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TheGreatEvilKing
Mar 28, 2016





The Flying Twybil posted:

See, this would be a much better turn for the game. It doesn't fix everything, but it would keep the tone to where you always know this stuff is serious. Avan already acts as psychiatrist to everyone around him when we get to later character events, and the potential system works well with it- this would make it all flow better. Only some of the character stories are relatively serious in nature, and an even lesser number are legitimately serious. You can predict which ones are which by how far on the edgy/silly scale every character is.

Avan's constant boisterous nature wouldn't be such a pain either, since you then see he's just playing it up for everyone.

Unfortunately, the writers would never go for such a plan because there's not enough Leon. We must be reminded at every turn that Leon was awesome, the bestest ever, and a totally important plot thread.

You could definitely have Leon in this. Make him a graduate of the college who disappeared (I think he was just a student?) and have Avan wish Leon was here to give him advice because Leon would know what to do. The idea that Avan idolizes his older brother is actually pretty normal, it's just that this game is stupid about expressing it. If you wanted to keep the dark tone of the game, have the official story be that Leon died stopping some horrible ethnic cleansing and Avan is spending time where he thinks no one can see him asking Leon's spirit to watch over him and the other kids. Maybe Cosette catches him doing it and you can have a scene where she talks to Zeri and he realizes something is off about the official story and that gives Avan hope at some dark hour. Obviously don't have the "drat, Leon walked on water! I want to walk on water and create loaves and fishes" dialog - or maybe do as part of Avan's goofball act - but you can definitely have Avan thinking he doesn't live up to his big brother and Leon would know what to do, while Avan does not but must pretend for the good of the class.

Then you can have the scene where they save Leon from some prison camp or something and Leon is legitimately impressed by Avan's leadership, and this would be the final thing that makes Avan come into his own as a leader of men.

I think I need to stop writing video game fanfiction.

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Sankara
Jul 18, 2008


It's so easy to do with video games, because their stories are so often awful.

The Flying Twybil
Oct 20, 2019

So what? You can't prove I posted that.

TheGreatEvilKing posted:

You could definitely have Leon in this. Make him a graduate of the college who disappeared (I think he was just a student?) and have Avan wish Leon was here to give him advice because Leon would know what to do. The idea that Avan idolizes his older brother is actually pretty normal, it's just that this game is stupid about expressing it. If you wanted to keep the dark tone of the game, have the official story be that Leon died stopping some horrible ethnic cleansing and Avan is spending time where he thinks no one can see him asking Leon's spirit to watch over him and the other kids. Maybe Cosette catches him doing it and you can have a scene where she talks to Zeri and he realizes something is off about the official story and that gives Avan hope at some dark hour. Obviously don't have the "drat, Leon walked on water! I want to walk on water and create loaves and fishes" dialog - or maybe do as part of Avan's goofball act - but you can definitely have Avan thinking he doesn't live up to his big brother and Leon would know what to do, while Avan does not but must pretend for the good of the class.

Then you can have the scene where they save Leon from some prison camp or something and Leon is legitimately impressed by Avan's leadership, and this would be the final thing that makes Avan come into his own as a leader of men.


The Leon part was actually a joke given the current plot's insistence on telling you about him, but never really giving you any substance (I'm also bad at jokes). I understand what they were going for with Leon, the older sibling relationship is something I can personally relate to, but what particularly bothers me is that they don't do much worth noting with it. Keep in mind that he's the only reason Avan went to Lanseal in the first place, and I'll say it now, we won't get it's underwhelming payoff for about 7 chapters. Leon's infrequent presence and detail makes him mostly forgettable, and the game has to keep reminding you that he exists- it's like a poorly done Chekhov's Gun.

But, regardless, this new fanfiction fits in well for doing a dark story and keeping Leon involved. Avan coming into his own as a leader, now believing he can do good by Leon, provides a solid development for him and rounds out his character a whole lot more than he is now, and will be as far as I've seen. It'll still be necessary for Leon to get some actual characterization, so we can better understand their relationship and why Avan's so focused on him. Perhaps when talking to the students individually in their events, he remembers things he learned in similar times with Leon, and that's what he uses to help them work through their issues.

Of course, if you wanted to take an entirely different approach, Leon could simply not exist physically and instead be a figure invented by Avan to help the people around him with their problems. There's darker twists to go with that, but it also negates the overcoming his brother's image plotline, and I quite like your take on it.

TheGreatEvilKing posted:

I think I need to stop writing video game fanfiction.

But we haven't even written the first chapter yet!


In all seriousness, I've enjoyed what you've done with the Ash Of Gods story, and this has been good so far as well. I don't know why I find it fascinating to try and repair broken stories, but I just do. I suppose it's the deconstruction of the story that draws me in- I suppose that was the only reason I've ever done good at literature classes. I honestly wouldn't mind an SA VC2 fanfiction cropping up between updates.

Doctor Reynolds posted:

It's so easy to do with video games, because their stories are so often awful.

This is true, for sure. I think part of it is just having multiple writers while not having their intentions match with each other, but also that games made by larger studios are on tight deadlines and written by people who likely live on coffee. Sometimes you just have to get something done, regardless of how bad it is. Some games just have plain, inexcusably bad writing though.

SSLPs are also a very slow medium that allow for a lot of time to be spent on close evaluation of source material. Video games are often paced rather quickly, and in the case of my LP, we're getting about 20-25 minutes worth of content every three days. Some things you probably wouldn't take much notice of stand out quite distinctly. If I was doing this in a VLP, I doubt we'd be staring at it as closely. This doesn't always apply, however- the writing in Fire Emblem Fates is so bad you can deconstruct it's flaws at every turn, even being played at normal speed.


As an aside, I'm working on getting an update buffer back again now that I'm not waiting on thread participation. I got Update 9 finished last night and it comes with Marion 2nd story event, and Lotte and Helmut's first story event. By the end of February, we will see Marion's entire storyline mostly because I'm getting a lot of use out of shocktroopers right now and she's the only one out of the 6.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

FoolyCharged posted:

Now, now. While we're not going to escape this without blatant fan service of children, surely the pre pubescent one won't be included, right? Right, guys?
...
Ah poo poo, she's totally gonna be included in the beach scene or whatever this game does similar.

Search your heart, you know the answer.

The Flying Twybil posted:

Oh, and just wait until we get to summer. You'll get your answer. :cripes:

Summer? You don't have to wait that long. We'll get the answer as soon as the game reveals the "secret" about her. That cloak she's wearing is not long for this world.

The Flying Twybil
Oct 20, 2019

So what? You can't prove I posted that.
Update 9: Marion, In the Armory, With A Gun


Well, let's see what's in this house-

Oh, wait. Wrong game.


---

Last time on The Young and the Reckless, Avan got reminded that his plan of enrolling at the secretive military school wasn't going to provide him with more information about Leon. Oh, and Melissa got shot too, that sure happened.


Set Potentials lets us set a unit's final class potential from the list that they've already gotten. It's not worth covering in any more detail until it matters, which will about 20-30 updates from now.

Those other options suggest that for sure, I'm bringing those story moments you were promised.


We've got 4 events to see: Marion's second event, Helmut's first, Lotte's first, and a daily event. Let's get these out of the way, shall we?





Music: Everyday Life of the Class

~* Courtyard - Daily Event *~


: Take care of yourself, Sofia. I should head to my office now anyway.



: He said gentle, ephemeral beauties with a dark past were his type.
: I-I see?



: So, what IS your type, Brixy?
: Well, take a student like yourself for instance, Avan...
: What?! Er, I can't be here right now!


: Mm? Sofia?
: She's gone. Took you seriously again...
: And is it just me, or was there a none-too-subtle jab at me in there?




That was fun. It's apparent you can't get the upper hand on Brixham in any conversation.



~* Hallway- Lotte's 1st Event *~


: I better hurry before someone else gets the same idea!

*Much screenshaking*


: Oof... Sorry, are you okay?
: Owww... Dude! Watch where you're going, dude! You could have--


: Oh, it's you, Lotte. What's got you running down the halls?


: It'll be a scandal! Class Chair Attacks! Top story on the Lotte Insider!
: The what?
: Dude! You don't know?


: Its intrepid writer-- that's me, dude-- gets all the dirt, first!
: Oh, riiight! Now I remember.
: That's the paper Zeri was talking about! "That vapid gossip rag," he called it.


: So, what's got an intrepid writer like you barreling down the halls?
: I'm hot on the trail of my next big scoop, dude!
: Lanseal's Seven Wonders! I was going for the ghost in the gym next.


: Heh. Generations of cadets have told of paranormal phenomena numbering seven!
: I've spent my days here hard at work unraveling those mysteries.
: Of course, the first four mysteries were sadly only hoaxes...
: But I know the last three will be scoops fit to stop presses all over Europa!


: Ah! I was just thinking of expanding! Welcome aboard, my editor-in-chief!
: Heh, thanks!
: Wait, why am I editor-in-chief?


Lotte has her priorities straight.

: Now, let's hit the road! Truth waits for no man, dude!



Come on, Brixy, if there's at least one person in the class who is motivated, it's Lotte. Sure, it's all in the wrong direction, but she's dedicated to her craft.

You know, I wouldn't mind just being able to roam around and dig up cases as Lotte. Hell, has anyone ever done that as a game before? Play as a small news group trying to cover the events of a war?

I'd play it. Heck, I'd make it if I had the time and not so many other projects on my hands.




~* Classroom - Helmut's First Event *~



:eng101: : The military superpower quickly gained ground in the opening hostilities...


: ...All right.
: "But a dramatic reversal saw the Empire driven back to the border by..."


: Huh? What do you mean? And what did he do? Why shouldn't Helmut read it?
: Don't you know anything? You need to stay awake for class more!
: Every time the Empire's loss comes up in class, he makes Helmut read.

:smith:


Cosette, why can't I play you instead of Avan? You're terrible at combat, but you're a nice person and narratively more interesting than Avan.

: Wait, what? Helmut's an imperial?!
: Shhhh, dummy! Keep your voice down!
: He came here just after the peace accord was drawn up, apparently.


: What, like a hostage? What do you mean?
: To the Empire, this treaty pushes their agenda back a little while.
: So it's only natural we'd want some leverage to keep the peace going, right?
: Well, that's Helmut.
: What, just one exchange student?
: How does that stop two countries from fighting?


: Word is, his family has direct ties to the imperial bloodline.
: He's the perfect choice for a hostage.
: Huh. And everybody knows about this arrangement?
: Probably. I heard some people talking about it a little while ago.


: Ahh, okay...
: Now I'm all interested in meeting the guy. I'll go talk to him next time--
: Avan, shhh! You're going to get us in trouble!



*Avan and Zeri bail out on her*


Yep, they just did that. Sheesh, what kind of friends are you guys?



...Helmut's in a rough position. Facing discrimination for something he had no part in and supposedly being a bargaining chip for the Empire? It's only more sad when you realize the dude is 27. This guy's got his whole life reduced to being made fun of in front of teenagers when he could be married and starting a family right now. drat.

I've seen his first two events already, so I'm interested to see where this goes.




~* R&D Building - Marion's Second Event *~


: Ugh, I just want to get done with this and-- Huh? That looks like...


: Marion? Huh. I don't see her in the R&D building very often.

*She walks out of sight*

: I wonder what brings her here. Well, I might as well go say hi.





*The sound of a canvas cover being removed is heard*

: Tee hee...
: I've finally found you. Yes, you're the one...
: Mm, just lovely. With this, I could...

*Avan trips over something*


: Who's there?!
: Sorry, it's me. I didn't mean to startle you.
: Oh, Avan... What brings you here?
: I just say you come in and I thought I'd say hey.


: No, I was just... Er, Ms. Lane asked me to come and, um...
: She got to you too, huh? Man, she can be a real tyrant!



*She does a curtsy and hurries off*

: It wouldn't kill Lavinia to do SOME of the work around here herself...

She will, in time. I still haven't gotten the right equipment.



: I was just saying you work folks like me and Marion a little hard is all!
: Marion? Who said I asked her to do anything?


: Then she played you. Not that I'm surprised to hear you fell for it.
: Played me? But why would she lie about something like that?
: Search me. Maybe she was covering something up.
: Come to think of it, I see her here every once in a while.


: Huh. I wonder what she could be hiding.



Ominous. Then again, Avan, you ever get the idea she ran off because you were spying on her? Because you kinda were.

---


Here's a little angled shot I took with the camera in the meantime.

Alright, time for chores and maintenance!


The only upgrade I can afford presently, and the only one to provide significant benefit. Field Suits are worn by Scouts, Shocks, and Engineers. Lancers wear a specialized blast suit, and Armor Techs have an even more specialized armor.


I go against my rule and level techs to 3 for the time being. It nets me another order I'll probably never use.

...That's about it.

Mission time!


I'll just do these in order, I guess.


There's a good bit of lancers, an Ace, and a commander lancer we have to take down.


I forget to deploy Avan somewhere, so I lose an AP point this first round.



Player Turn Music: VC1 Desperate Fight
Enemy Turn Music: VC1 Resistance
Spicing this up with a bit of VC1's music. Desperate Fight is a favorite of mine.



This is a miltary mission, but unfortunately since my recordings lost audio for the rest of February, I won't be able to give you any.

I'll make up character lines as we go- I'm sure they said them at some point. They're all ones you've heard anyways.


I deployed Helmut by himself up here because I imagined this place wouldn't be hard to take with a grenade launch.


: "Underway."

Cheeky jerks put a mine back here for some reason.


Is the flag undefended, or can I just not see the dingus they left defending it?


Oh, well. There's a leader off to the side. Might as well show how a lancer's blast armor fares against explosions.


They fare very well, very well indeed. A whopping 5 damage was done.


Huh, it really is free for the taking then. That's very odd.


I send in Avan to play defense.


: "Rrragh!"

Well, maybe a bit of offense first, but...


...He's just going to crouch here for the rest of the mission. Eventually, crouching will become a permanent state of being for our destined Gunner, so much in fact he never has to worry about leg day.


In a fun twist of events, the silo is the final map, instead of being the starting map. Though the base we took doesn't take us there at all.


That's because it takes us behind these jerks in red. I send in Mischlitt just to get her some usage.


:sigh: Not nearly enough morale to trigger Genius constantly, so she can't one-shot this guy. One day, Mischlitt, you'll be incredibly lethal, but that day won't come for some time.


: "There are walls we cannot break."

Thumping this dude is pointless, so I send Mischlitt in the other direction and she triggers Insular. She'll at least be able to knock this guy from cover.


Let's have Marion delete a few of these dudes.


A twofer? Oh, you know I'm going to go for it. Look, even that guy over there is shocked!



Enemy Radio: "Noo! He was such a good guy...!"

Alas, it was not meant to be. I have to run Marion back to the base so they don't swipe it back.

Also, I just put that radio line in because we haven't heard it and I can remember that one. The delivery is gloriously hammy.

(Yes, the double kill would have worked had Mischlitt bonked this guy on the head first.



Enemy wastes their CP, what's new?


This man breaks laws of physics, just because he's also rebelling against nature.


Would you believe he missed all but one shot at this range?


Didn't we all know that was a bad idea?


:stare: Wait what-


:ohdear:


...How did you manage to completely miss blowing up the sandbags!?

Marion's perfectly fine, by the way. Well, halfway fine. Lances don't do much damage to people, unless it's a headshot.

...You can headshot people with lances by the way. I do this later, so look forward to that.


The enemy moves their scout off the base in the south, but fails to get anywhere in particular.


They move another scout from behind the boxes, giving me a great shot of Avan's face.


Do I even need to show this?


Well, that was it for their turn. They moved up another shocktrooper, but he's still too far out of range to do anything.


: "Engaging."


Mischlitt hits a dude. Fun fact- enemies don't retaliate ever against melee attacks, regardless if they go down or not.

I kinda wish techs would counter against each other- it'd make for some neat duels.


*Bop*

Mischlitt, I'm getting you mission credit if it kills me.


There. Maybe we'll get one of your events now. Don't worry about Noel, she'll also get some credits in soon.


What a motley crew of enemies. There's probably someone hiding in the grass, but they're probably just a lancer. 4 CP is more than enough to end this here.


Helmut, you've got Lancer Killer, right? Get in there and let's see what you can do.


: "A tank is a unit's heart- hands off!"


Unfortunately, saying this boss is beefy is an understatement. Even with the buff Helmut's not even scratching him while he's taking cover. I'll have to make him stand.


The healthbar didn't even move.


Finish this, Marion.

(Yes, there was a lancer in the grass.)


She runs out of AP just before she gets close enough. This scout is wide open though, and it's basically a free take down.


Yeah, you should've been crouching, buddy.


:argh: I'm halfway through a clip of headshots- what are you, a cheap terminator or something?


: "A clean hit!"

drat, with the last bullet too. Sheesh, Marion you've been the real MVP for every map I've used you on. I still had another CP, but still, the guy could've dodged.



Seriously, the "Allies Defeated" bonus is a pittance. What, does Brixham give Avan a pat on the head and hand him what pocket change he had left from buying a candy bar?



Yeah, that's about right. This was a bit shorter than my usual quota, but I was sparing with screenshots.

Anyways, that's it for this time- we've got a few more scenes coming on our next episode of the Brixham Bunch!

OOrochi
Jan 19, 2017

On my honor as the Dawnspear.
Huh, I hadn’t really thought of it, but pointing out Helmut’s age made me realize that we probably won’t get many, if any at all, older characters. I thought that some of the best characters in 1 and 4 were older, so that’s a bit of a disappointment.

The Flying Twybil
Oct 20, 2019

So what? You can't prove I posted that.

OOrochi posted:

Huh, I hadn’t really thought of it, but pointing out Helmut’s age made me realize that we probably won’t get many, if any at all, older characters. I thought that some of the best characters in 1 and 4 were older, so that’s a bit of a disappointment.

There's at least one other one I know about. He shows up in maybe a few months I think and is 30-something, I think.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


The mission structure really gives this game a weird stop-and-go kind of pace.

Space Kablooey
May 6, 2009


The Flying Twybil posted:

Update 9: Marion, In the Armory, With A Gun
: Search me. Maybe she was covering something up.

???

Did... Did she ask for Avan to pat her down...?

Hwurmp
May 20, 2005

[TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: "Search me" means "I don't know"]

FoolyCharged
Oct 11, 2012

Cheating at a raffle? I sentence you to 1 year in jail! No! Two years! Three! Four! Five years! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Somebody call for an ant?

Yeah, that's a pretty common idiom. Having hit summer, I can safely say the game smacks you upside the head with its skeevy and you will absolutely know it when you see it.

The Flying Twybil
Oct 20, 2019

So what? You can't prove I posted that.

FoolyCharged posted:

Yeah, that's a pretty common idiom. Having hit summer, I can safely say the game smacks you upside the head with its skeevy and you will absolutely know it when you see it.

Luckily, that's probably the most of the requisite* anime skeeviness right there. There's a few other moments, but that's most of it right there.

*Is it just a thing with anime that skeevy scenes have to exist? I've played a few games that pretty much avoid it all together, and most of those are quite old games. Every recent game always seems like it has it in some way or another. I just don't get it.



On a similar note. We've got a few updates before we get there, but we've got some very uncomfortable dialogue upcoming. It's even voice acted and believe me when I say their voice talent does an excellent job of making even more discomforting. In my experience, it's one of the most bizarre moments in the game.

Reading it will be awkward enough, but I'll capture the voice acting and provide a link just in case anyone wants the full :stonk: experience.

Space Kablooey
May 6, 2009


FoolyCharged posted:

Yeah, that's a pretty common idiom. Having hit summer, I can safely say the game smacks you upside the head with its skeevy and you will absolutely know it when you see it.

I have never seen that idiom before, but that's probably because I'm ESL.

Drakenel
Dec 2, 2008

The glow is a guide, my friend. Though it falls to you to avert catastrophe, you will never fight alone.

HardDiskD posted:

I have never seen that idiom before, but that's probably because I'm ESL.

That's fair. The concept behind it starts with 'I don't know' as others have said. The idea is that you're saying it with such confidence that the other person could literally search you and not find the answer. (IE: Someone aggressively asks 'where are my keys?' You respond with "Search me." You don't know, and they aren't going to find it on you even if they literally did that.)

Of course, it's been over-used like many idioms.

See also the phrase: "Beats me"

Sankara
Jul 18, 2008


Pretty weird to have a lancer unit attack you when you don't have a tank.

Cloudmonkey98
Apr 1, 2019
Enjoying this, plot is definitely stop and go, I think Avan is a better leader, but not commander, then given credit, he's shown to have enough awareness to muster and lead a village militia in defense at the start, and while its not a thinker's advice, Do, Don't Think is decent advice for the emotional aspect of leadership, Morale is incredibly important to keeping people mustered, and Avan has confidence in spades to help maintain that, Zeri might be a good thinker and strategist(not a tactician), but he's a bit pessimistic, and not exactly a strong presence like Avan, which makes him a bit poor a leader

Also Update 8 has a typo, you called the unlocked Potential "Close Combat" despite the screenshot saying "Clear Shot" and the description of the ability being the antithesis of Close Combat

Cloudmonkey98 fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Nov 22, 2019

The Flying Twybil
Oct 20, 2019

So what? You can't prove I posted that.

Doctor Reynolds posted:

Pretty weird to have a lancer unit attack you when you don't have a tank.

The enemy AI will do it sometimes if it thinks it's going to be a good idea- I imagine it's goal in this case was to get my unit out of crouching... but that probably should have been done before it got all of its units killed trying to hit a crouched Marion. I find it only more peculiar that it was a yellow helmet unit that attacked given they're usually very cowardly and just tend to hide.

If the AI started with the lancer and still made that ridiculous shot, Marion probably would have got taken down by the shocktrooper.

Cloudmonkey98 posted:

Enjoying this, plot is definitely stop and go, I think Avan is a better leader, but not commander, then given credit, he's shown to have enough awareness to muster and lead a village militia in defense at the start, and while its not a thinker's advice, Do, Don't Think is decent advice for the emotional aspect of leadership, Morale is incredibly important to keeping people mustered, and Avan has confidence in spades to help maintain that, Zeri might be a good thinker and strategist(not a tactician), he's a bit pessimistic, and not exactly a strong presence like Avan, which makes him a bit poor a leader

Also Update 8 has a typo, you called the unlocked Potential "Close Combat" despite the screenshot saying "Clear Shot" and the description of the ability being the antithesis of Close Combat

Truth be told, Zeri is really more of a strategist and that's what I was leaning towards anyways. Avan's only issue in that moment is that he doesn't notice that a military needs more than just hope. Brave soldiers charging in without a plan or a method to run by is a lot less effective than if they had a reassuring plan behind them. Plot-wise, the main issue really is just that the kids are scared out of their minds to have to deal with something as destructive as a tank- Zeri's plan is the last part needed to reassure them that there's a way to defeat the tank. (I suppose there is some slight difference between a strategist and a tactician as well.)

The scene still doesn't make much sense in regards as it seems the other Class G kids have been around for longer than the three protagonists and there's a whole team of lancers. The basic part of being a lancer is to destroy tanks and they should be able to figure out more than easily that 2-3 rockets put towards even the front of that thing should be more than enough to take it out. That whole thing was really just to make a setup for the ragnite containers which very rarely ever get used again, and how to show you to beat a tank the wrong way.

Also, thanks for the heads up on the typo. I figured I'd get something like that wrong at some point- got tripped up due to how similar the abilities are.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


I think the big issue is that we have characters like Will from Advance Wars: Days of Ruin who acted like Avan but was not nearly as stupid. Yeah he was inexperienced and emotional but never this loving dumb.

Sankara
Jul 18, 2008


The Flying Twybil posted:

The enemy AI will do it sometimes if it thinks it's going to be a good idea- I imagine it's goal in this case was to get my unit out of crouching... but that probably should have been done before it got all of its units killed trying to hit a crouched Marion. I find it only more peculiar that it was a yellow helmet unit that attacked given they're usually very cowardly and just tend to hide.

If the AI started with the lancer and still made that ridiculous shot, Marion probably would have got taken down by the shocktrooper.

I meant more as in the "story". The rebel army makes some questionable decisions.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

Doctor Reynolds posted:

I meant more as in the "story". The rebel army makes some questionable decisions.

Well if you're talking story, then deploying Lancers is just good sense. Waiting to deploy Anti-Tank units until you find out that enemy forces actually have a tank would be pretty stupid, since it would be too late. Your AT would never make it in time from whatever operating base you send them out from.

In terms of them shooting at troops: If there is no tank to shoot at, then you may as well shoot at something. You're a sitting duck either way, so you might as well throw a Hail Mary (and luck out like that enemy Lancer did against Marion).

If this was looked at purely through a story lens, then Marion would be dead and that Lancer would have gotten a medal and the nickname "The Sniper" because holy poo poo, he struck somebody in the head with a notoriously inaccurate rocket while they were behind sandbags.

The Flying Twybil
Oct 20, 2019

So what? You can't prove I posted that.

Doctor Reynolds posted:

I meant more as in the "story". The rebel army makes some questionable decisions.

Psycho Knight posted:

Well if you're talking story, then deploying Lancers is just good sense. Waiting to deploy Anti-Tank units until you find out that enemy forces actually have a tank would be pretty stupid, since it would be too late. Your AT would never make it in time from whatever operating base you send them out from.

In terms of them shooting at troops: If there is no tank to shoot at, then you may as well shoot at something. You're a sitting duck either way, so you might as well throw a Hail Mary (and luck out like that enemy Lancer did against Marion).

If this was looked at purely through a story lens, then Marion would be dead and that Lancer would have gotten a medal and the nickname "The Sniper" because holy poo poo, he struck somebody in the head with a notoriously inaccurate rocket while they were behind sandbags.

The mission was also purposefully about an anti-tank squadron marching in, although that's my fault for constantly forgetting to take a screenshot of the mini plot summary on these things. For some reason, the game insists on giving you missions early on that are very dangerous for your vehicle driver, even though you just got them.

Plot-wise it's a bit smart they have lancers deployed for the reasons Psycho mentioned. Having at least one viable method to shut down a rampaging tank isn't such a bad idea.

Mechanically, it's quite sound as well since I'm constantly afraid of bringing my tank on any mission where there's a surplus of lancers. I have to do a bit of searching, scrambling, and awkward repositioning of my tank to make sure I'm not going to get a surprise shot to the radiator. Sure, they only do about 100 damage with a rocket to a crouched character, but the risk of losing my tank is an added advantage to the enemy. They'll forget to bring any for quite a few missions, and Lavinia will be wrecking house in return.

I personally don't have to worry about having them because I can easily pop in one at any nearby flag, destroy a tank, and then put them back in reserve.

Also, yeah, that guy would get promoted if the game was taking its mechanics more realistically. At this point, it's like you get a mild case of carpet burn across your entire face and you might've bruised something when you fell down.

E: Also, the next update should be up later today, check sometime in the evening.

The Flying Twybil fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Nov 23, 2019

The Flying Twybil
Oct 20, 2019

So what? You can't prove I posted that.



Yeah, uh, Yuri? Listen to Chelinka. Mustache Dad said this was a tomb- she's almost definitely right.

...Ah, what do I care, we've got JRPG powers, this isn't going to be anything bad-



Oh, right. Wrong game, wrong LP. Let me check my notes here...

VC2? Ah, darn, now I've gotta come up with some snappy intro joke that nobody laughs at but me. Heck it doesn't even have to be snappy-

----
----

Update 10: The One I Forgot To Give A Title

Music: Winter in Lanseal

Welcome back to another episode of the Super Class G Super Show! Last time we did stuff. This time we do more stuff.


We'll see by the end of this LP if I remember to give Brixy enough time to finish his sentences anymore. I only briefly glance at this screen, because it doesn't say that much most of the time.

NEW TITLES:
Verdant
Talented



Well, out of all that work I put in last time, at least somebody got an event. Let's see what Mischlitt's up to, and then check out the daily event. I'm putting off the story event until we get everything for this month done.

--



Music: Everyday Life of the Class


: Please. That test was a joke.
: Must be nice to be smart. You've got to be the top of the class, yeah?
: Not with Mischlitt around. She's like a machine.
: Wait, the Mischlitt in our class? I didn't know she was that smart.

Considering that Brixy announces high grades, I'd figure Avan should have known this by now, but his obliviousness knows no bounds.



Offscreen Voice: ...stinking Darcsen!

Music: None

: What's that shouting? It's combing from back in the gym.




:byodood: : You should stay in your little corner with the other dark-hairs!

: Um...

:byodame: : Yeah! It's bad enough we have to smell you people around campus.

:byodame: : Then you go and show off and bring the rest of us real Gallians down?!


:byodood: : Tch, let's go!

*The jerks walk off*


: It isn't a problem.
: Why didn't you stand up to them? That was petty, groundless slander.


: So letting people like that browbeat you is your idea of pride? Please.
: It's because so many Darcsens are like you that we're still...

...Er, Zeri? Isn't that a bit racist as well?

: Ugh, I've had enough. I'm going, Avan.


: It stems from the Darcsen Calamity. We're said to have ravaged all Europa.
: Yet there exists not a shred of proof to back it up. It's a myth.
: Archduchess Cordelia's confession proved that beyond a doubt.


: Don't you think that might cut down on the prejudice some?
: That will never happen.
: If we confront them with the truth, they will accuse us of lying.


: Aw, I don't think that's true. And lots of people aren't prejudiced. I'm--
: You would not make such a claim if you yourself were a Darcsen.

*She walks off*



:smith: I'll give Avan credit, he tried to help and wasn't incredibly pushy or nosy. Still, regardless of how far gone the odds are, if you never try then there was never a chance at success anyhow.

Although I can't imagine you'd be very hopeful when there's an ethnic cleansing based civil war going on.






~* Drill Grounds - Daily Event *~
Ready for some tonal whiplash?



: Ha ha ha! Whoops! I guess you did.
: So... this exercise ends when you've caught all of us enemy unit, right?

...Are they playing hide and seek?


: We still need Melissa.
: The scouts are doing their best, but there's no sign of her yet.
: Sh-She's really fast.

Yep, it's hide and seek with running rules.


: O-One night, I turned around in the gym and she was there. I f-fainted.
: Every human being makes some noise. Their presence can always be detected.



: Hr...?!
: M-Melissa! I found you!
: Tee hee... You took too long, Raymond. I got bored.



Helmut, I'd normally disagree with you on this, but then again she recovered very quickly from that one battle. She might be a vampire.

Also, how about that tonal change? It's not the biggest one, but from racist bullying followed by defeatist sentiments to hide and seek is a quite up and down.



--

Wow, only a fifth of the way through this update? Heck, we're gonna burn through some content today!

Chores:


Shocktroopers are now at level 5 first because Marion's been the MVP for quite some time. The order will probably never get used.

Oh, and Engineers and Techs get another level since they're kinda cheap.


A better gun for the class I've hardly used. Maybe we'll see more engineers in March.


As you can see at the top there, the game's ready to hand us our next story mission, but I'm not moving on until I get all this stuff finished first. Gives us more time to develop the characters people voted for, and Noel still needs an event.


Marching Exercise is pretty easy by all means- just run to the point. They put a tank on this map as well, which means Noel gets to do some work!

I throw in all of our scouts and the obligatory Avan placement, then get ready to go. If you just rush this area, Drill Ground 3, you can ignore the other one. I'm farming credits anyways, but it sure works.

Alright, let's do this!




Music: Practice Battle



Sending in Helmut to take that base quickly.


They didn't block us out of this pathway this time, so I direct Helmut that way. As a scout, he'll easily make it with some AP to spare.


: "Hey, you. Have you seen Class G's new tactic?"

:geno: : "What?"

: "It involves grenades. Here, have one."


: "Target destroyed."


Well, this sucks. We've seen what happens when scouts try to duel shocktroopers.


: "I don't miss."

...Although, it's at times like these, I'm glad Helmut says this.



He rarely disappoints, as you can see.

(Most scouts probably could have made that shot, but there was a chance of missing there still.)


Sending in Marion to clear the way.


I'm getting this shocktrooper off my backside first. I don't want him shooting Helmut and retaking the base.


Yep.


And I send her forward through the grass to the north. I'm surprised they've got enough money to send a tank on a practice mission, because you know I'm going to blow the thing up.

That probably doesn't fare well for the students inside of it though. :gibs:


: "I'm ready to go!"

Hey, you! Long time no see!


: "I'm feeling good, really good!"


It's a good thing she triggered that because this grass doesn't keep you hidden from the tank or the shocktrooper hiding here.


She eats some damage, but it's all good. I go for a hopeful shot and...


Eh, it wasn't likely to happen anyways.


Hey, look at you on a roll, even at only Morale 3!


She takes another quarter of her HP, but hey, there's the radiator!


Yeah, the school's paying for this, right? I mean, I guess you could say it was an old, out of commission tank that couldn't move or fire shells, but you could still salvage that in a better way.

It's a good thing Noel's beret is fireproof. Well, probably fireproof.


I try to make a run for it, but I stop right here before she gets taken out. Noel's great and I don't want her going down, even if she's not integral to the rest of the mission.


"Sir, you've recieved a letter from a Ms. Siegbahn of Class G. It reads thusly-"


"...Why, that was a rather grounding letter."


Japes aside, I don't trust the enemy AI to not shoot Noel, so Marion kindly bodyblocks for her.





The enemy does stuff.

...But they're so afraid of Marion that they don't even try attacking her. Seriously, she was right in front of you, standing.


Hey, uh, I think Noel's got something to repay you for.

(She triggered Armored Traits again, by the way. She's on it today, even if she's at 10% of her HP :allears:)


: "Hey, I got 'em!"

There ya go. It was going to end this way either way, dude. You should've just went out on your own terms.


Noel takes a well-earned nap in the grass for the rest of the battle. She's out of ammo, so birdwatching is a much safer and profitable use of time.

(I try to avoid uneccesary falls when possible. That one with Melissa wasn't avoidable.)


Maybe I should do something about all these dudes over here.


: "Every girl near Zeri is a target."

:stonk: Yes, even Lotte, her friend. Melissa is a dedicated stalker.


First, she puts doles out some payback to this rude dude. After that, I send her up to the next trooper. Lotte's up next.


: "Dude, seriously!? No way!"

The accuracy down isn't going to hurt that much.


See?


Gettin' Mischlitt some credit. I should've just sent Marion to the end though- I'm not going to make an A rank on this, and I don't realize it until it's too late.


Nice, maybe she can actually take someone down in one swing now.



Yep.


Then I, uh, accidentally select Noel. Sorry about that.


It's not a complete waste. Lances can headshot, and she does actually have one shot left it seems.


Someone send this guy to the hospital. He's probably got a concussion now.


One CP point away from A-rank because I accidentally selected someone. Argh.


Rubbing it in, are you? Jerks. I'll just fast-forward through most of this mission. It's just cleanup at this point anyways.





:cripes:



Well, at least I got a lot of rewards out of that. Looks like this'll be a bit of a longer update then.




Hey, look, a Noel event! I suppose accidentally picking Noel wasn't a complete loss.

--

Music: Everyday Life of the Class






:cripes:Avan, just... why?




*Copious amounts of screen shaking*

: Ngah?! Wh-what gives?!
: Oh, it's you, Avan. You meanie! Don't go startling me like that!

You have full permission to punch him right on the nose.

: That's my line! What was that blood-curdling scream for?


: That was hardly a basic girl scream...

Rude.

: Mm?


: Oh... Yeah. This is my mom.
: Yeah? She's pretty. Looks like a real classy woman, in fact.
: Heh heh, thanks. What's your mom like?


: I'd always make her mad, and my brother'd have to step in and defend me.
: Ha ha, wow! Sounds rough. But you should be good to your mom just the same.
: I wish I were better to mine. She's gone now.



: So, tell me, what brought you to Lanseal?
: Well, my brother went here...
: I guess I'm here because it's always been my dream to be as good as Leon.

No, you're not. You were here to find out what happened to him, remember?


: Right. It worked out perfectly, seeing as how I wanted to be a soldier.
: My dream is to study here, then go off to become a decorated army officer.


: Heh heh, thanks! I plan to give it everything I've got!



Well that was nice, aside from how big of a jerk Avan was being at the start. Noel's a nice and forgiving person, entirely unlike me, and that's probably why I like her.

My response would to this would have been much worse, but I've already mentioned I'm a jerk. I don't like being surprised, and it doesn't help Avan's displaying the situational awareness of a seven year old here.



Anyways, enough about Avan acting dumb and me being a jerk, let's check out the next event.


~* Art Room - Daily Event / Chloe Event *~




Welp, you've already lost me. No offense to those who do it, I don't understand a thing about abstract art.

: Inspired by the what? The Valkyrur?
: It's said they frequently adorned their creations with spiral designs.
: It's like a trademark.
: That's pretty cool.


: For you? Let's see.


*She stays in this pose for a few seconds*

: How about that?
: What is it? It's a light brown circle?
: Don't you see it? It's supposed to be bread. You're always eating it.
: I-is that really your impression of me? That I'm always eating?

Yeah, kinda. You should really get some protein in your diet, dude. Starches are good for energy, but you're never going to build muscle unless you get some protein in ya.


: A person should never let another person brand them.
: You should choose a motif that represents the self you want to become.
: That makes sense. I'll think that over, Chloe. Thanks.
: Heh.



--

Yeah, I don't think we were really supposed to see that yet. It only makes sense after you see Chloe's whole story, because, well...



Oh, well. At least you folks have an idea of what to expect from her. For now, I need to remedy that B-rank on that mission, so it's back in we go.


I leveled Techs to 5, and it didn't reward a order. That's fine, I'll never use it anyways.


This is all I need to start with. Avan's just sitting on the home base.

*One reset later*


Nah, we're going with this.



Music: Repeating A Mission


Make our way through here...


Take out the scout.


Take out the shocktrooper.


Obligatory "all your base are belong to us" remark.


I send Marion up with the last of her AP. No real reason aside from being a backup if I fail to get this in one turn.


For the hell of it, I bring in Taxi!. We won't get to see Lavinia be great until next month, but she needs some use anyhow.



Yep, he's gone. Eventually they'll learn to not send tanks against me. I've got strategies to deal with stuff until they have a field lined with sandbags, gunners, AT bunkers and AT mines. I could probably find a way to beat that, but it'll depend on my mood if I feel like A-ranking a mess like that.


To finish the job, I pull in Helmut, and he learns Super Evasion. Can't really argue that much about it, having a higher dodge chance when having to shoot shocktroopers up close is an advantage.


Speaking of shooting shocktroopers point blank, he does exactly that and somehow the guy flies over there. :shrug:



Yeah, that's what I wanted. Repeating missions doesn't reward anything but money, loot, and credits- I don't think it rewards any points towards seeing a character's story.

If that's true, then theoretically, it'd be best if you intentionally ran up the timer on some missions, farming take downs off reinforcements and wasting CP to gain quicker access to everyone's storylines while just repeating the mission to get the A-rank.

Well, that's it for this time. Join us next time where I burn through the last mission we have for the month, and clear up some extras on Leave It to Avan!

The Flying Twybil fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Nov 23, 2019

FoolyCharged
Oct 11, 2012

Cheating at a raffle? I sentence you to 1 year in jail! No! Two years! Three! Four! Five years! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Somebody call for an ant?

You can absolutely earn peoples stories from repeated missions, as well as keeping unlocked potentials. So fortunately you can grind out the stories of dudes you dont use without ruining your A ranks.

The Flying Twybil
Oct 20, 2019

So what? You can't prove I posted that.

FoolyCharged posted:

You can absolutely earn peoples stories from repeated missions, as well as keeping unlocked potentials. So fortunately you can grind out the stories of dudes you dont use without ruining your A ranks.

Yeah, I couldn't remember if it did progress stories since all the times I've done it in this run didn't trigger anything. As far as I'm aware, both potential unlocks and story events are based on the amount of CP you've used on the character, right?

Regardless, the benefits of doing character missions early on are hard to pass up as they're usually level 15 and they reward tons of EXP and DCT for this point in the game. We'll be doing this in what I think will be update...12? Oh, heck, I just realized I didn't title this last one. I'll get on that, since it seems I'll never make it through an update without a few errors.

As a side note. I've hardly ever checked a wiki or anything for this game, so most of what I go off of is what I picked up on as I went along. The same goes for the cheese strat with the tank that's slowly approaching the light of day.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


get ready to do that for eeeeevvvvveeerrrrryyyyyyyyyyyy engineer~

FoolyCharged
Oct 11, 2012

Cheating at a raffle? I sentence you to 1 year in jail! No! Two years! Three! Four! Five years! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Somebody call for an ant?

Theres more unlocking potentials than cp. It's a chance to unlock the potential on what would normally trigger it that increases with cp. So for instance the scout potential for getting shot at while crouched is most easily obtained by crouch walking back and forth repeatedly in the first free mission. Or cheating, I suggest cheating because all this grindy poo poo they added is real bad.

theshim
May 1, 2012

You think you can defeat ME, Ephraimcopter?!?

You couldn't even beat Assassincopter!!!
All limited ammo is automatically replenished by 1 at the start of every turn, or to full if the unit is in a camp or resupplied by an Engineer. Lancers only having 3 shots is fairly annoying, makes them very hard to use on more than a single target. In VC3 Lancers had 6 ammo, which was way more comfortable, and several of them had ammo-refill potentials.

Also, with enough accuracy boosts, you can drop an anti-tank lance into someone's head from across the map, and that will never not be hilarious.

The Flying Twybil
Oct 20, 2019

So what? You can't prove I posted that.

FoolyCharged posted:

Theres more unlocking potentials than cp. It's a chance to unlock the potential on what would normally trigger it that increases with cp. So for instance the scout potential for getting shot at while crouched is most easily obtained by crouch walking back and forth repeatedly in the first free mission. Or cheating, I suggest cheating because all this grindy poo poo they added is real bad.

Well that means Marion developed Clear Shot because sometimes she has to move up to an enemy from a distance. That...actually kind of sucks. I never knew this and did pretty okay with what my units ended up developing, but we'll see how long it takes until I break down and cheat to fix my potentials.


theshim posted:

All limited ammo is automatically replenished by 1 at the start of every turn, or to full if the unit is in a camp or resupplied by an Engineer. Lancers only having 3 shots is fairly annoying, makes them very hard to use on more than a single target. In VC3 Lancers had 6 ammo, which was way more comfortable, and several of them had ammo-refill potentials.

Also, with enough accuracy boosts, you can drop an anti-tank lance into someone's head from across the map, and that will never not be hilarious.

I didn't even know about the ammo replenished rate because all of my lancers have usually triggered a restore constantly in the past. I believe our Noel develops Ammo Refill sometime here soon, and Coleen's Mooch always seems to just trigger all the time for me. 6 shots sounds real nice, though. Lancers have always struck me as very restrained by their ammo cost and damage output, which usually puts them in a more useless position, especially compared to Lavinia once she's been upgraded.

Of course, I usually snipe people across the map with Lavinia anyhow, but I get a good laugh whenever the accuracy circle is just an orange dot.

theshim
May 1, 2012

You think you can defeat ME, Ephraimcopter?!?

You couldn't even beat Assassincopter!!!

The Flying Twybil posted:

Well that means Marion developed Clear Shot because sometimes she has to move up to an enemy from a distance. That...actually kind of sucks. I never knew this and did pretty okay with what my units ended up developing, but we'll see how long it takes until I break down and cheat to fix my potentials.
Each unit has specific potentials they learn from their classes. Marion will always learn Clear Shot, for instance, it wasn't bad RNG.

Sankara
Jul 18, 2008


So, you keep saying you never use orders. Were they super nerfed in this game? Because they're absolutely bonkers overpowered in VC1 and VC4.

The Flying Twybil
Oct 20, 2019

So what? You can't prove I posted that.

theshim posted:

Each unit has specific potentials they learn from their classes. Marion will always learn Clear Shot, for instance, it wasn't bad RNG.

I briefly mentioned that the classes determined the learned potentials, but at least Clear Shot is a selectable one. I'm probably not going to be grinding a different class to get a different potential.

Doctor Reynolds posted:

So, you keep saying you never use orders. Were they super nerfed in this game? Because they're absolutely bonkers overpowered in VC1 and VC4.

Most of them cost 4-5 CP when you only have 6 in the early game, and 10 in the later game. They might be useful, but paying 4 CP to increase the attack of a unit temporarily is severely sub-par to simply being able to attack 4 times. The only ones I ever use is Medic Request (2 cost) which bails out a fallen unit, and Request Heal, which is 1 CP for a moderate heal on a unit (1 CP, basically a long range, weak engineer heal).

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

Doctor Reynolds posted:

So, you keep saying you never use orders. Were they super nerfed in this game? Because they're absolutely bonkers overpowered in VC1 and VC4.

The Flying Twybil posted:

Most of them cost 4-5 CP when you only have 6 in the early game, and 10 in the later game. They might be useful, but paying 4 CP to increase the attack of a unit temporarily is severely sub-par to simply being able to attack 4 times. The only ones I ever use is Medic Request (2 cost) which bails out a fallen unit, and Request Heal, which is 1 CP for a moderate heal on a unit (1 CP, basically a long range, weak engineer heal).

As The Flying Twybil highlights, orders are far too expensive to bother using in this game. It's something that VC2 really fucks up badly. 4-5 CP is almost never worth it and the cheaper 2-3 CP orders are largely useless, especially with the smaller map sizes. Some of them do still have their uses in certain situations, but not nearly as much as in every other game.

For example: Area Recon is one of the most useful orders across all games. We can't compare VC1's version of it because it functions differently than 2/3, but 3's versions cost 1 CP for a single map, and 3 CP for all maps. VC2's cost 3 for a single map and 6 for all maps, which is just stupid. If you burn 6CP on it, then you likely won't have a lot left to actually take advantage of it.

The VC team clearly wanted to try and balance Orders, because some of them were pretty broken in VC1 (Area Recon, Attack Weak Spot, Demolition Boost-Oh LORD, Demolition Boost). Unfortunately, they went way too far in trying to reduce their effectiveness. They also made acquiring the orders really expensive (it costs 50k+ EXP to learn the order that boosts resistance to status ailments) or time consuming (Resupply requires you to get Engineers to Level 37 out of 50).

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Nov 24, 2019

Sankara
Jul 18, 2008


Ah! Nerfed to oblivion, then. I'm glad they eventually came to their senses.

The Flying Twybil
Oct 20, 2019

So what? You can't prove I posted that.

Doctor Reynolds posted:

Ah! Nerfed to oblivion, then. I'm glad they eventually came to their senses.

The only case I could see them being useful is doing some sort of low unit challenge where that AP cost isn't that bad in respect to your constantly depleting AP pool. I never even used orders that much in VC1 aside from rescuing fallen units, so I guess I was missing out.


News on the next update:
I'll try to get the next update up tonight, if not, in the morning. My master plan at making a backlog has failed due to other things getting in the way, but there's only about two more updates left until we hit the next month. I've got a thing I'm working on that's probably important, and also the plans for a possible second LP provided I can find the time, and the former likes to chew up time for other stuff.

Oh, and my trusted mouse that served me for nearly six years finally seems to be dying on me, so that drastically slows down copy/paste operations since I'm now relegated to either a touchpad or a touchscreen. Huzzah!


In the meantime, I'd like to ask what the current opinion of the LP is. I know it's not master quality, and I'm just some random jerk on the internet, but I have been trying to keep this acceptable. I'm not one who does well sticking to one project for a long time, so this is partly me proving to myself that I can, but I do want it to be of some value in the end. If there's an improvement to be made somewhere, I'd like to make it.

Is it entertaining and/or mildly informative? Is there something you want me to change? I'd like to make sure Give me your opinion if you feel like it, no matter how harsh. I'll, uh, still be here taking screenshots and copy/pasting links.

FoolyCharged
Oct 11, 2012

Cheating at a raffle? I sentence you to 1 year in jail! No! Two years! Three! Four! Five years! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Somebody call for an ant?

I am greatly enjoying your lp and it encouraged me to try this bad game that I never had before. I really appreciate that, because once I said "gently caress it" and cheated away promotion items and crafting items the game turned into a good game with a bad plot. It's a VC game that focuses on the battles and not hours of cutscenes, which is rad.

So keep up the good work! And dont hesitate to cheat if you're burning out!

TheGreatEvilKing
Mar 28, 2016





The Flying Twybil posted:

The only case I could see them being useful is doing some sort of low unit challenge where that AP cost isn't that bad in respect to your constantly depleting AP pool. I never even used orders that much in VC1 aside from rescuing fallen units, so I guess I was missing out.


News on the next update:
I'll try to get the next update up tonight, if not, in the morning. My master plan at making a backlog has failed due to other things getting in the way, but there's only about two more updates left until we hit the next month. I've got a thing I'm working on that's probably important, and also the plans for a possible second LP provided I can find the time, and the former likes to chew up time for other stuff.

Oh, and my trusted mouse that served me for nearly six years finally seems to be dying on me, so that drastically slows down copy/paste operations since I'm now relegated to either a touchpad or a touchscreen. Huzzah!


In the meantime, I'd like to ask what the current opinion of the LP is. I know it's not master quality, and I'm just some random jerk on the internet, but I have been trying to keep this acceptable. I'm not one who does well sticking to one project for a long time, so this is partly me proving to myself that I can, but I do want it to be of some value in the end. If there's an improvement to be made somewhere, I'd like to make it.

Is it entertaining and/or mildly informative? Is there something you want me to change? I'd like to make sure Give me your opinion if you feel like it, no matter how harsh. I'll, uh, still be here taking screenshots and copy/pasting links.

I'm enjoying it so far. At least I can follow the plot without bonus updates!

Space Kablooey
May 6, 2009


Yeah I'm enjoying the LP too. I was always morbidly curious as to why VC2 was trash-talked since forever ago, and now I can experience it without having to buy anything or do any effort.

That said, I do have a request: Since you are doing the updates with the story bits first and the mission after, can you split up the update in two posts, one with the story bit and then another with the mission? That way if I don`t have the time to read the entire update in one go, I can mark the story post as read and then come back to the mission bit.

Drakenel
Dec 2, 2008

The glow is a guide, my friend. Though it falls to you to avert catastrophe, you will never fight alone.
It's fun to read, and I do check every update. For real though, don't start a second LP. It sounds like your motivation and free time is stretched as it is. Unless its just something so incredibly enjoyable to you that it just makes you wanna blow through it, you'll wear yourself down by viewing it as work rather than fun.

The Flying Twybil
Oct 20, 2019

So what? You can't prove I posted that.

FoolyCharged posted:

I am greatly enjoying your lp and it encouraged me to try this bad game that I never had before. I really appreciate that, because once I said "gently caress it" and cheated away promotion items and crafting items the game turned into a good game with a bad plot. It's a VC game that focuses on the battles and not hours of cutscenes, which is rad.

So keep up the good work! And dont hesitate to cheat if you're burning out!

I will, thanks! I'm not burned out yet on the game, just checking to get an idea of how I'm doing. If I ever get really behind on promotion items (particularly if we're bringing unpromoted units in the later game) I may suddenly find a bunch of credits somewhere to get our units up to speed.

I had a few games as a kid that I cheated through, but came back to later to find they were a lot different. One I particularly liked, though I was in a rough spot at the time and anything that could get me to smile was bound to be considered highly. I haven't gone back to play it in years, unfortunately.

TheGreatEvilKing posted:

I'm enjoying it so far. At least I can follow the plot without bonus updates!


Great to hear! Although this game's plot is all over the place, at least it's coherent compared to the mess that was Ash of Gods. I suppose a lot of things are more coherent than that game- I'm still baffled that was the best ending. I can say that at least the dialogue will tell you something rather than posing piles of contradictions and random plot elements that go nowhere. I enjoy the fanfiction write-ups, since it helps to make this plot seem less of a wreck when at least parts of it are salvageable.

On the note of bonus updates, I'll probably have one up sooner or later- I had a silly idea today, and I might just go through with it.

HardDiskD posted:

Yeah I'm enjoying the LP too. I was always morbidly curious as to why VC2 was trash-talked since forever ago, and now I can experience it without having to buy anything or do any effort.

That said, I do have a request: Since you are doing the updates with the story bits first and the mission after, can you split up the update in two posts, one with the story bit and then another with the mission? That way if I don`t have the time to read the entire update in one go, I can mark the story post as read and then come back to the mission bit.


Nice to hear that as well! I originally picked this game out of the few I considered doing because I couldn't remember too much about it, and I kept seeing all the trash-talk as well. I remembered a fun portable game with missions and some tolerable anime and a decent plot with only some issues. I've come back to find I really understand the trash-talking now. The other game I've considered making an LP for caught me with the same sort of curiosity, only I found it to be good in spite of quite a few scathing reviews.

I'll start splitting the next updates into separate story and battle ones after this next one. I'd already considered doing it, and it shouldn't be much of a problem.


Drakenel posted:

It's fun to read, and I do check every update. For real though, don't start a second LP. It sounds like your motivation and free time is stretched as it is. Unless its just something so incredibly enjoyable to you that it just makes you wanna blow through it, you'll wear yourself down by viewing it as work rather than fun.

Hey, I'm glad to know I can make it fun for others! I'm usually seen as a rather dour and humorless person, so it seems I'm doing something right.

Don't worry about me starting a second LP just yet, I nearly wore myself out when I took up the Dwarf Fortress LP for a short time. I'll have to work out some details for it first, and I need to get a few projects out of the way first. It was a game I really enjoyed, but I'm going to be sure I'm not running out of time for this LP.

I'll have the next update up tomorrow morning- it'll be a decent bit shorter than usual, but I'll get the following one up quickly. It's also 1 AM and Thanksgiving day, so I should probably go to sleep.

The Flying Twybil fucked around with this message at 07:43 on Nov 28, 2019

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Poil
Mar 17, 2007

I'm thankful for this LP because I also enjoy reading it. :)

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