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Oh, hey, this game! Seeing this thread in the New LP thread kinda makes me want to do another playthrough. Going through the game in chronological order feels kinda natural to me; I mean, I try to do something like it whenever I play (only issue is that it's hard to say objectively which of Japan and China happens first). ...Any particular plans for the China chapter, for the record? As for the demonstration of usable stuff: Yes please. Oh, and re: enemy variety: This game runs on a scaled encounter table system. ...I feel like just saying that isn't very clear, so to rephrase (more coherently), each encounter has a specific level range required for you to fight it. Fighting nothing but Does and Dogs would be because Pogo was approximately level 1 (or... whatever level he started at); the Bison, on the other hand, are around level 7-8, I think. Sleep Trick, for the record, is incredibly good. Like, its AOE is 5x5, right? The battle arena is only 7x7, and 1x1 enemies are vanishingly rare. Yes, it is, for most practical purposes, a full-screen attack... that doubles as a disable. I can't even begin to emphasize how valuable that is enough.
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Mar 27, 2024 01:18
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 09:54 |
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CullenDaGaDee posted:I knew the encounters scaled for the overworld in the Near Future chapter, but I didn't actually know that was the case for Prehistory! I'll be sure to mention that within the LP itself. For the Japan chapter, you planning to go pacifist or genocide? ...well, actually, I'm guessing you'll probably show both off just so we can see what's different, and keep whichever is more beneficial.
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Mar 27, 2024 01:54
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Not only will you know when the bonus boss is nearby, but you'll also know when you've found it. It's... kinda unmistakable, for reasons which will become clear when Cullen posts the next update.
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Mar 28, 2024 14:58
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...Come to think of it, can't you use the Rock of Rocks for something?
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Mar 28, 2024 17:56
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The Cola Bottle is profoundly overpowered in all versions, because it is a nigh-guaranteed 999 damage to anything unfortunate enough to be in the line of fire with no drawbacks and no charge time. In other words, as long as you have it in your inventory you can one-shot almost anything instantly, and the few things you can't will probably go down as soon as you get another turn. (On the topic of being overpowered: I gave in to temptation and started another run. Somehow managed to get Beru up to level 11.) CptWedgie fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Mar 29, 2024 |
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Mar 29, 2024 20:01
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Carbon dioxide posted:Actually that's a good point, do any more attacks or anything else unlock if you level up your party to levels you'd never normally reach? More to the point, though, partners tend to learn all their attacks naturally, and a decent (though not universal, as proven by Beru having 3-4 levels, version dependent, between Sing Heal and Sing Hurt) rule of thumb is "if they go a level without learning anything they won't be learning anything new ever and all further levels are only good for stat boosts." Protagonists, meanwhile, tend to learn new skills every level until around level 16, I think, at which point all future levels are, again, purely stat boosts. (That said, Pogo's the only protagonist with any real chance of getting that high in his chapter...)
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Mar 29, 2024 20:52
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CullenDaGaDee posted:Oboromaru has the potential to reach level 16 if you spend time fighting ghosts in the storehouse. If I remember correctly, Akira can get up to level 14 but literally ceases to gain experience at that point, at least in the SFC version. Also, I think you could hypothetically grind Akira up to 16 using the bathrooms (with the same "1 experience at a time" caveat as Oboromaru's ghosts). ...Can't think of a way to finagle level 16 in China, though.
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Mar 29, 2024 21:29
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...Everything okay for you, Cullen? It's been like a week of thread silence.
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Apr 5, 2024 17:35
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CullenDaGaDee posted:I mentioned it a couple times, on vacation currently. I’ll be back at my home on Sunday and will likely resume updates same day, the King Fu chapter is one of the less demanding sections of the game.
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Apr 6, 2024 00:23
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I always pick Lei, so I decided to vote for someone else. I couldn't decide which so I just flipped a coin for it and got Yun. Note that this is not a condemnation of Lei or of anyone voting for her; as I said, I always pick her myself, which implies that she's my favorite of the three. I just wanna see what changes for the others. As to the video, well... you missed a bunch of stuff. If you talk to the bystanders after recruiting Hong, they give you items.
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Apr 9, 2024 04:55
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CullenDaGaDee posted:I’ll have to wind back a little bit and check that out, I always get Hong last and speed back to the dojo so I never really thought to explore the market much. Admittedly, I didn’t want to video to run too long so that was also a reason I bolted out of there.
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Apr 9, 2024 20:37
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So... what do you plan to do if Yun and Hong tie? Flip a coin like I did?
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Apr 10, 2024 07:31
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Gilgamesh255 posted:I went with Lei because
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Apr 10, 2024 20:22
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Can't say I'm surprised Lei won; pretty sure she's the most popular disciple by a wide margin, so basically the only way for the other two to win a vote is for her to not be an option. Sucks for Yun, though. He really got the short stick this time.
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Apr 10, 2024 23:49
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Snorb posted:What does the game do if two (or all three) disciples tie for first? Does it go to "whoever the Shifu talked to first?"
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Apr 11, 2024 04:02
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CullenDaGaDee posted:-For training, you only really need to train your preferred pupil at least twice per session. The only exception is Hong, who is the highest level and can still be your star pupil with less than that. That being said, there really is no good reason to train anyone but your preferred pupil. Nothing is gained or unlocked by spreading the training around. Teaching as many different moves to your pupil as possible is generally a good idea, if only to cover weaknesses. Don't worry if you can't teach something to one of them, though; they all eventually learn everything by leveling up (and I'm pretty sure this holds true in SFC too). ...and really, Indomitable Fist? Pretty obviously just fancy words for "bloodthirsty maniac" even before they pick a fight with you.
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Apr 13, 2024 15:36
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Was kinda dead to the world yesterday, so I'm only getting to the video now. Anyway... We start with a preview of the chapter antagonist, unlike the last two where the last boss doesn't make an appearance until you're fighting him. At least they have no qualms about revealing that he's a megalomaniacal warlord. And no, you can't have a Feudal Japan-themed story without a blatantly-corrupt official getting bribed by a sleazy merchant who "flatters" said official by, essentially, calling him even worse than himself (which, just to show how evil the official is, actually works); it's a bit of a staple of Japanese fiction. And yes, befitting said fiction, the ninja is, of course, primarily a mage. A majority of his attacks are actually fairly stereotypical "ninja magic" of one sort or another. More sensibly, though, he is also very fast- not as much so as Lei (she's just ridiculous), but still capable of capping Speed in his own chapter. ...I hear there's a minor difference in the "abandon the mission" game over if you save the Watanabe duo first; if you decide to show what happens if you manage to kill those hunters, maybe you could throw that in as a side-bonus. CptWedgie fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Apr 16, 2024 |
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Apr 16, 2024 00:46
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That pot that wants Koban? Feed it enough (at once?) and it'll teach you attacks. One of those attacks being Oboromaru's (and Mimic Mammet's, if present) ultimate, so it's probably worth doing.
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Apr 18, 2024 11:01
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Sundown Kid's missing two major things: More guns, and bigger guns. (Also, I like having him steal Mad Dog's clothes, since all his armor is better than what Sundown starts with, and it's not like armor matters against the boss, whose gatling gun is roughly equivalent to the Soda Bottle in lethality- and it was buffed in the remake to be able to target any direction instead of just diagonally.) More seriously, you can use Bottled Fire in the fight itself too; don't remember its properties relative to Dynamite, but you can definitely use it... anyway, the bottles definitely serve no other purpose, the oil might not serve any other purpose, and if you know what you're doing you've got plenty of time to ransack the town, set the traps, AND make all the Bottled Fire available by around the sixth bell. Anyway, as those quotes at the top when you're picking a trap in the remake indicate, each townsperson is better at specific traps, even among the "anyone can set it" types. Like, the guy who owns the rope is the best person to use it, James is good at digging (and thus the best choice for the Shovel), etc. ...On the topic of the next chapter (spoilered for its gimmick): Do you plan on learning the protagonist's ultimate from the sumo?
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Apr 21, 2024 03:43
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Moribe's moves are probably the most important tools in Masaru's arsenal. They're so potent that, honestly, I think the only reason Odie managed to beat him is his glass jaw; put the same moves on a tougher fighter (i.e. Masaru) and he gets owned. Anyway, next up we've got the most blatant instance of scaling random encounters in Live A Live, as we've discussed previously.
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Apr 21, 2024 16:03
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CullenDaGaDee posted:I'm forever thankful they took this remake as an opportunity to make an actual theme song. Anyway, re: Taroimo: He's a good tank while Akira's still in his squishy early levels, if nothing else; I mean, you saw his Physical Defense stat. You shouldn't underestimate the value of a good decoy. And there's always the utility of the item caddy to fall back on when he loses even that usefulness. Hunter Noventa posted:Both the English and Japanese versions are sung by Hironobu Kageyama, perhaps most famous for singing the opening of Dragonball Z, among many others. For Kageyama specifically, I think I first heard him during one of the various Mazinger anime/OVAs, but the only one I can explicitly confirm his involvement in is Mazinkaiser (though to be fair, that was my first exposure to the franchise).
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Apr 22, 2024 05:48
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Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:i feel as though it is wrong to have an english version of the giant robot fight song
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Apr 22, 2024 05:58
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Watanabe's still talking about the "plan" because you didn't actually finish that sidequest. If you go back in after Taeko catches you, he actually gives you what you were after. Don't know if it's still available once you see the basement robot, though. (written before checking yt comments; didn't see someone beat me to it) Also, being a creep isn't entirely out of genre; if nothing else, Akira's better than the Getter crew (a bunch of murderous psychopaths who're only the "heroes" by comparison to the omnicidal literal-monsters they fight). Faint praise, admittedly, but he is not the most villainous Super Robot protagonist ever, so he at least has that going for him. Guessing you're gonna offscreen the other upgrades you want?
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Apr 23, 2024 21:03
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I figure Akira's around 14-15 during the chapter; young enough to be called "kid" (especially by overworked salarymen at what the Japanese call a "black company") while also being old enough to be a credible street punk. Also, teenage protagonists are perfectly in-genre in Super Robot shows. As for the other orphans... I think the oldest of them is probably like 10.
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Apr 24, 2024 19:35
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Y'know, it just occurred to me that the various mishaps Akira gets while trying to activate the Steel Titan might just be its equivalent of swatting your alarm clock and saying "five more minutes..." Or maybe it's just complaining about you waking it up without a really good reason. Anyway, I like to collect all the attack accessories for later, even if the attacks themselves are pretty much trash, just because I'm OCD like that. ...Apparently "too stubborn to give up" means    in the near future. Who knew?Also, would you believe that this game predates Evangelion? CptWedgie fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Apr 27, 2024 |
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Apr 27, 2024 22:47
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...I looked up a script; didn't see any reference to what Matango's made of, but to be fair the script I found wasn't a complete game rip or anything of the sort (for one thing it only had one line from telepathy'ing the Tang tanks). I always assumed it was some kind of weird mushroom, though (partly from the context of him eating it, partly because I grew up playing Secret of Mana).
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Apr 27, 2024 23:11
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I... wouldn't call Distant Future "adventure" genre. More "survival horror" really. (not exactly a spoiler because the chapter summary when you start it literally tells you something's gonna go horribly wrong, and I bet you can guess at least part of what goes wrong just from what we've seen thus far.) It's not hard to figure out why Darthe (gee, sounds familiar) hates robots, given his career, but I'm pretty sure the game spells it out later, for those of you who're slow on the uptake.
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Apr 29, 2024 08:25
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Well, we got Watanabe'd offscreen, Kirk's dead, Rachel went all creepy, somebody's gaslighting her, and (to the surprise of nobody) the monster they're transporting has broken loose. At this point, it really does look like someone's actively sabotaging things, but who? Yes, I know who, but I'm obligated to not spoil it for those of you who don't.
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May 1, 2024 18:52
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Y'know, in hindsight, they really should've known better than to give an AI that model number. They probably would've been better off if they'd skipped straight to 11. Also in hindsight, that "distress signal" from Darthe's room was clearly just OD-10 trying to incite even more infighting by revealing Darthe's orders to the crew. Anyway, OD-10 being the culprit is actually a pretty decent twist; when you meet everyone they're all on their best behavior, but it deteriorates pretty rapidly because, quite frankly, the crew was a dysfunctional mess, with everyone but Kato and the captain having plausible motives to kill at least one crewmate, except SURPRISE, the AI's gone completely insane so it's the ship itself killing its crew! ...I won't say anything about the coming chapter until it happens; it's the sort of thing you really need to see for yourself.
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May 2, 2024 15:42
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My playthrough kinda stalled out during the vacation (I wanted to play along with the LP, and by the time it came back I was busy with something else), but now that I'm caught up I'd like to say that Distant Future is by far my least favorite chapter. Thankfully you can skip cutscenes in the remake, so I didn't stall out again by forcing myself through it too much. Not a condemnation of the quality of the chapter so much as it is an expression of distaste for the subject matter; horror stories aren't my thing.
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May 4, 2024 11:13
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CullenDaGaDee posted:As much as I like the chapter, like so many story driven games it's not quite as special any time you play it after the first. There's also just not too much difference from watching it in action to playing it yourself, so that can also dampen the experience. Again, not a condemnation, just saying that I, personally, don't like it.
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May 4, 2024 18:15
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Anyway, setting aside my personal complaints, let's get to the video! The dialogue is pompous to the brink of incomprehensibility, I'd say; I wouldn't mind something a bit less... Shakespearean. Streibough seems pretty full of himself, really (seriously, "glory deserved?"), but then that tends to be a mage thing, doesn't it? Of course, you can't have an RPG chapter that doesn't even give you proper control over your protagonist, so naturally the princess gets kidnapped ASAP. We wouldn't have a goal without that, would we?
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May 4, 2024 19:39
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And thus everything starts going completely off the rails. I've been trying to say the bare minimum because, as I said before, this is the kind of thing you need to see for yourself. Why'd everything go so horribly wrong in the first place? Well, you'll see when he gets back to the end.
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May 6, 2024 18:49
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Probably shouldn't go into too much detail until another update or two, but I can say that I consider this boss to be the most despicable character in LAL at the absolute best (as in, he may actually be the single most despicable character in any game owned by Square-Enix). Like, it's not just that he's a villain; those're a dime a dozen, they're frequently "love to hate" types or have some excuse or at least don't wear out their welcomes. This asshat, though? He commits the single greatest sin possible for a fictional character- DERAILING THE NARRATIVE! And why? Pure spite- if he's not allowed to have something nobody else is either. I hope he enjoyed himself, because they're gonna need to make a new hell just for him. No, I did not mistype; not just a new level of hell, but an entire new hell all to himself. ...It's so hard to not go off on a frothing, mod-angering rant about him. I may not have even quite managed it here. Anyway, re: Sleep resistance: Nightmare Helm. Apparently it gives the wearer nightmares so horrible they can't sleep?
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May 7, 2024 16:20
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Okay, since people're openly discussing it now, I might as well drop the vagueness... While there're apologists who insist that Streibough was possessed into the betrayal and that he'd never do it himself (citing the "surging emotions" thing or whatever), my point of view is that it's clearly all him. My proof? The voice acting. Streibough is clearly pissed at Oersted even before they fight in the tournament; all he was looking for was an opportunity. And that "preexisting relationship" thing? I don't see it; admittedly I'm not a "relationships" kinda guy, but all I see is Streibough yandere'ing over a crush who may not even know who he is. It's not like you ever get a chance to see them interacting; Streibough doesn't address her directly on-screen, and Alethea only has like 2 scenes before getting kidnapped so the most you can glean of her personality is that she's somewhat reluctant to marry (near as I can tell) a total stranger she only knows by reputation. Oh, the end, where she commits suicide rather than be separated from Streibough? He's had who-knows-how-long to brainwash her, and it's certainly within his ability to do so. All he needed to do was say "oh, Oersted turned back at the first obstacle, I'm the one who pressed on to find you, he doesn't actually care" (hell, he actually did that, he says so himself) and she'd never have any reason to doubt him because he tricked Oersted into turning back and locked the door behind him. And the part where he "begged" Oersted to let him win? Pretty sure he's delusional by then; we have no reason to believe he begged before their match, and it seems pretty out-of-character for him to even ask politely to me, so I'm gonna go with self-serving memory to cast Oersted as the villain from the start. ...The worst part of his "plan" is that it's stupid; yeah, screw over the guy who's been better than you all your life and give him reason to murder you, that always ends well. (/sarcasm) Only reason things went anything close to how he planned is that he was above suspicion (first by being his target's "friend" and second by him faking his death). So congrats, Streibough; your petty, narcissistic temper tantrum has doomed the kingdom and destroyed everything you fought for, both before and after your betrayal. ...yes, I hate Streibough; hard to miss, isn't it?
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May 8, 2024 12:58
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bewilderment posted:I don't see any reason to disbelieve any character about what they're saying or their motivation. Now granted, I won't deny that Oersted is being a bit self-centered in his ending speech, but to be fair? He WAS promised the princess's hand in marriage, the hero's reward, and so on and so forth. Losing that to, again, a petty, narcissistic temper tantrum was pretty much the last straw that led to him going completely insane. CullenDaGaDee posted:I have no idea why OD-10 is called that in the battle, it just is. That was the same name it had when Cube fought it in the Distant future chapter. (Incidentally: Voted Cube for final protagonist for the lulz.)
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May 9, 2024 16:29
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It's actually pretty easy to pick up the "murder" pun if you just say the name out loud as a single word, I feel. Slightly less obvious if you pronounce the "thur" like "thorough" instead of "mother" but still pretty easy. edit: hadn't finished the video, i feel stupid now CptWedgie fucked around with this message at 17:06 on May 9, 2024 |
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May 9, 2024 17:01
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Well, I'd say the tie has officially been broken by now. Results thus far: Earthen Heart is winning with 9 (no surprise, pretty sure Lei's the most popular character in LAL), Akira's in second with 7. Trailing behind in a distant third-place we have a tie between Sundown and Cube (of all characters) with 2 each, with Pogo and Masaru also tying at one. Poor Oboromaru doesn't have any votes at all.
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May 11, 2024 16:02
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CullenDaGaDee posted:Cube can only use one weapon, his ultimate weapon, so it takes a bit to get him in a good spot for attacking. ...admittedly, I'm pretty sure this is only viable in HD due to the upgraded inventory system (not sure Akira can even bring a Bowling Ball in SFC), but it's technically a thing you can do. Definitely means Cube wants to beeline Akira ASAP, though; he's the only character who has any real upgrades for the little 'bot. One minor bonus to playing Cube: You get to recruit Masaru really fast- he doesn't attack you and they're right next to each other (castle roof vs. castle prison) so you don't have to go far to find him. Granted, Masaru isn't that much of a game-changer on his own, but just not being alone can be huge. edit: Okay, turns out the bowling ball doesn't transfer in HD; I know I had one in Near Future, but it disappeared when I recruited Akira. Cube can equip the Tiger Glove, though, not that it does anything for him. CptWedgie fucked around with this message at 19:23 on May 12, 2024 |
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May 12, 2024 17:35
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 09:54 |
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Fair enough. Hope things go well for you and your friend! Incidentally: Something I've been meaning to mention (but kept forgetting to until literally just now) is the reason there aren't any checks in the castle in the SFC version: It's because the SFC version doesn't respawn anything Oersted picks up. Any items he picks up are items that you can't get in the finale (though of course this implies that anything found in locations you can't access outside his chapter, such as the Hero Shields, is safe to take). And no, "only good for him" isn't an issue here; anything he doesn't pick up is upgraded for the finale, just like the remake (though this is clearer in the remake because, again, it's the only version that respawns them).
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May 15, 2024 18:52
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