henrymidfields Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 In continuation of my previous post, I'll further try and narrow down Yu's residence in Tokyo. (Again, spoilers and assumed knowledge of Tokyo geography.) Spoiler Last post, I've narrowed Yu's (Persona 4) residence down to Nerima, Itabashi, Minato, and Shinagawa Wards. However, now that I think about it, Minato Ward seem to be the more likely candidates. This was ultimately due to Persona 4 Dancing All Night. In the first chapter of Dancing All Night, Yu, Naoto, and Rise are doing their dance practice for the LMB Festival in Takura Productions, and there are two things that came to my mind. Firstly, when I checked the office locations of the bigger talent production companies, the majority of them are located within Minato Ward, or nearby Shibuya Ward. Considering Rise's status as Japan's No1 idol, it is likely that Takura Pro is a well-known production company located in one of those wards as well. Secondly, Yu, Naoto, and Rise had been practicing their dances for the LMB Festival until midnight (and seeing the mysterious Midnight Stage video in the process). All were still high school students at that time, which implies that their parents gave them permission to stay up until said late hours. Not to mention, trains in Tokyo stop running from midnight, so taxi fees are a consideration. Given that, Yu was probably able to practice until midnight without worrying his parents too much, because he lived not too far away from Takura Pro, and he could take a quick (and relatively inexpensive) taxi ride and go to bed. Even in the furthest case, Yu would definitely be back home in half an hour at most. The trip would take a longer time, and the taxi fees would be more expensive if Yu lived in Nerima or Itabashi Wards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSND Alter Dragon Boner Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 13 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said: On the EOV front, after the rough start, the 3rd Stratum wasn't so bad. The day-night hazard mechanics were interesting, but it made me feel sort of limited, despite the ease of obtaining long-lasting Guard Soles, towards doing my serious adventuring at night. The Stratum boss was a complete and utter joke, I seriously thought there might be more after killing it because it was so easy. Took the first few turns taking out its protective goons with Poison Bomb and some attacks to move to the frontline so I could pound away on it. Once it moved up, I had some Overexertion, High Ground, and Armor Pierce applied. Then I in a single turn Cursed and Chain Blasted it (sadly the Curse wore off before it died), after which I went whole hog, dealing 5-hit Leading Blows and Petal Scatters under the effects of Overexertion, plus Frigid Reap. This, as I discovered earlier in the Stratum vs. its FOEs, is my team's bread and butter big bad offense. The boss died so helplessly it never even breathed life into its backline goons (still got their codex entries though). The next Stratum- I appreciated the aesthetic changeover. I also appreciated how easy Amrita farming is going to be should I ever need it (and my Merciful Healer could reasonably pop some when I've crippled my enemy- they have no offense). What I didn't appreciate was the usual difficulty spike upon arrival to a new Stratum, be it the super fast vanishing strikers, the party-wide sleep, or the elemental attacks. It was all so cruel, but I do love my EO and I am driven ever deeper into Yggdrasil. The difficulty will let up a bit as I adjust to the Stratum anyhow. My second team, months from now, is actually going to be a Chain team. My first attempt at a Chase/Link/Chain team, that is the most logical option for a Fencer-Dragoon-Rover-Warlock-Shaman group. Should be fun, interested to see where it will fail and succeed compared to my Pugi-Harb-Masu-Bot-Necro team, I'll miss the Poison and the Binds, that is for sure, but I'll have Dragoon damage reductions and much superior elemental coverage to compensate. Yeah once you get Legendary Titles and figured out bnb, EO5 ended up becoming a fight at enabling your BnBs. All of them are generally really good. Usually it took until the final boss before a semi-optimized BnB set up to need an extra measure, and the 6th stratum boss kinda phases out a huge chunk of them since it have a very unique mechanic. That said a good deal of strategy against that boss have been built around Spirit Evoker, so you should be fine I'm somewhat surprised you manage to fit in Overexertion and leading blow though, usually i never used that skill until post game. Granted my usage of BB is limited, mostly for cheese boss runs, and the one time they are a main party member, they are a support(Overexertion - Clinch). No Helm Splitter though? That Chain team is actually almost a 1:1 copy of my first team(Necro Broker -> Rover). From what i remember, back in early release days the general consensus for the strongest early game class(offensively) is actually Pugilist > Fencer so it should be not too hard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrymidfields Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 (edited) Does anyone have headcanons in the JRPGs (including spin-offs) that they played? Mine below: Persona (possible spoilers):Yu's family Spoiler Yu's mom Sayuri Narukami (nee Dojima) was a Persona user herself, and his father Yuji Narukami was an academic from Tokyo University who also knew relatives that were Persona users. Persona summoning runs in the family. Yu's parents were in fact busy working out the Mass Apathy Syndrome in Dancing All Night, and enlisted the Investigation Team's help; a move which Uncle Ryotaro aired his disapproval to his sister after the incident. The Narukami family lives (both just before P4's story and after) is in a high-end 3-Bedroom apartment unit, in district called Jyuban-machi in Minato Ward. The closest station is Juban Station on the North-South and the Edo Loop Lines. (Basically Azabu-Juban Station on the Namboku and Oedo Lines.) Yu is a kikoku-shijo, and his family lived in the US for several years in different locations. This is why he is so good at translation work. His high school in Tokyo (in his 10th and 12th Grades) is Kojimachi Metropolitan High (which is the Personaverse's stand-in for the real-life Hibiya Metropolitan High.) Sayuri Narukami (nee Sayuri Dojima): Japanese VA: Kotono Mitsuishi, in a voice similar to Katherine MacBride from Catherine She is one of the senior bureaucrats for the National Police Agency and also one of the few decent people besides Sae working in Japan's law enforcement. She was one of the reasons why Masayoshi Shido relented from outright murdering Akira in Persona 5. On the other hand, this was also when she started losing her influcence due to Shido's gradual buying-off some of her less faithful/courageous subordinates, and their backing of Akechi over Naoto V, which started even before Persona 4's story. She was an alumini of the private Yasogami High School, while Ryotaro Dojima went to a public one elsewhere in Inaba. She would go to study psychology firstly at Waseda University in Tokyo, and then in Columbia University in New York City. Of all of the Investigation Team members' parents, Sayuri may be the most successful in wealth, social status, and career. She was however, possibly the most cursed in relating to people. She was known as a raging feminist and a defiant non-conformist in her high school days. This put her at odds with a good part of her schoolmates. While she was respected as one of the top students, and as one of the top Student Council members, she was disliked for her perceived over-assertiveness and disrespect against authority. She was a hero, however, to a number of students who suffered from bullying, ostracism, or other kinds of harrassment, which included Sakura Amagi, Yukiko's mother. She was also similarly cursed with family matters. Her stalwart attitude and principles put her at odds with many adults in Inaba with the exception of her father, who was her most trusted confidant. She especially disliked her mother Ayako, who was a traditionalist (and some dare say, a female misogynist) from Aizu-Wakamatsu. Sayuri's eventually left Inaba to study in Tokyo - mainly to attend university, but also to get away from her family. Her attitude came from her father Yujiro (and Yu's grandfather) being exceptionally liberal in his day. He was formerly from Koriyama born under parents from Yokohama and he climbed up the ladder to become a high-ranked officer in the Fukushima Prefectural Police, and he wanted Sayuri to forge her own career like he did. The final straw was when Ayako and her relatives from Aizu forced Sayuri to break up with Naoto IV (P4 Naoto's father - more on that later). Ayako and her family in Aizu resented both Yujiro and Naoto IV for not making Sayuri know her place, and Sayuri for rebelling against her mother. Yujiro, who approved Sayuri's dating, got livid with Ayako's narrow-minded decision, and in turn he decided to separate. From then on, Sayuri only occasionally met Ayako and Ryotaro in family reunions, with the majority of her family visits spent with her father, who returned to Koriyama. The whole family mess ended up negatively affecting Sayuri (and by extension Yuji), who had a cynical outlook on people relations and especially those of family. She may have been brilliant at work, and she may be just (and kind at heart), but she saw little point in politeness. She was blunt to a huge fault - almost everyone at work respected, but the majority also hated working with her. The few people that wholeheartedly trusted Sayuri were Mitsuru from the Shadow Operatives, Detective Kurosawa, and Naoto Shirogane V (the canon Naoto from the P4 series) - and even then, the latter two had some mixed thoughts in regards to Sayuri's overaggressive behaviour. Of course, to be fair, Ryotaro was little better in his interactions, and at least Sayuri had a hand in discouraging misogyny in the workplace - which Ryotaro acknowledged, and both Chie and Naoto V greatly appreciated. Sadly, not even people outside of work are spared - both Yuji and Yu took a non-confrontational approach with Sayuri. This nearly broke Yu and Sayuri's friendship with the Investigation Team during Dancing All Night, when Ryotaro interrupted the investigation Sayuri, Mitsuru, and Detective Kurosawa was conducting. The Investigation Team were dismayed both by how Sayuri humiliated Ryotaro, and how Yu's took a passive attitude towards the spat - merely mentioning that his mother is in charge. Naoto (V) in particular pointed out how unnecessary Sayuri's response was, when she could have asked Mitsuru and Detective Kurosawa to explain the situation to Ryotaro, and also accused Yu for his irresponsibility for not even bothering to talk things over. On a more positive note, this was when both Yuji and Sayuri realised that they needed to change their ways to have a healthy family relationship. Due to her constant questioning of society's justice, Sayuri ended up with the Justice Arcana. While her relationship with Ryotaro is rocky at best, she has a much more supportive relationship with her niece Nanako. Shortly before P4, Sayuri ended up entrusting the arcana to Nanako a dream summoning within the Velvet Room. Sakura, Naoto, and Zenichi (全一; Kanji's late father in P4 proper) all had personas based on Japanese pop culture at the time, whereas Sayuri's personas were to varying extents non-Japanese: Sakura Amagi (天城 櫻; Priestess) - TBA Zenichi Tatsumi (巽 全一; Emperor) - Godzilla Naoto Shirogane IV (4代目白鐘直斗; Magician) - Kaijin-Niju-Menso from the Kogoro Akechi series Sayuri Dojima (堂島 佐勇理; Justice) - Oscar François de Jarjayes from Rose of Versailles During the main story, Sayuri was working and researching with the FBI in Washington DC, on orders from both her original office and also from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She ended up befriending the local Americans more than the Japanese expats, as she shared similar convictions and midsets with the former. Despite the distance, Sayuri ended up assisting Yu and Ryotaro identifying the real culprit over Skype - she made note that the lack of any apparent evidence can point to a police cover up. Secondly, she also expressed her disbelief that an average person could take out Naoto (and for that matter Kanji) so easily. This made Yu realise that the person who threw Kanji, Naoto, and other into the TV could only be either from the police, or from the JSDF - Namatame must have received assistance from Adachi. Yu Narukami Yu may not had as bad a luck as others with his school life, but he had a nasty encounter with Suguru Kamoshida (a student back then) during what supposed to be a friendly sports competition between Shujin and Ginza Metropolitan. Okay, Suguru didn't get off entirely scot-free as Sayuri and the principal at Ginza actually filed a lawsuit against Shujin, but he neither got expelled or arrested while Yu was traumatised enough to go to counselling for a few months and get Yuji to take a sabbatical to look after Yu. It was so bad for Yu that Sayuri actually collected evidences and statements from him, Naoto (more on that later), and others to file charges against Suguru and Shujin years later - which she finally succeeded several years after. And Yu was one of the luckier ones - Naoto had it even worse than Yu; comparable even with Ann/Shiho as described below. In turn, Yu's seeming irritable and complacent attitude towards life negatively affected his relationship with others, though with some important exceptions. In the early weeks, Yu intentionally played dumb to Yosuke and others, and he adopted an air of sluggishness and complacency, which irritated Yosuke and Chie to no end. Yukiko and Kanji, however, sensed that there must be more to Yu's apparent laziness - they were proven correct when Yu jumped to their defence in various occasions during their social links, and this earned a newfound respect between Yu and Yukiko/Kanji. This, and some encouragement from the latter two prompted Yu to take the serial murder case more seriously. Deep down, Yu was highly frank and individualistic like his mother, which helped him earn Yukiko's and Kanji's trust. Chie also caught on this indication and similarly started trusting Yu. However, while they knew that something must have gone horribly wrong for Yu to turn him into a complacent, cynical individual, they did not know what it was. Furthermore, Yu's frank attitude in general, and his lack of regard in "saving face" ended up rubbing the wrong way for Yosuke, Rise, and Teddie. Yosuke was resentful of how Yu threatened to beat him up on several occasions in response to Yosuke's perverted/homophobic jokes, and especially when Yu actually punched Yosuke and made a ruckus when the latter signed the girls up for the pagent in late October. Rise felt alienated when Yu shunned her in the most blatant way possible after when he heard her repulsion at Kanji's knitting in his Social Link. And Yu's constantly leaving out Teddie from the group's outings, and his constant dismissive attitude was a contributing factor in Teddie nearly abandoning the group during December 3-6. Of course, they were primarily because of Yosuke, Rise, and Teddie's prejudiced attitudes, but there was also Yu's constant avoidance and brushing off of Naoto, which had no seeming justifications... During their encounter against Namatame in 3 December, Yu (and Chie and/or Yukiko if romanced) squared off against Yosuke, Kanji, and Naoto in whether to throw Namatame into the TV. Kanji was dissuaded without much trouble, as he got the message when Yu reminded Kanji of what the latter had gone through and the lessons that came with it for everyone. For Yosuke and Naoto, however, Yu resorted to threatening them with being thrown into the TV instead of Namatame if they didn't listen. Then Yu and the other girls proceeded to trash-talk Naoto for acting "childish" and like a "unprofessional bogus" and "unbecoming of an actual detective", which led to Naoto yelling back and running out of the hospital room crying. If Yu managed to make progress in Naoto's Social Link, then the above events develop differently. Naoto relents from lynching, and decides to trust Yu. Yu in turn, forces the other girls to back down from slandering Naoto, and decides to discuss Naoto's behaviour with her in private. Naoto, in turn, apologises and thanks Yu as her confidant. Later that night, Yu went back home and reported the day's events to Sayuri, when he noticed Naoto visiting him. Naoto started to fire question after question about a certain event to Yu, which Yu denies any knowledge of. He attempts to shoo Naoto out of the house, until she told the whole story of how a boy from the opposing school at a sports match saved Naoto from being assaulted by Kamoshida. Shocked at what she heard, and how Naoto remembred the past tragic events, Sayuri asks Yu for a private conversation. She brings the bad news to Yu: The events were the assaults Naoto and Yu suffered from Suguru Kamoshida. Yu, having his trauma reawakened, collapsed into a coma. The next thing he knew, he had Naoto, Yukiko, and Kanji besides him in bed, and Sayuri through Yu's Skype. Other members caught up with why Yu acted the way he did - Yu was suffering from post trauma stress disorder. If Yu managed to make progress in Naoto's Social Link, then Naoto, in tears and apologetically confesses the above events to Yu. Yu still falls in to a trauma-induced coma. While Yu still retained some of his negative habits, other members now at least knew where Yu's behavioral issues came from. Chie, Yukiko, and Kanji found newfound respect in Yu as a person who ultimately stood up for himself and others, despite the trauma he suffered. Yosuke and Rise felt awful about their behaviors and made amends with Yu, relieved at how the latter was able to forgive the former two after what he suffered through. Naoto saw in Yu, a fellow person who desparately needed help, and made a promise to him that they will see the perpetrator held accountable, and asked him to hang on. Sadly, this entire ordeal was the reason why Yu could not be a good leader. Yosuke and Naoto were the effective leaders for Persona 4's main story, the Shadow Operatives ended up having to lead the Investigation Team during Persona 4 Arena's story, and Sayuri led the Investigation Team during Persona 4: Dancing All Night's events, with the entire Investigation Team disbanding shortly after. Yu's behaviour also earned him scorn from most of the Shadow Operatives: Yukari considered Yu to be way worse than Stupei, Ken actually described Yu as "a retard", and even Fuuka described Yu as a poor substitute for Minako. Only Mitsuru fully understood what Yu went through and sympathised with him in P4:DAN (which also marked the only time when she threatened to "execute" Yukari, Fuuka, and Ken). It also explains why the Investigation Team ended up being completely ineffective against the Conspiracy in Persona 5. The opportunities for Yu (and Sayuri/Naoto) to stick the convictions onto Kamoshida only came after Shiho's attempted suicide after Kamoshida raped her in the early story chapters of Persona 5. After a tip-off, Yu, Sayuri, and Naoto (and either Yosuke or Yu's girlfriend based on P4's savestate) came over to Shujin to confront and arrest Kamoshida once and for all. Most of Yu's accusations against Kamoshida was voiced out by Sayuri, Naoto, and Yosuke/Yukiko/Chie/Rise - Yu still too overwhelmed with his past nightmares, stayed home the entire time. Bonus scenes are added with Chie, Yukiko, and Rise afterwards, when Naoto and Sayuri returns to the latter's home in Azabu: Chie congratulated Yu for coming this far, and reminded him that he was, is, and always be in the right in protecting Naoto. She desperately asks Yu to cheer up and celebrate his milestone, until Chie started to break down as well alongside with Naoto. Yukiko expressed her horror in the case taking this long and her awe in Yu managing to cope this far, and reminded him that his principles and his determination was what brought him, Sayuri, and Naoto forward. She, then starts to weep, makes a rarely-observed hug to Yu, and pleaded him to not to give up in life, and talk to her whenever he felt desparate - at the same time lamenting that Yu "deserved much better than this". She also makes a heartfelt request to all of the three to look after each other. Rise in tears, expresses her horror in "ugly men like that Kamoshida bastard" getting away with assault. She does a group cool-down hug with Yu and Naoto and thanked them for not treating her "like another bimbo doll" and especially thanked Yu for staying as her "one true love". In all of this, all four mentioned how this feels like a Pyrrhic victory or even a crushing defeat, when it actually was a clear victory for all. Of course, this was because of how much they've suffered from the trauma, and how long the whole process took. It is clear that no matter what, Yu, Naoto, and Sayuri's emotional well-beings will not be the same any time soon... Everyone in Dancing All Night had a different favorite idol (besides Rise) that they were looking forward to see: Yosuke's obviously with Kanamin Kitchen and other J-Pop idols. Chie was looking forward to see a Taiwanese performer who adopts kung-fu moves into his routine, and she is generally a fan of Cantopop. Yukiko and Naoto Jr (the granddaughter) are avid jazz listeners, and they were looking forward to see one of the jazz singers. Naoto being more proficient with English, sometimes translated the lyrics to Yukiko. Yukiko is a fan of enka and used to listen to Misuzu Hiiragi (although stopped due to a spoiler entry below), and she also has some basic knowledge in classical music and a passing interest in early rock and roll. And also any opera with a graphic murder scene like Richard Strauss's Salome, which Yukiko will fetishize. Although, Elektra became a major exception after Sayuri got too excited in the scene where Elektra murdered her mother, and yelled "Take that, you old had [referring to Ayako]!!!" When Yukiko saw that, even she started to nauseate at the notion of cursing one's own parent to death. Naoto prefers classical music - mainly Classical proper to Early Romantic. She, however, hates the majority of late Romantic music, and particularly Liszt, Wagner and his following composers. and used to play the piano as a child in junior concerts. Interest in J-Pop is passing for the former and near non-existent for the latter. This unfortunately became a problem when she and Sayuri had a hard time choosing music they both like during some of their long work-related road trips. Kanji was a fan of a hard rock artist. Yu, in addition to the jazz singer with Naoto and Yukiko, was also looking forward to hear Sarah Morisette (one of the Americans? in the LMB Festival CM). Apart from Jazz, Yu also listens to American rock and pop music of the 1960s to the 90s. On the other hand, Yu rivals with Naoto Jr for the title of being least interested in J-Pop, with the exception of Risette and Kanamin Kitchen. One memory Yu, Yukiko, Naoto Jr, and Nanako had was Yu bringing a vinyl record of Elvis, Yukiko bringing her family's discarded vinyl player, and the four dancing to Jailhouse Rock at Naoto's estate in the evening for a sleepover when Naoto Sr was away. Sayuri has a overriding preference for orchestral music, whether its Late Romantic to early 20th Century composers, or New Sounds in Concert Band arrangements for jazz music by Naohiro Iwai, Toshio Mashima, and other arrangers. She has a particular soft spot for classical-jazz crossovers like Antheil, Bernstein, Copland, and some of Duke Ellington's and Artie Shaw's more classical-oriented works. She dislikes Baroque, Classical proper (although, as an exception, she loves Beethoven), and even some Early Romantic as she finds them lacking in drama, and she found out to her disappointment that her tastes in classical music are the complete opposite of Naoto Jr. Rise is the rising princess of J-Pop, and she obviously has passion for that. While she does not like Jazz or enka, she can tolerate the latter. Surprisingly, Rise likes early classical music (basically anything up to Hayden), and she hates US/UK Pop music on the other hand. Everyone's musical memories with Yu: Yu danced to Uptown Funk with Yosuke, and the entire Junes team joined them. They sorta became minor celebrities when the video of them dancing got uploaded onto Youtube. He belted out Bohemian Rhapsody with Kanji and Yukiko at the karaoke jukebox at the Amagi Inn. And the three got verbally pilloried by Yosuke, Chie, Rise, and Naoto for the former three's boisterous singing that the latter four could hear "seven doors down", Yu and Nanako had movie nights with Rise, when they sang various Disney songs. Nanako and Rise sang in Japanese, while Yu sang in English. Yosuke's previous residence was near Shibuya, while his dad worked in the head office of Junes in Shinjuku, and occasionally managed branches in the western suburbs such as Tachikawa and Hachioji. Rise and her immediate family lives in Seijo, Setagaya Ward, both before P4 started and during/after Dancing All Night. Naoto's family: Spoiler Naoto Shirogane (the 5th) The Naoto that we know is actually Naoto the 5th. Her father and grandfather, both being detectives, were also called Naoto. Naoto Jr not only had bad luck with her adult colleagues at work, she also had bad luck at school. She previously went to Shujin Middle/High prior to moving to Inaba, a school she greatly hated and resented. This was due to several physical (and some would even say sexual) abuse incidents involving a severely mysogynistic and ageist Suguru Kamoshida (a student back then, and 3-5 years senior to Naoto) in the school's sports competition and her sports club - which foreshadows what was to come with Ann and Shiho years later. The rest of Naoto Jr's teachers were also being generally unsympathetic to her, and the police force brushing off Naoto's charges against Suguru as well. (He was a major factor in Naoto Jr dressing like a boy and taking up detectve work.) It was so bad that when Naoto was supposed to return to Shujin in September 2012, Sayuri and Mitsuru Kirijo arranged Naoto to be enrolled in Gekkokan High (in Iwatodai Ward, AU!Yokohama City) instead. Thankfully, Naoto Jr enjoyed/loved/cherished her time there, thanks to new friends and good teachers, and she was able to move on with her life. It helped that Naoto and Mitsuru eventually lodged an accusation against Mr Ekoda and had him replaced with a teacher more respectful of students. Naoto was invited to the Student Council thereafter, where her detective skills were put to good use in resolving student grievances. If there was a reason why Naoto had hidden feelings for Yu (and if romanced in her Social Link, made an exception with her no-romance policy) it was essentially due to Yu and Ryotaro bailing Naoto out from her trauma. It also helped that Sayuri made sure Naoto's reports came through the various governmental departments unobstructed and unsabotaged. Sayuri knew friends in high places, and would direct Naoto to send her reports to the suitable people. In the case of the Metropolitan Police and the National Police, Sayuri would often take over the process herself as she has the senior status to force subordinates to adhere to Naoto's findings. Woe to any staff who dare make misogynistic remarks towards Naoto, for Sayuri would haul (mostly) his ass over for demotion/dismissal. And eventually, Sayuri took Naoto's statement to be used against Suguru during Persona 5... Naoto Shirogane IV In contrast to how Naoto V avoided public attention, Naoto IV was a flamboyant boy in his high school days at Yasogami who enjoyed the attention. He was smart, good looking, popular, and in contrast to his daughter, sociable and carefree. He enjoyed the casual dates with his female schoolmates - although he also knew that the girls were only really in it for the money and fame. Sayuri was actually one of the only two people that became a serious girlfriend. This all started when Naoto IV (then a second year) got caught up in the Midnight FM incident that was to become the serial murder incidents of the 1978. Seeing Sayuri (also in the same grade) also being caught up in the incident, Naoto IV made his advances. Sayuri, being a stalwart individual, was initially repulsed by what she thought as Naoto IV's womanising, and even slapped the latter's face once in public. Far from being angry or emotionally deflated, Naoto IV actually admired Sayuri's honesty and ended up further pursuing her. Through their cooperation in solving the Midnight FM, the two started to cherish each other - Naoto respected Sayuri's robust principles in her life, her stalwart pursuit for justice and gender equality, and valued her intelligence. Sayuri, on the other hand, noticed and appreciated Naoto's encouragement to pursue her career, she had high regard for Naoto's detective expertise and his similar sense of moral justice, and as it turned out, she was grateful for his lack of prejudice against women. By the end of March 1979, not only did Naoto became one of Sayuri's few close friends, but Sayuri asked Naoto out, grateful of accepting her as she is. It started out well; Yujiro was grateful of Naoto IV's support and encouragement towards Sayuri, and Naoto III (IV's father) saw Sayuri's honesty and integrity with respect. Sadly, other family members, especially Ayako, were appalled by the dating, and they overrode the fathers' approvals, forcing the two apart. School grades Spoiler The general school grades, from best to worst are as follows: A+ Yukiko Amagi, Kou Ichijo, Yuji Narukami, and Mitsuru Kirijo Yukiko and Kou do generally well in everything, and even their worst subject (English for Yukiko; Mathematics for Kou) earns at least a C+. Their strengths are generally in the bunkei subjects (Arts/Humanities), with As on both Modern/Classical Japanese, Japanese History, and Calligraphy, and a B in Biology and World History. The two have a friendly rivalry, with the two showing each other's previous tests as challenges. Yuji's old high school results also falls into this tier, which allowed his academic career. A- Naoto Shirogane, Yu Narukami, then-Sayuri Dojima (now-Sayuri Narukami), Akihiko Sanada, Minako Arisato, and Touma Akagi during his university entry exams Naoto Jr and Yu are generally similar to Yukiko and Kou, and the formers' best grades actually surpass the latters'. The only reason why they rank lower is because they have an actual weakness. Their strength mainly lies in the rikei (Science-centric), with near-guarranteed A+s (and perfect scores for Naoto Jr) in Chemistry, Mathematics and English. Naoto Jr also gets As in Biology and Civic Studies (Koumin or Seikei), and Yu gets As in Physics and Music. Their weakness? Both Modern and Classical Japanese; they get an average of C- for the former and averages of D+. The two even failed said subjects' exams before the Ameno-Sagiri battle in late November to early December - though part of that reason was due to Yu having to look after the house and take care of his uncle and cousin, and Naoto having to spend more time investigating the murder/kidnapping case after Nanako was kidnapped. (Hence the time skip after the fog clears for the rest of December - Yu/Naoto had to take extra classes and a exam re-take.) As Kou/Yukiko are not always available for help, Yu/Naoto threw their hands up and started asking Kanji/Rise, of all people to just stay afloat in that particular two subjects. Sayuri's aptitude in general also was in this tier, except she was bunkei-oriented; she got straight A+s in all her bunkei subjects and Biology, but Ds (and occasional fails) in Maths and Chemisty. Touma was somewhat different, as he only really struggled with schoolwork due to Maiko piling up more idol work on him and depriving him from study time - until Touma's grandfather complained to Maiko. In fact, he passed the exams for both Waseda and Keio Universities on his first try, and only narrowly failed to get into Hitotsubashi University (which is only surpassed by the Universities of Kyoto and Tokyo). Kiria and Yashiro thinks that Touma would have passed the exam for the (former Imperial) Universities of Nagoya, Osaka, and/or Kyushu - unfortunately, the Center Exam system only allows for applications to one nationally/publicly-funded university). Even with this, and with Kiria/Yashiro's acknowledgements, Eleonora still assumes that poor Touma is a dumbass and refuses to believe his good study skills. B Ai Ebihara, Yukari Takeba, and Eleonora Yumizuru For all the vanity Ai gets along with her occasional truancy, she is surprisingly studious where it matters, and gets above average grades - she gets B+s with an occasional C or D in her subjects. This inspiration for diligence came from her dad who also worked hard to be a successful property developer/manager. Eleonora also generally does well at school, and loves to make fun of Itsuki and Tsubasa's lagging performance. Kiria and Yashiro, however, rebuked Eleonora for doing the same to Touma - to her disbelief, Touma actually did better in his university entrance exams, while Eleonora failed both Waseda and Keio. C Ayane Matsunaga, Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka, Ryotaro Dojima in his final year, and Itsuki Aoi Ayane, Yosuke, and Itsuki stays average throughout, while Chie has some...interesting ups and downs that averages out overall, they generally end up at an average of B- to C. Ryotaro back then used to be just as bad as Kanji/Daisuke, but decided to wise up in his final year, and managed to get a good enough grade to go into the police academy. D+/C- Rise Kujikawa, Tsubasa Oribe, and Touma Akagi in his earlier high school years (see above) Rise, due to her busy idol schedule, does not do as well at school, although her grades are improving. She started out at an average of D- in June 2011, but rose up to C- by December 2012. Her strength is mainly in Japanese and Music, in which she started getting B+s and even the occasional As. Touma, see above Tsubasa, on the other hand, turns out to be very scatter-brained even without the time constraints inherent in her idol career, forgetting to study for some exams. D- Kanji Tatsumi, Daisuke Nagase, Ryotaro Dojima in his first/second year, and Junpei Iori Kanji and Daiske are outright hopeless with getting mainly Ds or Fs, but the former had some strength in Classical Japanese (C- in June 2011 and B+ until Nov, and As thereafter) and to a lesser extent Japanese History (B+ as of December 2012, compared to D in 2011). To Kanji's bemusement, Yu and Naoto Jr of all people started asking for help in the former subject. Just as Sayuri's schoolwork was as good as Yu's and Naoto's, Ryotaro's schoolwork was initially as bad as Kanji's. This depends on what Persona 6 will be like, but Tokyo Mirage Sessions takes place in an alternate timeline, 3-4 years after Persona 4. The FE characters are a different form of Personas, while other pop-culture characters can also be summoned in this game's story. (Pokemon, Zelda, Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Sonic, Disney etc) The relationships are as follows: Rise/Kanami are friendly rivals of, and also occasionally mentored by, Kiria Kurono. Yukari Takeba is a friendly rival of, and an occasional mentor of Tsubasa Oribe. Ann Takamaki is a friendly rival of, and sometimes collaborates with, Eleonora Yurumizu. Nanako Dojima during Dancing All Night, and Misuzu Hiiragi before that, were a few of the inspirations for Mamori Minamoto entering into showbiz. Both Naoto Shiroganes V and III (for legal/procedural knowledge) and Sayuri Narukami (for insight on society, crime, and police administration) gave consultation advice on Tsubasa's/Kuen Tarachino's detective movie. and the result was a seeming silly, whimsical movie that was nevertheless well-informed in the detective procedures, and had serious commentaries on contemporary Japanese society. Kids loved the episodes for Tsubasa's switches between her timid normal self vs her aggressive tomboyish reactions. Adults, on the other hand were able to relate to many of the underlying commentaries. For example: Episode 8-9 featured people falling into dispair that essentially described the social problems Persona 3 picked up. Episodes 10-11 featured the dangers of rumors and unreliable media, and told a story that was basically identical to what the Investigation Team had gone through. Episodes 12-13 was essentially a more family-friendly commentary on Naoto and Yu's struggle in PTSD after Suguru Kamoshida abused them. (In this timeline, both Kamoshida and Kobayakawa went to prison after Sayuri and Naoto successfully indicted both, and Shujin fell into disrepute. Ann and Ryuji went to a different school.) Episodes 14-15 was essentially Sayuri's successful indictment/conviction against what would have become the Conspiracy in the other timeline, including Opposition Leader Masayoshi Shido - in which the guilty verdicts were handed out months before the first episodes went on air. (The conviction happened a few years earlier than during the main timeline. Yalbadoth was discovered by Sayuri, Naoto, and the Kirijo Group, much earlier as well, and despite obstruction from other quarters of the Japanese government, Sayuri sent in Mitsuru and Co to eliminate it before it could further develop. Goro Akechi, who was provided with the opportunity to bring Shido to justice much earlier, decided to turn himself in and cooperate with Sayuri and Naoto.) Kanji and his mother occasionally designed some of the costumes on behalf of the production companies. The point of diversion from the main timeline was just before Persona 4: Dancing All Night, when Sayuri and Naoto decided to further investigate a few irregularities from the hit-and-run case which resulted in the former's sister-in-law's death years ago. (More on that in the below spoilers.) Story after Persona 4's true ending Spoiler Misuzu Hiiragi managed to come out better during the Namatame-Yamano scandal in 2011, being able to obtain sympathy from the public. Little did she know that this was the start of her career's end. After Yu and Co found out what actually happened in the fallout from Taro Namatame during December 2011, Yukiko tacitly spread the real story amongst the patrons and staff at the Amagi Inn, while the two Naotos informed the truth to the police staff both in Inaba and in Tokyo as part of Jr's investigations. By the time of P4 Arena (May 2012), the previous scandal flared up again, both due to the rumors, and also due to a number of unrelated incidents which nevertheless brought Hiiragi's character into question. Now, Hiiragi had to deal with a public that gained skepticism against her side of the narrative from the Namatame-Yamano scandal. But this was not to be the end. The final nail came just before the main story of Dancing All Night (September 2012) the form of the discovery that Hiiragi (or her chauffeur; this one was a bit unclear) was involved in a hit-and-run a few years ago. Both she and her chauffeur were arrested by the Inaba Police Department for their hit-and-run and their failure to provide assistance to the victim. The victim of said case? It was Mrs Chisato Dojima. In the main timeline, Misuzu and her chaffuer were both sent to jail as the perpetrators, and the case was considered closed. In the other timeline leading into TMSFE, however, Sayuri noticed a couple of irregularities, which did not seem to matter, but which bugged her. One thing led to another, and Sayuri found out that whichever it was, the "hit-and-run" turned out to be caused from the mental shutdown. Undercover, she, Naoto, and Mitsuru searched deeper, and discovered Yalbadoth... On a happier note, if Yu romanced the following girls by the end of P4: Chie: Yu and Chie decide to enter the police academy after P4D to become police officers in Inaba under Uncle Ryotaro's mentorship. If Yu's knowledge is: Level 2-: He enrolls in the academy with Chie straight after high school. Level 3+: He goes to a local university to study psychology/law before enrolling in the police academy Upon marriage, Chie would change her surname from Satonaka to Narukami in this ending. Yukiko: Yu and Yukiko both help out at the Amagi in the holidays, while the two studies further. If Yu's knowledge is: Level 1: He becomes an apprentice chef at the Amagi Inn. Level 2: He goes to a technical school (senmon-gakkou 専門学校) to study hospitality, while Yukiko runs the inn. Level 3: He and Yukiko goes to Gakushuin University with Yukiko. Level 4+: He and Yukiko goes to either Keio or Waseda Universities. Level 5 and Diligence Lv 3+: He and Yukiko goes to Tokyo University. Upon marriage, Yu is the one to inherit the Amagi surname (and the inn). Rise: Yu would take an interest in showbiz and Yu would pursue a career to support Rise. If Yu's expression is Lv 4 or above (regardless of everything else), then he will go to Tokyo University of Fine Arts. If Yu's knowledge is: Lv 2-, then he will start his job in Tokyo Disneyland as an apprentice cast member. Lv 3, he will study commerce at an unknown university. Lv 4 and above he will study commerce at Keio University. If Yu's courage is Lv 3+, then Yu will enroll at Disney University in addition to the above. If Yu's diligence is Lv 3+, then Yu will also be an intern at Walt Disney Japan. Upon marriage, Rise's legal name will change to Rise Narukami. She will still use "Rise Kujikawa" as her geimei, or "artist's name", however. Naoto: Both Yu and Naoto initially studied for their entrance exam to either Tohoku or Tokyo Universities, but Sayuri and Mitsuru encouraged the two to: If Yu's Diligence + Expression + Understanding + Courage Lv is 9 total or below: go to Keio and or Waseda to study science, or If Yu's Diligence + Expression + Understanding + Courage Lv is 10 total or above: go to Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study forensic science. Upon marriage, Yu will adopt the Shirogane name. While 200X and 2011 (Persona 4) were not very good years for Naoto, they were hardly the worst. That would come in the form of late 2016 to early 2017 (during the story of Persona 5), and it was a sobering moment for the Investigation Team, as they learned the hard way that they cannot fight politics and corruption in the way they did in 2011. It all started when Yosuke's Dad, and a couple of other managers from other Junes branches boycotted Okumura Foods products after safety recalls. This led to Shido and Co similarly Kunikazu Okumura doing a hostile takeover on Junes, with the new management firing Youske's dad and forcing the family back to Tokyo. Furthermore, due to an supposed technicality that Yosuke's dad violated, the family was denied any form of pension for several years. The takeover also obliterated the goodwill between Junes and local businesses that the Hanamura family cultivated for several years. Teddie was also driven out of the store, battered and bruised. He had to return to the TV World, until he managed to reach Nanako through the Dojima residence's TV. Naoto Jr happened to be one of the other people besides Ren/Akira to be framed and wrongly arrested by Masayoshi Shido's police officers and prosecutors, and Goro Akechi. During the Junes case Jr was working in, she had a dispute with the police and the prosecution, due to the corrupt motives of the latter. The former threatened to pull out from her assignment and go to the media to air that Yosuke's father was framed by Okumura, despite the latter's threats, confident of her status as the Detective Prince. Except that Shido and Akechi had plans and galls to disregard that. Naoto Jr was then arrested (as it turned out, wrongly) for the murder of Naoto Sr and attempted murder of Ryotaro who was visiting the former for assistance. Due to Shido's manipulation of the police force, she was interrogated by the officers outside of Inaba, with Ryotaro having no say in the matter. Naoto Jr was made guilty in a record time of one month which was due to further evidence by Akechi Goro (which turned out to be false). All this time, she was abused by the interrogators and jailers, while Ryotaro, Yu and others could not do anything against the corrupt system. Ryotaro, Yu, and others attempted to help Naoto Jr with providing evidence, but harrasment and threats from the non-Inaba officers backed them down in intimidation. Any sort of efforts in exonerating Naoto Jr (or even fighting against corruption) was clamped down hard. For example: Ryotaro and Chie (who became a fellow officer) faced harrassments at work from the new higher-ups which nearly forced them to quit. The worst moment was when one of the corrupt officials showed Ryotaro a picture of Nanako, implicitly threatening to kidnap the latter if Ryotaro keeps meddling with Naoto Jr's case. Thankfully, Ryotaro was able to keep fighting on, as the times he was away at work, Nanako was looked after by her friends and relatives: she was either with Teddie in the now peaceful TV World, with Yukiko and her family at the Amagi Inn, or with Yu and family when they were visiting her and Ryotaro. Yu and Sayuri were similarly harrassed from the SID on the pretext that the family, as a whole, were interfering with SID's investigations. Firstly, they brought up Sayuri's past mistakes, and Yu's supposed assault against Kamoshida - Shido intentionally leaked to the press, causing a scandal against them. After seeing them refusing to back down, Shido and Co decided to bait their friends and families to coerce Sayuri to stop investigating Akechi and Shido. All of this was partly because Shido wanted Yu/Sayuri out of both the political and Persona-related equations. It also did not help that Sayuri made a lot of enemies through her long career - both inside and outside of her office, and that Shido had their help. This accumulated into the Yakuzas storming the Narukami residence in mid-November, lynching Yu, and forcing Sayuri to jump off the balcony to her apparent death - though she miraculously survived. Yu desparately asked the police for help, but was rudely turned away. Rise both got in trouble with her agency who questioned her about the threats the agency was receiving. Rise herself was also stalked by "rabid fans" (who were actually Shido's agents), smeared by the media (also in ties with Shido) and was nearly forced to stop her showbiz activities again. Yukiko and Kanji didn't fare as badly as the others; they was mostly left alone as they were busy running their local businesses, but Yukiko had her moments of close calls with Shido when he visited Inaba during his election campaign. Perhaps Shido was trying to provoke the Amagi family, but anyway the various staff members heard Shido trash-talking about Naoto being the fake Detective Prince who should be eliminated alongside the Phantom Thieves. At the same time, Yukiko and Kanji were two that most acutely realized how they and their friends were powerless against the organized group of corrupt politicians, officials, and business-people. The only P4 character who could defy Shido in any effective way was Marie. Whenever Shido or his party's representatives came to Okina or Inaba for their speeches and events, Marie would unleash a torrent of rain, snow, or wind which sometimes forced them to postpone/cancel their events, messed their schedule, gave a bad impression of them on the local people (due to the bad omen people had - from associating Shido's campaigns with bad weather), and mentally distracted them from their political campaign and oppression - thereby being perfect targets for the Phantom Thieves. Because of this, Shido's party did not get any seats in Ibaragi and Fukushima Prefectures (where Inaba/Okina is located) due to the ridicule that Shido's party ended up getting from the locals. (As for who got those seats? Toranosuke's party got them.) While Shido won an unanimous victory in the December 2016 election, the lack of aforementioned seats made some other people realise that Shido may not be the savior that he portrayed himself as. Apart from the Phantom Thieves manipulating Shido, the resistance from Ibaragi and Fukushima also made people have second thoughts about the Shirogane case and enboldened Naoto Jr's supporters in organizing calls for a retrial. While Shido and Akechi's were dragged down from grace by the Phantom Thieves and Sae Niijima, Sayuri immediately organised a retrial as soon as she returned to work in February 2017, and Naoto Jr was exonerated early next month. The real culprit? Yes, that was Akechi too. Even then, the whole ordeal ruined the lives everyone from the Investigation Team: Naoto Jr was traumatised by the whole ordeal, lost all professional contact, and thought about quitting detective work altogether (and nearly decided so) until meeting Sae and Makoto, in which all three (and Yu if he romanced Naoto) ended up providing evidence favoring Sayuri's exoneration, and continued to "make the bastards honest" as an Australian ambassador to Tokyo said. At least Naoto managed to get a happy ending... ...when Sayuri did not even get one. Although Sayuri was reinstated (thanks to Sae), she lost a lot of her trust towards her workplace. It also did not help that many of her colleagues and subordinates in the Conspiracy continued to harrass/obstruct her, such as by ostracising her from meetings, purposefully withholding information from her, and undermining her orders by manipulating Sayuri's superiors. The added stress from the continued harrassment took on her toll, leading to her stroke and death in July 2017, leaving Yu with both parents dead. Furthermore, Yu was harrassed, abused, and eventually abandoned by his local community, for they refused to associate with the son of an infamously rogue police director. Yu would abandon Tokyo for Inaba if he romanced Chie, Yukiko, Marie, Ai, or Yumi in P4. He'll also abandon Tokyo for Europe if he romanced Ayane or Rise. He'll stay in Tokyo to live with, and aid Rise or Naoto if he romanced either, refusing to back down from his oppressors. Ryotaro and Chie also similarly became cynical towards their own workplace, as the rumors still came and go regarding their mishandling of Naoto's case. It took a new management of Inaba Police and a few years of withering rumors before their careers started to develop again. Rise was not only scarred with the relentless stalking and harrassments, but also found out that she was now a persona non grata at Takura Productions. The top directors were displeased with her association with Sayuri, and her involvement in the Kamoshida arrests, as well as her increasingly rebellious attitude against the sexist middle-aged male directors she worked under. She decided that her career as an idol was over, and switched over to study classical vocal music in France/Germany instead. At some point, she eventually joined the Japanese #MeToo movement with Ann and Kanamin Kitchen (and Yu if romanced in P4) as an overseas member. Yosuke and his family were no longer welcome in Inaba, now that the several local businesses were ruined, and others were on the verge of closing down due to Okumura!Junes's economic abuse of Inaba. With the exception of the Investigation Team, his former friends at his old Yasogami High School refused to talk to him for several months, until Yukiko (and Yu if he returned to Inaba) invited Yosuke to their school's alumni and persuaded others to exonerate Yosuke - pointing out that Kunikazu Okumura was the one responsible for destroying Inaba's livelihoods and not the Hanamura family. Only Yukiko, Kanji, and Marie came out stronger with little setbacks. The former two reached out to the Investigation Team in various ways to heal their wounds. The latter still continues as the eccentric weather forcaster to this day. Earthbound: Ness's house is in Oregon, while Twoson is the next town over. Threed is somewhere in Idaho, and Fourside is New York City. Monotoli is Donald Trump in an alternate timeline, where he eventually relents from his greedy ways in the 1990s. Final Fantasy X and X-2 (with possible spoilers) Spoiler Yuna and Rikku acting more carefree and seemingly dumber was intentional on their part. Yuna in particular had the expectations of the world on her shoulders as a summoner, since she was young. It was only natural that she wanted to let her proverbial hair down once Spira no longer needed the summoners' protections from Sin. She wanted her carefree days so bad... While Yevon's religious headquarters remained in Bevelle, both New Yevon and the Youth League decided that having the new secular government in Luca was a better idea. At the time of Last Mission, the two factions started meet in one of the buildings they are borrowing until the meeting hall is finished. Yuna, with or without Tidus, lives happily ever after. While she settled down in Besaid after X-2, she returns to the Gullwings every now and then for some more missions. Similarly, Spiran society proudly marches forward from its days with Sin. Yeah, Will and Eien no Daisho are not fanon in my head. WoFF!Besaid and WoFF!Spira is in an alternate timeline where the Machina War ended in a truce and reconciliation. As such, Sin ended up being much less of a threat and got taken out long before Tidus and Yuna were born. Thus WoFF!Besaid's settlement grew safely next to the coast rather than inland as in FFX proper. Edited October 20, 2020 by henrymidfields Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonFlames Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, henrymidfields said: Does anyone have headcanons in the JRPGs (including spin-offs) that they played? Mine below: Now that I think about it, not really. I usually like to read between the lines of what is being told to me (remember: show, don't tell!), which can give you a TON of insight into character motivations and behaviour, but headcanons aren't exactly common with me, except for Fates, where the story and main characters are so bad I have to come up with my own stuff to even slightly tolerate it. Edited July 9, 2018 by DragonFlames Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armagon Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 Over the past 2-ish months, i've had quite a few JRPGs on my plate. The Xenosaga trilogy, the Baten Kaitos duology, Trails to Zero and the first two Trails of Cold Steel games. And as of today, i have cleared three of them, so i figured i'd post my thoughts on the ones i completed, inside a spoiler tag so i don't take up a whole lot of space. Two of them are Trails games and i am aware of a Trails thread but it's basically dead so i figure a lot more people would notice my thoughts if i posted it here instead. Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht Spoiler What i liked The story was basically a prolouge. But it's still a decent story. The characters are good and there was quite a decent amount of humor. I'd say my favorite characters are Shion, Allen, and Albedo. I have to especially talk about Albedo. He is probably one of the most fucked up villains in the series. You can tell that he's mentally insane and his theme is great. And that particular cutscene, that was probably the most fucked up one in the entire game. If you've played the game, you likely know what i'm talking about. The two ending songs, Pain and Kokoro, were pretty beautiful and were reminiscent of Xenogears' Small Two of Pieces. Which makes sense, given that the three songs were composed by Mitsuda and sung by Joanne Hogg. The pre-rendered cutscenes were pretty good too. They definitely still hold up, i'd say. Margulis is absolutely a Sith Lord. His design screams Sith Lord. What i didn't like Combat wasn't that great. It felt like it was supposed to be an improved version of Xenogears' combat, but i found myself being a lot more invested in the combat of Xenogears compared to this game. You literally can't run away from fights without using an Escape Kit. There's one part in the beginning of the game where you have to avoid coming into contact with Gnosis (because KOS-MOS' Hilbert Effect hadn't affected them yet) but if you do, a battle starts but you literally can't do anything except die and accept the game over. And you can't buy Escape Kits until later. That's a pretty bad design flaw. The few music that was in the game is amazing. But there's still quite a noticeable lack of music. Whether it be a town or dungeon, there's no music playing and it makes everything feel dull and lifeless. That's my biggest complain with this game and why it's my least favorite in the Xeno series. There are legit only two battle themes in the game. One for every single fight and one for the final boss. Both songs are decent but i hope you really love the regular battle theme because that's what you'll be hearing up until the final boss. Final thoughts It's a pretty decent game. But unlike Xenogears, Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2, i wouldn't call it a masterpiece. Do i recommend it? Yeah. But know that overall, i consider it to be the weakest entry in the series. Anyway, onto Episode II. It's supposedly the worst game in the series but will those claims hold up? I'll soon find out. Trails to Zero Spoiler What i liked You can actually attack monster on the field now, allowing for easier advantages and even the new Chain Attack option. While Crossbell may be small (you literally visit all the major areas in the first chapter), it's a solid setting. The story is good and the characters are all great and aside from the game's villains (which i'll get to later), i can't really say i disliked anybody. Music is fantastic as usual, and the OP is my second favorite in the series. There's more voice acting overall and although it's Japanese (this game was never localized for some reason), i appreciate it. It made me more invested in the story. The Sky trilogy only had voice acting for certain lines during battle, which wasn't bad, but i appreciate the more voice acting that Zero introduced. What i didn't like The villains........aren't that great. Honestly, if there's one criticism i have of the Trails series, is that a lot of the time, i don't actually care about the villains. In this game, it's the mafia and later, the high priest of a demonic cult. The mafia were just that. Mafia. Nothing interesting about them. And the high priest was just a worse Wiessman, the villain of Trails in the Sky SC. And my opinion of Wiessman already isn't that great. But in the case of the high priest (i'm not referring to him by name to avoid spoilers), he did.....absolutely nothing. There wasn't even foreshadowing to hint at that he's the real bad guy. Is it me or do Arts actually suck in this game? Unlike the Sky trilogy and the first two Cold Steel games, i barely got a use out of Arts in this game. Which sucks because during the second phase of the final boss, he becomes immune to physical attacks (except for S-Crafts) so you have to hit him with Arts. Some of the character portraits look off. For the new characters, it was fine, but for returning characters such as Estelle and Joshua, i much preferred the more cleaner, smoother portraits that they had in the Sky trilogy. Final thoughts It's a great game. I appreciated the improvements made to the combat but i still feel that the villains could use more work. Trails of Cold Steel Spoiler What i liked So before going into this game, i had heard that Rean, the main protagonist, isn't that great. And after playing, i can say.......i don't really get it. I mean, he's no Estelle and he definitely had a few perfect being moments but i genuinely felt that he's a good character. The voice acting also helps. A lot. I like him more than Lloyd, the protagonist of the Crossbell games, at the very least. Not that Lloyd was bad at all. On the subject of other characters, i liked them a lot too. Most of them. In terms of the main cast, there's one character i didn't really care for that much and i'll get into that later. I didn't hate her or anything though. In terms of my favorite characters though, i'd say my favorites are Rean, Alisa, Machias, Emma, and Crow. I much prefer the way Arts are handled in this game compared to the previous games. Instead of having to insert a certain combination of Quartz to get Arts, now you can get Arts simply by inserting the respective Quartz. For example, if you want the Dark Matter Art, just insert the Quartz by the same name. Because of that, managing Arts is much easier. The music is fantastic, as usual. The Nord Highlands probably has my favorite area theme in the game. The actual area itself, well.... What i didn't like Going off of what i just said, while i enjoyed the area's music, the Nord Highlands.....were really damn empty. And you're on a horse when moving across it so you have very minimal chances of encountering monster. That was probably my least favorite area in the game. In terms of the main cast, Laura is my least favorite character. I don't hate her or anything but i just didn't really care. Locking S-Crafts behind the story is really odd. Emma is the worst offender, as her S-Craft doesn't unlock until Chapter 6. No other game did this, aside from Trails in the Sky the 3rd, where Ries' S-Craft didn't unlock until the end of Ch.1 and Josette's wasn't unlocked until you completed the required Sun Door, which is really easy to find. Wasn't really a fan of how they restricted your exploration. You can't freely go to places, even after you've been to them. Instead, you're just locked into the confines of Trista, or wherever the current chapter's field study has you go. Because of that, the otherwise excellent worldbuilding kinda suffered. Once again, the villains aren't that great. As fun as it was to see Blublanc again, i couldn't really care about the villains. Except for one and he maintains his main villain role in Cold Steel II. But in the context of this game, that's a spoiler. Aside from the final floor, exploring the Old Schoolhouse every chapter got boring fast. Why do you not get money for completing quests? You only get AP out of it, which does nothing except maybe a reward every few times you rank up. Overall thoughts It's a good game that has some.....strange flaws in it when compared to the rest of the series. Still recommend it though, provided you've already played through the Sky trilogy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamanoir Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 @Armagon On Trails of Cold Steel : Spoiler The North Highlands. For me, Chapter 3 was absolutely brillant. See, I was ready to drop the game forever at this point. Alisa acting like a cretin didn't helped. And the chapter opens with a stupid exam. No one like this irl, and even less in a game. And then, you take the train for the highlands. And teh world opens up in front of you. It's actually a good thing for me that it's relatively empty. Because you have those vast plains, and you can really feels freedom (that theme being fantastic also helped.) You understand why those lands are so important for Gaius and his family. This chapter also offered us some great scenes between Alisa and Rean, because why not ? And then, this peace is threatened. ANd you see why it must be defended. You feels it inside of you. I really felt al of that on a higher emotional than most scenes, in this games or others. Probably one of my best gaming moment. Actually, I feel.. mitigated about this game (it's kinda similar with TOCS2). It have some truly amazing moments, but also truly bad (or at least frustrating ones.) It was quite an emotional rollercoatser, and I'm still not sure where the balance fells, once all the good and bad things are put into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armagon Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 54 minutes ago, Tamanoir said: @Armagon On Trails of Cold Steel : Reveal hidden contents The North Highlands. For me, Chapter 3 was absolutely brillant. See, I was ready to drop the game forever at this point. Alisa acting like a cretin didn't helped. And the chapter opens with a stupid exam. No one like this irl, and even less in a game. And then, you take the train for the highlands. And teh world opens up in front of you. It's actually a good thing for me that it's relatively empty. Because you have those vast plains, and you can really feels freedom (that theme being fantastic also helped.) You understand why those lands are so important for Gaius and his family. This chapter also offered us some great scenes between Alisa and Rean, because why not ? And then, this peace is threatened. ANd you see why it must be defended. You feels it inside of you. I really felt al of that on a higher emotional than most scenes, in this games or others. Probably one of my best gaming moment. Actually, I feel.. mitigated about this game (it's kinda similar with TOCS2). It have some truly amazing moments, but also truly bad (or at least frustrating ones.) It was quite an emotional rollercoatser, and I'm still not sure where the balance fells, once all the good and bad things are put into it. Spoiler Yeah, I hated the exam. I didn't think they'd actually test me on it. I should've written down notes during those study sessions because, unsurprisingly, i bombed the exam. Just like in real life. But no, i agree, from an aesthetic and story standpoint, the Nord Highlands were great and, as you said, the music was fantastic. But from a completely gameplay standpoint, i was disappointed. Maybe it's because i play too much Xenoblade but when i see big open areas, i expect things in it. With the Nord Highlands, not only was it really empty but you had to actually go out of your way (sort of, not completely) to fight monsters, which i had to do because i'm pretty sure if i didn't, the Nord Highlands would've left my current party underleveled. As for the balance between good and bad moments, i definitely do feel that there was way more good than bad. The only parts of the game i can say that i really didn't like were Laura, the villains (imo, a rather weak point for the series overall), and the conflict between the Nobles and the Reformists. Spoiler My main issue with the Nobles vs Reformists conflict is that instead of treating it as a moral grey area, what ends up happening is that every time the Noble Alliance does something, it's always treated as objectively wrong and something that must be stopped. Like, when the Provincial Army conspires with bandits to force the residents of Celdic to accept the new regional tax law or when Duke Albarea places Jusis under house arrest so that he can order the arrest of Machias simply because he's the imperial governor's son and he can be used as a political hostage. They take this like 5 steps further in Cold Steel II but i'll cover that once i finish the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamanoir Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 4 hours ago, Armagon said: Hide contents Yeah, I hated the exam. I didn't think they'd actually test me on it. I should've written down notes during those study sessions because, unsurprisingly, i bombed the exam. Just like in real life. But no, i agree, from an aesthetic and story standpoint, the Nord Highlands were great and, as you said, the music was fantastic. But from a completely gameplay standpoint, i was disappointed. Maybe it's because i play too much Xenoblade but when i see big open areas, i expect things in it. With the Nord Highlands, not only was it really empty but you had to actually go out of your way (sort of, not completely) to fight monsters, which i had to do because i'm pretty sure if i didn't, the Nord Highlands would've left my current party underleveled. As for the balance between good and bad moments, i definitely do feel that there was way more good than bad. The only parts of the game i can say that i really didn't like were Laura, the villains (imo, a rather weak point for the series overall), and the conflict between the Nobles and the Reformists. Hide contents My main issue with the Nobles vs Reformists conflict is that instead of treating it as a moral grey area, what ends up happening is that every time the Noble Alliance does something, it's always treated as objectively wrong and something that must be stopped. Like, when the Provincial Army conspires with bandits to force the residents of Celdic to accept the new regional tax law or when Duke Albarea places Jusis under house arrest so that he can order the arrest of Machias simply because he's the imperial governor's son and he can be used as a political hostage. They take this like 5 steps further in Cold Steel II but i'll cover that once i finish the game. It may sems weird, but I like places that are "empty", "useless" in terms of game design. It makes feels the world more reallistic, if not everything is build around us. This idea was greatly cemented by Dragon Quest 9. Why I have some issues about the gameplay, I really love Dragon Quest 9's world. It's really vast, and there's all those ruins around reminding you of a distant past. And once again, Dragon Quets's sense of story telling, and the great score do the rest. But, in this world, there are many parts that are not needed, but are there anyway. I think about all the East coast of the starting continent (I don't have the names right now...), which doesn't have really anything of value as my main example. Gilliath Osborne is a facinating character, but he isn't really a villain, nor even the main antagonist. Spoiler ...But I liked Crow honnestly. I honnestlly didn't saw that one comming. And yeah, about the noble VS Reformists... Well, yeah, what a disappointment. Jusis VS Machias is a correct dynamic, but the rest... Tales of Cold Steel (both I and II) are great games, and I really enjoyed them. So "bad" points are really disappointing, because I really care about this game and the characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armagon Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 (edited) Four hours into Xenosaga Episode II. Gotta say, despite the game being considered the worst in the series......i don't really see why. My only real complaint is that some battles take too long. Other than that, i don't really see why it's considered the worst. I guess the stigma of selling like shit and effectively cutting the original plans of Xenosaga's 6-part epic in half caused it to be labeled as the worst in the series. That said, i still think Namco was stupid removing Tetsuya Takahashi from Episode II's development, even if the man himself did eventually remake the game for the DS (but that never made it out of Japan). At the very least, Episode II is much better than Episode I. Edited July 13, 2018 by Armagon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slumber Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 Finishing up Ys VIII. I've enjoyed it a lot, and have probably gotten pretty close to 100%ing the game(Base game, at least) on the first run through. However, I could not give less of a shit about the story in the Dana segments. After a while I just started skipping those cutscenes. I really don't think they did a good job at making those parts of the story compelling or intriguing, and the implementation of "Doing things in the past influences the future in a Looper-esque way!" seems really half baked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interdimensional Observer Posted July 13, 2018 Author Share Posted July 13, 2018 On 7/7/2018 at 6:11 AM, DragonFlames said: Although to be fair, I haven't played Final Fantasy I-III, V, VIII, IX, Lightning Returns or the MMO ones so I can't judge those, but the ones I did play... well, let's just say that with the exception of XII - and even that is a stretch compared to some of the other games I've listed - none of them felt like "pinnacle of JRPGs" to me, neither in terms of gameplay, nor story. I-III are safely skippable, they invented the series, but the NES trilogy doesn't hold up as anything more than historical curiosities. V is proto-Bravely in gameplay with a good class system, except ATB of course. I consider both Bravely games superior to V, but I do like it, more than most probably would. VIII is very much safely skippable as well I would say, it is experimental in gameplay, much more for the worse I think consensus would tell you, although to be fair I already knew how to exploit it in advance: Spoiler Enemies autolevel with you for one, although some like the final boss have a level cap below 100 (the final boss's is 60), and since enemies gain more stats when leveling than you, it's better to keep yourself as low leveled as possible throughout the game. Some enemies do drop better items and offer better magic when they hit a certain level, but these only serve to put the two of you on equal footing again. Use the card minigame Triple Triad to load up on cards that you can then convert via the proper Guardian Force into high-end spells, which you can then Junction to boost your stats really high, even more so when you keeping the enemies low in their levels. On characters, well Slumber here would be happy to explain the merits and good character of Squall Leonhart, although others are off put by his stoicism and find it too much and illogical. The main heroine Rinoa, well she and the romance she and Squall have- if you're into it, you'll enjoy the plot, if you aren't, well there goes a big chunk of it. The other characters tended to be okay, but nothing amazing, since Squall-Rinoa hogs up a lot of the attention. The plot beyond the romance is also okay, but nothing really notable. The world building I found weak. Soundtrack has some good ones in it though. On 7/7/2018 at 9:57 AM, JSND Alter Dragon Boner said: I'm somewhat surprised you manage to fit in Overexertion and leading blow though, usually i never used that skill until post game. Granted my usage of BB is limited, mostly for cheese boss runs, and the one time they are a main party member, they are a support(Overexertion - Clinch). No Helm Splitter though? I only really have time to set up one or two Overexertions before I resort to Chain Blast, so one of my frontliners will lack the buff, so it isn't exactly efficient, but having a third attacker is very useful. I haven't looked up data values on the various skills, but I tried Leading Blow thinking it the one major damage dealer the BB has, and thus decided to go for it. Fully bound and ailed, the near-fully upgrade five hit combo in the 3rd Stratum went something like 500-250-250-250-250 (those 250s might have been closer to 300) I think with Overexertion, which sold me on it. Once I'm done with maxing the binds punches and Corkscrew, which should further maximize LB's damage I would think, then I can go more into Thunder Fist for composite damage, or maybe even Clinch as a Chain Blast alternative, it'd free up my Unions for something else. And if I ever need to, a quick Rest and I can retool my BB, that is a beautiful thing about EO- being able to redo your builds if need be not totally freely, but with a manageable cost. As for Helm Splitter, I saw the "low accuracy" part and was dissuaded from it despite the resistances ignoring part, I've opted instead to invest in Bolt Slash for when pure Cut will get resisted, there shouldn't be too many things both Cut and Volt resistant. But the BM has no shortage of Skill Points, I can get it later. On 7/9/2018 at 6:19 PM, Armagon said: the Baten Kaitos duology Not sure where your are presently on Eternal Wings, but I just want get this piece of advice out of the way which I said I would give earlier. When you reach the second village in Mira, scan it thoroughly for two Magnus that are obviously are related to each other. One of them will hint at using the other with it in battle, so do that any play them together, just them in any order (some Magnus recipes I believe require the Magnus to be used in a certain order). Don't understand why you get what you get from this combo? It took me some time to figure out the little meaning behind it. Spoiler Tri-Crescendo Pen + Monolith Pen = Holy Grail The "Holy Grail" is sometimes used as adjective IRL to describe something really great, the absolute best there is. IRL, what happened when Tri-Crescendo and Monolith Soft worked together? Baten Kaitos. Baten Kaitos = the Holy Grail! It's a little boastful joke from the developers. Now if you haven't obtained a Japanese Rice Wine by now, the shop in that town sells Uncooked Rice, buy that Magnus in the town and let it age three hours. Combine the Japanese Rice Wine with the other Magnus, the result is a failproof in-battle reviving healing item that never ages. Now technically, Mizuti will be joining after the next dungeon and will come with the non Japanese Rice Wine Magnus, so if you wanted to, you could just use the one they bring in the combo. But since this lets you stock up on multiple of one of the needed Magnus and it is capable of being obtained a little sooner, you might want to do the first part. Later on, you can make a little stronger failproof in-battle revival Magnus that never ages. And once again it requires the use of one Magnus found in a town, a different one, one with a ridiculously long and hard to pronounce name I will say. Now it might heal, for next to nothing, but play it with an offensive Magnus matching what the Magnus's description hints at. Then take the results and read its description for another hint, and then play it with an offensive Magnus matching that to make the Deluxe version, which can handle the rest of your healing needs pretty much for the game. The supreme healing in the game however lay in Peaches aged for 80 hours, as I alluded to before. But you don't actually need that, ever, it's more there for those who stumble on the secret of them existing and or play things really slowly. And one little fun fact I just recently found out. You know how everyone shouts something whenever they use a Finisher, regardless of which one it is? Like Kalas's "Sword Style!", Xelha's "Magic!" and Gibari's "Destructive Power!"? That is apparently the work of the localization, a bit of unique flavoring for each of these character who fight differently and have different personalities. The Japanese is the same for them all- hissatsu- which literally can mean "certain kill", and is commonly used before special attacks in action anime/manga/video games and whatnot. In Xenogears, hissatsu is translated as Deathblow. After taking a break from it I got back to ToX, played a bit further: Spoiler I've stopped at the return to Kanbalar after its liberation from Exodus. Was I able to optionally lose that Gaius fight? The accessory I got seems quite good and despite me being overleveled I could safely say, he was able to one-combo-kill if I wasn't careful. I can't imagine him being so manageable (maybe with All Divides) for someone who has spent no time grinding in Xagut and on Bacuras. Gaius himself and three of the four Chimeraid I'm quite liking, Miss Psycho with a Sympathetic Backstory Argia/Nadia behaves a bit too unrestrained. The Fezebel climax showed off their strength brilliantly, RIP Jiao! Alvin is done with his whole betrayal business, right? Sure it blasted open a portal to this real enemy Maxwell seems to know little about and much has to found out about them, but now he has done his worse it seems. Ivar still living and going even more insane was unexpected, he might have been better dying at Fezebel at this point, guess the game is trying to shove in another fight with him later, another Jude solo? ...And as soon as Alvin ends his betrayal(?), once I reunite with Jude after the trip through the lava caves, I'm stuck with ANOTHER TRAITOR! Let's see: She clearly appeared when the rift opened. She acts very nonchalantly when the world is in peril. Wasn't around beforehand at all despite being a seemingly Great Spirit of some sort. Is draining the life of Jude and trying to keep him apart from Maxwell in a way. Tries to be extremely familial with Maxwell and get them to really trust her. Gets to tag along with the heroes and is therefore capable of monitoring them and sabotaging them at any time. Maxwell is not quite so suspicious of Muzet as she was of Alvin, but she still has shown some slight distrust which I hope grows. Nonetheless, I hate this. Another certain other cute innocent face who is a traitor in a different game was handled much better (even if I wish the ending where you defy them wasn't the alternative one and instead the best possible outcome). Alvin I can't tell whether he was good or bad in the execution of his betrayal stuff. Muzet on the other hand is just awful, why does a game need two traitors like this and the second one is being so sloppily handled? I've even turned off the Muzet arte for Jude just so I never have to see her nor get used to her being temporarily useful in battle. And making sexual jokes about the exploitive bond Muzet has created in skits, no! I loathe jokes in JRPGs that revolve around calling an innocent-minded male protag a pervert, why is it funny? As for combat, the Lilium Orbs end at 2 Orbs? Unless GP drops off heavily at certain point, this seems strange when looking at my characters' stats. And bosses getting Mystic Artes is okay, but the problem is I can Free Run from any risk of them. No Mystics for the player is a little unusual, but all those Linked Artes compensate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phasmatis Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 I've been replaying 2hu Soujinengi, which was recently announced to be getting a Switch port. http://www.siliconera.com/2018/07/12/touhou-soujinengi-v-the-genius-of-sappheiros-headed-to-nintendo-switch/ It plays quite a bit like SaGa game with formations and weapon skills but you don't have to stupid, tedious stuff like hitting your own characters to increase their HP. You only need to worry about standard exp, and 'power', which is used to augment certain statistics or even learn new skills. Spoiler The plot is pretty standard for Touhou. Reimu and co. go around Gensokyo beating up people who they think is responsible for the incident until they stumble on the big bad and defeat her. There's even a DLC expansion that adds extra post game content and five characters for a total of seventeen. The game has a ton of references to popular games and manga from the 80's/90's like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Jojo, etc, etc. Spoiler 「咲夜の世界」 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armagon Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said: Not sure where your are presently on Eternal Wings I'm still near the beginning. On the second island but have barely made progress on it. I just got caught up with other games but i do intend to beat Eternal Wings and Origins later on (along with all of the other games on my backlog) before September 14th. Why that specific date? Because that's when the Golden Country expansion for Xenoblade 2 releases so i want to have everything cleared before then, including 100%ing Xenoblade 2 itself. But back on topic regarding Eternal Wings, is it me or is there a noticeable difficulty spike on the second island. I made it past the port town but noticed that enemies now hit harder and take more damage before dying and i had my first game over occur (mainly because my healing Magnus wouldn't show up when i needed them the most). I tried going back to the port town to see what new things i can buy but most of it is stuff i already own so i'm not really sure what to do there other than to grind a little bit. And i'll make a note of searching for those two Magnus when i reach Mira, thanks for letting me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interdimensional Observer Posted July 13, 2018 Author Share Posted July 13, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Armagon said: But back on topic regarding Eternal Wings, is it me or is there a noticeable difficulty spike on the second island. I made it past the port town but noticed that enemies now hit harder and take more damage before dying and i had my first game over occur (mainly because my healing Magnus wouldn't show up when i needed them the most). I tried going back to the port town to see what new things i can buy but most of it is stuff i already own so i'm not really sure what to do there other than to grind a little bit. And i'll make a note of searching for those two Magnus when i reach Mira, thanks for letting me know. Now that I do think about it, I did find the Lesser Celestial River a bit more challenging than anything on Sadal Suud, the enemies do pack the extra punch and now carry Poison. It doesn't exactly help this game is built on weakness targeting since practically everything has weaknesses* and Gibari is stuck with a lot of Water and Wind at the start- the very elements the enemies resist, and Kalas's Fire source has limited duration. Things will get better. Gibari gets pretty diverse on his element selection with time, there is even a farmable Fire for him on the third island. And once you get more of them, if a particular ailment enemies are packing is bothering you, try seeing if your characters have equipment- Kalas's Buckles, Xelha's Anklets, Gibari's Creels- that offer any good resistance to that ailment. Rarely will you find 100% protection, but something is better than nothing. I've heard some people like taking a character and giving them nothing but healing and some armor for bosses, to make sure the team always has healing on hand. Sure it'll decrease your offense, but it make your survival easier I can imagine. I never found the need to do this, but see if it'll help, you can always change your decks again later. On the plus side, you can probably strip the non-healers of healing items and fill in the space with more offense to compensate somewhat. If you need more healing now, well if you get any Honey and Cucumbers, you can make Melons with them. When Cheese (not Pow Cheese, that is just a Quest Magnus) is available, that plus Honey makes Chestnuts (not the same as the ones you can eat in the menu), which also have a high chance of curing Poison on top of HP healing. One other thing I will mention, in Castle Elnath- the castle of Diadem, you should find a Blank Notebook, and a boss will drop the Prophet's Pen. Play first the Notebook and then the Pen, the creation will be the Prophet's Notebook. This unlocks a feature in the menu options that alerts you to any Magnus that has aged, the Prophet's Notebook itself ages after ten hours, I don't know if you'll need to make a new one then or whether the feature will stay unlocked. It's a useful little utility. ...If all these recipes sound ridiculous, well oftentimes the Magnus themselves will suggest a recipe with them in it in their description. Other times, you just have to think about what makes sense. A Blank Notebook and a writing implement do go hand in hand, literally. Fortunately, a lot of the 141 recipes and their results are just side attractions for the curious and creative, I've listed only a small handful of ones which are relatively easy to make, useful, and don't having any aging issues (well the Melons do, but they'll work for the short term). *Asterisk is for two bosses later on who follow one another (not back to back battles though- that'd be mean), they resist everything, just pick your strongest cards for them. Coincidentally there is another boss just before these ones show up, who is back to back with another, who I've always fought, but is optional via a dialogue choice on the spot, and that boss happens to be neither resistant nor weak to anything. They aren't hard at all, and their picture sells well (they drop nothing), so I say go ahead and do it, but your choice. 1 hour ago, Armagon said: 'm still near the beginning. On the second island but have barely made progress on it. I just got caught up with other games but i do intend to beat Eternal Wings and Origins later on (along with all of the other games on my backlog) before September 14th. Wow that should be a feat. But it'll help that I think BKO is a bit shorter than Eternal Wings. Not quite sure, but it felt that way to me. Length has nothing to do with quality though, as I love BKO as much, if not more actually than Eternal Wings. Just don't try to start Origins before finishing Eternal Wings. Things big and small along the way up into the final dungeon are referenced in Origins, and it loses some of its impact without a full understanding of Eternal Wings. Once you get to it, I'll have a list of tips for BKO as well. Hope I'm not revealing too much or ruining the experience at all. Edited July 13, 2018 by Interdimensional Observer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modamy Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said: No Mystics for the player is a little unusual, but all those Linked Artes compensate. It does have mystic artes. Spoiler They're unlocked by unlocking each character's arcane arte. I used spoilers in case you wanted to figure it out yourself. Recently got back in to Xenoblade 2 and have been really enjoying it.. until the game soft locked on me and I lost like 3 hours of progress so now I'm sittin' here feelin' kinda down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonFlames Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said: I-III are safely skippable, they invented the series, but the NES trilogy doesn't hold up as anything more than historical curiosities. V is proto-Bravely in gameplay with a good class system, except ATB of course. I consider both Bravely games superior to V, but I do like it, more than most probably would. VIII is very much safely skippable as well I would say, it is experimental in gameplay, much more for the worse I think consensus would tell you, although to be fair I already knew how to exploit it in advance: Reveal hidden contents Enemies autolevel with you for one, although some like the final boss have a level cap below 100 (the final boss's is 60), and since enemies gain more stats when leveling than you, it's better to keep yourself as low leveled as possible throughout the game. Some enemies do drop better items and offer better magic when they hit a certain level, but these only serve to put the two of you on equal footing again. Use the card minigame Triple Triad to load up on cards that you can then convert via the proper Guardian Force into high-end spells, which you can then Junction to boost your stats really high, even more so when you keeping the enemies low in their levels. On characters, well Slumber here would be happy to explain the merits and good character of Squall Leonhart, although others are off put by his stoicism and find it too much and illogical. The main heroine Rinoa, well she and the romance she and Squall have- if you're into it, you'll enjoy the plot, if you aren't, well there goes a big chunk of it. The other characters tended to be okay, but nothing amazing, since Squall-Rinoa hogs up a lot of the attention. The plot beyond the romance is also okay, but nothing really notable. The world building I found weak. Soundtrack has some good ones in it though. Interesting insight. The exploit method for VIII sounds intriguing. I did see ProJared's videos on FF I through III and they did sound a bit silly / stupid (with the exception of I, which probably aged like rotten cheese at this point). I did hear that Bravely was kind of a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy V, I just never stopped to think about how much this was the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSND Alter Dragon Boner Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 8 hours ago, DragonFlames said: Interesting insight. The exploit method for VIII sounds intriguing. I did see ProJared's videos on FF I through III and they did sound a bit silly / stupid (with the exception of I, which probably aged like rotten cheese at this point). I did hear that Bravely was kind of a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy V, I just never stopped to think about how much this was the case. The interesting part about 8's exploitation is that they basically gave you 2 opportunity to "somewhat tediously" broke the level scaling of the game. Involving a turbo grinding which would put your inventory at 2 points of the game to a certain peak without facing the consequences But the "optimally exploited" playthrough of FF8 very much looks like pokemon - you weaken the enemy and turn them into cards, fleeing when its scrubs you don't give a damn about. This lets you keep getting AP(the ones that progress your skillset) while maintaining EXP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armagon Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 18 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said: if a particular ailment enemies are packing is bothering you, try seeing if your characters have equipment- Kalas's Buckles, Xelha's Anklets, Gibari's Creels- that offer any good resistance to that ailment. Rarely will you find 100% protection, but something is better than nothing. 18 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said: If you need more healing now, well if you get any Honey and Cucumbers, you can make Melons with them. When Cheese (not Pow Cheese, that is just a Quest Magnus) is available, that plus Honey makes Chestnuts (not the same as the ones you can eat in the menu), which also have a high chance of curing Poison on top of HP healing. Judging from this, i take it there's not really ways to 100% cure status effects outside of the rare equipment? I did notice that mineral water has a 66% chance of healing poison and i always found it strange that it wasn't a guarantee but before i figured that i just had to age it but now i'm not so sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interdimensional Observer Posted July 14, 2018 Author Share Posted July 14, 2018 (edited) 5 hours ago, Armagon said: Judging from this, i take it there's not really ways to 100% cure status effects outside of the rare equipment? I did notice that mineral water has a 66% chance of healing poison and i always found it strange that it wasn't a guarantee but before i figured that i just had to age it but now i'm not so sure. There are ways other than equipment. Doing a quick look of my old game guide for some 100% options: 100% Poison Cure: Come the third island, you'll be able to obtain Green Plums from some enemies, after 5 hours, they become Pickled Plums, which never age. 100% Freeze Cure: The fifth island has an enemy that drops Crimson Oak Blossoms, which never age. 100% Burn Cure: The fourth island has an enemy that drops Small Fires, play it with any Aqua Burst or a Mineral Water to make Firefighting Medals, which never age. 100% Paralysis Cure: Sadly the 100% stuff here, Cherries and Last Night's Curry, comes late and age. I can't say when exactly, but late. Fortunately a check of the equipment Magnus turns up lots of them, anything with "Gold" in the name in particular, having good Paralysis resistance. Still, this will be one of the more annoying statuses to deal with. 100% Confusion and Headache, I don't recall either of these being a big issue. Headache is like the very weakest of ailments, it just relocates the spirit numbers from the corners to the centers of the sides of the cards. Confusion makes the numbers move in a clockwise fashion around the cards. Both have plenty of good cures, if you need them I can list them. Sleep, well getting hit once by an enemy breaks this condition, I don't think it calls much for the perfect cure here. I'm just trying to be helpful (maybe a little too much so), and if a lack of 100% cures is at all a drag, I'm hoping this will make it better. You're also making me realize just how unconventional BK can be at times (whether you find this good or not, time will tell I guess, I'll be interested in your final judgements). Edited July 14, 2018 by Interdimensional Observer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interdimensional Observer Posted July 20, 2018 Author Share Posted July 20, 2018 More Xillia (mind you not all these thoughts were written at the same time if they seem to contradict each other): Spoiler The finale to the Exodus stuff with the ship raid was real quick. Celsius wasn't as cool as I thought her existence would be at first, she hardly had any screentime, but the spyrite concept was good. Surprised to see some tragedy here, but not bad (Guiland loses that tragedy when Alvin says he would have been killed by his uncle regardless later). Muzet's betrayal came fast as a result, good, got it over with. The Milla in the spirit world stuff trying to regain themselves finally let me see the Four Great Spirits again, and that was great. Sure Undine is just the mature female in the group, Slyph is the contrarian teenage-ish boy, Efreet the muscular, powerful, but in this case restrained male, and Gnome the mild cute thing. But again, I like my Summon Spirits, and I was happy having them around getting a little development. I wish they still had a talking capacity after the Maxwell battle, but I understand why they don't with a protag team of 7 talkative people already factoring in Teepo. Still, at least Milla has those awesome and powerful Great Spirit artes back, none have Linked Artes associated with them and Milla's old normal attacks (didn't one of her sword thrusts have a magic projectile on it?) at the beginning, but I still love 'em. Although it was a little boring, I got to see the, cheaply designed, Spirit World, which is better than nothing and leaving the Spirit World unexplored. I think it was explicitly said it manifests according to an individual's mind, so it being the Hamil area was just Milla's psyche, makes me wonder what it'd look like in a cognition-free default form though. Milla's pseudo-nude attire was meh, and again I ask whether had Milla been Millo, would that have happened? I get in anime stuff and such sometimes spiritual moments make a character appear naked, when physically speaking in the real world they aren't. I don't mind it, it isn't supposed to be sexual, and in Xenogears and Earthbound males do get subject to it. But I still think I have a valid question here, being Tales isn't a high art in terms of storytelling, leaving me to cynically wonder if it was more going for a lower common denominator here. This is just a nitpick in the scheme of things though. So Muzet is just a wack job program, better than master manipulator at least. Didn't take very much for her to betray Maxwell though. The fight with her was a challenge, solos in Tales can sometimes be a pain, and she was, it took multiple tries and the purchasing of a light elemental sword. Much later, why did they toss in that random reading to the blind old lady side event about her? It felt like forced sympathy, makes no sense Muzet would do it. Now the revelation Milla isn't actually Maxwell, can't say I hadn't considered the possibility before. I had mused about it earlier, even before the end to the Lance arc, after which the doubts clearly grow in Milla. I'm not sure exactly what line of dialogue suggested it to me, but I think it was some bit concerning the distant past, Milla didn't seem to have all the answers deep down I speculated. Milla still isn't exactly human and still acts as she had before, which is better than nothing, even though I preferred the idea of a playable deity. Much to my continued dislike, now Milla and Jude can be together forever, that was how they just had to do that. Just another nitpick, this isn't Squall-Rinoa where it is the heart of the plot. Now the Maxwell battle, nice to see Meteor Storm again, just wish he didn't go into Overlimit like 8 times. My bigger issue is how much I missed by picking Milla over Jude at the start of the game. Maxwell, for reasons I'm not told, goes tyrannical in the physical world, Jude and co. fight back, and they also kill Ivar (I'm actually happier he died offscreen, I was sick of him) sent Ivar packing (until he hijacks the iffy coliseum), and also Presa and Agria. This was rather poorly handled, what I got with Milla, although again I like the Four, was barely anything meaty by comparison to all the action it sounds like I missed. The fact that, although it was with 50% EXP boosting food prepped beforehand, that I got +3/4 levels per character sounds like something that only happened because had I played as Jude, everyone would have gotten the same EXP spread out over a couple boss battles. Gaius becoming with Muzet the true final villains isn't bad, Gaius's brief time as a non-enemy-slight-ally makes things better in this regard. Reminds me of Richter and Aqua to a degree. Doesn't make for the strongest villain though, it's one rather spur of the moment, not unexpected, just not built up. Maxwell's instantaneous turnaround to a good guy was just as sudden, and is an issue every villain now that I think about it had on the deathbed. On the more positive side, Gaius isn't EVIL!, he is radical and wrong, bad, but not evil. He respects the heroes, the heroes respect him, neither really hates the other. He even feels sorry for using Muzet, since she is mentally broken. There isn't a lot of Elympios, but what is there is just enough to cover it I guess. They came pretty quickly to a solution to its two world problem, unlike Symphonia where a third of the game is built partly on creating a wrong solution. Having a Volt, one that was slightly more than just a sentient orb of lightning, was good. Yet that he doesn't become somebody's arte was disappointing. As was the miasma dungeon, thought it'd be something more than just a place for a Devil's Beast. The miasma sounded like a good idea for a location where a real superboss is stored. The Devil's Beasts, well save the Helioburg one, I found them all on my own. Some were strong, but nothing nails bitingly hard. Confusion that turned my crew against each other was among the more annoying things. The Coliseum was cheap, both for me and the enemy. I started with Milla, which was a fair challenge (Gnome spam when enemies surrounded me was frequent) since it was my first time there. For everyone else, which happened after bought their final armors and weapons and grinded into the low-mid 70s, I was flabbergasted when I discovered they all suddenly had Iron Stance, that thing bosses use was MINE! Alvin had the easiest time by far with his huge sword, he could just spam normal attacks to win. Elize- Teepo Roar/10, even Ivar fell victim to it, he'd get roared, get back up and approach Elize, be roared back down again much of time, taking 1000+ from each roar. Leia, I never figured out how to activate the Elongated Staff (I don't Back Step), but she had a middle-of-the-road time. Rowen, I read online Tidal Wave spam, and that surprisingly didn't bankrupt his TP and did destroy everything... until Ivar. Rowen is so slow in movement and physical attacking alike, I lost to him several times and it is by some luck I was able to kill him via Tidal Wave (must be a reference to his infamous stalemate at Fezebel) spam instead of dying to him again. Jude was actually my worse, he fell off the arena a bunch of times infuriatingly. The Second Artes 2 punch combo was fast and potent, but he just lacked for crowd control, ring outing via knockback, and had to kill most enemies the old fashioned way one by one. Him vs. Ivar was a relatively easy affair though, making him the opposite of Rowen. Party Coliseum wasn't too difficult, I didn't even consume all the given items. I quickly killed Presa replica somehow, the battle then got worse actually when I then turned to Agria replica, not until she too was dead did the tide turn for good. The Mysterious Jewels boss was bad though, 240000K HP split equally by two strong foes, held off on doing it until after the Coliseum. And the final comments on Xillia- ending and summation: (also ToS: Dawn of the New World ending spoilers) Spoiler The game was certainly rushed later on in the plot, this is actually the second RPG this summer I've cleared to have this issue. It hurts, but it isn't the absolute worse here. The final dungeon was a non-dungeon, part of this game's complete disregard for dungeon design, but to be fair, I don't think too many people really care about this. And why did Wingul last to this point when the other Chimeriads were dead? The Muzet duo fight was much easier than the solo before, but I did get overzealous and she killed me once with an Event Horizon + Burn when she had like 2000 HP left. The final battle was disappointing. I liked Gaius fighting with Muzet, and while his hairdo got ugly, him going shirtless probably pleased some fans. It was fun seeing everyone smashing in with their Mystic Artes, made for a good, flashy reunion. That Muzet kept reviving and actually doing some healing, I don't know why it eventually stopped, only that it did, and that it prolonged the battle beyond what I thought it would be. Gaius was cake with Muzet down- the issue of every multi-boss battle. The two linking was a good gameplay-story integration element, although why'd they make Gaius's Mystic Arte fire elemental as opposed to neutral? When Jude got hit with it once, apparently he had enough fire resistance to get healed by it, thanks Gaius you're so kind! The primary disappointment was that I was expecting, as a trope of gaming, for Muzet and Gaius to fuse into a single being for another phase, perhaps with Maxwell even, yet it didn't happen. Gaius and Muzet surviving the final fight, well I still don't like Muzet, but Gaius is good. Still, this game might have been a little too kind with this. Milla becomes the new Maxwell, well I'm surprised the developers chose to let this happen. Jude and Milla are forced apart by this, the romance, which I was afraid would override the plot, did not dominate, which is good. Not that it was the worst romance at all, just that it had some issues I pointed out before. Dawn of the New World's best ending found a way to circumvent Emile having to stay in Ginnugagap by splitting him from Ratatosk, and this led me to think it could happen again. The rest of the ending was decent to good. Jude moves up in the world, Gaius and Rowen work together, Yurgen and Alvin working together was unexpected, for I didn't see a minor NPC showing up again in the ending. Leia moves on from her childhood Jude crush it appears, and Elize appears to retire Teepo forever, no longer needing him as her lone friend. All the characters were quite good, certainly one of the better Tales casts I'd say. Perhaps the best actually from what I've played. Milla was great, a very strong lead character. I'd say strong female character to promote feminine strength in gaming, but I can't given how much of a deal I made of them being genderless before. Milla is wise and unhesitant to start, and even when the leg injuries and creeping fear of loss enter the picture, they don't ever fall into the trap of utterly enfeebled emotionally damselism in need of Jude to save them. Milla was also very cool with the whole Spirits thing, which I like. Jude was sweet, but in the end, I didn't go crazy for him. This certainly owes something to me picking Milla at the very start of the game, so I didn't see so much of his development. Still, I liked how he learned from Milla, and how in his own ways, namely the post-Gandala crippling, he helped her. It was a balanced relationship. I still don't understand why putting his hand to head and thinking made him seem so perceptive at times. Alvin, in the end, I'll consider his traitor angle to lean towards good, if still very mixed. He didn't directly grow so much, but he did provide important insights into Elympios as its lone playable representative, and his mother stuff was touching. (The fate of Isla(?) was unexpectedly dark poetic justice as a side note- I was not expecting that.) Elize, she started as the mandatory loli, but quickly became quite pitiable with all of Hamil considering her cursed. The loss of Teepo's old memory was unexpected, and when it did happen, I eventually expected the memory to be reobtained, but it never was. As a result Elize had to grow, and by the ending, she certainly has. She felt a little unneeded at some point when I was in Elympios, I'm not sure why, but the ending quickly resolved that. She was also the lone real good healer, Leia it seemed traded too much of her healing powers for a better physical offense. Rowen, a swell old man with lots of strong magic, how much more need I say? If there is any issue with him, it is that I needed to see more of his failed Nachtigal relationship that helped turn the king into the pompous self-righteous solipsist bastard he was. Leia, she started a little rough with her introduction, particularly that list of reasons she handed Milla, but became a more likable character as she adjusted to being in the group. She is ordinary, and never really did much in the plot, but the Agria chats gave her something of a personal enemy (each of the Chimeriads was for someone not-Milla/Jude, who end up having Muzet and Gaius as their enemy parallels). For a perky female childhood friend, Leia the Slaya was good. With ToX done (not going to bother with the bonus dungeon right now), my next Tales will be Vesperia. ToZ seems to be generally canned, and ToB I do not have access to. ToX2 from what reviews say is a good deal of recycling, short, laden with filler, and the cast of ToX is just there to an extent, I think I'll leave my memories of Rieze Maxia as being just that of ToX. Now I can return to EOV, Valkyria Chronicles, and maybe at last start of XC2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Water Mage Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 18 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said: More Xillia (mind you not all these thoughts were written at the same time if they seem to contradict each other): Hide contents The finale to the Exodus stuff with the ship raid was real quick. Celsius wasn't as cool as I thought her existence would be at first, she hardly had any screentime, but the spyrite concept was good. Surprised to see some tragedy here, but not bad (Guiland loses that tragedy when Alvin says he would have been killed by his uncle regardless later). Muzet's betrayal came fast as a result, good, got it over with. The Milla in the spirit world stuff trying to regain themselves finally let me see the Four Great Spirits again, and that was great. Sure Undine is just the mature female in the group, Slyph is the contrarian teenage-ish boy, Efreet the muscular, powerful, but in this case restrained male, and Gnome the mild cute thing. But again, I like my Summon Spirits, and I was happy having them around getting a little development. I wish they still had a talking capacity after the Maxwell battle, but I understand why they don't with a protag team of 7 talkative people already factoring in Teepo. Still, at least Milla has those awesome and powerful Great Spirit artes back, none have Linked Artes associated with them and Milla's old normal attacks (didn't one of her sword thrusts have a magic projectile on it?) at the beginning, but I still love 'em. Although it was a little boring, I got to see the, cheaply designed, Spirit World, which is better than nothing and leaving the Spirit World unexplored. I think it was explicitly said it manifests according to an individual's mind, so it being the Hamil area was just Milla's psyche, makes me wonder what it'd look like in a cognition-free default form though. Milla's pseudo-nude attire was meh, and again I ask whether had Milla been Millo, would that have happened? I get in anime stuff and such sometimes spiritual moments make a character appear naked, when physically speaking in the real world they aren't. I don't mind it, it isn't supposed to be sexual, and in Xenogears and Earthbound males do get subject to it. But I still think I have a valid question here, being Tales isn't a high art in terms of storytelling, leaving me to cynically wonder if it was more going for a lower common denominator here. This is just a nitpick in the scheme of things though. So Muzet is just a wack job program, better than master manipulator at least. Didn't take very much for her to betray Maxwell though. The fight with her was a challenge, solos in Tales can sometimes be a pain, and she was, it took multiple tries and the purchasing of a light elemental sword. Much later, why did they toss in that random reading to the blind old lady side event about her? It felt like forced sympathy, makes no sense Muzet would do it. Now the revelation Milla isn't actually Maxwell, can't say I hadn't considered the possibility before. I had mused about it earlier, even before the end to the Lance arc, after which the doubts clearly grow in Milla. I'm not sure exactly what line of dialogue suggested it to me, but I think it was some bit concerning the distant past, Milla didn't seem to have all the answers deep down I speculated. Milla still isn't exactly human and still acts as she had before, which is better than nothing, even though I preferred the idea of a playable deity. Much to my continued dislike, now Milla and Jude can be together forever, that was how they just had to do that. Just another nitpick, this isn't Squall-Rinoa where it is the heart of the plot. Now the Maxwell battle, nice to see Meteor Storm again, just wish he didn't go into Overlimit like 8 times. My bigger issue is how much I missed by picking Milla over Jude at the start of the game. Maxwell, for reasons I'm not told, goes tyrannical in the physical world, Jude and co. fight back, and they also kill Ivar (I'm actually happier he died offscreen, I was sick of him) sent Ivar packing (until he hijacks the iffy coliseum), and also Presa and Agria. This was rather poorly handled, what I got with Milla, although again I like the Four, was barely anything meaty by comparison to all the action it sounds like I missed. The fact that, although it was with 50% EXP boosting food prepped beforehand, that I got +3/4 levels per character sounds like something that only happened because had I played as Jude, everyone would have gotten the same EXP spread out over a couple boss battles. Gaius becoming with Muzet the true final villains isn't bad, Gaius's brief time as a non-enemy-slight-ally makes things better in this regard. Reminds me of Richter and Aqua to a degree. Doesn't make for the strongest villain though, it's one rather spur of the moment, not unexpected, just not built up. Maxwell's instantaneous turnaround to a good guy was just as sudden, and is an issue every villain now that I think about it had on the deathbed. On the more positive side, Gaius isn't EVIL!, he is radical and wrong, bad, but not evil. He respects the heroes, the heroes respect him, neither really hates the other. He even feels sorry for using Muzet, since she is mentally broken. There isn't a lot of Elympios, but what is there is just enough to cover it I guess. They came pretty quickly to a solution to its two world problem, unlike Symphonia where a third of the game is built partly on creating a wrong solution. Having a Volt, one that was slightly more than just a sentient orb of lightning, was good. Yet that he doesn't become somebody's arte was disappointing. As was the miasma dungeon, thought it'd be something more than just a place for a Devil's Beast. The miasma sounded like a good idea for a location where a real superboss is stored. The Devil's Beasts, well save the Helioburg one, I found them all on my own. Some were strong, but nothing nails bitingly hard. Confusion that turned my crew against each other was among the more annoying things. The Coliseum was cheap, both for me and the enemy. I started with Milla, which was a fair challenge (Gnome spam when enemies surrounded me was frequent) since it was my first time there. For everyone else, which happened after bought their final armors and weapons and grinded into the low-mid 70s, I was flabbergasted when I discovered they all suddenly had Iron Stance, that thing bosses use was MINE! Alvin had the easiest time by far with his huge sword, he could just spam normal attacks to win. Elize- Teepo Roar/10, even Ivar fell victim to it, he'd get roared, get back up and approach Elize, be roared back down again much of time, taking 1000+ from each roar. Leia, I never figured out how to activate the Elongated Staff (I don't Back Step), but she had a middle-of-the-road time. Rowen, I read online Tidal Wave spam, and that surprisingly didn't bankrupt his TP and did destroy everything... until Ivar. Rowen is so slow in movement and physical attacking alike, I lost to him several times and it is by some luck I was able to kill him via Tidal Wave (must be a reference to his infamous stalemate at Fezebel) spam instead of dying to him again. Jude was actually my worse, he fell off the arena a bunch of times infuriatingly. The Second Artes 2 punch combo was fast and potent, but he just lacked for crowd control, ring outing via knockback, and had to kill most enemies the old fashioned way one by one. Him vs. Ivar was a relatively easy affair though, making him the opposite of Rowen. Party Coliseum wasn't too difficult, I didn't even consume all the given items. I quickly killed Presa replica somehow, the battle then got worse actually when I then turned to Agria replica, not until she too was dead did the tide turn for good. The Mysterious Jewels boss was bad though, 240000K HP split equally by two strong foes, held off on doing it until after the Coliseum. And the final comments on Xillia- ending and summation: (also ToS: Dawn of the New World ending spoilers) Reveal hidden contents The game was certainly rushed later on in the plot, this is actually the second RPG this summer I've cleared to have this issue. It hurts, but it isn't the absolute worse here. The final dungeon was a non-dungeon, part of this game's complete disregard for dungeon design, but to be fair, I don't think too many people really care about this. And why did Wingul last to this point when the other Chimeriads were dead? The Muzet duo fight was much easier than the solo before, but I did get overzealous and she killed me once with an Event Horizon + Burn when she had like 2000 HP left. The final battle was disappointing. I liked Gaius fighting with Muzet, and while his hairdo got ugly, him going shirtless probably pleased some fans. It was fun seeing everyone smashing in with their Mystic Artes, made for a good, flashy reunion. That Muzet kept reviving and actually doing some healing, I don't know why it eventually stopped, only that it did, and that it prolonged the battle beyond what I thought it would be. Gaius was cake with Muzet down- the issue of every multi-boss battle. The two linking was a good gameplay-story integration element, although why'd they make Gaius's Mystic Arte fire elemental as opposed to neutral? When Jude got hit with it once, apparently he had enough fire resistance to get healed by it, thanks Gaius you're so kind! The primary disappointment was that I was expecting, as a trope of gaming, for Muzet and Gaius to fuse into a single being for another phase, perhaps with Maxwell even, yet it didn't happen. Gaius and Muzet surviving the final fight, well I still don't like Muzet, but Gaius is good. Still, this game might have been a little too kind with this. Milla becomes the new Maxwell, well I'm surprised the developers chose to let this happen. Jude and Milla are forced apart by this, the romance, which I was afraid would override the plot, did not dominate, which is good. Not that it was the worst romance at all, just that it had some issues I pointed out before. Dawn of the New World's best ending found a way to circumvent Emile having to stay in Ginnugagap by splitting him from Ratatosk, and this led me to think it could happen again. The rest of the ending was decent to good. Jude moves up in the world, Gaius and Rowen work together, Yurgen and Alvin working together was unexpected, for I didn't see a minor NPC showing up again in the ending. Leia moves on from her childhood Jude crush it appears, and Elize appears to retire Teepo forever, no longer needing him as her lone friend. All the characters were quite good, certainly one of the better Tales casts I'd say. Perhaps the best actually from what I've played. Milla was great, a very strong lead character. I'd say strong female character to promote feminine strength in gaming, but I can't given how much of a deal I made of them being genderless before. Milla is wise and unhesitant to start, and even when the leg injuries and creeping fear of loss enter the picture, they don't ever fall into the trap of utterly enfeebled emotionally damselism in need of Jude to save them. Milla was also very cool with the whole Spirits thing, which I like. Jude was sweet, but in the end, I didn't go crazy for him. This certainly owes something to me picking Milla at the very start of the game, so I didn't see so much of his development. Still, I liked how he learned from Milla, and how in his own ways, namely the post-Gandala crippling, he helped her. It was a balanced relationship. I still don't understand why putting his hand to head and thinking made him seem so perceptive at times. Alvin, in the end, I'll consider his traitor angle to lean towards good, if still very mixed. He didn't directly grow so much, but he did provide important insights into Elympios as its lone playable representative, and his mother stuff was touching. (The fate of Isla(?) was unexpectedly dark poetic justice as a side note- I was not expecting that.) Elize, she started as the mandatory loli, but quickly became quite pitiable with all of Hamil considering her cursed. The loss of Teepo's old memory was unexpected, and when it did happen, I eventually expected the memory to be reobtained, but it never was. As a result Elize had to grow, and by the ending, she certainly has. She felt a little unneeded at some point when I was in Elympios, I'm not sure why, but the ending quickly resolved that. She was also the lone real good healer, Leia it seemed traded too much of her healing powers for a better physical offense. Rowen, a swell old man with lots of strong magic, how much more need I say? If there is any issue with him, it is that I needed to see more of his failed Nachtigal relationship that helped turn the king into the pompous self-righteous solipsist bastard he was. Leia, she started a little rough with her introduction, particularly that list of reasons she handed Milla, but became a more likable character as she adjusted to being in the group. She is ordinary, and never really did much in the plot, but the Agria chats gave her something of a personal enemy (each of the Chimeriads was for someone not-Milla/Jude, who end up having Muzet and Gaius as their enemy parallels). For a perky female childhood friend, Leia the Slaya was good. With ToX done (not going to bother with the bonus dungeon right now), my next Tales will be Vesperia. ToZ seems to be generally canned, and ToB I do not have access to. ToX2 from what reviews say is a good deal of recycling, short, laden with filler, and the cast of ToX is just there to an extent, I think I'll leave my memories of Rieze Maxia as being just that of ToX. Now I can return to EOV, Valkyria Chronicles, and maybe at last start of XC2. I heavily suggest trying Tales of Xilla 2. Trust me it’s worth it! It has it’s flaws, but it offer a lot of closure for the original party of ToX. And did you play Milla’s side? It actually has a weaker stort, compared to Jude’s side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interdimensional Observer Posted August 13, 2018 Author Share Posted August 13, 2018 On 7/21/2018 at 10:04 AM, Water Mage said: And did you play Milla’s side? It actually has a weaker stort, compared to Jude’s side. Yep, Milla's side. I chose her since the opening sequence pre-selection really sold her much better than it did Jude. As for the rest of my EOV experience... Spoiler For some reason, when I got back to the 4th Stratum, it was easier than I remembered it to be, but as I've said before, every new Stratum starts hard, but gradually you adjust and master it. So much teleporting though! I nearly ran of out map icons on one of the floors to mark them. It wasn't really obnoxious about it thankfully. The FOES, I should've fought them when they were red and not blue, since I could kill them without them so quickly and painlessly. The boss of the 4th, it took me a little time to figure out how I approach it, but it was an okay puzzle. And once I did, it took 4-5 tries to emerge victorious. The first time, I forgot to heal before, oops. Second time I got a chance to analyze it, and was subsequently slaughtered. I forget if there was an attempt like the second after this, but on the next try I remember, I almost killed it, it had less than 5% of its health left, and I miraculously survived a near party wipe. The final, successful run, I Chain Blasted, then I Panicked, then I Petrified, with Overexertion, Armor Pierce, a couple Leading Blows, and many Frigid Reaps and Bolt Slashes (and maybe some Petal Scatters) dealing out the pain. I don't think the boss ever used any of its named attacks on me, it just never had the chance. Bind/ailment duration is a little luck-based, but the thrill of the battle, just fearing at any possible moment the enemy could be cured and ruin me, and me desperately trying to dish out all the damage I can to avoid this, is incredible. At the same time, lockdown gives me incredible power over my enemy, I can make it utterly powerless before my wrath. We are both gods able to mortally wound the other, it is all a matter of who can do it first. I spent a good few minutes alone in excited joy after having won, I love EO. I decided to return to Iorys to heal immediately rather than push on, since I know what the 5th Stratum means in EO, and I wanted to breathe in the first impression for as long as possible, as opposed to seeing it for two seconds before using the Geomagnetic Pole. It was a bit different from what I expected, if still keeping to the theme. I first visited it at night, while the place looks great in daylight, night I think does it even better, I'm really liking it. Besides a few nothing-you-can-do about it random party wipes, and the rare EVIL enemy formation, it's been fairly manageable. I liked the two gimmicks of it. I grinded a little to make sure I could handle the 5th Stratum boss, it took a few tries, and me hopping online to see its gimmick after getting party wiped once. After a couple tries before I got a good enough start from my binds and ailments, I took it down with some suffering, but none too bad. I was disappointed by its design, but the fight was good, and its weakness seemed just perfect for me. I wandered through the 6th Stratum. I like how it looks, it keeps the usual brutal difficulty of the postgame random encounters. The gimmick on the lower floors, well I had to go through several iterations of how to map them due to requiring so many icons. I also experienced a lot of warp hell because because I didn't realize the colors actually mean something until I looked it up online. I didn't intend to slay the being that lay on the 30th floor, since grinding to 99R99 is too much for me. But I did intend to slay all the FOEs it the 6th Stratum has, and to tackle the other optional superbosses. The Primordiphant was tackled after I unlocked the first level cap increase, which meant I was overleveled for it. Lockdowned it no issues, killed it only seeing two whiff-fest Emperor Strikes. I didn't have its legs bound when it died, so I reset and refought it with no issues, this time Chain Blast bound the legs and it was just as easy a victory. I thought it was strange this didn't have a request associated with it, only to discover it did have one later involving Egar, who as a Cannon Bearer Dragoon was new to me. Oh well, it let me kill the thing again for some more easy EXP, although I didn't care about getting the conditional this time, even though it sells for a lot. The Dryad took me only one try to slay at level 69. Analyze showed how very vulnerable the thing was to binds and ailments, and the duration of my inflictions luckily was long for me. Eventually they did wear off, and the Dryad got to Thunderbolt me once, killing three characters, yet I lived and lucked out on a second leg binding blocking a game over hit on me, and also Poison damage killed the thing- I didn't need to pop a Formaldehyde! Outside of that one T-bolt (which I tried to stop with Panic, but my Harbinger and Jenetta just couldn't land it despite everything), the Dryad didn't do a single threatening attack. Lockdown won the day oh so readily! Jenetta being my 6th party member was cool, and since she was a Hunting Hound Rover, I got to see what my future edgy male Therian Rover would have as his arsenal. Not quite as healing oriented as I hoped given it'd be my 2nd team's primary healer, but it looked like a good blend of healing, some support, and offense, I could make it work. The Zombie Dragon was even easier than the Dryad. Got to like 76 for it. The boss liking to poison itself was great for my Deathbringer, and add in a Chain Blast and once the poison ran its course a Tombstone Vice, and I had an fun time of things. The boss never set up this miasma it was supposed to, and I used a Formaldehyde to get the conditional drop anyhow. Lamia actually put up a fight. It took me several tries to kill it, and then I was oh so stupid and Chain Blasted when I should have just Formaldehyded it since the Chain Blast killed it with no head bind for the conditional drop! Several tries later, I killed it for good, this time I wasted a Formaldehyde, since Lamia had more than a just a silver of HP, so it survived the Chain Blast and was head bound this time. The accuracy debuff, the poison, the petrify, and the binding snakes, overall a fairly decent challenge. Since I wanted to save Chain Blast for right before the kill (and even with Wilting Miasma it is shoddy here), and the snakes when summoned pose a threat to Frigid Reap usage due to the Serpent's Curse counter, I had to save Tombstone Vice as well for later than right away. Mirina was nice to have, although I thought she'd be a Warlock instead of a Spirit Broker, that makes two Celestrian Necromancer NPCs, albeit not of the same master class. With the 3.6 million EXP it gave, plus the extra 2 mil from turning in this final request, my team is now at level 90. Yet EOV seems to be the third game I've gone through this Summer with rushed at the end issues. I'm disappointed by the total lack of Adventure Episodes in the 6th Stratum, which had already been quite lacking in the 5th, it's like the person who was supposed to create them ran out of time to get that far by the end of development. Similarly, there aren't many quests at the tavern for the 6th Stratum, and many of the 5th's are too similar to each other. The only new chats with NPCs you find in the tavern are with Hansuke and Mirina, nobody else at all, unlike in past games. And there is, compared to EOU and EOU2, a lack of plentiful superbosses. I also dislike the amount of guild-worship the NPCs do of you, it's excessive compared to prior games. I want to NG+ another run with the five classes I didn't use, but I think I'll wait until I forget this game a bit before I do that. Overall, of the four EOs I've played, I think I'm not sure how I'd rank them. I'd have to go on their individual merits. EOIV's labyrinths might be short, but they were fairly well-designed. It is easy, and its classes are restricted by Imperial and Bushi coming so late, but the classes were balanced. EOV has much more fun classes than IV, but it just fizzles out at the end in some ways sadly. Along with a pretty disappointingly lacking plot even by EO standards (IV is the best here). EOU has boring classes, and a labyrinth with one too many twisting dead ends, but its challenge level is fair. EOU2 has bosses with scripted patterns and HP bloat, but can be fun with the most classes of any game barring EOX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Water Mage Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 20 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said: Yep, Milla's side. I chose her since the opening sequence pre-selection really sold her much better than it did Jude. Did you watch Jude’s scenes at least? As I said before his story is far better than Milla’s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrymidfields Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 On a different note, have anyone played the action RPGs from Vanillaware? How much of the games do they retain the RPGs aspects? I'm thinking about getting Odin Sphere and later 13 Sentinels for my PS Vita. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interdimensional Observer Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 45 minutes ago, henrymidfields said: On a different note, have anyone played the action RPGs from Vanillaware? How much of the games do they retain the RPGs aspects? I'm thinking about getting Odin Sphere and later 13 Sentinels for my PS Vita. I can't say anything about 13 Sentinels, but I've played Odin Sphere, and its more pure action (enemies leveling with you makes leveling not so relevant) followup Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Muramasa, well I played the original Wii version, which has a vastly inferior translation and far less content since it lacks the four free DLC characters and their stories, it's solid action, perhaps a bit simple, story was okay, visually it is a delight. Now as for Odin Sphere, it is a bit more RPG than Muramasa. You can craft potions, cook food, killing enemies gives phozons for leveling your abilities, and leveling lets you learn more skills. On Hard and the unlockable Hero difficulty, the game moves more towards pure action with enemy strength (HP is stuck at level 1 value on Hero- so OHKO Mode), nonetheless getting a few levels is never a bad idea if killing a boss is taking too long. You can adjust the difficulty outside of battle at any time, with Easy being easy, Normal good for the average joe, and Hard decent for Action genre lovers. You also have two separate modes in the Leifthrasir edition- the one available on the Vita. The default mode (Refined Mode IRRC) is a revamped style of gameplay, for the original PS2 version was heavily criticized as being a slog. This new style is built on Muramasa's combat, and it is an action-heavier joy to play. And then you have Classic Mode, which uses separate save files from Refined. Classic tells the same story as Refined, but is the original style of gameplay from the PS2 release. It requires you to craft and use items frequently, since whereas items are an optional thing to your character's arsenal of attacks on Refined, on Classic everyone has fewer attacks and they drain the Pow gauge, so throwing potions at enemies really helps. The result is that Classic is more RPG than Refined in its ways. I've heard it called a chore, but you can still adjust difficulty at any time I believe, and Easy should make it better if you think so. Besides being beautiful to look at, Odin Sphere has a beautiful plot, to me at least. Five characters each with their own separate story (and style of fighting), yet they're intertwined with each other to varying extents, and the game borrows rather well a blend of Norse and fairytale inspirations. Once you've seen a story moment, it's viewable at any time in the Attic (just pick up the cat), where they are divided according to character and listed chronically, so you know exactly when everything happens with everyone in the big picture of things. The one gameplay recommendation of mine is resting a few days after completing a particular character's story. You see, there are only 8 distinct areas in the game, with each character story visiting 7 of them (although the exact layout of battles and non-battle areas do differ with each character). Enemy variety is likewise limited, you will be fighting the same foes frequently with different characters. Taking a break will make it a little less repetitive. The one exception is after finishing the 5th book, you want to do the 6th book right afterwards with it being the relatively short finale to it all. Just go back and load up everyone with healing potions, good accessories, some leveling- you don't need a lot, and item consumption isn't saved when the 6th book is cleared so go all out. But just to be on the safe side, I'd recommend taking some precautions. By the way, to see all the scenes in the game, you do have to get the Bad Ending scenes logged, but I'd go for the Good Ending first just to wrap things up, and then work on those other ones. ...Sorry if that was longer than what you expected, I just really like Odin Sphere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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