Lurker > BlueCrystalTear

Tag, though I won't have time to go through this thoroughly.

For my choices, I presume most of you have heard them in full, as they're still awesome after four decades. Yes, I know part of the intent is to expose people to new music, but there's also the forum game aspect so it's hard to find a balance while picking three albums that equally interest people here. In six months, I plan to have three indie albums that work for this, for a completely different flavor.

The new one being in last is only because it literally was just released, so only four people here have gone to see it. Many of us are waiting until theatres are less packed or until we can stream it. Me? I'm a cheap bastard. I'll only go if someone invites me. The COVID has made a lot of people realize there's no need to spend money to go see a movie in a theater unless you really want to.

Recency bias would be a thing in three weeks. It's not today.

There's a scene at the shrine by Aball. Afterward, I go back to Taliesin on foot, and head to Katz Korner where I manage equipment.

This is what I have been doing. It is boring. I train outside Taliesin with chain encounters and stuff, maxing ALL of the Adamantine items I had equipped versus a single Fire Doe. I am of the hope that this helps me out in the Phoenix fight.

I go to Lionel Island Wharf and get an achievement for watching the budget Viking Funeral for Aifread. I get info on two Class 4s, one of which is filled with the spirits of the dead in Battle Royale (I mean, this is Japanese, so it's gotta be). Since there's nothing in the marsh, I go to clear 'em. There's a third from earlier, so I clear that too.

Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meowy meow meow me meow meow me meow... WHY DO I HAVE THIS STUCK IN MY HEAD? I'm at 52 Katz btw... it wasn't just 50.

In Cadnix, Eizen investigates some antique books on dragons - there's only one left that his buddy saved, and he'd LOVE for Eizen to decipher it to use against the Abbey. Sweet of him. Magilou also summoned Grim after we talked to the Bloodwing tipster, so... Avarost deciphering, here we come! I note the Xillia 2 Kresnik reference. Grim and Laphicet conclude that there's no way to turn a dragon back into a malak, to cure the Reaper's Curse, Eizen... is gonna have to royally piss off Zaveid. Like ROYALLY. By consuming Theodora's heart. ("goose I'm even" instead of "gruesome" - you've gotta be kidding me). Zaveid... already knows because he overheard. Welp. He is NOT HAPPY. And yet, he's gonna do it. To release. (Was this the dragon by Stonebury? I think so...?)

Cadnix also has a scene with more fake rumors about the Lord of Calamity that agitate Magilou, who's apparently insecure about her height. Quelle surprise.

Anyway, I stop there. This was over the last two days so...

I allocated my time for this to deciding my three nominations so I didn't have time for a listen until now. This is... very redundant, so it's very hard to rank these on instrumentation because nothing stands out, and thematically it seems similar too. It's GOOD, though! This honestly feels like it's one epic, eight-part 43-minute track. I legitimately cannot tell you which part went with which song, even after two listens. I'm not sure if the last two are my bottom two because of album fatigue or not. That's probably it since that's what happens on albums like this one, since as fantastic as they are, coming into it with a mindset to rank tracks wears off. Still appreciate this album since it's well-crafted and consistent with itself.

1. Windowpane
2. In My Time of Need
3. Hope Leaves
4. Closure
5. To Rid the Disease
6. Death Whispered a Lullaby
7. Ending Credits
8. Weakness

Not particularly

Shanghai Noon

I never got far in that one tbqh. Its concept sounds fascinating at first but it's actually detrimental to one's enjoyment because the storylines don't intertwine. Each person has their own arc - at least early on - independent of the others. There's no character interaction, which a game like this so sorely needs.

I also do not understand why it's still $60 since they just released the next game in the series (Triangle Strategy). I believe I paid $20-30 for it digitally on Switch. It's not worth any more than that.

Katniss's voice becomes increasingly whiny, and her development is in the reverse direction of the norm. That's what makes it so fascinating in the books, whether it was intentional or not. I like it because it's so unexpected, even if I enjoy her character most in the first book. As things around her start to happen, it goes to shit, and I can't say I'd enjoy Catching Fire as much as I did if any other character had been the narrator. The movies... she's a bland, uninspired attempt at a "strong woman protagonist."

I don't consider myself a Hunger Games fan. The first two books are good but I've read better ones. It's the third book that's terrible and is why I wouldn't consider myself a fan. I didn't even read the prequel.

Leonhart4 posted...

Katniss shooting Coin was great because I thought she was awful.

There are three problems I had with that:

1. Snow had been the Big Bad for the whole series, and Katniss had been so desperate to kill him, so why does she suddenly trust his judgment and side with him?
2. Coin was awful - and the point was meant to be "leaders on both sides are corrupt" but it more came across as "leadership = bad" because of Collins' sloppy writing.
3. It felt rather impersonal. Like... what was at stake for Katniss? And then she got away scot-free.

Leonhart4 posted...

Never watched beyond the first Hunger Games movie but it is not better than the book

I think the biggest drop-off between the books and the movies is the loss of Katniss's voice. Her perspective is fascinating in Catching Fire in particular because she's a badass who's powerless because of people using her as a pawn. But a translation of a first-person book to a movie doesn't always go well because you still have to characterize the protagonist. J-Law does the best she can but the movie isn't written tightly enough to convey it all.

plasmabeam posted...

Didn't know this, but you're 100% right. "Never rush an artist."

I remember a couple of little things that felt so off to me. Like Katniss wanting a haircut after being "initiated" (despite her loving her braids) feeling very out of character. And the "survive without" comment I mentioned above. If Collins had gotten to revise the book, she might have noticed these things. It honestly felt like a NaNoWriMo draft that an idiot writer shopped around to publishers without going through the minimum two revisions. The entire point of NaNoWriMo is to create a draft, the foundation of something as opposed to an immediately publishable book, and Mockingjay is an example I'd use of why. Too many holes. Too many character inconsistencies. Too many weirdly-written scenes. She had the skeleton of something great, but that was just it - a skeleton. And...

It isn't setup properly and therefore has considerably less impact than it should. There could've been a scenario where Katniss tried to save Prim, then Prim sacrificed herself to save Katniss, and that might've had the emotional impact the story deserved. Instead Prim's character was utterly wasted.

This is why it feels like a skeleton. All the moments that should have emotional impact are not set up well, and they just sort of "happen" as they do. Prim is thrown in the trash for no reason and it feels like it happens out of nowhere, and that's why I had forgotten about it. It happened because Collins wanted it to, not because it was meant to. Prim didn't get the death edit so it was meant to blindside the viewer, but because Prim had hardly been relevant and her story was lacking, it didn't work. If Prim had been built up as something, and then we got what you describe, suddenly a sudden death becomes viable, and has the impact Collins wanted. But because she didn't revise the book, it has no impact and doesn't stick with anyone.

Similarly, Katniss executing Coin. It honestly felt like Snow pushed the narrative that Coin was responsible for Prim's death, without Katniss having thought that beforehand. She abruptly became too easy to push around, and it made no sense that she let the man she had longed to kill for the entire series do that. Katniss should've had more internal conflict and come to the conclusion azuarc did: That Coin would only have sent Prim there to kill her. And then her target would change to Coin. The thing is, this wasn't necessary, let alone well-executed. This was a failed attempt at a gut punch that tried to change the themes of the series at the last minute.

The best stories write themselves after a certain point. Collins didn't let that happen because her hands were tied. She finished the first three-quarters of the book just fine before her deadline loomed, and Scholastic was inflexible, so she rushed the assault on the capital. She wanted to kill Prim off, so she did, even though there was no story reason to do so. It's best to work with an outline that can change if the story tells you it should. This should have been changed. A lot should have been changed. But Collins had to finish the last quarter of the book quickly and was given no time to revise the rest. That's why what we got was shit.

Yondu
Nebula

Fury
Natasha

• I kill the Succubus Queen first, because chances are I'm going to be transported to a town after the main event. I don't wanna miss this three-skill potentite, now do I? She's not too challenging, but this kinda happened:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/5/AAR0ZFAAC_gB.jpg
Yeah, that's in the small area off by the cell block. She kinda got trapped there, thankfully at the end of the fight.

• The letter sender was the orange Normin, Phoenix, who I hadn't mentioned because of seeming irrelevance at Terror Island. Eizen's sister was writing but not sending letters, even though Eizen kept sending her presents. Eizen doesn't follow because of his invasion of privacy. Phoenix objects in his face that he's been lying to her about his lifestyle, and that she doesn't know he's a pirate. Anyway this fight is fucking BRUTAL. I get destroyed. I'll.. come back after I gain another few levels.
• Going to Taliesin gives me the heartwarming stuff I need right now. THE CATS ARE BACK! ^_^ Zaveid took in some orphans and raised them alongside his girlfriend Theodora, and brought in some human chefs to cook a wonderful meal for them... and when Theodora disappeared, the chefs became the foster parents, realizing that malakhim have hearts, too. And Niko's fiance has found a new bride, though he will never forget Niko and never forgive himself for not eloping with her sooner. Good call tbh. He can't be in despair forever. (Is anyone even reading this?) All of this is wonderful. If I could live in any town in this game, it'd be this one, and it's not close. Let's see... Loegres is too pretentious. Reneed and Stonebury are too remote. Aball and Haria are too daemonized. The ports are small and drab. Hellawes, Meirchio, and Beardsley are too cold. Yseult is the only other one I'd consider, but Taliesin means exercise, KITTIES, and good culture.
• Theodora is probably that white-horned dragon, and Eizen wants to kill her to ease Zaveid's pain, I think? Laphicet wants to cure her, and he's probably the only way to do so.
• Some frat boys are planning a town and want to get laid before they do, instead of working hard to achieve it. They're dumb, but Eizen sets them straight: "Don't speak of your dreams, become them." The problem is... failure. I have a lot to figure out but this isn't the place for introspective shit. (This is clearly referencing a town that's there in Zestiria, of course.)
• The Katz says it's Katz Korner this time, but it's the same thing as Nam Cobanda Isle so I wasn't entirely wrong. Velvet is a killjoy, vetoing the other five. Sorry, I'm going, Crowe. Turns out it's because she's allergic to Katz (and cats too), and it would have helped to have known that. This is indeed where the skit player is (and Tales puns... LOL). Skit player seems to indicate I am indeed at the end of the game, even if I am missing many sidequest ones. (I've found all but two Katz chests btw)
• There's a slider puzzle game and the hardest difficulty is something like... 10x10. YIKES! And this is coming from a guy who is preternaturally good at puzzles. Like I knocked out the 5x5 in two and a half minutes. (Sliders are super easy if you know the trick). There are also adamantite weapons (two free fragments!) and lots of meowing. I.e. "Von Meowtia." I'm surprised Eizen didn't threaten copyright infringement, and I don't mean a lawsuit. I mean... dinner.
• I visit Celica's grave and learn she enjoyed puns like "Niko's dogs are so scared of people they hide on the woof" and something about taking flowers to gravestones. Sounds like somepun I'd hit it off with! And I don't care that was bad. I make puns like that all the time for a reason. Livens the mood.

I stop in Aball, but will look for sidequests in the towns I've not yet visited as well. It's nice that they show them on the world map, else I'd miss them.

Adachi > Sketchy Akechi > Ikutsuki

Adachi's "betrayal" sequence is a lot more epic, because it's less obvious what exactly his role is (even if he's a very obvious liar). Akechi is so obvious in every way and has more complexities to his character, but I can't say I understand why Japan loves him so much since he's pretty run-of-the-mill. Some parts of his story felt forced to me, though the way the party outplayed him was incredible.

Except of course for that one part in Royal, where he's your navigator and mouths off a LOT. If he was like that the entire time, he'd be #1 no contest. I put him second because of the average.

Ikutsuki is clearly in last because while he's the least obvious rat of the three - even though that's not saying much because he clearly has some self-serving purpose - he's killed off pretty swiftly after his betrayal, and subsequently forgotten.

Underleveled posted...

Or possibly they were all invited but only Taylor & Isaiah came?

Could be.

I'd presume that both racers need to be present at the finish line, so if Anthony still couldn't take off work, Caro still couldn't get back into the US, and Connie was too pregnant to travel, that would explain.

Caro's Canadian, right? But was living/working in LA, and had to go back home. IDK...

Fury
Natasha

Just gonna do rapid-fire since people don't seem to care.

• Fishing "game" on the way. Only have 5 pcs of bait, so I can't do a good job :/
• I struggle more with a chain encounter along the way than I do the daemon-eating-daemon at Palamedes. That thing was so weak I had the fight done with in 45 seconds. It barely got to eat any slimes. TRY HARDER BAMCO!
• I have 15 pcs of bait now and still don't catch the "Big One" - I think I did an okay job...?
• Equipment management blah blah blah
• I get to Terror Island and.... it's legitimately scary in a completely different way than I could've ever imagined. It's tacky Normin stuff, and the Normins talk like Mieu (might even be Sandy Fox here too?). Bienfu and Grim say hi, and Grim was last here some 1500 years ago. GEEZ, how old is she? The squeaky one recognizes her, too, AFTER ALL THAT TIME! It absorbs life from all that exists in "that" way... and isn't going to be on the map, for the Normins' sake.
• Eizen still wants to explore more seas... and underneath them.Not sure what this says about Zestiria, nor do I care. I'll get there when I get there.
• One of Bienfu's buddies has been lounging here for a thousand years and wants a pretty, nice girl, even one who'd make terrible puns. There's... a reference there, isn't there?
• A very familiar voiced Normin says Zaveid came with another kid malak who he'd saved. Huh. I'm more intrigued by the thought that Teddie is a Normin.
• Reneed has all kinds of rumors. Exorcists becoming daemons, that the "Lord of Calamity" dresses as a witch and rides a broomstick (Magilou cares more about the defamation from the game of telephone than Velvet), the elder pioneer trying to get Eleanor to marry his son like many other Boomers seem to enjoy suggesting... and, most importantly, Videl. He's not doing so well. He's in bed, dying, and his mother has accepted defeat because of his diagnosis. Laphicet insists on getting the book to decipher the last ingredient so we can make the potion he needs. (Also, "we're out of leads" vs. "we have to leave" huh?). Velvet is brutally direct to light a fire under his butt, and that works. We're off to where I was gonna go next anyway!
• Looks like Davahl Forest is still impassible... and I can't get into Zamahl Grotto, either. Huh. That's weird. The fact that these two places have rhyming names is not lost on me.
• I find a green Nor Doll in the middle of some crops in Stonebury (why's it just sitting here?) and the Toitolez comes... saying the name as Turtlez? The what now? The letter is challenging Eizen to a duel and purporting to be Eizen's sister... and we have to go back to Titania. One small problem with that: We can't go back there now because the game won't let me. The game also won't let me into Davahl Forest. Is.... this assault on the Empyrean's Throne not the actual ending? Is there more coming up? Uhh...
• Comedy routine: Eizen isn't funny, but is good at provoking Magilou. Apparently, Bienfu is funnier than the lot of them... which was Magilou's point, I guess? Bienfu abuse could end up being very funny in Loegres, but we'll see. There's also a story about a caravan collapsing and everyone dying... except one girl, whose body they never found. Was that... Magilou? (Also: Zestiria reference and yo ho ho and a bottle of... snake wine?)
• I look for hints about Davahl and... there's a fruit tree I missed. Let me guess: I was supposed to know that from Zesty. I go deep into the woods and Videl's dad, an exorcist praetor, is there. He gives us the leaf, being willing to give up his quest because his malak isn't listening to him and the last ingredient is "a malak's prayers." Laphicet doesn't say anything (Velvet accidentally calls him "Laphi" and he doesn't remark on that, either, oddly). The skit also has numerous typos, including the most hilarious one ever: instead of "squeeze out a prayer or two" it says "squeeze out a private too." WHO THE HELL ARE YOU GIVING HANDJOBS TO, MAGILOU? I wanna know!
• The boss is weak and I dispatch him easily despite being about the same level (Velvet a little higher). I head straight back to Reneed. Videl's mom looks dejected. He's slipping into the comatose state that precedes death, mumbling Laphicet's name knowing that's his last hope. He regrets telling his one friend to go away, not realizing that one friend came through for him anyway. Laphicet tearfully says it's all okay, and that he has to get better so he can see the world... and this qualifies as "a malak's prayers" and the tear finishes the Omega Elixir. THAT last one was the impossibility that made it so the miracle never happen. Until now.
• Videl's dad turns up and his dejectedness speaks loudly: He can't be forgiven. He sacrificed his family for his duty. Only for it to come back with good karma. Videl comes out to see his dad and says that his friend was the one he'd told the final ingredient. Unfortunately, his helmet is still on his head when I wish I could see his face. (This also makes me wonder: Why can't Eleanor have a helmet as an option? She has the rest of the uniform...)

I note that I can go to Titania now, but I will do that tomorrow. Same goes for Nam Cobanda Isle via Taliesin. This has been enough sidequesting!

Fury
Natasha

Yep, Mockingjay is among the worst books I've ever had the displeasure of reading. I don't really fault Suzy Collins for having such a shit ending so much as I do Scholastic for egging her on to get the damn book finished so they could release it and make millions off of it. Creativity isn't something that happens overnight. That's why the turnaround time was so quick. That's why the book was so bad.

I'd actually forgotten that Prim died. Like... it was THAT forgettable. It was THAT pointless. And the whole insult on the capital (yes, I said "insult") was utter trash and didn't even go through a single revision. "She's going to marry whoever she can't survive without" was a dumb chapter cliffhanger that reinforced how garbage the romantic subplots were. And Katniss was starting to become unhinged because of the way those around her were manipulating and using her. There were many out-of-character moments and forced decisions that I can't help but think it was laziness. It showed to me that the series wasn't really all that good.

The first two were still pretty fun, but Mockingjay should never have existed as it was. It should have been a wholly different book that Collins was given proper time to write properly. Writers need to go at their own pace to deliver the best product. She wasn't allowed that, so she didn't care, and that's a failure on Scholastic as well as on her for not pushing back.

And uh, sure, that trade works for me

Loki
Classic Loki

Oh, I can just save them again since only two unique users need to do it? I'd think that's a mistake...

Anyone wanna trade for Fury and Natasha?

Nebula
Yondu

Fury
Natasha

When we get back to the Von Eltia, Benwick gives us a "Fortune Apple" as a "good luck charm." SPOILER WARNING: I watched Snow White with some friends the other night and, uh, I don't know what kind of old hag he bought this thing off of but we surely shouldn't eat it. The party thinks that they shouldn't eat it because it's "good" luck when we need "bad" luck... okay then. Velvet comes to conclusions about her power to consume being a part of Innominat... does that mean she'll survive and become human again if we kill the villain?

I get a skit about tackling sidequests, which may give us an idea of what Artorius is up to and... well, we're not meeting the Empyreans, because we're not going to find them, and we'll probably have to fight them. They're only concerned with the balance that Innominat threatened, not our vendetta. But for some reason I can only go to this Class 4 for Armored Daemons and Zeksom. The heck? I clear out the daemons at the Class 4 and just go to the only place I can, hoping it's for a scene that shows the normalization of the place.

On the way, Eleanor and Velvet have girl talk about Laphicet... his motivation comes from hope, while Velvet's comes from spite and despair. They both play tough but in opposite directions. It's a fascinating dichotomy, now that the game mentions this. Laphicet is extraordinarily tough for a kid his age because he looks to a brighter future, while Velvet is in great anguish and projects her toughness to both hide her internal fragility and to project her anger at the world. A world she understands now, from Laphi's viewpoint as one who wanted to travel. Velvet then asks Eleanor a favor: To take care of Laphicet. Eleanor starts realizing that Velvet is going to go full kamikaze since she thinks her death is inevitable if she kills Innominat. And Velvet says she can't control it. Eleanor says she can't control her acceptance of Velvet's conditions, either, since that's her oath. "Good thing I kicked your butt after all." I love how the dynamic between these two has evolved. It's an interesting relationship. The game has several. Disappointingly, Rokurou/Eizen isn't one of them. I wish we'd have gotten more drinking scenes of them!

Zeksom has returned to normal. Eleanor starts talking about how she can think for herself instead of letting her political affiliation doing it for her, and because of that she's much stronger, even if it's more painful. That's something I often tell people: You have to think for yourself, else you're going to live in stupid. Accept reality for what it is. Rokurou reminds her to not push herself too hard and to ask for help if she needs it. You CAN rely on others, but... not when it comes to doing the thinking. Question everything and know who really has your back. Some people are mad at the exorcists for losing the malakhim, but this one exorcist has a shit ton of backbone and will give his life for the people - that's dedication. There's also a guy who wants to rip off of Magilou's comedy routine... and uses the Dark Wings name in an epic reference that I did not expect. Well, they were circus performers as well as shifty thieves, so there is that. I find the trader who I punched out, and he thanks me for saving his life and offers a permanent 30% discount for the Von Eltia. Nice! A sailor talks about opening a tea shop since that's tea, and then asks Eleanor on a date. She says no. I notice a huge amount of sidequests... so here we go on a tour!

I pick Yseult first. Gosh, I haven't been here in eons. I don't even have hoverboard access since it was before I got that! There's a Teresa stalker here, too, who's even creepier than the other guy, only thinking about his own perverted desires instead of how to treat a woman properly. No, dude, you're not the man she was after, because you're making it all about yourself. He then starts to fall for Velvet because of the icy glare... and Magilou scurries everyone away. LOL. I get a tip about a daemon in Palamedes, watch the Rokurou/Magilou comedy routine (the two trolls don't work together very well, sadly), overhear some hypocrite calling Haria "heretics" for worshiping a better Empyrean, and get a BIENFU CONFESSIONAL where the priest is whispering because the entire group is trouble. He doesn't buy Bienfu asking him to forgive his companions, and then Bienfu tells HIM to repent for being a petty mean old priest. XD!

The scouting ship discovers some Terror Island... which sounds very endgame sidequest-y. Eizen says in the skit to "join up with the crew at the decks in Yseult" - so, uh, was that scripted, or was it just because I was in Southgand? Did they have one for each port recorded? Interesting given the budget. Also interesting: More guys enjoying being whipped by Kraken Queens... and the climate's sudden shift causing peril around here.

I collect the blue Nor Doll in Haria, getting a skit about Eizen sending letters to his sister as an apology for never coming to see her, and knowing he'll never get a reply because she disapproves of his way of life since she wants him by her side. It's kind of tragic, at least until Velvet says "Just go hash it out with her! At least the person you care about is still alive!" Eizen's actually pontificating this. Don't blame him. She's right. He really should go see her, even if he brings the curse with him. And even though he belongs on the Von Eltia... she might actually fit in, too. I mean, are the guys going to try anything with her when Eizen would punch them into the water?

That's all for now. Tomorrow, I plan to take on this daemon in Palamedes, beat up the Code Red near Stonebury, finish collecting Nor Dolls, and arrive at Nam Cobanda Isle. Progress is progress, however sidequesty!

Nebula
Yondu

Fury
Natasha

Tag

Just didn't get around to last week for whatever reason. Will get my album choices to you as soon as I decide which direction I'm going in.

Only updates afterward last night were two Dire Foe fights and an Odorless Fluid trip, where I got five more of 'em. I have enough for four more upgrades which I hope is enough. The people in Beardsley are a little confused about the events of the prior night. As they should be. Everyone should be.

Gonna play just a little bit right now...
There was no scene upon entering Hellawes, but there are some sidequest scenes. One of Teresa's stalkers is asking Eleanor what happened to her, and she scolds him for being a weakling who wants HER protection instead of providing it himself. I mean... that's why you use a condom. The fire in Eleanor's eyes also turns this guy on. He sounds like he has a need to attach himself to a fantasy because he has nothing else, but acts mightily creepy... I have that kind of need for attachment too, but I don't go about it in a creepy way anymore >_>

Bar talk is about Velvet overrunning Meirchio with a lot of misinformation. One, that the "Calamity" is trying to hurt people. Two, that it's only daemons there (as opposed to pirates). And three, that the Abbey can actually do something... or that Teresa would "defend" them. Did these people forget how Velvet wiped the floor with Teresa and kidnapped her malak? Or did the Abbey spin that into a lie as well? The fearmongering is working to control them, but... the Abbey will be history soon enough, and people will realize that Melchior and Artorius were scum.

Eleanor sends a sylphjay to her training buddies... and signs the letter, even though she's a traitor. They won't ignore the plight, but would they really trust her any differently than an anonymous tipster? We also eavesdrop on two thugs talking about an Abbey experiment where they combined several malakhim into one big one to study potential artes and let it run loose at the Faldies Ruins. And people think the Abbey are the good guys. Laphicet talks Velvet into going to kill it so they won't use whatever arte against us. Right thinking. The thugs also say that slaves were for the good of humanity. Fuck these guys. I go to kill the thing and take care of it (I get to see Howling Dragon TWICE for the first time in a while - sweet since it's the best Mystic Arte in the game that I've seen... I haven't seen Good Grip since the first time though, and have yet to see Rokurou and Laphicet's Level 2s). They just re-used Medissa's cage. Magilou whines afterward that it was just a load of bull, based on the thing's form. Lovin' the jokes, but hatin' the Abbey just treating malakhim like lesser beings that they can do whatever they want with. Bigoted AF. Slavery was NOT for the good of anyone.

And THEN I get a good one: Eleanor's confessions! Eleanor says her biggest regret she wishes to repent for was her blind faith in the Abbey and becoming a sheep. She says she doesn't want forgiveness because that would be repeating the same mistake, and the priest is too appalled to say anything... until he wants to confess to Eleanor. LOL!

I manage my equipment after the errand to the Faldies and stop there for now. To-do:
-Another Odorless Fluid run, probably.
-Go to Taliesin to find the Katz that'll take me to Nam Cobanda Isle
-Noh Dolls in Yseult
-Kill the Code Red near Stonebury (miasma in the woods? There's this other dungeon...)
-Class 4 north of Hellawes?
-Find Laphicet's friend with the 12-year sickness
-Figure out whatever loose ends I'm forgetting about
-Kill Artorius

There's probably more that I gotta do than that. I am at endgame. The climax was what I did last night. That scene of Velvet DEVOURING Melchior in front of the red moon was so glorious. Like it was extremely satisfying even if I wanted to torture the bastard. Melchior is as despicable of a villain as they come and its comeuppance was so satisfying because. And that's one thing this game does well: It has this irredeemable over-the-top dirtbag as the true Big Bad, but the others have complex motivations and less sadistic personalities. A good group of villains has the irredeemable one (Melchior), the alpha dog (Artorius), the sympathetic one (Villain Teresa), the henchman (Shigure), the throwaway (Thug Oscar), the turncoat (Eleanor), and the clueless one (also Eleanor). The "turncoat" can go in either direction, mind you. This party didn't have a turncoat; Bienfu was a spy only because he was brainwashed by a monster, not because he chose to be.

Definitely enjoying it, but this endgame cleanup is gonna be boring. I'll try to make it fun.

tagging this

Also jsyk I'm on vacation from 3/8 to 3/22, so during that time the best way to reach me would be via GameFAQs PM. I can install Discord on my phone temporarily (the reason I don't have it on there is because of how distracting it would be) if you want.

Holy shit, this was not what I expected. This is... awesome?

I dunno. Legends is the best in a while (way behind on that because I had to send my Joy-Con in due to drift) but the main series has lost its appeal for me. The starters look okay. The player characters look like typical Anime middle school kids. I'll wait and see how the gameplay looks. If it's more like Legends than Sword, I'll definitely get it.

Okay, finally sitting down to play. Been in a funk on top of being busy.

After I blah blah blah weapons management, I blah blah blah take the hoverboard into a room at only has Katz Souls and a freakin' Grape Gel (was expecting this to potentially have something to help beat Melchior) and blah blah blah fight the Fire Doe. I blah blah blah make it back to the end despite there being no warp pad there, but it's kind of a slog despite me avoiding encounters until, well, I have a close call and realize I might wanna fight a couple more things. I do a couple chain encounters - one has like eight Lizardfolk Paladins, and the other is endless bats - but win those just fine, unlike the start of this place. The real issue is the Lava Atlas golems. Those things are scary.

Here, look at how crowded it's getting:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/8/0/AAR0ZFAAC-U8.jpg

All in a little corner!

I make sure I didn't miss anything - wouldn't be ideal to come back here after this place blows, now would it? There's no way there'd be all these Katz souls and a crap ton of valuable items (Rough gemstones, Fine Tempering Powders, Topaz Fragments, Gold Scraps, etc.) if it stayed intact, even among the excessive amounts of Ore Fragments and Flamestones.

I approach Melchior and it starts some diatribe about why we haven't stopped to think about what waking the Empyreans would do. Says the monster who doesn't want people to think about anything. Like... what the fuck is this logic? The one who upset the balance of nature is YOU, Melchior. When Velvet says she doesn't care, Melchior levies its insults thinking we're the villains. It also says that the Empyreans sleep because people stopped praying to them, and that corrupted their souls. This confuses me further. If you wanted to stop corruption, why didn't you explain that to the masses so they could start praying to the Empyreans again? WHY did you have to resort to murdering thousands and ruining the entire point of life? And then it says why: It wants to rid the world of malevolence to revive the Empyreans, and it's using Innominat to eat vile souls or whatever. Is it including itself? Because it's by far the most monstrous of all the souls in this world, and it confirms this by saying civilization will crumble, and it doesn't much care. This thing is a hypocrite. It wants to be at the top so the Abbey can rule in a "better" era. Well, tell that to Vlad "The Impaler II" Putin. Melchior is no different than a very current real-world villain, and its plan will not end up working out the way it thinks it will.

It shows its true form and we start fighting it. It has a strong Mystic Arte, but it's not really much of a problem and it seems to think it's because of its age. Magilou says it's used some kind of oath to add centuries to its life... ergo, cheating death. Further confirmation that it isn't human. Wretched monsters throughout history have faces like Melchior. The ones who have wronged the most people. Melchior talks about its idealism nonsense, not realizing how it prioritizes its distorted goals at the cost of trouncing upon everyone else's. Truly a vile creature.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/8/1/AAR0ZFAAC-U9.jpg

Further obsessing over winning, it conjures duplicates of all of us as a diversion so it can use some arte upon the volcano. The party just stands there instead of knocking the monster in... but as it says it "follows reason" (LMAO, no you don't, you follow your FUCKING EGO), Magilou conjures the flowers from earlier as a distraction and Velvet lurches forward to consume the daemon's soul, just as many times before. In its last breaths, Melchior spurts more "HOW DARE YOU" nonsense... and, well, it got off easily. I wish I could have done MANY more things to it. It deserved MUCH worse than it got, because its "ideals" were at the cost of so much to so many. And its hero complex worsened it all. Truly a thing I cannot say a nice thing about. The whole REASON we had to awaken the Empyreans was because of Melchior. IT is the one who will go down as having caused this imbalance in nature solely for the sake of its "ideals." Seriously, fuck you, scumbag.

AMV time! Velvet flings the souls into the volcano, waking the four Empyreans and summoning some kind of space station. In Loegres, the zombies start waking the fuck up. Some malakhim tell the exorcists to go fuck themselves for using them as tools and buzz off. Good for them! The Abbey is now in a state of panic. This is bad for us, because their panic centers around us, so they're going to use every resource they can.

The next morning, Velvet thanks Magilou for growing flowers to distract the old bag, thus saving everybody. Maybe Melchior shouldn't have fired her. She knew its weakness was flowers, and that it loved flowers more than humanity. Which probably explains why it did what it did, not caring about people. Heartless bastard still had SOMETHING. The skit diverts to Eizen and Laphicet confirming that the Four have awoken and Innominat has been pushed out from the earthpulses. Magilou adds that greater resonance will diminish so people won't be able to see malakhim or daemons like they could, and the former will gain their free will. The Abbey's forces will drop significantly, making them a much weaker foe. Eleanor cracks a joke in regards to being able to see everyone, including Magilou LOL. Laphicet says that Innominat and Artorius are somewhere above the Empyrean's Throne - that space station. We have to kill them.

A brief skit explains changes in the land that would previously have taken eons will now take a few hundred years. This is to reference how different everything is in Zestiria, I'd imagine. Magilou doesn't care what happens when we kill Innominat, but Eleanor and Velvet sure do. Eizen also wants to kill Innominat and Artorius and everyone supporting the Abbey and its ideals, because he wants to eradicate Melchior's philosophy of destroying free will, in order to avenge Aifread. Works for me. The fewer dirtbags this world has to deal with, the better. Artorius and Innominat/Laphi are both the dirtiest of the bags who are left. There's a fun hungriness skit from after the event (Magilou's stomach rumbling hahahaha). Last skit is about Bienfu being helpful with the hoverboard, building muscles and exhausting him. He continues his shameless shtick:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/8/2/AAR0ZFAAC-U-.jpg

She takes the bait and uses it against him, and it's hilarious how she puts him in so much pain for hitting on her like that. AGAIN. I do take it that it still counts as "Physically Escalating with Cuties."

I get back to town and the crew's still here, as are the Bloodwings. The agent in charge says that the people of Meirchio tried to petition the Abbey to exterminate Velvet, but that didn't quite work out so well because the Abbey didn't have enough forces - so few, in fact, that the area north of Hellawes is now a Class 4. Hahahaha, suckers. If only the sheeple knew the truth! The Bloodwing knows about the Suppression and isn't sure how far it progressed. Dyle says that this town will be our new hideout, for the time being, and we'll leave the therions here. Benwick and company are making preparations in Hellawes. Dyle also asks Rokurou about the Shigure fight. Rokurou claims the kill and thinks he's too inexperienced to have broken Stormhowl. Or maybe it's just that the blade is unbreakable. It's probably made from an alloy that includes orchialcum, so it's unbreakable and can break anything. Kurogane's blade is equally strong, and the two blades didn't force each other to break because of their wielders.

I'm doing some equipment management right now but may do a few odds and ends after. I'll post those separately since it's a "probably not" but we'll see.

Fury
Natasha

The Bolshevik Revolution was vastly different, though. The overthrew the czar and were attempting Marxism. Lenin was NOT a dictator - he wanted to make Marx's vision a reality. But because of corrupt assholes like Stalin, that was never going to happen. Stalin seized power and made Russia into a dictatorship, going against Lenin's ambitions.

The 1991 "Revolution" was a peaceful transfer of power to a new Soviet Premier while Putin manipulated things from behind the scenes. It was an attempt to save face while retaining the power structure, just in Putin's favor instead of the Communist Party. Think of it as a "rebranding" that was merely an attempt to look good to the rest of the world. Because of that PR stuff, the USSR needed to change with time.

Fury
Natasha

Lightning Strikes posted...

This is the thing though, the people saying that it was a fake revolution or acting like Russias still communist are wrong. It is a very different Russia. Just not, as it happens, a better Russia.

The revolution WAS a farce, though.

I presume you think that America under Reagan and America under Obama were the same. Countries change, even with the same sort of government. Russia is still very much the dictatorship it was under Stalin, it's just that the despot at the top is a different kind of insane. He still uses KGB hitmen to rub out his opponents, controls the press, and holds absolute power. He also holds farcical elections to make it seem like the people want him. It's all a scheme to save face, just like the fake revolution was once all the SSRs declared independence. And now he's going "I'll be taking these back, thank you." Which isn't very different from the invasion of Afghanistan in the 80s.

I can compare this to the gamebotiness on Survivor. It's not fun to watch nearly every player on Survivor be the same analytical, strategic, wooden, soulless individual. It's a lot more fun to watch people from different backgrounds yell at each other while someone else just sits back and cries.

TAR is the same sort of thing. It's not fun to watch the physically stronger teams beast their way through tasks. I'm bummed that Caro & Ray didn't get to race together for long because watching them learn each other's boundaries and weaknesses would have been fascinating. Akbar & Sheri and Arun & Natalia were/are frustratingly incompetent, but at least that elicits an emotional reaction, unlike the same three teams finishing on top.

Part of why I'm bored with reality TV is because of the change in direction editing-wise. We don't get the compelling personal moments or the conflict that we once did. We get redundant episodes that are indistinguishable from each other.

Dusty & Ryan more like Rusty & Dyin'.

The Red Army really shouldn't be "taking back" these independent countries. You know they're going to invade them all again. It's been 30 years since the fake revolution, so they probably think it's their "right" or whatever.

This reminds me of a certain 30-year gap in American history, when the British instigated the War of 1812 (through blockades and poor policies) and wanted to "take back" the colonies because King George III was a madman. Even though they reversed the policies the same day the US declared war.

Well, let me rephrase. The Speed Bump may be enough to screw them over next week. Even with Arun & Natalia still here lol

RNG does another strong team in... but since it helped Raquel & Cayla finally finish first, I'm here for it.

Fury
Natasha

Full Throttle posted...

can't bare to work at the bar

I don't think she could have done this in the first place. She'd be fired.

Please note: For the next several days, my playing will be inconsistent. However, I am setting a firm deadline to finish this thing off: I'm taking a vacation starting on the 8th, so I wanna finish this before that time. Obvious reasons.

New enemies in this area, and they're tough. I get into an absolutely brutal chain encounter that uses up most of my Life Bottles, and then because this world sucks a fucking FIRE DOE SHOWS UP after I clear the field.

Fuck me.

I actually manage to kill it even though my Mystic Artes weren't going off for some reason (yes, I had enough BP). I don't know how, but I went back and saved right after lol.

The Mystic Arte glitch continues into the Code Red fight, which I find odd. In regular battles, I also can't get Annihilating Crash off even with the usual combos. I'm not doing anything different. Is it just this area? (Also weird: The enemies are resistant to... wind? And not fire? WTF?)

I get a skit where Laphicet agrees with Velvet that she's gotten stronger, but he goes so far as to say she's "changed." I don't really notice much of a difference between the Velvet of the early game and the Velvet of now. She's just battle-hardened, that's it. A "change" means there's something different. JRPGs seem to use that word a little too liberally. "Grown" may be the better way to put it, because that means something that existed has matured.

I finally start getting Annihilating Crash off, including in a fight against a hundred Blood Heat Bat.s They just kept COMING!

Magilou explains that Melchior is the "shadow" of the Abbey - the one doing the dirty work behind the scenes, so behind that only the top brass knew what was going on and not even Eleanor. Magilou also says she was being groomed to be Melchior's successor, to aid Artorius with behind-the-scenes manipulative shit once the old monster kicked the bucket. She wasn't the right choice to lead them, so she was fired... and the gang is glad, because Magilou is very unpredictable, and would be a much tougher player to go up against than something whose plans can be inferred like Melchior. It's weird how this vile piece of detritus hasn't succumbed to malevolence because of its belief in the exorcists... or is that just a front? Wouldn't surprise me to see that thing be a hypocrite.

Magilou mentions that Melchior is a crafty old bastard who won't fight us head-on. Our odds are grim since he's a trickster who could take all six of us at once and still win, and Eizen thinks the answer may be right at our feet. Perhaps we just fling him into the volcano and Velvet just rams the other souls after his? Also... I gotta wonder what transpired between Melchior and Shigure for them to just be in separate places. Maybe Shigure was like "No, I am going to wait here, and I am going to face my brother." It's quite stupid that they didn't team up, but it's not like fighting two of them would have been impossible since they'd be nerfed.

An idea that randomly occurred to me about the storytelling downturn would have been if we killed Artorius BEFORE the whole brainwashing thing took place. Melchior revealed itself to be the puppet master and was thus the final boss and true main antagonist. It would have satisfied Velvet's thirst for revenge, but she'd also want to kill Melchior after it enacted its plan to bring the world to ruin. This would make it much more of a gray area whether or not Velvet was in the right to want to eradicate Artorius, especially if the game showed that he resisted Melchior's ideals. Do you think that would have been an improvement? It would've been intriguing to kill off the supposed Big Bad with a quarter of the game left.

I have a VERY CLOSE CALL with the Dire Foe, so I gotta go all the way back to town once I get to the exit since I'm all out of Life Bottles. A big no-no when you're facing a motherfucker like Melchior would be to not have any resurrection items, since I presume it has a Mystic Arte that can knock multiple characters out at once. Gotta go stock up, so I do. Here's hoping I can warp back that way since I used the save point. If not, at least I have the hoverboard... which I need to use in that area I couldn't earlier anyhow.

I manage my weapons for like 15 minutes... geez, this is excessive, but I gotta do it since it's the poison I picked by playing on Chaos mode. I need these to be upgraded. And then I stop, because I'm tired and I will finish this tomorrow.

Have you looked at Namecheap? It looks like they have some of the same options, plus they have backups.

*resets clock again* whoops

BlueCrystalTear posted...

Nebula
Yondu

That's better.

Nebula
Yondu

Yeah, Shigure used the one sans Rokurou when Rokurou was lying on the ground, and Shigure was like "GET THE FUCK UP BRO" like he wanted more. Not my fault that Rokurou isn't very good defensively in a typical fight, but he helped hugely by blocking Shigure's Mystic the three other times, taking paltry damage.

Again, I was anticipating that I HAD to use him in that fight, because that was the most prominent part of Rokurou's story. I don't think it's exactly the same with Melchior. Magilou and Eizen both have strong grudges against it for its many sins, and forced use of two party members is a bit much. They're both in my regular party alongside Velvet and Eleanor so it's not like it's a big deal.

Also, from using him, Rokurou kind of does have Focus as his Break Soul, but... that's a Break Soul. Not exactly helpful with healing. An arte would be better.

Fury
Natasha

A Logitech G502, of course.

Also: @NBIceman , I don't remember reading your post above. WHOOPS! Definitely missed that since you posted it while I was playing and I had the con the next day. A few replies:
-Artorius creating a calamity that he could then solve to be a hero was what I interpolated as his motive. Now I only believe the hero part. Celica's sacrifice was an accident. That caused a desire to be the hero who "solved daemonblight" - but it could have Melchior's manipulation (despite them knowing each other beforehand?). But he never created a calamity. The Scarlet Night and the cross in the sky that were emblazoned into my head so it was natural to connect those dots. Because of this... Artorius is kind of a meh villain for me too. Velvet admired him and I do agree in a different timeline, she's the henchwoman that Eleanor was. I don't remember her logical deductions since that was a long time ago for me.
-Melchior is indeed the true villain, because it manipulated Artorius and used him as a puppet figurehead, tried to pin the blame on daemons when everything was its doing, probably caused "unfortunate accidents," created a fake Aball to trap Velvet, thought it was the hero despite all this, and, most importantly, murdered thousands of people and took away any reason for anyone else to live. It is a monster. It is not human.
-Which leads me to your point about the Abbey being so irredeemably evil. I agree that defining so clearly who is good and who is evil goes against the previous themes where you questioned whether Velvet was in the right or not. That helped make the narrative compelling, and for the Abbey to turn out to be some of the most vile villains I have ever encountered threw it all out the window. It became clear who the true calamity is, and that's Melchior.
-This world is indeed bleak and depressing compared to other JRPGs I've played. Vesperia is the exact opposite of this in that, aside from Capua Nor, it's... just a bright and airy place where you can do anything. That makes for a boring game. This doesn't.
-Thanks for clearing up the Hexen Isle scene. It was hard to tell that he was actually pulling out all the stops and she was strong enough to resist those artes. I thought that given the thing's track record, you'd think he could have gone "Avada Kedavra!" and boom. That, in retrospect, makes Magilou an even BIGGER badass.
-And yes, Berseria's cast is awesome. There are six equally developed members of it who all interact like they're real.