Lurker > KanzarisKelshen

"Tell her you love her! Right here, right now! Declare your love to the world!"

Shirou and Ellie join in. LESSGO

"Along with your passion!"

"And libido!"

"This isn't a chorus line, you idiots!"

Marie: "Um, then what should I..."

Things only continue to degenerate, as Ren is backed deeper and deeper into a corner. But just when all seems lost, Ellie brings up a convenient distraction. The school's out! Forever! Thanks, Ellie!

Then Shirou provides a further distraction by telling Kasumi to go make lunch. Ren, recognizing a lifeline when he sees it, applies pressure on her too. SUCCESS! Crisis averted. Mostly. Briefly, Ren and Kei convene. Once food's done and Kasumi's dealt with, they'll have to get their conversation over and done with, ASAP.

Timeskip to later that night...

Spoilers: That ASAP? Yeah, so much for that. But I'm stopping here. More tomorrow!
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

"Ren!"

Yep, there it was.

"Weren't you dating Sakurai?!"

Kei: "Wha..."

Marie: "Huh...?"

Shirou: "*Whistle*" (the whistling was ON. POINT, btw)

Ellie: "Uh-oh."

"How could you do this to her?! Have you no shame, you degenerate?!"

The look on Kei's face man

And her voice, HER VOICE

Even she got shorted out by this bombshell!

Kasumi threatens to catch on. The response from our clever ORT representative:

"Yeah, err...well, no...actually...um..."

Ren this is why you pre-plan things, fuck playing by ear

Shirou and Ellie of course don't pass up the chance to comment, very literally, on Ren and Kei sleeping with each other. Because what this situation needs is MORE awkwardness.

"Yo, teach! Ren's resorting to his poker face again while he tries to come up with an excuse!"

never change Shirou, never change

"Ms. Sakurai here is much more of an open book by comparison."

"In what way!?"

Marie, blessedly innocent child that she is, intervenes.

"Your face is red."

And suddenly...

"Ren, say it!"

"Say what?"

"You know, it. The thing you kept trying to dodge the last time we talked about this!"

When I was little, I read the Arabian Nights. One of my favorite tales amongs the ones it offered was the story of Dalilah the Crafty and her Tower of Lies. She told a lie, then another lie, then another lie, fooling everybody and crafting an amazing scheme...and then the tower came tumbling down, and she was in deep shit. That's Ren now. And if he manages to talk his way out of it like Dalilah the Crafty did, I'll be very impressed with him.
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

"Get the fuck out, both of you".

Shirou and Ellie feel inclined to keep the silent act going. What a pair of cards! Literally!

"Uh, but we live here."

"We? FYI, you're only freeloading at my place."

"Hey, quit screwing around already!"

"No! Not the big scary lady again!"

"You scare me when you're angry, mommy!"

"You have mouths to speak with! USE THEM!"

Rip, the Kasumi monster ate the cards, there goes all the fun

Kasumi demands a serious explanation, particularly from Shirou, who fucked off so long ago and suddenly reappeared here. For once, the boys are forced to explain, and as Shirou deals with Kasumi's anger, Ren feels nostalgia wash all over him. Just like in the good old days, isn't it?

Next up, Kasumi wants an explanation on Ellie - both who she is and why the heck she tasered her.

"ANYWAY! Who the hell are you, miss?! And how are you related to my boys?!"

"Whoa. Your boys...?"

"When did you become our mother?"

Dies really is at its best when there's abundant banter. BEST

Anyway, Kasumi presses Ellie further, who's been ignoring her olympically and looking at her phone. It earns the following response from her.

"Huh? You mean me? Who am I, you ask? Well, if I had to say, I guess I'm a fuck buddy."

Ren: "Pfft!"

Me too, man. Me too. This shocks all the other ladies majorly.

"Huh? That's not how you've been seeing me?"

Ren begins to worry for his life once again, scared they might mistake him for Ellie's, uh, very special friend instead of Shirou.

"Dude, what a curveball."

"I figured we could do that if you ever got your thing in working order. Just a plan, though."

Ren: "Huh?"

My consciousness was about to trail off toward analyzing their inexplicable conversation when I suddenly realized there was something very important I forgot to add to the equation. And that thing — that pitfall — was gaping its jaws around my feet this very moment.

I had a terrible feeling about this.

The thing Honjou had just casually launched not only caused one terrible misunderstanding, it triggered another bomb — an electric chair, if you will — veiled behind the second layer of our situation.

I'd forgotten all about it, but now it came back to bite me. Oh, shit.

ahahahahaha he didn't even realize he needed to actually swallow his pride and ask Kei to pretend

He's so fuuuuuuucked
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

...Just kidding!

(but holy shit I had to stop for a while after that. That moment had gravitas!)

"He said WHAT?!"

(even the BGM was killed instantly by that, btw. Marie just...murdered everyone)

Ren clears things up for me.

"Marie, stop reading off the cue cards those idiots are holding."

(Something I hadn't mentioned is Shirou and Ellie are standing behind Kasumi. It all makes sense now!)

Ellie's card: "How about you join us, too? I could dig that."

Shirou's card: "Ah, but I guess you'd fill the room with the stink of kendo equipment. Yeah, forget I said anything."

Ellie's card again: "But doesn't Ren have a stench fetish?"

Shirou, once more with feeling: "True, Fujii does have a perverted side to him."

Ellie, giving chase: "He was a total animal the last time we did it. He even bit my arm."

Shirou, one last time: "Ah, remembering all that made me kind of restless now. Um, Ayase, what would you say if we took some time together in private?"

"Wh-what? but I don't swing that way! W-wait, stop! Not in front of Ren!"

rip, my sides left orbit at escape velocity
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

"Okay, NOW you owe me an explanation, you hear!? What in the world are you doing in a place like this, Ren? And with Marie and Sakurai, no less!"

"Well, one thing sort of just led to another..."

Sakurai looked brisk even when I turned to her. It was probably useless to expect anything out of Marie.

But while I was deep in thought—

Marie: "Well, Ren said he wanted a threesome, but he didn't have the money for a love hotel, so he brought us here instead."

it's over

I can't top this tonight, I'm done

good evening guys
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

"Well, anyways, let's leave that little spot of fun aside for now. I love you guys. Picking on you is the sole joy in my life, seriously."

The worst part is I think he means it. He says this while casually dodging a combined attack from Kei and Ren. The surge of murderous intent is real!

(Off to the side, Marie just watches in awe. Poor girl, caught in the crossfire here.)

Kasumi is due to arrive any second now. Desperate, Ren decides to swallow his pride and ask a deadly question.

"Hey, Sakurai. Could you play along with me for a while?"

"What do you mean?"

"Kasumi's on her way here."

"Is she now? What exactly do you want me to do?"

"Well, I figured we'd play things by ear."

"No, why me? I don't even like you."

Just ask her man. This is like a painful tooth extraction with no anaesthesia. May as well just get it over with as quickly as possible.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

THE COWARDICE OF THIS MAN

"If you've got something to say, then say it."

"Get off my back, you shrew."

Ren this is not the way to find allies

"Uh, being shrews is what chicks do, man."

also shirou isn't helping

like in the slightest

"Um, say...what about me?"

pls don't bully Marie, she doesn't deserve this

"Hmm? Yeah, I dunno how to describe you. Like...tranquil and placid, but startling and alarming? Incidentally, I'm of a serenely relaxing disposition."

Kei kicks an ashtray at him this time. Then, supremely pissed off, she tries to leave. Ren, desperate not to lose her her, objects. Kei doesn't seem very inclined to listen to him, so Shirou decides to helpfully intervene.

"No, actually, this guy has the extraordinary talent of making things worse the harder he tries."

Ren and Kei respond in sync.

"Piss off."

"He's right. This is none of your concern, is it?"

Speaking of playing it by ear...

"Then I'll bring along someone it does concern!"

Cue Ellie, bringing in Kasumi on a stretcher, in a body bag. EVERYBODY stops to boggle at this. Seeing Kei with eyes wide opened is a new experience for me, as is seeing Shirou with a look of 'dafuq is dis' on his face.

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

Marie's the one to react first.

Marie unzipped the body bag, and the moment she did, a difficult to describe thing burst out of it.

"Mmph, mm, gmmmph!"

the look on Shirou's face is the look of a man who has abandoned all hope

"Friend of yours, Ren?"

"Nope. Never seen in her in my life."

I WISH we could see Ren's

He doesn't have the heart to show us THE TRUE FACE OF FEAR, so we timeskip forward.

Backed by a highly oppressive BGM, Kasumi began to lecture me

rip errybody, not even the fourth wall survived Kasumi's RAGE AWAKENED
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

"Um...Fujii?"

DANGER REN ROBINSON DANGER

Suddenly fighto guitars start blaring. Look man just run and find Kasumi, she'll protect you, you're due for a 'girlfriend' switch anyway

"The two of us will have something very important to discuss shortly. Stay put and don't even think about running away, alright?"

Rip Ren, he's fucked and not in the way he'd like

He himself notices this after Kei smashes the surveillance camera.

Shit had officially hit the fan. My prospects of surviving the next hour suddenly grew a lot dimmer. More importantly, though, there was a certain someone I felt like strangling to death right now.

"Aw man, there's nothing to do without Ellie around."

Prepare for FURIOUS BATTLE AT THE BRINK OF DEATH, because Ren's coming for Shirou's ass!
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

"Listen to me for once..."

I couldn't help but want to vent my frustration at this annoying idio. I then decided to soak his sponge-like brain with everything I had—

And just like that, the trap is sprung.

"There's no way in hell I'd want to see Sakurai nakeeeeed!"

Shirou turned on the mikes.


---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

"Ey there, big man. You awake?"

Shirou. As if anyone could mistake that voice. Ren is immediately exasperated by the fact he's being called by a guy on the same building as him. His mood doesn't improve when Shirou announces he's about to complain to him. Turns out Kei literally kicked him out of bed in her quest to find the shower. rip shirou's sleep

...Huh. Ellie pulled an all-nighter while the boys slept, fixing up the power. Now that's a real solid girl right there.

"So where'd Honjou go? She sleeping now?"

"Huh? The hell are you talking about? Didn't you ask her for help to begin with?"

"Huh?"

"I'm talkin' about Twitsumi, man. She went to abduct her."

"Oh."

best response he could've given, really

Ren experiences a surge of gratitude towards Ellie, and decides he owes her some thanks, but Shirou stops him. Apparently she doesn't really like being thanked for anything. Quickly, he switches the subject.

"Anyway, that shit aside, somethin' interesting's come up."

"Something interesting?"

"There's a monitor in that room, yeah? Turn on the power. It should be working."

Said and done. Cut to...a pic of Kei in the bathroom, taking a shower. Ren speaks for me here:

Um, what the hell was I looking at?

(This all coupled with ominous foreboding music too. SO SPOOPY)

Shirou takes this very seriously, though.

"The image blurry? The audio okay? Well?"

"'Well'? Seriously?"

Did he seriously just...

Kei: "...was up with...erious...How dare he say I stink...That's not true...I don't stink...do I? What's wrong with that guy...? Seriously..."

Ren: "..."

Marie: "..."

Shirou: "Well?"

"The fuck is wrong with you?!"

This whole exchange quoted in its entirety because this is the first time Ren's truly lost his cool. He freakin' yells that last line! You went too far Shirou, too far!

"Are you an idiot? You're an idiot, aren't you? No, you definitely are. What the hell are you doing!?"

"Now, now, just cool your tits and take a long, hard look."

PHRASING

"Okay, I'm looking."

Poor Marie, Shirou is corrupting her!

"I figured I'd teach this bitch a lesson about what happens when you piss a guy off, that's all."

Too far, man, too far. Plus it's not even Kei he's putting on the spot, it's Ren!

He was pure, literal shit. No, lower than shit.

"I'll ask you one more time. What the hell are you doing?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm asking what a wonderful gentleman such as yourself is doing to a girl who pissed you off."

"Takin' a peek."

"Dude, at least don't sound so proud of yourself..."

The voice acting in this scene is just top notch, I just gotta say this. The lines work by themselves, but Ren's VA is nailing the mix of sheer 'wtf?!' and anger this delivery needs so well.

"Don't be so sullen. Show me a more healthy reaction."

Shirou. My dude. You forgot to say something, and that something is 'no homo'

(who am I kidding the Ren x Shirou route is the canon one and I'm betting all my dollarydoos on it)

"I gave you some eye candy. Ain't that good enough? Depending on the situation, you could get your money's worth outta this."

dis guy

DIS GUY

"I'm turning it off. Quit pulling dumbass shit like this and actually try to think of what's to co—"

"Huh? What's that, you wanna see things from another angle?"
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

After a night of passionate...sleeping...Ren wakes up. Marie greets him with a 'good morning'. Luckily, this time she isn't buck naked. Progress! She and Ren exchange pleasantries for a bit before Ren spots the elephant (or rather, ORT) in the living room.

A certain someone was sitting on the sofa across from me with a foul look on her face.

'sup, Kei. Immediately the mood dampens a bit, because much like Adam Jensen, Kei Sakurai never asked for this and is making her displeasure at not being left to die known. Yawnnnn. Ren isn't impressed either. He points out Sakurai could've killed him in his sleep, which is a pretty solid argument in favor of getting this complaining over with. She explains that in her weakened state, it'd be unwise, that Ren is more useful to the ORT alive, and most of all, that Marie gave her pause. Apparently it's unusual for a soul to be formed like hers. She guesses (correctly) that Marie is a sort of gift, which ticks Ren off. He changes the subject:

"One more question, then: why didn't you leave? If you don't feel like fighting me, then you have no more business here, do you?"

"Because I felt disgusted."

Ren's actions were so dumb they intrigued. So she's decided to stick around for a while and see if she can make sense of them. 'ok'

She turns the question back on him. Why not kill her when she was weak and unable to defend herself? Why hold back?

"Go take a bath or something."

OK, that made me laugh. Solid response, Ren. This puts Kei on the defensive, and eventually, an agreement is reached. Tit for tat information exchange, but only after showers are done. Seems fair to me. Kei's pride is wounded though - she puts on her best haughty airs as she leaves the room.

"Um, Ren? Can I take a bath, too?"

What a question to be asked huh

Marie's worried that she might stink, just like Kei does (she's not covered in blood though, so the question seems a bit silly, but hey - Marie for ya, right there). So Ren is forced to reassure her.

"In fact, well...you smell good."

"Really? You're not lying?"

Why would Ren lie about this? Sheesh, what's this paranoia

"Of course not."

"It looked like that other girl was really bothered when you told her she smelled."

"She's always mad about something."

I thought I had as much tact as the next guy, but she didn't seem to think so.

lmao

This guy thinks he has tact

I don't even have to make jokes here, Ren just digs his own grave

Just then, Ren's phone rings.
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

...And she fucking tasers Kasumi

Jeeze that escalated quickly

It doesn't actually knock Kasumi out, so that's nice, but Ellie kidnaps her nonetheless. Here we goooooooo

Chapter 8! "Pied Piper"! POV switch!
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Kasumi is mad. Mad as hell. The reason she's so mad is a pair of wannabe MC-kuns who insist on doing dumb things and leaving her out of the messes they make. The nerve of it, seriously! Especially since Ren went out with some shameless hussy (Ellie, for those keeping the score at home). Kasumi is totally not tsundere, we swear, b-baka. She's only skipping class and searching the whole city to yell at Ren, t-that's all! And these are just tears of anger! Promise!

(If Kasumi cries Ren is a confirmed ORT-level monster, j/s)

"Gaaah, why is every guy I know an idiot!?"

"Damn straight."

Oh shit, it's Ellie!
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

That day marked quite possibly one of the worst mornings in Kasumi's life.

"..."

She washed her face and woke herself up, then followed it up with a filling breakfast. At any rate, it was morning, so she figured she'd go for a change in mood by heading to school like a good student...or so she thought, but—

"Nope! Still pissed!"

It's time. Let's go.
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Got classes in a bit. When I come back, playing tonight, no matter what.
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Of all the things you could remake, why would you remake It?

Besides 'money', the original version had a shoddy-ass final form of It that really sucked. Doing better than that isn't a terrible goal, though finding someone who can pull off the Pennywise bits as well as Tim Curry did will be no joke.
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Up this goes to avoid purges.
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Up. No mercs for a week so let's see if I can't take advantage of that.
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

post
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

MajinZidane posted...

Kuja should have 20 exp on Ultima

Fix'd

See this is why this peacetime was good, may as well make sure everything is perfectly correct
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

(No fights this week, in case you forgot! This is just for doing Peacetime abilities for the global bye week. The admin team will go on break 21 hours from now 'til sunday. Mercs will resume its usual routine then.)
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

(Speaking of, if you have any actions you wish to perform in peace before we go on break, do so here: https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/75625300)
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Lopen - Machina Maw (10-1, 131GP)
Low: Rikku (20/20 new, 15/15 char2), Kirby (UPGRADED), Tira (UPGRADED)
Mid: Yu Narukami (15/15 abil-v2), Liquid Snake (15/15 new), Bass.EXE (UPGRADED), Duke Nukem (8/10 new1, 10/15 new2)
High: KOS-MOS (20/20 new1), Urdnot Wrex (25/25 new), Donte (UPGRADED)
Supports: CATS (10/10 new1, 20/20 new2) (Link: Rikku), Taiga & Illya (20/20 new1, 20/20 new2) (Link: Yu Narukami)
Recharges: KOS-MOS (Calculation, 2 weeks), Rikku (Mix, 2 weeks, Steal, 3 weeks), Tira (J/G, 6 weeks), Kirby (J/G, 6 weeks), CATS (DESTRUCTION, 3 weeks), Wrex (Monsters, 4 weeks)
Notes: Yu S-Links: Rikku (10), Tira (10), Bass.EXE (10), Kirby (10); Wrex: Booker (2)

~VS~

Tirofog - Ride The Lightning (5-6, 64GP)
Low: Sub-Zero (5/15 new3), Booker DeWitt (20/20 CAGE), Ryu3 (10/10 abil2), Nilin (UPGRADED)
Mid: Cloud Strife (20/20 new1), Terra Branford (10/10 abil2)
High: Archer (30/30 UBW), Lightning (15/15 abil1), Lilith (15/15 abil1, 10/15 new)
Supports: Professor Oak (15/15 abil, 15/15 new1) (Link: Nilin), Chrom (Link: Lightning), Yuffie Kisaragi (Link: Lightning)
Recharges: Archer (Drowning, 3 weeks), Cloud (..., 3 weeks), Lilith (Phase Strike, 3 weeks), Ryu3 (Accession, 3 weeks)
Notes: Cloud is Archer's master, Lilith is a Controller, Ryu3 genes: Pac-Man, Neptune, Thrall, Fetch, Armstrong, Grigori, Diablo, Damus, Geese, Crono, Kuja, Neclord, Kahn, Alice, Mega Man, Sorey, D.va, Knuckles; Memory Mix bans: Bass, Elma, Kain; Lilith is Cloud's waifu, Lightning has Master Emerald (2 weeks)


=================


Gravy - Bossman Coolguy's Kingpins (11-0, 105GP)
Low: Eleonora Yumizuru (UPGRADED), Agnès Oblige (UPGRADED), Y'shtola (UPGRADED)
Mid: Sorey (UPGRADED), Kefka (UPGRADED), Flynn (UPGRADED), Mewtwo (UPGRADED), Terra (UPGRADED)
High: Shulk (UPGRADED), Dante (UPGRADED), The Agents (UPGRADED)
Supports: Dr. Light (Link: Dante)
Recharges: Y'shtola (Scion, 2 weeks), Kefka (Crown, 4 weeks), Agnes (...Unacceptable, 2 weeks), Ellie (Hour, 2 weeks)
Notes: Four Seraphim, Dante, Kefka and Terra are Sorey's Sub Lords, Agnès is a Black Mage, Agents Customs: Tank (2 weeks)

~VS~

Boko - Boko Reunited (10-1, 104GP)
Low: Nilin (10/10 abil2, 10/10 new), Tira (15/15 abil, 20/20 new1, 15/15 new2), Morrigan (5/5 abil, 10/10 char), Poison (5/10 abil2)
Mid: Ansem (10/10 new1)
High: Lightning, Dark Samus (20/20 abil, 5/15 new), Grigori, Dizzy (20/20 abil2, 15/15 new), Kuja (20/20 abil, 20/20 new1)
Supports: Monokuma (Link: Lightning)
Recharges: Kuja (Invincible, 4 weeks), Damus (Corruption, 2 weeks), Ansem (Darkness, 9 weeks), Lightning (Servant, 2 weeks)
Notes: Lightning has saved Serra's soul, Dizzy is Poison's client, Memory Remix has hit: The Agents, Flynn, Ellie; Damus seeds: None, Morrigan is Lightning's servant, Morrigan auto-has Enhancements and Hexes
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

The break doesn't start until the end of Peace in 24 hours, so kinda, yeah, if only so their opponents can actually react to any assignments of experience during that Peace if they so choose.
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Tiro's EXP randoms to 10 EXP to Terra's final upgrade, completing it.
It also randoms to 10 EXP on Lilith's Phase The City.

Gravy randoms 10 EXP into each of Terra's ability upgrades, completing them.
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Why are all the votes for me automatically joke votes?!?

They aren't automatically jokes but we know em when we see em
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Johnbobb posted...

KanzarisKelshen posted...

Gravy wins against Johnbobb because no one cares (3-0 and I'm not making a joke for this one)

I thought I had like 2 votes

They were joke votes, we never count those
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Dark Lord Kanondorf is the best thing

I don't even have to do anything, I just build up a reputation by existing
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

We are, however, gonna do some brainstorming on what should be done for the next iteration once that's over, so please do stick around - having a new perspective around to ask questions that other people might not even realize should be asked is super valuable, plus it's a great time to get to talk with everyone before another game begins (which won't be happening for a while to be fair, because this one gave us lots of material for things to improve on).
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/75621950
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Lopen tiers out Mewtwo (5-0)
Tirofog takes another bye

Gravy wins against Johnbobb because no one cares (3-0 and I'm not making a joke for this one)
Boko no-sells Scare (7-4)

Mewtwo, Scare and Johnbobb have fallen. They were the last men standing before the finals. Congratulations for making it so far, gentlemen.

Because all series were sweeps, next week will have nothing but a peacetime and Results. Assign your experience here as usual, send in any actions for next week that you wish to perform and take a break. You've earned it.
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

How about you just stop acting like Alany isnt your alt you made to win mercs.

XD

Made an alt to win mercs and didn't even need it in the end? Hey, I'll take it! I'm all up for getting more cred.

(Also, the idea that a Lady Ashe alt made an alt of its own amuses me greatly)
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Drakeryn posted...

trdl23 posted...

Even though I've used the argument myself, in a FMV scenario, it's kind of hard for me to understand the difference between magical and non-magical damage. What is it about being a magical fire/lightning attack that means it can fry through enemies that wouldn't be fazed by non-magical fire/lightning? Unless it being magical just means "more potent," but in that case tech and magic are the same thing.

I think the idea is that a magical fireball isn't literally a conjured ball of fire, it's a lump of magical energy that mimics some (but not all) of the properties of fire. You don't see people needing to stop, drop, and roll after being hit with Fire2.

(Though if you DID see that as necessary in an FMV environment I'd say fair enough -- magic isn't generally defined well enough to be able to say one way or the other.)

There's basically two conceptions of magic, IMO:

-Magic as force: Magic spells are just pure, well, magic (read this as energy if you must) with a flavoring of whatever element is used while casting, NOT actual fire/lightning/ice/whatever. Magic in this setup is ephemeral and brief, and mostly defined and denied by willpower. This is what in D&D terms would be 'evocation' magic, if it helps to visualize it any.

-Magic as creation: Magic spells create something real and physical and then manipulate it. This kind of magic tends to have more permanence - summons generally are 'creation' type spells, for this reason, because they stick around and fight, even if they might eventually fade away, and this kind of spell would probably check against physical resistances, not 'MDEF'. In D&D terms this would be 'conjuration' magic.

I think it's fair to say some spells are forceful while others are creative. These are generally the two major paradigms you see, really.
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Well I mean, she's gotta have some level of HP to tank Samus shots unless you think her DEF is basically 'yes' and that literally everything nonmagical will deal chip damage to her

But yeah, it's fair that there's no 'MDEF' showings, Metroid is sci-fi after all. I just wanted to point at something that says that Damus probably takes a while to kill even if you think her MP3 fight is bunk.
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

If I could laserfocus Dies I think I would wrap it up in like a week

Mercs too strong tho

(Speaking of, playing tonight once I've put Results up I think. Get hyped!)
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Waiting on Gravy but all signs point towards BREAK. TODAY.
---

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

StealThisSheen posted...

If it's not true, you don't need to defend it.

It's just my own observation of being the case far more than it isn't.

That is exactly why I need to make a defense against that preconception. Because I intend to disabuse you of a notion of untruth that is pretty deep-seated to the point of becoming borderline memetic. I'd rather you not think that because Alany deserves more credit than that, and I am meticulous enough with record-keeping to be able to point towards proof. We usually do vote similarly because we are friends, and thus share similar viewpoints on most things, but we don't flat out persuade each other to vote one way or another anymore than Drakeryn and HGR do, or any other pair of pals you can think of.
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

StealThisSheen posted...

I'm not saying ban Alany

I was just asking since I've only ever seen them not vote the same as you in matches that were basically already decided, anyway, and they always seem to argue passionately only in close matches that you are arguing as well.

This is very not true and you don't really have to take my word for it. Go to a certain board-cataloging site and search 'fight'. Look for matches where Alany votes and I don't. There's a surprising number of them. Those weren't included here in the recount - and you can also see that we disagreed in two debatable matches (Johnbobb vs Eaed and more importantly Mewtwo vs Chris pt. III).

(The Lu Bu match is also an example where I didn't argue and Alany did if you need one. That one was a turbostomp to me in Raiden's favor)
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Oh, BTW @Lopen

If you need a Dark Samus durability feat that isn't vs Phazon:

https://youtu.be/_lHValMxn-w?t=339

This is from an inferior form compared to her MP3 appearance, but fuck it, close enough. Does that seem like a decent reason to have durability respect? I figured I may as well provide something as to why I think she doesn't job to non-Phazon. Takes a solid amount of punishment from probably the best Metroid Prime arsenal. It's not as much as her actual MP3 boss fight, but close enough. Solid lore hype in that entry that pops up as well.
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

For reference, KJH and numbers had a divergence rate of something like 10% across M2 using the matches on the mercs board. Also a 100% rate of KJH voting for Numbers. Pretty sure that if you included non-board matches (theoretically records might exist with admin access to TR's board?), the number dips lower and lower than that for divergences.
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

BTW, just doing some quick vote record checks on how me and Alany usually vote...

Week 1: Both voted for scare
Week 2: Nothing
Week 3: Nothing
Week 4: Alany votes Rocket (LU BU SOLOS), Kanzaris votes Gravy (RAIDEN SOLOS); Alany votes Johnbobb (Kirbcher SOLOS), Kanzaris votes Eaed (Fetch outlasts and overcomes); Both vote for Bass vs Corrik
Week 5: Both vote for Boko vs. Scare; Both vote for Eddv vs. Skyridge
Week 6: Both vote for Kamek vs Tiro
Week 7: Nothing
Week 8: Both vote for Mewtwo vs Chris
Week 9: Both vote for Jeezy vs Scare (Weltall in a panic match); Both vote for Johnbobb vs Tom (Potemkin vs Megaman)
Week 10: Both vote for Scare vs. Jeezy (Raziel vs Nepyuffie)
Week 11: Both vote for Tirofog vs. Eddv

If you discount matches where only one of us voted, that's a 2/12 divergence rate, or 16.67%. Divergence between me and other voters I'd say usually vote like me (such as drakeryn) was around 25%. Does a 9% difference warrant a vote ban? Is it significant? You tell me.

EDIT: Forgot the Grigori vs Turok match (last one of the Chris/Mewtwo series, I didn't catch it at first glance because I didn't search 'Chess'). That brings the numbers up to 3/13, or 23% divergence rate. Should I start banning everyone below a certain threshold of vote divergence with me? If so, which?
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

p much. Basically Poison is good for saying 'attack' and then dying. For anything more she is a detriment, not a plus.
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Spoilers Poison is a terrible enabler for Dizzy

If you go look at her strekken trailer she's a dumb vain showoff who gets blindsided when an opponent is better than she expects

I have never bought into gamefaqs Dizzy for this reason, Poison isn't a great solution for her
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

KJH posted...

I mean honestly, both Sol and Potemkin aren't exactly good for mercs because both consistently fight with limiters on for literally no reason.

Put in life/death situations, it'd make more sense for them to remove them, but they only sometimes do and sometimes not all the way or the entire time?

Just put Bedman in, strongest most cutscene-heavy fighter in the series. He'd appreciate the walls of text.

Sol hasn't had limiters on in forever

they literally stopped working a while ago
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

trdl23 posted...

StealThisSheen posted...

Dizzy is probably the worst thing in Mercs

Honestly, she's up there. As much as I clearly like an respect her, we should axe her for future games.

Or just remove the dumb passive from her and make her a straight 7 or something

(I'm still baffled that we didn't get Sol on that note. May as well pick the guy who has eight games' worth of showings, not the waifu with three cutscenes IMO)
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

So hey guys, question now that all matches are over. Since every series ended in a sweep, does everyone ('everyone' being Lopen, Boko, Gravy and Tiro) want to fastforward the bye week by reducing to a single day of peacetime and then proceed straight to week 14? Or would you rather take a break week before the finals instead?
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

DoomTheGyarados posted...

Alany I have to admit I get sick of you comparing brute physical attacks which I have just stated Raiden can tank to a piercing magical attack. Like my god can your brain not tell the difference?

RLH is not a piercing magical attack so that's irrelevant tbqh
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Also RLH isn't a cone don't be silly

It's a line. A literal straight line that's a person wide. He can sweep it, but it's no dragon breath covering a full area at once.
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

DoomTheGyarados posted...

Not sure the premise of 'Diablo is kitable' when 'RLH is a pretty big cone in a small arena'

Also the 3.5 second thing is silly. If you cripple someone who is defenseless in 3.5 seconds even if they aren't dead they are crippled. FMV people, not turn based jrpg. They aren't at 20% health. They have internal injuries or missing parts.

Considering Raiden has feats for operating without arms and Damus survives getting blown up repeatedly, I mean

Not sure this is an argument you wanna champion
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Team Dizzy.

My vote still stands. Like drak says, I just don't think Diablo can kill Raiden AND Damus AND Lightning in 3.5 seconds. It's just a lot to ask of him.
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.

GANON1025 posted...

How much damage does the RLH do to the Nephalem?

Varies depending on your lightning + fire resist. Generally it kills you if you take the full attack though.
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.