Board 8 > The Jeff & Leon Same House Multimedia Cinematic Universe [JZLF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Link to the previous topic pre-purge:
https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/75430174

Previously, on Battlestar JZLFtica...

















What's on the docket?
Net's back! We're still making our way through Attack on Titan, Kanon, Eureka Seven, and Psycho-Pass. We're starting Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, too. I'm rewatching Babylon 5. Leon's replaying Persona 4. I've got 1-2 more Shadow Hearts sessions to go and then it's probably off to Tales of Symphonia Land. Leon's replaying the Ratchets & Their Respective Clanks and Fainaru Fanataji Seventh Swell. xp is all about that Trails, no treble. As is pyresword for that matter.


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friendly reminder that Jeff Zero still owes us a Pirates 5 analysis
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FMA is also one of the easiest things to enjoy
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ah
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pjbasis posted...

FMA is also one of the easiest things to enjoy

and yet
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FMA Brotherhood is

not the OG
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He didn't even stop before the OG gets arguably bad iirc!
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I got up through episode...18 or 19, maybe? I mean, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't really giving me any impetus to keep watching it either.
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I don't remember Ed being that likable in the original though, and IIRC that was one of Leon's biggest problems.
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Well the impetus should be that it gets awesome.

Perhaps it was a mistake to watch the original first. If the early stuff wasn't your cup of tea Brotherhood speeds through it really quickly. You'd have probably only watched 10 episodes to get to the same stuff.
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Perhaps it was a mistake to watch the original first.

That's what I told everyone!
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Brotherhood also does some really stupid shit in the beginning I think would be jarring for new viewers too though augh.

Too bad they started up a new series so soon after the old one ended. I get they wanted to strike while the fullmetal was hot but it could have been a superior product if it just adapted the manga straight up without worrying about differentiating itself from the previous product.
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while the fullmetal was hot

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Janus5k posted...

I don't remember Ed being that likable in the original though, and IIRC that was one of Leon's biggest problems.

Indeed it was. Gotta have a likable protagonist or I'm very likely to check out.
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Uh if Ed wasn't likeable in the original anime then the original anime did something very wrong.
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the original did many things wrong

and I'll never not be irked that people helped convince leon to watch the original first

I'm 3 for 3 (that's a 100% ratio) getting people into FMA if they begin with Brotherhood

and 0 for 2 (that's a 0% ratio) getting people into FMA if they begin with the 2003 adaptation
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pyresword posted...

Uh if Ed wasn't likeable in the original anime then the original anime did something very wrong.

the hotblooded shounen archetype isn't really my thing
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lol anyone who still recommends watching the original FMA

not that Brotherhood is that good either, so good on Leon for skipping that too ^_~
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guys, gals, th-there's a gnosis epidemic in Eureka Seven
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good grief finish sh1 so I can nope right out of this topic series

WOW
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Tag for lurking when I'm bored at work.
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Also I'm pushing up on the deadline for Naoto's dungeon in P4G, but I kept having opportunities for S. Links up until October 1st, so I wasn't going to skip out on them. I'm close to maxing out Yumi and Ai now. Ai was the only one I didn't max out last time around, so I'll be glad to finally finish that one.
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tag
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Tag.

also i have bad news everyone. i must rescind my recommendation for trails the 3rd for it has committed a grave offense.

joshua no longer has his scarf

game and series dropped

Seriously though, I just beat Chapter 2 and this game continues to be absolutely amazing. The side stories have been on-point the whole way through so far and the main story has kept my interest piqued too. Music has, indeed, been getting better. The Chapter 2 dungeon themes were excellent and set the atmosphere so well I can't even describe it. Well, maybe I could, but I want to limit use of spoiler tags for this.

also i'm this far in and still make the dumb mistake of forgetting that Kevin's Grail Sphere is centered on him and not something you can select a character for, so i s-break with it and then sit dumbly and stare at the screen for a while and waste it because you can't cancel out of an s-break

i will never correct this error in my thinking i fear

Oh! Right. oh my god i think the sepith cap for battles might be removed, or otherwise pushed so high up it may as well not exist. got in a battle with some shining poms and walked out of the battle with ~280+ sepith in all elements. from. one. battle. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. (295 was the highest I've seen so far, same fight)

Uhhhhh... Even before I started this I felt like I'd have a weird time discussing it in here because I want to avoid spoiler talk as much as possible so Jeff and Leon can read it too (because i am totally trying to hype them up for this make no mistake) since y'know, it's their topic, but yeah.

If they, or anyone, has anything they want to ask me about my feelings/opinions so far, feel free~

~~~

Jeff Zero posted...

guys, gals, th-there's a gnosis epidemic in Eureka Seven

ah right i forgot to mention that eureka seven was based on perfect works
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I'm probably finishing TitS the 3rd within a day or two now, depending on how long what is presumably the final dungeon is. Honestly while I'm not sure there's actually a need for it, I don't think I'd complain if someone made another topic for the game. I'm not sure how much I actually have to say, but it is weird to figure out which parts if any at all make sense to say in here. Most of them are some variation of "the endgame is really good" though, so there's that.

xp1337 posted...

If they, or anyone, has anything they want to ask me about my feelings/opinions so far, feel free~

Favorite side story so far?

(If it's not Moon Door 1, then I regret that I must inform you that you are wrong)
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pyresword posted...

Favorite side story so far?

Yeah, it's Moon Door 1 so far. Star Doors 2 and 3 (Star Door 3 is the only thing I did so far after beating Chapter 2) are pretty close though. Star Door 1 and Sun Door 1 are a step below those ones. Though Star Door 1 gets props I guess for having the battle that made me have to think the most on how to win (even if it seems to have been entirely optional that I do.)
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xp1337 posted...

also i have bad news everyone. i must rescind my recommendation for trails the 3rd for it has committed a grave offense.

joshua no longer has his scarf

game and series dropped

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Oh right I have a Trails the 3rd question

Can you transfer over a save file from SC and get benefits from it like in SC? I'm debating on how important it is to get the Steam versions of FC and SC and play those first.
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It detected an SC save file and told me I could use it when I started the 3rd, but I don't think it's actually anything important at all. The only thing I noticed carry over was how upgraded my Orbment slots were, and I know in my case I probably would have been better off with whatever the default was on everyone except Olivier >.>
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excuse me

are you hating on joshua's fashion sense

LeonhartFour posted...

Oh right I have a Trails the 3rd question

Can you transfer over a save file from SC and get benefits from it like in SC? I'm debating on how important it is to get the Steam versions of FC and SC and play those first.

Yeah, there's transfer. However, I don't believe it's nearly as important as FC -> SC. I think the only thing it does is give you 200 of all Sepith types as well as Gladiator Belt + Headband (under different names) depending on your Bracer Rank at the end of SC.

I don't believe it has any impact otherwise, but I'm not 100% sure.
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what does that mean exactly

too overpowered/underpowered or what
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pyresword posted...

It detected an SC save file and told me I could use it when I started the 3rd, but I don't think it's actually anything important at all. The only thing I noticed carry over was how upgraded my Orbment slots were, and I know in my case I probably would have been better off with whatever the default was on everyone except Olivier >.>

No, I don't think this has anything to do with it.

I had everyone's Orbment slots upgraded fully at the end of SC and they're not anymore! Hell, Kevin lost levels between games! >_>
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xp1337 posted...

pyresword posted...

It detected an SC save file and told me I could use it when I started the 3rd, but I don't think it's actually anything important at all. The only thing I noticed carry over was how upgraded my Orbment slots were, and I know in my case I probably would have been better off with whatever the default was on everyone except Olivier >.>

No, I don't think this has anything to do with it.

I had everyone's Orbment slots upgraded fully at the end of SC and they're not anymore! Hell, Kevin lost levels between games! >_>

Are you sure? Maybe it it tracks it but only up to level 2 or something?

It's been a few months, so i obviously don't remember exactly what I had, but it would be pretty weird if the default unlocked orbment slots so accurately followed how frequently various party members were used in my SC playthrough. It was also pretty random as well--like I'd get characters and they'd have only slots 1, 3, and 7 upgraded or something like that. To me the only way that makes sense is if it was taking data from my SC playthrough.

I did forget about the sepith thing though yeah--or more accurately I forgot the reason I got it was because I loaded SC data.
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I'm pretty sure, yeah.

I mean, I've encountered the same thing. I think Kevin was all Level 2, but everyone else so far has had random Level 1 slots (although still generally majority Level 2) here and there.

I think it only tracks insofar that the characters that join later generally are more upgraded in terms of slots. I think the last two characters I got had like 5-6 Level 2 Slots as opposed to the first few having more in the 3-4 range.
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I played the first two games on PSP, then downloaded a save to use for 3rd on PC. You can find a file here, though it doesn't make too big a difference (it doesn't change which slots are unlocked): https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/979868-the-legend-of-heroes-trails-in-the-sky-the-3rd/75217887
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xp1337 posted...

If they, or anyone, has anything they want to ask me about my feelings/opinions so far, feel free~

yo keep talking~

Also, it's been longer for me, so I would appreciate it if you said what the doors are in spoilers, and maybe kept the door name itself outside of spoilers? *shrug*

I know of at least 1 additional carryover bonus for a save (minor spoilers I guess? Tita gets an additional S-Break), but to put this in perspective: I beat the game on Nightmare with no carryover bonus. So... yeah. The game doesn't go all Second Chapter almost-literally-impossible on you or nothing, and the accessories actually aren't all that good relative to what you can get by about midgame.
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I had the door name in spoilers just because I don't always like broadcasting to people who haven't played specifically what parts of the game I really liked. I'll include everything below though.

TitS the 3rd spoilers, but all I'm doing is listing the door names that xp mentioned and what the stories inside them are. (So xp is fine to read this but Jeff/Leon are not)

Moon 1--Tita getting onto the engineering project with her parents
Star 1--Julia's day off with Mueller
Star 2--Stuff about North Ambria and the Salt Pale
Star 3--Joshua and Kloe at the banquet in Grancel Castle
Sun 1--The Bobcat Delivery Service and the associated minigame
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Speaking copiously of Trails in the Sky, I just listened to First Chapter's opening theme music on the TV for a moment and felt transported to Liberl... *_*
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Yeah, I decided to go ahead and get all three Trails games for Steam. Now I can display it on my TV and play with my PS4 controller, which is nifty.
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All right, another solid round of anime complete!

The new Attack on Titan was pretty good. Another breather type episode, but it's setting the stage for something bigger really soon. I enjoyed the conversation with everyone in the forest. It was appropriately tense.

In Kanon, we get Sayuri's full backstory and tragedy strikes right on cue. Man, I had forgotten how good of a character Sayuri is.

In Eureka Seven, Dewey starts up his plan of removing all the zero tags from oranges, while Nirvash goes beyond the Seven Swell to "The Real," to quote Holland.

Psycho-Pass continues to delve into the social, psychological, and societal problems that have arisen with the Sibyl System, and they're using the villain to highlight all of them. He seems to be falling under the "well intentioned extremist" category now.
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Made it to the front of the Shinra Building in FFVII! Looks like Jeff Zero and I have the same approach to tackling this part of the game: Take the stairs to get all of the delicious slice of life dialogue, then come all the way back down and go through the front door to get all the items and the Turtle's Paradise flyer.

also we've divvied up the party members amongst ourselves

Leonhart - Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Vincent
Jeff Zero - Aerith, Red XIII, Yuffie, Cait Sith, Cid
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dowolf posted...

yo keep talking~

As in keep with the status updates? Can do, so long as Jeff and Leon are okay with it. If you mean something else, you need to spell it out for me 'cuz i'm dumb.

Jeff Zero posted...

Speaking copiously of Trails in the Sky, I just listened to First Chapter's opening theme music on the TV for a moment and felt transported to Liberl... *_*

I never actually liked FC's opening theme (assuming you mean the song that pays during the opening video, not the title screen theme.)

LeonhartFour posted...

Yeah, I decided to go ahead and get all three Trails games for Steam. Now I can display it on my TV and play with my PS4 controller, which is nifty.

oh ya

I'm not sure exactly how you guys are watching AoT but if it's tied to the dub releases on Toonami, then like me, you're stuck because Toonami isn't airing a new episode this coming week, instead doing a AoT S2 marathon of the previous episodes. Because of the holiday, one assumes. If you do get a new episode though, I suppose you'll be one ahead of me for the duration.

~~~

Trails in the Sky The 3rd Progress

Chapter 3 was super short, so Chapter 3 beated.

I'm not kidding about it being super short, so I don't actually have many thoughts about this other than "really, this was a chapter?" One of the boss battles was pretty intense though. Those who played it should know which one I mean. Heard this battle was glitched in the Japanese version in a way that made it way harder. jeez, that must have been fun.

However, all of this was made up for because the intro to Chapter 4 was god-tier. It was approaching peak-SC tier stuff, it was amazing.

Both the Kevin/Rufina/Ein flashback and Kevin/Ries/Joshua's scene in the present. More insight into Ein is always great, and I'm curious if Rufina's "Ouroboros" mission that Ein referenced will be explored further. As it is, I'm assuming this is tied into the comment that Loewe makes at Axis Pillar in SC if you take Kevin where he notes he's met Rufina and it was one of the very few times he was so matched. Sounds hype. Also makes Rufina's humility kinda funny, which I'm glad Ein points out.

And oh man, Kevin and Ries's fight. And then Joshua's conversation with him. the besssssssssssst. Ries could at least have been a pal and made herself available for Remote Ability. I'm not actually sure I'd have taken it over Josette's god-level one, but Ries is the only one even close to her level so it would have at least been a thought!

Anyway, Chapter 3 was super short but there was also dooooooooooors.

Sun Door 3: lol. "Memory Fragment" huh. Oh well, I got free mira out of this and the promise that I shall return. Later. Once I find whatever item I need.

Star Door 4: This was fairly neat, and explained a comment Zin made at the Hermit's Garden. That said Zin is still the weak link of the party and Kilika's okay I guess. It was a nice scene and has some interesting implications for the future. Whenever the series goes to Calvard.

Moon Door 3: oh ya. here we go. This gave Chapter 4 Intro a run for its money as the highlight of the session. Amazing sequence/scenes/story. Seeing how Kloe's school life at Jenis started was great, her personal struggles were great. Lechter trolling and somehow managing the entire campus was great. Interested in Lucy too, though I don't know if we'll revisit her. Seemed to be struggling with her feelings for Lechter and I think she's the only character we know from Remiferia so maybe that could lead somewhere?
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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, hereafter referred to as "Pirates 5" because ain't nobody got time for that and "PotC: DMTNT" just sounds like something shady from the military-industrial complex, is a return to form. Whereas the fourth installment in the internationally esteemed high seas fantasy franchise purposefully eschewed fun and flavor in favor of somber setpiece-lacking chicanery, the latest (and last?) chapter has brought some measure of swashbuckling back to Jack. But is it enough? Does Pirates 5 have awe enough, zest enough, heart enough, to right the course? Read on to find out.



Pictured above: the movie's marketing campaign deftly removed the demand that prospective audience members memorize the names of its characters, requesting instead that we attempt to pronounce "Brenton Thwaites" without spitting on our peers. No offense, Brenton, I'm sure you're a nice guy.

For the most part, the answer is yes -- yes, this is a worthy enough sequel. What's striking about this movie is that its newer cast is uniformly solid. We're treated to one of the best female characters, we're swept up alongside a new supporting male who won't put us to sleep like Jack Preacher or Deacon Park or whatever that dude's name was in 4, we're humbled by a villain who is actually kind of threatening. Indeed, Salazar's the best antagonist since Davy Jones and Beckett, which is another underhanded jab at On Stranger Tides. I'm good at those. We're all good at those. Troublingly, Jack Sparrow himself is even more recklessly bumbling than usual; I can't say as I completely agree with Leon that it's interesting to see him in this fashion. Sure, he's getting old, and yeah, a fraction of this drunken stumbling would do. But he spends too much screentime slobbering all over his words, and it's disappointing. Fortunately, he still has a few great moments, including a first-act chuckle with a certain guillotine. And if you've wanted to see him more outwardly compassionate -- but still retaining that rogue outer shell -- you're in luck, because Jack's got some lovely content therein.



Despite dwindling domestic turnaround, the Pirates franchise continues to set sail to loftier treasures in overseas box office tallies. One leading theory is that you can take choice footage and convince Asian audiences they're seeing The Grudge.

Visual splendor has returned to the brand. The climactic third act successfully marries the swashbuckling naval antics and over-the-top mystical glamour the series is known for, resulting in a fun, dazzling sequence. One or two questionable narrative decisions aside, the finale is bombastic but also truly heartfelt -- that rich blend of tentpolesplosion and soul. Particularly well-suited is Geoffrey Rush's Hector Barbossa, who has proven to me he may be the real tie that binds this storied franchise together.

If you're looking for a four-star cinematic buffet, you might be better-versed elsewhere. But if you want a better sequel to the memorable 2000s trilogy which threw Johnny Depp onto the 18th-century map, look no further. This is a solid enough outing and a fairly worthy popcorn pic. Unless your theater's got $1 hot dogs.



Pirates 5 is in theaters now and available on DVD and Blu Ray this September.
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I saw Iron Man 3 four years ago. It was new then. I wasn't sure what to make of it. I decided I couldn't rank it. Unlike some Bordate denizens, I'm comfortable enough with myself that I can willfully choose not to rank something, but being that I am Bordate stock ("you can take the boy out of the obsessive-compulsive numerical list, but you can't take the obsessive-compulsive numerical list out of the boy," as Pat Benatar might say) I can't say it hasn't haunted me. I have now seen Iron Man 3 twice. Armed with deeper knowledge, seasoned with time, I can finally place the title at a certain point in an arbitrary ranking order based upon personal taste which ultimately means very little and will not be cited as a great work of mankind in the centuries to come.

Iron Man 3 is a movie co-written and directed by Shane Black. This is important. It explains the tonal shift in the cinematography, it explains an increased focus on somewhat cruder humor, it explains the uptick in downright irreverence. You can drop someone into the first two installments in the Tony Stark trilogy (that's not really the Tony Stark trilogy because he manages to be immensely important in three other movies and counting, but I digress [never say "I digress" on sports radio, by the way -- your whole block is digression]) and I'm going to start this sentence over. You can drop someone into the first two installments and expect that they'll easily be able to tell Jon Favreau had a big, honking hand in the production. You can expect that. Grandmothers, toddlers, entrepreneurs, swordz9s, take it to the bank -- everyone will know. But drop them into Iron Man 3 and they'll know something's off. Kilter. Off-kilter, because Shane Black wrote Lethal Weapon 2 and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Iron Man 3 is Lethal Kiss Kiss Weapon Bang Bang, and it shows. Sometimes it works really well. Black has a deep understanding of lighting and mise-en-scène, resulting in a thrilling mix of endgame setpieces. He gives us one of the MCU's only nocturnal finales, and he makes sure to blitz it up with a thematically befitting number of explosions (read: lots). His production staff also gives us one of the absolute best final fights in the series. It's low on shlocky slow-mo, high on visceral and scripted barbs. What's more, Aldrich Killian is a fine villain. It's easy to loathe him and satisfying to watch him burn. Sometimes, though, Iron Man 3 just doesn't click. I'm not abhorred by the Mandarin twist like some fans are -- I don't know who these characters are until they're on the silver screen, so why do I care? -- but it is a little bit unfortunate that the MCU hasn't had another real-world radical religious extremist as a core of its problems since the very first movie. There's also the matter of some of the humor particularly in the first half; it's lower-brow than before, and it leads to a few scenes where even Tony and Pepper can't sizzle the chemistry to bolt past eyeroll-inducing innuendo.

That's OK, though. While it isn't a perfect movie, Iron Man 3 has a lot of heart, particularly in its second and third acts. In the aftermath of the crazy, world-changing events of The Avengers, Tony's been wrestling with his mortality in meaningful ways. Sound familiar? Indeed, it's almost as if Shane Black picked up the messier pieces from 2 and decided to really make something of them. The result: a pretty good movie that actually manages to explore Stark's flawed character while delivering on the spectacle and advancing the state of the MCU. Not bad at all.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Avengers
Captain America: The First Avenger
Iron Man
Iron Man 3
Iron Man 2
The Incredible Hulk
Thor

At last, I have ranked you. Now, for the first time in a long time, I am at peace.
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xp1337 posted...

As in keep with the status updates?

hai~

xp1337 posted...

Ries could at least have been a pal and made herself available for Remote Ability. I'm not actually sure I'd have taken it over Josette's god-level one, but Ries is the only one even close to her level so it would have at least been a thought!

this confused me at first. Turns out all the Remote Abilities got massively buffed in the Evolution version. Though even in vanilla nightmare, I can't imagine going without someone who gives +speed.
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dowolf posted...

this confused me at first.

Normally I'd agree with you. And certainly from a battle perspective I would.

but sepith is too powerful
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xp1337 posted...

I'm not kidding about it being super short, so I don't actually have many thoughts about this other than "really, this was a chapter?" One of the boss battles was pretty intense though. Those who played it should know which one I mean. Heard this battle was glitched in the Japanese version in a way that made it way harder. jeez, that must have been fun.

However, all of this was made up for because the intro to Chapter 4 was god-tier. It was approaching peak-SC tier stuff, it was amazing.

I thought the 3rd was the hardest of the Trails games so far. This was the first fight I died to (even on Normal) I think, but it definitely wasn't the last. To clarify, it's not as if every boss fight is really hard, but there were a few real challenges scattered throughout I thought.

Also yeah the best moments of this game (of which this was one) are...really good. I am seriously contemplating the possibility that SC chapter 6 might no longer be my favorite chapter from the series...and just wow. Probably it still is, but the fact that this game got even close is pretty fantastic. (This is referring to a later chapter in the game though, not the one you're on.)

For the record, Sun Door 1 is sort of the exception. Most of them are just silly minigames without any real story substance.

xp1337 posted...

Moon Door 3: oh ya. here we go. This gave Chapter 4 Intro a run for its money as the highlight of the session. Amazing sequence/scenes/story. Seeing how Kloe's school life at Jenis started was great, her personal struggles were great. Lechter trolling and somehow managing the entire campus was great. Interested in Lucy too, though I don't know if we'll revisit her. Seemed to be struggling with her feelings for Lechter and I think she's the only character we know from Remiferia so maybe that could lead somewhere?

Eh. I did like this for sure, but not as much as most of the other moon doors at least. And a few of the star doors also because there's some really great stuff there as well.
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xp1337 posted...

I'm not sure exactly how you guys are watching AoT but if it's tied to the dub releases on Toonami, then like me, you're stuck because Toonami isn't airing a new episode this coming week, instead doing a AoT S2 marathon of the previous episodes. Because of the holiday, one assumes. If you do get a new episode though, I suppose you'll be one ahead of me for the duration.

We're watching on the Funimation app, so I don't know how closely it's connected to Toonami in that regard.
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Jeff Zero posted...

Hector Barbossa, who has proven to me he may be the real tie that binds this storied franchise together.

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Jeff Zero posted...

[never say "I digress" on sports radio, by the way -- your whole block is digression]

I never thought I'd see you make a Tony Kornheiser Show reference.
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