Lurker > KamikazePotato

voltch posted...

seems like Coco member stream ongoing she's being p upfront about the reasons for departure.

Which are...?

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It's Reyn Time.

By the way, not part of any of the questions, but I want to point out how insanely effective Door 4 was for me. The combination of the dreamlike main plot and the altered/added text in the text log gave me a feeling that hasn't been replicated in any other piece of media. Such a powerfully surreal experience.

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Most relatable character: Michel manages to somehow be the straight man despite his ridiculous circumstances. GOAT Visual Novel protagonist is correct.
Least relatable character: I'm not counting Aimee because she's not major enough. I would have to say Jacopo because the latter half of Door 3 is the one part of the game I didn't buy into. Just say something, dude.
Character I would date: Giselle is too good for this world.
Character I didn't expect to like as much as I do: Yukimasa is a very interesting and nuanced representation of an utterly vile human being.
Character I expected to like more than I do: Jacopo is basically the tsundere archetype taken to its horrible end conclusion, but he makes a great first impression.
Opinion changed the most over the course of the game: Mell really comes across as a well-meaning decent dude in most of Door 1, and the game does a good job at peeling back his character and showing that he's only a decent dude when it's easy. As soon as things start going poorly he turns into a cowardly asshole. Helped set the tone of the game for me.

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It's Reyn Time.

I can't follow this topic as closely because I haven't played the post-game or DLC stuff yet, but:

Llarian posted...

'call the maid 10 times' achievement AU.

This is so damn good.

I'll answer some of the questions later though.

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It's Reyn Time.

Llarian posted...

I appreciate your patience, since I'm new to the franchise and I know how these things change over time and are annoying to keep track of.

I'm not new to the franchise and I'm still confused about which versions have which things, so I wouldn't worry about that too much!

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I heard about it from several people on B8 who's opinions I trust regarding VNs, who were shilling it. Probably ArkOfTurus (hello).

Llarian posted...

I'm sad to hear the art style would be a turnoff - I'm used to hearing that about One Piece, or the characters' noses in Escaflowne. 'Everyone being too pretty' sounds like a great problem to have, but you're right.

I was thinking less 'everyone is too pretty' and more that the art style is very gothic horror style. Which I absolutely adore, but the more standard anime style is definitely more marketable to a wider audience.

Even on B8, which generally is open-minded about VNs, it's not an easy sell. 12 Sentinels came out recently and immediately amassed a higher fanbase (not that it doesn't deserve to get popular) despite Fata Morgana being out for years and advertised repeatedly by people here. Part of that is because its cast was young and had animesque character designs. People are just...well, used to that.

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For lack of a better way to phrase this, I don't think Fata Morgana is weeb enough to achieve the height of popularity that other big VNs have achieved. The art style isn't for everyone and it deals with way different themes than other works that the anime fanbase is used to do. It'll also never get an anime or anything like that.

This was a really fun topic to read through! Always fun to see someone get into a game you care about. Congratulations on making probably 95% of the Fata Morgana memes on the entire internet.

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Michelle: *tries to be a gentleman and escort a lady home*

The Swordsman: Buenos dias, fuckboy

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That first one got me good.

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Llarian posted...

https://i.imgur.com/xItKUtz.gif

Oof

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Meme it up.

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This part of the game was pretty brutal to read.

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Llarian posted...

Is she super cute to everyone that plays this game

Yes.

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Llarian posted...

All the art is just unbelievably high quality.

Describes the whole game

Giselle's story is so heartwrenching - definitely put me through an emotional wringer

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The differences between the 4th and 5th door hit really hard. Like a fairy tale dream crumbling away.

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I'd like to do 100+ in PotD but never had a group willing to do so. All my friends hated the idea.

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I would say the shift towards Trials being more cinematic started the moment Shiva clicked her heels. Been good times ever since then.

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I think I hate PVP the more I play it. Shame that Frontline Roulette is such a good source of EXP.

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It's funny to me that Lalas are the best PvP characters because it's harder to click on them

Also don't do PvP, it is ass

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As of Heavensward, Alphinaud was my favorite character. Gets a lot of development and teally feels like the heart of the Scions.

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Oh yeah, that intro is a bit of whiplash. Agree with trdl on both points though.

'Fun' fact about the dramatic death and destruction you just mentioned: there used to be a title gained from completing that called 'Papalymo's Last Spell' or something similar. People put it on their characters and ran around spoiling it for everyone now caught up on the MSQ. Got patched out fairly quickly but I have no idea how Square thought that was a good idea in the first place.

What was your overall opinion on Heavensward?

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Don't remember the slapstick samurai part, what bit is that?

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That fight was not easy on release, trust me. Was a big stopgap for casual players. Sometimes still is! Whenever I get that in Trial roulette and we have 1-2 newbie healers, I already mentally prepare myself for the potential wipe.

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Okay now that you've fought Nidhogg, I have to say that the moment in that fight where he repeatedly fires Ahk Morn blasts at you as the music swells to a climax is incredibly hype and one of the best single gameplay moments in FF14.

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Woah, writeups

Llarian posted...

the Backlog only, a creepy message appears in red:

I really love this bit in the game. Don't think I've ever been jumpscared by text before.

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LordoftheMorons posted...

Welp looks like GNB is in the same club as PLD of having one too many buttons to fit everything into three hotbars at level 80...!

I fit all the relevant single-target moves on 1.5 hotbars.

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The term Bernie Bro has been irrelevant ever since data came out showing that people who supported Bernie were more likely to stay loyal to the party line than supporters of other candidates

Just another way that society at large tries to make progressives seem like unreasonable weirdos

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I overall liked Stormblood's story, but it definitely goes through ups and downs.

I haven't gone through fanbase reactions extensively, but I have to imagine that Lyse is the part that people were most universally disappointed in.

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Gear stat scaling is pretty bonkers.

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Ozma is one of my favorite 24-man fights to this day.

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Tough for me to comment on your comments with spoiling

So I'll just say 'good writeups'

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Feel free to #Hildibrand it up, but just to note, the post-3.0, pre-Stormblood content is just as good if not better as the 3.0 Heavensward content. It's not like ARR where it's 85% filler.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

The feel I've been getting is that I should potentially expect a bit of a lull in Stormblood

Feelings regarding Stormblood are all over the place, but I've literally never seen anyone say they prefer to 3.0 or 5.0.

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If it helps, I remember the Red Mage Level 60 fight being a huge pain in the ass, and I did it after years of experience. Something about it was weird.

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That scene gets to everyone.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Wish I could find a better hat, since the red hat you start off with here is just a dalmund red dyed pirate hat.

If you haven't already, go through the market board and 'Try One' all the available hats. See if there's something you like.


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Also, as an addendum to the MCH guide, you can fit in five Heat Blasts in the Hypercharge window if you spam quickly enough. Not sure why I put only four. Technically you can get six if your fingers are perfect, but that also requires your latency to be perfect as well, and there's a reason they had to change Ninja mudras.

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Wait Ted Cruz left his dog behind? What the fuck

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

Mother fucker is in the opening movie for ARR, let me fiiiiiight.

The worst thing is right now I'm sitting at 2/2 for healer and tank but a dps is missing

Damn, if I wasn't at work I would have queued up to end your suffering

For anything that says 'Wait Time Longer Than 30 Minutes', don't ever expect to actually get in. That's the game's way of telling you it has no idea what's going to happen.

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I vaguely remember that you did a jillion damage in the first 20 seconds and then putzed around for the rest of the fight. That and unreliable turrets. Mostly I just remember the class not being fun at all.

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I honestly don't remember, but not all classes give you their gauge stuff at the beginning, so you're probably fine.

One side note about Machinist that I enjoy: it's basically the same class at Level 50 as it is at Level 80. At least as far as single-target rotation goes. In those thirty levels, the moves you learn that are relevant for Boss Fights are Drill and two off-GCDs. That's it. The class defines what it is early on and never deviates significantly from that. What it does do as you level is take your core abilities and give them damage boosts and fancy new animations. I honestly greatly prefer this to classes that change all over the place on the road to max level (hello Summoner). Too many classes suffer from ability bloat. Plus, it lets Machinist still be fun in Level 50+ rouletters, while many other classes can feel miserable at that level.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

I take it I haven't been introduced yet? I see it on the menu but it's grayed out.

Main Story Quest will give you the compass eventually.

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Here's a quick Level 50 Machinist guide for newbie interested in picking up the class.

Machinist is simple at its core but can be tricky to play as you have to press buttons very quickly to get the most damage out of it that you can. Currently has the 2nd-highest APM for optimal damage, last time I checked. Luckily the tradeoff is that it has probably the least-amount of unique buttons to push in the game, if you struggle with keeping track of bloated hotbars, this is a nice job to use.

Machinist has two bars: the Heat Gauge and the Battery Gauge. Both of them have one specific function.

1. When the Heat Gauge reaches 50 (out of a max 100), Heat Blast becomes available to use.
2. When the Battery Gauge reaches max 100, use Rook Autoturret.

Not too complicated. Key moves are:

Split Shot -> Slug Shot -> Clean Shot: Your basic 1-2-3 GCD combo. Increases the the gauges as well.

Hot Shot: A GCD with a cooldown that does decent damage and increases the Battery Gauge by 20. Open with this and use it pretty much whenever it comes up.

Reassemble: Off-GCD that guarantees your next weaponskill crits. Use this before Clean Shot, at least until you learn Drill at Level 58, then use it before Drill.

Gauss Round and Richochet: Off-GCDs with low damage but low cooldowns. Use them pretty much whenever they're up.

Drill: GCD with a 20 second cooldown that does a buttload of damage. Use this...wait for it...pretty much whenever it comes up, HOWEVER if Reassemble is available or is just about to be available, make sure to use Reassemble before Drill. That does a lot of damage.

Rook Autoturret: Does damage. Use this when the Battery Gauge reaches 100. The game will make it obvious when the gauge is maxed because it plays a loud sound effect as well.

Hypercharge and Heat Blast: So here's where the fun begins. Whenever your Heat Gauge reaches 50, you can spend 50 (by activating Hypercharge) to make Heat Blast available for the next 8 seconds. Heat Blast is one of the main reasons Machinist has such a high APM, because it has a 1.5 second cooldown and reduces the cooldowns of Gauss Round and Richochet by 15 seconds every time it's used. So for the next 8 seconds you're going:

Heat Blast -> Gauss Round (or Ricochet, whichever comes up first, then alternate)
Heat Blast -> Richochet
Heat Blast -> Gauss Round
Heat Blast -> Richocet

Each Heat Blast -> Off-GCD combo can be done within the 1.5 second window. If you mash efficiently, you can get four combos off before Hypercharge's 8 second duration ends.

Wildfire: Here's where the other fun begins. This is an off-GCD with a very long cooldown. When activated, Wildfire delays its damage by 10 seconds. During that 10 second window, any weaponskill you use increases the final Wildfire damage by 150. So you want to spam as many weaponskills as you can in those 10 seconds, and Heat Blast is a weaponskill.

Optimal Wildfire usage looks something like:

Wildfire -> Hypercharge
Heat Blast -> Gauss Round
Heat Blast -> Richochet
Heat Blast -> Gauss Round
Heat Blast -> Richocet
Heat Blast no longer available, finish with any other weaponskill (Split Shot, Slug Shot, Clean Shot, Hot Shot, or Drill)

This does so, so much damage. Also, never activate Wildfire unless Hypercharge is also available. Not worth it

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That's the gist of it. Basically, learn to spam efficiently. Always be pressing buttons and make sure you keep attacking even while moving.

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Character Configuration -> Hotbar Settings -> Cross -> Enable Cross Hotbar (and play with the settings in this menu area)

Then go to the 'Custom' tab right next to the 'Cross' tab and choose where you want the Cross Hotbar to be taken from. I have it set to Cross Hotbar 3 - Left, which means the moves I put in the left half of the third Hotbar will appear as the Cross Hotbar when I hold L2+R2.

The lack of flying in each new area is a good thing even if it can be a jarring. Forces you to take in the sights. Better collect those Aether Currents though..

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By the way @UshiromiyaEva , do you know about:

1. The difference between GCDs (moves on the 2.5 global cooldown) and off-GCDs (moves you can use anytime and are optimally used in-between GCDs)
2. The Cross Hotbar that pops up a hotbar if you press L2 and R2 at the same time (very useful for controller players)

Both are really good to know at this point in the game.

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You can still add him to your Friends list and queue up with him even if you're not in the same world.

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Feel free to discard equipment you don't like the look of that are inferior in stats to something else you have. No real point in keeping them. If you like the look and think you'll want to glamour it in the future, buy some Glamour Prisms on the market and shove it into your dresser in your inn room.

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Does Monolith Soft even own the rights to use KOS-MOS?

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Making my way through Shadowbringers for the first time. Up to Level 76 MSQ content.

This is really, really good, guys. Every scene with Ardbert is the best and reminds me so much of the Dark Knight questline in terms of tone.

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I maintain that the MATH mechanic was super poorly explained and no one should feel bad about dying to it!

Still love that fight though. And that raid. The Ivalice storyline was easily the high point of Stormblood.

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