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Yes! Ground floor for this game. I remember reading about it/finding it on the internet a few years ago and then promptly forgetting about it. Looking forward to seeing what I missed and cringing at all the familiar JRPG tropes that I know will be in this game.
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Oct 4, 2018 17:10
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This, this is good. We can work with this.
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Oct 4, 2018 18:01
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~Update 2: I see a man at the back as a matter of fact; His eyes are as red as the sun So last time we were introduced to our hero, his -Downtown-  ... Hey Fuuko, you doing okay? You've been awfully quiet. Come to think of it, you're not the only one either. ...  You haven't said much since Mark mentioned Classmating. That's not true! I did some moping too! Hey, she turned bright red. Looks like I'm right.Hrgh... Are they really going to make me Classmate now...?When a Disciple with a high Ether Count Classmates with a girl with Star Energy there's an increased chance of a Star Conception, right? Then you'll definitely be given a lot of chances to do Classmating. *sigh* Well, since apparently I'm not needed, I guess we'll go our separate ways here.I'll see you guys again at the Academy.-Church of Aterra-   Welcome back, the two of you....[Priest A]: Ah, so this is the God's Gift. [Priest B]: The Star God has finally graced us with a God's Gift! [Priest C]: He looks so stoic and determined. We are truly blessed. .png) Wake and Fuuko. We would like you to immediately try to Classmate with each other.Huh...? R-Right now? I can understand your anxiety at the current situation.I really don't think you do!  The male's Ether and the female's Star Energy are entwined with bonds... Pouring this energy into the Star Womb Matryoshka creates these holy children.AGAIN ignoring the 'as you know', this suggests that Male Disciples have Ether and Females have Star Energy. It's a little unclear whether or not Male Disciples have any Star Energy at all, or if it's just significantly less than Females. Wake doesn't use any magic from what I recall, while the heroines definitely do. I'm leaning more towards each gender having one or the other. There is another aspect to all of this that may clarify things later though. It's all just background fluff either way. I do understand that the ritual is necessary for us to win peace in the world. But my heart isn't ready yet... I'm sorry, but please give me some time.I see... I understand.You have sixty seconds.What!?Then, while you are thinking, I will go over the details of Classmating. Wake, is there anything you'd like to review about the Classmating ritual?... Uh... Wake? God's Gift? Is something the matter? Hm? Sorry, I was working on something in my head. What's going on now? Wait, when did we get back to the Church?Please focus, Wake. Is there anything you need to know about the Classmating ritual before we begin? This is important.  I was completely zoned out. Just... start telling me about whatever this is and I'll piece it together as you go.Very well.Star Children are not human. They are warrior spirits created to fight monsters. They are born through the Classmating of a male and female Disciple. They get their powers through the Star Energy of the female who made them. That Energy is what they use to put their powers to their full use. When taking Star Children into battle, it is standard for a female to accompany them.The Star Children need a momma around (any momma, doesn't have to be theirs), which is why Disciples that honestly have no business being in combat yet (like Fuuko) will be tagging along in Dusk Circles. Okay, I think I'm catching up."Star Conception" refers to the act of Classmation, creating Star Children. The female takes the male's Ether into a Star Womb during this ritual. Now, as to the viability of the Star Conception Rate... That is, the probability of conceiving a Star Child as a result of Classmating. The rate is highest between males with high Ether Counts and highly ranked females.According to the statistical data gathered until now... Are we breeding a gold Chocobo or something? How the hell is that a reliable way to fight the monsters? I'm getting to that. Calm yourself.But we can expect a high Conception Rate with an S Rank girl and a God's Gift male. We would definitely like to see some good results from you.Are you trying to give me performance anxiety or something? Putting a lot of weight on me there old man....-Ritual Hall- Are you prepared, Fuuko? Yes... I'm ready now.We will now begin the Classmating. Whoah whoah whoah. Nobody said anything about a bunch of old guys watching us. I can't... perform like that.You'll be fine. It is perfectly normal to be a little anxious. Just relax.Well... I guess if I focus and--Now, proceed as I taught you earlier!Okay! Okay! Wait, how does this work again?I think we had to hold hands to start? Right?What? You mean like this mayb--Time to start pumping out Star Children. Whenever you go to the Church you get the option to select the heroine you want to Classmate with. Each class of Star Child has minimum stat requirements that have to be met in order to create one, so you'll be able to get a wider variety of classes if you focus on multiple girls. BP stands for Bond Points. BP can be raised a few different ways and it gets easier to do as the game goes on, so there's no need to be especially conservative with it (outside of the dungeons anyway. Inside is an different story entirely). The game sums this up fairly well with these tutorial cards, so take it away game!  Pressing the left and right shoulder buttons (if using a controller), or E and Q if using a keyboard, let's you cycle through the heroines data. You can see stuff that you have learned about the heroines, such as Likes, Dislikes, little factoids, that kind of thing. These can come in handy for giving gifts and picking dialog options to increase your bond level.   You can also view a little profile on the girl in one of the tabs. Fuuko here likes to swim and hopes that this will somehow help her use guns to fight nightmare creatures. These can be seen in the Database as well.  Also worth highlighting here: If Wake royally fucks up with one of the heroines then they'll outright tell him to piss off with the Classmating garbage. I actually haven't seen what happens when the mood is at its lowest, although it most likely just results in the heroine not being select-able. I doubt there is a special scene or anything where the girl tells Wake to shove the Matryoshka up his rear end.  Speaking of the Matryoshkas, after selecting the heroine you will have a choice of which Matryoshka to use. These are the 'Star Wombs' Mattero was yammering about that the Star Kids will pop out of. You have an infinite supply of the normal variety, but you can pick up others that have various effects such as giving the SC a certain element or upping particular stats.  Do not 'try them out to see what they do'. The game tells you what the effect is before you use it and some Matryoshkas are rare drops. If you have one with a good effect, you'll want to hang on to it until you're ready to make a Star Child when all the variables are sitting at their highest points.  This is still tutorial town, so we only have the basic type of doll. Let's go ahead and see what--  ~OooOoooOooOoo, touch my heaaaarrt. Just wanna make love to you~  ~NooooOoooOOOooo, skip this sceeeeene. Just gonna cut these screenshots~ DON'T BE A CREEP WARNINGThe video with the song shows (part of) the little cutscene that plays when you select a Heroine for Classmating. The screenshot you see above is the only one I could get that I would consider totally SFW. Again, there is no nudity, but there is some 3D model barbie-doll anatomy going on. They get longer as the bond level rises as well, adding in new poses. Music: Close to You  Music: Congratulations! (This is annoyingly catchy despite the Engrish, and you'll be hearing it A LOT. Well, you won't I guess, but I sure as hell will.) ...Moving on. The classes you meet the requirements for will be highlighted. If you don't meet the stat requirements, you can see what you're lacking on the right hand side, as indicated by the red.   The yellow spread shows you what kind of stats the Star Child will wind up with, while the red (orange?) shows you the stat requirement to create them. Not every class has pure stat requirements though. There are some that need other class types to be leveled up past a certain threshold first, and others that need special item drops on top of that.  The game has 30 available classes. Some of those are base classes and some are promoted versions of the base classes. There are a few specialty classes as well. We can only choose Gunslinger at the moment though. Normally the Class is obscured until you create it, but we'll go ahead and pull from the Database to see what we are about to make.  Like Pokemon, there isn't a big variation in stats at this level. We can still see that Gunslinger trends towards accuracy(TEC) and Luck(LUC) though. So let's go ahead and welcome our little cowgirl into the world (you can tell if it's a boy or a girl based on the portrait. Boys will be blue and have different art).  You can enter a name yourself or just mash 'Random' until you see one you like. I'll go with the first option this time, but you guys can shout out name suggestions if you want (although you might want to save them for when I start looking to the thread for the Goon Team).  Alright, here comes Esther the Gunslinger.  Whenever you create a Star Child, they will come bearing gifts. Esther here is knocking 25% off the BP cost. Sometimes this bonus is money, sometimes it will be Bond Points, and sometimes it will increase the heroine's mood.  There is also a rare chance our precious baby will be born some kind of mutant abomination. They might have two elements as opposed to one or they might level up faster than normal. This is all randomized poo poo that I have to put up with during the coming hours and hours of grinding. You guys don't need to worry about the details. I'll open up a team later, show you guys what classes we have, and then you just tell me what you think would be cool.  Hm? What do we have here?  Looks like Fuuko had triplets. As far as I can tell this only happens in the tutorial. It is possible to get twins, although it's rare, but I've never seen triples happen through regular gameplay. This is likely just a handwave in order to set us up with one full team out of the gate. Well, let's welcome Jacob and Elly I suppose. They're knocking 25% each off of the BP cost as well.  Jacob, pictured above is a Swordis. Pretty much just the starter Hero class for any JRPG. Elly, pictured below, is our Cleric.  Preist A: *gasp* Is this true...? Preist B: This... This is unbelievable. Preist C: Do it again! I wasn't looking!  That's an unbelievable success! The amount of Ether produced guarantees a Star Child with an S Rank female Disciple.Ruby!? When did you get here? I had an interest in this experiment, too. I decided to observe and take readings.Hot.What!? You dare call this holy rite an "experiment"!?Ah, forgive me. But don't these results satisfy you, too?Well... it was pretty hot, I'll give you that....Indeed, I am extremely pleased. O Star God, we are truly thankful for your Gift.We will now be able to exterminate the monsters within the Dusk Circles!I'm... uhhh... what the hell was that? There's some weird stuff happening down in me right now... You doing okay? Here, grab on to my arm before you keel over.Th-Thanks...I think you may have been a bit too... eager, Wake... Well done, you two. If your bond becomes stronger, even stronger Star Children will be born. Keep this up and get along with each other.Cool your test tubes Chief.Oh, um... Yes...You are free to use this shrine if you need to perform Classmating from here on.Yaaayyy... so excited about that...Disciples with high Conception Rates are given priority to use this holy place. Are you going to be watching us every time?Well someone needs to preside over the ritual.Well, you two. Considering where we are, I'll guide you to the Fort City's defensive line now. Oh... You'll need to change before that. You're in the Standard-class uniforms. Here are your Elite-class uniforms. Once you've changed, let's regroup.Is there a shower room around here somewhere? Or maybe an open window overlooking the ocean that I can jump out of?What happened to all that bravado from earlier? Don't start with me. I'm grappling with feelings unrelated to killing monsters at the moment. It's really strange.*Wake, Fuuko, and Ruby all leave* Still, I am truly envious of youth. Priest B: Uh-huh, uh-huh... right... Huh? What was that noise?... Oooohhh... Alright, I'll let him know. *beep* Excuse me High Priest Mattero? Hm? Yes?Priest B: Remember that leak we had in the residence hall? Yeah... I was just on a call with maintenance when a pipe suddenly burst. He said your room is currently flooding. ...(Come on, your holiness. I'm old. Just let me have this!)Pandora Labyrinth - Check out the cutscene  Welcome to... a rooftop? Balcony maybe? We're outdoors.  Goodness. Don't you two look smart in your new uniforms. Ugh, stupid tie... Aw, thanks Chief Ruby.Much better. I was starting to choke. If it was too tight then why did you wait until just now to loosen it?Because, I...Huh... That's actually a fair point...Yes... Well now that we're here, let me give you the grand tour. This is the top of the Fort City. We're at the defensive line here. It's been nicknamed the 'Original Core'. Look down from here. What you see in the water is the world's first and largest Dusk Circle. Of course they do. They have a clear love of making things sound ominous.Giving it a name makes it easy to remember, so go ahead and call it that as well.Not happening. I'm not putting up with this interchangeable terminology garbage. You call it by one name and that's it.Fine. For the sake of brevity, just call it Pandora. It's decided then. Good.How frightening... So this is the first Dusk Circle that appeared twenty years ago...There are eight Dusk Circles in the world right now, including this one. Of those, two have become active. That is, they've full materialized as Labyrinths.This one has remained dormant, however. This one is still what's nicknamed a Circle Seed... an inactive Dusk Circle. Still, because of its powerful energy, monsters are slowly pouring out of it.Hold up. We can see the Dusk Circle right there and it's spitting out monsters. The Church calls it the Pandora Labyrinth. How is that not considered 'active'?There is a reason why you can already see it so clearly... The Dusk Energy here is extremely powerful compared to other Dusk Circles.That didn't answer the question at all. Well whatever, you're the scientist. More importantly, what kind of defenses do you have protecting Fort City from the monsters?You really are all about killing monsters, aren't you? We are fully equipped with a system to intercept any monsters, as well.Fun fact: The magic wall Ruby talks about is called the Star Wall. It's a barrier created from Star Energy to prevent monsters from escaping Pandora (the Original Core). The Star Wall is powered by a dedicated group called 'The Watch'. I don't know if the game ever calls them that, but that is what they are listed as in the database. Despite their fancy name, The Watch is actually made up mostly of Standard class Disciples. They have an important job, but it's still kind of funny to me that someone gave this bunch of teenagers, one step removed from being a meat shield, the ominous title of 'The Watch'. Even then, some monsters occasionally do get past that.Yeah, we've experienced that first hand.So the monsters that attacked us when we got off the boat must have been some of those.You were attacked by monsters?Fuuko and Chlotz were attacked by monsters. I wiped the floor with them. Just want to clarify that. That's odd. We haven't received any reports that monsters escaped the defensive line... Could they have come from one of the Nests on the island?Wait, so you know there are monster nests on the island that are outside this little kill zone?The active Circles on the continent shoot out pods filled with monsters called Nests. They sometimes make it all the way to the island, but it's very rare.So this CAN happen, and yet new Disciples don't warrant any kind of escort to the Academy from the port? You don't have anyone patrolling that important roadway running straight through a dense forest?We don't exactly have an excess supply of manpower that we can devote to guarding local roads in the rare event that a monster Nest hits.I just want to point out that if I had gone to get breakfast before heading to the Academy, a B Rank Elite and an S Rank Elite would have been dead before even getting here. Hell, if I had a split-second lapse in concentration then you would have lost a God's Gift on top of that.It was a calculated risk... That just so happens to have almost backfired.Monster Pods - Check out the cutscene  Speaking of monsters.   *Ride of the Valkyries  *   .jpg)  That's probably a bad thing. Maybe? Do we even know where in the world this is going on?  Ah, here you are. Let me introduce you. This is another S Rank in the second-year. That means we'll be in the same class. I'm Fuuko. It's nice to meet you.(Wow...) I'm Alec. Another S Rank, huh?We're introduced to Alec. There isn't much to him at the moment. He's just 'stop having fun, guys' enough to be a dick, but he also has a pretty important job with a weighty responsibility. He'll come around as the game goes on though. I actually really like his character. So I'm told... I'm a little worried if I'll be of any use, though. You shouldn't be so naive. Such thoughts on the battlefield will only lead to death.Y-You're right, ahaha...(He's sooo hot...)It's not funny.Oh... Right.Well aren't you just a bag of fun. So, you're God's Gift...So I'm told. What of it?No... It's nothing.Why don't you have Alec guide you from here on?Get to know each other a little more... intimately.What are you planning...?I'm not doing any planning. It's more like... laying some groundwork....I may not look it, but I'm rather busy. See you later.*Ruby leaves* You need a tour, huh? Okay, come with me. Is there anything you'd like to know about the Fort City while we're here? I'm getting a little sick of question time. Both questions just tell us stuff we already know by this point. Ruby just finished explaining to us that the Circle over there isn't active yet, but it still has the Dusk Energy to spew out monsters. Alec just repeats that and adds that whenever this Circle does become active, it's going to be a real bad scene. Asking about the Academy does offer up a bit of new info though, so let's look into that. So what exactly are we going to be doing in this place? The vague talk of 'training' isn't quite the answer I've been looking for.The Aterra Academy gathers those who have received the Star God's Brand. It's where we're trained to be Disciples. Aside from certain individuals who are given special assignment from the Church... Everyone who exhibits a Brand must transfer to the Academy the moment it appears. And then, there are the Disciples like us, who are shown to be Elites.We know that already. I want details, man.Very well...While we're training, we get assigned to combat units to eliminate monsters. And, obviously, higher-ranked students are assigned to more important missions.That's that juicy stuff I wanted to hear. Now we're talking. Is he normally this... Focused? Only when it comes to monsters I think. We only met a few hours ago, so I haven't gotten to know him very well yet.I was going to say 'single-minded' actually. Nevertheless...I'll show you the firing control for the Dusk Screener first. Announcement: All staff on duty, intercept them immediately! We have an incursion! What's going on!?...It seems monsters have broken through the magic barrier. A: Zheeee!There's quite a number of them... God's Gift, can you fight?Yeeessss...That is a... mildly concerning combination of response and expression.I'll hold these ones off! You go defeat the ones up ahead.I could help out here and then go kill--I'll be fine. Now, go! E: Bwaaaaaah!F: Blaaah!Whoa! There's a ton of monsters up here, too!This is it. It's now or never. Right!It's Morphin' Time!Yea-Wait, what?Wake Transforms  Verto!     Wake transforms and gains... tonfa swords? It has to cramp like a bastard trying to grip those tight enough that they won't flop around. Kinda looks like he could combine them to form that sword from Halo. Fuuko Transforms Possible NSFW WarningIt should be noted that these are all Sailor Moon style transformations. All the bodies are covered in light, but they pull closeups on... places. Keep that in mind if you want to watch these somewhere with prying eyes.      And Fuuko just has her Dusk Breakers, which we've already seen. Although they now have energy daggers under the barrels. Also cat ears?... Okay.  Time for another 'barely battle', against these flying nightmares.  Here's another brief look at the battle screen that shows where our ally units are able to move. We've got a trip into the first dungeon coming up that will explain the entire battle system in neat little screenshots better than my overly-wordy rear end could ever do.  Wake and Fuuko take out the bat in front of us while Esther, Jacob, and Ally of Team A pop over to another part of the field and take out a second bat with a shot to its weak point.  The battle ends in two attacks and we get a little bit of Exp, Enemy Search and Star Bomb items, as well as some Glow. You can probably deduce that Glow is our currency for the game, but there's a little more to it that will be explained further down the update. -  That was terrible. I'll admit that Morphin' Time has some potential, but Verto is just stupid. Better try on a few more.Hey... What are you mumbling about?You're going to need some work as well. You really couldn't think of anything to shout?Wh-What are you talking about? Why would I shout something at the monsters?*sigh* You just don't get it... We'll work on that though. Looks like you're done over here.Alec! I'm glad you're okay!Could we maybe continue that tour?Sorry, but I have to take part in dealing with the aftermath here. My tour is over.(Darn it...)I'll take you to the dorms, at least. -Men's Dorms-  S Rank Disciples are given different lodging than other Disciples. Since you're a God's Gift, you'll get the same treatment as an S Rank Disciple.Sweet. I was honestly fine with just getting that awesome transforming ability, but I won't pass up premium digs.(I cannot get a read on this guy...)Well then, if you'll excuse me.Well, looks like this is our life now. At least for a few years. I could get used to it.Things are so much different here... I have to do my best for world peace.That's right. The monsters must be exterminated.I'm... going to head over to the girl's dorm now. You, uh... You have a good night, Wake.And we stop there for today. We're through the worst of the intro portion of the game now. In the next update we get to meet three more main heroines, have a gander at Wake's sweet bachelor pad, and get our bearings in Fort City. Chlotz will also make his return and completely eat poo poo while trying to talk to a cute girl. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Feb 23, 2019 |
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Oct 5, 2018 01:07
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Psycho Knight posted:That is her name in the Japanese version. It's just a case of Japanese naming having unintentionally funny interpretations outside of the country. Again, I understand why Atlus changed this, even if Feene isn't entirely on point as a name. At the very least they kept it close to the original Japanese while still avoiding a character being named 'Fine Glass'. This sort of thing happens sometimes because the standard romanization schemes are designed to map each kana to a single and unique set of Latin characters, so people doing localizations tend to break away from the standard when the mapped characters end up having an odd mismatch in pronounciation. That monster pod cutscene looks good but feels like it was misplaced, like it was meant to come immediately after the announcement there was a monster attack incoming
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Oct 5, 2018 04:45
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I am fine with you keeping your dialog in bold. It makes it easier to tell between the text from the game, your added text, and your explanations.
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Oct 5, 2018 05:38
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BlazeEmblem posted:I am fine with you keeping your dialog in bold. It makes it easier to tell between the text from the game, your added text, and your explanations.  A lot of other LPs like this one did things like that. You're in good company.
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Oct 5, 2018 05:50
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BlazeEmblem posted:I am fine with you keeping your dialog in bold. It makes it easier to tell between the text from the game, your added text, and your explanations. namehereguy posted:This sort of thing happens sometimes because the standard romanization schemes are designed to map each kana to a single and unique set of Latin characters, so people doing localizations tend to break away from the standard when the mapped characters end up having an odd mismatch in pronounciation. Thanks for the explanation. I would have liked to learn Japanese, but it's a little late for that now to be honest. Too much other stuff to focus on at the moment. I assure you it is not. That is where the cutscene plays in game. The monsters breach the Star Wall as well, not arrive via pods. I think the game is supposed to be trying to show you what Ruby is talking about, but it's placement makes it seem like it happens at that point in time and somewhere nearby. It's pretty confusing. It may have been cliche for that to happen just as Ruby finished explaining, especially since it's apparently rare for the pods to make it to the island, but it would have been a more natural transition. At the very least they could have done something to indicate that it was just an example. Dr. Snark posted:
Thanks for the input. It's obvious that I modeled this a lot off of other LP's, but what works in one doesn't necessarily work in another. By the way, Update 1 has bee fixed. Repeat dialog is hopefully all gone now and Fuuko's laughing/happy portrait no longer has her pigtail thing appearing behind her head. I also did an update in the second post of the thread, although I still need to link it to the OP. All of the current videos and music are listed, and there's some extra content added. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 09:38 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 09:36
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Wake, you really don't want to use Verto. Known side effects include complete idiocy. Nowhere near enough bang for that risk. Anyway, so Wake is a magical girl (but male), I really should not be surprised. Usagi's material is always a good reference for one-liners, even if they can be embarrassing. Someone needs to forward a DVD set to the dorms as study material, Fuuko not getting it is simply shameful. In other news, second update and the game already needs the banner pointed at it  And here I thought Ar Tonelico Qoga was already bad enough.
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Oct 5, 2018 10:24
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Those star child designs are pretty cute, though having your fighting pets look so human is disconcerting. Especially considering where they came from.
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Oct 5, 2018 12:46
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Omobono posted:In other news, second update and the game already needs the banner pointed at it I never got to play the Ar Tonelico games, since they seem to be rarer than loving diamonds even during their release window. I have heard some things about it though. Strange things.  Tenebrais posted:Those star child designs are pretty cute, though having your fighting pets look so human is disconcerting. Especially considering where they came from. It gets a little worse (or possibly better, depending on viewpoint I guess) a bit further in the game. I think I may get to it in Update 4, since we'll be done with the battle tutorial and out of Tutorial Town by that point. I hate explaining any systems in this game during the intro, because the game doesn't give you any freedom to mess around with it. It's like being on one of those guided tours. The game goes "Hey, look over there! Star Children creation!", then turns to you and says "No, we're not stopping the bus so you can get a better look. We've got a schedule to keep." Depressing news everyone! Guess who just somehow typed out an entire update in the span of an afternoon?  I need to do screenshots and put together one or two character expression sets, but I was inputting expression codes while typing, so the wrap up should be fairly quick. I might be able to get Update 3 out tomorrow night. I'm trying to get updates done as fast as possible because we are so close to getting out of this tutorial dump, and I really want to be out of that place so I can actually get some drat grinding started. Update 3 ran a little longer than I thought, but I think it will still fit within the word limit. Unfortunately, I'll have to skip the planned starter Bonding events, so instead I'll give them their own mini-update after Update 3 is done. That way you guys can vote on who goes with Wake into the first dungeon. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Oct 6, 2018 |
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Oct 6, 2018 01:23
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Psycho Knight posted:I never got to play the Ar Tonelico games, since they seem to be rarer than loving diamonds even during their release window. I have heard some things about it though. Strange things. A fan theory is that the Ar Tonelico devs had a bet going about how much innuendo and skimpy outfits they could get into the game while still keeping a T rating, and in Qoga they lost that bet.
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Oct 6, 2018 03:18
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Psycho Knight posted:I never got to play the Ar Tonelico games, since they seem to be rarer than loving diamonds even during their release window. I have heard some things about it though. Strange things. The first two games have really skeevy parts at time. The worst parts are the life extending agent scenes, where the MC has to stick a thin, long hard crystal inside the lady's "install port" and the games will unironically use phrases like "the first time always hurts". Apart from that, you can dodge most of the rest of the skeevy because for example Aurica's succubus outfit may be (is) straight up porn fetish gear but you can always put her in her angel outfit which isn't (or at least covers her skin). Third game is the absolute worst of the lot because a major mechanic is the heroines stripping down in battle for powerups. No, I'm not kidding, you end every single random fight with your mage in her underwear* and in boss battles everyone joins in the fun. *depending on outfit, underwear may be a dragon covering strategic places Oh, and in Ar no Surge the end-game super moves has the leads straight up having sex mid-battle. No, I'm not linking that. Despite this, if one can stomach some skeevy I would actually recommend the second game (played on emulators for unrelated reasons) because said skeevy is relatively contained and it's actually a really good game outside of and despite that. Now excuse me while I go take a shower because I feel dirty after having wrote this post. 
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Oct 6, 2018 05:27
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The Ar Tonelico trilogy has good LPs in the archive and I'd heartily recommend the first two. The third, uh, I've never finished reading the LP of because of a combination of spiking skeeviness and just hating most of the characters and only actually liking the recurring one from 2. Even being a narrative LP of the best character from 2 telling a bedtime story (she is not what one would call good at parenting) couldn't salvage it.
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Oct 6, 2018 05:57
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I played the demo of this game, found it weird, deleted said demo, then promptly forgot about it. I'll stick around to see what I missed, I suppose.
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Oct 6, 2018 07:28
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Light covered barbie anatomy sounds like one of the most kid friendly things ever tbh. Its in every single episode of Digimon 4 anyway. Ar Tonelico is amazing. You can focus on all the surface stuff and innuendo you want but I consider it almost universally well handled and any time its bordering I'd say it's on purpose cuz going deep into a person's mind is supposed to be messed up. 3 is a bit of an exception and honestly is a noticable drop though, but its still a great game, it helps if your reaction to stupid stuff tends to be laughter though. And Ar Nosurge is honestly the most emotional game I've ever played, the game will make you feel bad for not playing it in a single sitting through masterful use of the fact that you are a character in the game. Exa Pico isnt my favorite series, but its definitely one of the strongest built universes. Definitely try to play 2's retranslation patch. 2 is basically the strongest argument against NISA it had numerous dead end bugs and glitches, and an entire mechanic menu left untranslated. I bought it several times trying to find a disc that wouldn't freeze near the end of the game during an anime cutscene. Bought an extra ps2 too but still couldn't get past. Since we mentioned Xenoblade 2 earlier, while ive been playing it I've been noticing a large number of similarities and pararels to AT2. Back to this game, I found my copy and I'm gonna start once we're out of tutorial land. If a 2nd hand will help, ill try to take some screenshots of stuff you don't show if I play far enough this time.
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Oct 6, 2018 23:38
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In regards to xenoblade 2, the translators were on so much of a scottish/english/welsh/etc british isle kick that they took a japanese ninja character and named him percival.
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Oct 7, 2018 00:57
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~Update 3 - W-W-W-Wake's a mother-father gentleman -Wake's Dorm-  Alright, brand new day and--...(Wow, now that there's some light I can get a good look at this place...I really have to liven it up at some point.)-School Route-  Ooh, nice uniform! I had a feeling a God's Gift would get a special one! That's so cool!It's okay. It's no battle suit.And you get to live in such a sweet pad, too... You're so lucky!Now that part is awesome. No complaints there.Well, I'd better work hard so I get to live in a place like that, too.You're still in the Elite Class dorms though aren't you? How bad can that be? I spent all last night listening to at least four guys in other rooms working out some...frustration. Those walls are paper thin man.drat. What the hell is the Standard class dorm like then?I'm grateful that I don't have to find out. I'm guessing they all just sleep in a big pile or something.But anyway...Man, I'm so jealous. If I lived this close to the rest of the Academy, I'd never be late to class!  AHAHAHAHA!Okay, take it easy man. It's not--N-No, no, I'm sorry. I'll make sure to inform the Church. They'll want time to get ready for the second coming of God's Gift.Such an rear end sometimes...Morning, you two!Yesterday was rough, huh?Oh, yeah, you guys Classmated yesterday! So, how was it? You guys have to tell me how it went!H-Hey! I-I think it's against the rules to ask about it, Chlotz!Really? Isn't it a holy ritual? I'm just asking for educational purposes.Oh yeah, it was definitely the holiest of rituals. Nothing's more reverent than having four priests and a researcher watch the entire process like you're the star of a nature documentary. Hm? Um... Good morning!Well it's morning, still too early to tell if it's going to be good though.I'm kidding, good morning to you too.Oh... Um... Well, see you!Whoa, whoa! You're pretty smooth, aren't you?You mean having a little lighthearted fun when returning a friendly greeting? Sure Chlotz, I'm just smooth as silk.Stop being a sarcastic rear end, you know what I'm getting at. She did seem pretty excited there for a moment. Do you know her?Can't say I do.Psh, liar.What stranger would just run up to you like that and say hello? She was smiling and happy and everything!She was cute.......Girls can call other girls cute! Don't give me that look!Anyway, I really don't know her, okay?Maybe you've just forgotten about her.Chlotz, did you not see her face? Her pupils were freaking star-shaped. You really think that's a detail I could forget about? Whatever you say, man. Let's just get inside before we're late.-Faculty Office- Excuse us!  Ack!? Oh, it's you, Chlotz.Ooh, you must be a ladies' man, too. You already have a cute girl calling you by name, also.Matching hair too? I see you have a type.Urk..What's wrong? Got some butterflies in your stomach?Nope...just threw up in my mouth a little.It's not what it looks like.Am I missing something? I thought you had to wear a uniform here at this school.Oh, there's an explanation behind that...She may not look it, but Sis is a teacher here."Sis"?!I take it back, this is turning out to be a good morning.Thank you for looking after my brother. My name is Chloe, and I'll be in charge of your class. It's nice to meet you all!Chlotz's sister is our teacher?How is she old enough to be a teacher?!And she's an S Rank, too!Ohoho, this just keeps getting better.I swear to the Star God, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking...And you're a fellow S Rank, Fuuko, isn't that right?  (gently caress you, Star God...) Now that's odd. I thought I told you before that I was in charge of the second-year Elite class.Oh... I think you may have mentioned that at some point.Must have been while I was tuning you out... You're the same as always. I guess I still have to look after you. I am your older sister, after all!Exactly how old is 'older'? Stop treating me like a kid! You're only one year older than me!Excuse me!?My sister got excellent scores, skipped a few grades, and now she's a teacher. When she got her Brand last year, she transferred to the Academy to teach here. She wrote her thesis on battle tactics, too. That paper has been used by the government as an official manual for ground combat.That's really impressive!(I call bullshit on ALL of that. However, I'm going to pretend like I believe it because drat it, it is fun to mess with Chlotz.)Looks really are deceiving, aren't they?That part wasn't really necessary, Chlotz.And you wonder why girls turn you dow--Don't say another word! It feeds him!Well, then, I'll be introducing you three to the rest of the class. Oh, and... No sleeping during lectures, okay?No promises there.-2nd-Year Class-   I thought only an S Rank would become a God's Gift........(Wonderful, I can see where this is going.)Everybody's looking at Wake.It can't be helped. I mean, Wake is a God's Gift, after all.It's sort of a big deal for the world, Chlotz. All right, everyone settle down!Patrick! I see you sticking that gum under the desk! Get it in the trash before I scrape it off with your teeth!You three can take your seats, too.*Class is in session* Well, vice president Narika! Since the class president is out today, please start the day off for us! Next up on the new heroine showcase, we have Narika. We just heard that she is the VP of the class. How she got to be VP of the class is kind of a mystery considering she is clearly not comfortable with public speaking or being at the center of attention. Also, where is the actual Class President?  My theory is he or she died on a mission and the teachers don't have the heart to break it to the class. So he/she is just constantly 'out for the day'. Just handling a mission on a nice farm in the mainland. G-Good morning, Ms. Chloe. ...Everyone, take your seats. You doing okay over there? Your face is red. Not feeling faint are you? Oh... I'm all right. It's just that I don't normally do the morning greeting, so I was kind of nervous.Stage fright, huh? That's right...Well you did fine. Look around, everyone is just carrying on like normal. Just remember that next time you have to do it.Hell, these are teenagers. Most of them are going to be half asleep until noon. Well... when you put it like that...Anyway, nice to meet you seat neighbour.I-It's nice to meet you, too.(It's like he flips a switch or something. You can't hide them from me. I will learn your secrets, God's Gift.)As you may all know--[Student D]*distant* Don't use 'As you know'! It's a stupid, patronizing literary device! Sebastian! I swear to Star God I will have you spit shining the classroom floor if you interrupt me again! This is an Academic environment, 'As you know' is perfectly appropriate!*clears throat* Fire, Aqua, Wind, Earth... What are the remaining two? Narika?They're Ether and Dusk.That's correct.It's also said that Ether is light and Dusk is darkness. However, the Dusk Circles that threaten the world now are overflowing with Dusk Energy. Dusk is the element that is said to preside over mankind's desires.So we have the basic implication that the reason monsters spawn is because Dusk energy rises and pools together in an area. The Dusk Energy gets stronger when humanity's desires grow. This could just be the Church's influence, but there isn't really a way to tell for sure. There isn't any indication of any recent drastic changes in humanity that could have caused all this. We aren't told a lot about the world itself in general actually, which is one of the missed opportunities of this game. The Dusk Circles are unique and frightening spaces where Ether does not exist. Obviously, our Star Energy cannot be used in spaces without Ether Particles. That's why Disciples cannot normally fight monsters within the Dusk Circles.She doesn't differentiate between genders here, which implies that male Disciples do have Star Energy? But if they do, then they should be capable of fighting in Dusk Circles to some degree. Even if the Ether Density is low, their bodies naturally produce at least some of it. I dunno, man. Two of the Dusk Circles are already active close to here... Our comrades are fighting there day and night. Alec, you've been participating in battles against the monsters recently, correct? ... There have been many casualties, as well. My own experience is that if we continue to fight outside the Circles, it'll never end. The same can be said about the Circle here at the Fort City.So yeah, this is one reason why Alec has a bit of a stick up his rear end at the moment. He's been to the front lines. He's seen some poo poo. It isn't an optimistic situation. Even then, we've finally seen the light.This is because... a God's Gift has been granted to us![Disciples]: Ooooh! Now, because he can create his own Ether Field... The God's Gift allows us to fight monsters even within the Dusk Circles![Disciples]: Ooooh! Could we maybe tone this down a bit?On top of that, he's perfectly compatible with female Disciples! His Star Conception Rate with an S Rank Disciple is 100%![Disciples]: Ooooh! Could everyone just take a short break from piling the weight of the world on my drat shoulders?Chlotz! That was uncalled for!You're making him really uncomfortable!He's not the only one Teach.But... Going into Circles that no one has ever gone into... Isn't that nerve-wracking?Of course it is.But if it means I can exterminate monsters, I'll gladly go in. For some reason it's kind of scaring me though...I have that effect on people......-Later in class- Wha--!? You're an S Rank too, Narika?Ooh, we're the same Rank! Let's be friends, Narika!*whisper* Please. I desperately need a girl friend. I can't hang around Chlotz all the time and Wake is getting a little more concerning as time goes on...Transform. Kill monsters. Transform while killing monsters? I'd be glad to. [PA System]: Will these three please come to the headmaster's office? That was sis.I wonder what they need us for? Let's go together, Narika.I hope it's not more Classmating.All right.*Fuuko and Narika leave* Wake, did you know this?Hm? I started brainstorming. What am I supposed to know?At the end of winter the Academy holds a special party. It's called the Star Conception Festival. Supposedly it's a party where the male Disciples ask out the female Disciples. It's supposed to enhance the friendships between Classmating partners. But, nowadays, most Disciples attend it as couples.And?And the important part is that couples with great Classmating compatibility... It's said they get blessed by the Star God and live happily ever after!I think I've received plenty of blessings from the Star God already.You can't miss an opportunity like this! Right? C'mon, don't you think so?Sounds fun, I guess....That's it? No excitement whatsoever?It doesn't involve monster killing. What do you want from me?S-Seriously...? Maybe I'm getting too excited about the girls, when this is a serious situation...I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. The world needs events like this precisely because this is a serious situation.R-Right?That doesn't mean I'm going to squeal with delight and rush out with you to start hitting up prom dates though.drat...(Almost had you. I'll figure out your methods, just wait and see.)But, man, I was shocked to find out that Narika's an S Rank, too. She seemed like such a gentle girl.I mean, don't judge people by appearances. On the other hand, I'll be honest, that kind of took me by surprise as well.Alec looks and acts exactly like an honor student from any school, though.Oh right, I should probably thank him for telling me about the missions thing.Hey Alec. Can I bother you for a quick minute?...Hm?I got a little distracted yesterday with that monster business. Thanks for filling us in on the Academy. Glad to know I won't be stuck in classrooms every day.You don't have to thank me. It's part of our mission.Alright, well... you do you I suppose.I see... That reminds me, I didn't finish our tour. Tell me if you'd like to do it.Sure. You were talking up something called a Dusk Screener, I'd still like to know what that does. It better not be some boring old scanner or something. He seems like an indifferent guy. Alec's a second-year Elite. He has the highest grades out of anybody. In other words, he's the King of Nemesis Hunters.That's got a cool ring to it.Oh yeah, I'm sure monsters around the world tremble in fear at Alec's knowledge of Algebra. He also manages the defensive lines of the Fort City. Huh... Sounds like we share some things in common.More than you think if you're asking me.That reminds me, there are only a few S Rank Disciples here at the Academy, yeah?There are four S Rank girls here now, including Fuuko. There are only two male Disciples, including Alec. Actually, there are a couple more, but they're off fighting on the continent.We actually don't wind up meeting every S Rank Disciple by the end of the game. It's a cliche that the game avoids, although it does hamper the world building a bit. I just like that not every person of importance/strength congregates in the one location the hero happens to be staying in. [PA System]: Will the God's Gift of the 2nd-year Elite class come to the headmaster's office? I repeat, God's Gift, please report to the headmaster's office. Why exactly did they have to specify my class? Did a God's Gift enter the 3rd-year Elite class this morning while I was asleep?Looks like it's your turn now. Make sure you tell me later what happened!Whatever it is I'm sure it's going to be a pain in my rear end.-Headmaster's Office-  Oh...So I guess you're Ellie then, huh? You didn't introduce yourself earlier....Right...Well, looks like this is everyone. The headmaster has something important to tell us! Listen carefully to everything he has to say!Wait, he's the headmaster too? Oh, that's just awesome.That's right."You best respect", as you kids would say.There's a reason I called you all here today. I believe Chloe has already told the girls about this. Because you are all S Rank Disciples...Not that I want to correct you or anything, but are you making me an S Rank? Because technically I'm an A.You are God's Gift, you are technically without rank in the eyes of the Church. Unless, you wish to go to the regular Elite dormitory?Shutting up.I thought so.You will all be going into the Dusk Circles that have activated.Yeee--Wait, all of us?Of course, you will be accompanying them, God's Gift.Hold on a second, I thought that was a 'Me and the Star Children' kind of responsibility.I believe I mentioned this before. The Star Children display their full power when receiving Star Energy from females. In others words, the Star Children and female Disciples are of one flesh.Yeah, but can't you just bottle it and stick it in their lunchbox or something?Star Energy does not work that way.That, and your Star Conception Rate with God's Gift, are why you have been chosen. If we fight together and strengthen our bonds, we'll make better Star Children.Note that we are going to places that are very dangerous. ... ...You're pranking me, right? Chlotz put you up to this to get back at me for messing with him.Do I look like a 'joking' kind of man to you?(Mental filter, Wake. Don't you dare answer that question.)Well, if that's how it is.Don't worry, I'll keep you all safe. I promise.Wake... Wake...(Oh my god... There's no way it's that easy... Am--Am I really that good? Or is Chlotz just really that bad?)We are currently requesting approval to infiltrate the Dusk Circles. Once this request is approved, you will immediately be sent to the active Circle. That is all.I know that things are going to be tough from this point on. But, for the sake of world peace, let's all do our best in battles and in Classmating!I don't normally say this, but I really think we should be training a bit before diving in headfirst like this. Ah... How I so envy that young lad... Classmating with so many charming ladies... Did you say something, sir?Something that could possibly get you struck by lightning perhaps?Make sure you train yourselves before going into actual battle with the monsters. Well then, please excuse me.*Mattero loving books it* Um, about the training that he mentioned... We can use the battle simulator at AngelMarker R&D to do that. You were all there for the Qualifying Exam, so you know where it is, correct?(Well, at least there's a place where I can get some idea of what I'm working with here. This is going to be a disaster...)Well then, you're dismissed for today! Take care, everyone!-School Route-  Hard to tell. For some reason it feels like that's something I won't have a lot of control over.Why, does that bother you?Hrrrrght... If I said I did, I already know what Chloe would say:"What a stupid thing to worry about when the whole world's in danger!"Yup, she'd totally get angry over that...All right... It's only because of the world threat, but I give you my approval!...Why are you looking at me like that?......Ooohhh crap.... (drat it! Why did I have to go and say that!? I just gave him a free button to push whenever he wants! Son of a bitch!)Now that Chlotz shoved his foot in his mouth and has given Wake something to lord over him for the rest of their school lives, we are finally allowed a little freedom.  Ahh, feel those chains of exposition start to loosen. Unfortunately, those chains will be tightening up again a little bit fairly soon. So let's seize this brief respite.  We now get to have a look at some of the city's features. Here is a list of the basic facilities we can find at the start.  We'll get to Star Children Independence in due time. For now, let's look at the Hearts explanation. We get three hearts to work with for increasing bond levels with the heroines. Doing one of the heroines events will use up a Heart, even if that event is just a generic 'filler' type. This is why I want the thread to eventually focus in on 3 of the heroines. It seems like an appropriate number.  That being said, there technically isn't any limit to those bond Hearts. At first glance, when you see stuff like 'Spring', 'Advancing Time', and '3 Hearts per day', you probably expect this to be similar to Persona. We actually aren't under any type of time constraint here. You can go in and out of Labyrinths and Rest to advance as many days as you want. Time moves forward in step with the story. Persona's '1-year time limit' seems like it was intended for this game, but was scrapped at the last minute.  This part goes without saying in an RPG. I just wanted to include this card because it made me realize that we are running into a fair amount of spelling errors in this game. There was at least one more on a previous tutorial card. I haven't been playing along on my Vita version, but this card got me curious about something. So I went and fired up my Vita copy of this game to check the tutorials section, and lo and behold, it turns out Spike Chunsoft really did do some work on the Steam version!  They went back and half-assed the Atlus translation! The Vita/3DS version doesn't contain this spelling error! I haven't checked the previous one I spotted, but I would imagine it's the same deal there.  Music: The Map Which Leads to the Future (It's the city map theme. Don't jazz up the title.) Funny, funny, stuff. I'm not going to claim to be a perfect transcriptionist, but if I was getting paid for this poo poo I'd probably be making liberal use of the spell checker. Anyway, let's swing by Wake's bachelor real quick (it's the little blue house icon at the top of the city menu).    The dorm is where you can do all your micromanaging. You can also get access to the database (which can be done from the title menu as well).  Pretty much everything here is self-explanatory. You can view your items, check your quests, advance to the next day, and customize all your little bundles of monster-slaying joy. Characters can be equipped individually, or you can just pick the equipment and see who would get the best out of it. Equipment can also be locked so that you don't accidentally mess it up when using 'Equip All' or 'Remove All from Party' functions (which pfft, why the hell would I ever use those?)  One of the reasons I'm stopping in here is to point out that the Steam version has DLC included in the game. So right out of the gate, Wake will be able to use Dusk Slayer. It gives him a small bump in attack and a better Critical chance. It's a small upgrade, so there's no reason not to bother using it right away.  The heroines also have DLC weapons, but they are decidedly less useful. They offer a bigger increase in attack than Wake's, but they also cripple Speed. We'll get to the Stats when we get to the first dungeon, but suffice it to say, Speed is kind of important in this game. This trade off is absolutely not worth it.    Other than that, we can't do much here. We haven't grabbed any new equipment, so the Star Children are stuck with their default Weapon/Armor/Accessory. That will change soon enough.    Before we wrap up this update, let's wander around the Academy for a bit. We've got some people to check in with before we hit up the heroines. Let's see what Chlotz is up to first. -2nd-year Classroom-  I'm on top of this! Already made loads of friends.Then why do you keep hanging around me so much?Can you just be nice for once?Frankly, I think it's dangerous if we don't all get along here.So be nice.I mean, when we're on the battlefield, we gotta risk out lives for each other. Teamwork, y'know?And we might as well make the most of it. Besides, man... The girls. You know what I mean? Yeah, you do!I kind of have a lot on my plate, man. Girls are currently a little low on the priorities list in comparison to carrying the fate of humanity on my back.You're such a downer.Alright, I'm off to meet up with some people. Catch you later!Have fun with your imaginary friends! Don't get carried away!They're not imaginary!Chlotz is apparently making all kinds of friends, which we will never meet. He'll also still be spending a lot of time with us. His schedule is truly blocked solid. -2nd-year Classroom-  Hey. I just wanted to get a chance to talk with you one on one. Might be good to get to know each other a little better. I'm an S Rank. I already know you're a God's Gift. What else is there?Monster killing strategies, transformation phrases, poses... I could actually use someone to bounce some ideas off of for those last two. I didn't think you'd tell jokes.I never joke about transformations....I have to go...*Alec leaves* So Alec is still a wet blanket, although we did manage to get a smile out of him. Hopefully his face didn't shatter on his way out the door. Who else can we nag?  Horny Schmuck Jobber: Chief Ruby's figure is too much. That's why I'll make any excuse to go to Renda. Just to see her! *sigh* When will she give me my reward...? I mean, I've been doing so much! Keep at it man. She'll awaken to your intense devotion for her one day.Poor, dumb bastard. He's too far gone for me to help. Chlotz seems to have turned back up in the classroom again. No doubt tired out from all that awesome fun he had with his totally real friends. -2nd-year Classroom-  Possibly. I'll be honest, your voice tends to drift in and out for me sometimes.We're both from back East on the continent. Our towns were so close we could see the Rootstone from the same angle.I bet you noticed we've got some pretty awesome names, too. You're a little jealous, it's okay. Lots of names like ours where we're from.Whoooaaaa! Slam those brakes. Those are some loaded rear end statements he just made. Let's break this down. The first time you saw the name 'Chlotz' appear in this game, I would guess that 99.9% of you had the entirely reasonable response of "What the gently caress is that stupid-rear end name?". The 0.1% that thinks the name is awesome is no doubt the localizer who proposed it during the translation.  Here's the short version of 'Chlotz' came to be. According to an Atlus staffer, when Atlus went to localize this game for the English speaking audience, Spike Chunsoft apparently approached them with their vision of Chlotz name. In Japanese, his name is technically something like 'Kurotsugu'. Spike Chunsoft tried to romanize some of the characters names a little or whatever the hell they were thinking, so his name appears as Chlotsugh in the title sequence. If you try saying Kurotsugu while pronouncing the 'R' sound as an 'L' sound, you can see where they got it from. Atlus looked at Spike Chunsoft like they had just run up with their grade-school art project and went "Yeah. That sounds great!", then promptly turned to each other and said "No way are we calling him that. That's dumb." Atlus THEN decided that the best way to change his name was to shorten it to Chlots (and change the S to a Z for some reason?) This is how 'Chlotz' came to be. You can probably see a perfectly acceptable alternative already. NAME HIM loving 'KURO'! Kuro would have been a fine alternative. It's close to his original name, doesn't sound stupid, and it doesn't stand out at all. Chlotz outright tells us that he and Fuuko come from the same area, it's in the 'Far East', and he says that there are lots of names like theirs around. I'll remind you that this was 2014 Atlus USA. Most of the SMT library had been localized by that point. The only possible reason I can think of for 'Chlotz' is that his sister is named 'Chloe'. Even then, localize the drat thing as 'Chris'. It may not be truthful to the original Japanese, but it sounds natural. *sigh* Anyway. It's stupid. There's blame to be placed at the feet of both Atlus and Spike Chunsoft. I just wanted to answer that burning question I'm sure you've all had. And no, they were not going for 'klutz' with this name. As much of a tactless weirdo as Chlotz is, he is actually kinda technically proficient. We'll see that later on. Let's just move on. Chlotz has some...wisdom, he is about to start imparting.  I thought it was fate. "Hey, you're going to the Academy too?" but, y'know...Anyways... Everything was real quiet back home for me and Fuuko. You and I are from such different places, it's amazing we even get along.That's a bit of a stretch...But we're buddies now. You can talk to me about anything, and don't skip the details!Details?You know... C'mon, you didn't sweep her off her feet to save her from that monster for nothing.No, I saved her from the monster because it was going to kill her. I should remind you that your life was also part of that saving.Hm... Your face is telling me you haven't made much progress.Are you insane? She's into you, man! And she's cute!And despite how buddy-buddy she is with everyone, I don't think she's dated much.What the hell are you on about Chlotz?Listen, if you're going to woo Fuuko all the way to the Star Conception Festival... You gotta bond with her, like right now. So then I guess that means you're a tool? Chlotz, what makes you think I'm even trying to 'woo' her?Oooh, I see your game... 'Homeroom honey'? Whatever, not going to get into that. It's going alright. She seems easy to talk to once you make the effort.What do you mean alright? You've got this buxom beauty right there in the desk next to you.Narika comes off as bashful, but she's got this great big heart. And you're going to break that great big heart if you keep ignoring her.What do you mean 'ignoring her'? I had a conversation with her immediately after class started.She's so pleasant and graceful. That's what people do when they're trying to politely brush off someone they don't want to talk to, Chlotz. Look, if you want to take Narika to the Star Conception Festival. You gotta start showing her a little affection, and soon. Girls like her always keep their troubles deep inside.  (I cannot believe what I am hearing right now... This is painful. He's trying to get me to do something stupid that turns everyone against me, right? This has to be some sort of revenge plot.)We're going to stop here, because that was just...wow. Let's end this with something slightly less skeevy. The game has the option of alternate dungeon costumes for the playable characters. At the moment, we only have access to Battle Suit (Alt.) versions, which are basically just recolours of the current costume. I believe these were DLC as well.   This is what Wake is rocking.   And here's Fuuko's. It won't be particularly noticeable to you guys unless we are seeing in-game cutscenes while in the dungeon, but I'll take a vote on each heroine's alternate colour just before I take them into a dungeon for the first time. The colour costume chosen will be their game costume for the LP. I'm only showing Fuuko's now since we've already seen her transformation. Coming up next in sort of a 3.5 update, we'll get an introduction to the current four heroines and you guys can vote on who we should take in to the first dungeon. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 20:23 on Feb 23, 2019 |
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Oct 7, 2018 01:21
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Visting is in both editions! Yeah I wasnt feeling it before, but I have to play this game just for this FIRE!
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Oct 7, 2018 02:27
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Yeah, that comment from Wake was savage, and I understand both why you had to confirm that was from the game and where Wake's snarky characterization is coming from Anyway, Fuuko's base outfit is fine, but Wake needs to be in his alt outfit. That white/blue combo is a much classier color scheme than black/pink.
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Oct 7, 2018 02:41
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MythosDragon posted:Back to this game, I found my copy and I'm gonna start once we're out of tutorial land. If a 2nd hand will help, ill try to take some screenshots of stuff you don't show if I play far enough this time. You are welcome too if you like. Now that I know that SC actually did something to the Steam version I am curious to know if they altered anything major, on top of their spelling errors. I know they didn't touch a scene that will be in Update 4. A scene that I consider the worst one in the entire game that LP Wake will definitely rip Ruby in half during. I'm fine for screenshots. I know it's easy to do on Vita, but if SC has changes made then I better stick with shots from their Steam version. I don't want them getting any credit for Atlus's work. Dr. Snark posted:Yeah, that comment from Wake was savage, and I understand both why you had to confirm that was from the game and where Wake's snarky characterization is coming from It is pretty classy. Yeah, Wake has some good dialogue options in this game. I didn't even have to paraphrase that one, it was perfect as is. The only bad part is the actual scene ends there without seeing Chlotz realize what he just said. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Oct 7, 2018 |
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Oct 7, 2018 02:52
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AltEveryone I didn't buy that DLC which is weird since I am bad with money and tend to buy all DLC for games on PSN.
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Oct 7, 2018 03:56
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"And what's with your sparkling eyes? You look like a heroine from a shoujo manga!" quote:So we have the basic implication that the reason monsters spawn is because Dusk energy rises and pools together in an area. The Dusk Energy gets stronger when humanity's desires grow. This could just be the Church's influence, but there isn't really a way to tell for sure. There isn't any indication of any drastic changes in humanity that could have caused all this. We aren't told a lot about the world itself in general actually, which is one of the missed opportunities of this game. I'm guessing this is related to a Shinto concept called Kegare, usually translated as Malevolance or Impurity. I have no real understanding of the details of it in actual Shinto, but in fantasy games and anime it, well, basically that. It comes from humans having various negative emotions and needs to be dealt with, but actually getting rid of it entirely is super bad for humans.
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Oct 7, 2018 04:01
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namehereguy posted:I'm guessing this is related to a Shinto concept called Kegare, usually translated as Malevolance or Impurity. I have no real understanding of the details of it in actual Shinto, but in fantasy games and anime it, well, basically that. It comes from humans having various negative emotions and needs to be dealt with, but actually getting rid of it entirely is super bad for humans. Slightly related note, but its refreshing for the monster invasion setting to basically be "Its our fault monsters are invading our world" from the start even with the technicality that they dont have an actual source for it. This setting absolutely adores pretending that revealing that humans directly summoned/created/ARE the monsters halfway into the series is good writing. Also the classic "the only power that can fight them is the power that summoned them, resulting in you becoming them later" for maximum drama bit. Hopefully none of this happens. MythosDragon fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Oct 7, 2018 |
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Oct 7, 2018 04:21
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MythosDragon posted:Slightly related note, but its refreshing for the monster invasion setting to basically be "Its our fault monsters are invading our world" from the start even with the technicality that they dont have an actual source for it. This setting absolutely adores pretending that revealing that humans directly summoned/created/ARE the monsters halfway into the series is good writing. Also the classic "the only power that can fight them is the power that summoned them, resulting in you becoming them later" for maximum drama bit. If it is the Kegare thing, our later plot twist will be someone having a plan to destroy Dusk Energy forever and we will really, really want to make them stop, because it's not actually possible for living humans to generate none so you have to fix either the living part or the human part. I'm pretty sure that's the inspiration for SMT Law endings. But traditionally you don't destroy impurity with itself, you have to purify it, which seems to be our game plan. And the spirit children, not being human, don't necessarily generate any. namehereguy fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Oct 7, 2018 |
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Oct 7, 2018 04:41
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Base wake, and Alt Fuuko Black looks cooler.
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Oct 7, 2018 05:58
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Alts for everyone the black outfit looks awful on Waie so I’m thankful this DLC exists so that it doesn’t keep burning my eyes.
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Oct 7, 2018 08:28
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I'm just surprised the outfits aren't skimpy garbage. Shocked and very grateful. Also Alt for them both please.
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Oct 7, 2018 11:50
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Is this the police, I'd like to report a murder. 
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Oct 7, 2018 11:58
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Alt
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Oct 7, 2018 12:48
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SaitoBatch posted:I'm just surprised the outfits aren't skimpy garbage. Shocked and very grateful. They show a surprising amount of restraint in that regard, especially considering what this game is. Actually, if it wasn't for a small amount of CG's (and that Classmating cutsceNE dealie), this could have easily been a Teen rated game. I've seen way worse in lower content rated games, not even just RPG's. That being said, one of the costumes is skimpy as hell. It actually looks really out of place compared to everyone else. namehereguy posted:If it is the Kegare thing, our later plot twist will be someone having a plan to destroy Dusk Energy forever and we will really, really want to make them stop, because it's not actually possible for living humans to generate none so you have to fix either the living part or the human part. I'm pretty sure that's the inspiration for SMT Law endings. That's basically the angle the game is taking. Remember, we have been told that these Dusk monsters have always existed, and Dusk is one of the six elements of the world. The issue here isn't that some random evil force has suddenly appeared due to mankind's arrogance or some poo poo. The issue is that something caused a massive increase in an already existing aspect of nature. The Church in this game is actually presented very respectively. They aren't in the Academy preaching about God bringing righteous fury upon humanity for their transgressions. They know that human desires are causing this problem, they appreciate Star God helping them with it, and they are working with the Government and Scientists alike to fix it. God's Gift is supposed to be their destined messiah that they've been waiting twenty years for, and yet they are perfectly willing to let the local tech company hook him up with weapons and equipment that will help. Wake actually doesn't even interact with the Church that much. Mattero is basically his only contact. Obviously the Church has a few skeletons in the closet that get highlighted in some of the routes, but overall they are pretty helpful. This isn't really a spoiler either. I kinda already mentioned this in the Sandcastle. I guess it's a spoiler in the sense that it averts a common cliche.
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Oct 7, 2018 14:10
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There should have been a special path, where you take ol' Chlotz to the festival. Those two chucklefucks are meant for each other.
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Oct 7, 2018 14:48
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Alts for both
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Oct 7, 2018 18:08
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Psycho Knight posted:Actually, if it wasn't for a small amount of CG's (and that Classmating cutsceNE dealie), this could have easily been a Teen rated game. I've seen way worse in lower content rated games, not even just RPG's. I feel like what rating a game with moderate sexual content gets is almost random. Whenever I've managed to get weirded out its been T, but M games tend to go by with nothing. I gotta ask, do the extra segments to classmating I dont remember get so much worse? Cuz I'm of the opinion that my nephew could watch 3D light models hold hands no problem. Also yeah jumped the gun on the skimpy talk.... I turned it on and was blasted in the face with "moving" models and my database's costume feature.... Anyway I'll focus on the 4 girls we don't go for, and take screenshots of any fire or hilarious bits with a bit of rough summaries, okay? Putting all the CGs in a test post seems like the best idea too? The fact that progression on these is chapter based mean's I should do it whenever we end a chapter. MythosDragon fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Oct 7, 2018 |
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Oct 7, 2018 19:07
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OutofSight posted:There should have been a special path, where you take ol' Chlotz to the festival. Those two chucklefucks are meant for each other. Don't worry, Chlotz won't be disappearing from Wake's life come Star Festival. It's part of the 'Wake ends up with nobody' ending that I am going to incorporate into whatever heroine ending we get. MythosDragon posted:I feel like what rating a game with moderate sexual content gets is almost random. Whenever I've managed to get weirded out its been T, but M games tend to go by with nothing. I gotta ask, do the extra segments to classmating I dont remember get so much worse? Cuz I'm of the opinion that my nephew could watch 3D light models hold hands no problem. That sounds fine. Once we are fully through the intro the updates are going to slow a bit anyway, since I'll need time to do lots of grinding and that fun stuff. From the end of one chapter to the mid-point of the next are likely to be the busiest. The in-between parts of each chapter are going to be mostly me trying to keep everything properly leveled and going through Bonding events. As for content, yeah, that cutscene doesn't look especially bad since I just showed a single frame. As I mentioned though, that was the only frame I could snap that I felt comfortable with including in the update. I know that no-one on this form is a prude by any means, but even neon barbie doll looking girls posing and moving around would be sure to catch the eyes of anyone wandering by in the office/school/wherever the hell you guys choose to read these. And as I'm sure you are now aware, those scenes get more elaborate and drawn out as the Bond level rises. I'm just being as cautious as possible with this stuff. I loved reading SSLP's at work, and there are a lot of times where certain screenshots being splayed out in the update were not appreciated. I probably am being overly protective, but the links will still be there if anyone just has to see that poo poo. If they were a major part of the game or contained any value, then I might have been more willing to risk it, but those scenes in particular are absolutely not important at all. It's a wonder they put them in the game in the first place to be honest. I'm definitely in agreement on the sexual content of a game throwing the age rating completely out of whack though. Anime style sex content usually gets scrutinized way harder than western stuff, at least in the western countries anyway. Even then, there are some weird decisions made over at the ESRB and PEGI with some of that stuff. I worked at EBGames when the Record of Agarest War series made it's western debut. We actually had to keep the special edition of that game in the cupboard and out of sight, which was hilarious. We had a lot of laughs over it for as long as it sat in there. For anyone who doesn't know, Record of Agarest War Special Edition was called the "Really Naughty Edition", came with one of those boob wrist-support mousepads, pillowcase with one of the heroines, and the box was covered with 'sexy' art including one picture on the side of a girl trying to swallow a bratwurst like she was part snake or something. It was that kind of game. It got a 'T' rating. Any 13 year old was completely within their right to come and buy that, no questions asked. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Oct 7, 2018 |
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Oct 7, 2018 19:57
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Psycho Knight posted:I'm definitely in agreement on the sexual content of a game throwing the age rating completely out of whack though. Anime style sex content usually gets scrutinized way harder than western stuff, at least in the western countries anyway. Even then, there are some weird decisions made over at the ESRB and PEGI with some of that stuff. I worked at EBGames when the Record of Agarest War series made it's western debut. We actually had to keep the special edition of that game in the cupboard and out of sight, which was hilarious. We had a lot of laughs over it for as long as it sat in there. I adore the Agarest series, my favorite series on PS3 easily. The gameplay is bad, the sexual content can get a bit weird at times, but the world is absolutely amazing, the characters are great and theres literally nothing I adore more than High Fantasy War Epics and Generational Stories. Schwarz from 2 is one of the best protagonist's I've ever seen. The worst part is that sexual content is literally less than 1% of your play time in any of the 3 games, hell if youre not on the perfect path, youre not even likely to run into half of it. I feel like at least among high fantasy enthusiasts the game would be a cult classic if the advertisement wasnt so focused on that part and if youre a fan of high fantasy, I wholeheartedly recommend the games. If you only play one of them, 2 is by far the best but also kind of the weirdest. I uh did buy that LE. Looking back I cant tell you why unless being a horny 14 year old really made me that bad at decision making, it doesnt even have an Artbook and I gave the pillow case and mousepad to my sister(she got me into games and anime in the first place so she already had weird stuff like that). But the Zero LE came with really cool cards associated with the game so it was totally worth it.
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Oct 7, 2018 20:45
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Chlotz is the kind of guy who I'd probably get along with at first, then want to stay away from once he gets clingy and starts trying to impart his  wisdom .Oh, and alts for both. The alt colors look far better than the default ones.
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Oct 7, 2018 21:08
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MythosDragon posted:I adore the Agarest series, my favorite series on PS3 easily. The gameplay is bad, the sexual content can get a bit weird at times, but the world is absolutely amazing, the characters are great and theres literally nothing I adore more than High Fantasy War Epics and Generational Stories. Schwarz from 2 is one of the best protagonist's I've ever seen. Also very underage women and men talking about and then having babies.
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Oct 7, 2018 22:39
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MythosDragon posted:I adore the Agarest series, my favorite series on PS3 easily. The gameplay is bad, the sexual content can get a bit weird at times, but the world is absolutely amazing, the characters are great and theres literally nothing I adore more than High Fantasy War Epics and Generational Stories. Schwarz from 2 is one of the best protagonist's I've ever seen. I played the first one somewhat, but it was one of those really high damage number grindfest style games that Idea Factory loves doing. I rarely finish IF games. I like generational stories as well (I loved when FE did it with Awakening), but there's only so much I'm willing to take. I don't judge anyone for anything of that nature. We found the product itself funny at the store, but if someone wanted to buy it then more power to them. My take on sexual anything is that as long as it's not harming anyone else (and it's not illegal as gently caress) then go crazy. Just as long as you keep any enthusiasm for it to yourself and the corner of the internet reserved for others like you. As for you specifically buying that edition, 14 year old you was basically the entire reason they marketed the game the way they did, but it was likely what kept the series selling well enough to continue. People will bash all the new Fire Emblem games for their weird marriage/kids shenanigans, but hey, it means I get new Fire Emblem games. The only thing I have to do is look past the weird sexy stuff. Sword_of_Dusk posted:Chlotz is the kind of guy who I'd probably get along with at first, then want to stay away from once he gets clingy and starts trying to impart his He gets a lot better as the game progresses in my opinion. He seems like a fun dude to hang around with, and he's lighthearted enough to speak freely with and take the occasional shot at. Unfortunately he has this weird 'middle' phase where he shifts to non-stop 'girls, girls, cute, dating, Star Conception Festival, "Have you been hitting on them? Huh? Huh?"'. This phase will regrettably last for a while. I don't remember exactly when he starts his upward swing, but it feels like I remember it being sometime after the sixth or even seventh heroine joins. Progress Update: I just played ahead for an hour and a half or so to do some base grinding for Dungeon 1. Going to work on the 3.5 update tomorrow, which will focus on the four heroine bonding events as well as some minor tutorial stuff. Depending on length I may just roll it into Update 4. I have a very specific scene that I want Update 4 to end on, but it's going to be weird to space it out correctly since the battle tutorial leads up to it (and the battle tutorial is going to be a major tutorial dump). Regardless of what I do, the next update will have a vote on our first Star Child team, which I'll be using throughout the first Dungeon. I have access to about 5 different classes at the moment, and a little extra grinding can probably get me to the other 2 that have only been available when the RNG smiles on me. Edit: Huh. I missed an entire sentence somehow, regarding Chloe. I've added it in, but here it is anyway (it's just after the 'Skipped a few grades screenshot'): Chlotz: She wrote her thesis on battle tactics, too. That paper has been used by the government as an official manual for ground combat. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Oct 7, 2018 |
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Oct 7, 2018 22:43
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Psycho Knight posted:I played the first one somewhat, but it was one of those really high damage number grindfest style games that Idea Factory loves doing. I rarely finish IF games. I like generational stories as well (I loved when FE did it with Awakening), but there's only so much I'm willing to take. I loved Idea Factory. for nearly 20 years they made nothing but High Fantasy War Epics, and even with the terrible gameplay that normally prevented me from finishing them and the arcane requirements for the true ends I loved them and even found the latter to be charming since other people did all the work finding them for me. But that all changed when Compile Heart came into being and sold so well with their low effort games that they took complete control over IF and now theres pretty much nothing of them left. Agarest was the last hold out of what IF stood for, which adds the Swan Song effect to the games. (2 has a refined version of Cross Edge's gameplay so it's alot less grindy, but it goes uh a bit more medieval in themes...) As I said before, I can't remember my thought process for buying the LE, but It was one of my first so I was probably just obsessed with the collectible thing or else I wouldnt have given the stuff away. But I would have bought the game anyway, I meant it when I said I play every RPG there is. And I'd been doing that my entire life which leads into my opinion on sexual content as a person that had most of ATs stuff fly over my head as a kid, Don't just tack it on. Ar Tonelico's stuff is almost all a result of having artificially created humans and you have characters directly affected by it, so its actually pretty interesting(Ignore 3 for now). But then theres this game, the star conception stuff is weird and never really stops being weird, but the little guys are literally just for gameplay and it feels like you could easily replace them with say having the heroines represent the 6 elements and the game would flow the same sans star children if not for the fact they literally inspired the series title.
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Oct 7, 2018 23:33
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Psycho Knight posted:I played the first one somewhat, but it was one of those really high damage number grindfest style games that Idea Factory loves doing. I rarely finish IF games. I like generational stories as well (I loved when FE did it with Awakening), but there's only so much I'm willing to take. Awakening wasn't really a generational story, nor was the children utilized well (though it was far better than the bullshit Deeprealms of Fates). You have to turn to Genealogy of the Holy War for a generational storyline.
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Oct 7, 2018 23:41
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