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The Dark Id posted:
This game contributed at least a little bit to me eventually becoming a molecular biologist. The science in the game is more ..enthusiastic than accurate, but it's a lot of fun all the same. Very excited to see a TDI Let's Play of this one - I just replayed it myself last year, starting on Christmas Eve.
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Feb 2, 2022 17:10
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Since this game was never released in the EU it'll be good to see a full Dark Id LP of it. I do have to say that I wish more RPG's were set in modern times, since I'm getting mighty tired of ye olde standard medieval fantasy settings.
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Feb 2, 2022 23:06
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Sylphosaurus posted:Since this game was never released in the EU it'll be good to see a full Dark Id LP of it. I do have to say that I wish more RPG's were set in modern times, since I'm getting mighty tired of ye olde standard medieval fantasy settings. Wait, you haven't ever played this? Oh boy, get ready for a wild ride, my friend. I remember this being my second RPG ever after finishing FFVII and Christ, what a headtrip.
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Feb 2, 2022 23:20
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Kid-me's memories of this game don't include Aya running really slowly. Did Ashely Riot also mosey? Vagrant Story and Parasite Eve go together in my head since they're the two mostly standalone Squaresoft real-time-with-pause-and-wireframe PS1 RPGs
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Feb 3, 2022 00:04
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My early knowledge of cellular biology was this game and "A Wind in the Door" by Madeline D'engle.
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Feb 3, 2022 04:20
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Foxfire_ posted:Kid-me's memories of this game don't include Aya running really slowly. Did Ashely Riot also mosey? Vagrant Story and Parasite Eve go together in my head since they're the two mostly standalone Squaresoft real-time-with-pause-and-wireframe PS1 RPGs Id is correct; she does move pretty slowly. I haven't played Vagrant Story since it came out, but I think Ashley Riot moves more quickly. It also feels different, since Ashley is a polygonal character in polygonal rooms that are generally pretty small. But Aya is a polygonal character moving in pre-rendered backgrounds that can be quite large in later areas, so it takes minutes to move across one screen.
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Feb 3, 2022 16:29
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Vagrant Story had its own brand of awkwardness but I recall Ashley moving at a decent clip. The PE amount being wherever it left off in combat after spending it is what got me effectively softlocked in an area later in the game as a kid. It thankfully didn't take too many years to bounce back from that 
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Feb 4, 2022 06:53
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Junpei posted:Honestly? More RPGs should be short and compact like Parasite Eve is. I enjoy a good 60+ trip, but sometimes, less is more. https://twitter.com/harddrivemag/status/1058750652518608897
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Feb 4, 2022 10:50
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Episode III: Arise Within You.jpg) We return to Officer Aya Brea on undoubtedly one of the world's worst blind dates on record. She is forgoing back-up to pursue the psychokinetic opera singer who fled backstage. By the way, fun fact: There are three auditoriums in Carnegie Hall. The Stern Auditorium is the largest of the three and is the one we were present in which seemed to be fully packed for this Christmas Eve opera performance. The seating capacity of Stern Auditorium is 2804 seats. With only one survivor and one man sent to the Shadow Realm as the only survivors. Since it's Christmas Eve, we'll just assume that was the only of the three spaces in use. Let's also assume an orchestra, all the actors for the opera, stagehands and janitorial staff and all got immolated. There is a pretty subdued NYPD response considering it's basically the death toll of 9/11 at the end of the day. Anyway, the only cop on the scene is going to jump down a fifteen-foot hall melted through the floor by a psychic opera singer kinetic blast. What's the worst that could go wrong? .jpg) We have a report from our staff on the scene that an NYPD Officer, Aya Brea, is currently being rushed to the Mount Sinai West hospital after sustaining a broken leg and a severe concussion sustained during the disaster at Carnegie Hall late December 24th. She is not available for comment at this time. We'll be covering this developing story as more information is available. .jpg) Seriously how did Aya jump down that hole onto a hard-rear end wooden floor in those heels and not shatter both of her ankles and eat poo poo on impact? .jpg) Beyond that questionable physics display, there is another small concerning matter at hand in the form of a small child seemingly dressed in a hospital patient gown creepily staring down Aya as she lands. One that looks an awful lot like a child Aya and the girl in that brief flashback at the conclusion of the psychic actress fight. .jpg)  Hehehe!.jpg) The little girl runs off and vanishes into thin air chuckling to herself. Aya just tilts her head and is kind of "Huh..." before moving on. I suppose when you see a few thousand people spontaneously combust and nearly got blasted by an energy beam by a flying opera singer... a ghost child is low on the unusual spectrum. .jpg) Aya can continue her investigation down the corridor. We have four doors on each side and one at the far end. The first three on this screen? All locked.  Advancing to the next screen mid-way down the hallway, Officer Brea is interrupted by a tiny squeak from behind her prompting her to immediately pull out her gun prepared to start blasting. .jpg) Ugh. A rat. The custodial staff is really letting this place go lately. Granted, the entire shift is now likely deep-fried. So, I suppose they're off the hook. The morning staff after the holiday weekend is going to have their work cut out for them. Let me tell you! .jpg) This rat seems to have gotten itself into something it ought not to have. Some degenerate stagehand smuggled in some Chicago-style pizza or something and left it out to the cruelty to mammals everywhere. Who is to say? The rat stands up on its hind legs, clutches its stomach, and transfers from squeaks to unnatural roars. .jpg) .jpg) And if we crank the zoom and enhance of a police procedural show dial up to 11 to enhance to the molecular level we can see a cell rapidly mutating and sticking tendrils into nearby cells, darkening their hue in the process as it makes screeching... cell noises. Now, I am no expert on biology. But I have played every Resident Evil game and watched a remarkable amount of edgy '80s and '90s bio-mutant oriented anime to have a fairly educated guess into this mutation cellular poo poo being, as say in scientific terms: "A loving bad scene!"  NEW Music: Theme of Mitochondria (It's the theme of the powerhouse of the cell.) .jpg) .jpg) Our furry little friend here rapidly grows his teeth out to frankly unreasonable lengths. It's going to be so difficult to nibble on trash scraps. And if it gets into French fries or any sort of bread-oriented food it is going to be picking poo poo out between those chompers all day. Poor little guy .jpg) .jpg) But don't worry. Life, uhh... finds a way. Like, having the rat just grow its entire jaw out of its mouth. .jpg) And now since that has thrown off its balance, maybe just have its lower eyelid drop out for stability in the head region. Evolution is a remarkable thing. .jpg) And while we're at it... let's grow out that torso and get rid of some that hair and flesh. Maybe get rid of a few toes. We don't need it on the feet region. They're not even using it. We can replace that with more claws, y'know. Anything excess we'll just convert to bio-goop. By the way, I hope you enjoy bio-goop. There is an extremely goopy adventure we're going to embark on! .jpg) And to top it all off... what if we just improved that tail? Just one tip on it? Rubbish! Why not three tips? That's just an improvement! The numbers don't lie! .jpg) And here we have Rat 2! The sequel to rat! You may not like it, but this is what peak rodent performance looks like. .jpg) Here's our first common enemy of the game: Rat. What? Did you expect it to be called like a Burmecian or something because it's a JRPG? Aya Brea is a 25-year-old cop not playing D&D. She'd be asked to comment on what this thing is and go "I dunno, a really hosed up rat!" So it's just a Rat. Very few enemies in this game have fancy names, honestly. We're going to be seeing a lot of bio-mutant versions of common animals. But at least, for the most part, they're all horrific The Thing-esque twisted bioforms and not like a Resident Evil 0 where it is "we took a thing but it's big now!" .jpg) The Rat has a grand total of 12 HP and if the first shot from Aya doesn't kill it the second one certainly will. Or she can just run-up to its face possibly get a critical shot and do it in one bullet. That newly formed tri-tipped tail is capable of launching a trio of fireballs we must dodge. It can also bite Aya if she's close to it when its unseen AT meter fills. Enemies do work on the same pattern as Aya with having to fill an AT meter and they can still move while Aya is attacking. .jpg) We just shoot the thing. The biggest challenge of this first fight is that it's at an awkward cinematic angle. Most of the time the game is better about this and is somewhat overhead for general fights, especially bosses. But, got to be cinematic for the first grotesque enemy. Music: ENDS .jpg) .jpg) We get a tiny amount of experience points and discover that the rat's stomachache was not due to a supernatural bio-mutation. But it had eaten an entire pistol magazine. That's America, baby! .jpg) The holidays, am I right? Music: Gloom and Doom .jpg) Further down the hallway, past our rat encounter, the backstage staff was much less fastidious about locking their private rooms. So Aya is now free to snoop around in pursuit of the sorceress flesh crafter or whatever the hell is going on. .jpg) In the first back room on the left Aya comes upon a dressing room with the twisted charred corpses of a couple of unfortunate souls. Or dead hollows from Dark Souls 1. It is difficult to say. We don't have enough information on this setting at the moment. .jpg) Aya finds no interest in aiding these victims of this paranormal massacre and instead immediately starts rifling through lockers for valuables. She is a cop at the end of the day. .jpg) There is actually, absolutely nothing to steal in this room. But one of the charred bodies takes issue when Officer Brea starts raiding their locker. Aya opens the last locker to fruitlessly look for valuables and then attends to the burn victim. .jpg)  M… Melissa… she's a… monster… Don't try to talk now. Melissa...? Melissa...? You mean the main actress! Her performance was mid but, she wasn't that bad... She probably got to Suzanne… too. You'll have to stop… her… She is... dragging down... the whole production... as a sub... We should have... waited to recast... Ugh... No…! Please! Wake up! Hang in there…! …... BARF!.jpg) Well, nothing more to be done there. Let's try the room across the hall instead. Aya enters the room and immediately pulls on the first person she sees. .jpg) <lowers gun> Don't scare me! I'm with the NYPD….png) <wipes forehead. You're the one that scared ME, lady! I was just getting ready. Sorry. Things are bad. But... Wait, how do we get to a prince sacrificing himself for his love to a clown being involved...? <sighs> You don't understand the flow of high theater. ...Clearly... …You know, only STAFF are allowed in here… <motions outside> There was an incident here. You'll have to evacuate. WHAT?! You're KIDDING, right?! Did you not hear the hundreds of people screaming on fire the last twenty minutes? Or rat turning into some Cronenberg mess throwing fireballs that I opened fire in the hall a few minutes ago?! Ugh! Rats! Really?! Again?! Hey, I'm not dying here tonight! SEE YA…! Arghhhhhhh!!!!.jpg) The clown barges out of the room. Aya makes zero effort to stop him and just stares into the middle distance as he dashes past him. Roughly five seconds later we hear a scream of agony outside in the hall. .jpg) A responsible cop would rush out to help. But a responsible cop is a fairy tale, so Aya just loots lockers and steals some more ammunition. It's not like anyone here is going to need or claim it. .jpg) When we do return outside the screen turns desaturated and we hear a loud heartbeat. This is indicating we have entered a random battle. Though they are not really random battles in Parasite Eve. There are very defined set trigger points on the map that if Aya runs over them will throw her into a battle. The enemy spawns are a little randomized but I think it's actually based on the direction we hit the trigger point from. We'll never just suddenly hit a battle in all those side rooms we were in previously. NEW Music: Arise Within You (We're going to be hearing this one a whole lot.) .jpg) Here we just fight TWO Rats this time. And it's much easier to negotiate attacks being in a top-down perspective this time around. It's just two of the same enemy we fought before. It's nothing to it. In general, there are usually no more than 2-3 different enemies per hostile area. And we'll be recycling a bunch with palette swaps. As was the style of all time to this very day. .jpg) .jpg) We gain our first Level Up from this encounter. Aya gets a small boost to all her stats and a little more inventory capacity. Also, Bonus Points is a mechanic we'll tackle later. Music: Gloom and Doom .jpg) In any event, that clown is loving roasted. I'm uncertain why that one dressing room was immune to Melissa's pyromancy AOE but I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. .jpg) .jpg) The door at the end of the hallway is locked but the one directly to the left of it will open. It's a little bit of a mess in here. Look at the dire stacking of those baskets. I'd expect more from the prestigious Carnegie Hall. Also, the fried corpse slumped over the desk. .jpg) If Aya investigates the desk, the corpse will fall over and spook the poo poo out of her. Or she can just investigate the corpse beforehand and she just shoves that stiff to the floor with zero comments. .jpg) .jpg) In either case, Aya is compelled to pat down the fried cadaver and loot a key off its roasted pockets to the other sealed doors in the theater. As you do in the line of duty. .jpg) Aya can also rummage through the dressing wardrobe of the theater production to unleash a parrot that seems to be having a poor time but hasn't burst into flames or transformed into a horror. She also steals a bottle of Tylenol. Again, it's an emergency situation, and looting private property is well within the rights of law enforcement. I'm sure that's some unspoken rule. .jpg) To top things off we find a telephone of which Aya Brea decides she should probably call her superiors in the force. And also saves the game to the memory card. Hey, can I connect to the chief? Gosh, is he even in on Christmas Eve? He is...? Good, I'll hold... ...... ...Hey, Chief. So, I was on a date at Carnegie Hall and umm... Yeah, the date didn't go well... Guy was a tool... But more importantly, the entire audience and all the actors burst into flames. I think the lead actress is behind it as she was unaffected. Also when I confronted her she started shooting lasers blast at me from the palm of her hands. Anyway, I'm investigating the lower levels pursuing the suspect. Be warned, the sanitation down here is heinous and rats are mutating into the size of large dogs and throwing fireballs. ...... ...Yes balls of fire. From their tails. ...... ...That flapping sound? I accidentally let a parrot out of its cage backstage. I'm not good with birds so I don't know what to do with that. I don't think it's a priority. ...... Yeah, so just letting you know to maybe send some more back-up. There are only two beat guys and a paramedic out front. One of them handed me an excessive amount of spare ammunition and just started staring off. You should maybe look into that... ...... Anyway, I'll get back to you later. Bye!   Rat Concept Art - Evolution is a messy process.   Video: Episode 3 Highlight Reel (You should watch this unless you're fond of rats.) The Dark Id fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Feb 5, 2022 |
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Feb 5, 2022 00:34
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So this is basically Resident Evil: The JRPG?
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Feb 5, 2022 00:41
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anilEhilated posted:So this is basically Resident Evil: The JRPG? More or less. The sequel is a straight up Resident Evil clone with a magic system bolted on. And a bunch of irl guns modeled and implemented in pornographic detail. dis astranagant fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Feb 5, 2022 |
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Feb 5, 2022 01:00
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The Dark Id posted:We're in the largest of the three, the Stern Auditorium, is the one we were present in which seemed to be fully packed for this Christmas Eve opera performance. Probably doesn't need the "We're in". quote:We just shoot the thing. The biggest challenge of this first fight is that it's at an awkward cinematic angle. Most of the time the game is not good about this and is somewhat overhead for fights, especially bosses. But, got to be cinematic for the first grotesque enemy. Do you mean most of the game is good about this, since you mention that this fight is bad and the rest is different? quote:Aya can also rummage through the dressing wardrobe of the theater production to unleash a parrot that seems to be having a poor time but hasn't burst into flames or transformed into a horror. She also steals a bottle of Tylenol. Again, it's an emergency situation, and looting private property is well within the rights of law enforcement. I'm sure that's some unspoken rule. The parrot is not catching fire or mutating because hey look over there. Aya is remarkably unflappable. Everyone catches fire? Suddenly magic powers? Horrific rat monsters? Meh. She's seen worse this week.
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Feb 5, 2022 01:02
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The world has one less clown now. Good start.
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Feb 5, 2022 01:07
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The answer to everything in this game is Mitocondria, It's the nanomachines of the cell
TheGreatCatJames fucked around with this message at 01:14 on Feb 5, 2022 |
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Feb 5, 2022 01:11
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The Dark Id posted:
It's a top percentage Rat. 
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Feb 5, 2022 01:42
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That rat sequence is what made me utterly fascinated with the Parasite Eve series as a kid. I was already pretty familiar with cartoonish body horror (Dad *probably* shouldn't have been letting me watch Guyver when I was, like, 5 or 6) and their horrifucked transformation always reminds me of Malmot.
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Feb 5, 2022 01:57
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The Dark Id posted:
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Feb 5, 2022 02:58
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My brother bought this game way back when and I was watching him play it, just seeing what was going on with it. I was all of six or seven, and man, that rat transformation has stuck with me since this game came out. It's a fuckin' intense sequence if you've never seen anything like that before.
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Feb 5, 2022 04:22
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achtungnight posted:The world has one less clown now. Good start. It wasn't the Wilhelm Scream, but I'm pretty sure his death was accompanied by a stock scream of some sort. And yeah, the rat mutation cutscene was the other thing that convinced me not to play this game.
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Feb 5, 2022 04:30
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DeTosh posted:It wasn't the Wilhelm Scream, but I'm pretty sure his death was accompanied by a stock scream of some sort. Probably the Howie Scream.
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Feb 5, 2022 04:45
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DreadUnknown posted:Hey Dark Id, have you seen the movie based on the book this game is loosely based on? It's pretty bananas. IIRC this game is a sequel to the book.
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Feb 5, 2022 05:43
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Good lord that rat transformation was creepy as hell, especially for a game from 25 years ago.
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Feb 5, 2022 06:35
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The Dark Id posted:In the first back room on the left Aya comes upon a dressing room with the twisted charred corpses of a couple of unfortunate souls. Or dead hollows from Dark Souls 1. It is difficult to say. We don't have enough information on this setting at the moment. All the data you need is if you run into them and they start flailing around into a horrible flesh katamari they're dead hollows.
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Feb 5, 2022 16:03
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really queer Christmas posted:Good lord that rat transformation was creepy as hell, especially for a game from 25 years ago. Square in the late 90's had some incredible cgi work in general. Not just this game but Final Fantasy VIII, Chrono Cross, and even Vagrant Story's single FMV were absolutely mind blowing stuff that still holds up today.
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Feb 5, 2022 17:17
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Man that rat sequence is great. Even with the stock sound effects all the designers of that fmv were on their A game. And that's just the standard mob enemy! I think the parrot was more parroting what the jerky was saying as they caught fire. Maybe, it could go either way. Those costume racks are always stuffy.
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Feb 5, 2022 22:09
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I like to think that the one room in particular that the clown was in was a Melissa free zone, and Aya convincing him to leave did the world a favour by ridding it of another clown.
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Feb 5, 2022 23:10
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I vividly remember being at an EB Games or Software ETC or one of those places when I was 10 and seeing the opera fire and the rat scene at one of the little kiosks. Excited to see more than the first few minutes of a game that’s been stuck in my head so long.
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Feb 5, 2022 23:19
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Robert Denby posted:I vividly remember being at an EB Games or Software ETC or one of those places when I was 10 and seeing the opera fire and the rat scene at one of the little kiosks. Excited to see more than the first few minutes of a game that’s been stuck in my head so long. God, that EB display stuck in my head too. I don't remember it in detail but still recall flashes of Melissa and the game camera sweeping up (I think) along the outside of a skyscraper.
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Feb 6, 2022 00:58
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god i love this game's soundtrack so sedately menacing
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Feb 6, 2022 04:39
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Awww yiss Parasite Eve.
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Feb 6, 2022 05:03
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I really enjoyed that this game was set in NYC, a place I've been to quite a bit. I haven't played it since it came out, so I'm looking forward to seeing all the things I've forgotten!
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Feb 6, 2022 06:28
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There's a 50/50 chance that we end up fighting that parrot at some point I'm guessing. Probably as a boss, too, unless there's an explanation as to why a parrot aviary exploded and scattered parrots all over the place and that's why we keep seeing them as regular enemies.
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Feb 6, 2022 23:27
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Pigeons would make more sense in Manhattan. Or do we fight those too? It’s been a while since I played this game.
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Feb 7, 2022 00:02
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Yeah. Pigeons, rats, bankers, stray cats/dogs... all of those I can see becoming regular random encounter enemies at some point since NYC is infested with them. Parrots though? Nah, it's gotta be a one time thing unless it's the one living thing that doesn't catch fire or transform into a big monster that we've seen so far. Ada excluded obviously.
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Feb 7, 2022 01:25
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There's a big population of wild parrots living in Brooklyn, so it's not completely out of left field.
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Feb 7, 2022 01:27
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A pity this game was made before it was realized that coyotes were regularly sneaking about the outer boroughs and occasionally onto Manhattan island itself.
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Feb 7, 2022 01:42
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Deep Dish Fuckfest posted:There's a 50/50 chance that we end up fighting that parrot at some point I'm guessing. Probably as a boss, too, unless there's an explanation as to why a parrot aviary exploded and scattered parrots all over the place and that's why we keep seeing them as regular enemies. achtungnight posted:Pigeons would make more sense in Manhattan. Or do we fight those too? It’s been a while since I played this game. Do you guys want cliff racers? Because I'm pretty sure that's how you get cliff racers.
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Feb 7, 2022 01:43
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ultrafilter posted:There's a big population of wild parrots living in Brooklyn, so it's not completely out of left field. What the gently caress.
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Feb 7, 2022 03:12
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There have been quite a few cases of parrots escaping captivity and establishing themselves in an urban habitat.
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Feb 7, 2022 03:20
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really queer Christmas posted:Good lord that rat transformation was creepy as hell, especially for a game from 25 years ago. Hell yeah it was, it ruled like crazy
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Feb 7, 2022 11:24
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