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Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 11: The Magnus Town of Sedna :siren:

Hey kids, wanna do a couple side quests? Like, a lot of them. Game-spanning ones. You know the kind.

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Herr Tog
Jun 18, 2011

Grimey Drawer
this is a wild series and a wild LP

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 12: Greater Mintaka :siren:

Avert your eyes, boys and girls. Dare I say it, the game is about to get ~ political ~.

Kibayasu
Mar 28, 2010

Previous video but building video game towns via quests is extremely my poo poo and I'm here for it.

Artix posted:

:siren: Part 12: Greater Mintaka :siren:

Avert your eyes, boys and girls. Dare I say it, the game is about to get ~ political ~.

To avert intercontinental war I want you to unite the continents in war against the empire. Okay I'm sure he meant more behind the scenes machinations but what else could possible happen.

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 13: The Nihal Desert :siren:

I can only hope that something was lost in translation here, because Milly, who spent several minutes at the end of the last video insisting that it was a great idea that we cross the desert and go to Azha, immediately asks why the gently caress we're doing this at the start of this one.

Polsy
Mar 23, 2007

Artix posted:

I can only hope that something was lost in translation here, because Milly, who spent several minutes at the end of the last video insisting that it was a great idea that we cross the desert and go to Azha, immediately asks why the gently caress we're doing this at the start of this one.

Not a translation thing (though, Japanese Milly doesn't say 'walk...for a while' in that vaguely negative way), but rather some poorly-considered reused dialogue. If you happen to go into the desert ahead of this event, you will have the exact same initial conversation but Sagi will not go on to say 'but we have to get to Azha'. The next time you go into the desert nobody will say anything.

Pretty questionable choice when you just wanted to go for a walk to take your mind off things either way though, yes.

C-Euro
Mar 20, 2010

:science:
Soiled Meat

Artix posted:

:siren: Part 12: Greater Mintaka :siren:

Avert your eyes, boys and girls. Dare I say it, the game is about to get ~ political ~.

I'm perpetually an episode behind on this LP, but one of the charming things about this series is how weird some of the NPC interactions are. Every town has at least one person in a hosed-up marriage, or with some particular neurosis, and it gives the game a lot of optional color and personality IMO. Like how the heck does the guy who pirouettes all day not throw up red flags when you're thinking about marriage?

Kibayasu
Mar 28, 2010

Maybe the empire could rustle up the fundamental essence of flying around the incredibly dangerous desert on the back of giant creatures you can control with giant hunks of meat.

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 14: Azha, the Mining Village :siren:

Having crossed the desert, it's time for us to do some of that "thinking" thing, but not before the game gives us a healthy dose of colonialism.

SIGSEGV
Nov 4, 2010


For the record, a mouche as a noun is, in fact, a fly, as a verb, se moucher is to blow one's nose. I cannot imagine eau de mouche being appealing in any way.

With every episode, Sagi's stupidity and complete inability to function gets more and more evident and worrying.

LeastActionHero
Oct 23, 2008
I'm enjoying how Milly seems so enthusiastic for violence. Based on her writing I can entirely believe she kills time by going to the desert to bash some monster's skulls in.

In contrast, I still have no idea what Sagi was doing that lead him to becoming an intern in the fantasy assassins. Did they just grab the first gullible-looking hick they saw come off the whale-boat? Also they have no questions about your personal kill-bot that follows you around everywhere.

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 15: Our First Job :siren:

I regret to inform you that Sagi is now a cop.

Kibayasu
Mar 28, 2010

I have to say magnus also being audio logs does change everything (but also won't).

I feel like all we're doing right now is establishing layers to Sagi's naivety. First we had "What do you mean the evil empire's secret police is being evil?!" Then we had "What do you mean the evil empire tracked me down to my home?!" And now we are in the middle of "What do you mean working for the evil empire isn't actually going to result in justice?!"

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 16: The Case of the Mourning Mistral :siren:

Detective Sagi has examined all the evidence and made his final accusation. Did he get his man?

Pungry
Feb 26, 2011

JUST PICK ONE. ANY ONE.
I can't believe the Mourning Mistral was the one NPC with a character portrait all along.

Kibayasu
Mar 28, 2010

Pungry posted:

I can't believe the Mourning Mistral was the one NPC with a character portrait all along.

And I, much like our protagonists, can't believe the evil empire was willing to attack unarmed civilians just because they were protecting a (in their view) terrorist!

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 17: The Lava Caves :siren:

While we will regrettably not be pushing Geldoblame off a ledge this time, we do get set on fire a whole lot and that's sort of the same thing, right?

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 18: The Lord of the Lava Caves :siren:

I can't believe Milly was given a chance to learn how to kill a legendary lava fish and didn't jump right on that opportunity. smh girl

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 19: To Clear One's Name :siren:

We bring our time in Alfard to a close by reporting our great success back to home base, and even get our name cleared for that pesky assassination charge. Please pay no attention to the fact that we were about 15 seconds away from actually killing him ourselves.

Kibayasu
Mar 28, 2010

Artix posted:

:siren: Part 17: The Lava Caves :siren:

While we will regrettably not be pushing Geldoblame off a ledge this time, we do get set on fire a whole lot and that's sort of the same thing, right?

I didn't quite catch how using armor cards work but it feels like you might have to use them for Boss Bein? Even what looks like a standard combo did 2/3's of anyone's health. Anyways preach it Bein, your sacrifice for another tiny chip in Sagi's moron protagonist armor will not be forgotten ("What do you mean the evil empire wants me to kill someone who just wanted to protect his community after being pushed too far?")


Just going from the empty fields I wasn't too sold on the aesthetic of the town but after the seeing the interior of that house and its inhabitants and their terrible puns I'm more on board than ever.

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!

Kibayasu posted:

I didn't quite catch how using armor cards work but it feels like you might have to use them for Boss Bein? Even what looks like a standard combo did 2/3's of anyone's health. Anyways preach it Bein, your sacrifice for another tiny chip in Sagi's moron protagonist armor will not be forgotten ("What do you mean the evil empire wants me to kill someone who just wanted to protect his community after being pushed too far?")

Light armor like shields and hats last for a single round of combat, heavy armor has a set durability like weapons do. Because of this I almost always roll with light armor because while there definitely are situations where you want to turtle up, the vast majority of the time you want to be on the offense and spending multiple turns without a weapon is not ideal.

E: Light armor also tends to be single elemental so it's easier to hotswap out for whatever the relevant enemy type of the area is.

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 19B: The Coliseum :siren:

Before we move on to Diadem, let's take a moment to appreciate some good old-fashioned violence. And this game's requisite combat theme remix. And the absurd list of combos in the game if you're really, really inspired to dig deep.

Artix fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Feb 10, 2023

Weeble
Feb 26, 2016
So I looked at the list of combos...

Does Sagi's "The Apotheosis" do enough extra damage to be worth the hassle of trying to pull it off?

That's the Weak-Medium-Strong-4 specific finishers combo you mentioned.

Shiny777
Oct 29, 2011

YAMI WO KIRISAKU
OH DESIRE


With a good weapon, The Apotheosis rips giant chunks out of bosses and deletes pretty much anything else if you somehow set it up outside a boss fight. It and Frigid Queen's Festival (the other 3 card + 4 finisher combo) are both very much worth the effort.

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 20: Sheliak, the Castle Town :siren:

We're off to Diadem as we attempt to put together a more successful mission, but before we search for the wayward king, it can't hurt to listen to a little girl's request, right?

Zyxyz
Mar 30, 2010
Buglord
The mailbox system occasionally giving you just straight-up spam mail in between all the sidequest triggers and character fluff is a top-tier worldbuilding+comedy bit, ngl

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 21: The Cloud Passage :siren:

Diadem is so considerate, combining two shorter lovely dungeon into one, very long extra lovely dungeon. How could you pass up a pacing opportunity like this?

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
Having a bit of a rough week with Christmas right around the corner, I will do my best to have a video ready for Friday.

Kibayasu
Mar 28, 2010

Am I going to regret thinking "Well at least it looks like you only had to do the cloud puzzle once"?

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 22: Nashira, the Fishing Village :siren:

We've caught up to King Ladekahn and Gibari, although admittedly not quite in the way we intended to. Fortunately, the king has a plan to get us out of here.

Rigged Death Trap
Feb 13, 2012

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

so is everyone from the first game showing up here.

AweStriker
Oct 6, 2014

Rigged Death Trap posted:

so is everyone from the first game showing up here.

If Gibari is that young, I’d hazard that some of them haven’t been born yet.

Which is a shame, because more games need a The Great Mizuti.

Cooked Auto
Aug 4, 2007

If you will not serve in combat, you will serve on the firing line!




I'm surprised you didn't remark on the Donkey Kong reference that Guillo drops about the guy on the staircase.

Prowler
May 24, 2004

I do rather enjoy the fact that we seemingly came across another set of JRPG protagonists going through their own story with their own set of bullshit abilities and backstories. Until a certain game this year, I couldn't think of an example of a game where two parties with their own distinct JRPG combination of personalities who are ostensibly the protagonist parties coming together to form their own.

For obvious reasons, that won't happen here, I guess.

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!

AweStriker posted:

If Gibari is that young, I’d hazard that some of them haven’t been born yet.

Which is a shame, because more games need a The Great Mizuti.

Yeah at the very minimum we'll be missing Kalas/Xehla/Mizuti. Lyude...might exist? But we've already met Almarde and he wasn't with the rest of his family in Mintaka. Savyna theoretically should be around but would also be very young like Gibari, so at this point most of our returning cast will be NPCs or leaders like Geldoblame, Ladekahn, etc.

Weeble
Feb 26, 2016
iirc Origins takes place 20 years before the first game, so anyone who's over 20 there should exist here.

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
:siren: Part 23: A Royal Rescue :siren:

I definitely did not mix up Yuri Lowenthal and Johnny Young Bosch when we were recording and have to fix it in post, no sir.

AweStriker
Oct 6, 2014

Yuri Lowenthal sure does have some scream in him.

C-Euro
Mar 20, 2010

:science:
Soiled Meat
I'm a few updates behind but I agree wholeheartedly with Fedule's "every problem you've had about a video game comes back to the devs wasting the player's time" argument. At least, it pretty neatly sums up the problems that I've had trying to get into certain series/genres.

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Fedule
Mar 27, 2010


No one left uncured.
I got you.
It's a theory I've been on to for a while: that even despite the broad and spectacular range of artistic priorities you can have in video games, there are still a handful of things that are Always Wrong, like the cardinal sins of game design. Things like,

1) Wasting the player's time (most other attempts to qualify another cardinal sin wind up just being this again)
2) Making the player feel like they've failed when they've actually won
3) Turning the game's strengths against themselves (or, directing the player to play in a way that makes them miserable)

There's a whole video I could do about these, but that's way down the list and I'm both very busy and very very good at procrastinating. Honestly if Artix didn't drag me through some bullshit every now and then I'd barely get any of my thoughts sorted.

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