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Speaking of Reyn, what is/are the ideal setup(s) for his Arts? I understand what to do with everyone else based on the thread discussion and playing but I've always felt like there's something I'm missing with Reyn.
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Jul 1, 2020 22:18
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Yeah, using focus attacks this playthrough has been such a game changer even without the altered arts uses because it seems way more efficient to focus on one enemy at a time in a crowd and then use multi-target arts in chain attacks to soften up the others. Of course doing this without Reyn, Dunban, or to a lesser extent Riki/Seven makes that strategy a lot less effective.
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Jul 1, 2020 23:04
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Does anyone have a link to the google doc spreadsheet? I'm trying to do some Colony 6 stuff before I reach the endgame and I definitely do not remember where some of these materials are supposed to be. DE has been a lot of fun, turns out I forgot about 50% of the plot so it's been almost like playing it for the first time again.
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Jul 8, 2020 22:36
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It's kind of amazing to me that Seven isn't part of the most optimal team given how much of a buzzsaw they are in chain attacks. Even a lot of the late game uniques melt against red -> red -> red -> Seven's talent art.
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Jul 13, 2020 16:46
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Finished the main story again, still loved it. I definitely had a fundamental misunderstanding of the ending when I played the original 10 years ago, though: I didn't recognize in the original that the edge of Colony 9 is sitting before the rest of the collapsed Bionis. For some reason I thought Shulk re-created Earth after seeing it during the ending which had made me super confused on how Future Connected was supposed to work. Ending cutscene spoiler Zanza being an arrogant scientist who destroyed our universe and Meyneth being the only counter to his megalomania because she grabbed him as he pushed the button is still the most buckwild random ending reveal I've ever seen, though.
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Jul 29, 2020 15:44
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I just finished Future Connected and I had a lot of fun with it even if I wandered a bunch and got overlevelled quickly. I liked the extra story it brought, and the little tweak of fighting without visions as a crutch meant I got a good challenge out of some of the fights. All told I'm sad to be done with DE. I loved basically everything about it from the first moment the piano on Colony 9 kicked in, I'm so glad the fond memories of my first playthrough weren't just rose-tinted glasses. That, and the improvements they made were top notch, I have a new fondness for a lot of tracks I didn't when I'd pull up the original OST while studying. That said, I'm hesitant to play 2 cause it seems like the consensus is that it's Very Extra in a lot of different ways and I just don't know if I'll enjoy it nearly as much.
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Aug 4, 2020 01:52
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If you think that skill alone makes Seven absurd, put a high-level Haste gem on their weapon to turn them into even more of a murder-blender.
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May 18, 2022 16:30
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I've been playing games a long time but (end Chapter 5/early Chapter 6) I can't remember the last time I played a game that showed the slow progression of the party losing hope like that and still having the villains seemingly succeed. Great way to establish N and Shania as total scumbags. N's "You're an off-seer, aren't you?" is one of the best lines from a villain I've heard in a while. But that might be because I had predicted once they traded flutes that Mio would reach her time or sacrifice herself before journey's end and Noah would use her flute to see her off. If Noah - or N - had started playing that punch in the gut would've landed a little lower. What really made the Chapter 5 ending land for me is the tragedy of Noah and Mio only having just been introduced to love and parenthood for the first time but still not having the verbiage to express it to each other before Mio vanished. This, I think, is the only thing that's really undercut by the reveal after, but in fairness I don't think M could adequately express her feelings either because she couldn't love N after seeing what he did. There's a lot to unpack there but suffice it to say those scenes made a big impression on me. Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Sep 20, 2022 |
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Sep 20, 2022 23:13
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One thing I hope the game answers is (again ch.5/6) why N and M were still on 10 year lifespans when they were clearly dressed as Citizens. Iirc their statues in the City still say they were Agnus and Keves soldiers but considering it also says they outlived their lifespans I'm not sure if it means they just popped up again after reincarnation or if there's something else there. Just strikes me as odd with the information given so far.
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Sep 21, 2022 00:17
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turn off the TV posted:Reread the descriptions. The Founders are the group of people who defeated N after he destroyed the first city and created the second one. I'm definitely gonna have to take a look at those again, yeah. The implications of some of those details are confusing. E: okay yeah it was shulk ortiz  and...uh I'm guessing the other is a xb2 character who lived far longer than the 10 years of agnus/keves soldiers without explanation. The Noah/Mio lookalike statues saying they were brother and sister is still a weird one though.
Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Sep 21, 2022 |
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Sep 21, 2022 01:06
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I liked the overall variety of gems you could get in 1 to spec for different situations even though a large portion of those were pretty useless and slapped onto accessories in 3 rather than clog up gems. I would've liked expanded AOE/range effects to have been gems rather than having stat boost gems when there's already stat boost accessories. The sheer volume of accessories in 3 is probably the most annoying part of the game since the filter systems are kinda wack.
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Sep 21, 2022 19:48
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Supremezero posted:Not Enough Vandhams (Late chapter 5/6 plot details) There's technically at least 5 if you count Noah and N, right? Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Oct 19, 2022 |
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Oct 19, 2022 21:51
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It seems to me that the implication is still (Chapter 6) that Noah and Mio's son and his descendants make up the House Vandham line, which would make them and/or N/M, depending on how you slice it, the progenitors. It really can't be that much of a coincidence.
Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Oct 20, 2022 |
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Oct 20, 2022 01:59
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drat, I did all of the City ascension quests in one go and (Chapter 7) Sena's quest was such a bummer. Shania is such an rear end in a top hat but I felt terrible for her throwing away her real talent trying to be something she's not to try and prove herself - there were a lot of great visual touches like her being an awful shot with the handgun and her mother cowering under the statue of their family house. Her weapon being her dead sister's gun adds another layer on top of all the Chapter 5/6 stuff. Becoming Moebius wasn't even what she wanted out of the deal in the first place. I do understand all the criticism about Sena now, though. That might as well have been Ghondor's plotline, major missed opportunity by the writers there imo. That said, I also wish hers had been different too, or had more explicitly to say about her and Monica's relationship, there's an unexplored dynamic about Monica becoming a mom at 15 (according to the affinity data entries) and, by the math suggested, becoming Elder at 19 that's implied by a couple characters but not spoken aloud. I wouldn't be surprised if the former was normal in the City, given how little fuss there is compared to the latter, but it does peel back another layer to life there. Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Nov 1, 2022 |
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Nov 1, 2022 16:52
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TurnipFritter posted:Sena feels like she's just kind of there as a hanger on for much of the game, but that's like, explicitly a character trait that other characters comment on and we even get flashbacks about. They could have gone harder into her connection/similarities to that other character though. Yeah, the last part is where I'm at. They had ample time to mine that connection further and kind of left things mostly unsaid when (Chapter 5) adding just a few lines in and around the prison with Sena mentioning how hellish the front lines of Agnus/Keves were for the rank and file (or her specifically), or making a passing reference to interest in art in the City, rather than just being kind of a doormat would have added a fantastic layer of depth. Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Nov 2, 2022 |
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Nov 2, 2022 00:58
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Imo Juniper's intro is definitely the lowest point of the game, writing wise. I think I've become largely immune to repeated conversation syndrome, though. Some games like Persona are way, way worse, to the point I've barely noticed it in this game. Also, the first game has Dunban repeat the same line like 50 times in the last few chapters. Narratively, there's something to be said about Noah trying to keep the party focused on their collective goal because their plot victories are hard fought and often costly, but I also think repeated conversations are deliberate to keep the player focused on the party's motive, assuming they are playing the game more episodically in 2-3 hour chunks, and also maybe just a quirk of JP scripts in general. Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Nov 2, 2022 |
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Nov 2, 2022 17:31
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I'm torn between whether that or Lanz in the Troubadour outfit is the funniest outfit in the game.
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Nov 10, 2022 02:05
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It really can never be understated how much of a disservice the EN voice direction does to XB2, it legitimately ruins a lot of the story's intended emotional high points. The game still could've been an amusing B-movie plot if they had leaned on the goofier parts a bit more, but that probably would have also done a disservice to the late-game plot reveals. Overall, it comes across as trying to be a more upbeat contrast to the heavier melancholy of both 1 and 3 but fumbling it in a bunch of different ways.
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Nov 11, 2022 21:26
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That also suggests 2 has a better OST than 1 and I absolutely can't agree with that.
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Nov 12, 2022 00:49
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Looking for some help in XB3: I know from exploring the Erythia Sea that there are 6 or 7 hidden accessories spread around the area that are supposed to belong to the Founders. I've found 4 and I'm fairly certain another is up on the raised temple in the sandbar but I cannot find a grappling hook or climbable wall to access it. I've been spoiled that there's some post-game quests, is that location locked to post-game? Vague hints are appreciated.
Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Nov 12, 2022 |
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Nov 12, 2022 19:25
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Finally rolled credits with 175 hours on the clock. I shouted when Melia and Nia joined the final battle, I howled with laughter at Nia's photograph, I teared up as they ran so hard to catch each other. Honest to God, that second part is one of the funniest things a video game ending has ever given me. Monolith Soft really went, "Oh, y'all talked all that poo poo about Rex and his harem ending, huh? Well, let's validate Nia and put her in there too, and then let's throw in a dash of *checks notes* breaking the Blade life cycle as we understand it, see how you like those spicy implications." There's some small things I would have changed about it or some detail I would have added, but I'm more than happy with the ride they took me on 
Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 02:34 on Nov 13, 2022 |
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Nov 13, 2022 02:00
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Look, we all know the awards are bullshit but I'm legit annoyed that Harry McEntire didn't get a nomination for Best Performance, he did such a spectacular job and deserved to be recognized for it on a big stage. Kitty Archer also deserved one because Eunie loving rules. Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Nov 15, 2022 |
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Nov 15, 2022 17:38
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Wrapping the last few quests up and having some time to reflect on things, some lingering thoughts (ending and postgame spoilers): I swore off listening to the OST until I had beaten the game, partially because I knew I'd get spoilers recommended to me if I did. Speaking as someone who listens to a lot of game music to help focus on work, after listening on quality headphones this is probably a top 5 OST of all time for me. The level of detail in a lot of the tracks (A Formidable Enemy  ), the leitmotifs and how they're used, all of them really give the game an extra dimension. I don't like the final boss theme nearly as much as 1 or 2, but the bars they set are so, so high to clear that I give it a pass. Have to say, though, they really hosed up by not calling the Unique Monster theme You Will Never Forget Our Names. I mentioned laughing at one part of the ending, but that's in part because I guessed as soon as they stood in the same frame in Chapter 6/7 that Mio is related to Nia - Mio very clearly has Nia's facial structure along with hair color/style, and I suspect the whole reason the writers played the Queens-are-fake card, masked them, and then kept Nia's further hidden earlier in Chapter 6 is otherwise the player has way more opportunities to notice. There also doesn't seem to be any other way to explain how M meets with Nia. Even with M's subterfuge against Moebius like introducing the Homecoming/off-seeing ritual and giving the Cloudkeep key to Ghondor, if Nia put herself to sleep to escape Z, and other Moebius could track M's whereabouts, there's only one reason to take such a huge risk. The ending just makes it super clear that Mio inherited Rex's eyes. It makes Nia trying to keep up her proper front so as not to embarrass herself in front of her (grand?) daughter and her friends very cute. Back to the OST, Kaleidoscopic Core might be a top 5 track in the entire game for me. I'm totally a sucker for triumphant reworkings of sad/emotional themes, and recontextualizing Drifting Soul to show the fulfillment of Nia's character arc in light of the ending turned the photograph from funny to actually pretty moving, doubly so thinking of the song as her finding renewed strength in journeying with Mio. A couple of things I still don't understand: 1. Despite the endings of both 1 and 2 happening simultaneously, I always got the impression that less time had passed since 2's ending prior to the worlds colliding than 1, I think in part because otherwise the Mio/Nia connection is more tenuous if the same amount of time as passed. 2. How is it that Eunie is the only High Entia whose wings don't match her hair color, and how does no one point this out? Even Melia's match her hair color. 3. It took me forever to realize Lucky Seven is a replica Monado even with the kanji staring me in the face, and I get the implications re: Riku and Melia, but it begs the question - how did N get his? 4. This one may just be rhetorical depending on the DLC, but it is incredibly weird to have Noah vanish in the post-credits sequence. The more I think about it, the more it's kind of a sucker-punch that he vanishes from the newly-reformed world and leaves Lanz, Eunie, and Joran behind. 5. Speaking of sucker punches, Monolith Soft are real assholes for playing Shulk and Fiora and then doing the flashback with their voices in Melia's ascension quest. I'll also echo some others in saying I hope that the DLC story is an epilogue set in the reborn world(s) because it would align with the "Future, Past, Present" themes of the three games. I have no idea how they'd do it, though, in light of point 4 above. I had been excited to explore a story about the Founders, but honestly now I want a journey of young Mio, Taion, and Sena finding a way back to meet their other halves - "and thus, girl met boy" basically writes itself for an ending. And ultimately, I realized that N succeeds in "rewinding" their clocks, back to the start, which is kind of wild to think about. Love this game. Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Nov 22, 2022 |
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Nov 22, 2022 04:48
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stuker posted:I finished the game not too long ago, and might just be ignorant of some of the lore/plot I didn't recognize, but the impression I got from the ending was not a "newly-reformed" world but rather that everyone went back to where they were in the game's intro. It would be really weird to not address ending stuff, but I'd also be really surprised if we see any of the post-XB3 universe during the DLC. I don't think this is right because the key difference is that the other world isn't looming anymore in the ending cutscene like it is in the opening. I can see the argument, but I don't think it's supported by the evidence we have. If the worlds were to imminently collide again there would be some other indication like a fade to white, or they would all vanish. I do wonder if by following the flute in hopes he can reunite with Mio, Noah is choosing to do N's path the right way. TV, while I agree while many questions linger without being fully answered, at least one is: Noah and Mio are explicitly stated by N and M in the ending to be manifestations of their respective regrets. I think the more interesting question that doesn't get answered is whether Noah and Mio were born in pods like the rest or just appeared, and either way, how they integrated into their respective armies. IIRC, the person being birthed in the pod in Chapter 1 is not Noah, maybe Eunie? I think it's also easy to interpret the fog/annihilation as a byproduct of M's attempts to erode Moebius' power and thus the world's structure, maybe even the lingering energy of those who successfully reach Homecoming and no longer are part of the cycle. Future Connected, though? Yeah, I've got no clue about that.
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Nov 22, 2022 18:32
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Honestly, it's such a hard call for best party member, but Eunie is so quotable and has such good interactions with the world around her that I thought about it, rated her #1, bish bash bosh. Everyone else is a very, very close second, though. Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Dec 7, 2022 |
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Dec 7, 2022 06:06
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So I guess the story DLC is neither thing that people were expecting except for what I presume is Alvis as Consul A? I think this is going to be pretty disappointing unless they really knock it out of the park.
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Feb 8, 2023 23:47
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SyntheticPolygon posted:Wasn't this the other big prediction people had if not an epilogue thing? I guess I expected there to be more people involved if they're doing the Founders story. And if so I'm still disappointed.
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Feb 8, 2023 23:51
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turn off the TV posted:The basic gist was that Vandham goes on an adventure to gather a party and take back the city, so this is probably whatever happens at the beginning. Since people have speculated that both Consul A may represent Aionios itself and Alvis is Ontos it wouldn't surprise me if what they showed is (speculation) Alvis/Ontos pulling party members from 1 and 2 into Aionios in the first place. I just...really wanted to see Mio drag her siblings on an adventure to find Noah 
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Feb 9, 2023 00:14
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It's pretty heavily implied that (endgame) Melia is basically the masterpon of Nopon that eventually led to Riku, if not directly Riku's masterpon, and that Lucky Seven is a Monado replica. It's not quite as unsubtle as what's implied on the Agnus side but the kanji appearing during Unlimited Sword is very much in line with Monado arts.
Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Feb 10, 2023 |
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Feb 10, 2023 17:35
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I have faith that Monolith understands the assignment completely, I'll be disappointed if we don't get answers or at minimum extremely heavy hints to all the lingering questions from the main story.
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Mar 27, 2023 22:59
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Given how much I love the music work put into these games, I might have to get the box set of the trilogy. RIP wallet. e: Oh my god the 3 limited edition has replica flutes but the trilogy set doesn't. This is how people get decision paralysis. Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Apr 4, 2023 |
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Apr 4, 2023 17:08
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Oh god, I'm not ready, I thought I had at least a couple more months to prepare myself for this! Excuse me while I go scream internally about this for the next week. Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 07:06 on Apr 19, 2023 |
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Apr 19, 2023 06:58
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TurnipFritter posted:probably not that awkward given that their kid appears to be one of the party members Wouldn't they be Rex's kid with Mythra? The redhead is almost definitely his and Pyra's daughter, I'd imagine, which is also a bit weird because she also wields a lance. Iirc it was a pretty common fan theory that Cammuravi was their kid. Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 16:28 on Apr 19, 2023 |
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Apr 19, 2023 16:19
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turn off the TV posted:he's from keves Ahh, gotcha. I was so shocked at the beginning of that trailer that everything else was kind of a blur after.
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Apr 19, 2023 16:46
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I just started the DLC, getting to it a bit late, but some bits from Chapters 1 and early Chapter 2 that stuck out: I cracked up at realizing N and M named their son Ghondor, in hindsight that would obviously be his name but what a payoff for that bit in the main story. But after Matthew's flashback, now I'm really not going to be able to replay the beginning of Chapter 6. I wonder if M knew he killed their son
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May 3, 2023 16:59
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If you're calling Noah a boring protagonist then tbh I think it might just be a matter of not picking up what the game is putting down.
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May 3, 2023 20:12
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ImpAtom posted:It is really genuinely amazing how absurdly loving dark it is. N killing his own son to desperately cling to M after their sad farewell is brutal. Dude really is maximum Grahf. Yeah I'm actually a bit surprised they didn't explictly show that in the main story because although it would destroy pretty much all credibility about N's redemption, it lends so much more weight to M's subterfuge after because it's so personal for her. It also goes to show how much of a shitlord Z is because there's absolutely no doubt the timing was deliberate on his part so neither N nor his son would recognize the other. Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 23:49 on May 3, 2023 |
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May 3, 2023 23:44
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God, climbing out of the camp after seeing the really wonderful scene where Nikol and Shulk talk about mechanics and repairs, charging headlong into battle only to hear Time to Fight and then Colony 9 kicking up right after totally blew me away. If Shulk and Fiora had played during that camp scene I think I'd have been a blubbering mess that whole sequence. e: the one criticism I think I can level so far is that the main game let things breathe, maybe sometimes to a fault, and let the characters contemplate the totality of their situation, whereas until the camp scene it felt like constant frenetic motion from one point to another, and even the use of The Weight of Life kind of felt shoehorned in at the end of that Moebius fight. I get that some of it's part and parcel of the player already knowing part of the score but some things are just different enough to raise questions. Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 21:30 on May 4, 2023 |
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May 4, 2023 21:15
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Finished the DLC at 30 hours with just post-game superboss cleanup left. Random thoughts: - The biggest burning question that never got answered or even hinted at is about Glimmer: is she Pyra's, or...I guess both Pyra's and Mythra's combined like Pneuma? Not having this answered is actually kind of hosed up because if she's just Pyra's daughter, that means one of Rex's kids maybe never exists in Aionios at all! - Did it show Pneuma's core crystal in Matthew's gauntlet when he punched N's sword to activate the Mega Uroboros? If it came from Ghondor, who gave it to him? Because that also means it eventually gets made into the sheath that Noah uses. - It was nice to get confirmation that Melia is Riku's masterpon, but that was obvious once I realized Lucky Seven is a replica Monado. But also, you can't just say souls are forged in it and not elaborate. - God drat I hate the parent not confessing who they are to their child even after death trope so much. At least they tried to handwave it away here, but ffs those were some of the oldest death flags in the book during the Affinity Scenes where they vaguely reference Fiora and Glimmer's mother. - It struck me as weird that Linka toes the line of declaring she's Zeke and Pandoria's daughter and seems to retain her memories but is somehow distinct from Shulk and Rex, and not bound to Agnus or Keves like Nikol and Glimmer. Not only that, she gets the wink and nudge treatment, but Panacea gets absolutely nothing even though she appears to be the midway point between Reyn and Sharla. What the hell? - I really like Matthew as a protagonist and loved his VA, but I'm bummed he just fucks off at the end and leaves Na'el when the City isn't even rebuilt yet. Still, he got to kick N's rear end, that counts for something. - My entire kingdom for a crumb of Rex and M interacting like Nia and M did, what an absolute waste of gilded potential. Overall, the ending to the base game gave me expectations for the plot and ending to FR that I should have known it couldn't reach. Everything else was great, maybe even a step beyond. But frankly, I'm more than a little disappointed. In a sense, it's closure to know the worlds did separate again, and will end up reunited again. But the series deserved a companion piece to the main game's post-credits scene: family men Shulk and Rex being dads, young Mio finding a diary during a break in music lessons with her sister(s), Melia and Nia talking again, etc. We'll most likely never see any of that, at least not in canon materials, and that's such a shame. tl;dr: DLC played great, but we deserved a bit more out of the ending than what we got imo.
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May 15, 2023 13:49
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Oh no, I remember quite well, and the context clues do point toward one answer. I guess that point is more taking exception to two out of the three having gigantic roles in Aionios and the other not even getting a cameo. e: and to be clear, in terms of showing family life, I'm not saying it should have been a fully playable sequence or even longer than a minute. More like parallel scenes to the illusory breakfast scene in 2 and/or the opening scene in Colony 9 in 1, to really give their older selves a stronger send-off. Manoueverable fucked around with this message at 15:18 on May 15, 2023 |
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May 15, 2023 15:06
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