen years? Yes, of course. Why? Is that unusual? ...Yes! Hah! Colonel Hyuga said the same thing! That proves blood is thicker than water! He's got that same quality of excellence. Oh, I remember! <yells to his daughter> Qiuhua, bring that thing to me.Zhen walks over to the edge of the arena. .jpg) That's right, THAT. Just a moment! I don't like this "that" business. Look, if it's my dad's stash of old nudie mags or something, I'm good...Qiuhua runs off. Zhen turns back to Yuri. .jpg) ...Well then, shall I tell you about that day? The morning we went to Kuihai Tower...Music: God Knows Bad News .jpg) The additional reward for completing this sidequest is a bonus flashback to the party from fifteen years ago. Look, they even rendered a new angle of the city street just for this sole scene. .jpg)  <shakes head and waves arms> ...... Don't look like that, I'll be back soon I say. And if not, well... You or anyone else in Shanghai won't have much to worry about for long... <stares off into the distance>Zhen joins the rest of the party. .jpg) Colonel Hyuga, Master Zhuzhen, father... please. Hah hah hah. You can count on it! Don't worry about a thing. And you be a good girl, now. You keep the bar running and don't let anyone snub you on tips, ya hear? Yes.Colonel Hyuga walks up to the girl and kneels down. .jpg) It's a lovely cross. I'll take good care of it! <stands back up and nods> Do so... <nods> Is that all right? To give her such a treasured item... It's fine. Looking at this child reminds me of my son.Hyuga turns away. .jpg) Well... there was this fox mask I gave him but never taught him what it's for or how to even wear it. The silly kid has it stuck on the back of his head like a hat. I'm a little worried his mother hasn't said anything yet... Everything's going to be fine, Hyuga! Let's get this business taken care of so you can go home. Kill Dehuai, foil the Demon's Gate Invocation... Maybe toss that Wugui fiend off the roof... And you're there in no time at all! You've obviously never had to write an after-action report... But... You're right, Zhuzhen. All right, let's go! Yeah!They turn and set off for the final battle. .jpg) <waves> Farewell! Colonel Hyuga!Music: Swindler - Shanghai Mood .jpg) In retrospect, maybe saying goodbye to only him was... Somewhat ominous... <frown> Yuri, the colonel never forgot about you for a moment. He loved you and his wife with all his soul. The stories he'd tell about his hot, redhead Russian wife with the giant ti— <mortified look> ...Heart. The giant heart she had. Such a loving woman, I'm sure. Qiuhua. <walks up to Yuri> I took hold of this that day. Your mother gave it to Colonel Hyuga as a good luck charm. Now it's your turn to hold on to it.It's a small, beautiful silver cross. You received Anne's Cross. Thank you. I never thought I would find a memento from my mother here... Or that I'd have to fight ten rounds of monsters before you decided I should have it. It slipped my mind until now. I remembered it around Round 7. You know what? I'm not going to ruin this. I'm happy. I'm just going to go....jpg) This keepsake from Yuri's mother lets anyone whose Sanity drops to 0 do a Judgment Ring to prevent the Berserk status. As in, the character won't immediately go Berserk that round and do some stupid poo poo. They'll basically just skip a turn instead. They'll still go Berserk next turn if their SP hasn't been replenished. In other words, it's a really useless accessory. Especially since it doesn't have any other stat buffs when equipped. It comes back in Shadow Hearts: Covenant as one of the best accessories in the game. .jpg) In any case, that's the Pit Fights sidequest of Shadow Hearts completed. In the first half of the game, at least. .jpg) With that, all of our business in Shanghai is concluded for now. All that's left is to make our way to the Temple Ruins and try to prevent Dehuai's latest bullshit. That's a wrap for this chapter. Shadow Hearts will continue in Chapter 7: Xiyuan 9 Courts! I hope you enjoy dungeon crawling and bottle episodes! That's another short chapter down. But there's still some stuff added to the library. On closer inspection... MONSTER: .jpg) Man screw this little dude. .jpg) Man gently caress this little poo poo! NPC: .jpg) Turns out Zhen is only like in his early 40s. He's just aged like poo poo. Don't smoke, kids. .jpg) Nice soul patch. .jpg) Hadn't noticed it until now but she's got quite the chin in her character portrait. I wonder if Kato is single... The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 16:25 on Aug 10, 2018 |
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Aug 8, 2018 18:46
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 Episode XVI: Meowster Music: Blow Up .jpg) A new area has opened up to explore on the world map. That looks like a sizable hike from Shanghai. Especially, considering it was referred to as the Temple of Wuhan and the city of Wuhan is roughly in the same spot some 840 kilometers away. But ehh... details. Unlike past points in the game, we still return to Shanghai at any time. Not that there is much need to in our playthrough. .jpg) Speaking of which, we're now a Keeper! Dang... Would have been into being a Cockatrice. You know, I can't actually find a list of all the meaningless ranks. I mean, I can tell it's just all the random battle enemies and bosses that aren't also NPCs plus some of Yuri's Fusions. Still... .jpg) Oh well, no need to delay any further. Yuri doesn't have any Malice to clear and he's obtained all the Fusions he can at this point in the game. Let's head on into our destination. .jpg) New Music: Death - Zombie Party (That's quite the track name. Also, you should probably listen to it.) .jpg) This is the Nine Courts of Xiyuan, the sanctuary of Wuhan and the apex of Nine Heavens Taoist Magic. Wugui and his cronies aren’t here yet? They woulda probably started monologuing or some dumb seal crap would be on the front door. <looks around> I don’t see the Japanese Army around anywhere, either. <give each other a glance> Don’t things seem a little too quiet? <waits a beat> ...See, I said that phrase, and no monsters immediately popped out. No traps sprung... Nothing! That's weird, right? <concerned nod> It's kinda weird. .......jpg) .jpg) Nice digs. Looks vaguely like a less than memorable fighting game arena. Maybe from the PS2 era Mortal Kombat games. drat, remember when those trash fire games were the only 3D fighters holding any mainstream public interest at the time? Like even Tekken had shat the bed around that time with Tekken 4. Those were some dark days... .jpg) We need to inspect that shrine in the center of the room to continue. But before we do, there is another sneaky lottery ticket hidden behind this pillar. Is the secret lottery cabal hiding these tickets too or is there just a plague of pants with hole riddled pockets in Southeast Asia? .jpg) Ain't there supposed to be like bald chanting guys and kung fu matches going on in these places? Knock it off with the stereotypes, kid. That's only on weekends. Are you really sure this is the place? You didn’t get mixed up or something? Give me a break. I haven’t gone that senile yet. <looks around> To proceed from here, let’s see… Oh, right, I need to chant the unlocking rites. Darn! I can’t seem to remember them! Hmm, how did it go…? <laughs> Come on, don’t REALLY go senile on us! Are you for real right now, old man...? Hey, the last time I had to do this the lot of you kids were no more than a twinkle in your papa's eye. Give me a break... Next time we're in Shanghai, I'm gonna ask that Zhen guy if you pulled this same senior moment routine with my dad. ...There's no need to dredge up the past. Hey, kid. You guys can go look around for a bit while I try to remember the chant. ... ...G-go away! You're distracting me!.jpg) .jpg) So, we need to give Zhuzhen some time. Let's swing around the left and see what the smugglers are up to outside. As well as hit up a Save Point if necessary. .jpg) Pfft... Those losers are slower than molasses. They didn't even get a chance to fire off a shot when we fought them at that airport. Indeed....jpg) By the way, I bought some items in Shanghai. Let me know when you need them. They're not free, of course. What kind of items do you need? Show me what you've got..jpg) The Courier Subordinate is now running the Kato Pachimon General Store. Kato, you're not supposed to be using your real name. Especially if you're scalping items to the people you're tricking into doing your dirty work for you. C'mon, guy... Anyway, Kato is selling mostly the same junk as the general store back in Shanghai. But he does have a few new accessories. Particularly, we're going to pick up one of these... .jpg) Who knew there was an entire crate full of teddy bears on the err... St. Mary ghost ship...? Never heard of that one. The Queen Mary wasn't a thing for another 20 years. Did you mean the Mary Celeste, Shadow Hearts? That was in 1872. Wait, the Mary Celeste... Why is that name bringing up bad memo—poo poo! Do you mean this Teddy Bear belonged to loving Benjamin Spooner Briggs?!  Lost Captain of the Mary Celeste? The King Limbo himself!? That motherfucker!? Ugh... I just gave myself a PTSD episode. In any case, we've run into multiple instances of Instant Death being an issue with enemies recently. This is the first point in the game we get anything to combat such issues. So, we'll go ahead and pick one up, even with its dubious origin... The game might throw two more our way for free during this segment. .jpg) We've probably given Zhuzhen enough time to tear through his memory recalling what the hell the password was to get into the temple's inner sanctum. Let's return to him. .jpg) <nods and steps back> I'm gonna punch a hole in this thing if this doesn't work. Kid do NOT punch holes in the sacred temple where I was trained! No promises..jpg) Zhuzhen glows with energy and performs a kata, which causes the shine to slide aside and a stairwell to reveal itself just as though he'd slotted the proper emblem in a Resident Evil puzzle. .jpg) "Musty aroma"? Yeesh! Is this where you stashed the bodies? I find it quite nostalgic... Sense of smell is failing alongside the memory, huh? That's sad... So the real deal’s waiting for us inside, eh? <nods> That’s right. Let’s go..jpg) Down the stairs and... straight to a rickety ladder five steps in? Someone cheaped out on the construction job for the temple. Or they contracted the same architects that did the work on Lordran. .jpg) Oh well, let's just enter this ominous looking door on the far end. What's the worst that could happen? .jpg) .jpg) <looks around> Enemies, perhaps?! <shakes head> I doubt it... Hey, Margarete you didn't set a buncha bombs again, right? No. Not yet, at least... ...Bombs? Don't worry about that. Little in-joke, you know?.jpg) Music: Asian Parfait .jpg) ...... And? What do you mean, “And”?! What kind of a response is that?! I am Master Xiaofang! I guard this temple. Nice to meet y’all. And? Meeeow! You insult me! I’ll kill you! And? You're not even the first cat kid this week to claim that and burn through all nine lives. <laughs> Hey, there, Master Xiaofang. You’re speaking a whole lot more now, I see. Xiaofang runs up to Zhuzhen and happily bounces excitedly. .jpg) Heh heh heh. We’ve come to see Master Xifa. So how is the old man, anyway? 24 in cat years! ...How is the old man. Not how old is he. Whoops! My meowstake! Is he going to keep doing these cat puns? Cuz... Hush! It's adorable! Cat puns...? Are you into that? Really? They're purrfectly fine! The meowster knew you’d all be here. He told me to welcome you. That’s why I’m here, meow. <nods> Great. How about you take us to him right away, then. Using the shortcuts, of course. No way, meow! You gotta follow the rules to get to Nirvana Palace! <looks at the wall and shakes his head> Don’t be that way, Xiaofang! I’m sorry, but we just don’t have time to play the old man’s games right now. If we don’t hurry, Dehuai’s men or the Japanese Army will get here. Some Japanese soldiers have been here already. They’re all dead now, meow! Meow!! I ain’t afraid of no soldiers! Meow the police! They ain't got meow on me! As happy-go-lucky as ever, eh? If you keep going like that, I may have to turn you back into a cat. <jumps back>.jpg) You have to go through the Spiritual Trials before you can enter Nirvana Palace, meow. Did you just say you would turn him back into a cat? As in you turned him into an annoying brat in the first place? No! He's not allowed to do that! It's cheating! <shrug> Sometimes you get bored with training and turn a cat into a boy. It happens. Spiritual Trials? They’re like little tests of nerve. They CAN get rather tricky, though. No inverting controls, Xiaofang. That's just wrong to do to folks... Here in the Nine Courts of Xiyuan, from the Samsara Pavilion further on in… There are three dungeons, called the Dan Tian Court, Jiang Palace, and Ni Wan Palace. Meowster Xifa’s Nirvana Palace is at the end of those dungeons! Only two people can challenge any given location. For the first dungeon, Dan Tian Court… <looks over the party> Xiaofang runs up and points to Yuri and Zhuzhen. .jpg) Hey now, kiddo! What’d you choose us for? I’m the one doing the talking around here, meow!! It's a very complicated system! You wouldn't understand it! <leans over> It's because we were standing closest next to each other. Meoooow! Don't reveal the temple secrets! <trots in front of the party> All right, meow! Your trial begins!.jpg) Meow-meeeeow!! Your Items have been sealed away by Master Xiaofang. .jpg) So, the Temple Ruins is the first proper full-length dungeon Shadow Hearts offers up. And hey, guess what? This is also a gimmick dungeon! It's probably my least favorite area of the game and this is just one of the reasons for it. .jpg) <shakes head> Gods, do we really have to do this? You sure I can't just punch this cat kid's head into a fine mist and save us a lot of time? No... That wouldn't help. ...Have you tried? Please don't punch my old master's cat, kid. Tch. Fine... Okay, then!!Master Xiaofang opens up the door to the left. .jpg) And with that, the trials of the Nine Courts of Xiyuan begins. Tune in next time as I heavily abridge the proceedings because BOY... this place is just kind of a forty-five minute slog of copy and pasted hallways with no map broken up by random battles against very limited pools of enemies and capped off by some complete jobber mid-bosses until we reach the end of the trials! Shadow Hearts continues as soon as I hack all that down into something brief and readable!  Masaji Kato Portrait – He specifically asked to reduce the chin proportions when commissioning this piece.
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Aug 10, 2018 22:08
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Episode XXVII: Hands On Trials Music: Death - Zombie Party .jpg) OK. Time for the first trial of Wuhan Temple, the Dan Tian Court. No items are allowed in combat and we have a party consisting only of Yuri and Zhuzhen. That's fine. If we run into trouble, Zhuzhen has a healing spell so no items and no Alice on healing isn't a deal breaker. Speaking of items, if we talk to Master Xiaofang again before we leave... .jpg) I'll be watchin', meow! You can't use 'em, but I'll sell you some items. Meow, you want items? I want you to stop saying meow constantly. Meow, I used to be a cat! I gotta say meow. He used to be a cat, Yuri. It's fine. Cats say meow, sonny boy. This is dumb....jpg) Xiaofang is now running "Master Shoho's Allowance job." Not sure who Master Shoho is, but the point of the matter is Xiaofang is selling all the items that were available with Kato or in the Shanghai weapon's shop, in case we had forgotten anything. We're sorted out, but it's nice to know there is the option of stocking up. .jpg) Beyond that, Alice and Margarete only tell us good luck and a brief word of encouragement before we're sent on our way. Shadow Hearts hasn't had a real dungeon up until now, even though we're nearing ten hours into the game. I mean, maybe you could count Fengtian's Sewers but that was literally just a giant plus sign and lasted all of twelve minutes from start to mid-boss defeat. These Temple Ruins here is a dungeon rear end dungeon. .jpg) A gimmick one on top of that, with the sealed items in battle nonsense. And boy, is it one of the worst parts of the game! Mostly because it's just really long and really boring. Do you see this cavern template motif above? Great. That's the entire aesthetic you'll be looking at while playing for the next hour or so. .jpg) .jpg) Here's the main thing we're doing in this dungeon: trying to find these recolored save points which act as warp zones between the floors of the dungeon. .jpg) .jpg) Each trial has three floors (spoilers we're going to do this again with a team of just the girls.) There's a bunch of treasure scattered about the area along with a bunch of dead ends and looping paths. Naturally, there is no map in Shadow Hearts so it's pretty easy to get turned around. Especially when considering each trial just reuses and shuffles around like five pre-rendered maps that maybe have an extra exit in one direction or has been inverted in orientation or the like. .jpg) Among the scattered treasure chests are also a poo poo load of empty chests for no particular reason. There are about a dozen or more empty chests in all over the course of this dungeon. There's five in this trial alone. They're not a mimic or anything. No enemy springs forth from 'em. It's literally a chest you just open and get a message saying there's nothing in it. It's not tied to any special prize for opening them all. It's literally just a waste of time. So that's fun. .jpg) .jpg) Each floor after the first one, Xiaofang is hanging out near the teleporter and is once more offering his wares in case we really need some supplies. We'd supplies because it wouldn't be a big gimmick dungeon without a decent random encounter rate, now would it? .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) Another reason this dungeon is really dull is each of the trials has an unusually limited pool of random battle opponents. See these two enemy types? That's it for the first trial. They'll come in this configuration or just that... whatever the hell that nightmare is in the middle alone. .jpg) These suspiciously familiar looking snake fellas are Pythons. They spam Fireball spells. That's all they do with their life. They took a community college course in pyromancy and called it a day. I dislike the fact they have a set of human teeth. The Japanese name for these critters is Uwabami, which is... just a giant serpent. Most Googling just comes up with the snake hair pro hero lady from My Hero Academia so yeah... I guess Python is a decent enough localization. It evokes a big rear end snake pretty well. .jpg) .jpg) The other enemy hanging out in the first trial is a Sea Gremlin. This one just spams Lightning spells constantly. Which is a bit more painful than Fireballs, as it turns out. I'd probably rather get struck by lightning than set on fire, personally. But I'm not a JRPG protagonist. And if I were I'd be the designated grizzled old man one who'd seen some poo poo. I mean I'm older than Auron at this point. It's hosed up. The Japanese title for this mass of tentacles with a teethed penis lugging a cancerous giant nut sack is Ayakashi, which is a collective term for a type of yokai that can be found above bodies of water. Wikipedia on Ayakashi posted:
Not quite seeing weird ghost lights and this weird rear end sea monster connection. But there you have it. .jpg) In any case, Yuri is quite beefy after has grind through the underground pit fighter circuit. As such, he can take out any of these enemies in a single combo. In fact, he can punch a Python the gently caress out in one hit. But Zhuzhen can also take out a Python in a single combo and Zhuzhen is barely stronger than Alice physically. Another thing that makes this dungeon really dull is that even without Yuri getting a couple extra levels before coming here, all the enemies are just... unusually weak. They are kind of overcompensating for the split party business way too hard so everyone here is kind of a cake walk. This dungeon is also technically the final (main plot) stop before we come to the equivalent of the end of Disc 1 as far as Shadow Hearts goes and enemies of every element are hanging out across the trials. It's the game's way of very strongly urging Yuri to get all of his Fusions unlocked by this point. But since we were responsible and did that earlier... eh... Kind of wasted effort. Music: Death - Zombie Party .jpg) In any case, I'll spare the tedium of wandering the same sets of brown corridors for the next fifteen minutes while fighting the same two enemies and skip ahead of the rest, other than mentioning a couple pieces of new loot we retrieved along the way. .jpg) I don't think bronze is supposed to be blue like that... .jpg) Say, Mrs. Johnson. I heard about what happened to your newborn. Tough break, that. Would it be cool if I put the bones from his ear into a bell? I've got this theory about how to cure a sore throat and I'd love to test it out. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Gaining that morbid Bell Bracelet is actually a bit of warning for something coming up shortly. We've ignored Xiaofang's shop up to this point, but we're gonna pick up a companion Bell Bracelet here and equip it on our current active duo. Do you think the baby ear bones are from separate dead kids or do you get two from one dead baby -- one produced from each ear? .jpg) .jpg) Dead babies aside, the third level of this trial leads us to an altar which Yuri can futz with to initiate the end of the trial and a boss fight. They're nice enough to put a save point just before we get into it. That's a trend that persists throughout this dungeon until the only real, challenging boss wherein there is like a fifteen-minute gap between the last save point and the boss. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. Let's see what the first guardian of the temple is in our trials... .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) Meet the boss of the Dan Tian Court trial -- this peculiar rear end spider with a hand for a head and a dapper ying-yang vest which seems to be going by the name Xieshi. This thing a Fire elemental and is packing a modest 530 HP which our odd couple here will have no trouble burning through, especially since we prepared for its only real hazard beforehand. Xieshi's original name was just Blood Corpse. I honestly have no idea what a Xieshi is supposed to be... The bosses of the Wuhan Temple trials are (very vaguely) derived from the Three Corpses/Worms belief of Taoism in which there is a trio of supernatural parasite demons that enter your body on birth and just chill out inside you your whole life just waiting to gently caress up your day. Usually punching them to death isn't an option... Wikipedia on Three Corpses posted:
.jpg) .jpg) It's real messed up to have some busta rear end narc ghosts living inside you ratting you out to the spirit cops. So, let's get to work kicking this one's rear end, eh? Yuri is best served here swapping into the Man Dragon Fusion and just spamming Flash Flood. This will do a massive 150-180 HP of damage to Xieshi and easily win us the fight in just a few rounds. Which is OK in my book, as Xieshi doesn't have much in the way of a move list. Especially, since Zhuzhen can't contribute too much offensively. The sage's physical attacks will barely crack 30 HP of damage output and since Xieshi is Fire elemental, the old standby of Ogre Flamedance is only pushing around 40+ HP of damage. So, it's up to Yuri to carry this fight. .jpg) In fact, it only has two moves. One is just simply gliding over to Zhuzhen or Yuri and smacking them with its head-hand. It does around 40 HP of damage, so par for the course for boss physical attacks. .jpg) .jpg) Its primary move, and the one it'll spam most turns is Flaming Arm of Death. We saw this technique earlier during Yuri's brawls in the pit fights. It's a fire elemental attack. Turns out it strikes the entire party when there's more than just the one character around. If you'll recall, this attack inflicts the Silence status effect and that won't do with our current game plan. But, since we took the precaution of equipping those bells filled with the ear bones (cartilage?) to ward off such threats, all it does is deal out some decent damage. .jpg) .jpg) Yuri will be taking way more damage than Zhuzhen while in his Man Dragon form. We've never had the need to use it until now, but Zhuzhen did acquire a healing spell in the form of Nourishing Potion he can use to top off Yuri's health. Nourishing Potion restores a hefty 160+ HP but it also comes with quite the price at 35 MP a pop. It'll work for now, but he definitely won't be replacing Alice as the designated healer of the party anytime soon. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) That's sort of it. Yuri tosses a bunch of water fireballs while Zhuzhen keeps him alive. It's only the first trial. I'm sure they'll get more complex tactically as we go along! No, actually this one required the most strategy by far. This dungeon and its bosses are not great. I dunno if that point has been brought up yet. .jpg) For completing the Trial of Dan Tian Court, we receive a decent chunk of experience points and... nearly as much Cash as the entirety of that hour-long set of battles in Zhen's pit fight... Huh. I can't help but still feel mildly ripped off by that side quest reward for the amount effort asked to complete it... Music: Death - Zombie Party .jpg) Whew! I’m glad that’s over. I guess it’s the ladies turn next. Eh? Did they have to wait for us the whole time? That seems really boring... Mhm. That's how it usually goes. Now I feel kinda bad poking down every tunnel looking for loot. I thought you would knock it off after the third empty chest in a row. Yeah but that fourth chest totally had some swag in it. It was a trinket we could have bought for pocket change at a market stall. Yeah but, fr— Master Xiaofang comes in over the intercom or psychically contacts everyone. It's really unclear. Either way, his voice pops into the room for a debrief. .jpg) Then... Just wait right there, meow. The door to Ni Wan Palace won't open just yet, meow. Wait... are we gonna have to wait just as long for Alice and Margarete to do their spelunking? Mhm. Probably... Why, again, didn't both teams do their dumb trials at the same time? Tradition. Meanwhile... .jpg) <gains a power up aura> Your Special Skills have been sealed away by Master Xiaofang. .jpg) OK. So not having access to items wasn't that big a deal with Zhuzhen and Yuri because one of those characters is the most powerful character in the game and could probably solo this entire dungeon with their bare fists. The girls not having access to Special Attacks is slightly more problematic when Alice may as well not have physical attacks since on a good day she's barely breaking into double-digit damage against a random battle mob jobber. Meanwhile, Margarete is the second strongest person physical in the party but that's just because the scale is S Rank Yuri and D Rank Zhuzhen and Alice. Margarete is like a B Rank fighter. Like honestly more like B-/C+ if we're gonna be real. An entire section just having those two doing physical attacks is... less than optimal. .jpg) <shrugs and shakes head> That's just RUDE! Guns can hurt... whatever nasties are waiting in there, right? <tilts head> What's a gun, meow? I'll take that as a yes. Hey Alice... what do you even use outside of magic? I have this thick arcane tome. <squints> I... don't know if that'll cut it. So... I have an extra gun. Or three... Do you... like... want one to use? No, I'll be OK. This book is pretty heavy. ...If you say so. Okay, then!! Xiaofang opens the second door to the right. .jpg) The trials are ceremonies that test your spiritual powers! Very dangerous, very scary! Meow! But you know what? I'm no demon. I'm a cute little Buddha! Meow!!.jpg) As with the boys, we can stock up on inventory shopping with Xiaofang. But we're still good, I think. Onward to the Jiang Palace Trial! It's even less interesting than the first one. Though of note, we're now controlling Alice as our lead party member on the field. Boy, does Alice have quite the arms flailing unathletic girl run going on. .jpg) .jpg) Anyway, on to the trial! Guess what? It's the same exact looking area just with a completely different layout! We're still trying to find teleporters until we make it to a mid-boss at the end. The only difference between Alice and Margarete's trial and the past one is there is a different pool of enemies! .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) All two of 'em, again. The third reskin of those ghost skulls, this time in a Light elemental flavor called Raging Spirits. They're accompanied by just straight up zombies called Puppet Guards. .jpg) Raging Spirits attack exclusively by either bonking into one of our two party members or casting Exorcism Arrow, the low-level general Light magic spell we've seen frequently. Either option does around 15ish HP of damage. In fact, all the enemies' attack here seems to do like 15-18 HP of damage, tops. At least they weren't huge jerks about having a party that can only heal with consumables.  The Japanese name for Raging Spirits is Ara-mitama which is err... just Violent Spirit. The only difference is Mitama denotes a Shinto belief that the soul is actually a cluster of several opposite but complementary aspects. Ara-mitama is the aggressive side of the soul and is complimented by the Nigi-mitama, the honorable side. Apparently, this whole thing is why when you collect souls in Japanese games, like Onimusha or Dark Souls, you often get a whole mess of soul bits out of a single person/creature instead of essentially a single ghost, like often seen in Western media. Huh... You learn something new every day. .jpg) If you were wondering about what happened to those two earlier teams of Japanese Army soldiers who were sent to investigate the ruins earlier, guess who we found! The Puppet Guards are the zombified remains of the soldiers Xiaofang or the monsters hanging out in these caverns ganked earlier. Now they just hang around vomiting Dark Messenger breath on those that passerby or try to bludgeon people with their rifles. The fine motor skills necessary for firing a gun while zombified only presents itself when zombie media takes the turn to actively bad. Again, both of these attacks suspiciously do less than 20 damage so as not to be too taxing on Alice or Margarete. And it might just be some weird confirmation bias, but the enemies in this trial seem to actively target Margarete most of the time. .jpg) That's a lot of talk in order to sum up how every random battle for the next fifteen minutes is just waiting for Margarete's turn as she fires her gun repeatedly into an enemy until they're dead. Marge can take out any one of these clowns in a single turn, but it's all on her doing the deed. Raging Spirit only has 38 HP while Puppet Guards have 45 HP. Just as a thought experiment I had Alice try to take on each by herself. She took 3 turns to kill a single Raging Spirit and four turns to kill one Puppet Guard. Alice, you've really got to hit the gym. That's just sad... Music: Death - Zombie Party .jpg) .jpg) Random battle aside, we're just going to skip the rest of that dungeon. There was no noteworthy loot that was anything we hadn't seen yet. .jpg) Before we proceed to the end of Jiang Palace and take out the boss inevitably hanging out there, we're going to do a short bit of prep work and re-equip those Rosewood Bracelets on the girls to prevent Paralysis. You know, just in case anyone wanted to prevent literally our only means of attacking or anything. That'd be quite rude. .jpg) .jpg) Once again, we're given the chance to save the game and maybe use a Tent if necessary. The trials had been throwing a free one our way at the beginning of each test so far. But, we're good. Let's get this over with! .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) WELL THEN! So, if I'm seeing this correctly, that's an albino stingray with a hand for a head, covered in a bunch of eyes and sporting a prominent penis flopping at the bottom there... I mean, you could tell me it's a tail. But... .jpg) .jpg) ...I dunno man. That's pretty ding-dong looking to me. Not a fan of trotting this thing out while having a forced party of female characters. This special boy is named Baigu and it is a Light elemental with 380 HP it'd like Alice and Margarete to beat out of 'em. ...That came out wrong. If you're wondering, its original Japanese title was White Maiden, which... If you say so, game. Again, it's meant to be derived from one of the Taoist Three Corpses. Don't ask me what that has to do with any other part of its design. .jpg) I'd usually say something about the best course of action to quickly deal with a boss. But... I mean... All we can do is just do physical attacks over and over. That's kind of it. So... Yeah. Alice bops it with her oversized hardback book a few times for next to no damage while Margarete does all the work dumping several magazines in it until it's dead. .jpg) Baigu can bop our party members (thankfully with just its head-hand) for a surprisingly large amount of damage, especially if it decides to hit multiple times. It can do upward of 35-50 damage a single turn. Since Alice may as well not even bother with physical attacks, she's on consumable distributing healing duty if she or Margarete get low on health. Or more pressingly, if Alice runs low on SP since it is going to take a number of turns for Margarete to plink away at the boss. .jpg) .jpg) Other than that, Baigu primarily attacks with Shining Arm of Death which, once again, does not cause the Death status. This one hits the entire party and would cause Paralysis if we weren't already prepared for that trickery. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) Err... That's kind of it. Margarete shoots it a lot for about four minutes until it keels over dead. There's not a lot to say about a boss when you take away all the unique attributes of our party. It's still not the lamest boss of this dungeon. Music: Results .jpg) There's an equal amount of payout for defeating Baigu as the male team received. But additionally, we get one new accessory! .jpg) It's just a nice necklace that makes the Judgement Wheel spin somewhat slower. No baby bones necessary. Kind of pedestrian, really. Music: ENDS .jpg) That wasn’t so bad. I did break a sweat, though… You know... kind of doing all the work. I thought the book would work out better. You thought a book would be equal to a gun when fighting monsters? Heh... Well, the pen is mightier than the sword, after all. Yeah, but this is a GUN, kiddo! This has over six bullets. That's more than enough to kill anything that moves! It's just science! If we're in a situation like this again, I'm going to give you a piece and you're going to cap a fool. OK, missy? S-sure thing... Xiaofang comes in over the Taoist mysticism intercom. Meow, impressive! You ladies are good! I can’t believe this is your first time. The door to Ni Wan Palace will now open, meow. <nods>Elsewhere, at that same time... .jpg) Don’t worry. That girl’s pretty steady on her feet, and she’s got Margarete with her, too. I doubt they’ll be long. That door’ll open soon and we’ll all be able to enter Ni Wan Palace.Music: Tanjou .jpg) …What? What kind of person was my dad? Tell me about him… even if it’s just a little. I only remember him working the farm, and the fox mask he bought me on the day of the festival… And that he only seemed to have this one coat he wore all the time. Like all the time... Even to bed. It was kinda weird... You're one to talk, kid... But, yeah... Now that you mention it, he did wear that coat constantly. Shanghai gets hot in the summer and he was bundled up like he was going for a mountain hike. Your dad, hmm... Heck, he was a real stand-up guy.Zhuzhen stands up and nods to himself. .jpg) Something about a piggy-back ride...? ...After that. <snorts> When I first met him, he was a Japanese Army operative, you know. So, I didn’t trust him right off. Like with you, we got into fights now and then. But, he’d always laugh them off afterward. What I really liked about your old man, though, was, well… Like you, he would rally against any injustice, even if it meant opposing his own country. He didn’t just fight for his country, he fought for everyone who lived on this continent. He often wondered if there wasn’t some way he could build a truly good county with his own hands. Then decided "no, that's crazy supervillain talk" and would decide against it. Never trust anyone that starts muttering about reshaping anything with their own two hands, kid. Express train to crazy town. A certain sorcerer I know in the area started out that way. Real warning sign... So he was a good man? Absolutely. He was a true friend to me… a better friend than I deserved. <stands up> …I see. My dad must’ve felt the same way about you. Heh heh… It’s nice of you to say that, kid.Music: Death - Zombie Party .jpg) Hey! The door opened! All right! I knew the girls had it in ‘em! <phoning in> Let’s do it people! The last dungeon, Ni Wan Palace, is just ahead. Meow!! But before you step in, it’s time for yet another Trial! Meow!! Meow-meeeow! It just saying the word "meow" is driving me up the wall. Is THAT pipsqueak why you were carrying around some anti-cat powder in the first place...? ...Maybe....jpg) No Items, Fox Only, Final Destination. .jpg) <shakes head> Cripes, can’t the old goat cut us SOME slack…? I can still punch things and if I see that cat-boy, I'm gonna relieve him of one of his nine lives. You know what...? At this point... Go for it, kid..jpg) No, no more. I'm taking a break. Tune in next time for the last portion of this terrible, Xenogears caliber dungeon. I need a nap.  Video: Episode 27 Highlight Reel (You should watch this just to see gross hand monsters in motion.) The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Aug 15, 2018 |
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Aug 13, 2018 15:21
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For reference sake, here's a map of the first two trials. Which might not seem all that bad laid out but keep in mind anything more than like two grid squares will almost certainly get interrupted with a 30-60 second random battle and the game doesn't bother to mention that the purple teleporters are just a waste of your time that send you to a different part of the map. I'd say there's some Koudelka peaking through with this crappy area, but at least Koudelka usually had the decency to make areas visually interesting and not just the same rock textures for an hour. 
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Aug 13, 2018 18:37
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Sorry for the delay in updates lately. My wife has been in the hospital with a medical emergency and that takes a LITTLE priority over an LP. Episode XXVIII: Xifa Music: Death - Zombie Party .jpg) One more of these lousy trials remain. This time literally all we're allowed to do in battles is have Yuri punch things. Zhuzhen is also present. .jpg) .jpg) If you think they mixed up the aesthetic of this third and final portion of the dungeon, you'd be dead wrong. If anything, they took all the flipped and edited versions of the same handful of maps from the two previous areas and smashed them all into this one trial. And of course, we're not exempt from... .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) Even the enemies in this part of the dungeon are a snooze. Since they kind of have to be since all we can do is hit them more than they can hit us. The first of two baddies present is the Brain Sucker. It does not attempt to suck any brains to my knowledge. Indeed, its Japanese name was just... Mysterious Frog. This frog is a fraud. All it does is toss rocks at people and if Yuri doesn't smash it first. .jpg) .jpg) The only other foe present in this portion of the dungeon is the Succubus Queen, which is... just a shrunken version of the transformed Li Li with some gaudy neon shaded texture edits. It lacks any of Li Li's more potent attacks, so it is only left with flailing its tentacles in our party's general direction. Sometimes it does this in a specific manner so as to potentially cause Confusion. It never once successfully landed a Confusion status ailment despite using it on our team at least a half dozen times through out the trial. Its Japanese name was just Yashahime, which is Half(-Demon) Princess. The only thing I could find with that name was some manga I never heard of whose wiki began with "the infamous gunslinger buxom witch who..." and I closed the article, deciding enough research had been committed to the topic. Moving on! Music: Death - Zombie Party .jpg) We'll be skipping the bulk of the remainder of this dungeon beyond the highlights. A couple of new items of interest were acquired along the way. Tossing this wood carving at someone will sort their poo poo out like nobody's business. .jpg) Where's the game with unique animations to show off how the hell you do properly use all these weird talismans and relics to cure ailments? This increases Intelligence. How the heck does that work? Do you rub it on your forehead? Do you slap it across their face? Is it pressed into their chest and absorbed? Do you eat it?! Inquiring minds want to know! .jpg) Unlike the previous two trials, where Xiaofang only showed up near teleporter nodes, we can actually find the brat hanging out down a dead-end path in the southern region of the third level of the Ni Wan Palace. It's really important we find him here. Since the only thing that would make this an even worse dungeon is if we broke a sidequest progression along the way... .jpg) Meowanna play the lottery? These aren't even puns. You're just adding meow to words now... Is that a yes or nmeow? Count me in..jpg) As it turns out, just this one specific time, down a deserted path that looks like seven other identical deserted cavern passages, Xiaofang will reveal himself to be Lottery Member No. 11. Remember, we have to win at least one prize from every single member of the Lottery to fully complete this quest. Guess what point in the game this quest became a wash for me the first time I played through it? And... the second time too when I was replaying this during the Koudelka LP to see if I wanted to do this game afterward, for that matter... Whatever, we're not in that timeline. .jpg) Our prize today is the Flash Badge. It does pretty much what it says on the box. It adds a rather significant 25 points of Agility, but the wearer is essentially permanently inflicted with the double speed Judgment Ring anomaly. I really prefer my Judgment Ring to be consistent, so I'm not big on anything that rejiggers it from normal speed/size/etc. But that's just me. .jpg) Meowby you can try again? Meowck you, brat..jpg) There's one final wrinkle in this particular trial. You see this tunnel with a treasure chest? .jpg) OK. Good? Now you see this tunnel with a treasure chest? Despite what it might appear at a glance, these are not the same tunnel. Look, that chest is scooted down a couple feet. How could you make such a mistake?! Additionally, one of these chests contains the reward of gently caress all and the other has... .jpg) ...a mission-critical item! By the way, we needed this item to complete the Ni Wan Palace trial. How were we supposed to know that? .jpg) Well, if we'd made it to the end of the region, then we'd find Master Xiaofang as usual and he'd inform us that... .jpg) The guard's power source is in front of the altar. It's called the "Shrine of the Five Elements." When all five powers are gathered, the guard will fill with power. You just need the power of the Wood Token. If you insert it into the pentagram, the guard will appear. There you have it. The Wood Token is only back through the teleporter and essentially taking a giant upside-down U path to the next tunnel over. Except for the part where you'd have no idea that was a case while playing normally and not looking at a map or guide. But, I think I definitely know how this could have been worse. .jpg) We'll get to that in a minute. For now, we need to do a brief bit of boss preparation. Particularly, we're going to stick a Pocket Watch accessory on Yuri to prevent any fuckery with the Judgment Wheel since now more than ever, he's the one carrying this boss fight. Margarete wishes she had to carry Alice this hard... .jpg) .jpg) In any case, heading into the shrine we have our last chance to save and heal up. We definitely want to be at full health before starting the fight since again, no actions are allowed beyond physical strikes all day, every day. .jpg) So, remember how I mentioned getting this Wood Token wasn't too difficult. It was quite close by to the end of the dungeon. Well, they repeatedly mentioned there are five total slots but only the one Wood Token is needed to complete this ceremony and summon the boss. Guess how many empty chests were in the Ni Wan Palace trial? Four chests... Out of curiosity, I went and looked at a map of the Dan Tian and Jiang Palace trials. There's five empty chests in both of those... I will bet good goddamn money you originally had to get five Wood Tokens in each of these trials to fill in at the shrines and fight the bosses. Along the way, someone smacked the devs upside the head, told them this dungeon was already bad enough and to knock off with that Koudelka-esque Key Item collection fetish they had going, and it was stripped down to the (still bad but not THAT bad) final version we ended up with here. Visit the scenic Wuhan Temple Ruins with their trademark slogan – "Hey, it could have been worse!" .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) Having wings for an index and pinkie finger must be the most inconvenient thing on the planet. Meet Qinggu, the third and final handy boy of the Wuhan Temple Ruins trials. Back in his land of origin, Qinggu went by Ancient Blue. Not so sure about either of these names, honestly. .jpg) This scaly clown comes packing 600 HP of which Yuri will be punching away about a good 581 hit points of on a good day with Zhuzhen's sorry support. It's a Water elemental enemy, so you'd think the sage would be able to contribute a little more than normal. But alas, Qinggu has some other ideas on the matter. .jpg) .jpg) Large Whirlpool is one of Qinggu's primary attacks. It only does a moderate 20-25 HP of damage to Yuri and slightly more 30-35 for the Fire elemental Zhuzhen. But it has a much more insidious secondary function. .jpg) .jpg) A Judgment Ring anomaly that cuts the size of the hit area in half. Since Yuri has the Pocket Watch equipped, he won't suffer those effects. Zhuzhen's not so lucky in this matter. He'll just have to make do with likely missing half his attacks because that's a really tiny target to hit. Especially, with a tiny amount of input lag. Sorry, old man. You're about as useful as an rear end in a top hat on an elbow for this battle. .jpg) .jpg) Not that it is much of a battle to speak of really. Beyond the whirlpool full party Water element attack, Qinggu also has a single target Water spell that does roughly the same exact amount of damage to each of the boys. We just have to kind of take that since there's no healing or debuffing magic or... anything interesting going on with this fight. .jpg) .jpg) .jpg) It's just sort of five minutes of Yuri doing the same attack animation again and again until it finally falls over dead. Thank goodness that's the end of this bullshit and the game never pulls any dungeon gimmicks more advanced than forcing a particular party configuration or docking a character for a while. .jpg) For our efforts, we receive... the same amount of EXP and Cash we did the previous times. Alongside a third Leonardo's Bear (there was a second one somewhere during this area, don't worry about the where and when.) .jpg) Good work… All right, then, Master Xiaofang! We’ve passed the Spiritual Trials! Show yourself! Yeah, c'mon out and give me my abilities back! I didn't think I'd ever get bored of punching things... This place has ruined PUNCHING for me. That's just sick and wrong...Master Xiaofang teleports into the chamber. .jpg) Meow, meow!!A door opens, allowing Alice and Margarete to enter the shrine chamber. Music: Asian Parfait .jpg) Zhuzhen excluded for meowvious reasons. Come on, you’ve got no grounds for denying us further. Take us to the old man, won’t you? <turns to the door> Of course, meow! I’ll open the door to Nirvana Palace. Hold on. Meeeow meow meow… Um… MEEEEOW!! He better not break into some sorta meowing jingle. ...I really hope he breaks into some sort of meowing jingle.The room flashes with light and the door behind Master Xiaofang slides open. .jpg) Xiaofang steps aside and lets us into Xifa's chamber. Before we go, it might be a really good idea to save and maybe heal up Yuri and Zhuzhen. I mean, they wouldn't want to do that dull boss fight again, now would they? The party enters Nirvana Palace. Meanwhile, back outside... Music: Profile .jpg) ... <paces around> Hey, Lt. Colonel Kawashima. Can I ask you a question? What is it, Kato? Lt. Colonel... do you think... I would... Well... Err... Yes? Spit it out, already. Do you think I'd look good in a cape? ...A cape? Yeah, I was thinking of changing my look. ...With a cape? Ergh... Well... Forget I said anything! Hahaha... ...Well, it might draw attention away from certain... prominent features you possess... Being a bit too nervous about things? Sure... That... We'll go with that... Sure, you'd look fine in a cape. But, I don't think that will go over well at your current rank... Yeah... I'd need to work on that... Heh... Umm... T-thanks for the input, ma'am. Uhh... Well... That boy and his followers are taking their time... Yes. Maybe Lieutenant Suketani was right about them. Maybe they’ve failed. That can’t be! I… I put my faith in them to the end! Heh. It’s ironic, isn’t it? I find myself rooting for the enemy. I wonder why? They’re so reckless… yet somehow, I envy them. .jpg) Kato notices someone approaching and quickly runs in front of Kawashima to protect her. It takes him a few moments to realize it's Suketani and to relax his stance. .jpg) That was fast, Lieutenant. What happened to the others? We have twenty men hidden nearby. If something happens, they’ll be ready. Lt. Colonel, how is the situation? Yes… there’ll be no movement for now. Please wait a little longer. <looks at watch> A very little... <salutes> Understood.Suketani marches up to Kato, startling him in the process. .jpg) Up to something?! I’m counting on you, Sergeant..jpg) With that, Suketani and his men depart. I'm sure this internal conflict within the Japanese army won't lead to much of any concern. At that same time, in Nirvana Palace... Music: Asian Parfait .jpg)  Welcome back, Zhuzhen. Nice to meet you, ladies, and Hyuga’s son.The party enters the room. .jpg) The very same. And you’re Yuri? Like father, like son, it seems. You both carry a heavy burden. At any rate, welcome. I’ve been so bored lately… Today’s Trials were quite a pleasant change. Question: Out of a scale of one to ten, how much did my dad get annoyed with all this trial crap? <shrugs> Maybe a 6.5 at most. I’ll give you back your power and items now. I’ve added something for finishing the Trials..jpg) .jpg) We don't get a chance to see what Xifa gifts us for long enough that it was two hours later in recording game footage and I went "oh crap yeah, this thing!" It's this game's equivalent of an Elixir. Now to never use it because YOU MIGHT NEED IT LATER up until the credits are already rolling and you've realized later has never come. .jpg) Heh. I don’t care how much strength Dehuai has… he can’t break through this seal so easily. Just as I cannot leave it, he cannot come in. <steps forward> It’s an honor to meet you, Master Xifa. I’m Alice. <walks up to Alice> Ah! So, you’re the blue-eyed prophet I’ve heard so much about My, you DO have incredible power… No wonder Dehuai is drooling over you… He probably would succeed in his Valorization if he had you in his possession. My father lost his life protecting me from a warlock with similar plans, in a country far away… You don't need to be vague for my sake. I'm aware of European countries. I'm a hermit, not a shut-in. Tell me… why do people like Dehuai attempt such awful things? He's a dick. That is... a touch blunter than I was expecting. Your presumptions of my demeanor in being a mystical Chinese oracle are... <sigh> Europeans... Fine, let me rephrase it..jpg) <begins pacing> They’re motivated by vengeful hearts… They sacrifice many victims to their idol of revenge. I’m sure Dehuai hasn’t fully considered how the Demon’s Gate Invocation might change the world. Of course, I don’t know what would happen, either… but it must be stopped. One does not generally want to invoke demons nor open a gate containing demons and have things remain intact. Both of those words being in a dark ceremony...? Not great... …Oh, I almost forgot. There was something I wanted to give you. Xiaofang! <runs up to Xifa> Yes, Meowster. There’s a Votive Picture tablet of the White Tiger on the back shelf. Please fetch it for me. Gotcha!Xiaofang runs up to a nearby shelf. Music: ENDS .jpg) Xiaofang grabs the portrait and starts running back to Xifa. Mid-stride a surge of energy blasts the cat boy. .jpg) .jpg) ...Is that good? Wh-what?! The barrier may have become slightly weakened by the Trials, but… this cannot be! D-Dehuai?! Did you let the dick sorcerer in here by yanking our chains with those stupid trials?! No… Even Dehuai isn’t this powerful… …!! <nods> I know who this is!The room flashes with light several times and Master Xiaofang rises to his feet. .jpg) Actually, the cursed Harmonixer's son had it right the first time. And I don't appreciate being called a dick!Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple .jpg) That voice! Dehuai! <rubs neck> OK... Mistakes might have been made... Ya think?!.jpg) Bastard! What have you done with Xiaofang?! Too late! The Votive Picture of the White Tiger is mine! Zhuzhen! Give me a healing talisman! A broken seal can’t be repaired. We must seal the entire temple! Ha ha ha! I’ll bring this temple down around your heads before you can!!.jpg) Xiaofang-Dehuai casts a spell rumbling the entire temple and wrecking everyone in the room, including Xiaofang, in the process. .jpg) Dehuai teleports into the room. .jpg) Master Xifa, you thought I’d be as weak as I was fifteen years ago? You fool… <walks up to Alice and laughs> Ah, such beauty…! Giving a free show too. How considerate. If I’d only come earlier, this moment would not have been delayed so long….jpg) Dehuai warps out of the room along with Alice. Xifa manages to regain consciousness and return to his feet just as Dehuai escapes. Music: God Knows Bad News .jpg) <stomps foot> This is not how I pictured this day going... <walks up to Xiaofang and prays> Poor Xiaofang. Please, forgive me..jpg) Oh, Master Xiaofang apparently got telefragged by Dehuai and is dead by the way. His body fades away to indicate that yes, he's incredibly dead. RIP, meow puns child. .jpg) I'm over a hundred, about to be homeless and my cat is dead. Time to make an exit from the stage, I think....jpg) The party is revived by Xifa's healing spell. They groggily return to their feet. .jpg) It’s all right, Zhuzhen. My time has come and gone. The rest I leave to you.Master Xifa falls to his knees. .jpg) Young Hyuga… Do not fear the dark. If you accept it, it will protect you in return. Then, what frightens you… will also disappear… Flying in planes...? For real? Right now you're going to get on that again?! No... I meant... Dying here. Could you keep it serious? Shoot. Sorry! I mean... <clears throat> N-no, you old fool! We’re not gonna let you die here!! Heh heh. I’ll transport you to the Samsara Pavilion with the last of my strength. Good luck… Now, go! Go to Kuihai Tower and rescue the girl!!The room starts shaking violently. I-it's collapsing!.jpg) Master Xifa teleports everyone out of the room just as the ceiling starts giving in... .jpg) ...and keels over dead. Introduced the same update he died. That's a new record for named, character portrait possessing NPCs in Shadow Hearts. But don't worry, that record doesn't stand forever. Tune in next time as the gang runs into complications escaping Wuhan Ruins and maybe we kill off another reoccurring NPC in the process as Shadow Hearts continues!  Video: Episode 29 Highlight Reel The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Aug 21, 2018 |
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Aug 20, 2018 18:32
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Let's get to a new page so we can finish off this crappy filler arc chapter.
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Aug 22, 2018 16:29
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Episode XXIX: Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies Music: Much Hatred Still Rankles .jpg) Yes!! They finally started something! ...Is that good? It doesn't sound good. You don't ask those kinds of questions when winging it with those dabbling in occult practices. That isn't reassuring, ma'am... <turns to the troops> All right, Lieutenant Suketani!!Suketani steps forward and salutes. .jpg) Take your troops underground! We don’t know what’s down there, so proceed with extreme caution! If it has more than four limbs, has any manner of unearthly glow or possesses a translucent body – you shoot it! Yes, ma’am!Suketani departs with his men. .jpg) All right. Let’s move out!! <runs after the others> Lt. Colonel Kawashima...Meanwhile... .jpg) Back in the temple, Xifa managed to teleport all of the important characters back to the entrance of his dumbass trials that got him killed. Hmm... the evil sorcerer we barely beat last time and forced me to live in a magically sealed storeroom in the back of some monster filled temple ruins with a cat child as my only company is back and clearly more powerful than ever? Well, I'd better dick around with the people trying to stop him because I'm really bored. That's productive! Old bald loving idiot. I'm glad he's dead. Everyone picks themselves up off the ground. .jpg) …Where are we?! <inspects the area> It's the Samsara Pavilion! Master Xifa transported us here, didn’t he…? Hey... umm... Was kinda caught up in the old guy dying and the place collapsing but... where is Alice? <looks around> She is... uhh... well. Dehuai... probably took her... Probably... That isn't reassuring, old man! We’ve got no time to waste! We’ve got to get back to Shanghai before this place collapses..jpg) Calm your rear end, Zhuzhen. There's no time limit for the temple collapsing and we need to do a brief bit of mission prep before proceeding. Particularly, you remember those Leonardo Bears that prevent Instant Death? It might be a good idea to equip those on the whole party right about now. Just as a precaution, you know? Music: Misfortune - Psycho Temple .jpg) We never hear Wugui of Kowloon strolls onto the scene. .jpg) That Dehuai doesn’t miss a beat, does he… leaving Wugui behind to block our return… I'm getting sick of mid-bosses. You don’t know when to give up, do you? You here for another beat-down? You’ve caught me at a bad time. I won’t forgive you over my dead body! My sentiments exactly, boy. You will pay dearly for what you did to me. Yeah, yeah... I've gotta busy schedule. Just get on with it. You have no idea what you're about to face, boy. Is it a powered-up second form? Or a Yamaraja dude? Ya know like I called last time you ran away with your tail between your legs... You think you're so clever, boy? But you're wrong! It's BOTH! Wait. ...Doesn't that just make me double right? That checks out. Mhm. SILENCE! Graaaaaah!!.jpg) Music: China Ogre .jpg) .jpg) Meet the actual boss of the Wuhan Temple Ruins -- Yamaraja: War. You can't have any localization confusion if you don't use an element name. Except... this guy wasn't denoted as a Yamaraja boss at all in Japanese. He was just referred to as Unrestrained/Unleashed/Super Saiyan Level 2 Wugui, so whoops! In any case, Shin Wugui is a Dark elemental enemy packing a quite stout 840 HP. .jpg) .jpg) Our first order of business is going to be switching Yuri over to Inferno and buffing his physical attack strength with some Shonen level Fighting Spirit. We may be done with the trial gimmicks of this chapter, but we're not quite finished with the annoying gameplay limitations being present. .jpg) .jpg) Remember how Wugui could absorb all magical special attacks? Welp, he still retains that ability in his Yamaraja: War form. Which means all anyone is allowed to do is physical attacks as everything else will just heal him. Meaning, Zhuzhen is stuck on healing duty and Margarete just kind of chips away for middling damage. Most of this fight is going to be on Goro Yuri repeatedly punching Wugui in the dick until he submits. Not that the Kowloon native is going to take that lying down, mind you.  For instance, Wugui still possesses the Game of Death attack. Yuri still has immunity when he's Dark Elemental (so default status with no Fusions), despite every guide for this game telling you to have three Leonardo's Bears. So in a pinch, he can just remain normal or swap over to Death Emperor. Not so much for Margarete or Zhuzhen. And if you didn't know this fight was coming, whoops they're immediately both dead thirty seconds into the battle. When was the last save point? Oh, before all of the crap with Xifa, huh? That's unfortunate. Definitely didn't have to redo this fight my first time through and get annoyed it was before five minutes of cutscenes. .jpg) But since we prepared properly by giving everyone teddy bears, we're good to go! Nice try, idiot! We have the protection of Benjamin Spooner Briggs the King of Limbo. .jpg) Beyond that, War hits quite hard with his weird chitin axe but he doesn't seem keen on doing more than a single strike at a time. So that's nice of him. .jpg) .jpg) He also possesses a new ability: Nightmare. Which is just... Dark Messenger, that darkness gas spray attack every Dark element enemy has in their move list, but this version hits the entire party. It does do around 60+ HP of damage to the whole team, so that's nothing to sneeze at when Wugui pulls it out. But that's why we have Zhuzhen on healing duty. Nourishing Potion's high MP cost isn't quite the factor when it's literally the only productive thing he can spend MP on in a fight. .jpg) .jpg) Everything aside, just insert three minutes of Yuri furiously punching Wugui in the dick as a flaming Goro while Margarete takes potshots and Zhuzhen puts in work keeping everyone's health topped off and you've got this fight in a nutshell. This jobber is retired. .jpg) Post-battle, our EXP, and Cash prize resulted in Zhuzhen reaching Level 17 and gaining Life Sucker. If that sounds like a nifty attack where he steals HP off an enemy to heal himself... that'd be a decent guess, but you'd also be dead wrong. It's a Dark element attack that hits a single enemy for OK damage and has a chance to cause Silence. Yeah... I dunno either. Music: Wind Which Blows From the Dark II .jpg) Is your entire win record just beating up Zhuzhen? N-no... <raises eyebrow> ...M-maybe..jpg) .jpg) Roger Bacon warps into the room. It's been quite some time since he's popped up. I wonder what kind of nefarious speech he has for this reunion with Yuri. .jpg) .jpg) Oh... He's just going to Hadoken him and immediately gently caress-off with Wugui. Huh... That's a pretty concise speech. Unless we follow a very specific set of choices in the coming chapter, that's the last we ever see of Wugui of Kowloon. He and Bacon might have buggered off to sidequest country. We'll worry about that for another day. We have more pressing issues at the moment... .jpg) Oh no!! Hurry, before everything collapses!! Just gimme a s—.jpg) And that extremely abruptly concludes Chapter 7! Well, I'm sure Alice can get herself out of a kidnapping and sort out Dehuai on her own. Military intrigue and sidequest triggering will commence next time in Chapter 8: Shanghai Again! May we never go to a temple ruins dungeon again. That chapter was a big wet fart and things honestly would have gone way better if the party just didn't bother showing up. But it did fill out quite a bit of the Library entries... even if many of them were palette swaps. Let's see what we've got here... MONSTER: .jpg) Dead? Dying? He ain't picky! These human teeth are made for chewing! .jpg) Wait, back up... How did a man drown on land? Did he trip into a puddle? Why did that turn him into a gross oily tentacle rape monster? I've very confused. .jpg) Is this what is kicking my rear end when I make the annual mistake of ordering some Chinese food? .jpg) I imagine it just sounds like Dr. Girlfriend from Venture Bros repeatedly going "boo!" .jpg) Uniform shockingly clean and up to dress code despite their zombified status. .jpg) It knows when you've been wanking to the REAL weird stuff on the internet. It knows! .jpg) Honestly, just avoid puddles of water that can potentially house creatures the size of a small cow. Just walk around that poo poo! .jpg) No curse or malevolent spirits involved here. Just a frog that took a full heel turn and decided it was going to eat some brains. I can respect that. .jpg) It guards Master Xifa's weed stash. .jpg) An unfathomable Dark power that can delete one's existence... unless they're carrying a teddy bear. Then said powers are rendered impotent and sad. NPC: .jpg) Turns out getting transformed into a boy burned through about eight lives. Xifa never brought that part up until it was too late. .jpg) Dead idiot with a bumper sticker stuck on his big stupid head.  Video: Episode 29 Highlight Reel The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Aug 24, 2018 |
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Aug 22, 2018 18:12
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 Episode XXX: Alliances Music: Profile .jpg) The crummiest chapter in the game is behind us and it couldn't even have the courtesy to end properly. Just <~SCENE MISSING~> hey we're back in Shanghai again! Don't worry about it! Yuri hops out of his bed back at the Cypress Hotel in Shanghai. .jpg) <shrugs and shakes head> Who do you think rescued us from the rubble? Hmmm… I’d better go next door and check it out myself. .jpg) Yep. That's it. That's all we get for the transition back to town. The Japanese army apparently dug Yuri, Zhuzhen and Margarete out of the temple's rubble, they were all perfectly fine but unconscious. They were then transported several hundred miles back to Shanghai, checked back into their same hotel room from earlier and just kind of tossed into bed with not so much as a single one of them waking up at any point to figure out what the hell was going on. The 1913 Japanese military was shockingly efficient, it turns out. .jpg) Anyway, this entire time Kawashima and Kato have been checked into the room right next door. There's just never been a reason to talk to them up until this point. But let's go over there now and see if things have changed. .jpg) Welp. I guess the Smuggler Boss and Courier's Subordinate ruse is off unless they're going to explain these guys stole their uniforms for some clandestine deal with the army. Kato and Kawashima exchange a nod before Kato waves off the soldiers. The two guards put down their rifles and exit the hotel room. Yuri approaches the pair for some answers. .jpg) I was starting to worry when none of you regained consciousness after... a good day half-day trip... Yeah, I’m awake all right!! Care to tell me what’s going on here?! Why the Japanese Army? <motions to Kawashima> Yuri, this is Lt. Colonel Kawashima. Her unit saved you from the temple ruins. “Lt. Colonel Kawashima”?! The Japanese Army is our enemy! They went to the temple ruins for the White Tiger Votive Picture!! ... …Right? Well, you're not wrong, per se. <walks to the window> Sergeant Kato and I posed as smugglers, entirely to maintain contact with you. I am still wearing army fatigues. Just not the dress field uniform... Tch. Like I know what an army uniform looks like or if that's the part of your mug I'd pay attention to! ...?.jpg) Please, try not to be angry… We apologize for withholding information from you… To be fair, you never asked if we were affiliated with the army... Shaddup! You think you can just let bygones be bygones, pal?! Heh. Calm yourself. At present, we are not your enemies. Take it easy, kid. Let’s hear what they have to say.Zhuzhen and Margarete barge into the room. .jpg) We don’t know what could be happening to Alice!! Alice is fine. Dehuai took off with her... I think... I was slightly knocked out at the time. Kinda a lot of that going around lately... Does anyone else hear ringing in their ears like non-stop? That's probably fine too..jpg) If only I’d realized sooner… I would have killed you without a thought. Now, now, let’s not get hostile. I'm looking the other way after you bombed a train station and stole an airplane from Fengtian. ...That was YOU, the idiot that blew up that train and made me have to walk 70 kilometers to Dalian? Heheh... Don't we have more pressing matters at hand? <glares> The only ones who’ll profit from our fighting are Dehuai and the Japanese who aim to take Shanghai. Please, think about it. If we truly hated you, would we have gone through the trouble of putting our men in danger, asking them to dig you out of that monster-infested rubble? You said that Alice is okay, right? How do you know that?! <walks to the window> If I were Dehuai, I’d protect her. She’s a treasure to him. Her very existence gives him satisfaction. Notta fan of any of that phrasing... He will leave her in some secure location, while he hastens preparations for the Valorization. <shakes head> Which means that Alice is safe until the Demon’s Gate Invocation begins. <nods> Precisely. While we do not have too much time, we are not too late. Dehuai has made Kuihai Tower his fortress. But since there’s no way we can break through the front… ... <faces Zhuzhen> …Master Zhuzhen. You are the most familiar with this, correct? Why don’t we collaborate? <shakes fist> So everything’s just part of the plan, huh? I can’t believe you!! Yuri advances towards Kawashima. Kato grows a huge pair of balls and blocks his path. .jpg) Yuri! You shouldn’t say that! The Lt. Colonel… The Lt. Colonel was at the temple ruins the whole time, praying for your safety, waiting with the unit. She waited, and waited… believing you’d come back… That's not really selling me, guy. … Enough, Kato. The fact is, we did use you. I truly apologize for that.Kato gets out of Yuri's way. .jpg) <approaches Yuri> Yuri, I want to join in arms with you. … <goes to the window> I aim to make Shanghai a staging base for the Army, but it can’t be done with Dehuai at large. Dehuai is your enemy, as well. Joining forces to stop him is the most logical strategy. Why do you want us to cooperate? It should be easy for your famous army. Why not wipe everything out with your military might? <turns toward Margarete> That’s not it at all!! Certainly, there are many who’d like to do just that… But I am not one of them! An invasion of Shanghai, once begun, cannot be easily stopped. A huge number of people will be involved in the battle, and a lot of them will die. The best course of action is to fell the ringleader, before the winds of war kindle an inferno. <shakes head> That’d be awfully convenient for you wouldn’t it… I’d sooner take Dehuai’s side than do anything to abet Japan’s designs on Shanghai. Master Zhuzhen?! Dehuai is bad news, don't get me wrong there. But I'm not aiding the invasion of my country by a foreign power either. Are you serious? You can go suck eggs on that front.Yuri walks past everyone to the window. Music: ENDS .jpg) If the Japanese Army wants to invade Shanghai, so be it. After I finish Dehuai, I’ll fight them. You'll fight the entire army? Tch. Those soldiers are like one punch a piece. How many would be marching this way? Upward of 40,000 men. So I'll be puttin' in a solid 9:00 to 5:00 that day.... Now, Kawashima, I may not be as smart as you, but I know what’s important in life! And it's punching that creepy old wizard's face in and saving Alice. Not necessarily in that order. Are you saying a joint effort is impossible?Music: Profile .jpg) Don’t underestimate Dehuai! If you leave here on your own, all that awaits you are his traps! Oh no! I'll have to deal with him like possessing a monkey and I'll have to beat that up. Whatever... I don’t care if it’s a trap. I promised myself I’d protect Alice at all costs. <nervous laugh> Y-you… You’re... a fool. People like you, people who plan out every little detail of their lives. You could never understand me.Yuri starts walking past everyone out of the room. .jpg) I thank you for saving us. Goodbye. ...Yuri drops the mic and leaves the room. .jpg) Well... that could have gone better... <turns to Margarete> If the Demon’s Gate Invocation actually takes place, there’ll be no point in debating about Japan. So that's a "no" out of you two as well...? <walks away without saying anything> Bitch, you're lucky I don't double tap you and your bodyguard right here and now...Zhuzhen and Margarete depart as well. .jpg) Everything will be fine. Illogical people can just be… difficult… That's one way to put it... Kato, is Suketani still away? <nods> Yes, ma’am, he said he’d be back right away… I’ll go check on him. Oh, and Kato… give them the Yawang Gate Key. Lt. Colonel?! Are you sure?? Our spies worked so hard to get such an important… Just do it. We can’t let Shanghai become a pile of ashes. Even if we can’t cooperate with them… we can gather our troops and prepare to invade Kuihai Tower. Understood? If need be we have the skeleton key known as "a cannon" to get through that gate. <salutes> Understood. Lt. Colonel, please wait here. I’ll take care of it.Kato runs off to fulfill Kawashima's orders. Meanwhile, outside the hotel... Music: Swindler - Shanghai Mood .jpg) Wait, sonny boy, you can't go by yourself! That's right. You can't very well leave behind your guide through hell, you know? Hmph. I know that!.jpg) We're free to explore Shanghai once again. Absolutely nothing has changed since the first visit. As a side note, out of curiosity/wanting to save the game (Yuri refuses to go back in the hotel with the army narcs in there) I returned to the World Map here by heading north from the hotel. .jpg) .jpg) Turns out the Japanese military did a HELL of a job digging out the Temple Ruins. Indeed, the party can march straight back to where it allegedly caved in on them after the Wugui fight and it's perfectly intact. Indeed, the entire dungeon save the entrance to Xifa's chamber is still fully accessible. There's absolutely nothing to do here and it seems like an oversight it's still an available location when the game had been disabling every other previous locale up to this point. But there you have it. .jpg) Getting back on track, there's no indication of where we're meant to go next to progress. But spoilers: It's Zhen's bar. As soon as we run down the stairs, we're whisked off to another cutscene elsewhere. Music: Army Mood .jpg) Knocking is heard from a door. .jpg) Enter.A pair of Japanese soldiers enter the room, approach Suketani and draw their rifles. .jpg) <looks the two over> What’s wrong with you?! Have you gone mad?!An officer with the designated smug rear end in a top hat/every white guy in the '90s haircut enters the office. .jpg) <salutes> M-Major Kutsugi?! I ordered Kawashima’s whereabouts reported the moment you located her! You tried to trick my spies? N-no, heavens no! I… I haven’t found Lt. Colonel Kawashima yet! Enough lies. I am assuming Shanghai command. This is a direct order from the Imperial Capital. You were with Kawashima in Wuhan, weren’t you? Do you honestly expect me to believe this report you were lead there on a tip by "Smuggler Boss" who 100% matched the description of the Lt. Colonel? Well... Tokyo may charge her with treason. You’re a good soldier. Tell where she is. I will not ask again. I-I know nothing of it! And the Lt. Colonel had no plans for any treason! The Lt. Colonel you've been unable to locate... You're really not good at this, Lieutenant. She failed to report many key details and moved ahead without approval from the Capital. That doesn’t sound like treason to you? Hmph. In any case… The truth will be revealed soon enough, as my soldiers turn the city inside out. Farewell.Major Kutsugi departs. Music: END .jpg) I kind of forgot how much of a bloodbath this game was for minor NPCs you didn't particularly care about. Meanwhile, back in Mr. Zhen's joint... .jpg) Hi... you... Qiuhua. I knew that. No you didn't. You got me. How did it go? Did you retrieve the White Tiger? Well... <concerned look> Nothing good ever begins with "well..."Fade to black to explain that awful filler dungeon and the events that followed. .jpg) Except Alice... And Master Xifa and the annoying cat boy. OK. Maybe "everybody" was a bit off the mark. So, tell us, Zhen. How have things been here in Shanghai? I sense a disquieting air about the town. Indeed. The Japanese Army’s preparing for something… The number of troops has increased! I think they call that sort of preparation an "invasion" or something like that. Hey, how do we get inside Kuihai Tower? If you know, you’ve gotta tell me! Fifteen years ago, Dehuai destroyed every entrance to the Tower but one Yawang Gate. The door is sturdy and locked tight. It’s locked? You can do something about it, right, Zhuzhen? Hmph! If all it takes is an unlocking spell, that’s a simple enough order. Yawang Gate, eh? Thanks, Mr. Zhen!!.jpg) OK. So, we need to go find a key. Shanghai is only a few screens big. Surely it cannot take that long to track it down. Side note: If you were ever playing the game yourself, now is the time to tackle the Pit Fights in Zhen's bar. Indeed, the cut-off point for that sidequest is fast approaching so it's one of the last chances to do it too. But we don't need to worry about that. Let's head back outside. Music: Army Mood .jpg) .jpg) Well, they didn't waste any time at all. All NPCs on the streets have been replaced by patrolling Japanese army soldiers. The soldiers don't have any AI or anything. They just kind of mindlessly marching back and forth in the same couple of yards of space. But should Yuri bump into one of them... .jpg) Music: Brain Hopper .jpg) .jpg) We'll be forced into a battle with a couple of Corporals. Despite literally being an identical character model to the previous soldiers we've fought, these soldiers are slightly more durable and have rifles that can nearly do double-digit damage with each shot! The military might of Japan is getting even fiercer! .jpg) By being "slightly more durable" I mean they'll die at the end of Yuri's entire three hit string instead of keeling over from the first punch. Margarete can also take most of 'em out unloading an entire magazine into their chests. Since there's only ever two soldiers in a fight, Zhuzhen doesn't even have to participate. Music: Army Mood .jpg) In any case, when the party walks into the middle of the street, we're stopped by Kato rushing out in a panic trying to get our attention. Let's see what has the mighty chin upset... .jpg) N-no! It’s terrible, just terrible! You’re a grown man! Get a hold of yourself! What is it? What happened? Yes, yes… Well…Music: God Knows Bad News .jpg) L-Lieutenant Suketani!! <runs over to Suketani> <kneels down> L-Lieutenant Suketani!! Please, please, say you’re all right!.jpg) Wh-who did this to you?! Lieutenant! Who was it?! Ku-kutsugi… Major Kutsugi… He’s after… the Lt. Colonel… Listen carefully, Sergeant… I hid it… the p-precious item… I hid it in the boat… Tell that to them… Tell Yuri’s party, right?! Understood! Please, don’t say another word, Lieutenant! I’ll send a medic over right away! Forget it… Sergeant, forget about me… I'm l-lung shot... and gut shot... and lung shot a-again... and my heart... and n-neck... S-Shouldn't even be... able to... speak... The Lt. Colonel… Protect her! There’s no… time… G-go! I… leave it to you… B-BARF! <dies>.jpg) Lieutenant!! Lieutenant Suketani!!Back in the street... Music: Army Mood .jpg) <sniff> But Lieutenant Suketani... I can't believe he's gone. Yeah... none of us ever met that guy. So not really feeling that loss... I just shot dead a soldier kid in the alley... But… what in the world is this precious item that Lieutenant Suketani wanted us to have? He says he hid it on board his ship? Yes! Please go get it right away. I must return to the Lt. Colonel! Got it. As soon as we find whatever it is we’ll head back to the inn! Until then, you stay put! Got it?! Y-yes! <runs off> I thought we just told the Japanese army to shove off. Why are we back to help them again? Ehh... I guess I've cooled off. And I kind of like that big chinned dope... What about Kawashima? <shrug> She's kinda hot so, ehh... Let's see what this thing is in the boat, maybe beat up a few soldiers and then we'll go kick Dehuai's rear end. You're not the most focused guy, are you? It comes and goes..jpg) .jpg) Over to the Smuggler's Boat we go. More Japanese troops are patrolling the streets. But again, they make no effort to actually give chase to the party. That said, there are now random battles in Shanghai against these same soldiers. So... not sure what the point of the patrolling guys you can easily avoid is supposed to be, other than flavor. .jpg) .jpg) Checking the Smuggler Boat hold where Sea Mother stowed-away a lifetime ago will result in the party locating the key Kuihai Tower where Dehuai is up to some nefarious poo poo. Thanks for the assist, rando military guy the party never once interacted with directly. Tune in next time as we help Kawashima out of a jam (not because we wanted to help her or anything baka!), discover what happened to Alice and completely skirt our responsibilities to embark on a wildly inappropriately timed entire sidequest chapter as Shadow Hearts continues!  Lt. Colonel Yoshiko Kawashima Portrait – Yeah, my office is full of dragonflies. Meh... It happens. China is weird. The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 23:30 on Aug 24, 2018 |
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Aug 24, 2018 19:05
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