Board 8 > Jeff & Leon Return to Games and Anime in the Same House [JZLF]

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http://imgur.com/a/E8xfv

Story of my life
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aw yeah li li

man sh1 is a trip
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On today's Google Voice transcribed episode of Shadow Hearts we look for items from a turtle guy ride a deep sea Adventure boat lay a pentagram say a fond farewell to see Mama unearth new Mysteries within the main plot 15 years ago play A short segment as zueljin no is usion no Google zhuan Okay Google fine and once again transcribe updates without commas.

So we are on a boat and The Smuggler boss is actually our enemy but don't you know it she is starting to realize she can fight fire with fire. She's definitely on to something because I accrued enough fire Souls II create Inferno and let me tell you he made lelia Breeze. No Google Lee Lee. Close enough. After quieting her soul from the net farias do I. I knew this name was going to be difficult. After quieting her soul from the Nassarius de agua. Oh my goodness what is even happening it was paragraph. Let's just say after quieting her soul from the evil high priest and we carried forward to Shanghai. It looks like I will just be referring to that villain as the evil high priest henceforth.

Rain makes everything better as I am often want to say. We got to see the awesome fighting Power of Colonel Hugo as he dispatched to Capas and let who guy Escape. You know I really picked a very Asian game to try this whole Google Voice thing out on didn't I. Ides n controlled you Jen and made a short tour of Shanghai as he revisiting an old friend who is down on his luck next to who guy. Fire magic doesn't work on who guy but Yuri came just in the nick of time to kick some tail. Some Revelations followed as the Japanese army colonel herself no I am not even trying to transcribe her name plotted against the high priest. We are headed to the white tiger to help stop the demons gate invocation although I really need to predict here because this is a jrpg and all that the demons gate invocation will not be completely stopped until later into the story. I know I know bold predicts.

Thus far it seems like Margaret is the only one who suspect our Smuggler friend so I hope there is a playable segment later with her in a cat fight at the edge of the German Kanon. Haha no Google junin Kanon. Oh my goodness. Junon Cannon.

experience points are fairly easy to come by in this game haha. I guess because the game is relatively short 20 hours sounds like xenosaga episode one perhaps we really need to boost up levels quickly. Which reminds me Leon has some save clear data and I noticed he finished the game at level 53. He also had a party member whose portrait I do not yet recognized so that's exciting. Right now Yuri is level 15 for me and I have probably fought more battles than he would have at this point in the game because I am Jeff zero so either I am wrong about that prediction or there is a great deal more experienced still to come.

woo guy is a jerk.
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Xenosaga is short?
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man these google voice writeups were fun once but now it's just impenetrable
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pjbasis posted...

Xenosaga is short?

The critical paths in those games are pretty slim. Especially Episode II. (It's telling when I beat a JRPG in like 20 hours.) I'm talking about a per-episode basis, and yeah, they're short games by genre standards.

transience posted...

man these google voice writeups were fun once but now it's just impenetrable

Haha, I'll lay off 'em then.
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well it'll get better when you get away from asia. wugui and fengtian and qiuhua oh my

Xenosaga 1 has some length to it. Xenosaga 2 is the short one.
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Xenosaga Episode I still seems shorter to me than, say, FF from like 5 or 6 on 'til 12, or The Legend of Dragoon, or (dare I invoke its name) Xenogears! Same with Episode III. Like, they're still kinda meaty games, but I dunno. Maybe I'm just talking circles!

All three episodes combined basically feel like one Xenogears in length to me. But maybe that's way off. I do remember Episode II being kinda pitifully short though!
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eh, a normal Xenosaga playthrough is like 35 hours. Xenosaga 3 about the same. it just doesn't feel complete which is I think what you're getting it because hey it's not.
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that said, all three jammed together would crush Xenogears in length. that'd be a weird effort. I wonder how it would go - I haven't been able to replay 1 or 2 since 3 came out for obvious reasons.
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Ha, true.

Man, I remember the days I was literally obsessed with Xenosaga's potential. Alas.
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the day before it came out, I proclaimed it "Xenosaga eve" to a friend. the day the 12ish minute XS1 trailer hit the internet was a mindblowing day. it was like fanfiction coming to life.
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Xenosaga Eve. Oh man. You and I still need to do like a 45-minute podcast episode together one day just rambling about Xeno.

What are your thoughts on the Nintendo stuff? Xenoblade, Chronicles X, the upcoming Xenoblade 2? What a strange life this Xeno franchise has had.
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we could. I have a huge history with that.. franchise? feels weird saying that, but I guess it is.

I love the Xenoblade stuff. it's not Xenogears or Xenosaga at all. I know you're a lot more down on it because it's not as lore-y and philosophical. I think Xenoblade is a great middle ground and it plays really well. X is their attempt at making an open world game without the confines of a narrative and that's interesting on its own because the world is so vibrant. Xenoblade 2 I need to see, but if you've seen Mitsuda's tweets you're probably excited.
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I have seen Mitsuda's tweets and I am definitely excited. I love that man's work and he's so darn thrilled with the OST this time around. Some of the styles he's chosen suggest we might be seeing sort of a Chrono Cross OST successor after 17 years.

I like Xenoblade! I'll admit I've become a grouchy old yard-yeller to an extent, though. I see a lot of gamers who never checked out Xenogears talking up how deep and meaningful Xenoblade's narrative is and I should either a.) be thankful Takahashi's been recognized for greatness or b.) feel nothing because I neither gain nor lose anything apropos to the game's reception. I have mentally chosen c.) grimace and yell at cloud.

But that's okay. Xenoblade's still pretty good. I haven't played XCX, though. I remember Takahashi talking about how he'd like to do a more story-driven game than Xenoblade, while XCX was still under wraps, but then the import thread happened and it ended up veering so much more heavily toward the open world elements that I lost interest well before its arrival overseas. I should play it eventually but I've got so much else out there that's more likely to be up my alley, like more Trails games and more narrative-minded WRPGs.

Oh, and I never warmed to the soundtrack previews for XCX. I like Hiroyuki Sawano's work on Gundam, even! But the rap stuff just doesn't do it for me.
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Xenoblade's narrative is a shonen JRPG for 14 year olds, or that's how I think of it. and that's fine. it's still a likable narrative, at least until the end when it turns into a power level kind of thing.

X is not a thing for you, I don't think. I think you'd see it as a personal affront to the Xeno brand, so to speak, based on your response to Xenoblade. if Xenoblade is to the right of Xenogears/saga then X is at least another equal jump further right, if not moreso.
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Yeah, sounds about right. And I think if Xenoblade 2 can pull off something similar to its (er, direct?) predecessor, I'll be satisfied again.

Xenoblade Chronicles ->Xenoblade Chronicles X->Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Man, Japan.
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transience posted...

that said, all three jammed together would crush Xenogears in length. that'd be a weird effort. I wonder how it would go - I haven't been able to replay 1 or 2 since 3 came out for obvious reasons.

I haven't been able to play Xenosaga since I beat 3 for obvious reasons.

Jeff Zero posted...

He also had a party member whose portrait I do not yet recognized so that's exciting.

depending on which portrait you're referring to don't get too excited

also I'm not ranking Star Trek characters yet

too soon
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Man, I don't wanna work tonight, I wanna play Shadow Hearts! Good work, you two, you were right about this game. I do like it.
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it was only the most obvious thing ever dude
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you're not even to the good part yet

Leon, is it purely religion that makes you object to 3, or something else?
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I mean, I didn't enjoy it, but Xeno stuff has questionable religious material littered throughout all the games, so I knew what I was getting into when I started playing them. It's just that everything after Voyager is irredeemably bad. I was actually enjoying the game up to that point, but they ruined everything with that last series of plot twists. I can't remember a game turning me completely against it that quickly. Like, I think the only thing I enjoyed from those last couple hours was getting to break Shion's neck as Ziggy over and over again., and I'm not even being hyperbolic there. All the story stuff was awful without exception.
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Jeff Zero posted...

I see a lot of gamers who never checked out Xenogears talking up how deep and meaningful Xenoblade's narrative

Wait what. I mean I believe you but how? I love Xenoblade but I cannot see its story as being "deep" at all. (and for the record I have also never played Xenogears)

I tried to play Xenosaga two summers ago. I was really into the story but my god I could not stomach the gameplay at all. It just felt so boring.
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you have to get to at least 2, and most likely 3.
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I don't even think I made it through 10 hours of Xenosaga 1 much less the second game. And that was even over the summer between undergrad and grad school when I was doing literally nothing but sitting at home, so any attempt now would probably be hopeless.
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I mean to enjoy the gameplay. most people dislike 2's gameplay though - but it's way better than 1.
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LeonhartFour posted...

I mean, I didn't enjoy it, but Xeno stuff has questionable religious material littered throughout all the games, so I knew what I was getting into when I started playing them. It's just that everything after Voyager is irredeemably bad. I was actually enjoying the game up to that point, but they ruined everything with that last series of plot twists. I can't remember a game turning me completely against it that quickly. Like, I think the only thing I enjoyed from those last couple hours was getting to break Shion's neck as Ziggy over and over again., and I'm not even being hyperbolic there. All the story stuff was awful without exception.

I'll be kind of curious to see you talk in specifics. I don't think Xenosaga 3 ended as well as it could have, but I think referring to it as wretched is a bit much. I liked it.
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I'm one of those weirdos who really liked Xenosaga II's gameplay. FFXIII's reminded me a lot of it, too, and I enjoyed that battle system a lot. Actually, I guess Episode II is probably my favorite game of the trilogy at this point.

transience posted...

I'll be kind of curious to see you talk in specifics. I don't think Xenosaga 3 ended as well as it could have, but I think referring to it as wretched is a bit much. I liked it.

I'm not sure what specifics you need! I thought all the twists were bad and only made all the characters involved look worse. Like, I don't think any character came out of the endgame looking better. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe Allen? And that's more of a condemnation of how bad it was that Allen ends up looking the best out of everyone involved.

Then again, Ziggy and Albedo are by far my favorite Xenosaga characters and their roles in the story were done by that point.
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yeah, episode 2 being your fave makes sense in that context. though Ziggy never mattered to that series!

I guess I see it like this. Xenosaga is inherently a maddening, insane thing. it was never actually good, but it was interesting. Xenosaga 3 is the culmination of a crazy flawed genius going way off the deep end. if you were okay with space jesus and the pope being a final boss and whatever the hell wilhelm is and a guy who eats the bodies of realians and god knows what else then you might as well go all the way. the last couple of hours don't alter that game's trajectory in a significant way.
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Yeah, Ziggy was never important, which is sad, because I thought he had the most interesting background of all the playable characters. I guess the developers thought otherwise because it all got relegated to a cell phone game...!

But the end of Episode III really drives home "yeah this was supposed to be six games but now we've gotta jampack everything into three and especially these last two hours" to me. Like, yeah, the series has plenty of crazy dumb stuff in it, but I could usually eat the fish and spit out the bones. The last two hours was all bones though. Again, I'm not being hyperbolic when I say I couldn't find one thing to like about it. It hit all the wrong notes to me.
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I've read the cell phone game! it's not bad! I guess you could do that ten years later if you cared

every Xeno game ever has ended abruptly. Xenosaga 3 isn't any worse than Xenogears there. I'm okay with it!
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transience posted...

Xenosaga 3 is the culmination of a crazy flawed genius going way off the deep end. if you were okay with space jesus and the pope being a final boss and whatever the hell wilhelm is and a guy who eats the bodies of realians and god knows what else then you might as well go all the way. the last couple of hours don't alter that game's trajectory in a significant way.

Ok you have my attention...

I don't think it's worth it but god do I want to see this.
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Eh, it's not just the abrupt ending, although the fact that it was clearly uber-rushed probably exacerbated my issues with it because it was just bad twist after bad twist in rapid succession.

I didn't really fall in love with Xenogears either though, even with Jeff Zero along for the ride. I did enjoy it more because it took itself a little less seriously than Xenosaga does most of the time.
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yeah that's fair. Xenosaga is kind of.. sterile. Xenogears has personality for days.

I kinda blame that on the PS2 though. a lot of early polygonal games had that sterile feeling. I have a lot of thoughts about the PS2 generation - in general, I think it's one of the weaker times for video games despite how huge it was.

Shadow Hearts, though! get going, Jeff Zero
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He's at work right now! I imagine he'll play some whenever he gets home.

Oh right, I did play some KH2FM last night and finished up Land of Dragons and Beast's Castle! Xaldin fight is still pretty fun! I found the Data Marluxia fight but he wrecked me a few times so I decided to go back to it later. I think the only one I've beaten is Zexion, which took me a bunch of tries because I was apparently underleveled for it. I did the Larxene fight a few times, too, and did fairly well, but the ridiculous loading times getting back to the fights if you lose discourages me from trying too many times in a row. I think I tried the Lexaeus fight once, but I had no idea what the heck was going on because it had some weird gimmick, so I dropped that one pretty quickly. I'm heading back to Port Royal next, and I think that's where the Larxene fight was, so I'll probably try that one again.

oh right and Jeff Zero got to watch me do one of those Atlantica musical sequences

that was quite the thing
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I thought Winnie the Pooh died
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To be forgotten is worse than death.

Or so I hear.
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LeonhartFour posted...

but the ridiculous loading times getting back to the fights if you lose discourages me from trying too many times in a row.

PS4 versions are a godsend. Not touching the PS3 versions again after experiencing how smooth and quick II.8 was and I imagine I.5+II.5 is.
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you use II.8 and I.5+II.5 so casually and it makes me really angry
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Kingdom Hearts II.8/358 Dream Drop by Sleep Final Mix with a Chainsaw
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*dives into topic*

heard someone was talkin' **** 'bout xenosaga iii

LeonhartFour posted...

I found the Data Marluxia fight

nitpicking but you mean absent silhouette. The Data fights are endgame/postgame stuff.
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Guess I need Yuri's Limiter removed in Solaris...
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nice. yeah, you'll be told when you can unlock those. new game plus is fun because that stuff gets unlocked and SP is your only gate.
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PS4 KH2 is amazing how fast it is. No load screens and instant drives.
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how far are you now, Jeff? looks like you've been doing some fighting. what's your score at?
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And I'm at the temple! Kid made us split into groups and do trials. Crazy kids.
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that place is the worst. make sure you have leonardo's bears for the boss.

the next area is the best though. I'm waiting for it
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I'll pick up some of his bears the next time I see that little ruffian
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transience posted...

you use II.8 and I.5+II.5 so casually and it makes me really angry

I like to use proper names :p

When I abbreviate titles I even like to use whatever numbering scheme is officially used. FFVIII and not FF8. MGS3 but also MGSV. Though KHIII looks pretty fucking ugly.
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